Blades part ways with Brockman

Dean Brockman no long the Blades head coach.

    Two years of struggling down the stretch have cost Dean Brockman his position with the Saskatoon Blades.

    On Sunday a day after their regular season concluded, the Blades announced Brockman has been relieved of his duties as head coach immediately. Blades general manager Colin Priestner said the decision came due the fact the Blades were holding a playoff position late in the season over the past two campaigns only to miss the post-season.

    With five games remaining on their regular season schedule in 2016-17, the Blades held a three-point edge over the Calgary Hitmen for the last playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. The Blades won one of their final five games, while the Hitmen claimed five of their last six regular season contests to vault into a playoff berth.

    During this past season, the Blades held an eight point lead over the Prince Albert Raiders for the second wildcard spot when action concluded on Feb. 19. The Blades were two points behind the Brandon Wheat Kings for the first wildcard position. The Blades had 11 games remaining on their regular season schedule, while the Raiders and Wheat Kings had 13 contests each to play.

    Saskatoon posted a 4-6-1 record over those final 11 contests, which included a season ending three-game winning streak. The Raiders went 9-2-0-2 to leap into the second wildcard spot, and the Wheat Kings held the first wildcard spot going 9-4.

    “I felt we faltered, and I think some of the habits that were created and developed throughout the year showed themselves a little bit in those big important games,” said Priestner. “It is a results based business, and unfortunately, we didn’t meet the expectations, which is we feel the fans deserved a playoff team. I feel we have a playoff level team.

    “The fact that we were playing meaningless games at the end of the year with an eight point lead was extremely disappointing to me and our player and our coaches. Nobody was happy with what happened. The fact that it happened last year and it happened again this year just led us to the decision that we needed a new voice.”

    The Blades have missed the WHL’s post-season for five straight years, which is the team’s longest playoff drought in its history.

    Brockman joined the Blades as an assistant coach before the start of the 2014-15 season and moved up to head coach in June of 2016, when former head coach Bob Woods moved on to be an assistant coach with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. Woods is now an assistant head coach with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild.

    Before joining the Blades, Brockman was best known for his 17 years in the junior A ranks working with the Humboldt Broncos from 1997 to 2014. He started as an assistant coach and assistant general manager before becoming the head coach and general manager in 2004. During Brockman’s years in Humboldt, the Broncos won the Royal Bank Cup for junior A supremacy in 2003 and 2008.

Dean Brockman works the Blades bench.

    During the 50-year-old’s run as head coach, the Blades posted a 63-68-10-3 record. Brockman is credited with 62 of those victories having to miss one of those wins to attend a funeral.
    The Blades posted a 35-33-3-1 mark this past season to finish three points behind the Raiders (32-27-9-4) for the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.

    Saskatoon actually ranked seventh overall in the 12 Eastern Conference due to its point total. With the record the Blades posted this season, they would have made the playoffs in 2015-16 and 2016-17 if they had posted the same mark in those campaigns.

    Due to the WHL’s playoff format where the top three teams in each division and the two best records after that in each conference make the playoffs, the Blades missed the post-season finishing sixth in the East Division.

    Priestner said talks were going on the past 10 days on what to do if the Blades missed the post-season. An actual parting of ways didn’t become clear until following the Blades 5-4 victory over the Raiders at the SaskTel Centre to end the regular season for both clubs on Saturday night.

    “Last night, Dean (Brockman) and I had a conversation after the game,” said Priestner. “We spent an hour talking about things.

    “It was clear at the end of the conversation that we were going to go in that direction.”

    The decision caught Blades sophomore centre Chase Wouters, who will entering his 18-year-old season in the upcoming campaign, off guard.

    “It was a surprise it happened so quick,” said Wouters. “I didn’t see it coming.”

    Wouters elected to not answer questions regarding coaching style. He said the fact the Raiders rolled off a nine game winning streak was really what did in his club’s playoff hopes.

    “We just couldn’t get the points when we needed them,” said Wouters. “That is what it just came down to.”

    When asked of the Blades were feeling heighten stress over their last 11 games to help cause their struggles, Priestner wasn’t sure if that was the fact that caused his club to fall out of a playoff position.

    “It is stressful, when you come into a team rebuilding a team,” said Priestner. “It is stressful when you haven’t made the playoffs in a few years, and it amplifies itself.

    “I am sure there was lots of stress. We all feel stress. We want to do well for this city.

    “Maybe there needed to be more levity. I don’t know what it was, but the team didn’t play to the way it played for the first 60 games in the last 12.”

Dean Brockman takes part in an old Blades press conference.

    Priestner noted there was one upswing over the club’s last stretch of 11 or 12 games.

    “I thought we played fine in the last three games when we were eliminated,” said Priestner. “We were really good.”

    Before the season started, Brockman along with assistant coaches Bryce Thoma and Ryan Keller all had their contracts extended to the end of the 2019-20 campaign. Priestner said no decision has been made on the fates of Thoma, Keller, veteran assistant coach Jerome Engele or goaltending coach Tim Cheveldae.

    Priestner added there is no timeframe to hire a new head coach as the decision to part ways of Brockman just became a reality and there were no candidates on who could possibly become the team’s next head coach.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Battle hardened Broncos provide big challenge for Blades

Division rivals open WHL regular season at SaskTel Centre

Blades head coach Dean Brockman oversees a team practice.

    Dean Brockman knows his Saskatoon Blades are going to have their hands full opening the regular season against a battle hardened division rival.

    The Blades face the Swift Current Broncos in the regular season opener for both teams on Friday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. Last season, Saskatoon posted a 28-35-7-2 record to finish fifth in the East Division, ninth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and five points back of the Calgary Hitmen (30-32-8-2) for the conference’s second and final wildcard berth.

    The Broncos posted a 39-23-4-6 mark to finish third in the East Division and fifth in the Eastern Conference. After eliminating the Moose Jaw Warriors in a tough seven-game series in the first round of the WHL playoffs, they went to a series deciding Game 7 in the second round against the Regina Pats before bowing out of the post-season with a 5-1 loss in that contest.

    Swift Current returns a number of players from their team last season, and Brockman, who is the Blades head coach, knows it is tough to face any club that gains experience from a strong playoff run.

    “It is always a challenge,” said Brockman. “We know that their top two lines and their back end will be as good as any of the contenders in our division.

    “Certainly when they have the Hepos (Aleksi Heponiemi) and the Gawdins (Glenn Gawdin) and those types of guys, you have to be aware of them. I think certainly they are a great challenge, and they will be a challenge throughout the year.

    “The experience that they got last year with their playoff run just makes them more hungrier for this year. For us, it is going to be definitely be a battle right from the start.”

    Gawdin is the Broncos captain, and the 20-year-old centre potted 26 goals and 33 assists in 52 games last season. Heponiemi is a high-flying 18-year-old Finnish winger who piled up 28 goals and 58 assists appearing in all of the Broncos 72 regular season games.

    Swift Current’s most dangerous offensive player is likely 19-year-old winger Tyler Steenbergen, who topped the Broncos in scoring with 51 goals and 39 assists.

    On defence, the Broncos are anchored by 19-year-olds Colby Sissons and Russian Artyom Minulin. Minulin became an effective power-play quarterback piling up eight goals and 42 assists in 70 regular season games.

Goalie Joel Grzybowski takes part in a drill at Blades practice.

    Of course, the Broncos acquired overage netminder Logan Flodell from the Blades in a trade on Wednesday. Flodell was a second team WHL Eastern Conference all-star last season posting a 22-20-4 record, a 2.81 goals against average, a .912 save percentage and three shutouts.

    While the Broncos have a number of dangerous players, Brockman said his Blades have to focus on their own performance.

    “I think every game is a measuring stick whether you show up or you don’t show up, (and) how good were you and how bad were you,” said Brockman. “We don’t want to use Swift as the measuring stick.

    “We want to be playing hard, you know a hard working hockey team. We just want to have those trademarks right from the start. We want to be a team that makes it difficult for them to play here and make it hard and try and match their work ethic and do better.”

    Like last year, the Blades will start the season without the services of star centre Cameron Hebig, but under different circumstances. Hebig missed all of last season due to injury.

    The local product starts his overage season sitting out Saskatoon’s first two games due to a league imposed suspension for receiving a checking from behind major penalty and a game misconduct in the Blades final pre-season game last Saturday, which was a 2-1 victory over the Oil Kings in Edmonton. Hebig had five goals and an assist in four pre-season games.

    Overage winger Braylon Shmyr topped the Blades in scoring with 35 goals and 31 assists in 66 regular season games. Saskatoon is loaded with a number of strong young forwards in 17-year-olds Michael Farren and Chase Wouters and 16-year-old Kirby Dach, who the Blades selected in the first round and second overall in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft.

    On defence, the Blades are anchored by overage captain Evan Fiala and Czech import Libor Hajek. Fiala was returned to the Blades on Tuesday after attending training camp with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. Hajek was at the Tampa Bay Lightning’s NHL training camp, and he was assigned back to the Blades on Thursday.

    Saskatoon starts the season with a new goaltending tandem in 19-year-old Ryan Kubic, who was acquired in a trade with the Vancouver Giants on Wednesday, and 18-year-old rookie Joel Grzybowski. Kubic was the Giants starting goaltender for the past two seasons, and Grzybowski had a stellar campaign last season in the junior A ranks with the Battlefords North Stars.

    “We definitely have some young guys that are going to be really good players in our league,” said Brockman. “Hopefully, we’ve insulated them enough with some of the older guys.

Blades assistant coach Bryce Thoma keeps things loose with humour.

    “As your guys take progressions and steps, some guys have to take bigger steps than others. It is a good mix. We’ll find out whether the chemistry is there to get that mix over the top or not.

    “Time will tell. Our group is always learning and always working.”

    The Blades will be trying to make the post-season for the first time since 2013. Brockman said he is aware of the importance of the overall view of the campaign, but in order to get to the playoffs, he said his team’s focus has to be on the present.

    “You have to look big picture, but again, I want to look right what is in front of us,” said Brockman. “If you get looking too far ahead, you’ll be looking behind.

    “You have to make every day count and every game count. If you look at it in away last year, I think we missed it by five. If you get a point per month (extra), you are in the playoffs.

    “We have to really, really focus on what we have in front of us and not look too far ahead.”

Engele puts meaning behind the Pac-Man

Blades assistant coach Jerome Engele speaks are a presser on Monday.

    The Saskatoon Blades have created a real buzz, when they officially announced in late August they were returning to their famed Pac-Man logo and look on a regular basis.

    The Blades used the Pac-Man look throughout the 1980s and in the early 1990s. Even when it was not in use, it was still the signature look that was associated with the Blades. The team also had the majority of its most successful and memorable seasons wearing that look.

    Besides drawing approval from fans, the return of the Pac-Man look has been warmly received by the team’s alumni. During a press conference on Monday to announce the Blades would be honouring former captain and long-time Saskatoon Police Services officer Bruce Gordon before Friday’s home opener, veteran assistant coach and retired Saskatoon Police Services officer Jerome Engele spoke about what the Pac-Man logo meant.

    Engele’s words carried pretty good weight and meaning, when you consider he played five seasons for the Blades as a defenceman from 1966 to 1971, was the team’s head coach in 1979-80 and has been an assistant coach for a number of stints starting in the 1989-90 season.

    “We strive very hard to teach our young people coming here about integrity, honesty, hard work and with that responsibility that comes along with it outside of this arena,” said Engele. “Like our police world, you’re wearing a badge.

    “That badge we’re held at another level through the Police Act that we are responsible to, so we are held at a level higher that what the public is. Our Blades are also held at that level away from the rink. We expect them to treat everybody with respect.”

Future wedding bells to ring for Howe and Parkinson

Davis Parkinson, left, and Corey Howe at the SaskTel Centre in Sept. of 2016.

    While the Saskatoon Blades will honour their former captain Bruce Gordon before Friday’s home opener, a year ago the team honoured the Saskatoon area’s greatest sporting hero ever in the late hockey icon Gordie Howe, which produced an interesting tidbit.

    A year ago, Howe’s ashes and those of his late wife, Colleen, were interred at the base of the Gordie Howe statue that sits in front of the SaskTel Centre. During the festivities to honour Howe, the Blades helped play up the love story between grandson Corey Howe, who was raised in Ohio, and a young woman named Davis Parkinson, who was raised in Saskatoon.

    In April of 2016, Corey moved to Saskatoon, because he wanted Parkinson in his everyday life. The connection made for a cute story in the local media, and off camera, the two chuckled when they talked about how Blades president Steve Hogle played things up.

    Out of the obscure pieces of information that seem to come my way, I discovered that the young couple had gotten engaged. They are slated to be married on Aug. 25, 2018.

    If you have ever seen Corey Howe and Davis Parkinson together, they make a really sweet and cute couple, and both have a great sense of humour. Here is hoping they have a spectacular wedding day, and they make a lifetime of wonderful memories together.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

Blades set to hit another homer with home opener

Team to honour former captain with return of the Pac-Man

Dave Chartier, left, speaks to reporters about Bruce Gordon.

    On an emotional level, the Saskatoon Blades appear to be set to match the spectacle of last year’s home opener at this year’s home opener.

    Almost a year ago, the Blades opened the 2016-17 campaign with “Thank You, Mr. Hockey Day” where the club saluted hockey icon in the late Gordie Howe and interred his and the ashes of his late wife, Colleen, at the base of the Gordie Howe statue that resides in front of the SaskTel Centre.

    This year in a campaign where the Blades return to their famous Pac-Man look from the 1980s to the early 1990s, the club will honour a former captain who wore that logo and made a lasting impact on Saskatoon after his hockey days. 

    When the Blades open their regular season schedule on Friday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre against the Swift Current Broncos, the blue and gold will honour Bruce Gordon, who was well-known for his career with the Saskatoon Police Service that spanned 28 years, in a pre-game ceremony.

One of the Blades team pictures featuring Bruce Gordon.

    The Marsden, Sask., product came to the Blades in a trade with the Medicine Hat Tigers early in the 1980-81 campaign, and the grinding winger quickly became the Saskatoon club’s captain. He would leave the major junior ranks following the 1981-82 campaign having collected 17 goals, 53 assists and 552 penalty minutes in 112 regular season games with the Blades.

    Following his time playing hockey, Gordon moved on to build a distinguished career with the police starting out on regular patrol, becoming a detective sergeant in the sex crimes unit and then to major crimes. Gordon became well-known for cracking cases that appeared to be unsolvable.

    At age 50, he retired from policing to study law at the University of Saskatchewan with the goal to become a defence lawyer. Gordon graduated from law school last spring, but on June 8, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. On June 29, a special ceremony was held at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Saskatoon to call the 54-year-old to the bar.

    This ceremony is traditionally held in autumn, but an exception was made in Gordon’s case to hold the ceremony earlier due to his cancer diagnosis.

Bruce Gordon’s old Blades uniform on display.

    The Blades announced their plans to honour Gordon, who also coached minor hockey and volunteered at local road races, during a press conference on Monday at the SaskTel Centre. A fitting trio of characters who have character were brought in to speak at the presser who all have links to both the Saskatoon Police Service and the WHL.

    The trio included Dave Chartier, who was one of Gordon’s former teammates with the Blades and a former partner with the police service, and he talked about his deep friendship with the hard-working forward. Long time veteran Blades assistant coach Jerome Engele, who was a former Blades defenceman from 1966 to 1971 and built his own distinguished career with the Saskatoon Police Service, also delivered a short but heartfelt tribute. Both Chartier and Engele are retired from the police service.

    The third member to speak was Patrick Nogier, who played goal for two seasons in the WHL from 1985 to 1987 split between the Kamloops Blazers and Broncos and is still an inspector for the Saskatoon Police Service, and he spoke about Gordon’s never give up characteristics.

    Chartier was a 17-year-old rookie defenceman when he became teammates with Gordon in 1981-82, when the latter was embarking on what would be his final season in junior hockey. They developed a lifelong friendship and actually live next door to each other in the current day.

Inspector Patrick Nogier speaks about Bruce Gordon.

    Chartier will be one of a number of former teammates on hand for Friday’s festivities including Brian Skrudland, Daryl Stanley, Todd Strubey, Roger Kortko and Ron Dreger. Dennis Beyak, who is the voice of the Winnipeg Jets and the Blades assistant general manager during Gordon’s years, will be the emcee for the ceremony. Jackie McLeod and Daryl Lubiniecki, who both had long runs in the roles of head coach and general manager of the Blades, will also be on hand.

    During the presser, Chartier recalled one of the many recent talks he had with Gordon.

    “I asked him if he was scared,” said Chartier. “He said he was not scared.

    “He was just sad. He was sad for things that he won’t see his grand kids (and) his great relationship with his wife (Chris). It doesn’t surprise me one bit that he said he is not scared.

    “As a young guy going to training camp, I saw the determination and the lack of fear that he had as a leader for the Blades.”

    Engele spoke about how members of the police service are held to a higher standard than what is expected of the general public and that the Blades players are expected to hold themselves at a higher level away from the rink and treat everyone with respect. 

Long time Blades assistant coach Jerome Engele talks about Bruce Gordon.

    He said Gordon fit those expectations perfectly.

    “Bruce (Gordon) was a very good example of that as a police officer,” said Engele. “You couldn’t ask for a better person to work with - a harder working person.

    “I would call him a police officer on the ice. He was a hard-nosed hockey player who did his job and worked extremely hard.

    “You would put him more in terms of a plumber level player when he was on the ice. When he was on the ice, he carried a lot of respect.”

    Nogier, whose son Nelson played defence for the Blades from 2012 to 2014, worked with Gordon in the sex crimes unit for a couple of years. The former netminder spoke that the members of the police service think of Gordon when evaluating potential new officers noting the former Blades captain’s integrity and work ethic.

    “When we are looking to hire new prospective young individuals that want to join our police service, we are looking for people that bring certain characteristics with them,” said Nogier. “We look for the person that we know is going to be put into a situation and take those situations on head on.

Blades president Steve Hogle outlines the festivities for Friday night.

    “I heard that there was only six degrees of separation from talking about the sporting world and the policing world. What I’ve learned that when it comes to hockey there is only 1.5 degrees of separation when it comes to that.

    “When I met Bruce (Gordon), I knew quite quickly that this was an individual that for obvious reasons had all those characteristics.”

    Besides former teammates, police officers from Saskatoon and Regina will be attending Friday’s game along with lawyers, triathletes and cross fit athletes. Gordon completed as a triathlete and also took part in ironman competitions.

    During Friday’s game, the Blades will be raising money for cancer research at the Royal University Hospital with the auction of a Kelly Chase signed jersey, the sale of “Be Like Bruce” t-shirts and the proceeds from the night’s 50/50 draw.

A display of some of the Blades Pac-Man jerseys.

    “He (Gordon) exemplified at the rink what a teammate was all about,” said Chartier. “He didn’t want any glory.

    “He took care of each and every one of us. I think we all owe him the respect of coming back this Friday and saying thank you.”

    Blades president Steve Hogle expects few tears will be shed during the festivities on Friday night for Gordon.

    “Everybody he came into contact with was absolutely blown away about how he put others first,” said Hogle.

    “The impact he has had on people is made obvious to us by the reaction that we’ve seen with the alumni, with the police, with the triathlon community, with the legal community, with the cross fit community and they are all rallying and coming out on Friday night.”

    The tribute for Gordon is more than justified. You would be hard pressed to find anyone else that wore the team’s old Pac-Man logo that went on to have bigger impact on the Saskatoon community than Gordon did.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

Blades extend contracts of Brockman, Thoma and Keller

Blades HC Dean Brockman speaks to the media at the SaskTel Centre.

    The Saskatoon Blades solidified their coaching ranks for the foreseeable future.

    On Thursday, the team announced head coach Dean Brockman and assistant coaches Bryce Thoma and Ryan Keller have been signed to multi-year contract extensions that run through to the end of the 2019-20 season. Assistant coach Jerome Engele and goaltending coach Tim Cheveldae, who have been in their roles for a number of seasons, will also return for another campaign.

    Brockman, Thoma, Keller, Engele and Cheveldae all worked together as a unit in their present roles for the first time last season. Despite a large rash of injuries, they guided the Blades to a ninth overall finish in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 28-35-7-2 record to sit five points back of the Calgary Hitmen for the conference’s final playoff berth.

    While the Blades failed to make the post-season for the fourth year in a row, last season marked the closest the franchise has come to earning a playoff berth since being purchased by Mike Priestner before the start of the 2013-14 campaign. Priestner took over a club that faced a long rebuild after hosting the Memorial Cup championship tournament in 2013 and also loaded up to try and make a long playoff run in 2011, which ultimately ended in the second round.

    During a news conference held at the SaskTel Centre on Thursday, Blades general manager Colin Priestner, who is Mike’s son, said it was important for continuity to keep the current coaching staff together.

    “It was just something that was just logical for me and our management,” said Priestner. “It was just a trying season on all regards, and I think they just showed throughout the year they got better and better.

Blades GM Colin Priestner announces the coach contract extensions.

    “It was a no-brainer for us. It was just a logical extension of the work that they did last year, and we want to have these guys be a part of what we are building in terms of building a championship team and a championship type franchise.”

    Brockman joined the Blades as an assistant coach before the start of the 2014-15 season and moved up to head coach in June of 2016, when former head coach Bob Woods moved on to be an assistant coach with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. Woods is now an assistant head coach with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild.

    Before joining the Blades, Brockman was best known for his 17 years in the junior A ranks working with the Humboldt Broncos from 1997 to 2014. He started as an assistant coach and assistant general manager before becoming the head coach and general manager in 2004. During Brockman’s years in Humboldt, the Broncos won the Royal Bank Cup for junior A supremacy in 2003 and 2008.

    Brockman was pleased to see his contract get extended to run in total for the next three seasons.

    “I think it is big, because it tells your players that I am going to be the guy that they are going to have to listen to over the next couple of years,” said the 50-year-old veteran bench boss. “You just develop that deeper rapport with them.

    “For me and I think the organization, it was important just to try and have some stability in this position.”

    Brockman added to was key to have Thoma, 35, Keller, 33, Engele, 66, and Cheveldae, 49, all back on the staff together for another season.

    “We have to be one unit,” said Brockman. “Having those guys back, it is great.

    “There is not a lot of awkwardness, because we know what everybody is thinking. It is just everybody knows how to react to things. Obviously, you tweak things throughout the year and see what you did wrong.

    “You want to make them right. It is easier to do it with guys that you know. When you don’t know the guys, there is always that stage where you get through that awkwardness.”

Brockman plans to be consistent in his style.

    “I’ve been a players’ coach all my life,” said Brockman. “I think my players respect me as I respect them.

    “That is something that you have to earn over time. Hopefully last year, I’ve earned that from them. I certainly earned it the other way.”

Blades HC Dean Brockman is ready for the season to start.

    With all the injuries that occurred last season, Priestner was impressed with how Brockman and his staff keep the players positive and the team moving forward.

    “The hits just kept on coming, and they dealt with them extremely well,” said Priestner. “I think the group that we had really jelled together over the year.

    “I think as an entire staff we came a long way from where we started. We really wanted to reward these gentlemen for the work they did.”

    The Blades open training camp on Saturday with player registration at the SaskTel Centre, fitness testing at the Elite Pro Performance Centre and ice sessions that run from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. 

    Camp continues all day Sunday and Monday with scrimmages at the SaskTel Centre.     

    All on ice sessions are open to the public.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.