Blades rally past Warriors in playoff type tilt

Two sides will collide in first round of WHL post-season

The Blades and Warriors engage in a third period scrum.

    It was a game that had a bit of everything including a post-season feel.

    On Sunday, the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors took on the Saskatoon Blades before 4,454 spectators at the SaskTel Centre in the final regular season clash between the two sides. The two clubs will meet in a best-of-seven WHL first round playoff series once the regular season concludes.

    As for Sunday’s clash, the Warriors held leads of 2-0 and 3-1 only to see the Blades close things out with four consecutive goals to pull out a 5-3 victory.

Max Gerlach scored his 40th goal of the season on Sunday.

    Saskatoon won five out of the six head-to-head encounters with Moose Jaw in the regular season.

    Along with the Blades posting a comeback win, Sunday’s contest featured a stopped penalty shot, some chippy play, trash talking and a post-game standoff. The standoff occurred right after the Blades gave a salute to the crowd.

    Most of the Warriors players hadn’t left their bench yet, and they were yelling at the players on the Saskatoon side. The Blades players formed a line on the ice and fired verbal barbs back at the Moose Jaw side.

    The officials ultimately ushered both clubs to their respective dressing rooms.

    The win was the seventh in a row for the Blades allowing them to improve to 44-14-8. Saskatoon has won 14 out of its last 15 games and is 28-5-3 since last Dec. 1. 

Tristin Langan scored his 50th goal of the season on Sunday.

    The Warriors fell to 37-20-6-2 with the setback.

    While the Blades have piled up the wins, standout left-winger “Uncle” Gary Haden said posting a comeback win over Moose Jaw was important for his team.

    “It was big for sure,” said Haden. “Being down two goals twice in the game, it is not wanted obviously.

    “We didn’t get off to the start we wanted either. I think it showed good resiliency battling back against a team we are going to meet in the first round and hopefully setting a tone for the first round of playoffs.”

    The Warriors jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals coming off the sticks of 16-year-old rookie defenceman Daemon Hunt and overage star centre Tristin Langan.

    Saskatoon had a chance to score on a penalty shot from rookie left-winger Kyle Crnkovic, when the Warriors were up 1-0, but the Chestermere, Alta., product was stopped by Warriors netminder Brodan Salmond.

    With the post-season just around the corner, Blades head coach Mitch Love was curious to see how his side would respond to the jump the Warriors got on the scoreboard in the opening 20 minutes.

Justin Almeida had a beauty assist on the Warriors third goal.

    “The one thing that we talked about after the first period was going down 2-0 is we’re going to be faced with this here in a couple of weeks for real,” said Love. “I was kind interested in the character in terms of just staying to the plan and staying the course.

    “It is something that we talked about all the time. Our guys did a real good job of that tonight.”

    The Blades broke through on the scoreboard, when overage star right-winger Max Gerlach wired home a shot at the 12:03 mark of the second period to cut the Warriors lead to 2-1. Gerlach’s goal came during a span of four-on-four action due to penalties.

    Just 20 seconds later, Langan one-timed a setup pass from linemate Justin Almeida to give the visitors a 3-1 lead during that same span of four-on-four action.

Dawson Davidson scores a key power-play goal for the Blades.

    Momentum swung again just over three minutes later. The Blades were about to go on a two-man advantage for 33 seconds, and club’s coaching staff called a timeout to draw up a play for an offensive zone faceoff.

    On that faceoff, Haden won the draw to linemate Ryan Hughes, who got the puck over to offensive defenceman Dawson Davidson. Davidson sniped home a mid-range shot to cut the Warriors lead to 3-2.

    “I told Hughesy to help me on the draw, because I was going against (Tristin) Langan,” said Haden. “I just said, ‘Hey, I’m going to try and tie him up. I just don’t want to lose it clean.’

    “I kind of won it, and he (Hughes) poked it to Davy (Davidson). Davy made it all look easy, and I will take that assist anytime.”

    After killing off a Warriors power play early in the third period, the Blades evened things up at 3-3, when a pass from Gerlach was deflected into the Moose Jaw goal by Haden off an offensive rush. The tally was Haden’s 30^th goal of the season marking the first time he hit that plateau in his WHL career.

The Blades celebrate Gary Haden’s 30th goal of the season.

    “It is super cool,” said Haden. “Obviously, I didn’t come into this year thinking I was going to score 30.

    “I just wanted to play consistent hockey. You have to give my linemates credit. I couldn’t have done it without them.

    “Hopefully, there is a lot more to come this year.”

    Love thought Davidson’s power-play goal and Haden’s equalizer after a successful penalty kill were key moments in Sunday’s game.

    “We talked about the special teams being a factor in regular season play and it was again tonight,” said Love. “I thought our penalty kill to start the third period was huge.

    “Going down 4-2 versus getting through there down 3-2 and staying the course and getting some goals to happen right after that kill was huge in the hockey game.”

Gary Haden scored twice for the Blades on Sunday.

    The Blades took a 4-3 lead at the 5:24 mark of the third when overage defenceman Brandon Schuldhaus passed the puck from the point down to Gerlach, who was open in close at the right side of the Moose Jaw net. Gerlach sniped home his second of the contest and 40^th of the season to give the Blades their one-goal edge.

    Gerlach had scored 30-or-more goals in each of his first three seasons in the league, but Sunday marked the first time he hit the 40-goal plateau in one campaign.

    “That obviously felt really good,” said Gerlach. “You want to do as best as you can for the team to help them win.

    “Obviously, I think those were two really big goals - one to get us started and then one to kind of seal things off there. I was obviously really excited about that. Any way I can help the team I feel great about it.”

    Looking to shake things up, the Warriors coaches pulled Salmond after Gerlach’s go-ahead goal. Salmond actually had a strong night turning away 36-of-40 shots sent his way.

Blades captain Chase Wouters (#44) battles past the Warriors defence.

    Adam Evanoff played the rest of the way in relief turning away all nine shots he faced.

    Haden scored into an empty net with 55.4 seconds remaining in the third period to seal with win for the Blades.

    Nolan Maier made 21 saves to pick up the win in goal for Saskatoon.

    The Warriors travel to Brandon on Wednesday to face the Wheat Kings at 7 p.m. local time at Westoba Place.

    The Blades close out their regular season schedule with a home-and-home series with their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders. The two sides meet on Friday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. They go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

Blades C Kirby Dach eludes Warriors D Dalton Hamaliuk.

    The Blades and Warriors open their playoff series on March 22 at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. Love said the Blade 5-1 record against the Warriors in the regular season won’t mean anything when the post-season starts.

    “Everything is out the door now against those guys,” said Love. “We start from scratch.

    “It is going to be a grind. It was a grinding game. I think they started to fatigue playing three games in three nights.

    “We had the game last night against Swift Current, so we had a little more juice. That is a good hockey team over there, and we are going to have to be really, really sharp with details to stop that group.”

The Blades salute the SaskTel Centre crowd after their win on Sunday.

    NOTES - Blades rookie defenceman Aiden De La Gorgendiere left the second period of Sunday’s game with an upper body injury. He is expected to undergo further evaluations on Monday.

    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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Blades wipe out Warriors 6-1

The Blades celebrate a power-play goal from Brandon Schuldhaus.

    It seems Jack Frost might have been a tougher adversary for the Saskatoon Blades than the Moose Jaw Warriors were over the last 24 hours.

    In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Blades returned to the SaskTel Centre after thumping the Wheat Kings in Brandon 7-3 on Tuesday night. Fighting temperatures that were well below -30 C, the Blades players, coaches and staff members got their vehicles going to head home to rest up for what was expected to be an intense tilt about 13 hours later with Moose Jaw.

    The Blades didn’t show any signs of fatigue when they returned Wednesday night to the SaskTel Centre for that night’s WHL regular season clash.

Kirby Dach had two assists for the Blades on Wednesday night.

    Before 3,281 spectators, they dismantled the visiting Warriors 6-1 holding an impressive 48-20 edge in shots on goal.

    With the win, the Blades improved to 32-13-8 to remain fourth overall in the WHL standings, while the Warriors fell to 28-13-6-2 to remain seventh overall on the circuit.

    “It was a big win for our hockey club, especially after last night’s travel arrangements coming home,” said Blades head coach Mitch Love. “Guys didn’t get back to their billets until about 5:30 in the morning, especially when a few cars didn’t start.

    “It was a little bit of adversity there, but it was a great effort up and down our lineup from everybody. We knew the importance of the game and found a way.”

Dawson Davidson had a goal and two assists for the Blades.

    The Blades stormed the Warriors in the opening 20 minutes outshooting the visitors 21-5. The host side took a 1-0 lead at the 9:46 mark of the opening frame, when 16-year-old rookie left-winger Kyle Crnkovic fired home a goal from the right side of the Moose Jaw net converting a backdoor feed from offensive defenceman Dawson Davidson.

    With 11.1 seconds to play in the first period, Blades captain Chase Wouters banged home a gritty goal on the power play from the front of the Moose Jaw goal to put Saskatoon up 2-0.

    “The Bridge City Bunch” kept the foot on the gas pedal at the start of the second. Just 54 seconds into the frame, speedy right-winger Ryan Hughes slipped a backhander past Warriors netminder Adam Evanoff to give the Blades a 3-0 advantage with his 20^th goal of the campaign.

Ryan Hughes picked up his 20th goal of the season on Wednesday night.

    “Anytime you can end the period with a goal and start a period with a goal, it is huge,” said Hughes. “Knowing from experience that happening against, it takes the wind right out of you.

    “That was good there in the first and the second.”

    The Warriors tried to stop the bleeding at the 12:53 of the second, when star left-winger Justin Almeida potted a power-play goal for his 21^st tally of the season.

    Any thoughts of a comeback were dashed with 1:49 remaining in the second, when Davidson scored a power-play goal off an offensive zone rush to put the Blades up 4-1. Davidson converted a beauty drop pass from high energy left-winger Riley McKay to give the host side a three-goal edge.

Blades captain Chase Wouters fights for a loose puck.

    Davidson finished the night posting a goal, two assists and a plus-one rating in the plus-minus department. The Moosomin, Sask., product has recorded points in his last 11 straight games piling two goals and 15 assists over that span of time.

    “It has been a good little run here,” said Davidson. “I’ve just been playing my game.

    “I haven’t been worried about it. I think that is something that can to players when they get on these streaks. I know I’ve gotten on a couple in the past, and I started kind of thinking about it a little bit.

    “It has gotten in my head where I feel like right now I’m just kind of playing my game and letting things come.”

    Overage right-winger Max Gerlach wired home a power-play goal for his 32^nd marker of the campaign and overage rearguard Brandon Schuldhaus hammered home a power-play goal of his own to round out the Blades scoring in the third.

Warriors D Jett Woo and Blades RW Kristian Roykas-Marthinsen scrum it up.

    Nolan Maier turned away 19 shots in goal for the Blades. Adam Evanoff stopped 42 shots in goal for the Warriors.

    Crnkovic had helpers on the final two Saskatoon goals to finish the contest with a three-point night. Veteran defenceman Nolan Kneen had a pair of assists for the Blades.

    Wednesday’s encounter included some rough stuff as the final result was well in hand. With 3:20 remaining in the third and the Blades holding a 5-1 lead, Warriors defenceman Jett Woo took a run at Blades star sophomore centre Kirby Dach well before an intended pass got to where Dach was on the ice.

    Woo nailed Dach starting a scrum. The Warriors rearguard received a major penalty for charging on the play which will automatically trigger a review by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

Nolan Kneen had a pair of assists for the Blades.

    Dach, who picked up two assists on Wednesday, finished the game and didn’t look any worse for wear during a postgame media scrum. He thought everyone on his team played well and was pleased to see 11 different players on the Blades pick up points.

    “There are going to be games where your top offensive players aren’t going to be able to produce every night,” said Dach. “You need that secondary scoring, and that is going to help you out in the long run.”

    Dach was proud of how his team played on a short turnaround after returning early Wednesday morning from Brandon.

Ryan Hughes gives a stick to a young fan at the end of Wednesday’s game.

    “Obviously, it was pretty good to get that good start,” said Dach. “We got home late from Brandon 5:30 to 6 in the morning.

    “We got our rest. We got a good meal in us at around noon. We had our naps, and we came to the rink ready to play.

    “I think we put the league on notice that we are there to stay, and we’re a good team.”

    The Blades return to action on Saturday when they travel to Swift Current to take on the Broncos at 5 p.m. at the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex.

    The Warriors hit the ice again on Friday when they travel to Lethbridge to take on the Hurricanes at 7 p.m. local time at the Enmax Centre.

    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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Leason’s late game magic delivers Raiders hard fought 4-3 win over Warriors

The Raiders celebrate Brett Leason's winning goal on Saturday.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Brett Leason stepped up in a prime time moment to power his Prince Albert Raiders past a red hot foe.

    On Saturday night before a standing room crowd of 2,630 spectators at the 2,580 Art Hauser Centre, the Raiders held a 3-2 lead on their WHL East Division rivals the Moose Jaw Warriors late in the third period of a regular season encounter. With 4:15 remaining in the third period, Warriors star left-winger Justin Almeida scored on the tail end of a power play to even things up at 3-3.

    It appeared the Warriors, who had won their last four straight and picked up standings points in their last eight games, had the momentum to rally for the win.

    At that point, Leason stepped up to play the role of hero for the host side.

Brett Leason came through with a clutch winner for the Raiders.

    With 2:25 remaining in the third, Leason took a beauty setup pass in the right slot from overage centre Noah Gregor and drove home the winning goal to give the Raiders a 4-3 victory. Leason’s winner allowed the Raiders to soften the sting of a 6-3 setback taken at the Art Hauser Centre against the Central Division leading Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday night.

    “It was great timing for sure,” said Leason, who leads the Raiders in scoring with 32 goals and 43 assists for 75 points. “Gregor made a great pass to me.

    “We’ve been battling back and forth all game. They tie it up, and we pop back right ahead. It was nice to get that relief in the last few minutes.”

    The win allowed the Raiders to improve their WHL leading record to 42-7-0-2. 

Justin Almeida had a late third period equalizer for the Warriors.

    While the wins are still coming for the Raiders, they have experienced a few more valleys for about the last month. Head coach Marc Habscheid was pleased to see Leason come through in the clutch.

    “It was obviously a big goal,” said Habscheid. “Wins aren’t coming easy right now.

    “The game is not coming easy. We’re not winning 7-1. We played a good team last night and didn’t play great.

    “We played a good team tonight and played much better. I thought we deserved the win for sure.”

    The first two periods of Saturday’s game swung back and forth.

    At the 4:34 mark of the opening frame, Raiders star left-winger Cole Fonstad wired home his 21^st goal of the season from the front of the Moose Jaw net to give the host side a 1-0 lead.

    The Warriors evened things up with 19.1 seconds remaining in the first period, when captain Josh Brook slipped home a bad angle goal on the power play to force a 1-1 score.

Cole Fonstad had the Raiders first goal on Saturday.

    Prince Albert jumped back in front 2-1 at the 4:50 mark of the second, when Raiders overage centre Sean Montgomery tipped home an off-speed point shot from captain Brayden Pachal.

    Moose Jaw forced a 2-2 tie scoring on the power play at the 15:31 mark of the second when right-winger Brayden Tracey, who is having a stellar 17-year-old rookie season, converted a backdoor feed from Brook. The tally was Tracey’s 23^rd goal and 52^nd point of the campaign.

    Before the second period ended, the Raiders jumped back out in front 3-2 when rookie defenceman Kaiden Guhle’s point drive found the back of the Warriors goal.

    “They bring it every time we play,” said Leason. “We just have to stick to the system and play as quick as we can.

    “We need to be a little gritty at times against them too.”

    On the power-play chance where the Warriors tied the game in the third, they worked with a two-man advantage for 1:20. After the two-man advantage ended, they ultimately scored with seven seconds remaining on the leftover one-man advantage.

Jett Woo had three assists for the Warriors on Saturday.

    That set the stage for Leason to get the winner moments later.

    “After the last couple of weeks and how we’ve been struggling a little bit, I think that was a huge character win for us,” said Raiders star netminder Ian Scott. “It was something that we can compare a lot to like a playoff game.

    “They are a good team. We know we are going to be up for a battle, when we play those guys. It is just who wants it more when we come to those games.”

    Scott made 28 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Brodan Salmond turned away 31 shots to take the setback in net for the Warriors (28-12-6-2).
    Defenceman Jett Woo had assists on all three of Moose Jaw’s goals.

    For Scott, Saturday’s game was a bounce back one after being pulled in the third period of Friday’s loss to the Oil Kings. The Calgary, Alta., product thought he competed harder in Saturday’s game than he did on Friday night.

    “I think it was just the battling, staying with it,” said Scott. “You’re going to have nights where you fight it like last night, you know rough patches.

Ian Scott made 28 saves in goal for the Raiders on Saturday.

    “As long as you keep working hard, and just keep in the right mindset it will get better.”

    The rivalry the two sides built from the Warriors winning a tough seven game first round series in last year’s WHL playoffs showed through at the end of Saturday’s clash.

    After time expired in the third period, Brook slew footed Raiders import defenceman Sergei Sapego. As the Warriors captain was being led away from Sapego by the officials, a scrum ensued when Raiders right-winger Justin Nachbaur tried to get at Brook.

    Nachbaur ended up getting tangled up with Warriors centre Tristin Langan.

    When the dust settled, Nachbaur was given a fighting major and a game misconduct. Langan was assessed a minor penalty for leaving the penalty box, a fighting major and a game misconduct. He was in the penalty box after taking a checking from behind minor penalty with 67 seconds remaining in the third.

Sean Montgomery had the Raiders second goal on Saturday.

    Brook didn’t receive any infractions at the end of the contest.

    The WHL office will likely review what happened at the end of Saturday’s contest for possible further discipline.

    With the Raiders being rated first in the CHL’s Top 10 rankings, Habscheid expects his Raiders will be involved in encounters that were similar in intensity to Saturday’s game going forward.

    “I think everyone who plays us is obviously treating it like a Game 7 to beat us,” said Habscheid. “In the end, that is going to make us better.

    “If we don’t have our A-game, then we lose. Tonight, we played a team that was on a roll. They were on a winning streak.

    “We deserved the win. Their power play was good. That is where they made us pay, but five-on-five, I thought we were real good tonight.”

    The Raiders return to action when they travel to Edmonton to face the Oil Kings at 7 p.m. Edmonton time at Rogers Place.

Josh Brook (#2) skates away after slew footing Sergei Sapego.

    Saturday’s contest marked the second time the Raiders played at home over a 12 game stretch that started on Jan. 16 and wraps up on Feb. 13.

    The Warriors hit the ice again on Wednesday when they travel to Saskatoon to face the Blades at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

    NOTES – Saturday’s contest was the Raiders’ “WHL Suits Up” with Don Cherry to promote organ donation game. The Raiders wore specially designed Don Cherry-themed jerseys that were auctioned off during the contest. All proceeds of the auction go towards the Prince Albert chapter of the Kidney Foundation of Canada.

The Raiders salute their fans after Saturday’s win.

    It was also parents’ weekend for the Raiders, and the team honour the moms and billet moms of the players before Saturday’s game.

    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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Warriors becoming playoff tough in battle with Raiders

Warriors winger Tate Popple (#18) withstands punishment in front of the net.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - Getting the Prince Albert Raiders in the first round of the WHL playoffs was supposed to be a nightmare for the Moose Jaw Warriors.

    In actuality, that matchup is turning out to be what the Warriors might need.

    After finishing first in the entire WHL with a 52-15-2-3 record, the Warriors didn’t get rewarded by drawing what would typically be a weaker club in the first round of the playoffs. Due to a format where clubs play through their division, the Warriors were forced to face the Raiders, who posted a 32-27-9-4 mark during the regular season, in a best-of-seven first round series.

    The East Division that both teams play out of was viewed this season as one of the toughest divisions the league had seen in some time.

Justin Almeida cuts up ice for the Warriors.

    With the Warriors having only won one post-season series over the previous five years, a date with the hard-hitting and skilled Raiders might be the thing that prepares the Warriors for the rest of the post-season as they move into position to potentially advance to the second round.

    On Wednesday before 2,827 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre, the Warriors claimed a classic gritty playoff contest 2-0 over the host Raiders in Game 4 of their first round series. The win gives the Warriors a 3-1 lead in the set.

    The Warriors will try to close out the series in Game 5 on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw.

Winger Brayden Burke sets up in the offensive zone for the Warriors.

    In the first period of Wednesday’s clash, the Raiders came out playing in their classic style throwing a number of hits. Raiders defenceman Brayden Pachal and right-winger Carson Miller both nailed Moose Jaw left-winger Ryan Peckford with big hits. Peckford seemed to be on the receiving end of big hits at various times during the night.

    Due to the fact the Warriors have a lot of speed and skill this season, they will continually face teams in the post-season that will try to make them back down by increasing the physical intensity. The key for Moose Jaw to counter this is to play through this type of attention and not do anything dumb in the retaliation department to draw a penalty.

    Early in the second, Pachal, who stands 6-feet and weighs 195 pounds, leveled Warriors overage centre and 70-goal man Jayden Halbgewachs, who stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 165 pounds, with a high hit. The collision didn’t stop Halbgewachs, who topped the WHL in regular season scoring, from driving hard to the net.

Raiders winger Cole Fonstad had a goal called back.

    The odd time, the Warriors did lose their cool. In the second period, 17-year-old defenceman Jett Woo was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct for knocking the stick out of the hands of Raiders rookie left-winger Justin Nachbaur.

    Those lapses were few and far between as Moose Jaw played with great composure for most of the night.

    The Warriors were finally rewarded for their resilience with 3:57 to play in the second period. Centre Justin Almeida streaked down centre towards the Prince Albert net, took a pass from a teammate at the right side boards and fired home is second goal of the post-season to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.

    Defenceman Josh Brook and right-winger Brayden Burke picked up assists on the tally.

    The Raiders continued their physical play with defenceman Zack Hayes nailing Burke and Raiders centre Sean Montgomery nailing Peckford, who came up favouring his right shoulder but stayed in the game.

Jayden Halbgewachs, left, zips down the wing for the Warriors.

    After two periods, the play between the two sides was fairly even with the Raiders holding a 21-17 edge in shots on goal.

    The hosts pushed hard for the equalizer in the third, but Warriors netminder Brody Willms stood tall. He ultimately made 32 saves to earn his first career WHL post-season shutout.

    The Raiders thought they had the equalizer at the 10:24 mark of the third, when right-winger Cole Fonstad fired home a long rebound at the left side of the Moose Jaw goal. The officials had a lengthy conference and ruled Raiders defenceman Max Martin made incidental contact with Willms and disallowed the goal.

Raiders C Jordy Stallard (#19) chases a loose puck after a draw.

    The fans in attendance voiced their displeasure over the call.

    Fonstad created a tonne of offensive chances for the host all game.

    With 80 seconds to play, the Raiders pulled netminder Ian Scott for an extra attacker, but Prince Albert couldn’t final the equalizer. With 15.6 seconds remaining on the clock, Brook sent Burke into the clear on a breakaway towards the empty Prince Albert net, and Burke sealed with win with an empty-net tally.

    Scott turned away 20-of-21 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders.

    The Raiders with their physical play had the potential to wear down the Warriors over a long series.

Warriors D Josh Brook and G Brody Willms celebrate their team’s win.

    Now the Warriors have a chance to close out a series against a tough opponent that is playing hard, playing to win and believes they can win.

    If the Warriors can win at home on Saturday, that would set them up nicely for the second round.

    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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Warriors OK with being hunted

WHL’s top squad knows foes will keep them honest

Brecon Wood (#17) scored a first period goal for the Warriors.

    Jayden Halbgewachs said you can tell his Moose Jaw Warriors are gunned for by every other team in the WHL.

    On Sunday afternoon at the SaskTel Centre, the Warriors took a 3-1 lead against the host Saskatoon Blades only to see that edge evaporate into a 3-3 tie early in the third period. With 7:03 to play in the third, Warriors standout overage right-winger Brayden Burke snuck a bad angle shot home short side on Blades sensational rookie netminder Nolan Maier to give the visitors a 4-3 edge.

    Burke’s goal restored control of the contest to Moose Jaw. Halbgewachs potted his 51^st goal of the season into an empty net with 4.9 seconds to play in the third to seal a 5-3 regular season victory and disappoint most of the 4,511 spectators in attendance.

Brett Howden had a goal and an assist for the Warriors.

    The win was the third in a row for the Warriors and their 11^th victory in their past 12 games. They lead the entire WHL with a 38-7-1-2 record and have a nine point cushion on the 33-11-3-1 Swift Current Broncos for the overall lead in the standings. Moose Jaw is rated second in the Canadian Hockey League’s Top 10 rankings.

    While the Warriors are enjoying what might turn out to be their best campaign in team history, Halbgewachs, an overage right-winger who has spent his entire WHL playing career in Moose Jaw, said the wins haven’t come easy. As the Warriors pile up accolades, Halbgewachs has noticed foes play his side that much harder. He said his team claimed a hard battle on Friday downing the Memorial Cup hosting Pats in Regina 5-3 and had to find a way to outlast the Blades on Sunday.

    “Obviously, everyone wants to take off the top team,” said Halbgewachs. “Each and every night teams are going to want to come in to play us, and they want beat us every time we play them.

    “They are going to play tough against us. We have to bring our game every night and find ways to win, even if we are not having a hot night like tonight. We had a pretty good game in Regina (on Friday).

Jayden Halbgewachs has 51 goals so far this season for the Warriors.

    “Tonight was just an average game for us in which we need to find a way to play our best game every game.”

    The Warriors had a strong campaign last season posting a 42-21-8-1 record in the regular season before falling in a first round playoff series to the Swift Current Broncos in a series deciding seventh game.

    This season, the Warriors have become the team everyone wants to knock off, and they have been forced to stay honest playing in what has become an extra tough East Division.

    The Blades fell to 23-22-2-1 with their loss on Sunday, but Burke said the Saskatoon side hasn’t been an easy out. The two teams have met four times, and the Warriors have come away with three victories including one win in overtime.

Brayden Burke scored the winner for the Warriors.

    “They (the Blades) are a good team,” said Burke. “They work hard.

    “They shoot the puck well. They forecheck well. They have a good system.

    “Even though they are a little lower in the standings, we know they are a good team. If you look at the East Division, there is not a bad team. Every time we come against a team in the East Division, we have to be at our best, if we want to win, and today was no different.”

    The Warriors jumped ahead 1-0 just 1:48 into Sunday’s clash, when captain Brett Howden tapped home a nice backdoor feed form Halbgewachs. Sophomore left-winger Brecon Woods slipped home an off-speed shot at the 11:42 mark of the opening frame to give the Warriors a 2-0 edge.

    Josh Paterson, who was celebrating his 19^th birthday on Sunday, scored for the Blades with 15.4 seconds to play in the first to cut Moose Jaw’s lead to 2-1.

    Just 51 seconds into the second period, Warriors centre Justin Almeida converted a beauty tick-tack-toe passing play from Burke and Howden to put the Warriors up 3-1.

    The Blades, who look lethargic to that point after beating Pats 4-3 in overtime at the SaskTel Centre on Saturday night, came to life on Sunday after the Warriors took their two-goal edge.

Josh Paterson scored twice in the Blades attempted comeback.

    While Moose Jaw continued to have a decent advantage as far as shots on goal were concerned, the Blades were stringing a number of good shifts together and spending lengthy stretches of time in the Moose Jaw zone.

    The host side’s pressure finally resulted in Paterson’s second goal of the contest and an equalizer from left-winger Eric Florchuk early in the third to force a 3-3 tie.

    That set the stage for Burke’s winner and Halbgewachs’ empty-net goal down the stretch.

    “I kind of went to the net and just wacked it there,” said Burke about his winning tally. “It was maybe a little bit of luck to get in there, but I am happy with the goal and happy with the win.”

    Maier turned away 31 of 35 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades.

The Warriors celebrate their victory over the Blades.

    Saskatoon sits in the second wildcard spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a four point edge over the Prince Albert Raiders (18-20-7-2). The Raiders have a game in hand on the Blades.
    The Blades are four points behind the Pats (24-20-5) for the first wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference with a game in hand.

    Brody Willms stopped 16 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Warriors.

    During the rough patches, Halbgewachs was pleased to see his side never got flustered.

    “Throughout the game, we were just kind of even keel,” said Halbgewachs. “We weren’t really too hot. We weren’t too low.

    “We just kind of rolled through the game. I think we could have played a lot better, but obviously, we got enough chances to win the game. That is the way the game went tonight.”

    The Blades return to action Wednesday, when they travel to Regina to face the Pats. The Warriors are off until this coming Friday, when they travel to Lethbridge to take on the Hurricanes.

Fundraiser underway to have Lazaruk sing national anthem

Blades play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk is participating in a fundraiser.

    A gofundme.com fundraiser is underway to get Les Lazaruk to sing the national anthem before a Saskatoon Blades home game.

    Lazaruk became the Blades play-by-play radio voice at the start of the 1994-95 WHL campaign and he has called 1,794 of their games. If $1,500 is raised, Lazaruk will sing the national anthem before a Blades home game. As of Sunday night, $425 has been raised.

    Lazaruk agreed to this fundraiser as long as the money went to a charity of his choice. He has decided the funds raised will be donated to the Saskatchewan Red Cross to support Pink Day, which is set for February 28.

    Every $20 that is raised will provide a pink shirt to a local child and get them into the Red Cross Pink Day program supporting anti-bullying.

    Those that want to donate to the campaign to get Lazaruk to sing the national anthem can do so by clicking here.

Parker lifts Stars to OT victory with milestone goal

Mackenna Parker achieved another impressive SFMAAAHL milestone.

    Captain Mackenna Parker hit another impressive milestone with the Saskatoon Stars.

    On Sunday at the Agriplace Arena, Parker had two goals - including the winner 22 seconds into overtime - and an assist to lift the Stars to a 3-2 victory over the Notre Dame Hounds. With those two tallies, the skilled centre has scored 74 regular season goals in her career with the Stars to move into a tie with Alyssa Wiebe for second on the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League’s all-time career goals list.

    Wiebe, who is a Saskatoon product, piled up her 74 career goals along with 68 assists for 142 points in 55 career regular season games playing for the Hounds in the SFMAAAHL’s first two seasons of existence from 2006 to 2008. Parker, who is in her fourth season with the Stars, piled up her 74 goals to go along with 72 assists for 146 points in 99 career regular season games.

    Earlier this season, Parker passed Wiebe to sit alone as the second all-time regular season leading scorer in the SFMAAAHL.

    In Sunday’s game, Parker drew an assist on Anna Leschyshyn’s goal 60 seconds into the contest to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. Parker netted her first of the night at the 2:07 mark of the second period to give the Stars a 2-0 lead.

Mackenna Parker leads the SFMAAAHL in scoring with 48 points.

    The Hounds pulled even at 2-2 before the second period ended with short-handed goals coming from the sticks of Portia Eldaun and Lyddi Robart.

    That set the stage for Parker, who played for Canada at the under-18 women’s worlds earlier this month in Dmitrov, Russia, to score her dramatic overtime winner. In 18 regular season games this season with the Stars, the 17-year-old has career highs in goals (25) and assists (23) and leads the SFMAAAHL in scoring with her 48 points.

    Jordan Ivanco turned away 13 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Stars (19-3-1). Kaitlyn Ross turned away 42 shots to take the setback in goal for the Hounds (14-6-1).

    The Stars have collected 55 points in the SFMAAAHL standings coming off 16 regulation victories, three overtime wins and an overtime loss to sit one point back of the Prince Albert Northern Bears (19-3) for first place. The Bears have 56 points in the standings coming from 18 regulation wins and an overtime win. 

    The SFMAAAHL awards three standings points for regulation victories, two points for extra time wins and one point for extra time losses.

    The Bears have a game in hand on the Stars.

    The Stars, who have won five straight contests, return to action on February 8, when they host the Battlefords Sharks at 7:15 p.m. at the Agriplace Arena.

    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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Blades so close, yet so far

Saskatoon blanked 2-0 by Warriors in winnable game

A loose pick sits behind Warriors goalie Zach Sawchenko.

    If the Saskatoon Blades ultimately miss the playoffs, they might look back and regret the final outcomes in games like Sunday’s at the SaskTel Centre.

    Playing their third game in three nights and fourth game in five nights, the Blades dropped a 2-0 decision to the Moose Jaw Warriors in a match where the hosts actually showed some really good jump before a gathering of 3,844 spectators. The Blades played well enough to win, and it seemed they came inches away from obtaining victory.

    The game’s story was pictured in one moment in the second period, when the Blades were working on their second power play of the contest. A point shot from Czech import defenceman Libor Hajek squeezed through the pads of Warriors star goalie Zach Sawchenko and came to rest in the crease of the Moose Jaw goal about a foot in front of the goal-line.

The Warriors celebrate a goal from Luka Burzan.

    The puck sat there loose for what seemed like three seconds, and all the players on the ice stopped what they were doing obviously thinking Sawchenko could see the puck. The referee behind the goal-line was in perfect position to see the puck was loose, so no one blew the whistle. Finally, the players started to move, and Sawchenko had the presence to fall backwards, cover the puck and get a stoppage.

    During that sequence, there were Blades fans sitting behind the Moose Jaw net frantically screaming that the puck was loose hoping someone from the host side would react to those screams. For the fans that saw the loose puck, it had to be a time of agony where they were thinking why one of the Blades players couldn’t shove that puck in.

    It seemed all night the Blades were just inches away from being able to score and get in the game.

Sawchenko was forced to make 29 saves for his third shutout of the season.

    Brock Hamm was solid making 20 stops in the Blades net, and he likely deserved a better fate than getting saddled with another loss to his record. Actually, Hamm has lost his last five starts, but played well enough to be on the winning side in most of those games.

Defenceman Libor Hajek controls the puck at the point for the Blades.

    The power play was a sore spot for the Blades on Sunday, because they failed to score on five opportunities with the man advantage. That was the area where it was obvious the Blades haven’t had a full practice in a while to work out kinks due to the volume of games on their schedule.

    When they tried to transition to the offensive zone or set up in the offensive zone, the Blades looked disorganized. There were times when they would accidently get in each other’s way and even run into each other.

    The Warriors, who improved to 38-17-7-1, made good on a couple of timely opportunities. Just past the midway point of the first period, Warriors rookie centre Luka Burzan put his side up 1-0 scoring from the front of the Blades goal on a good individual effort.

Centre Justin Almeida gets set to blast home a goal for the Warriors.

    With 9:50 to play in the third, sophomore centre Justin Almeida blasted home the Warriors second goal with a shot from the slot to give the visitors a 2-0 edge.

    For the last three minutes of the third, the Blades played with Hamm pulled from their net for an extra attacker and had a power play thrown in during that stretch, but still couldn’t put the puck in the Warriors net. The Warriors were pinned in their own zone for lengthy periods of that stretch.

    To add more insult to the situation, the injury bug, which has been awful to the Blades all season, decided to take another bite out of the Saskatoon roster. With 4:10 to play in the second, Russian import defenceman Mark Rubinchik was on the receiving end from a knee-on-knee hit from Warriors 18-year-old centre Noah Gregor.

    Gregor received a major penalty for kneeing and a game misconduct. The major penalty call will automatically be reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

The Blades lost Mark Rubinchik to a knee-on-knee hit.

    Rubinchik was helped by the trainers, but he did skate off under his own power. He ultimately left the game and wasn’t on the Saskatoon bench for most of the third period.

    Blades winger Mason McCarty also received a double minor for high sticking in the third period, and the league will automatically review that play for a possible suspension.

    When everything added up, the Blades fell to 24-31-6-2 and sit two points behind the Calgary Hitmen (24-28-8-2) for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. The Hitmen have a game in hand.

    The Blades now have four days off to regroup before hosting the Kootenay Ice (13-38-8-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. With nine games remaining on their schedule, the Blades are down to their last gasp stretch to make the playoffs for the first time since 2013.

    They need to keep up their effort and find a way to make more of the little inches fall in their favour to avoid once again being on the outside looking in as far as the post-season is concerned.

Huskies season ends in Game 3 heartbreaker

Defender Alyssa Dobler scored the Huskies only goal on Sunday.

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team came up one agonizing win short of returning to the U Sports championship tournament for the first time since 2014.

    On Sunday in Vancouver, the Huskies battled the host University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in a series deciding Game 3 in a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series. The Thunderbirds jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Haneet Parhar and Kelly Murray.

    With 2:32 to play in the opening frame, the Huskies cut the gap to 2-1 thanks to a goal from fifth-year defender Alyssa Dobler. In a series where goals came at a premium, the Huskies couldn’t find the equalizer.

    Nicole Saxvik scored into an empty net with five seconds to play to give the Thunderbirds a 3-1 victory in the game and a 2-1 victory in the series.

    Fifth-year star netminder Cassidy Hendricks stopped 19-of-21 shots playing her final career game in goal for the Huskies. Amelia Boughn turned away 21 shots earning the win in the Thunderbirds goal.
    Besides graduating Dobler and Hendricks, captain Lauren Zary and forward Rachel Johnson also played their final games for U of S in Sunday’s loss.

    The Thunderbirds went into the series as heavy favourites finishing first in Canada West with a 23-4-1 mark and being rated first in the U Sports top 10 rankings. The Huskies finished fourth in the conference with a 15-10-3 record, but they split the four head-to-head regular season meetings with UBC.

    With the series win, the Thunderbirds advance to host a best-of-three Canada West championship series against the U of Alberta Pandas. The first game of that series is this coming Friday in Vancouver.

    The Pandas were 21-4-3 during the regular season and rated sixth in the U Sports top 10 rankings. Both the Thunderbirds and Pandas earned berths in the U Sports women’s hockey championship tournament, which runs March 16-19 at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.

Cassidy Hendricks turned away 19 shots in her final game with the Huskies.

    The Huskies were ultimately done in on two fronts. On one front, they had to rely too much on star forward Kaitlin Willoughby coming through with superhuman games offensively, which is a lot to ask of any player on a night in and night out basis. She was held pointless in the three-game series with the Thunderbirds, and the Huskies only mustered two goals in the entire set.
    U of S’s struggles on the power play also rose to the surface. During the regular season, the Huskies power play ranked second last in the Canada West conference cashing in on only 14-of-132 power-play chances for a 10.6 per cent clip.

    In the Game 3 loss to the Thunderbirds, the Huskies failed to score on six power-play chances, which included four opportunities in the first period. They were also 0-for-12 on the power play in the three game series with the Thunderbirds and 1-for-22 in five post-season games for a 4.5 per cent success rate.

    Despite those deficiencies, the Huskies came up one win short of going to the U Sports championship tournament and had a solid season under first-year interim head coach Robin Ulrich, who performed admirably in her role. She showed she deserves to be a full-time head coach at the university level.

    If the Huskies had another high-end forward that was at Willoughby’s level and a consistent offensive-defender to quarterback the power play, they would likely be advancing in the post-season.     They might be able to recruit those pieces or developing them in one of the returnees next season.

Still, the Huskies took strides forward and are ahead of where they were the past two seasons. That is the big thing that can’t be forgotten in the 2016-17 campaign.

Stars sweep away rebuilding Gold Wings

Julia Rongve had five points on Saturday.

    The Saskatoon Stars returned to the final four of the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League after sweeping away the Weyburn Southern Range Gold Wings 3-0 in a best-of-five opening round series.

    The Stars closed out the series on Saturday at the Agriplace Arena downing the Gold Wings 16-0 in Game 3 of their opening round series. Traditionally, the Gold Wings are one of the stronger programs in the SFMAAAHL, but they are going through a rebuilding cycle.
    Stars veteran forward Julia Rongve, who is in her 17-year-old season, led the way offensively with a hat trick and two assists.

    Jayda Sachs, Brooke Hausermann and Joelle Fiala each scored twice for the Stars. Chance Sperling, Anna Leschyshyn, Jordyn Holmes, Kaitlin Jockims, Mackenna Parker, Abby DeCorby and Grace Shirley all had singles for Saskatoon.

    Jordan Ivanco turned away all 12 shots she faced to pick up the shutout win in goal for the Stars. Myah Battersby turned away 36-of-48 shots starting in goal for the Gold Wings. Meagan Perkins stopped 17-of-21 shots finishing the game in relief.

    The Stars, who were 25-2-1 in the regular season, are looking to win their third straight SFMAAAHL championship and advance to the Esso Cup national championship tournament for a third straight year.

    Saskatoon along with the Prince Albert Northern Bears, who swept away the Battlefords Sharks, are waiting to see who will be their opponents for their respective best-of-five SFMAAAHL semifinal series.

    In the other two best-of-five SFMAAAHL quarter-final series that are still ongoing, the Melville Prairie Fire lead the Notre Dame Hounds 2-1, and the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats had a 2-1 edge on the Regina Rebels.

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