Blades’ power play drills Oil Kings in romp

Saskatoon rolls to 6-1 win over CHL’s second ranked team

The Blades enjoy an Aidan De La Gorgendiere power-play goal.

The Saskatoon Blades highly rated power-play unit took the Edmonton Oil Kings highly rated penalty killing unit out to the woodshed.

Entering play Friday, the Blades power play was rated second in the WHL, while the Oil Kings had the second best penalty killing unit on the circuit. Unfortunately for the Oil Kings, the Blades power-play unit proved to be too much to handle.

The Blades cashed in on 3-of-7 power-play chances as they rolled to a 6-1 victory over the Oil Kings in a WHL regular season clash that sent the 2,407 spectators at the SaskTel Centre home happy.

Rhett Rhinehart had the Blades first goal on Friday.

The Oil Kings are rated second in the CHL’s Top 10 rankings, but the Blades have split their four head-to-head meetings with the Edmonton side this season.

Saskatoon has an overtime win against Edmonton to go with Friday’s regulation romp, while the Oil Kings have prevailed in two regulation encounters.

The Blades opened the game’s scoring at the 10:11 mark of the opening frame on an unassuming situation. Saskatoon veteran defenceman Charlie Wright entered the offensive zone on a rush down the left wing.

Wright’s defensive partner in 20-year-old Rhett Rhinehart jumped up in the play to create a two-on-one rush. Wright passed the puck across the front of the Edmonton goal to Rhinehart, who buried his fifth goal of the season on a perfectly executed play.

Kyle Crnkovic leads the WHL in scoring with 63 points.

Before the opening frame ended, the Blade extended their lead to 2-0 scoring their first of three power-play goals on the night. On a rush into the offensive zone, centre Jayden Wiens came down the right wing with the puck and hit left-winger Kyle Crnkovic with a centering pass.

Crnkovic took a couple of strides with the puck and passed it back to Wiens at the right side of the Edmonton goal. Wiens popped his 15^th of the season into an empty cage to give the Blades their two-goal edge.

The Oil Kings held a 16-6 edge in shots on goal over the opening 20 minutes, but they were held at bay by Blades overage star netminder Nolan Maier.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere had a goal and two assists on Friday.

The Oil Kings got some traction at the 6:24 mark of the second when captain Jake Neighbours snapped home a point shot to cut Saskatoon’s lead to 2-1.

Near the end of the second, the wheels fell off the wagon for the Oil Kings as the Blades scored three times – including twice on the power play - in the final 3:24 of the frame to surge their advantage out to 5-1.

The surge started with Crnkovic firing home a power-play goal from the slot through a screen shortly after an offensive zone faceoff to put the Blades up 3-1.

With 72 seconds remaining in the second, the Blades scored on an even-strength rush. Blades left-winger Vaughn Watterodt zipped down the right wing and delivered a backhanded pass across the front of the Edmonton goal to linemate Kyren Gronick at the left side of the Oil Kings net.

Tristen Robins had three assists for the Blades on Friday.

Gronick popped his sixth of the season to push the Blades lead out to 4-1.

The surge concluded with 29.2 seconds remaining in the second when captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere slipped home a power-play goal from the point to give the Blades a 5-1 advantage. De La Gorgendiere’s tally was the Blades third power-play goal of the contest.

Edmonton pulled starting star netminder Sebastian Cossa following the conclusion of the second period. He turned away 10-of-15 shots sent his way to take the loss in goal for the Oil Kings, who fell to 30-11-2-1.

The Blades celebrate a goal from Tyler Parr (#20).

Kolby Hay played the third in relief for the Oil Kings allowing a goal on the one shot he faced in the frame.

Blades rookie right-winger Tyler Parr beat Hay with a long rage on ice shot from the front of the Edmonton goal at the 11:32 mark of the third.

Down 6-1, the Oil Kings showed their frustration. With 5:15 remaining in the third, Neighbours went after Wiens following a neutral zone faceoff. That action started a scrum, but the scrum was de-escalated quickly as the officials swiftly and smartly jumped in.

Watterodt got the only penalty for the Blades in a scrum with a roughing minor. Neighbours made an early trip to the showers after getting roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct minors and a 10-minute misconduct.

Blades C Jayden Wiens tangles with Oil Kings LW Jake Neighbours. 

While the Oil Kings are near the top of the standings in the WHL, they are the second most penalized team on the circuit piling up 607 minutes in the sin bin. Going forward, the Oil Kings have to do a better job of finding a way to stay out of the penalty box, because that is their Achilles heel.

The Blades have come out of Friday’s game having great confidence on their power play. On the season, the Blades have scored 50 goals on 172 power plays for a 29.1 per cent success rate.

Saskatoon’s power play was so good on Friday it knocked the Oil Kings penalty kill from second to fourth best in the league. The Oil Kings have killed of 169-of-206 opposition power plays for an 82 per cent success rate on the season.

Nolan Maier earned his 110th career regular season win on Friday.

Maier stopped 38 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who improved to 23-15-1-1 having won six of their last seven games. The Yorkton, Sask., product now has 110 career regular season victories in his WHL career, and he became the ninth netminder in league history to hit that milestone.

Maier is now 10 wins away from equaling the WHL’s all-time career regular season wins record of 120 victories held jointly by Corey Hirsch and Tyson Sexsmith. Hirsch picked up his 120 victories playing four seasons with the Kamloops Blazers from 1988 to 1992.

Sexsmith collected his 120 wins over five seasons with the Vancouver Giants from 2005 to 2009. He also had one non-decision relief appearance for the Medicine Hat Tigers late in the 2004-05 campaign.

Crnkovic and De La Gorgendiere each had a pair of assists to go with the single goals they each picked up for respective three-point nights. Crnkovic continues to lead the WHL in scoring having piled up 26 goals and 37 assists for 63 points appearing in all of the Blades 40 games.

The Blades celebrate their win on Friday night.

Blades 20-year-old star centre Tristen Robins picked up three assists in the win. He sits fifth in the WHL scoring race with 20 goals and 36 assists for 56 points in 38 appearances this season.

The Oil Kings are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades also get back it on Saturday when they host the Red Deer Rebels (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

With the success that the Blades have had on the power play this season, they continue to show they can be a handful for any team in the WHL including clubs that sit near or at the top of the standings.

“Bridge City Bunch” honours Lazaruk for 2,000^th call

The Blades present Les Lazaruk a framed jersey for his 2,000th call.

The Saskatoon Blades saluted veteran play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk for joining the 2,000 club.

On Wednesday, Lazaruk call his 2,000^th game as the Blades play-by-play voice when they downed the Pats in Regina 5-4 at the Brandt Centre.

Before the Blades dumped the powerhouse Edmonton Oil Kings 6-1 on Friday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades honoured Lazaruk in a pre-game ceremony. Lazaruk was given a loud round of cheers when he was made his way to centre ice and was introduced to the 2,407 spectators in attendance.

Following Lazaruk’s introduction, the Blades played a video just over six minutes in length of former Blades players, former Blades coaches and broadcasters from around the WHL and in the professional ranks congratulating him on his 2,000^th call. The video can be found on the Blades social media channels.

Former players that wished him well included Chase Wouters, Nelson Nogier and Nick Zajac. Former coaches that passed upbeat on messages to Lazaruk included Lorne Molleken and Mitch Love.

Les Lazaruk, second from right, is pictured with his framed jersey.

The broadcasters that gave their congratulations included Claire Hanna of TSN, Peter Loubardias, of TheFan 960 in Calgary and iconic Medicine Hat Tigers play-by-play voice Bob Ridley, who has called 4,021 Tigers games.

After the video was played, the Blades presented Lazaruk with a large framed team jersey with Lazaruk’s name bar and the number 2,000 stitched on the back.

During the win over the Oil Kings, the Blades would play one of Lazaruk’s trademark energetic goal calls before playing the team’s goal song.

Lazaruk began calling Blades games at the start of the 1994-95 season after spending over a decade working in Winnipeg, which included 10-and-a-half years hosting the hour long pre-game and post-game shows of the original Winnipeg Jets NHL broadcast for CJOB radio.

During his time calling games in the WHL, Lazaruk has built a reputation for being one of the best in the business. He also brings a great professionalism and class to his trade.

Lazaruk has become so closely branded with Blades broadcasts you almost couldn’t imagine another person making those calls.

For you, Les, three words.

Simply the best. pic.twitter.com/iqqGOrq5rK

— Saskatoon Blades (@BladesHockey) February 3, 2022

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Rhinehart’s big night paces Blades to 9-2 romp over Tigers

The Blades celebrate a short-handed goal from Rhett Rhinehart (#41).

The Saskatoon Blades were in good hands with Rhett Rhinehart.

The 20-year-old defenceman came up with a monster game posting a pair of goals, an assist and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department as his Blades bashed the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers 9-2 in a WHL regular season clash played before 2,713 spectators on Friday night at the SaskTel Centre.

Rhinehart was playing his first contest since the Blades fell 4-1 at the SaskTel Centre back on January 1. The Lloydminster product has been on the WHL COVID-19 Protocol List, but ultimately only missed two games.

Rhett Rhinehart had two goals and an assist on Friday.

He thought he got better as Friday’s game went on.

“It was pretty good,” said Rhinehart. “It was a little tough at first.

“It was my first game in three weeks. I was just kind of getting my legs back under me at first. Playing lots of minutes kind of helps you get into it.”

Rhinehart’s return was a welcome one as the Blades found themselves short staffed on defence due to fact four regulars were out due to COVID-19 protocols in captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere, Marek Schneider, Tanner Molendyk and Ben Saunderson.

Saskatoon played with four natural defencemen with Rhinehart being paired with Charlie Wright, while rookie Ryan Nolan was paired with sophomore Spencer Shugrue. Centre Mikhail Volotovskii was moved to defence to help out the four natural blue-liners.

Rhett Rhinehart logged a lot of minutes on the Blade blue-line on Friday.

The Blades were also without head coach Brennan Sonne, who was isolating at home due to COVID-19 protocols. Associate coach Ryan Marsh ran the Blades bench along with assistant coach Dan DaSilva and goalie coach Jeff Harvey.

Rhinehart said it was important for the Blades defencemen to play smart, and he thought that helped him be on the ice for about half the game.

“It is definitely pretty gruelling,” said Rhinehart. “You’re going the whole time.

Oasiz Wiesblatt score to put the Tigers up 2-0 early on Friday.

“You get on the bench, and then you are going on in the next 40 seconds. You don’t get a lot of rest, so at points you have to conserve your energy and kind of just not really pace yourself, but take your points when you think you want to go a little harder.”

The Tigers got a quick jump in Friday’s clash jetting out to a 2-0 lead.

On an odd man rush into the Saskatoon zone, Tigers right-winger Carter Chorney charged down the right wing and passed the puck across the front of the Blades net to overage centre Logan Barlage.

Barlage quickly blasted home his eighth goal of the season and first as a member of the Tigers to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at the 3:24 mark of the opening frame. The Tigers acquired Barlage from the Lethbridge Hurricanes in a deal that was made before last Monday’s WHL trade deadline.

Kyren Gronick (#27) celebrates putting the Blades up 3-2.

The Tigers increased their advantage to 2-0 just 2:02 later scoring on the power play. Tigers right-winger Teague Patton passed the puck from the left corner of the Blades zone across the face of the Saskatoon goal to linemate Oasiz Wiesblatt, who tapped home his fifth of the season into an open cage.

Almost as quickly as the Tigers got the jump out of the gate, the Blades turned the momentum of the contest around.

Just past the midway point of the opening frame, Shugrue sprung overage centre Tristen Robins on a breakaway into the Medicine Hat Zone. Robins snapped his 19^th goal of the season past Tigers netminder Garin Bjorklunk to cut the Medicine Hat lead to 2-1.

The Blades evened things up at 2-2 scoring just 18 seconds later, when centre Jayden Wiens slipped home a mid-range shot.

Jayden Wiens had two goals and an assist for the Blades.

Saskatoon then jumped in front 3-2 when right-winger Kyren Gronick tipped home a point shot from centre Trevor Wong with 24.2 seconds remaining in the first for a power-play tally.

Wiens liked how his squad was able to respond quickly after falling behind 2-0 early.

“We’re a team that is not going to quit, even from a tough start like here tonight,” said Wiens. “I think it shows the character of the guys and just the no quit attitude for this group and the resiliency, so that is a good thing to see.”

The Tigers got out to a solid jump to start the second holding a 7-1 edge in shots on goal over the first 8:30 of the frame. The visitors were unable to solve Blades 17-year-old rookie netminder Ethan Chadwick.

Tristen Robins had two goals and an assist for the Blades.

The Blades proceeded to increase their edge to 4-2 at the 9:56 mark of the second period, when Rhinehart fired home a power-play goal through a screen in front of the Medicine Hat net.

The Tigers looked like they were going to have a good chance to change momentum when Nolan was penalized for hooking with 3:46 remaining in the second.

On that kill, the Blades scored a pair of short-handed goals coming 31 seconds apart from each other to push their lead up to 6-2.

Robins netted the first short-handed goal for his second tally of the night and 20^th goal of the season. Rhinehart potted the second short-handed goal and his second of the night coming off a rare offensive rush up the right wing.

Ethan Chadwick made 28 saves in goal for the Blades.

“He (Rhinehart) really stepped his game up,” said Marsh. “He had been off on a little bit of a layoff based off of COVID.

“Coming back in, I was a little bit concerned with us being a little bit short, and him not having played in the last few games. I just thought as the game went on he just got better and better. He played really well for us.

“He stepped up in all situations. He did a really good job on our power play getting some opportunity there with some guys that were out. I thought he was a horse out there on our penalty kill as well, and he was a real leader for us tonight.”

Following Rhinehart’s goal that put the Blades up 6-2, the Tigers pulled starting netminder Garin Bjorklund, who stopped 10-of-16 shots sent his way. He took the setback in goal for the Tigers as they fell to 7-25-3-1 having lost their last four in a row.

Noah Boyko had three assists for the Blades on Friday.

Beckett Langkow played the rest of the way in relief for Medicine Hat turning away five-of-eight shots sent his way.

Just 51 seconds into the third, the Blades netted their third power-play goal of the night, when Wiens netted his second goal of the contest tipping home a point shot from defenceman Charlie Wright.

The Blades proceeded to round of the contest’s scoring with Gronick scoring his second power-play goal of the night and Nolan netting his first career WHL regular season goal.

Nolan was acquired by the Blades from the Tigers in a blockbuster three-team trade that involved the Prince George Cougars on December 27, 2021.

Ryan Nolan scored his first career WHL goal on Friday.

Rhinehart said he was proud of everyone who played on the Blades short staffed back end on Friday night.

“Those guys were really awesome, and we had Misha (Mikhail) Volotovskii help out on the back end as well to give us an extra man for a little bit of help there,” said Rhinehart. “Obviously, Ryan Nolan scored his first Western League goal against his old team was a pretty special moment.

“He made sure that he enjoyed that one.”

Chadwick stopped 28 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who improved to 20-14-1-1 with their third straight victory.

Robins, Wiens and Gronick each picked up a single assist to go with their respective two-goal nights. 

Egor Sidorov (#19) shows off some fancy stick work.

Wong and right-winger Noah Boyko each picked up three assists on Friday for the Blades.

The Blades return to action on Saturday when they host the Winnipeg Ice (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Tigers also get back at it Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to face the 15-20-1-1 Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

Marsh said his Blades will have their hands full on Saturday playing an Ice team that leads the WHL’s overall standings with a 29-5-2 record.

The Blades enjoy their big win on Friday night.

“It is a huge challenge,” said Marsh. “They are really a high-powered offensive team.

“We need to reset. We need to clean a few things up from a defensive standpoint and do some things off the rush. We have to get our rest and recovery tonight and be ready to go to battle.

“We have to play a Blades brand of hockey tomorrow, where you are outworking the opposition and taking care of business away from the puck. We are going to need everyone in all four lines, our six defencemen and (our goalie) making key saves to have success tomorrow.”

“Girls Rock Night” returned on Friday night

Keely Shaw, Brigette Lacquette and Emmarae Dale are saluted.

On Friday, the Saskatoon Blades brought back their traditional “Girls Rock Night.”

The Blades were unable to hold that night last season as they played an abbreviated 24-game schedule in a bubble environment at the Brandt Centre in Regina due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

With the Blades once again being able to host home games with fans this season inside a scheduled 68-game regular season, they are trying to get back to holding a number of traditional theme nights they held before the COVID-19 pandemic clamped down on North America back in March of 2020.

On Friday, the Blades had three special guests at their game in Brigette Lacquette, Keely Shaw and Emmarae Dale.

Lacquette played defence for Canada’s senior national women’s hockey team and is currently a scout for the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks.

The ceremonial faceoff of the Blades “Girls Rock Night.”

Shaw won a bronze medal in cycling at the 2020 Paralympics that were actually held in 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.

Dale just graduated from the Saskatoon Hilltops after playing linebacker for them last season. Dale is the first female to play games in the CJFL.

She is a veteran player of the Saskatoon Valkyries of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League.

The trio took part in a pre-game speaking engagement designed for all ages. They also participated in a ceremonial pre-game faceoff, where they were introduced individually and given big cheers by the 2,713 spectators in attendance.

Following those festivities, the Blades would go on to down the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers 9-2.

Pillar trade a first class move by Blades, Blazers

The Saskatoon Blades don’t mind waiting for a major roster addition, especially when a health situations needs to work itself out.

Before the WHL’s trade deadline this past Monday, the Blades acquired 19-year-old forward Josh Pillar from the Kamloops Blazers in exchange for a conditional third round selection in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft and a conditional second round pick in the 2024 Prospects Draft.

Pillar, who stands 6-feet and weighs 179 pounds, posted 11 goals, 20 assists and a plus-four rating in 29 games with the Blazers this season. In 183 career regular season games with the Blazers, Pillar has 43 goals, 83 assists and a plus-20 rating.

He was selected in the fourth round and 127^th overall by the Minnesota Wild in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

At the time the trade was made, Pillar was at home in Warman, Sask., recovering from a private medical situation. As Warman is located along Saskatoon’s northeast border, management on both teams in conjunction with Pillar’s family agreed it was best for Pillar to be close to home. The Blades and Blazers did the classy thing and made this trade a reality.

Blades general manager Colin Priestner and Blazers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston both deserve a tonne of praise for the work they put in to make this trade a reality to get Pillar to his home stomping grounds.

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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Contacts’ Korchinski making waves in hockey

Kevin Korchinski in action for the Contacts last season.

    You can add Hockey Canada prospect to the list of accomplishments of young Saskatoon product Kevin Korchinski.

    The 16-year-old from the Saskatoon Contacts under-18 hockey team has come up thought the game as an offensive-defenceman. As a result of having the skill set to play that role, Korchinski will be a sought after addition at the highest levels of hockey.

    After collecting 10 goals and 37 assists in 31 regular season games with the Saskatoon Generals under-15 club in the 2018-19 campaign, Korchinski found a WHL home being selected by the Seattle Thunderbirds in the first round and 10^th overall in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft.

    He proceeded to play his 15-year-old season with the Contacts as a rookie in Saskatchewan’s under-18 AAA hockey league. Korchinski posted seven goals and 19 assists for 26 points in 41 regular season games.

    He helped the Contacts finish third overall in the Saskatchewan under-18 AAA league with a 30-12-2 record. The Contacts swept the Prince Albert Mintos in a best-of-five league quarter-final series 3-0.

    Saskatoon proceeded to be swept by the Moose Jaw Warriors 3-0 in a best-of-five league semifinal series. The rest of the under-18 AAA playoffs were cancelled nationally on March 13 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
    Korchinski appeared in one WHL regular season game with the Thunderbirds in Seattle on Nov. 16, 2019. 

Kevin Korchinski put up 26 points with the Contacts last season.

    He posted a minus-two rating in the plus-minus department as the Thunderbirds downed the Portland Winterhawks 5-4 after a tiebreaking shootout.

    On Wednesday, Korchinski, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 154 pounds, found out he was one of 113 players named to Hockey Canada’s virtual under-17 development camp, which runs July 19-25.

    The players who are selected for this camp are on Hockey Canada’s radar to be placed on one of the three teams the sport body sends to World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. At the moment, the upcoming World Under-17 Hockey Challenge is slated for Oct. 31 to Nov. 7 for Charlottetown and Summerside, P.E.I., depending how the world situation unfolds related to COVID-19.

    While Korchinski won’t get to compete in a live camp, the fact he picked up this camp selection is a result of all the hard work he has put in through this point in his career. He has gotten to this point with little fanfare outside of folks in personnel departments from WHL teams.

    With all that noted, Korchinski has the making to be one of those players you hear about in the game for some time to come.
    Overall, Korchinski was one of six Saskatchewan product invited to Hockey Canada’s virtual under-17 camp. Weyburn product Dylan Ernst, who is a Warriors under-18 goalie, will also take part in that virtual event.

Kevin Korchinski will participate in a virtual Hockey Canada camp.

    Defencemen Hunter Mayo and Kalem Parker, who both played for the Saskatoon Blazers under-18 AAA team, are both tabbed for the virtual camp. Mayo is from Martensville, and Parker is from Clavet.

    Parker’s older sister, Mackenna, was a former member of Canada’s under-18 women’s national team.

    Regina product Kyren Gronick, who played for his hometown Pat Canadians under-18 AAA team, and Delisle product Jhett Larson, who played for the Notre Dame Hounds under-18 AAA team, cracked the virtual camp invite list at forward.

    Niall Crocker, who is prospect forward for the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders, and Brandon Lisowsky, who is a prospect forward for the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, earned virtual camp invites too.

    For Korchinski and the rest of those young players, the under-17 virtual camp invite by Hockey Canada is likely just the next step towards making their biggest strides in the game.

Meaningful games mark real return for a sport, other notes

Who knows when Cody Fajardo (#7) and the Roughriders will play again.

    When sport jumps into action for real, its return should considered real at that point in time.

    That means the sport has to be engaged in regular season or post-season action, where a championship is on the line.

    At the moment in North America, that would mean the NASCAR Cup Series, UFC and PGA can be officially returned to action during these COVID-19 pandemic times.

    The COVID-19 pandemic created massive shutdowns in the sports world in North America starting on March 11, when the NBA paused its season.

    Besides the NASCAR Cup Series, UFC and PGA actually getting into action, there have been a lot planning for other circuits to get back into action. The NHL, NBA and MLB have cemented return to play plans that are slated to be executed in late July or early August.

    Until any of these leagues actually have teams participate in a meaningful game, you can’t say those circuits are officially back in action.

    The same goes for any sports league in Canada. That goes for the CFL, CHL, U Sports, CJFL or any minor sports.

    As far as the CFL is concerned, you wonder if it will return. On Wednesday, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who are the flagship franchise of the circuit, announced they have $7.6-million in reserves and a stabilization fund, but all of that money is projected to be depleted by late fall.

    The Roughriders are projecting a loss of $10-million for 2020-21 fiscal year if the 2020 CFL regular season and playoffs for that year are indeed wiped out. The club posted a loss of $210,064 for the 2019-20 fiscal year, which included the club contributing just over $670,000 to the CFL for the management of the Montreal Alouettes.
    In Saskatchewan, minor baseball and softball games are planned for July. Until they play meaningful regular season games, those sports can’t be considered returned.

The return of Nolan Maier and the Saskatoon Blades is uncertain.

    Golf in Saskatchewan could be declared as returned as a Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour event was held Friday and Saturday at the Elmwood Golf Club in Swift Current.

    Still, there are no certainties on how sports will progress in Canada and North America. Over the past two weeks, it seems there have been a constant barraged of reports coming out of the United States of athletes testing positive for COVID-19.

    On Friday, the United States confirmed a record daily high for new COVID-19 cases at about 45,300. On Saturday, the state of Florida recorded a record of 9,585 new COVID-19 cases, which is a record for the state in a 24-hour period.

    Florida’s old record of 8,942 new COVID-19 cases was actually set one day earlier on Friday.

    Even the most powerful professional league in North America in the NFL showed cracks in its defiance of COVID-19 this week. NFL officials had given the impression the circuit would play a regular season that is close to normal.

    On Thursday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame cancelled the Hall of Fame Game set for Aug. 6 in Canton, Ohio, that was to feature the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony set for Aug. 8 has been postponed until August of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    That might foreshadow a sign of things to come for the NFL.

    The COVID-19 case spikes in the United States offers further confirmation how contagious the virus can be.

    In Canada where there has been a total of just over 103,000 COVID-19 cases so far this year, there seems to be a more general feeling that Canadian government and medical health officials are doing a better job of handling the pandemic than officials in the United States are.

    In Saskatchewan, Premier Scott Moe and Dr. Saqib Shahab, who is Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer, should be praised for their work. As of Saturday, there were just 103 active cases of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan.

Will Rylan Kleiter, left, and the Saskatoon Hilltops play in 2020?

    While some have worried Saskatchewan’s re-opening plan hasn’t gone fast enough, Saskatchewan was the first province to come out with a plan, and those in charge have stuck to their plan in following through on it.

    In comparison to the United States, Saskatchewan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been at an all-star level as events have unfolded. If there were doubts about this in early June, they have likely been erased now.

    Still looking at what is happening in the United States, you can expect that will cause more caution to be used regarding when various sports teams, leagues and minor sports bodies will return to play in Canada.

    At the moment, it appears caution is definitely the best course of action.

• On Tuesday, the Government of Saskatchewan announced contact sports were allowed in the province and spectators are allowed at sports games as long as they following physical distancing measures. Only outdoor sports facilities are permitted to be in action at the current time.
• On Wednesday, the Hockey Hall of Fame announced its 2020 class of inductees. They include players Jarome Iginla, Marian Hossa, Kevin Lowe, Kim St-Pierre and Doug Wilson. Ken Holland, who is a long time NHL executive and current Edmonton Oilers general manager, is going in as a builder.
• Theoren Fleury wasn’t elected to the Hall of Fame on Wednesday. Here is hoping the retired star right-winger from the NHL’s Calgary Flames will crack into the Hall, because he has a lengthy list of accomplishments in the game and his journey of perseverance on the mental health front has been incredible.
• Gregg Drinnan has been tracking the fallout from the lawsuit filed by Daniel Carcillo and Garrett Taylor against the CHL alleging various forms of abuse during their major junior careers. They are hoping to have the lawsuit certified as class-action. Drinnan rounded up various developments on that front in his Taking Note blog that can be found right here.
• The 2020 Canadian Final Rodeo slated for Nov. 3 to 8 in Red Deer, Alta., has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• On Friday, the Medicine Hat Cubs junior B hockey team announced it will not play in the 2020-21 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic and diminishing sponsorship revenues. The Cubs play out of the Heritage Junior Hockey League in Alberta.
• On Friday, the Saskatoon Blades hired Jeff Harvey as their new goaltending coach. The 37-year-old played goal in the WHL with the Kootenay Ice, Swift Current Broncos and Everett Silvertips from 2000 to 2004. Harvey suited up for five seasons in the U Sports ranks with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team from 2005 to 2010. Harvey replaces retired NHL goalie in 52-year-old Tim Cheveldae as the Blades goaltending coach.

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