2020 playoffs Barzal’s time to take NHL spotlight

T’birds grad moves on while Crosby, McDavid, Ovechkin done

Mathew Barzal in action with the Thunderbirds in 2017.

    Could Mathew Barzal be the face of the 2020 NHL post-season?
    The big NHL spotlight appears to be waiting for the 23-year-old centre, who is a graduate of the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds. Barzal has three goals and four assists in nine post-season games helping his New York Islanders advance to a best-of-seven NHL Eastern Conference semifinal series.

    While Barzal and the Islanders will be part of the NHL’s “elite eight” in the post-season, a trio of NHL superstars will not.

    Sidney Crosby and his Pittsburgh Penguins and Connor McDavid and his Edmonton Oilers were both eliminated in the qualifying round of the 2020 NHL post-season, which was expanded to include 24 teams as opposed to 16 clubs due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    Alexander Ovechkin and his Washington Capitals were punted by Barzal and the Islanders in the official “first” round of the NHL Playoffs that took place after the qualifying round.

A Mathew Barzal card.

    The Islanders took a best-of-seven series between the two sides in five games.

    New York blanked Washington 4-0 in a Game 5 series clinching win in the hub city of Toronto on Thursday.

    In Game 3 last Sunday, Barzal came through with the biggest moment of the series scoring a sick overtime winner to give the Islanders a 2-1 victory in that contest and a 3-0 edge in the series.
    After receiving a smart pass from Jordan Eberle at the Washington blue-line, Barzal jetting into the opposing zone, cut across the face of the Capitals goal, went forehand to backhand and slipped a backhanded shot past Washington star netminder Braden Holtby.

    With Crosby, McDavid and Ovechkin gone, Barzal has the opportunity to be the NHL’s biggest individual star throughout the remainder of the post-season.

    Of course, the Philadelphia Flyers will have a lot to say about that as the Islanders opponent in an Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Flyers are the top seeded team in the conference.

    The two sides will go at it in Game 1 this coming Monday. The Islanders were 35-23-10 in the regular season before it was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Flyers were 41-21-7.

Mathew Barzal gets set to turn up ice with the Thunderbirds in 2017.

    It will be intriguing to watch the extremely talented Barzal. The Coquitlam, B.C., product was a star coming up through all levels of hockey leading into the NHL, which included a four season stay with the WHL’s Thunderbirds.

    After graduating from the Thunderbirds, Barzal, who stands 6-feet and weighs 187 pounds, jumped to the NHL on a full-time basis in the 2017-18 campaign playing in all 82 of the Islanders regular season games piling up 22 goals and 63 assists for 85 points. He captured the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year.

Thunderbirds C Mathew Barzal, left, dekes around a defenceman in 2016.

    Barzal has now played 234 NHL regular season games posting 59 goals and 148 assists for 207 points.

    While putting up impressive offensive numbers, Barzal has gained the reputation of being the team-first superstar.

    He sees team as family and realizes everyone has their role in order for success to happen. To that extent, Barzal has developed a playmaking ability that is second to none.

    It seems like the puck has eyes, when Barzal passes it. He knows he has to be the offensive catalyst in order for his teams to have success, but he knows others have to step up in important jobs when called upon like being shutdown checkers.

Mathew Barzal (#13) takes a draw for the Thunderbirds in 2016.

    The team as family concept was cemented into Barzal during his four seasons with the Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds won 38 or more games in each regular season Barzal was with that club.

    From 2013 to 2017, Barzal appeared in 202 WHL regular season games piling up 63 goals and 215 assists for 278 points. Night in and night out, Barzal came with a top level effort every time he stepped on to a WHL ice surface.

    Even if he was held off the score sheet, you have to rise out of your seat and applaud Barzal for the effort he gave that night.

Mathew Barzal, centre, gives a cheer after a WHL title win in 2017.

    The Islanders selected Barzal in the first round and 16^th overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, and if they wanted to, they could have kept Barzal in the NHL at that time.

    With the Thunderbirds poised to contend for a WHL title and challenge for the Memorial Cup as CHL champions, the Islanders did the right thing in sending Barzal back to junior.

    Along with offensive-defenceman and current Edmonton Oilers blue-liner Ethan Bear, Barzal was part of a special generation in Seattle.
    In 2015-16, the Thunderbirds finished fifth overall in the WHL with a 45-23-4 regular season record. They had their breakout run in the post-season advancing to the WHL Championship Series against the Brandon Wheat Kings.
    Seattle played hard in the 2016 WHL final but fell 4-1 in the best-of-seven set, which saw Brandon win the first three contests of that series in overtime.

Mathew Barzal (#13) gets a trophy as the 2017 WHL playoffs MVP.

    In the Thunderbirds 18 playoff games, Barzal posted five goals and 21 assists for 26 points.

    Barzal, Bear and company built on that experience finishing fourth overall in the WHL in 2016-17 with a 46-20-4-2 record. The Thunderbirds entered the playoffs with a roster that contained 14 skates that played in the 2016 WHL title series including Barzal and Bear.

    Seattle returned to the WHL Championship Series in 2017, and the Thunderbirds won their first league championship taking the best-of-seven set against the Regina Pats 4-2. The Pats topped the WHL’s regular season standings in 2016-17 with a 52-12-7-1 record.

    In 2017, Barzal appeared in 16 post-season games with the Thunderbirds posting seven goals and 18 assists for 25 points. He was named the most valuable player of the WHL playoffs.

    The Thunderbirds advanced to that year’s Memorial Cup tournament in Windsor, Ont., but bowed out of that event after posting an 0-3 round robin record.

Mathew Barzal and the Thunderbirds enjoy their WHL title win in 2017.

    With the Thunderbirds, Barzal saw how a team comes together as a family and can go on long playoff runs. He also saw how teams need players with different skill sets and specialties in order to achieve success.
    He has been in the forefront of the rise of a young Islanders team. Thanks to that young talent, the Islanders were a club that didn’t bat an eye when veteran star centre John Tavares left following the 2017-18 campaign to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

    Tavares and the Maple Leafs bowed out of the NHL post-season in the qualifying round and are forced if they so chose to watch the rest of the NHL playoffs on television.

    If the Islanders are able to even just make the Stanley Cup final, Barzal’s status in the NHL will reach other level.

Sask Five Giants take North Division final

Ethan Campbell fires in a pitch for the Sask Five Giants.

    The Sask Five Giants are tasting baseball playoff success in 2020.

    On Friday, the Under-18 AAA team from Martensville took the North Division title game in the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League over the Saskatoon Diamondbacks 12-2 in a game that ended after five innings due to the mercy rule at Cairns Field.

    The title game, which was played before 60 spread out spectators, was actually a tight contest until the fifth inning. The Giants were holding a 4-2 lead batting in the top of the fifth inning with two outs.

    The Diamondbacks pitching and defence proceeded to hit a funk, which does happen in minor baseball. Thanks to that development and some timely hits, the Giants scored eight runs with two outs in the top of the fifth to go ahead 12-2.

    The Diamondbacks were unable to score in the bottom of the fifth to extend the game.

    Ethan Campbell went the distance on the hill for the Giants striking out four batters. Carson Hindmarsh threw four and two-third innings and struck out four batters to take the loss on the hill for the Diamondbacks.

    The Giants made the final after downing the Saskatoon Cubs 14-5 in a North Division semifinal encounter earlier in the day Friday at Cairns. The Diamondbacks downed the Northwest Prairie Pirates from Lloydminster 11-1 in a contest that ended after five innings due to the mercy rule in the other North semifinal held earlier in the day on Friday.

    The Giants will travel to Regina to take on the Athletics on Sunday in the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League championship game at 1 p.m. at Optimist Park.

    The Athletics downed the Regina White Sox 10-1 in the South Division final on Friday in Regina.

Saskatoon fall high school sports cancelled, other notes

    The sports facilities at Saskatoon high schools will remain relatively quiet this fall.

    On Wednesday, the Saskatoon Secondary Schools Athletic Directorate cancelled the fall high school sports of cross-country running, football, soccer and volleyball.

    On Thursday, the Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association cancelled all play in the sport of golf for the fall.

    On Monday, Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools and Saskatoon Public Schools sent out letters to their rental customers that all rentals in school facilities had been cancel up to Dec. 31. That includes rentals for all sports and community groups.

    On top of those developments, the SHSAA pushed back the start date for the practices to start for cross-country running, football and soccer for the school districts that are still running these sports to Sept. 28.

    Cross-country running will have no inter-school competitions.
    Soccer regular season will be allowed to start Oct. 5 and run to Oct. 31. Football can start playing games on Oct. 13 and run to Nov. 14.

    Volleyball teams will be allowed to practice on Oct. 13 and games are slated to run from Oct. 19 to Nov. 14.

    All of these developments came as a response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

    For anyone that was a realist, these cancellations and postponements do not come as a surprise, especially when you see the cancellations and postponements that have come across the sports world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shutdowns started happening in North America on March 11.

    The sports groups should be credited with doing their best to try and get their respective sports going. With that noted, it was surprising that there were plans to have any sports associated with a school return to action.

    In Saskatchewan, it seems like you can’t even avoid stories regarding outrage over return to school plans for the entire student population even in a casual way over the past two weeks. If there are big fights going down about wearing masks in classrooms, you are not anywhere close a point that sports can be reactivated in the schools.

    In the comments sections for online stories by mainstream outlets regarding high school sports cancellations in Saskatoon, it common to find remarks from people that sports in schools should be cancelled and athletes and their parents are selfish and spoiled if they want school sports to continue in these pandemic times.

    I believe those comments come from people that are not involved in the sports world, and over the years, the disconnection has increased between people in the sports world and people who are not involved in that world.

    When you world in industries outside of the sports industry, you start realizing there are a large amount of people out there that do not have an interest in the sports world. That forces those in the sports world to constantly sell the values of taking part in sports like learning about teamwork, discipline and social skills.

    On the schools front, it is harder to return sports into action in schools, because all walks of society go to schools. When athletes join teams in sports associations, they are choosing to be part of that association, but those that don’t want to be part of those associations don’t have to be even in a defacto manner which is viewed to happen in schools.

    The cancellations and postponements regarding sports in Saskatchewan high schools will likely continue for a longer stretch here in the future. Athletes better not get their hopes to high about representing their schools in a competitive sports environment in 2020-21 winter sports season.

• The conference semifinal round or the “elite eight” round of the NHL Playoffs is set to start today with the Dallas Stars taking on the Colorado Avalanche (6 p.m. Saskatchewan time, CBC) in the hub city of Edmonton. The NHL post-season was expanded from 16 to 24 teams due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the eight teams that remain in the playoffs, the New York Islanders and the Vancouver Canucks are the only that played in the qualifying round that are still alive at this stage of things. The Avalanche, Stars, Vegas Golden Knights, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning all had byes into the 16-team official “first” round. The NHL is proving sports can be played in a bubble environment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Montreal Impact are slated to host an MLS game against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Tuesday. The Impact will allow 250 spectators to watch the contest. The Impact, Whitecaps and Toronto FC are locked into playing league games just against each other for the moment due to the border between Canada and the United States being close to non-essential travel.
• Gregg Drinnan did his latest round up about how COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on the sports world in his Taking Note blog on Thursday. His latest piece can be found by clicking right here. Drinnan is also a big advocate for kidney and organ donation, and you will find info about how to become involved on those fronts in his blog as well.
• On Friday, the Saskatchewan Rush announced that Derek Keenan was stepping down as the team’s head coach but will remain with the club holding on to the role of general manager. The 58-year-old joined the Rush franchise as head coach and general manager in 2009, when the team was still in Edmonton. Keenan turned the Rush into a National Lacrosse League powerhouse winning the NLL title in 2015 in Edmonton and 2016 and 2018 in Saskatchewan playing out of the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon. Keenan is the iconic lacrosse head coach. Jeff McComb was promoted from Rush assistant coach to head coach, former Rush captain Jimmy Quinlan returns to the organization as the assistant coach responsible for offence and JeremyTallevi remains in the role of assistant coach responsible for defence.
• On Tuesday, NHL legend Dale Hawerchuk passed away after a battle with stomach cancer. He is best remembered for his nine season starring at centre for the Winnipeg Jets from 1981 to 1990. Hawerchuk played 16 seasons in the NHL from 1981 to 1997 for the Jets, Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers appearing in 1,188 games piling up 518 goals, 891 assists for 1,409 points. Tributes have poured in throughout the hockey world for Hawerchuk. My small Twitter tribute is below.

Sad to hear of Dale Hawerchuk's passing. First athlete I looked up to when I was little. First hero when I was a kid. It was great that meeting him in person as an adult lived up to the hero expectations. #RIPDucky. #Winnipeg. #Jets. #NHL. pic.twitter.com/mquWMl2Ssw

— Darren Steinke (@StanksSports) August 19, 2020

    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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WHL Championship delivered thrills and drama

Title series between Thunderbirds and Pats was a classic

Keegan Kolesar skates with the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

    REGINA – Wow!

    That is the only word that was needed to describe this year’s WHL Championship series. The Seattle Thunderbirds and the Regina Pats put on a show and both were worthy of battling for the Ed Chynoweth Cup in a best-of-seven set.

    In a conclusion that was a fitting end for an overall thrilling 2017 WHL playoffs, Alexander True followed the rebound of his own shot to pop home the winner at the 12:36 mark of overtime to deliver the Thunderbirds to a 4-3 series winning Game 6 on Sunday at the Brandt Centre in Regina. Seattle claimed its first league title in franchise history with the 4-2 series win. The Thunderbirds date back to 1977, when the club was formed as the Seattle Breakers.

    At the start, the series had to be considered a tossup. The Pats finished first overall in the WHL with a 52-12-7-1 mark and were rated first in final Canadian Hockey League top 10 rankings, which were released on March 22. They were making their first appearance in the league final since 1984.

    The Thunderbirds finished fourth overall in the WHL with a 46-20-4-2 mark despite getting out to a slow start due to players getting back late from professional camps. They lost the best-of-seven league title series last year 4-1 to the Brandon Wheat Kings and returned 14 skaters who were looking to take care of unfinished business.

Alexander True scored the Thunderbirds biggest goal.

    Over the course of six games, the Thunderbirds and Pats showed their resilience. The teams were separated by the slimmest of margins, but in the end, the experience the Thunderbirds had likely helped push them to the title.

    Sunday’s Game 6, which was played before a sellout crowd of 6,484 spectators, captured the whole series perfectly. It seemed momentum wouldn’t stay with one side.

    After two straight losses, the Pats were looking to get the series back on even terms. Things started well for the hosts as star centre Sam Steel converted a nice feed from defenceman Josh Mahura at the top of the left faceoff circle on the power play to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

    Seattle came with a huge push back and outshot Regina 10-3 in the opening frame. During that stretch of Thunderbirds pressure, it appeared Pats standout netminder Tyler Brown was going to steal the game as he made stop after stop.

    Thunderbirds winger Sami Moilanen found the equalizer on the 20^th shot fired on goal from his side forcing a 1-1 tie at the 8:55 mark of the second.

    The contest proceeded to turn 16 seconds later when Thunderbirds defenceman Turner Ottenbreit received a major penalty for charging on a high hit he threw on Pats speedy winger Austin Wagner. Wagner left for the remainder of the second period and returned for the start of the third.

Austin Wagner led the Pats with 16 goals in the post-season.

    At that point, the Pats showed their “never say die” attitude. They pushed back and built momentum heading into the third period.

    In the third, the Pats hit a point where it appeared Game 7 was going to be a reality. With 8:10 to play in the frame, Mahura fired home a rebound from a shot by winger Jeff de Wit to give the Pats a 2-1 edge.

    From there, Wagner stepped into the forefront. He stole the puck from Thunderbirds defenceman Austin Strand, zipped into the Seattle zone on a breakaway and fired home his 16^th goal of the playoffs to the top left corner of the Thunderbirds net with 6:48 to play. The Brandt Centre was rocking with the Pats now holding a 3-1 lead.

    This became the point the Thunderbirds experience showed through. When everything was rolling for the Pats, they found a moment to gain traction to turn the game around again and provide the final turning point for the series.

Tyler Brown’s rebound on this blocker stop turned out to be costly.

    Just 86 seconds after Wagner’s goal, the Thunderbirds caught a break, when a pass from Seattle defenceman Ethan Bear deflected off Mahura right to Thunderbirds overage winger Ryan Gropp, who was open in the right slot. Gropp cut to the middle and fired home a shot that cut the Pats lead to 3-2 causing a short hush to fall over the Brandt Centre crowd outside of the healthy contingent that was cheering for the Thunderbirds.

    The Thunderbirds proceeded to get on the power play, and winger Keegan Kolesar fired home a beauty feed from Bear in the right slot to force a 3-3 tie with 2:54 to play in the third.

    In overtime, the Pats had a great chance to get the winner, when a shot from standout rookie winger Nick Henry squirted out from the pads of Thunderbirds goaltender Carl Stankowski. Steel tried to tap home the loose puck, but he didn’t get enough force behind the jab allowing Stankowski to make the stop.

Thunderbirds D Ethan Bear (#25) wires a shot on goal from centre ice.

    That set the stage for True to play the role of Seattle hero netting the series winner. When Brown made a blocker stop on True’s first shot, the import from Copenhagen, Denmark, was smart to go hard after his rebound, because he had a lot of empty net to shooting the winning goal into.

    Brown was heroic in the setback making 39 stops. Stankowski turned away 28 shots to become the first goalie in his 16-year-old season to win the WHL title as a starter since Dan Blackburn in 2000 with the Kootenay Ice.

    Three games in the series were decided in overtime, and all three were played in Regina. The Thunderbirds claimed two of those games in extra time to erase the memories of dropping three straight overtimes to open last year’s WHL Championship series with the Wheat Kings.

Thunderbirds C Mathew Barzal cuts to the front of the Pats net.

    The Pats were also without captain Adam Brooks for Games 2 to 5 of the series. Brooks was lost after being on the receiving end of an open ice hit by Ottenbreit in the second period of Game 1.
    Without their captain, the Pats showed their grit winning two out of the four games Brooks missed.

    While Regina fans weren’t happy with Ottenbreit, the Yorkton, Sask., product, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 200 pounds, showed he was a sound and rugged defensive defenceman.
    He recorded seven goals, 25 assists, 92 penalty minutes and a plus-45 rating in the plus-minus department in 71 regular season games.

Sam Steel netted key goals for the Pats.

    If Ottenbreit played for the Pats, he would likely have been a fan favourite in Regina.
    Thunderbirds star centre Mathew Barzal was held pointless in Game 6, but he had his chances. The first round NHL Entry Draft selection of the New York Islanders was named the MVP of the WHL playoffs.

    Barzal missed Seattle’s first round series sweep of the Tri-City Americans due to illness, but he returned at the start of the second round and recorded seven goals, 18 assists and a plus-eight rating in 16 post-season games.

    With the WHL championship win, the Thunderbirds head to the four team Memorial Cup tournament, which begins Friday in Windsor, Ont., with the host Spitfires hosting the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Saint John Sea Dogs.

    The Thunderbirds open their schedule taking on the Ontario Hockey League champion Erie Otters on Saturday. The Memorial Cup runs through to Sunday, May 28 in Windsor.

The Thunderbirds celebrate their WHL title OT winning goal.

    Seattle will be in tough as a WHL team has only won one of the last eight Memorial Cup tournaments. The Edmonton Oil Kings are the only Memorial Cup winner coming from the WHL during that time span capturing major junior hockey’s biggest prize in 2014.

    No matter what happens in the Memorial Cup, the Thunderbirds and Pats showed in their league title series how impressive a product the WHL can be.

    They gave the circuit another classic championship series.

Ridley nears 3,800 games called

Bob Ridley calls a Medicine Hat Tigers road game in Saskatoon.

    When the next WHL season starts, iconic Medicine Hat Tigers play-by-play voice Bob Ridley will be closing in on calling his 3,800^th game.

    This season, the Tigers advanced to the second round of the WHL playoffs, where they lost a heartbreaking seven game series to their Highway 3 rivals the Lethbridge Hurricanes. That contest was marked the 3,783^rd game Ridley called as the voice of the Tigers including games in the regular season, standings tiebreakers, WHL playoffs and the Memorial Cup tournament.

    Since the Tigers began play in 1970, Ridley has called 3,363 of the 3,364 team’s regular season games, one standings tiebreaking game, all 399 contests the club has played in the WHL playoffs and all 20 contests the team has played in the Memorial Cup tournament.

    Ridley has called Tigers hockey games for 47 seasons, and for the majority of that time, he drove the team’s bus as well. If someone started next season calling an average of 80 games a season for 47 seasons, that person would still come up short of the total games Ridley has called.

    It is safe to say no one ever in the history of the WHL will ever pass Ridley’s total of game called as the play-by-play voice of one team.

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

Thunderbirds WHL title dream comes True

Seattle wins first league crown in team history with OT thriller

Mathew Barzal, centre, gives a cheer after the Thunderbirds OT win.

    REGINA – Alexander True came up true in the biggest moment in the history of the Seattle Thunderbirds.

    On Sunday night before a sellout crowd of 6,484 spectators at the Brandt Centre in Regina, True’s Thunderbirds were locked in a 3-3 tie in overtime with the host Pats and were looking to close out the WHL Championship series with a Game 6 victory.
    At the 12:36 mark of the extra session, the 19-year-old import centre from Copenhagen, Denmark, broke down the right wing, fired a shot on Pats netminder Tyler Brown, followed the rebound and popped home the WHL championship winning goal.

    True’s marker gave the Thunderbirds a 4-3 victory in game, a 4-2 win in the best-of-seven series and the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions. The win marks the first time the Thunderbirds have claimed the WHL title in team history. The Thunderbirds date back to 1977, when the club was formed as the Seattle Breakers.

Alexander True (#16) fires home the WHL championship winning goal.

   “Unbelievable feeling. It is just really special,” said True, who said the OT winner was the biggest goal in his hockey career. “I don’t really know what to say.

    “I didn’t think much. I just wanted get the puck on net. Luckily, I got the rebound and saw the net was pretty open.”

    The Pats held a 1-0 lead after the first period, but the Thunderbirds pulled even at 1-1 scoring the lone tally in the second. Regina shot out to a 3-1 lead in the third period, but Seattle replied with two markers late in the frame to force overtime.

    Feisty Thunderbirds right-winger Keegan Kolesar wired home a one-time feed from star defenceman Ethan Bear on the power play for the equalizer with 2:54 remaining in the third.

Alexander True celebrates his OT winner.

    “We’re a team that doesn’t give up,” said Bear, who had a pair of assists and was a plus-two in the plus-minus department in Sunday’s win. “We’re going to have to keep doing that moving forward.

    “Through all the adversities and injuries, a lot of guys stepped up. We really, really earned this, and it feels amazing.”

    Bear, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers, had over 100 family and friends in attendance from his home stomping grounds in Saskatchewan’s Ochapowace First Nation. The 19-year-old big time appreciated his backers.

    “It is amazing to look at all my family and all my friends,” said Bear. “I am not the only guy from (Saskatchewan), so I bet they (his Saskatchewan teammates on the Thunderbirds) feel the same.

    “It couldn’t be any better.”

    Bear, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 205 pounds, said he draws motivation from his friends and family in Ochapowace.

    “They supported me a lot,” said Bear. “Everywhere I went, they all supported me no matter what I did.

    “That really helps me push myself to get a little bit further. Hearing and seeing all the crowd we had, you know it felt like home ice. Without them, I don’t think we could have done it.”

Seattle RW Keegan Kolesar (#28) tries to slip past Regina D Connor Hobbs.

    Sami Moilanen and Ryan Gropp both netted singles for the Thunderbirds. Sam Steel, Josh Mahura and Austin Wagner all netted singles for the Pats.

    For a moment, it looked Wagner was going to have a storybook type game. With the contest locked in a 1-1 draw, Wagner was nailed with a high hit in the open ice by Thunderbirds 19-year-old defenceman Turner Ottenbreit.

    Wagner, who had been battling bum shoulder in the playoffs, laid on the ice for a few moments before being helped to the dressing room. Ottenbreit was given a major penalty for charging, and that infraction will trigger an automatic review by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

    After missing the rest of the second period, Wagner returned for the third. The speedy winger got in alone on Thunderbirds netminder Carl Stankowski and netted his 16^th goal of the post-season to give the Pats a 3-1 edge with 6:48 to play in the frame.

Thunderbirds defenceman Ethan Bear holds up the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

    Bear said his Thunderbirds expected the Pats to be resilient. The Pats topped the WHL’s regular season standings with a 52-12-7-1 record and were rated first in the final Canadian Hockey League rankings released on March 22.

    In the second round of the playoffs, the Pats trailed the Swift Current Broncos 3-1 in a best-of-seven series and rallied for a 4-3 series win. In the WHL Eastern Conference Championship series, the Pats trailed that best-of-seven set 2-1 to the Lethbridge Hurricanes and rallied for a 4-2 victory.

    “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” said Bear. “Right from the get go, they were a team that every time they were down in a series they came back and won.

    “We knew that. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, so we just stuck to it. It feels amazing.”

    Stankowski made 28 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Thunderbirds. Brown was sensational turning away 39 shots to take the loss in goal for the Pats.

Austin Wagner (#27) celebrates his goal that gave the Pats a 3-1 lead.

    Thunderbirds star centre Mathew Barzal was named the MVP of the WHL playoffs.
    The Coquitlam, B.C., product missed the first round of the post-season due to illness, but he returned to piled up seven goals, 18 assists and a plus-eight rating in 16 playoff contests.

    The Thunderbirds will make their first appearance at the four-team Memorial Cup tournament for the first time since they hosted the event in 1992, when they lost out in a semifinal contest. The other three teams at this year’s Memorial Cup are the Ontario Hockey League champion Erie Otters, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Saint John Sea Dogs and the host Windsor Spitfires.

    The Memorial Cup begins Friday and runs through to Sunday, May 28 in Windsor, Ont.

    The Pats were making their first appearance in the WHL Championship series since 1984 and will host the Memorial Cup next year.

    After losing last year’s WHL Championship series in five games to the Brandon Wheat Kings, the Thunderbirds returned 14 skaters this season and had to survive missing key players to injuries and illness over extended stretches. Stankowski, who is in his 16-year-old season, played every minute in the post-season in goal for Seattle after star overage netminder Rylan Toth sat out with a lower body injury.

Seattle C Matthew Wedman (#21) is stopped by Regina G Tyler Brown.

    During the regular season, the Thunderbirds posted the WHL’s fourth best overall record at 46-20-4-2. In the WHL playoffs, Seattle rolled off a 16-4 mark.

    Thunderbirds long time veteran general manager, part owner and WHL legend Russ Farwell stood off to the side watching his players, coaches and staff enjoy the moment. Before he ever joined the Thunderbirds, Farwell was the general manager and architect of the Medicine Hat Tigers league and Memorial Cup championship teams in 1987 and 1988.

    After the 1988 Memorial Cup title win, he joined the Thunderbirds for his first stint as general manager, which ended with a departure to the NHL ranks in 1990. Farwell has continuously been with the Thunderbirds since getting back involved with the team in 1995.

    He wanted to savour this first personal league title win in 29 years.

The Thunderbirds get set for the team picture with the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

    “You appreciate it a little more I think the longer you have been doing it,” said Farwell. “This is a special group of guys.

    “It is a bigger challenge in the U.S. to build that kind of team. This year this group has really, really battled through a lot of things. It is the funniest year I have ever had right down to Carl (Stankowski) having to step in for us in goal.

    “They’ve just overcome so many things.”

    Farwell said he would always remember this league title win.

    “They are all big, but this is special certainly for our group, our scouts and everyone there in Seattle,” said Farwell. “It has been a long, long time coming.

    “We worked at it. We had a run last year. It is really special to get there and see these guys get there.”

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

Thunderbirds gut out series opening 2-1 overtime win

Pats face an uphill battle losing third straight Game 1

Thunderbirds winger Donovan Neuls celebrates his OT winner.

    REGINA – The Regina Pats seem to like doing things the hard way in the post-season.

    For the third straight series, the Pats, who topped the WHL standings with a 52-12-7-1 mark, dropped an opening Game 1, and this time they face a different obstacle.
    On Friday night in the opening contest in the best-of-seven WHL Championship series, the Pats fell 2-1 in overtime to the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds.

    Just 14 seconds into the extra session, Thunderbirds winger Donovan Neuls knocked home a loose puck in front of the Regina net to send most of a sellout crowd of 6,484 home disappointed.

    Thanks the setback, the Pats will have to fight another uphill battle to pull out a series victory, but this time the challenge is different for the club the was rated first in the final CHL top 10 rankings released on March 22.

Donovan Neuls breaks up ice for the Thunderbirds.

    In the second round of the playoffs, the Pats dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the Swift Current Broncos at home. The Broncos eventually took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven set before the Regina battled back with three straight wins to take the series 4-3 to advance to the WHL Eastern Conference championship series.

    In the opener of the Eastern Conference title series, the Pats again fell on home ice this time by a 3-1 decision to the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Lethbridge took a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven set before the Pats rallied back with three straight wins to claim the series 4-2.

    The Broncos, who posted a 39-23-4-6 mark in the regular season, and the Hurricanes, who had a 44-21-4-3 record in the regular season, were both strong clubs, but both also hadn’t made far ventures in the post-season for some time.
    The Broncos were looking to advance to the conference finals for the first time since 2001 when they fell to the Pats. The Hurricanes were making their first conference final appearance since 2008 when they fell to the Pats.

    Regina is also making its first long run in the playoffs in some time. When the Pats won the conference final, it marked the first time they appeared in the league championship series since 1984.

Ethan Bear had a goal in his return from injury.

    Between 1984 and the current campaign, they only had one other conference final appearance coming back in 1993, when they were swept by the Broncos.

    In the Thunderbirds, the Pats are facing an experienced opponent when it comes to the post-season.

    Seattle made it to last year’s league title series dropping the best-of-seven set 4-1 to the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Thunderbirds dropped three straight overtime games to make things really hard to try and win that set.

    This season, the Thunderbirds returned 14 skaters and posted the league’s fourth best record at 46-20-4-2. You have to think they were heading into the playoffs looking to take care of unfinished business.

    Still, Seattle entered the playoffs with some adversity. They haven’t had the services of star overage goaltender Rylan Toth, who missed the entire post-season with a lower body injury. Carl Stankowski, who in his 16-year-old rookie season, has been spectacular in Toth’s place posting impressive stats in the post-season with a 13-2 record, a 2.39 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.

    He was solid on Friday making 31 stops, which included turning away Pats captain Adam Brooks on a first-period wraparound and stopping speedy Pats winger Austin Wagner on a short-handed breakaway in the third period.

Thunderbirds goalie Carl Stankowski stones Pats centre Braydon Buziak.

    The Pats finally beat Stankowski on a spectacular power-play goal from star offensive-defenceman Connor Hobbs with 7:49 to play. Hobbs snuck in the point and potted a backdoor feed from winger Dawson Leedahl which tied the contest up at 1-1 and eventually forced overtime.

    The Thunderbirds also started the playoffs without spectacular star captain Mathew Barzal with what the team said was an illness. The Thunderbirds said Barzal was being tested for mumps in early March. Barzal missed the Thunderbirds first round series swept of the Tri-City Americans and returned for the start of the Thunderbirds second round series with the Everett Silvertips.

    In 11 post-season games, Barzal has been on fire piling up five goals and 14 assists. He had helpers on both his team’s goals in Game 1 against the Pats.

Connor Hobbs, left, celebrates his game-tying goal for the Pats.

    The Thunderbirds also had questions going into the series opener with Regina as right-winger Keegan Kolesar was sitting out a one-game suspension for receiving a major for checking from behind in Seattle’s Western Conference series clinching 3-1 Game 6 victory over the Rockets in Kelowna on Sunday.

    Ethan Bear, who was named the WHL’s top defenceman, was returning to action after missing three games with a hand injury. The Ochapowace product blew home a power play goal from the top of the faceoff circle at the 4:55 mark of the second period to give Seattle a 1-0 edge and answer questions about his effectiveness.

    On top of all of those obstacles, the Thunderbirds got rid of some demons with regards to losing overtime games in the league title series from a year ago.

    To make matters worse for the Pats, they lost Brooks who was nailed in the open ice after cross the Seattle blue-line by Thunderbirds rugged defenceman Turner Ottenbreit early in the second period when the game was still scoreless. Brooks was held off the ice, had a cut on his head, looked groggy and didn’t return.

Pats captain Adam Brooks is tended to by trainer Greg Mayer.

    In a post-game press conference, Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock compared Ottenbreit’s hit to one thrown by former NHL Hall of Fame defenceman Scott Stevens. Paddock also didn’t give an update on Brooks’s future status.

    On replays, Ottenbreit’s hit appeared clean, and Brooks was at a size disadvantage in the collision, which helped cause the injury. Ottenbreit stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 200 pounds, while Brooks stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 177 pounds.

    The Pats won their second round series against the Broncos with Brooks missing the last five games of that set with a knee injury. He dressed for the last three outings of the series but stayed on the bench.

    Regina netminder Tyler Brown did his best to give the Pats a chance to win on Friday making 24 saves to take the loss in goal.

The Thunderbirds celebrate their overtime victory.

    The Pats now have their backs to the wall against an experienced opponent. They claimed Game 2 at home in both of their series wins against the Broncos and Hurricanes to put themselves in the fight in those sets.

    The pressure is on Regina to repeat recent history in Game 2 against the Thunderbirds on Saturday at 7 p.m. local time at the Brandt Centre before going back for three straight games at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash.

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

How ‘bout them Broncos

Ryley Lindgren (#18) and the Broncos have surprised in the WHL playoffs.

    If you live in Swift Current, Sask., and you don’t know the Broncos are in a playoff series, you are living under a rock.

    During the current WHL post-season, the Swift Current Broncos players have been wearing t-shirts that ask why can’t it be their team that does special things in the playoffs and makes a long run. Every time the Broncos hit the ice, you start to wonder how far they can take their run.

    At the moment, the Broncos are on the cusp of manufacturing a monumental upset. They lead a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Regina Pats 3-1 and can close things out in Game 5 on Friday night in a game that starts at 7 p.m. local time at the Brandt Centre in Regina.

    The Pats, of course, finished first overall in the WHL regular season standings with a 52-12-7-1 record, and they were rated first in the final CHL top 10 rankings, which were released on March 22.

    Regina was often ranked first in the CHL top 10 rankings throughout the 2016-17 campaign.

Jordan Papirny picked up his 40th career WHL playoff win on Tuesday.

    Going into the post-season, the Broncos were one of those teams you had to be aware of. They finished 10^th overall in the WHL standings with a solid 39-23-4-6 mark and finished the regular season winning seven of their last 10 games.

    Swift Current boasts two top forward lines that are as good as any of the elite teams in the WHL. The Broncos also have a sound group of defencemen and a proven playoff winner in goal. One of the few things the Broncos didn’t have was high expectations to go far in the post-season by the pundits that follow the league.

    The Broncos are proving what the pundits think doesn’t matter as long as they believe in themselves.

    After taking out the powerful Moose Jaw Warriors in an exciting seven-game first round series, the Broncos added to their playoff magic. They won two overtime games to take a 2-1 series lead against the Pats, and extended that series edge to 3-1 with an epic triple overtime victory on Tuesday in Swift Current.

    In Game 4 on Tuesday, the Broncos erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 to go ahead 4-3. After the Pats tied things up at 4-4 in the dying seconds of the third period, both clubs embarked on a marathon march through extra time.

    At the 9:54 mark of the third overtime frame, Broncos captain Glenn Gawdin knocked home the winner on a power play from the front of the Regina goal. Most of the sellout crowd of 2,890 at the Credit Union i-Plex remained in the rink and exploded in joy when the winning tally went in.

The Broncos fans have been excited for their team.

    The two guys you had to feel sorry for were Pats netminder Tyler Brown, who made 64 saves in the setback, and Pats left-winger Dawson Leedahl, who had a gritty four-goal night.

    The biggest star had to be Broncos overage netminder Jordan Papirny, who made 65 stops to pick up his 40^th career WHL playoff victory. Papirny was acquired by the Broncos in a trade with the Brandon Wheat Kings on the WHL’s trade deadline day back on Jan. 10. He backstopped the Wheat Kings to a WHL title a year ago and into the WHL championship series in 2015.

    In 60 career WHL playoff starts, Papirny has posted a 40-20 record, a 2.71 goals against average, a .918 save percentage and two shutouts.

    Lots of the Broncos reliable standouts came up with big nights in the Game 4 overtime win over the Pats. Overage centre Ryley Lindgren had two goals and two assists and standout winger Tyler Steenbergen had a goal and an assist.

    Defencemen Artyom Minulin and Colby Sissons, who are both in their 18-year-old seasons, kept coming into their own. Minulin, who is an import from Russia, had a goal and was a plus-two in the plus-minus department. Sissons had a couple of helpers and was a plus-one.

    The Pats have been hurt due to losing captain Adams Brooks to injury in Game 2 of the series with the Broncos. It is believed Brooks’s status is day to day.

Glenn Gawdin had a big triple OT winner for the Broncos.

    Pats standout centre Jake Leschyshyn is out for the post-season with a knee injury. Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post is reporting that Pats import winger Filip Ahl is being tested for the mumps, so Ahl’s status hinges on those results.

    Without that trio, the Pats haven’t looked the same, and their offensive success has come from grit as opposed to finesse.

    On the other side, the Broncos have been road warriors going 18-13-1-4 away from home in the regular season and posting a 4-2 mark on the road during playoffs. 

    At home in Swift Current, the Broncos are a respectable 3-2 playing in front of unreal raucous crowds. 

    Visitors are going to be hard pressed to win in the Credit Union i-Plex from here on out.

    The Broncos have been the story so far of the 2017 WHL post-season. 

    At the moment, you can expect they will do their best to make their story more memorable.

Beware the Thunderbirds

Mathew Barzal in action in last year’s WHL title series.

    The Seattle Thunderbirds have to be the favourites to make the WHL championship series out of the Western Conference for a second straight year.

    During the regular season, the Thunderbirds posted the second best record in the Western Conference with a 46-20-4-2 mark. They swept the Tri-City Americans 4-0 in a best-of-seven first round series and are on the cusp of sweeping the Everett Silvertips in a best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.

    The Thunderbirds lead their set with the Silvertips 3-0 and will try for the sweep in Game 4 on Friday at 7:30 p.m. local time at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash. Everett topped the Western Conference in the regular season with a 44-16-9-3 mark.

    With 14 skaters on their roster from last year’s squad, you have to think Seattle had visions of returning to the WHL final and winning it. The biggest returnee is dynamic 19-year-old centre Mathew Barzal.

    A reminder of that was seen in the Thunderbirds 5-4 overtime win in Game 3 over the Silvertips on Tuesday in Kent, Wash. With the Silvertips holding a 4-3 lead, Barzal scored early in the third period to force a 4-4 tie and scored the winner 90 seconds into overtime to deliver Seattle to victory.

    Barzal missed part of the end of the regular season and Seattle’s first round series with what the team is saying was an illness. The Thunderbirds said Barzal was being tested for the mumps in early March.

    In three playoff games against the Silvertips, Barzal has three goals and three assists. After being returned by the NHL’s New York Islanders, Barzal recorded 10 goals, 69 assists and a plus-32 rating in 41 regular season games with the Thunderbirds.

    Seattle has been powered by other key returnees like forwards Ryan Gropp, Keegan Kolesar and Nolan Volcan along with star defenceman Ethan Bear.

    The biggest surprise during Seattle’s playoff run is that fact it has been backed with rookie Carl Stankowski playing goal, who is still in his 16-year-old rookie season. Stankowski has won all seven of his playoff starts posting a 2.42 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.

    Thunderbirds overage starting netminder Rylan Toth hasn’t appeared in the post-season due to a lower body injury.

    Seattle is definitely a club you can’t overlook.

Will Hurricanes run out of steam against Tigers?

John Dahlstrom had a big overtime winner for the Tigers.

    One has to wonder if fatigue will become a nemesis for the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

    On Wednesday, the Hurricanes dropped a 3-2 decision in overtime at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge to their Highway 3 rivals the Medicine Hat Tigers in Game 4 of their WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. With the win, the Tigers even the best-of-seven set 2-2 with Game 5 set for Friday in Medicine Hat at 7:30 p.m. local time at the Canalta Centre.

    The Hurricanes were up 2-0 after the first period in Game 4 thanks to goals coming from the sticks of Giorgio Estephan and Egor Babenko. Medicine Hat worked back to even terms with a second period goal from Chad Butcher and a third period power-play tally from Max Gerlach. Swedish import John Dahlstrom snipped the winning goal for the Tigers at the 11:32 mark of the extra session.

    Michael Bullion turned away 28 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers to disappoint most of the 4,920 spectators in attendance. Stuart Skinner was spectacular in the Hurricanes goal turning away 56 shots in the setback.

    The Tigers swept their best-of-seven first round series with the Brandon Wheat Kings, while the Hurricanes rallied from being down 3-1 in their best-of-seven opening round series with the Red Deer Rebels to pull out a 4-3 win.

    Wednesday’s game was the 11^th contest in 19 days for the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes didn’t seem to have the same jump as the Tigers did in Game 4. Fatigue might be setting in on the Lethbridge side, which might mean Wednesday’s setback could prove to be very costly.

    Instead of being up in the series 3-1 and having a chance to close things out on Friday, the Hurricanes know they are now locked in a long series with the Tigers that will require at least a Game 6. That situation plays in Medicine Hat’s favour.

    The Tigers have to like where they are sitting in the series going forward. The Hurricanes will have to really dig down to pull out a couple of wins on will.

Rockets on verge of dumping Winterhawks

Cole Kehler’s Winterhawks are on the ropes versus the Rockets.

    Another playoff year means another long run for the Kelowna Rockets.

    The Rockets are on the verge of advancing to the WHL’s Western Conference championship series for a fourth straight year. On Wednesday at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon, the Rockets thrashed the host Winterhawks 7-2 in Game 4 of a best-of-seven WHL Western Conference semifinal series.

    With the win, the Rockets lead the set 3-1 and will try to close things out in Game 5 on Friday at Prospera Place in Kelowna, which will start at 7 p.m. local time.

    Reid Gardiner had two goals and two assists for the Rockets, while Calvin Thurkauf added two goals and an assist to the visitor’s efforts. The Rockets received singles form Carsen Twarynski, Nick Merkley and Rodney Southam. Michael Herringer turned away 35 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Rockets and disappoint most of the 4,469 in attendance.

    Cody Glass and Caleb Jones replied with singles for the Winterhawks. Cole Kehler turned away 26-of-32 shots taking the loss in goal for the Winterhawks. Shane Farkas turned away seven-of-eight shots finishing the game in goal for Portland in relief.

    The Rockets lost out in last year’s Western Conference championship series to Seattle.

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