A star-crossed home farewell for Blades

Saskatoon pulls out 5-3 win, eliminated from WHL playoff race

Jesse Shynkaruk (#14) salutes the SaskTel Centre crowd.

    After his Saskatoon Blades won their home finale, Jesse Shynkaruk had trouble holding back the tears.

    Before Friday night’s game started at the SaskTel Centre against the visiting Prince Albert Raiders, the Blades were still alive in the WHL playoff race, but they didn’t have control of their own destiny.
    The overage centre popped in his team’s first goal off a speedy rush in the first period to force a 1-1 tie with the Raiders.

    The Blades shot out from that point going ahead 4-1 in the second period and ultimately held on for a 5-3 victory.

    To stay alive, the Blades needed the Calgary Hitmen to fall in Cranbrook, B.C., on Friday night to the host Kootenay Ice, who sat last in the entire WHL. While the Blades were pulling out a victory before 10,030 spectators on home ice, the Hitmen were dumping the Ice 6-1.

    With the win over the Ice (14-45-10-2), the Hitmen improved to 29-32-8-2 to lock up eight place overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and clinch the conference’s final wildcard post-season berth.

    The Blades improved to 28-34-7-2 with their victory, but the reality hit post-game that they would play only one more contest in the 2016-17 campaign. The Blades and Raiders, who fell to 20-44-5-2, will both close their regular seasons in another head-to-head encounter on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

Braylon Shmyr brings the puck up ice for the Blades.

    During a post-game media scrum, Shynkaruk stopped once while answering questions, composed himself, apologized and continued to answer queries. Having been released by the Moose Jaw Warriors at the conclusion of last season, Shynkaruk was without a WHL home until his hometown Blades listed him.

    With the Blades, he had by far his best WHL season netting career highs in goals (31) and assists (25) in 57 regular season appearances at the conclusion of Friday’s action.

    “I am going to have to say goodbye to all those guys in a couple of days, and it is going to be really tough,” said Shynkaruk. “(I made) a bunch of friendships that will last forever, and I think that is the part I will miss the most.

    “To be honest, I don’t think anyone gave us much of a chance at the start of the year. With all the adversity we faced with injuries, I think this team over performed amazingly. I am really proud of every single guy in that room.”

    The Blades will miss the post-season for the fourth consecutive year having last made the playoffs in 2013, when they hosted the Memorial Cup. Unlike the previous three campaigns, the Blades were still alive in the race to make the playoffs going into their second last regular season game. During the three previous non-playoff years, the Blades were accustomed to playing out the string at this stage of things.

Michael Farren, left, celebrates his goal with Chase Wouters.

    With Saskatoon up 4-1 heading into the second intermission, Blades head coach Dean Brockman said his side kind of knew that the Hitmen were up big on the Ice in Cranbrook, B.C., even if they didn’t know what the exact score was. The bench boss was still pleased his squad came out with the win in front of their biggest home crowd of the season.

    “Obviously with all these people in the building, you want to put on a show,” said Brockman. “Certainly, our guys they knew what the stake of the game was.

    “We wanted to win it. Certainly, we kind of knew what our destiny was going to be. I give our guys a lot of credit for staying in it as long as they did.”

    Overage winger Cavin Leth gave the Raiders an early 1-0 lead before Shynkaruk netted the equalizer for the host side. In the second period, the Blades exploded out for three straight goals to go ahead 4-1 with singles coming from Braylon Shmyr, Michael Farren and Gage Ramsay.

Blades goalie Logan Flodell deals with traffic from the Raiders.

    The Raiders put a scare into the hosts, when forwards Parker Kelly and Spencer Moe netted singles to cut the Blades lead to 4-3 with 11:21 to play in the frame.

    Josh Paterson sealed victory for the Blades scoring into an empty net with one second to play.

    Logan Flodell turned away 36 shots to pick up his 22^nd win of the season in goal for the Blades. Nicholas Sanders started in goal for the Raiders and turned away 11-of-14 shots before being pulled at the 6:21 mark of the second period. Ian Scott stopped 10-of-11 shots finishing the contest in relief and officially taking the loss in goal for Prince Albert.

    Following the game, Shynkaruk went back out on to the ice with overage Blades teammates Bryton Sayers and Markson Bechtold for one final bow.

Jesse Shynkaruk brings the puck up ice for the Blades.

    “We went out there together,” said Shynkaruk. “I saw my family up there and knew that I am not going to be back.

    “A little bit of emotions came. It is tough holding them back.”

    He added he would try to put on one last big effort in his final WHL game on Saturday.

    “Usually the emotions aren’t pouring out of you on game 71,” said Shynkaruk. “(I am going to) go out there and work hard for every single guy in that room for our last game, and hopefully make it a good one.”

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

Broncos’ Steenbergen crushes Raiders hopes of victory

Winger’s 47^th goal in final minute lifts Swift Current past P.A.

Raiders G Nicholas Sanders shuts the door on Broncos C Lane Pederson.

    PRINCE ALBERT - Tyler Steenbergen’s 47^th goal of the season drove a dagger into a spirited effort by the Prince Albert Raiders.

    Entering play on Tuesday, the Raiders, who have one of the younger rosters in the WHL, sat second last in the league, but they have been on an upswing posting a 10-7-2 record in their previous 19 games. Steenbergen’s Swift Current Broncos had a playoff spot already locked up and were looking to solidify their positioning in the standings.

    In a tightly contest affair at the Art Hauser Centre, the Broncos and Raiders entered the final minute of the third period locked in a 2-2 draw. At that point, Steenbergen broke into the Prince Albert zone and ripped home the winning goal for the visitors top corner glove side on Raiders netminder Ian Scott with 57.9 seconds to play in the frame.

Tyler Steenbergen potted the winning goal for the Broncos.

    Overage winger Ryley Lindgren added an empty-net tally with 17.5 seconds to play to cement a 4-2 win for the Broncos before an announced crowd of 1,886 spectators.

    While the Raiders won’t be part of the WHL playoff picture, Steenbergen said his Broncos spoke about not taking the Prince Albert side lightly.

    “We know they are out of it, but we know they are going to work their hardest to be spoilers,” said Steenbergen. “We knew that coming in.

    “They have been on a little bit of a roll lately, so we wanted to come out hard and play them physical. We know they are a physical team. We pushed back, and we got the outcome we wanted.”

    Steenbergen was both relieved and pumped to net the winning goal.

    “It was awesome,” said Steenbergen. “I had a couple of changes earlier in the game and didn’t quite go in for me.

    “Getting the win in this point in the year that is all we need. Now, we want to clinch that third place spot, so getting that win in regulation was huge for us.”

Parker Kelly scored twice on Tuesday for the Raiders.

    The win allowed the Broncos, who have won five straight, to improve to 35-20-4-5. They sit 12 points ahead of the idle Brandon Wheat Kings (29-27-7-3) for third place in the East Division with a game in hand. Swift Current needs to earn just one more point in the standings to lock up a third place finish.

    In Tuesday’s game, sophomore winger Parker Kelly scored at the 8:57 mark of the opening frame to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead.
    The hosts appeared to go ahead 2-0 crashing into the Swift Current net, but a goal from centre Sean Montgomery was waived due to the officials ruling the puck was kicked in.

    Before the opening frame ended, standout centre Lane Pederson netted his 20^th goal of the season for the Broncos to force a 1-1 tie.

    After a scoreless second, the Broncos went ahead 2-1 just pass the midway point of the third, when winger Kaden Elder one-timed home a shot.
    The edge held up for less than three minutes as Kelly potted his second of the contest to force a 2-2 tie. That set the stage for the dramatics in the final minute.

Ian Scott stops a high shot for the Raiders.

    Scott turned away 30-of-33 shots taking the loss in goal for the Raiders, who fell to 18-42-5-2. Backup Nicholas Sanders turned away two shots during a short appearance in the first period, when Scott left the contest to get an equipment issue fixed.

    Jordan Papirny, who was acquired in a trade earlier this season with the Wheat Kings, turned away 33 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Broncos.

    Steenbergen is having a huge season for the Broncos leading the team in scoring with 47 goals and 35 assists.
    The Sylvan Lake, Alta., product said he has received a lot of help in piling up the points.

    “I’ve been getting a lot of good chances,” said Steenbergen. “I have to give credit to my teammates.

    “I am playing with some great players right now in Lindy (Lindgren) and Gawdz (Glenn Gawdin). Before, I played with Hepo (Aleksi Heponiemi) and Peedy (Pederson) too and Elds (Kaden Elder) even.

    “I am playing with great players and they are getting me the puck. I’ve been fortunate enough to put the puck in the net this year.”

    The Broncos appeared destined to face the Moose Jaw Warriors in the opening round of the playoffs.

The Broncos celebrate their win on Tuesday.

    With Papirny having backstopped the Wheat Kings to a WHL title last year, Steenbergen believes his Broncos can make some noise in the post-season, which is about three weeks away.

    “I think we can surprise some people,” said Steenbergen. “We are going to do some damage against Moose Jaw, and hopefully, we keep that up in the second round if we get past Moose Jaw.”

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