Blades down Wheat Kings 3-1, return to top of East Division

Evan Gardner made 33 saves in net for the Blades on Wednesday.

Evan Gardner’s roll has vaulted to Saskatoon Blades back to the top of the WHL’s East Division.

On Wednesday, the star netminder made 33 saves to backstop the Blades to a 3-1 victory in a regular season clash over the host Wheat Kings before 2,902 spectators at Westoba Place in Brandon. Gardner, who turned 19 in January, has won his last six straight starts.

He also signed three-year NHL entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday. The Blue Jackets selected Gardner, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 177 pound, in the second round and 60^th overall in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.

Thanks to his efforts, the Blades, who have won their last three straight games, improved to 37-22-3-4 to return to the top of the East Division. They lead their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders (37-23-5-1) by one standings point and hold a two point edge over the Wheat Kings, who fell to 36-23-4-3. All three of those squads each have two games remaining on their respective regular season schedules.

The Blades and Raiders close their respective regular season playing a home-and-home series against each other. The two sides go at it Friday in Saskatoon (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre) and Saturday in Prince Albert (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The winner of Friday’s encounter will sit first in the East Division heading into action on Saturday. The Blades are expecting to draw over 10,000 spectators for Friday’s clash.

The Wheat Kings conclude their slate with a home-and-home series against the Regina Pats (16-42-5-3). Those two teams play Friday in Brandon (7 p.m. local time, Westoba Place) and Saturday in Regina (6 p.m., Brandt Centre). Brandon needs to win both of those contests to have a chance to finish first in the East Division.

The Wheat Kings have won their respective regular season series with the Blades and Raiders. If Brandon finishes tied in wins and standings points with either or both of Saskatoon and Prince Albert, the Wheat Kings will take the standings tiebreaker in that instance.

Wednesday’s battle between the Blades and Wheat Kings was a fairly tight checking affair. The two sides played through a scoreless opening frame with Blades standout 19-year-old left-winger Rowan Calvert nailing the post with a shot inside the final minute of the stanza.

Early in the second, Wheat Kings 20-year-old star right-winger Marcus Nguyen put a backhand shot off the crossbar of the Saskatoon net.

Saskatoon broke through on the scoreboard at the 8:15 mark of the second. Import rookie left-winger David Lewandowski circled around the right side of the Brandon zone holding off a defender and fired home a shot through a screen to put the visitors up 1-0.

Rowan Calvert scored for the Blades on Wednesday.

With two seconds remaining in the second, Blades import centre Frantisek Day engaged Wheat Kings star 18-year-old centre Roger McQueen in a fight. The bout came about in a clunky manner.

During a scramble on the Saskatoon zone, Day cross-checked McQueen accidentally into Gardner. Day saw McQueen knock Gardner and then went after the Brandon forward.

McQueen was given a fighting major, while Day was given a minor for instigating, a major for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct. Working on that ensuing power play early in the third, Wheat Kings standout 18-year-old centre Jordan Gavin wired a shot off the post.

Once the Brandon power play came to an end, the Blades jumped ahead 2-0 at the 7:19 mark of the third, when Calvert tucked in his 24^th goal of the season with a bad angle shot just above the icing line to the left side of the Wheat Kings net.

The Wheat Kings didn’t go away. With 8:13 remaining in the third, Wheat Kings 20-year-old offensive-defenceman Luke Shipley wired a midrange shot through a screen for his 18^th tally of the campaign to cut the Blades lead to 2-1. Wheat Kings 16-year-old rookie centre Jaxon Jacobson stole the puck working the forecheck deep in the Saskatoon zone, and he got the puck to Gavin. Gavin setup Shipley for his goal-scoring shot.

Inside the final two minutes of the third with Brandon having pulled star 19-year-old netminder Carson Bjarnason for an extra attacker, Shipley wired a shot off the post of the Saskatoon goal.

Just moments after that missed chance, Lewandowski potted a long range empty-net goal from the left side boards beside the faceoff circle in the Saskatoon zone to seal the 3-1 victory for the visiting Blades. That tally was the second of the contest for Lewandowski and his 14^th marker of the campaign.

Bjarnason turned away 24-of-26 shots to take the setback in goal for the Wheat Kings.

Last season, the Blades finished with a 50-13-2-3 mark to top the WHL’s overall standings. In the post-season, the Blades advanced to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series and fell in an epic seven-game set that saw six contests go to overtime to the eventual WHL champion Moose Jaw Warriors.

Going into the current campaign, the Blades weren’t expected to challenge for first in the division. They occupied first place for most of the first half of the regular season.

Leading up the WHL’s trade deadline on January 9, the Blades unloaded stars Brandon Lisowsky, Tanner Molendyk and Ben Riche to stock up on draft capital and add solid younger players. The Blades dealt a lot of high draft selections during a load up last season.

Saskatoon fell out of top spot in the East Division in late January. The Blades weren’t expected to be sitting at the top of the division with two regular season games remaining on their schedule.

Now, they will try to conclude a heated three team race with what would be a surprise division title.

Hitmen’s Hauser gets career wins record

Daniel Hauser is the WHL’s new all-time goaltending career wins king.

On Wednesday night, the star netminder, who turned 21 in January, made 21 saves to backstop his Calgary Hitmen to a 5-1 victory over the visiting Red Deer Rebels before 2,573 spectators at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The triumph allowed Hauser to move alone to the top of the WHL’s career regular season goaltending wins list with 123 victories.

Hauser had been tied for top spot at 122 wins with Nolan Maier, who played his entire WHL career with the Saskatoon Blades from 2017 to 2022.

“It feels awesome,” said Hauser to the WHL’s director of public relations and brand communications Taylor Rocca. “I could stand here for hours listing the people I can thank for putting me in this position.

“I’m super grateful for this team, this organization and every team I’ve been on in the past. To share (the record) with this group – these guys play so well in front of me every night. They made it special for me tonight, and it was awesome.”

Hauser, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 166 pounds, started his WHL career playing for the Winnipeg Ice during the circuit’s abbreviated campaign in 2021. The Ice played in a bubble environment at the Brandt Centre in Regina due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

He moved with the Ice franchise when it relocated to Wenatchee, Washington, to become the Wenatchee Wild at the start of the 2023-24 campaign. On January 2, Hauser was dealt to the Hitmen in a blockbuster trade.

Hauser, who is a Chestermere, Alta., product, has appeared in 175 career WHL regular season contests posting a 123-36-9 record, a 2.59 goals against average, a .910 save percentage and 17 shutouts. In combined action with both the Wild and Hitmen this season, Hauser has posted a 28-13-3 record, a 2.57 goals against average, a .912 save percentage and five shutouts.

The Hitmen did their best to ensure Hauser wouldn’t be denied the record on Wednesday. Carson Wetsch and Hunter Aura netted singles in the first period to give Calgary a 2-0 lead. Brandon Gorzynski, Sawyer Mynio and Ethan Moore potted singles in the second period to push the Hitmen’s advantage out to 5-0.

Samuel Drancak tallied for the Rebels in the third to round out the game’s scoring.

Hitmen star right-winger Oliver Tulk collected a pair of assists to hit the 100-point barrier in one regular season for the first time in his WHL career. Tulk, who turned 20 in January, has recorded 38 goals and 62 assists for 100 points to go with a plus-44 rating in the plus-minus department in 63 games with the Hitmen this season.

Peyton Shore turned away 25 shots to take the setback in net for the Rebels, who fell to 26-32-6-2 as they play out the string in 2024-25.

The win allowed the Hitmen to improve to 44-16-3-3.  Their 94 standings points ties the Medicine Hat Tigers (45-17-3-1) for top spot in the Central Division and the Eastern Conference. The Tigers hold the standing tiebreaker due to having more wins. Both clubs have two games remaining on their respective regular season schedules.

The Hitmen and Rebels go at it again on Saturday in Red Deer (7 p.m. local time, Peavey Mart Centrium). The Tigers are also in action on Saturday as they host the rival Lethbridge Hurricanes (7 p.m. local time, Co-op Place).

The Hitmen and Tigers conclude their respective regular season slates playing each other on Sunday in Calgary (5 p.m. local time, Scotiabank Saddledome).

The Rebels conclude their 2024-25 campaign on Sunday traveling to Edmonton to take on the Oil Kings (4 p.m. local time, Rogers Place).

Royals jump to top of B.C. Division

The Victoria Royals are back on top of the B.C. Division.

On Wednesday, the Royals downed the host Rockets in Kelowna 5-3 before 3,451 spectators at Prospera Place. The Rockets took a 2-0 lead in the second period before the Royals rolled off three straight tallies to take a 3-2 edge into the second intermission.

Kelowna scored the equalizer early in the third to force a 3-3 tie, but the Royals netted the contest’s final two markers to pull out the two-goal victory.

Cole Reschny led the way for the Royals with two goals and one assist. Brandon Lisowsky, Reggie Newman and Kenta Isogai all netted singles for Victoria. Isogai tallied into an empty net.

Hiroki Gojsic, Levi Benson and Jakub Stancl replied with singles for the Rockets.

Jayden Kraus stopped 30 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Royals. Rhett Stoesser turned away 32-of-36 shots to take the setback in net of the Rockets.

With the win, the Royals improve to 39-17-3-7 to hold a lead of two standings points over the Prince George Cougars (40-20-4-2) for first in the B.C. Division. Both squads conclude their respective regular season schedules playing each other twice in Prince George. They go at it 7 p.m. local time Friday and 6 p.m. local time Saturday at the CN Centre.

The Rockets have lost 10 straight games to fall to 17-43-4-2 to sit in the basement of the Western Conference. They are playing out the string and have two games remaining on their regular season slate.

The Rockets host the Kamloops Blazers on Saturday (6 p.m. local time, Prospera Place) and head on the road Sunday to take on the Vancouver Giants in Langley, B.C., (4 p.m. local time, Langley Events Centre).

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

-------                                                                   

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Could Blades be sleeper team in 2022-23 WHL campaign?

The Blades celebrate a goal from Jayden Wiens (#9).

Are the Saskatoon Blades destined to be the bracket buster in 2022-23?

In what has been arguably the quietest development in the current hockey season, the Blades have floated into the top four of the WHL’s overall standings. “The Bridge City Bunch” has put together a stellar 14-4 record to this point in the season. On Tuesday, they cracked into the CHL’s Top 10 rankings in ninth spot.

During their last outing on Sunday, the Blades downed Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats 5-2, and the host Saskatoon side drew a season high 7,868 spectators to the SaskTel Centre. While Bedard was the big draw that attracted the crowd, the fans arrived at the rink to cheer on the Blades.

Sophomore Blades 17-year-old centre Lukas Hansen provided an unexpected highlight reel goal scoring play. He got the puck at the right side boards in the Regina zone, cut across the front of the Pats net and tucked home his third tally of the season to give the Blades a 3-0 lead with 2:58 remaining in the second period. Hansen’s tally held up as the winner.

Egor Sidorov has 17 points in seven games this season for the Blades.

The Blades are building up belief that they can make some noise this season. They return to action on Friday when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers (6-9-3-1) at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. Before the campaign got underway, they were never really talked about as a team that could be one of the WHL’s better clubs.

Those talks focused around the Winnipeg Ice, Red Deer Rebels, Kamloops Blazers, Portland Winterhawks and Seattle Thunderbirds. In the WHL’s Easter Conference, a decent amount of pre-season talk occurred around the Pats due to the presence of Bedard and the Moose Jaw Warriors, who were returning a strong core from last season. The Warriors roster got stronger on Monday, when the NHL’s New York Rangers reassigned 20-year-old centre Ryder Korczak to Moose Jaw.

It was easy to count out the Blades after they graduated star netminder Nolan Maier at the end of last season. Maier holds the WHL record for most career regular season goaltending victories at 122. For the five seasons Maier suited up for the Blades, they never had to worry about their situation in goal.

Austin Elliott (#31) holds the fort in goal for the Blades.

The 18-year-old duo of Ethan Chadwick and Austin Elliott have filled in admirably as Maier’s successors. Chadwick, who is in his second WHL season, has started nine games posting a 6-3 record, a 1.90 goals against average, a .926 save percentage and one shutout.

Elliott, who is in his rookie campaign, has started nine games posting an 8-1 record, a 1.55 goals against average, a .941 save percentage and one shutout. Elliott, who played last season in the SJHL with the Notre Dame Hounds, looked stellar making 32 saves in the Blades victory over the Pats on Sunday.

If the Blades continue to get goaltending like this or even goaltending where there is a drop to a team 2.50 goals against average and a team .920 save percentage, they have the potential to make some noise. Saskatoon had put together a good enough defence and forward groups to make the playoffs, but goaltending was the obvious question mark. The Blades have shown they are secure in net.

Trevor Wong leads the Blades in scoring with 22 points.

Defensively, the Blades are anchored by 20-year-old captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere. He missed the tail end of the 2021-22 regular season and the entire 2022 post-season due to shoulder surgery, but he has come back and leads the Blades in defenceman scoring with 20 points coming on five goals and 15 assists to go with a plus-10 rating in the plus-minus department.

Their sound starting six is rounded out by Tanner Molendyk, Blake Gustafson, Charlie Wright, Prince Albert product Marek Schneider and Ben Saunderson. Molendyk is De La Gorgendiere’s defensive partner and a 17-year-old who is expected to be selected in the next NHL Entry Draft. In 17 games with the Blades this season, Molendyk has seven assists and a plus-13 rating.

The forward group is a good one with the likes of Brandon Lisowsky, Trevor Wong, Egor Sidorov, Josh Pillar, Conner Roulette, Jayden Wiens, Vaughn Watterodt, Tyler Parr, Rowan Calvert, Hansen, Jordan Keller and Justin Lies. Lisowsky, who is an 18-year-old left-winger, was selected in last July’s NHL Entry Draft and has eight goals, 12 assists and a plus-10 rating for the Blades so far this season.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere anchors the defence for the Blades.

Wong is a 19-year-old centre who has always had a sound offensive upside. He leads the Blades in scoring with 22 points coming off eight goals and 14 assists to go with a plus-eight rating.

Sidorov is an import right-winger who is a fan favourite. He recently returned from injury and has eight goals, nine assists and a plus-10 rating in seven games.

Spencer Shugrue continues to be the energetic utility player that goes out and does whatever the Blades coaches ask of him.

Brennan Sonne, who is the Blades 35-year-old second year head coach, is showing he is really adept at managing a team, and his players improve as the season goes on. The Blades hit a home run by bringing former team hero and captain Wacey Rabbit back to the fold as an assistant coach. Blades general manager Colin Priestner has done a tremendous job of building the Blades current roster and has grown a tonne in his current role since taking it on during the off-season in 2016.

Of course, Prince Albert Raiders fans love to hate the Blades. The Raiders faithful is likely the one group already perched to take on a Rachel Phelps persona and gloat if the wheels fall of the Blades express or they don’t have a long playoff run.

The Blades mark a win at game’s end.

With that said, nothing is expected of the Blades from people outside the team this season, and their roster is positioned for the team to be good next year too. The Blades are playing with house money, so any success they have this season is a win.

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Blades had good return to full season play

Injuries prevented Saskatoon from realizing more potential

The Blades celebrate a goal on March 25.

While the injury bug was a big foe, Saskatoon Blades had a respectable campaign playing their first full regular season since 2018-19.

In 2021-22, the Blades finished fifth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 38-26-3-1 regular season record. With one more standings point, the Blades would placed fourth in the Eastern Conference during the regular season and earned home ice advantage for a first round playoff series.

The WHL wasn’t able to play any complete regular seasons or crown league champions in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that gripped the world. The CHL didn’t crown any Memorial Cup champions in either of those campaigns too.

When the WHL Playoffs came around following the completion of the 2021-22 regular season, the Blades found themselves taking on the Moose Jaw Warriors. The Warriors finished fourth overall in the Eastern Conference with a 37-24-4-3 mark to just edge out the Blades with 81 standings points to 80.

Saskatoon won six out of the eight head-to-head meetings between the two sides in the regular season. The Warriors claimed a best-of-seven post-season series 4-1.

Moose Jaw clinched the series with a 6-3 victory at home in Mosaic Place in Game 5 on April 29. The Warriors have to be credited with building a skilled younger roster that played well together in the series against the Blades.

The Blades had a fairly young roster too, and they had some skilled youngsters too that came along way.

Kyle Crnkovic was the Blades leading scorer.

Left-winger Brandon Lisowsky appeared in all 68 of the Blades regular season games in his 17-year-old campaign piling up 33 goals and 25 assists to go with a plus-one rating in the plus-minus department.

Rookie 17-year-old import left-winger Egor Sidorov made noise potting 23 goals and 12 assists appearing in 58 regular season games.

Defenceman Tanner Molendyk skated through his 16-year-old season, and he has potential to be one of the better rearguards on the WHL circuit. He had three goals, 15 assists and a minus-six rating in 55 regular season games, but he showed he could play a high volume of minutes when injuries added up.

When it came to the injury department, Blades play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk calculated the club lost 250 man games due to injury in 2021-22. Blades first-year head coach Brennan Sonne had to lament all the line juggled he had to perform due to necessity.

When playoffs came around, the Blades were without captain and star offensive-defenceman Aidan De La Gorgendiere, who had season ending shoulder surgery. During his 19-year-old season, De La Gorgendiere appeared in 54 regular season games for the Blades posting four goals and 41 assists.

He last played on March 25, when the Blades downed the visiting Regina Pats 3-1 at the SaskTel Centre.

Star overage centre Tristen Robins, who finished the campaign as the Blades captain when De La Gorgendiere wasn’t able to comeback, missed the Blades last four regular season games due to injury and their first two playoff contests.

Robins, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks, suited up for the Blades last three post-season games playing only on the power play with a hobbled ankle. In 62 regular season games, Robins recorded 33 goals, 45 assists and a plus-four rating. He was only a shadow of that type of player in the post-season due to his ankle injury.

Tristen Robins had 33 goals and 45 assists for the Blades.

The Blades came out of the gate with a hot start posting a 9-2-1 record. Struggles took hold of the team at that point.

Following a 4-1 loss to the Prince Albert Raiders on home ice on Dec. 18, 2021, the Blades found themselves heading into the Christmas break with a 15-13-1 mark. At that point, the fact that about two-thirds of the Blades roster had never been through a full 68-game regular season became apparent.

There were a lot of guys that ran out of gas and played on fumes, when the schedule turned to November.

After returning from the Christmas Break, the Blades and the rest of the WHL had their troubles with players, coaches and staff dealing with COVID-19. Most of the WHL was shut down for the first two weeks of January, which included the Blades not playing any games between Jan. 1 and Jan. 14.

Blades rugged overage defenceman Rhett Rhinehart found himself on the WHL COVID-19 Protocol List for a short span.

There was a period of time ranging from three-and-a-half to four weeks during the campaign when Blades general manager Colin Priestner was down due to COVID.

Despite the challenges, the Blades rallied on the ice and had a 29-18-2-1 record when February came to a close.

Over the Blades last 18 regular season games, injuries really started to pile up. 

Rhett Rhinehart gave the Blades a physical presence.

By the time a 7-0 loss to the Warriors in Moose Jaw ended on March 26, the Blades were down eight regulars due to injury including all four regular centres in Robins, Jayden Wiens, Trevor Wong and Josh Pillar.

When the playoffs came around, the Blades were relatively healthy outside of the big exceptions that De La Gorgendiere was out and Robins played the club’s last three post-season games being limited physically due to his ankle injury. Besides the injury battles, the campaign had its highlights.

On April 8, Blades overage star netminder Nolan Maier made 20 saves in a 2-0 win over the visiting Prince Albert Raiders to move alone into top spot on the WHL’s all-time career regular season goaltending wins list with his 121^st victory. 

He finished his regular season career with 122 victories.

Maier had a strong final campaign with the Blades posting a 31-23-4 record, a 2.82 goals against average, a .910 save percentage and three shutouts.

Blades star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic, who was skating through his 19-year-old season, finished fifth in the WHL’s regular season scoring race piling up 94 points on 39 goals and 55 assists to go with an even rating. Crnkovic’s goal, assist and point totals were all career highs, and he was the Blades leading scorer.

With the 2021-22 campaign at an end for the Blades, they of course graduate Maier, Robins and Rhinehart due to the fact they age out of the major junior ranks.

The Blades celebrate a win on April 15.

There were some fans that gripped on social media with classic moans about the Blades lack of post-season success that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic caused shutdowns in March of 2020. Those moans are misplaced due to what has happened in the world since March of 2020, but some upset fans will continue their upset fandom no matter what happens in the world, while conveniently forgetting they cried about having no Blades hockey to watch during shutdowns.

The Blades have the potential to return a strong roster for the upcoming 2022-23 campaign and will have a more regular off-season to prepare for the next season.

Going forward, there should be some well-placed optimism about the future looking good for the Blades.

Oil Kings deal Rebels major blow with OT win, other notes

Jake Neighbours scored the OT winner for the Oil Kings.

Captain Jake Neighbours’ overtime goal might be a blow the Red Deer Rebels can’t come back from.

On Monday before 3,506 spectators at the Peavey Mart Centrium in Red Deer, Neighbours, who is a star left-winger, scored his first goal of the post-season at the 7:17 mark of overtime to deliver his Edmonton Oil Kings to a 5-4 victory over the Rebels in Game 3 of a WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series between the two sides.

With the win, the Oil Kings took a stranglehold 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven set. The favoured Oil Kings will try to close out the series against the Rebels in Game 4 on Wednesday set for 7 p.m. local time at the Peavey Mart Centrium.

Luke Prokop, Dylan Guenther, Carter Souch and Justin Sourdif all had singles in regulation for the Oil Kings. Liam Keeler, Kalan Lind, Arshdeep Bains and Jhett Larson replied with singles for the Rebels in regulation.

Edmonton had a 4-2 lead, but Bains scored with 7:10 remaining in the third and Larson potted the equalizer with 6:34 to play in the third to force overtime.

The Rebels comeback wasn’t to be as Neighbours netted the overtime winner.

Sebastian Cossa made 18 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Oil Kings. Connor Unger turned away 47 shots to take the setback in net for the Rebels despite a valiant effort to steal the game.

On Monday, Cossa was named the WHL’s goaltender of the week for the week ending on Sunday. He captured the weekly award having shutout the Rebels in the first two games of the series.

Last Thursday, Cossa made 18 saves as the Oil Kings downed the Rebels 4-0 in Game 1 of the series at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Cossa followed that up with a 26 save performance last Saturday as the Oil Kings blanked the Rebels 5-0 in Game 2 of the series also played at Rogers Place.

The WHL’s conference semifinal round could potentially be a quick one. In the other Eastern Conference semifinal, the Winnipeg Ice, the WHL’s top club in the regular season, hold a 2-0 series lead over the Moose Jaw Warriors.

In the Western Conference, the favoured Kamloops Blazers lead the Vancouver Giants 2-0 in one semifinal series, and the favoured Portland Winterhawks lead the Seattle Thunderbirds 2-0 in the other semifinal series.

• On Monday, Winnipeg Ice left-winger Owen Pederson was named the WHL’s player of the week for the week ending on May 8. He had a goal and four assists helping the Ice win the first two games of their WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Moose Jaw Warriors.
• On Monday, Kelowna Rockets import right-winger Pavel Novak signed an NHL entry-level contract with the Minnesota Wild. The Wild selected Novak in the fifth round and 146^th overall in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Novak, who turned 20-years-old on April 16, appeared in 62 regular season games for the Rockets in 2021-22 recording 29 goals, 43 assists and a plus-26 rating in the plus-minus department.
• Last Wednesday, Mitch Love, who is the head coach of the Stockton Heat, was named the AHL’s coach of the year. Love guided the Heat to a first place finish in the Pacific Division with a 46-16-5-2 record. The 46 victories is a regular season record for the Heat along with the team’s 97 standings points. The division title win was a first in Heat franchise history. Before joining the Heat, Love was the head coach of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades for three seasons.
• I put together new content for the Gordie Howe Sports Complex’s Howe Happenings blog that went live on Monday. I created a piece called “Home is where the heart is for Neufeld – O-lineman finds stomping grounds in Sask. and the ’Peg.” It is a catch up piece with Winnipeg Blue Bombers star offensive lineman Patrick Neufeld, who is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Football team from the U Sports ranks. That article can be found by clicking right here. I also created a photo roundup that can be found by clicking right here.

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Maier’s heart will always be with Blades, his only WHL team

Record setting netminder sees Saskatoon as second home

Nolan Maier has a WHL record 122 career regular season wins.

Nolan Maier will always wear his heart on his sleeve when it comes to the Saskatoon Blades, and he expects it will take some time to digest his playing career has come to a close with the team.

On top of being the team’s overage star netminder, Maier played his entire WHL career with the Blades. He joined the team full time as a 16-year-old on November 14, 2017.

He came to the Blades after playing for Team Canada Black at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge that was held jointly that year in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, B.C.

Maier’s WHL career officially came to a close with a 6-3 loss to the Warriors in Moose Jaw in Game 5 of a WHL first round series on Friday, April 29. The Warriors took the best-of-seven series 4-1.

Over the course of five seasons, Maier put a tremendous investment into the Blades and has become fond of Saskatoon as a city itself. Even eight days after the campaign ended, it is a tough pill for Maier to digest that won’t be playing for Saskatoon’s WHL side anymore.

“It is emotional,” said Maier. “I think when you spend a good part of your life in one spot and you get to know a lot of people very well and just like seeing you guys (the media members) every day at the games being around the rink it is very emotional.”

He still feels the sting of the post-season ending loss in Moose Jaw at Mosaic Place.

“It still hurts,” said Maier, who stands 6-feet and weighs 172 pounds. “I think none of us wanted it to end like that or that way at all.

Nolan Maier has a Blades record 5,788 career regular season saves.

“We all thought we had more in us. I think I’m just more grateful that it happened, and I was around such a great group of guys and coaches and management for my whole time here the whole five years. It has just been an honour for me so far.”

Maier departs the Blades as one the team’s all-time greats. He appeared in 216 career regular season games posting a 122-72-18 record, a 2.89 goals against average, a .905 save percentage and 12 shutouts.

Along with those statistics, Maier has played 12,609 career minutes in goal for the Blades and made 5,788 career saves.

His 122 career regular season wins is a WHL record. Maier’s career shutout, games played, minutes played and saves totals are all Blades regular season franchise records.

Getting the WHL career wins record was Maier’s highlight with the Blades. He took sole possession of the record with his 121^st win that came on April 8 with a 2-0 victory over the archrival Prince Albert Raiders before 4,802 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

Maier made 20 saves to pick up his 12^th and final regular season shutout of his career.

He moved past Corey Hirsch and Tyson Sexsmith for top spot on the WHL’s career regular season wins list. Hirsch and Sexsmith sit tied for second on that list with 120 victories.

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.

Nolan Maier makes a save as a 16-year-old rookie in Nov. 2017.

“It is something I will never forget,” said Maier. “It was kind of the perfect ending just to have it home against P.A. while you get a shutout.

“It was almost like that storybook ending. To get that record definitely means so much, especially just with the same jersey on my back for five years. That definitely meant more to me just to have that.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the team and obviously management for trusting me to play me as much as they did when I was young. That was the only reason I was able to come close. It was something that I will never forget and super special.”

The Yorkton, Sask., product said the WHL wins record wasn’t his greatest achievement with the Blades.

“I think the friendships and the family is what I’m most grateful to achieve,” said Maier. “I think that is something that I will never forget.

“The record, obviously, means a lot to me and is close to my heart, but just the people and everyone that I’ve known and love for the past five years here will be forever.”

Over the past five seasons, the Blades didn’t have any questions in net with Maier playing goal. The Blades will return backup Ethan Chadwick, who is a graduate of the Saskatoon Contacts under-18 AAA team, and associate player call up Austin Elliott, who played most of 2021-22 with the Notre Dame Hounds in the junior A ranks of the SJHL, to be in the goaltending mix as 18-year-olds in 2022-23.

Maier believes the Blades future is bright in goal with the youngsters.

“It will be fun to watch,” said Maier. “I think I will be able to just see from a different view almost as a fan now and just always keeping an eye on them.

Nolan Maier makes a save versus the Raiders on Dec. 27, 2021.

“They have bright futures, and they just got to stick with it and just kind of play their game, because they are here for a reason. They just have to find their own way and just kind of get as many games in as they can, because that is all you have to do especially coming in as a young person. They’ll be fine.

“I’m extremely happy to kind of see their careers unfold.”

As for his future in hockey, Maier doesn’t know what is going to happen. While he has put of great statistics, the 21-year-old has never been drafted by an NHL team or even invited to an NHL training camp.

The fact he stands just 6-feet tall and isn’t at least 6-foot-2 or 6-foot-3 is the obvious drawback as most NHL personal look at size in goaltenders.

Maier said he doesn’t let the lack of NHL opportunities bother him.

“It used to drive me nuts,” said Maier. “It is just that nothing has unfolded yet.

“I’m just looking forward to hopefully something happening this summer. I’m just getting ready for any chance I get.”

Maier is still hoping to play professionally. If that doesn’t work out, he would like to play for a post-secondary school team.

The veteran netminder said he has talked to a lot of post-secondary school teams, but he hasn’t gone any further on that route.

Nolan Maier (#73) departs the Blades as one of their all-time greats.

“I don’t have one picked at all or if I am going to go the school route,” said Maier. “I’m just trying to digest everything kind of coming to an end here.

“I don’t what the future is going to hold, but I will know later on.”

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Blades had closer to normal season with unique challenges

Reflections on campaign, recent years go in many directions

The Blades celebrate a win at the SaskTel Centre on April 15.

While they played a full regular season with playoffs, the Saskatoon Blades admit the 2021-22 campaign was still another season like no other due to factors beyond the team’s control.

Even two days after Saskatoon was eliminated from the WHL Playoffs in a 6-3 loss to the Warriors in Moose Jaw in Game 5 of a best-of-seven first round series, the Blades team members all seem to have their own unique spins on what happened this past season and the past two years. Due to challenges associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world, there were no WHL Playoffs in 2020 and 2021 for the Blades to take part in.

The Memorial Cup tournament to crown a CHL champion was nixed in both of those years too.

The 2019-20 season was flowing like normal and the Blades had a 34-24-2-3 record in the regular season before all action in the campaign was halted by the league on March 12, 2020. The Blades played an abbreviated 24-game regular season in a bubble environment in Regina against the WHL’s other four Saskatchewan franchises and two Manitoba clubs in March and April of 2021 to account for a 2020-21 campaign.

The Blades posted a 16-5-2-1 record playing in that special situation.

Rhett Rhinehart motors up ice for the Blades.

Going into the 2021-22 season, the Blades were trying to play their first full campaign since 2018-19. They played all 68 of their regular season games finishing fifth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 38-26-3-1 mark before falling to the Warriors 4-1 in a best-of-seven set.

On Sunday, the Blades hosted the local area media for a season ending presser. The standard talk about hockey was there regarding the series against the Warriors, injuries to key players, what the team will look like next year and what the future has in store for the graduating players.

Still, specter of the COVID-19 pandemic was there, and the Blades had to adjust to wrenches that were thrown their way there. That included almost all of the WHL getting put on pause for the first two weeks of January causing games to be rescheduled pushing the end date for the regular season from April 3 to April 17.

“It is a what if year, but it is also a year I’m just honestly grateful for that we got through it,” said Blades general manager Colin Priestner. “I had COVID for three-and-a-half to four weeks where I couldn’t even get out of bed or walk up the stairs.

“Every day, we had one or two new players getting it. It wasn’t like we got it all over with in one weekend. Every week there were the COVID tests over and over and over.

“We had nights with nobody here (in the stands at the SaskTel Centre), because there was COVID going around the city so much. I’m grateful we got a season in.”

Nolan Maier has a WHL record 122 career regular season wins.

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said it felt normal from the standpoint the team got a full regular season and playoffs in. On top of missing players due to COVID-19 illness, the Blades dealt with numerous injuries throughout the campaign.

Sonne made the analogy that he saw himself being a circus clown due to the fact he was always juggling the team’s lines due to players being out due to injury or illness.

“That is not easy, because your lineup is different every night,” said Sonne. “It is not ideal to be juggling lines all the time.

“You want guys to get some consistency together, some comradery, to jell and all those words. You kind of want that. When you win a game, you want to kind of just roll the lineup the next night as well, and we really couldn’t do that like ever.”

Sonne said it was an adjustment to play a full 68-game regular season once again after playing two abbreviated campaigns. The Blades carried three overage players and had five players skating in their 19-year-old seasons on their final roster.

Due to the fact any type of hockey season was abbreviated including the under-AAA and junior A campaigns in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sonne had more players than ever on his roster experiencing a full 68-game regular season for the first time.

“Guys wore down,” said Sonne. “Guys wore out.

Tristen Robins is signed by the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.

“It was pretty obvious to us as coaches. It happened at different times with different guys. We knew guys were worn out, because guys coming from (under-18 AAA) where they maybe in COVID they played what 10, 15 games, 20 maybe and they’re 16.

“Now they’re coming into 68 with travel and school.”

As far as the post-season was concerned, Sonne believed nerves got the better of his younger player, and the team had good energy going into their series with the Warriors. Still, the bench boss said the grind during the regular season was a challenge.

“It is grind, and guys definitely got worn out,” said Sonne. “There was no question.”

Blades overage defenceman Rhett Rhinehart said he was still mulling over how this past season and everything dating back to March 12, 2020 have played out. 

While he was happy the Blades returned to action, he admits he wondered what might have been in the two post-seasons that were nixed due to COVID-19 and thinks about special moments that could have happened from time to time.

“There are a few ways you can look at it,” said Rhinehart. “For me, one thing I think about was having the shortened season.

“I missed 15 games this year with injuries. I finished with 261 regular season games in the Western Hockey League. You play a full season last year and a little more healthy this year like I would have played over 300 (games).

Blades HC Brennan Sonne, back left, gives direction in a timeout.

“You have those little milestones and things like that you think about. I definitely think there are things we missed out on with COVID there.”

Blades star overage netminder Nolan Maier, who holds the WHL’s career regular season goaltending wins record with 122 victories, took the glass half full approach when it came to reflecting on everything that happened since March 12, 2020.

“I think we’re the lucky ones, and we are grateful for even getting to play hockey,” said Maier. “I know a lot of guys who weren’t able to.

“There was no point of being kind of bummed out about some things not happening. I’m just grateful that things did happen.”

Blades overage captain and star centre Tristen Robins said he felt fortunate and had a lot of fun playing the abbreviated 2020-21 campaign in the bubble in Regina. Robins, who was hobbled in the post-season with an injured ankle, said was thankful that his WHL career ended where his team played a full regular season and playoffs.

He thought everyone on the team did their best adjusting to factors beyond their control since March 12, 2020 as far as the COVID-19 pandemic was concerned.

“It happened,” said Robins, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks. “We were all in that together.

Nolan Maier, left, and Tristen Robins hug after a win on Feb. 27.

“It affected everyone differently. At the same time, it was tragic on many people. Fortunately enough, we still got to play the game we love, and you guys (the assembled media) got to do your jobs reporting it as well.”

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Warriors whack Blades out of WHL Playoffs

Moose Jaw advances with 6-3 victory in Game 5

Jagger Firkus had two goals and an assist for the Warriors on Friday.

The Moose Jaw Warriors put on a performance that would have had the locals partying the night away at the Rocking Royal in the old days of “The Crushed Can.”

On Friday, the Warriors downed the visiting Saskatoon Blades 6-3 in Game 5 of a WHL first round playoff series between the two sides played before 3,364 pumped up spectators at Mosaic Place. The victory allowed the Warriors to claim the best-of-seven series against the Blades 4-1.

The Warriors now wait to see who they will play in an Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Back in the days when the Warriors skated in their old long time the Moose Jaw Civic Centre, which was also known as “The Crushed Can,” a Friday night series win would have had the locals in Moose Jaw scurrying off to the Rocking Royal bar located in the Royal Hotel to celebrate the victory well into the early hours of the next morning.

Both the Civic Centre and the Royal Hotel have long been demolished, but locals can still enjoy Friday’s victory moment in pubs that are in walking distance of the Warriors current downtown rink home.

While the Warriors took the series-clinching contest against the Blades by a comfortable margin on the scoreboard, the Game 5 clash between the two sides was an intense one that had a bit of a rivalry feel to it.

The Warriors came flying out of the gate to start Friday’s game. At the 5:55 mark of the opening frame, Warriors star centre Brayden Yager centred the puck from behind the Saskatoon goal to star right-winger Jagger Firkus, and Firkus blasted home the game’s first goal to give the host side a 1-0 edge.

Denton Mateychuk had the Warriors second goal in Game 5.

At the 9:08 mark, Firkus, who was celebrating his 18^th birthday on Friday, teamed with Warriors star right-winger Ryder Korczak to set up offensive-defenceman Denton Mateychuk for a power-play goal that gave Moose Jaw a 2-0 advantage. Mateychuk wired home his first of the post-season from just above the left faceoff circle in the Saskatoon zone.

Before the opening frame drew to a close, the Blades got a traction moment to get back into the game. While working on the power play, Blades standout left-winger Brandon Lisowsky fired a shot that was deflected by star centre Josh Pillar and then was accidently knocked into the Moose Jaw net by the hand of Warriors left-winger Calder Anderson.

Pillar ultimately got credit for the goal that cut the Warriors lead to 2-1 with 5:58 remaining in the first.

The Warriors restored their two-goal advantage at the 8:52 mark of the second. Mateychuk fired a shot from the point that rebounded out to Firkus at the left side of the Saskatoon goal. Firkus slipped in his second marker to increase the Warriors edge to 3-1.

The rivalry showed up 40 seconds after Firkus’s second tally of the contest as Blades left-winger Josh Paulhus engaged Warriors import left-winger Robert Baco in a fight.

With seven minutes remaining in the second, the Blades were buzzing in the Warriors zone. Blades import left-winger Egor Sidorov made a backhanded pass to Pillar, who was positioned for a midrange shot straight out from the left post of the Moose Jaw goal.

Tristen Robins had an assist for the Blades on Friday.

Pillar blasted a shot through a screen for his second marker of the contest that cut the Warriors lead to 3-2.

At the start of the third, the Blades found themselves on the penalty kill. During that kill, they had a huge chance to score the equalizer as centre Trevor Wong found himself on a short-handed breakaway, but he was stoned trying to shoot the puck between the legs of Warriors overage star netminder Carl Tetachuk.

Moose Jaw then got a goal from rookie right-winger Thomas Tien, who was skating in his first WHL playoff game. Tien corralled a long flip pass to get sprung into the Saskatoon zone on a breakaway.

He snapped home his first career WHL post-season goal at the 5:26 mark of the third to restore the Warriors two-goal edge at 4-2.

Again, the Blades wouldn’t back down. With 7:13 remaining in the third, Blades right-winger Noah Boyko had the puck in the left corner of the Moose Jaw zone. He centred the puck to Wong, who blasted home his first of the post-season to cut the Warriors lead to 4-3.

With 3:38 remaining in the third, the Warriors finally got the dagger goal that put the game away, when centre Atley Calvert knocked home his second of the playoffs from the front of the Saskatoon goal after collecting the rebound from a point shot taken by Mateychuk.

Baco rounded out the 6-3 final scoring a long range empty-net goal for the Warriors from his own blue-line with 1:51 remaining in the third.

Robert Baco scored a long range empty-net goal for the Warriors.

Tempers proceeded to flare up with the issue decided on the scoreboard as a scrum broke out with a minute remaining in the third. Out of that scrum, Wiens and Tien engaged in a fight.

Inside of the final seven seconds of the third, the officials gave Blades overage defenceman Rhett Rhinehart a 10-minute misconduct, when he started to get a little testy on the ice.

Tetachuk made 26 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Warriors. Blades star overage netminder Nolan Maier turned away 35-of-40 shots to take the setback in net for Saskatoon.

The loss brought an end to the WHL careers of Maier, Rhinehart and Blades overage captain Tristen Robins, who all age out of the major junior ranks. Robins picked up an assist in the Game 5 loss on Friday.

During the regular season, the Warriors collected 81 standings points to finish fourth overall in the Eastern Conference with a 37-24-4-3 mark. They just edged out the Blades, who finished fifth in the Eastern Conference with 80 standings points coming from a 38-26-3-1 record.

Saskatoon had won six of the eight head-to-head meetings in the regular season with Moose Jaw, but that type of result didn’t materialize in the playoffs.

The Warriors seemed to want the post-season series just a touch more than the Blades did, and it was noticeable on the ice. 

Nolan Maier made 35 saves for the Blades on Friday.

That little extra jump has the Warriors advancing onward on the WHL playoff trail.

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Ugly Warriors OT goal deals Blades near fatal blow

Moose Jaw takes massive 3-0 lead in WHL first round series

The Warriors celebrate Cordel Larson’s OT winner.

Cordel Larson’s overtime winner on an unassuming play drove a dagger through the hearts of the Saskatoon Blades.

With Larson’s visiting Moose Jaw Warriors locked in a 2-2 tie with the host Blades in overtime, the overage right-winger ended being the beneficiary of a positive-bounce break. The Weyburn, Sask., product skated with the puck from behind the Blades net and circled out of the left corner along the boards of the Saskatoon zone.

After getting a stride length in front of the icing line, Larson threw the puck to the centre of the Saskatoon goal. The puck deflected in off a Blades player to deliver the Warriors to a 3-2 victory in Game 3 of a WHL first round playoff series at the 9:40 mark of the extra session.

The Warriors start embracing Cordel Larson (#34) after his winner.

Larson’s goal disappointed most of the 3,544 spectators at the SaskTel Centre outside of a sizable vocal contingent of Warriors fans, who made the trek up for the contest from Moose Jaw.

The Warriors also take a stranglehold 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. That has turned out to be the norm for the first round of this year’s WHL playoffs, because six teams hold 3-0 leads in the eight first round best-of-seven series that are being played.

Moose Jaw will have a first crack to close out its series with Saskatoon in Game 4 on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Needing a win to get back into the series, the Blades came storming out of the gate on Tuesday and scored the contest’s first goal at the 3:20 mark of the opening frame while working on the power play. Blades right-winger Noah Boyko took a shot from the right side boards that got tipped home by centre Jayden Wiens to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

Carl Tetachuk made 27 saves in goal for the Warriors.

Saskatoon kept storming after that tally and held a 10-1 edge in shots on goal 10 minutes into the contest. Warriors star overage netminder Carl Tetachuk came up with a number of big saves to prevent the Blades from assuming an even bigger lead.

The Warriors proceeded to find their legs as the opening frame drew to a close, and they gave their goaltender some offensive support.

With 1:45 remaining in the first period, Warriors right-winger Eric Alarie got the puck at the right point of the Saskatoon zone. Alarie deked around a Blades forward, got close on the Saskatoon goal and sniped home his first marker of the post-season to even the score at 1-1.

Moose Jaw proceeded to go ahead 2-1 at the 4:43 mark of the second on a goal from import left-winger Martin Rysavy. Rysavy one-timed home a shot from the front of the Saskatoon goal for his first tally of the post-season.

Nolan Maier made 34 saves for the Blades.

Warriors right-winger Jagger Firkus made a beauty pass from the left corner of the Blades zone to set up Rysavy’s goal.

The Warriors kept building the pressure after Blades left-winger Vaughn Watterodt was given a double minor for slew-footing. That infraction will automatically be reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

The Blades killed off the double minor thanks to some outstanding saves by Blades star overage netminder Nolan Maier.

During that kill, Maier robbed Warriors centre Ryder Korczak on a backdoor chance, made a sprawling pad save on Alarie and stoned Firkus on a dangerous midrange drive.

Jayden Wiens (#9) scored the Blades first goal on Tuesday.

The Warriors kept bringing the pressure for the rest of the frame but were unable to beat Maier. Moose Jaw held a 16-4 edge in shots on goal in the second period.

The Warriors appeared set to close out the contest in the third period doing a pretty strong job clamping things down defensively.

That all changed with 3:21 remaining in the frame. Rysavy received a double minor for boarding after ramming Blades defenceman Ben Saunderson into the boards.

With 44.5 seconds remaining in the third and Maier pulled for an extra attacker, Blades standout left-winger Brandon Lisowsky banged home the equalizer during a net scramble in front of the Moose Jaw goal to even the score at 2-2 and force overtime.

Eric Alarie scored the Warriors first goal on Tuesday.

In overtime, the Blades were sloppy with the puck when they had control of it. Maier stoned Firkus on a rush down the right wing after Firkus got the puck when the Blades weren’t strong in handling it.

The veteran puckstopper proceeded to turn away Warriors left-winger Robert Baco on a drive from the front of the Saskatoon goal after the Blades turned the puck over in their own zone.

That set the stage for the Warriors to take the contest on Larson’s greasy overtime winner.

Maier turned away 34 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades. Carl Tetachuk stopped 27 shots to pick up the win in net for the Warriors.

Blades star overage centre and captain Tristen Robins returned to his team’s lineup after missing the previous six games due to injury. He was listed as day-to-day in the Blades previous three contests with a lower body injury.

Brandon Lisowsky scored with 44.5 seconds in the third to force OT.

In Game 3 against the Warriors on Tuesday, Robins only took the ice for shifts on the power play, and he didn’t look effective. The Clear Lake, Man., product didn’t seem to be as speedy as he normally is and didn’t display much power when he tried to shoot the puck.

Robins still made see-eye passes in the offensive zone, but he wasn’t the same offensive threat that saw him finish second in Blades regular season scoring this season with 78 points coming off 33 goals and 45 assists in 62 games to go with a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department.

The Warriors have been without star defenceman Daemon Hunt so far for the series, because he is out week-to-week with a lower body injury.

The Blades fans cheer Brandon Lisowsky’s game tying goal.

Going forward in the series, the Blades face a long uphill battle. 

In the history of the WHL dating back to the circuit’s start in 1966-67, only two teams have rallied back to win a best-of-seven series having trailed the set 3-0.

The Spokane Chiefs, who were guided by Mike Babcock as head coach, trailed the Portland Winterhawks 3-0 before rallying to take a first round series 4-3 in 1996. 

The Kelowna Rockets fell behind the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-0 in 2013 before battling back to claim that first round series 4-3.

Tristen Robins returned from injury to only play on the power play.

Saskatoon trailed the Lethbridge Hurricanes 3-0 in a second round series in the 1990 WHL Playoffs before rallying back to tie the set at 3-3. In a series deciding Game 7 in Lethbridge, the Blades fell 4-3 in overtime with defenceman Neil Hawryluk netting the winning goal for the Hurricanes.

With the way the series between the Blades and Warriors has played out, Moose Jaw has to be given full marks for taking a 3-0 lead in the series, and it surprising considering the Blades won six out of eight head-to-head contests in the regular season between the two sides.

The Warriors 81 standings points and 37-24-4-3 record in the regular season just edged the Blades for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. The Blades finished fifth in the Eastern Conference with 80 standings points coming off a 38-26-3-1 record.

The Warriors celebrate their overtime win on Tuesday.

It feels almost certain that Saskatoon is stuck in a hole that it won’t be able to dig out of.

EDITOR’S NOTE - The original version of this column credited Atley Calvert with scoring the overtime winner for the Warriors. Calvert was originally listed as the overtime goal scorer on the WHL’s online game summary. That was an error, and it has been corrected on the WHL’s official summary. A big thanks goes out to Warriors play-by-play voice and director of hockey administration James Gallo for the hard work he put in to ensure the information on the overtime winner was corrected.

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.