Blades get much needed win, down visiting Wild 4-2

The Blades celebrate a goal from Rowan Calvert (#23).

The Saskatoon Blades got something that had escaped their grasp for a frustrating stretch – a solid win.

On Friday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades scored first and led the visiting Wenatchee Wild 2-1 after 20 minutes. The hosts proceeded to push their edge out to 4-1 at the second intermission, and they then closed out a 4-2 victory to the delight of the 3,905 spectators in attendance.

That marked the Blades first regulation time win since downing the Warriors in Moose Jaw 4-2 back on January 4. In the eight games between that victory over the Warriors and Friday’s triumph over the Wild, the Blades posted two overtime wins, an overtime loss, a setback after a tiebreaking shootout and four regulations defeats.

In the six games they lost, the Blades had moments in each of those contests where carried momentum for enough of a stretch that they could have realized victory. Friday’s win was a much needed outing where the Blades posted a textbook victory.

Hunter Laing scored the Blades first goal on Friday.

While they dealt away a number of key veterans for younger players and draft capital leading to the WHL trade deadline on January 9, the Blades still on paper have a solid squad. They needed a solid win to get a little confidence going as the clubs’ relatively new lineup works to find chemistry.

The Wild came out of the gates getting the first three shots on goal in the contest, but the Blades would break onto the scoreboard first. 

At the 4:52 mark of first, Blades 18-year-old right-winger Hunter Laing blew home a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle to give the host side a 1-0 edge. Laing’s goal came on his club’s second shot on goal of the contest.

Cooper Williams reacts to scoring the Blades second goal.

Wenatchee pulled even at 1-1 at the 7:34 mark of the opening frame when 20-year-old centre Tye Spencer deflected a puck past Blades netminder Ethan McCallum from the front of the Saskatoon net. Spencer converted a smart setup pass from linemate Luka Shcherbyna.

The Blades proceeded to answer back.

With 2:01 remaining in the first, Blades 16-year-old rookie centre Cooper Williams stole the puck from Wild 19-year-old right-winger Shaun Rios from just inside the Wenatchee blue-line. Williams drove in alone to the left side of Wenatchee net, cut across the front of the goal and put a backhand shot between the legs of Wild netminder Brendan Gee to give the Blades a 2-1 lead.

Tye Spencer scored the first goal for the Wild.

Saskatoon exited the first period with that 2-1 edge holding a 14-9 edge in shots on goal.

In the second, a couple of the Blades steady veterans found the back of the net. At the 13:21 mark of the frame, Blades right-winger Tyler Parr, who turned 20-years-old on Thursday, converted a backdoor feed at the right side of the Wenatchee net to push the host side’s edge out to 3-1. Sophomore 17-year-old centre Hudson Kibblewhite made a beauty pass from the left side of the Wenatchee net across the face of the goal to set up Parr for his marker.

Just under five minutes later, Blade 19-year-old left-winger Rowan Calvert collected a rebound from one of his own shots in front of the Wenatchee net and put home a backhand shot to give the Blades a 4-1 advantage.

Tyler Parr had one goal and one assist for the Blades.

Slovakian 19-year-old centre Frantisek Dej, who was playing his sixth game for the Blades, picked up an assist on Calvert’s goal for his first point in the WHL. Dej spent last season with the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the QMJHL.

With less than 30 seconds to play in the second, Dej was cross checked from behind in the lower back by Wild 20-year-old captain Evan Friesen away from the puck and behind the play. The officials stopped play with 15.7 seconds remaining in the frame for the Blades trainers to attend to Dej.

Dej was helped off the ice and returned to finish the game in the third period. No penalty was assessed to Friesen, and nothing else came from that moment in a contest that was fairly tame when it came to the rough stuff.

Ethan McCallum made 25 saves in goal for the Blades.

Saskatoon held that three-goal lead going into the second intermission as well as 23-18 edge in shots on goal.

The Wild, who are in a big battle for the final playoff berth in the Western Conference, came with a push back in the third period. At the 3:28 mark of the frame, Wild 19-year-old right-winger Dawson Seitz blew past the Blades defenders to get a breakaway and tucked home a power-play goal to trim Saskatoon’s lead to 4-2.

That was as close as the Wild got as the Blades shut things down defensively the rest of the way.

McCallum stopped 25 shots in goal for the Blades. Gee turned away 23 shots to take the setback in net for the Wild.

Williams and Parr each finished with one goal and one assist on the night for the Blades.

The Blades celebrate their win on Friday.

The Wild fell to 17-25-3-1 with the loss to sit one point behind the Kamloops Blazers (18-25-3) for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Western Conference. The Wenatchee side returns to action on Saturday, when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the 26-25-3-1 Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades improved to 24-16-3-3 to sit two points back of the Raiders for first place in the East Division. “The Bridge City Bunch” gets back at it on Sunday when they host the Moose Jaw Warriors (4 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

Going forward, Saskatoon still has the potential to be a team that turns head before the current WHL campaign comes to a close. Friday’s win provides a good step to start moving in that direction.

Lazaruk honoured with bobblehead doll

A Les Lazaruk bobblehead doll.

“Hi ho, let’s go!”

The Saskatoon Blades home game on Friday night at the SaskTel Centre was bobblehead night for Les Lazaruk, who is the team’s iconic play-by-play voice. Lazaruk, who will turn 66-years-old in late February, became the Blades play-by-play voice at the start of the 1994-95 campaign.

Friday’s 4-2 victory over the visiting Wenatchee Wild was the 2,250^th game Lazaruk has called as the Blades play-by-play voice. He was also the play-by-play voice for a time of the CJFL’s storied Saskatoon Hilltops.

During his 31 years as play-by-play voice of the Blades, Lazaruk is best known for developing a list of catch phrase calls including “winner, winner, chicken dinner” for overtime winners scored by the Saskatoon side.

Les Lazaruk, centre, performs the ceremonial faceoff on Friday.

Before Friday’s clash with the Wild, the Blades gave out 1,000 Lazaruk bobblehead dolls to those in attendance. He dropped the puck for the pre-game ceremonial faceoff and sung national anthems of both the United States and Canada before the start of the contest.

The Blades played catch phase goal calls from Lazaruk before giving the official announcements for the club’s goals. A song also played during the first intermission that was written about Lazaruk.

Before coming to Saskatoon, Lazaruk, who is from Winnipeg, spent 15 years working in the media in Manitoba. That included working just over 10-and-a-half years hosting the hour-long pre-game and post-game shows for NHL games of the original Winnipeg Jets that aired on CJOB radio.

Lazaruk was part of the play-by-play team for the Winnipeg Goldeyes baseball team during their inaugural season in the Northern League in the spring and summer of 1994 before coming to Saskatoon to be the play-by-play voice of the Blades. Last summer, Lazaruk served as the play-by-play voice of the Saskatoon Berries baseball team for their inaugural WCBL campaign.

Parents Weekend for Blades

Blades players meet their parents and billet parents pre-game.

This weekend is also Parents Weekend for the Saskatoon Blades.

Before their 4-2 home ice victory over the Wenatchee Wild on Friday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades honoured the parents and billet parents of the Blades players. During pre-game festivities, the parents and billet parents of the Blades players came out on to the ice.

The players met up with their respective parents and billet parents and stood by them for a video presentation and the singing of the national anthems of the United States and Canada. The video presentation showed the Blades players saying good things about their parents and billet parents.

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Minten rescues Blades in OT

The Blades celebrate an OT winner from Fraser Minten.

Fraser Minten skated into hero’s role for the Saskatoon Blades.

On Sunday night with his Blades locked in a 2-2 tie in a WHL regular season contest with the visiting Swift Current Broncos at the SaskTel Centre, Minten shot into the highlight reels. Taking the puck behind his own net from veteran defenceman Ben Saunderson, Minten went coast-to-coast with the puck.

After crossing into the Swift Current zone, Minten passed the puck to himself through Broncos winger Mathew Ward to get a break in alone on the visitor’s net. Minten proceeded to slip a nifty backhand shot between the legs of Broncos netminder Reid Dyck for his second tally of the night to lift the Blades to a 3-2 victory to the delight of the 3,919 spectators in attendance.

Fraser Minten scored two goals on Sunday for the Blades.

The win allowed the Blades, who are rated second in the CHL’s Top 10 Rankings, to continue to top the WHL’s overall standings improving to 33-9-2-3.

The victory was a gutty one for the Blades due to a scheduling quark. The Blades, who wore special fan designed jerseys on Sunday, were playing their third game in three nights. The Broncos were playing their first contest in eight days have last skated on Saturday, January 20, when they dropped a 4-3 decision to the Warriors in Moose Jaw at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.

The Broncos record moved to 22-18-3-2 with the extra time setback to remain sixth overall in the Eastern Conference.

Conor Geekie scored twice for the Broncos on Sunday.

In Sunday’s clash, the Broncos got the jump on the Blades scoring at the 8:12 mark of the first period. Broncos star centre Conor Geekie swept home a shot from the front of the Blades goal to give the visitors or a 1-0 edge.

After Geekie’s tally, the Blades started to find their legs. While working on the power play, Blades star left-winger Easton Armstrong, who is playing his final season of WHL eligibility, scored a gritty goal whacking home a backhand shot from the front of the Swift Current net to even the score at 1-1 with 1:32 remaining in the opening frame. The Blades outshot the Broncos 14-6 in the first period.

The Blades kept rolling in the second but were kept at bay by Dyck. With 2:55 remaining in the second, Minten wired home a low midrange snapshoot past from the front of the Broncos goal past Dyck to give the Blades a 2-1 lead. Saskatoon held a 10-6 edge in shots on goal in the second.

In the third period, it appeared fatigue was setting in for the Blades as the frame marched on, and the Broncos seemed to be able to free wheel a little bit more. 

The Blades celebrate their OT win on Sunday.

With 5:13 remaining in the third, Geekie drove down the left with of the Blades zone with the puck, cut across the front of the Saskatoon net and slipped a backhand shot home to even the score at 2-2 and ultimate force overtime.

That set the stage for Minten to come through with his third game-winning goal of the campaign.

Austin Elliott made 20 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Dyck turned away 31 shots to take the extra setback in net for the Broncos.

Armstrong had an assist to go with his goal for a two-point night.

The Broncos return to action on Wednesday when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes (7 p.m., InnovationPlex).

The Blades also get back at it on Wednesday when they host the 17-23-4-2 Regina Pats (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

Spencer allows Pats to escape Calgary with OT win

Tye Spencer had the OT winner for the Pats on Sunday.

Tye Spencer’s three-point night allowed the Regina Pats to steal an overtime victory in Calgary.

On Sunday playing before 7,851 spectators at the Scotiabank Saddledome, Spencer collected a pair of goals including the overtime winner as the Pats downed the host Calgary Hitmen 4-3 in a WHL regular season clash. At the 3:33 mark of overtime, Pats captain Tanner Howe sprung Spencer into the Calgary zone on a breakaway. The 19-year-old right-winger tucked home a backhand shot to deliver victory to the Regina side.

The Pats victory was aided by the fact netminder Ewan Huet had a huge night making 49 saves.

Regina jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals coming from left-winger Sam Oremba. Oremba netted his first goal at the 3:07 mark of the first period and his second tally 44 seconds into the second frame with the Pats working on the power play.

Just 53 seconds after Oremba’s second marker, Hitmen offensive-defenceman Carter Yakemchuk scored the host side’s first goal to cut the Regina lead to 2-1. The Pats would hold on to their 2-1 advantage heading into the second intermission despite the fact the Hitmen held a 33-20 edge in shots on goal after 40 minutes.

At the 4:29 mark of the third with the Pats working on the power play, Spencer scored his first goal of the contest to push the visitor’s advantage out to 3-1.

Just 2:11 after Spencer’s power-play goal, the Hitmen cut the Regina lead to 3-2, when Yakemchuk potted his second goal of the contest, which was his 20^th goal of the season.

With 3:41 remaining in the third, Hitmen 16-year-old rookie right-winger Ben Kindel scored on a wraparound to tie the contest up at 3-3 and force overtime.

That set the stage for Spencer, who is from Saskatoon, to come through with his overtime winner.

Alex Garrett turned away 30 shots to take the setback in goal for the Hitmen.

Howe finished the night recording three assists for the Pats. Kindel had an assist to go with his goal.

The Hitmen’s record moved to 19-18-6-1 with the setback and allowed them to move to sit alone in eighth place and hold the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with 45 standings points. Calgary sits one point ahead of the Prince Albert Raiders (20-23-1-3) with three games in hand.

The Pats improved to 17-23-4-2 with the win. They sit 10^th overall in the Eastern Conference and five points back of the Hitmen. The Hitmen have two games in hand on the Pats.

The Pats return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Saskatoon to face the 33-9-2-3 Blades (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Hitmen get back at it on Friday when they travel to Edmonton to take on the Oil Kings (7 p.m. local time, Rogers Place).

Rivalry Series match on for Feb. 7 in Saskatoon, other notes

An Emily Clark hockey card.

For the first time since 2018, the SaskTel Centre will get to play host one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports.

On Wednesday, February 7 at 7 p.m., Canada’s senior national women’s hockey team will face the United States in Game 5 of the Rivalry Series. The U.S. leads the 2023-24 edition of the seven-game series 3-1 heading into Game 5 in Saskatoon.

Canada took Game 4 of the set 3-2 after a tiebreaking shootout back on December 16, 2023 at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena in Sarnia, Ont. Last season, the U.S. won the first three games of the series, but Canada rallied back taking the last four contests to capture the series win.

Canada’s roster will feature power forward and 28-year-old Saskatoon product Emily Clark. Clark has one goal over the first four games of the series. She is an assistant captain with Ottawa’s team in the PWHL and has played two games with the Ottawa side.

Clark is an alumna of the Saskatoon Stars Female Under-18 AAA Hockey Team.

The last time Canada and the U.S. played against each other in Saskatoon was back on November 10, 2018 in the championship game of the 4 Nations Cup tournament held at the SaskTel Centre. The U.S. claimed a 5-2 victory in that encounter.

Clark wasn’t able to play at that 4 Nations Cup due to an injured left leg.

• Be prepared to be bombarded with everything Taylor Swift for the next two weeks as the NFL’s post-season nears a close. With the Kansas City Chiefs defeating the Ravens in Baltimore 17-10 in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday, that means you will hear all sorts of talk about Swift and her boyfriend Travis Kelce, who is the Chiefs star tight end. The Chiefs, who are the defending Super Bowl champions, will play the San Francisco 49ERS in Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sunday, February 11. It will be the most watched Super Bowl of all-time.
• Riding a four-game winning streak, the Portland Winterhawks sit alone in first place in the WHL’s U.S. Division with a 31-11-2-1 record. The Winterhawks are two standings points ahead of the 30-15-1-2 Everett Silvertips. Portland has three games in hand on Everett. The Winterhawks downed the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds 4-1 on Sunday.
• I was back in the pages of the Prince Albert Daily Herald this past week. On Wednesday, I was in the Daily Herald with a column on how the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders started to fall in the standings when 17-year-old star right-winger Ryder Ritchie went down to injury due to a knee-on-knee hit. That piece can be found by clicking right here. On Friday, I was in the pages of the Daily Herald with a piece featuring Prince Albert Northern Bears alums Kate Ball and Jasper Desmarais, who now play for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey Team. Ball and Desmarais reflected on a magical 2016-17 season with the Bears where they won the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey Championship and appeared in the Esso Cup female national championship under-18 AAA championship tournament. The piece on Ball and Desmarais 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.

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Pats’ Bedard, ex-factor Shantz too much for Blades

Regina takes Game 1 of first round series 6-1

Connor Bedard (#98) celebrates his first of two goals on Friday.

Connor Bedard showed he has the heart of Adam Brooks, Sam Steel, Austin Wagner, Josh Mahura, Connor Hobbs and Tyler Brown.

The Regina Pats 17-year-old phenom centre recorded a pair of goals, one assist and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus category to a power his squad to a 6-1 victory over the Saskatoon Blades in Game 1 of a best-of-seven first round WHL Playoff series. The result came to the disappointment to most of the 10,265 spectators at the SaskTel Centre outside of the sizable contingent of Pats fans who showered their team with cheers and salutes at game’s end.

When the dust settled on Game 1, Pats all-time great head coach and general manager John Paddock reflected on Bedard’s play in comparison to the crew of Brooks, Steel, Wagner, Mahura, Hobbs and Brown that helped the Pats top the WHL regular season standings in 2016-17 with a 52-12-7-1 record and advance to the WHL Championship series falling in six games to the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Blades C Jayden Wiens, left, battles Pats C Connor Bedard for the puck.

This season, the Pats finished sixth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 34-30-3-1 record well back of the Blades, who finished fourth overall in the WHL with a 48-15-4-1 mark and are rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

“His (Bedard’s) individual play,” said Paddock. “We’re a young team.

“Him and (Tanner) Howe, those guys are 17-years-old. When Sam (Steel) was 17 Brooksy (Adam Brooks) was 19, and they threw a scare in Red Deer (in the second round of the 2016 WHL Playoffs) when they were hosting (the Memorial Cup). Our team was building.

Connor Bedard works with the puck deep in the offensive zone.

“This is a different situation, but on an individual player basis, there is nobody close to Connor (Bedard). Those guys were great players, but on an individual basis, it isn’t even close.”

Bedard was humbled to hear about Paddock’s kind words at the end of Friday’s game in comparison to the Pats star players that powered the franchise to the 2017 WHL Championships Series. The North Vancouver, B.C., product added he just made his post-season debut and that group accomplished some special things in the post-season.

“It is great, but I’ve only played one game in the playoffs,” said Bedard, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 185 pounds. “They, obviously, helped take their team to the final.

Stanislav Svozil had a goal and assist for the Pats.

“I don’t want to compare myself to anyone or look at that. Obviously, we have a rich history, and they are a big part of it so I don’t want to compare myself to anyone. It is nice that I am hearing my name with those guys that are great players and great Pats obviously.

“Like I said, I’m not here to compare myself to anyone. We have a goal here, and we want to kind of do something like they did.”

The Pats held a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes, when the Blades held the edge in territorial play holding a 23-12 edge in shots on goal. The wheels then fell off for the host side in the third.

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne thought his side wasn’t desperate enough on Friday and needed to find another level of play. He was asked about how Blades all-time great head coach and general manager Lorne Molleken, who guided Saskatoon WHL Championship appearances in 1992 and 1994, used to say it takes a special will to win in the playoffs, and Sonne said that was where he was going.

Zackary Shantz scored the Pats first goal on Friday.

“That is exactly what he (Molleken) was talking about in my opinion what was missing,” said Sonne. “How were our rebound battles at their net?

“Did we dig in on those second opportunities? We’re all three guys buzzing in the offensive zone, or was one guy kind of by himself way too much. Were we all three guys working across the rink to recover pucks in the offensive zone?

“When we use the word desperate like Lorne (Molleken) is and like I am right now, that is what that means. That is when I say we have another level that is what I mean.”

The teams came out and played a feeling out type opening 20 minutes, where the Blades held a 10-8 edge in shots on goal.

Alexander Suzdalev had an assist for the Pats.

In the first, the Blades got a great scoring chance early, but left-winger Jake Chiasson and robbed close in at the right side of the Regina net by Pats netminder Drew Sim. Late in the opening frame, Sim stoned Blades star centre Trevor Wong close in at the right side of the Regina net.

The Pats best chance to score in the first came about seven minutes into the frame. Bedard fed a pass to the front of the Saskatoon goal to left-winger Riley Ginnell. Ginnell fired a shot from close in and was stoned by Blades netminder Austin Elliott.

At the 4:11 mark of the second, the Pats jumped ahead 1-0 from an unlikely source. Pats star import defenceman Stanislav Svozil sprung rookie centre Zackary Shantz in alone on the Saskatoon goal.

Riley Ginnell scored nine seconds into the third period.

Shantz roofed home a shot to the top right corner of the Blades net to give the visitors a 1-0 edge. The tally was Shantz’s first career WHL goal in either the regular season or the post-season. The Pats fourth line forward unit of Shantz, left-winger Brayden Barnett and right-winger Jaxsin Vaughan had a strong outing on Friday.

“He (Shantz) has a fair amount of skill, but he got hurt early and he got a really bad collarbone break,” said Paddock. “He was out for like 15 weeks with it.

“It (Shantz’s goal) was nice in that way, and it was big. Sometimes that is what happens in playoffs or any time. Some sort of unsung hero comes up big, but I thought Barnett and Vaughan played strong games on the walls and finished checks.”

Drew Sim made 27 saves for the Pats on Friday.

With 6:48 remaining in the second, Bedard went to work. Entering the Blades zone on a rush down the right wing, Bedard was being hooked down by Blades defenceman Ben Saunderson, but the Pats centre still fired a shot home to the top left corner of the Saskatoon net to give the visitors a 2-0 edge.

As short time later, Bedard had two good scoring chances on the same shift. He was stopped on a rush down the right wing, but he collected the puck in the left corner of the Saskatoon zone behind the icing line. Bedard tried to bank the puck in off Elliott, but the Blades managed to keep the puck out of their net.

Just nine seconds into the third, Ginnell netted the Pats third goal to extend their advantage to 3-0 banking home a long shoot in off a stanchion into the net.

Lukas Hansen had the Blades lone goal on Friday.

The Blades responded 22 seconds later when left-winger Lukas Hansen, who turned 18-years-old in February, tallied on a spin-around shot from the left slot to cut the Pats lead to 3-1.

Right before the 10-minute mark of the third, Svozil put a dagger in the Blades comeback hopes. Holding the puck deep in the left side of the Blades zone, Svozil fired home a bad angle shot to the top right corner of the Saskatoon goal to give the Pats a 4-1 lead. Bedard and star import right-winger Alexander Suzdalev picked up assists on Svozil’s tally.

Following Svozil’s tally, Bedard proceeded to add another highlight with 6:33 remaining in the third. He broke down the left wing in the Saskatoon zone, cut in between two Blades defencemen, crossed the front of the Saskatoon goal and roofed home a shot to the top right corner of the net to increase the visitor’s advantage to 5-1.

The Pats celebrate an empty-net goal from Tye Spencer, right.

Tye Spencer rounded out the game’s scoring with an empty-net goal with 2:31 remaining in the third.

Austin Elliott turned away 19-of-24 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades. Kelton Pyne stopped 27 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pats.

Game 2 of the series is set for Sunday at 4 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Bedard said he is aware of the historical sports rivalry between Regina and Saskatoon including how it extends to football with the University of Regina Rams taking on the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in U Sports and the Regina Thunder tangling with the Saskatoon Hilltops in the CJFL. He knows the Pats and Blades have had their battles in the past, and with the two sides now having played each other four times since the start of March, Bedard thinks the intensity in the series is going to pick up.

Blades RW Egor Sidorov, left, and Pats C Tanner Howe trade words.

“It has been fun to play in these games,” said Bedard, who led the WHL in regular season scoring with 143 points coming off 71 goals and 72 assists to go with a plus-39 rating. “Obviously, they are a really good hockey team.

“We feel we are that too. I think just getting to play them so much, and obviously, seeing them in the first round, it is kind of cool how the schedule played out with that. You learn how to play against each other, and obviously that kind of hatred grows.

“It is going to be an intense series, and it is going to be tight.”

Before the Blades get into the rivalry aspect with the Pats, Sonne wants his team to focus on playing at a playoff intensity and energy level in Game 2.

The Pats celebrate their win on Friday night.

“You have to make it happen too,” said Sonne. “I thought we were clinical.

“I thought we structured and all that stuff. We have to get to that next gear, which is a playoff gear. I just didn’t think we were there enough.

“It is one game of a seven game series. Just like in the regular season, we learn and adjust and come at them for Game 2.”

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Last meaningful hockey game in Saskatoon felt weird

Contacts’ playoff match may have closed competitive season

Tye Spencer may have netted the season’s final competitive goal.

    It might have been the weirdest feeling night in the short history of Merlis Belsher Place.

    On Thursday, the Saskatoon Contacts faced the Moose Jaw Warriors in Game 3 of a best-of-five Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League playoff series. The Warriors were holding a 2-0 edge in the series going into the game, and the Contacts were trying to stave off elimination.

Normally, a lot was on the line in this contest.

    About two hours before the game, Hockey Canada put out a released that said it was cancelling all its sanctioned events effective on Friday due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. That meant Thursday’s clash would be the final game of the 2019-20 season for the Contacts and Warriors no matter what happened.

    At the moment, it looks like that could be the final meaningful competitive hockey game played in Saskatoon for the 2019-20 campaign.

Ben Wourms-Rowe scored twice for the Warriors on Thursday.

    Due to the timing of that announcement, there was enough time for word to travel around the hockey community in Saskatoon that Thursday’s Contacts game could potentially be it for the overall season.

    Merlis wasn’t anywhere near full but a decent crowd filled into the rink for a midget AAA game with a late 8:30 p.m. puck drop. More people were out than usual for a Contacts contest set for that time slot.

    As cancellations and postponements from all over the sports world have been pouring in during the previous 36 hours before puck drop, Thursday’s playoff clash between the Contacts and Warriors had an ominous tone to it.

    The spectators, including the ones that came to town to support the Warriors, didn’t seem to know how to act. 

Contacts head coach Marc Chartier, fourth from right, is all fired up.

    There was cheering, but there was a lot of socializing in the stands about what had being going in the world.

    It seemed like all the spectators were still processing all that had happened. During social chats, it was obvious each person was dealing with what was happening off the ice in their own way.

    Some member of the Saskatoon Stars female midget AAA team were sitting in the crowd with tears in their eyes having obviously been told their season had come to an end too.

Alex Bernauer jets up ice for the Contacts.

    The coaches on both the Contacts and Warriors told their players before the game what had happened with the hockey announcement, which was only fair. They all knew this would be their last game no matter the outcome.

    Even with that knowledge, a good 65 per cent of the game was played at a high level. During the other 35 per cent, you could tell things on both sides were a bit off.

    Alex Bernauer gave the Contacts a 1-0 lead scoring 61 seconds into the contest. That seemed to give the night an energetic start.

    Atley Calvert netted the equalizer for the Warriors just 3:36 later, and Warriors forward Ben Wourms-Rowe scored twice to give the visitors a 3-1 edge heading into the first intermission.

The crowd at Merlis didn’t seem to know how to act at Thursday’s game.

    After the Warriors took a two-goal lead, it seemed both teams went through a large stretch where the minds were wandering because of the news of the day.

    With 2:25 remaining in the second, the Contacts cut the gap to 3-2 with a goal from forward Riley Girod. Girod’s tally quickly increased the competitive level of the contest that it felt like a playoff game.

    The Warriors extended their edge to 5-2 in the third with power-play goals coming from the sticks of Ethan Peters and Maximus Wanner. Peters scored with 11:07 remaining in the third, while Wanner tallied with 1:58 to play in the frame.

The handshake line on Thursday consisted of fist bumps.

    Contacts rookie forward Tye Spencer rounded out the game’s scoring netting a buzzer beater with 0.1 seconds remaining on the third period clock. That tally made the final outcome 5-3 in favour of the Warriors, who swept the series 3-0.

    Chase Hamm made 39 saves to take the setback in goal for the Contacts. Dylan Ernst turned away 41 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Warriors, who swept the series 3-0.

    The Contacts finished third in the SMAAAHL regular season standings with a 30-12-2 record, while the Warriors were fourth with a 30-13-0-1 record.

    While the Warriors technically advanced to the SMAAAHL championship series, there wasn’t much celebrating due to the fact they won’t play another series. 

Warriors G Dylan Ernst talks to Contacts F Tye Spencer.

    There was a little initial cheer and celebration followed by “a now what happens” look.

    The two sides took part in the handshake line giving fist bumps with their gloves on.

    Both sides proceeded to thank the officials, with the Contacts offering thanks first and the Warriors following. A couple of the initial Contacts leading the thanks line for the officials extended their hands for a handshake.

    That was done likely out of habit.

    The officials shrugged off the handshakes preferring to practice social distancing. The players on both squads offered verbal thanks to the officials, which were received with humility.

    A couple of players managed to exchange courteous elbow bumps with the linesmen.

    After greeting the officials, some of the players on either side began posing for pictures with teammates, relatives and friends before leaving the ice. There were also visits between players from both sides.

    Again it seemed like the players, staff and fans on both sides didn’t really know how to act. The Warriors were happy, but the happiness was tempered knowing they wouldn’t play another game.

Contacts players and supporters pose for a picture after Thursday’s game.

    The Contacts lost, but they weren’t overly disappointed as they had a whole game to digest the fact their season would come to an end that night even if they had won.

    A lot of regulars at various hockey games at various levels in Saskatoon were in attendance on Thursday, and there was a question when everyone would gather again for another game.

    It didn’t seem real to be walking out of Merlis that night to be thinking that might have been the last meaningful competitive hockey game played in Saskatoon on the season.

    The ominous feeling was still there, and it will likely be there until overall life gets closer to normal.

Ridley holding at 3,998 games as Tigers play-by-play voice

Tomorrow was to have been my 4000 broadcast of Tiger hockey games. For the common good because of the virus, that has been put on hold.
Many thanks to the chat and Tiger staff for the hard work they went to In order to make the nite a huge success. Awesome.

— Bob Ridley (@BobRidley_CHAT) March 13, 2020

    The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the scare it created iced what was going to be a special and unique milestone night in the history of the WHL.

    On Thursday, the regular season schedules of all three CHL leagues including the WHL, OHL and QMJHL were paused until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Had the regular season continued, Bob Ridley would have called his 4,000^th game as the play-by-play voice of the Medicine Hat Tigers tonight at the Canalta Centre in Medicine Hat against the visiting Swift Current Broncos.

    At the moment, Ridley’s games called total sits at 3,998 games due to the fact the Tigers were slated to play the Broncos in Swift Current on Friday night, and that was a postponed game as well.

Bob Ridley calls a Tigers playoff game in March of 2019.

    The 75-year-old from Vulcan, Alta., called his 3,998^th game on Tuesday, when the Tigers downed the visiting Red Deer Rebels 4-3 in overtime at the Canalta Centre.

    Centre Ryan Chyzowski scored the winner and his second marker of the contest at the 1:46 mark of the extra frame.

    Ridley is the only play-by-play voice in the history of the Tigers, and his 4,000th game was expected to be a big high point of the team’s 50^th anniversary season. Effort was made to ensure his 4,000th game was scheduled to be a Saturday home contest.

    At the moment, Ridley has called 3,566 of the Tigers 3,567 regular season games, the club’s one standings tiebreaker game, all of their 411 games in the WHL playoffs and all 20 of their contests in the Memorial Cup.

    No one has called more games as the play-by-play voice of one hockey team at any level than Ridley has.

    As it stands right now, someone would have to call 80 games a season for 50 seasons to be able to surpass Ridley’s career total.

    Ridley drove the Tigers team bus over most of that stretch as well.

Bob Ridley calls a game at the 2007 Memorial Cup.

    On Friday, Ridley put out a sweet tweet thanking the staff at the CHAT broadcasting outlet and the Tigers for all the work that was put into what would have been his 4,000^th game.

    At the moment, the night Ridley calls his 4,000 game as the Tigers play-by-play voice is something great to look forward to, when the coronavirus scare comes to an end.

    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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