No Fear - Blades and their fans should just go for it

The Blades take the ice for Game 7 versus the Pats on April 10.

At this point in the WHL Playoffs, you might as well go after it with no fear.

The Saskatoon Blades and their fans should do everything possible to make the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series something they will never forget. 

The Blades will host Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference final on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively for a 7 p.m. start both nights against the powerful Winnipeg Ice.

The Ice lead the best-of-seven series 2-0 taking the first two contests in Winnipeg this past Friday and Saturday. Winnipeg topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and was rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The 57 wins and 115 standings points are new franchise records for the Ice.

The Blades finished fourth in the overall WHL regular season standings with a 48-15-4-1 record and were rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Saskatoon is appearing in the Eastern Conference final for the first time since 1994.

How long ago was 1994?

Jean Chretien was the Prime Minister of Canada, Bill Clinton was the President of the United States, Mark Messier captained the New York Rangers to their first Stanley Cup final win since 1940, the MLB season wasn’t completed due to a players’ strike with the Montreal Expos in first place and the British Columbia Lions won the Grey Cup over a Baltimore team that went by the name CFLers.

Fans cheer on the Blades at the SaskTel Centre.

The popular video game systems of the time saw Super Nintendo going against the Sega Genesis. In Canada, the most popular video game was likely NHL ’94.

In the music world, 1994 was best remembered for death of Nirvana founder, lead vocalist, guitarist and primary song writer Kurt Cobain died by suicide.

The Blades that year were lead in scoring by left-winger Andy MacIntyre, who had 89 points coming off 54 goals and 35 assists. Saskatoon’s roster included the likes of Derek Tibbatts, Paul Buczkowski, Trevor Hanas, Frank Banham, Mark Deyell, Clarke Wilm, Rhett Warrener and the now late Wade Belak.

The Blades were propelled by the heroics of veteran netminder Norm Maracle. During the 1993-94 regular season, Maracle recorded a 41-13-1 record, a 2.76 goals against average, a .918 save percentage and two shutouts. He was named the a WHL first team Eastern Conference all-star, the WHL’s top goaltender, a CHL first team all-star and the CHL’s goaltender of the year.

Fans at the SaskTel Centre, which was then known as Saskatchewan Place, used to give out a cheer of “Norm” like the one given to the Norm Peterson character in the sitcom Cheers.

Saskatoon claimed a 4-1 series victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings in the 1994 Eastern Conference final before falling in the WHL Championship Series in a series deciding Game 7 to the eventual Memorial Cup champion Kamloops Blazers.

Spencer Shugrue has become “Mr. Game 7” for the Blades.

Basically, 29 years ago was a long time ago. For Blades fans, it did feel like an eternity since the team advanced the WHL’s final four in the post-season. While the Blades may have their backs to the wall against the Ice, you still don’t want to miss out on enjoying the moment, if you are fan of the Saskatoon side.

The current roster of the Blades has turned out to be a gutsy one. They trailed Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats 2-0 in a first round series and rallied to take that set in a series deciding Game 7 by a 4-1 score at the SaskTel Centre before a sellout crowd of 14,768.

The Blades found themselves in a tougher spot in their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Red Deer Rebels. The Blades trailed that series 3-0, and in Game 4 in Red Deer, they trailed 2-0 after the first period and 2-1 after the second frame. Saskatoon was 20 minutes away from having its season come to an end.

The Blades rallied to take Game 4 by a 4-2 score and ultimately came back to claim a series deciding Game 7 by a 5-2 score again at the SaskTel Centre this time before 9,489 spectators.

Along the way, Blades utility player Spencer Shugrue picked up the nickname “Mr. Game 7” for collecting three goals and an assist in those two Game 7 wins.

The Blades also joined the 1996 Spokane Chiefs and the 2013 Kelowna Rockets as the only clubs to lose the first three games in a best-of-seven series and rally to take the set.

The Blades current Blades have received big game performances from various players on their roster including the likes of Trevor Wong, Egor Sidorov, Brandon Lisowsky, Conner Roulette, Jordan Keller, Jayden Wiens, Justin Lies, Vaughn Watterodt and Lukas Hansen. Netminders Ethan Chadwick and Austin Elliott have come up with big wins at different times in the post-season.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere has played big minutes for the Blades.

In the series win over the Rebels, the Blades saw solid defensive-defencemen Blake Gustafson and Ben Saunderson go down with injuries, and both were not available for the first two games of the series for the Ice. Captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere, Tanner Molendyk, Charlie Wright and Shugrue played like warriors skating for most of the minutes on defence in the first to contests against the Ice to protect Under-18 AAA call up Morgan Tastad and Tomas Zizka from bad matchups against a powerful and deep Winnipeg side.

The foursome of De La Gorgendiere, Molendyk, Wright and Shugrue wore down in those games, but they gave everything they had and that is all you can ask.

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne and is staff is trying to find the way to guide their team through this latest adversity, but it might be too tall of an order to ask for.

Even with that in mind, the Blades players should rip it out and go hard with no fear. If they are overmatch due to fatigue and injuries, at least they know they gave what they could and did the best they could do.

The Blades fans have been loud and engaged through this post-season run. Even if the Blades are going to be overmatched, they should do their best to give their side a home ice edge.

They should great the team with a huge cheer when they take the ice at the start of the contest and feel free to try and bring the noise level up in the SaskTel Centre to the level of some of the loudest rinks in the NHL. The SaskTel Centre is designed similar to the former home of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers in the Northlands Coliseum, and it holds in noise really well like the Oilers old home rink once did.

Justin Lies (#43) and Ben Saunderson (#2) thank the fans on April 10.

When the Blades make their runs to ultimately falling in Game 7 of the WHL final in 1992 and 1994 with Lorne Molleken as head coach and Daryl Lubinieki as general manager, the people of Saskatoon packed the building’s then 11,330 seat configuration making it one of the toughest places to play on the WHL circuit.

In the current moment, the people of Saskatoon have a chance to relive those days. 

Like the players, the fans should feel free to bring everything they have, so there are no regrets when it came to seeing the Blades this deep in the post-season.

Anthem singer Lehner enjoying Blades run

Katelyn Lehner sings the national anthem on April 10.

One person who is soaking every moment of the Saskatoon Blades playoff run is local country music artist and guest anthem singer Katelyn Lehner.

The Blades brought Lehner in to sing the national anthem starting with their March regular season sold out home dates against Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats. If you check out Lehner’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts where she promotes her music, you can see she is having fun with her association with the Blades. She even got to read out the starting lineup for the team before one of their post-season contests.

In her life outside of singing, Lehner was an elite level track and field athlete. At the post-secondary level, she first became a member of the University of Calgary Dinos Women’s Track and Field team in 2013 and joined the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Track and Field team for two seasons from 2017 to 2019. She has also coached the sport in the past.

While she has been located in Saskatoon for some time, she is originally from Prince Albert and graduated from St. Mary High School located in that centre in 2013. As a youngster growing up, Lehner did sing the national anthem for the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders on occasion.

With that noted, it has been really cool to see her dive in with enthusiasm in her anthem singing role with the Blades.

Raiders fans may come to cheer ex-players with Ice

Vladislav Shilo in action for the Ice on March 14.

When the Saskatoon Blades host Games 3 and 4 of the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship series, they might see a few ticket buyers show up from Prince Albert to cheer on the visiting Winnipeg Ice.

The fan presence from Prince Albert will be due to the fact that the Ice have two former players from the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders in import right-winger Vladislav Shilo and left-winger Carson Latimer. Both players were popular in Prince Albert during their stays with the Raiders.

Shilo was with the Raiders for the entire 2021-22 campaign appearing in 58 regular season contests recording nine goals and 13 assists for 22 points. He played three regular season games for the Raiders this season before being traded to the Ice.

In 66 regular season appearances with both the Ice and Raiders, Shilo has 26 points coming off 12 goals and 14 assists. In 12 post-season games with the Ice, Shilo, who turned 20-years-old in March, has eight points coming off three goals and five assists.

Latimer started his WHL career with the Edmonton Oil Kings and was dealt to the Raiders on December 1, 2021. In 44 regular season contests he played for the Raiders in 2021-22, Latimer posted 32 points coming off 12 goals and 20 assists.

He appeared in 31 regular season games with the Raiders this season recording 28 points on 10 goals and 18 assists before being traded to the Ice on December 31, 2022. Latimer, who turned 20-years-old in January, appeared in 22 regular season games with the Ice posting four goals and eight assists before suffering an injury.

The 2021 NHL Entry Draft selection of the Ottawa Senators got back into the lineup for the Ice’s last seven post-season outings collecting one goal and one assist.

Besides the support for Shilo and Latimer, there will also be some people coming in from Prince Albert to support Ice head coach James Patrick. Way back when the Raiders were in the junior A ranks, Patrick played one season in “Hockey Town North” in 1980-81 as an offensive-defenceman before eventually going on to a lengthy playing career in the NHL.

During that 1980-81 campaign, Patrick appeared in 59 regular season games posting 82 points coming off 21 goals and 61 assists. He helped the Raiders win the Centennial Cup as junior A national champions, and after that campaign, he was selected in first round and ninth overall in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers.

Current Ice play-by-play voice Brian Munz was the Raiders play-by-play voice for four-and-a-half season from 1999 to 2004, and he will likely have friend from Prince Albert come down to visit with him when he is not on the air calling games.

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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Blades import RW Sidorov to remain in Saskatoon

Egor Sidorov (#19) celebrates scoring for the Blades on April 8.

Egor Sidorov will be calling Saskatoon home for the foreseeable future.

Sidorov just finished playing through his rookie season at right wing for the Saskatoon Blades appearing in 53 regular season games posting 23 goals, 12 assists and a minus-two rating in the plus-minus department. He also had a goal and two assists in the five post-season games the Blades played against the Moose Jaw Warriors in falling 4-1 in a best-of-seven first round series.

Sidorov is a European import player from Vitebsk, Belarus. Due to Russia’s war with Ukraine that started on February 24, Belarus has faced sanctions due to supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Thanks to instability in that part of the world, Blades general manager Colin Priestner confirmed that Sidorov, who will turn 18-years-old on June 18, will be remaining in Saskatoon.

“He (Sidorov) is going to stay here for the summer,” said Priestner. “We’re working with immigration right now on it.”

The Blades 2021-22 campaign officially came to an end last Friday, when they fell 6-3 to the Warriors in Moose Jaw in Game 5 of their first round series. At the conclusion of that setback, the Blades had to face the reality of Sidorov’s life situation away from the rink in a more definite way.

Sidorov, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 164 pounds, was selected by the Blades in the first round and 20^th overall in the 2021 CHL Import Draft. He made his Blades debut playing in the team’s regular season opener for the 2021-22 campaign on October 1, 2021 in a 7-1 loss to the Warriors in Moose Jaw.

Since that beginning, Sidorov became a fan favourite with his energetic and infectious upbeat demeanour.  He arguably had his most memorable night with the team this past Feb. 12, when he scored a hat trick in a 6-2 win over the visiting Regina Pats at the SaskTel Centre.

Egor Sidorov scored 23 regular season goals as a rookie.

In that contest, Sidorov had more points than Pats 16-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard, who finished that outing with one goal and one assist.

“He (Sidorov) really wants to be here,” said Priestner. “His parents want that too for him, and it would be dangerous to send him home.

“He is going to be an amazing player next year for us, and let’s just hope everything works out with the immigration status.”

Besides becoming a fan favourite, Sidorov is very popular with his Blades teammates. When he has been chosen for post-game radio show interviews with Blades play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk that are done in the SaskTel Centre in front of an audience, usually eight to 10 Blades players follow Sidorov up to act as a cheering section.

The Blades teammates offered that support due to the fact Sidorov usually could only give simple one sentence answers to interview questions for much of the season.

“He (Sidorov) is extremely well liked in that group,” said Priestner. “He didn’t speak a word of English six months ago, and now we did an exit interview without Google translate completely with him.

“It is amazing. He is a great kid. He doesn’t like what is going on over there.”

On April 27, the CHL announced that players from Russia and Belarus will be ineligible for the upcoming CHL Import Draft, which will be held on July 1 via conference call. That decision was made due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with the support of Belarus.

Blades fans enjoy cheering for Egor Sidorov.

Players that are already on the protected lists of CHL teams from Russian and Belarus are not affected by that decision. They will remain eligible to play in the three major junior circuits that fall under the CHL umbrella that includes the WHL, OHL and QMJHL.

Back on March 2, the CHL cancelled the 2022 Canada Russia Series, where all-star teams from the WHL, OHL and QMJHL face a touring Russian junior team. At that time, the CHL condemned Russia’s actions involving military force in Ukraine.

Before CHL sanctions, Russian and Belarusian teams were banned by the International Ice Hockey Federation from its events at all levels until further notice because of the ongoing war in Ukraine. The sport’s governing body removed Russia as host of two major events in the upcoming world junior championship and the 2023 world men’s championship.

Sidorov played for Belarus’s under-20 team at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Division IA Championship that ran from December 12 to 18 in Denmark of that year. In helping Belarus top that event with a 5-0 record, Sidorov recorded two goals, one assist and a plus-one rating.

At the moment, that marks the last time Sidorov has been to Europe.

Priestner said Sidorov told him how Russia and Belarus signed a treaty for greater cooperation in 2000 forming a Union State. Under that agreement, Russia basically has been able to control Belarus.

Priestner said teams in the CHL wants to help the Russian and Belarusian players that came over to play in either the WHL, OHL or QMJHL before the war in Ukraine started.

Egor Sidorov (#19) hugs Blades goalie Nolan Maier.

The Prince Albert Raiders, who are the Blades archrivals, have two Belarusians on their roster in netminder Tikhon Chaika, who turns 19-years-old in August, and left-winger Vladislav Shilo, who turned 19-years-old in March.

“They’re all kind of working under that same let’s keep them here,” said Priestner. “Sending them back is not likely a good outcome for them.”

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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Raiders’ captain leads way in bounce back win

Vitelli’s three-point effort powers 4-1 victory over Blades

Reece Vitelli had two goals and an assist for the Raiders.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – The captain ensured his Prince Albert Raiders left the stumble against the Swift Current Broncos in the rearview mirror.

Going into their WHL regular season clash on Saturday against the visiting Saskatoon Blades, the Raiders aimed to bounce back from a disappointing effort in a 6-3 setback against the Broncos at home last Wednesday night.

Captain Reece Vitelli provided the spark the Raiders needed. The 20-year-old centre collected a pair of goals and an assist to power the Raiders past the archrival Blades 4-1 to the delight of the standing room crowd of 2,721 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre outside of a small contingent of Blades fans.

Vitelli scored his second goal of the contest into an empty net with 2:24 remaining in the third period to round out the 4-1 final. That allowed the Raiders faithful to indulge in the playing of The Guess Who’s “Runnin’ Back to Saskatoon” for an extra long period of time.

Reece Vitelli and the Raiders played a strong game on Saturday.

“Whenever we beat the Blades, it is awesome,” said Vitelli, whose team wore special alternate uniforms on Saturday. “The crowd was unreal tonight.

“It was one of the biggest crowds this year definitely. They were loud and in it, so it was awesome.”

For the Raiders who are in a heated race for the last two playoff berths in the WHL’s Eastern Conference, the bounce back win was the biggest thing on Saturday, and the fact that victory came over the Blades was a bonus.

Reece Vitelli, right, battles past a Blades defenceman.

“We knew we had to be committed and be better from last game,” said Vitelli. “We need (the standings) points.

“We were just moving our feet and playing together as a team. Guys stepped up, and it was awesome.”

The Raiders came out of the gate bringing the physical play with right-winger Dallyn Peekeekoot and defenceman Terrell Goldsmith throwing big hits.

The hosts held a 15-5 edge in shots on goal over the opening 20 minutes and had the three best scoring chances in the frame. The first chance came from left-winger Sloan Stanick who couldn’t bury a goal during a net scramble where Blades overage star netminder Nolan Maier slipped down on the ground.

Vladislav Shilo scored for the Raiders on Saturday.

Prince Albert left-winger Keaton Sorensen tried to score on a wraparound chance with about 30 seconds remaining in the first, but he was stopped by Maier. In the final seconds of the opening frame, Raiders standout defenceman Nolan Allan drove a midrange shot off the post of the Saskatoon goal.

Just 1:51 into the second, the Raiders jumped ahead 1-0 when Vitelli slipped home a shot from a bad angle by the right side boards.

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said Vitelli’s goal at that point in the contest was huge. The veteran star bench boss added the Blades could have turned the game on its ear had they gotten the first goal after the Raiders had carried the play to that point in time.

Josh Paulhus had the Blades lone goal on Saturday.

“It was one of those games where the first period was pretty dominant,” said Habscheid. “The start of the second was too.

“Then if they (the Blades) happen to sneak one in, all of sudden they get belief, and we maybe get on our heels a little bit. We knew that first goal was important especially going into the second period. We got it.

“Then, we really seemed to carry the period from there.”

The hosts extended their edge to 2-0 just 77 seconds later on a goal from import right-winger Vladislav Shilo. Shilo had the puck alone in front of Maier at the right side of the Saskatoon goal, made a toe drag move and lifted home a high shot for his fifth tally of the season.

The Raiders celebrate a goal from Landon Kosior, centre.

The Blades caused a pause to the Raiders run at the 10:01 mark of the second, when Saskatoon left-winger Josh Paulhus floated in a shot on a rush down the right wing to cut the host’s lead to 2-1.

Just 82 seconds later, the Raiders restored their two-goal edge going ahead 3-1 with offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior fired home a seeing-eye shot from the right point.

Vitelli said it was big for Kosior to come through in that moment after the Blades had trimmed the Raiders lead to one goal.

“He (Kosior) has been a rock back there,” said Vitelli, who picked up his assist on Kosior’s goal. “He has been our best defenceman.

Dallyn Peekeekoot played a strong physical game for the Raiders.

“He controls the play so well out there, and he skates so well. He has an unreal shot. He has 16 goals this year as a defenceman.

“Whenever that guy is shooting from anywhere, it has a good chance of going in. We’re all confident in him, and he has been playing very well.”

The Raiders were able to clamp down the game defensively in the third to set the stage for Vitelli to get his empty netter.

Tikhon Chaika stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders (24-29-3-1). Nolan Maier turned away 31 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades (33-21-3-1).

Habscheid said he thought the Raiders were pretty dominant on Saturday night. He liked how his players responded after falling to the Broncos last Wednesday and believed they would have a better outing against the Blades.

The Raiders and Blades scrum it up.

“You never doubt their character for sure,” said Habscheid, whose Raiders are 5-1-1 in their last seven games. “They were ticked off.

“Everybody was ticked off about it. When you watch the tape, it just wasn’t a good effort. Sometimes, we had some chances to score tonight, and they didn’t go in.

“Guys try so you can’t get upset with that. With effort, togetherness and attention to detail, those are non-negotiable when you put on the Raiders jersey. Tonight, they did that.”

Centre Evan Herman takes care of the puck in the defensive zone.

The Raiders return to action on Tuesday when they host the WHL East Division leading Winnipeg Ice (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades get back at it on Wednesday when they host the Ice (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Raiders have won three out of their five head-to-head meetings so far this season with the Ice. Before even thinking about the Ice, Habscheid said he wanted his team to enjoy the win over the Blades for the night.

The Raiders salute their fans after their win on Saturday.

“I haven’t even thought about it (the game with the Ice),” said Habscheid. “They (the Ice) are good.

“We’re just going to take this, enjoy it and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.”

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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Let’s keep CHL imports out of crossfire in tensions with Russia

Tikhon Chaika tends the net for the Raiders.

Due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, what will be the fate of Russian and Belarusian players skating at the moment in the Canadian Hockey League?

That question will hopefully clear up in the coming days, weeks and possibly months.

The war between Russia and Ukraine was an issue Russian and Belarusian players in the CHL never saw coming at the start of the 2021-22 season. When the season started, the biggest concern was navigating the differing and changing restrictions regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

A lot of imports playing in the CHL elected to spend their Christmas breaks in North America instead of going home including the Prince Albert Raiders two Belarusian players in Tikhon Chaika and Vladislav Shilo.

This column of mine appeared in the Prince Albert Daily Herald. To read the full article, feel free to click the link right here.