Blades deserve more fans in the stands at SaskTel Centre

The Blades celebrate their Dec. 9 win over the Raiders.

    If fictional play-by-play voice Harry Doyle from the movie Major League had a sports talk show about the Saskatoon Blades, his intro might go something like this.

    “Hi folks, this is Harry Doyle and welcome to Saskatoon Blades Banter. In case you haven’t noticed – and judging by attendance you haven’t – the Blades have won a few lately.”

    Actually, the Blades sit fourth overall in the 22-team WHL or second overall in the 12-team Eastern Conference with a 21-10-4 record at the Christmas break. Saskatoon has the same amount of points in the standings as the Vancouver Giants at 46, but the Giants are placed third overall in the league standings due to having more wins at 22-8-2.

    While the Blades have risen to the status of being one of the WHL’s top teams, fans in “the Bridge City” seem skeptical of a franchise that hasn’t made the post-season since hosting the Memorial Cup in 2013. Saskatoon just missed out on making the playoffs in each of the past two campaigns going 28-35-7-2 in 2016-17 and 35-33-3-1 last season.

Kirby Dach is one of the Blades bright young stars.

    After 15 home dates, the Blades are averaging 3,658 spectators per game at the SaskTel Centre, which seats 15,195. The Blades haven’t been that low for an average attendance in a season since they averaged 3,361 spectators per game back in the 2003-04 campaign, when they posted a franchise worst record of seven wins, 52 losses, 11 ties and two overtime setbacks.

    The list of reasons why people in Saskatoon say they don’t go to Blades games seems to be as long as the Trans-Canada Highway.

    Traveling the WHL circuit specifically in Saskatchewan over the past three seasons has allowed me to come to the conclusion that the other four league centres in the province in Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, Regina and Swift Current support their teams better than Saskatoon does.

    Like Saskatoon, fans in the other four Saskatchewan centres with WHL teams have had their reasons not to go to games over the years during down times. It also seems the bad feelings disappear quickly in those centres, when the players work hard and the team shows improvement in the win column.

Netminder Nolan Maier has been sensational in goal for the Blades.

    If the team rises to the point of being one the WHL’s top clubs, the rinks in the other four Saskatchewan centres fill up.

    It feels like Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, Regina and Swift Current are more blue collar than Saskatoon. That characteristic sees people in those centres rally around their hockey teams that much quicker than “Toon Town” does.

    Saskatoon as a centre seems to have a split personality. It has a sizable arts side to its personality, where a large amount of people see themselves as being sophisticated. They will go to Blades games, if it is the trendy thing to do in order to be seen.

    Those are the cards the Blades management and staff have to work with.

Maybe it would be helpful for attendance if a Starbucks was built on the grounds of the SaskTel Centre. With that said, there is great specialty coffee stand at the rink.

Nolan Kneen has been a big pick up via the trade route.

    Blades president Steve Hogle likes to explore and enjoy all of the Saskatoon’s special aspects, so maybe he can make a few more visits to the Remai Modern art museum with his lovely wife, Cathy, in a bid to help attendance. Hogle has overseen some great promotions and presentations around the game since joining the Blades in 2013.

    A number of Blades staffers have attended Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan performances during the summer months.

    It should be noted that the diehards that head to the SaskTel Centre regularly for Blades games are great supporters, so the team does have that going for them as a building block.

    With the product coming around on the ice, the Blades have to stay the course and keep up their activities of getting connected into the community like they have in the last five to six seasons. It is not a quick fix for the attendance woes, but it is a stay the course thing you have to hope pays off.

Brandon Schuldhaus has been a key trade pick up.

    The Blades best asset are their players, who interact with the public the most and are out in the community. The Blades have put together a roster full of excellent young men. The more the public gets to see that side of the players the more they will get the urge to attend games.

    For the on ice product, the Blades two biggest selling points revolve around centre Kirby Dach and netminder Nolan Maier, who are 17-year-old stars both in their second full seasons in the league. Dach has huge potential to first round selection in next year’s NHL Entry Draft.

    He leads the Blades in scoring with 14 goals and 28 assists, while posting a plus-five rating in the plus-minus department. His ability to play well on the defensive side of the game is vastly underrated.

    Maier burst on to the scene last season with a number of remarkable performances. He had some bumps in the road early on this season, but he has really found his stride over the last month to cement his reputation as being one of the best goalies in the league.

A couple of young fans cheer on the Blades.

    The Yorkton, Sask., product is having a solid campaign posting a 17-8-3 record, a 2.80 goals against average, a .909 save percentage and two shutouts.

    Dach and Maier are mirror images of recent star grads coming from a couple of the Blades provincial rivals in Adam Brooks and Sam Steel of the Regina Pats and Glenn Gawdin and Tyler Steenbergen of the Swift Current Broncos.

    Like those four recent grads, Dach and Maier don’t skip any steps in working to be better. You never have to worry about them, because you know they will always do the right thing. They personable and the perfect people you want representing your team.

    Another pair of players who are invested in the team and are veteran career members in 19-year-old right-winger and assistant captain Josh Paterson and 18-year-old captain Chase Wouters. Paterson has had a sound campaign recording 10 goals and 17 assists in 33 regular season games, while posting a plus-eight rating.

Chase Wouters has taken on a new role this season as Blades captain.

    Wouters is off to a little slower start offensively posting five goals and 10 assists appearing in all of the Blades 35 games taking over as the Blades captain this season. His work ethic has still been there. He is extremely intelligent, and you can expect the offensive totals to rise the more he finds the balance with the leadership responsibilities he has been entrusted with and his personal game.

    Overager Dawson Davidson has cemented his role as an offensive defenceman as he sits second in team scoring with seven goals and 27 assists for 34 points. He is recorded a plus-seven rating to go along with his point totals.

Dawson Davidson sits second overall in Blades team scoring.

    The duo that has really turned heads on the back end are overager Brandon Schuldhaus and 19-year-old Nolan Kneen. Both were acquired in trades during the first half of the campaign.

    Schuldhaus and Kneen have become the Blades top defensive pair, and they are the go to due in obvious shut down situations. They both offensive ability as well to go along with toughness and grit.

    Saskatoon’s blue-line improved by leaps and bounds, when they arrived in town.

    The Blades have youngsters who could turn out to be great players in the near future in 16-year-old rookies Kyle Crnkovic, who is a left-winger, and defenceman Aidan De La Gorgendiere. Both are still getting their feet wet in the WHL and have looked like regulars when they’ve hit the ice.

Josh Paterson is again putting up solid offensive totals for the Blades.

    Crnkovic, who has one goal and four assists in 19 games, has shown flashes of being very creative in recent games showing why he was selected by the club in the first round and 10^th overall in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft. The Chestermere, Alta., product is already forcing the Blades coaching staff to consider using him in bigger roles.

    Speaking of the coaches, first year head coach Mitch Love has been as good as advertised. He came to the Blades having been an assistant coach and an assistant to the general manager with the Everett Silvertips last season.

    The 34-year-old came to the Blades with the reputation of being one of the best and brightest young and up and coming coaches in the league have also worked in Hockey Canada’s system. When he arrived in Saskatoon, Love gave credit to former head coach Dean Brockman and his staff saying they had done some real good working bring the players a long way.

Rookie Kyle Crnkovic could see larger minutes as the season goes on.

    Brockman and the Blades parted ways at the end of last season, and he is now the head coach and director of hockey operations with the Swift Current Broncos.

    Love, who is very accommodating, and his staff have successfully built off the foundation that they have inherited. While they look for continued improvement, they have put their stamp on the team.

    Colin Priestner has learned and improved in each season since taking over the role as Blades general manager before the start of the 2016-17 campaign. Priestner, whose father Mike owns the team, has made some really good trades over the past three years and overseen some good Bantam Drafts.

Riley McKay has provided energy playing the role of agitator.

    Priestner is showing he is turning out to be pretty accomplished in the general manager’s role, and he will likely be viewed that way when the dust settles over the long term.

    Besides bringing in Schuldhaus and Kneen, Priestner has added forwards Max Gerlach, Eric Florchuk and Gary Haden via the trade route over the past two seasons, and that trio adds a lot to the Blades with regards to scoring depth.
    Left-winger Riley McKay adds more spice on the ice adding energy as an agitator, while finding ways to add offensive contributions.

    Now, it just has to become the trendy thing to do in Saskatoon to attend Blades games.

Max Gerlach has remained a hot sharpshooter for the Blades.

    On the topic of looking good, the Blades brought back their classic Pac-Man look as their regular full-time look before the start of last season. The Blades wore that blue and gold look for some of their most successful years spanning from 1982 to 1994 posting a 479-353-32 regular season record over that time. Saskatoon reached the WHL championship series wearing that look in 1992 and 1994 and falling in seven games on both of those occasions.

    The Blades Pac-Man jerseys are still one of the best looking uniforms in hockey, so hopefully the trendy folks in Saskatoon take notice of that too.

    Wearing the Pac-Mans, the Blades gave their archrivals and the number one ranked team in the CHL in the Prince Albert Raiders (31-2-0-1) one of their three losses this season. In a beauty game, the Blades blanked the Raiders 1-0 on Dec. 9 at the SaskTel Centre.

The Blades hope to enjoy a number of victory celebrations after Christmas.

    The Blades have a great group to support, and they are winning and winning is always fun. Like the other for WHL Saskatchewan centres, here is hoping all the people in Saskatoon can let loose and feel free to indulge in the fun the Blades are providing this season.

    They return to action on Thursday when the host the Raiders at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

    I know the team would love to see you all at the rink.

    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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