Thursday, 19 September 2019

Blades aim to follow up breakout campaign in right way

Captain Chase Wouters leads the Blades into a new campaign.
    It was a campaign the players and all staff member of the Saskatoon Blades didn’t want to let go of.
    After going five straight seasons without making the WHL playoffs undergoing a massive rebuild after hosting the CHL championship tournament – the Memorial Cup – in 2013, the Blades returned to the post-season in the 2018-19 campaign by blowing the door in. They finished fourth overall in the WHL regular season standings with a 45-15-8 record and earned honourable mention status in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.
    “The Bridge City Bunch” proceeded to win their first playoff series since 2011 sweeping away the Moose Jaw Warriors 4-0 in a best-of-seven set. The Warriors were no pushovers finishing seventh overall in the WHL at 40-20-6-2.
    Due to the fact the WHL playoff format makes teams mostly play through their division, the Blades faced their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders in a best-of-seven second round series. The Raiders topped the WHL regular season standings with a 54-10-2-2 mark.
    The Blades battled hard but ultimately fell in six games. Saskatoon’s season came to an end on April 14 with a 6-3 loss to the Raiders in Game 6 of their series before a season high 10,521 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.
The Blades are backed by star netminder Nolan Maier.
    The Raiders moved on to capture the WHL championship.
    After that season ending loss to the Raiders, it wasn’t just the Blades players and coaches who were crying as they digested the end of the campaign. The Blades office staffers, support staff and management had tears in their eyes too.
    The tears showed how emotionally invested everyone was into the team. After finally seeing tangible rewards for the hard work that was invested in the five previous non-playoff campaigns, it was hard to digest that the breakout campaign had come to an end.
    Everyone in the Blades organization wanted the good times to continue.
    Going into the 2019-20 campaign, the Blades face the task of showing what happened last season is not just going to be a once in a while thing. The work begins in ensuring playoff berths become a habit along with improving on what happened last season.
    Colin Priestner has grown a lot taking over as the team’s general manager before the start of the 2016-17 campaign. 
Kyle Crnkovic became a fan favourite last season as a rookie.
    He has made many astute player moves and was tasked with handling the turnover on the team’s defence during the off-season.
    Dawson Davidson and Brandon Schuldhaus were lost to graduation. Emil Malysjev elected to play in the professional ranks in his home country of Sweden.
    Malysjev made his final decision after the NHL Entry Draft was held in June. Originally thinking Malysjev was going to be back, the Blades dealt overage defenceman Reece Harsch to the Winnipeg Ice in early May in an effort to reduce the number of 20-year-olds on the Saskatoon roster.
    Looking to reload the back end, the Blades picked up Czech products Libor Zabransky and Radek Kucerik at the CHL Import Draft held in late June. Zabransky is a 19-year-old who has WHL experience with the Kelowna Rockets before being released by that club.
    Kucerik, who will turn 18-years-old in December, is entering his rookie campaign in the WHL.
The NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks might send Kirby Dach back to the Blades.
    In August, Priestner picked up offensive defenceman Scott Walford in a major trade with the Victoria Royals. The Blades will be looking to Walford, who is in his overage season, to alleviate the backend offensive product that was lost due to Davidson’s graduation.
    The trio of Zabransky, Kucerik and Walford helps fill out what should be a sound starting defensive six that includes returnees in overager Nolan Kneen, Aidan De La Gorgendiere and Majid Kaddoura.
    The Blades will be strong on the coaching front as 35-year-old Mitch Love returns for his second season as head coach. Before joining the Blades, Love was an assistant coach and an assistant to the general manager for the Everett Silvertips.
    Love spent a total of seven seasons on the Silvertips coaching staff earning high praise from clubs in the WHL’s Western Conference.
    With the Blades, Love has shown why he had such high praise from the clubs in the Western Conference, and he is one of the circuit’s bright young coaching minds. His teams come to the rink prepared and motivated.
The Blades faithful grew during last season’s playoffs.
    The Blades are returning a solid group at forward including captain Chase Wouters, Kyle Crnkovic, Eric Florchuk and Tristen Robins. All four of those players should take steps forward in their respective offensive game.
    Speedy Ryan Hughes and feisty Riley McKay will be battling Kneen and Walford for the team’s three overage spots. WHL teams have until Oct. 10 to cut down to three overage players, but the three the Blades do hold on to will bring quality to the team.
    Last season, Hughes and McKay often played on the same line at right and left wing respectively.
    Winger Colton Dach has the potential to make noise as a 16-year-old rookie.
    Of course, everyone is watching to see of the Blades will get Colton’s older brother, Kirby, assigned back to them from the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks.
    The Blackhawks picked Kirby Dach in the first round and third overall in the NHL Entry Draft held last June. Chicago promptly signed Dach to an NHL entry-level contract.
Head coach Mitch Love, centre, guided the Blades back to the playoffs.
    The 18-year-old centre is still with the Blackhawks undergoing concussion protocol after being on the receiving end of a dirty hit at a rookie tournament in Traverse City, Michigan.
    In goal, the Blades are backed by dependable 18-year-old star netminder Nolan Maier, who was snubbed in the last NHL Entry Draft. That was an unfortunate development for the Yorkton, Sask., product. Maier more than deserves a shot at the professional level.
    As far as the early going is concerned, the Blades won’t be able to sneak up on anybody. They were rated third in the CHL pre-season Top 10 rankings that were released on Wednesday, and they were the highest ranked WHL club.
    Love is already throwing caution to the wind as far as those rankings go noting the factors outside of the control of the coaches that have to go right.
    Those initial ranking could get knocked for a spin when the Blades open their regular season on Friday by traveling to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre). The Raiders faithful will do their best to act as another player on the ice for the home side.
    Those two clubs meet again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre for the Blades home opener. 
The Blades aim to salute their fans after lots of wins this season.
    The Blades are doing their best to make that contest an event with a tailgate party starting at 4 p.m. and a 50/50 jackpot that starts at $50,000.
    There will be an appearance by Paul “Biz Nasty” Bissonette, who came to fame as a colourful character winger of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes.
    Wendel Clark, who is a legend of both the Blades and the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, will be in attendance as well.
    The Blades were able to create buzz with their post-season run last season. Time will tell if the high rating in the CHL’s pre-season Top 10 rankings was warranted.
    With all that said, Saskatoon hockey fans will see a Blades hockey club that is solid and will give a high effort on most nights.

Huskies’ Lokombo, Solie take player-of-the-week honours

Nelson Lokombo comes down with an interception for the Huskies.
    Nelson Lokombo and David Solie of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team took Canada West player-of-the-week honours.
    Lokombo and Solie were feted with player-of-the-week honours on Tuesday for their efforts helping the Huskies thump the University of Regina Rams 44-9 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina last Friday.
    Lokombo, who is a third-year defensive back, was named the Canada West defensive player of the week. 
    In the win over the Rams, Lokombo had two interceptions, a sack and a pass knockdown for the Huskies.
David Solie sets to launch a punt for the Huskies.
    He had the game’s biggest highlight returning his second interception 98 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
    Solie, who is the Huskies place kicker and punter in his second year of eligibility, was name the special teams player of the week for Canada West.
    He made both of his field goals and punted the ball seven times for an average of 39 yards.
    On his seven punts, Solie, who helped the Saskatoon Hilltops win a CJFL title last season, nailed two kicks over 50 yards and downed two punts inside the Rams 20 yard line.
    Quarterback Brad Launhardt of the University of Alberta Golden Bears was the offensive player of the week for Canada West.
    The Huskies and Golden Bears will face each other in regular season action on Saturday in Edmonton in a battle of 2-1 teams.

Topper headlines mascots halftime game

Hilltops mascot Topper will headline a mascots game.
    Saskatoon Hilltops mascot, Topper the lion, will headline a halftime mascots game.
    On Sunday, the Hilltops (4-0) host the Calgary Colts (1-3) in a CJFL regular season game on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Saskatoon Minor Football Field. The contest is the Hilltops family day.
    As part of the team’s family day festivities, Topper and a team of mascots from Saskatoon will take on a team of players from the Kinsmen Football League in a halftime game. Toppers team is dubbed as Topper’s All-Star Mascots.
    Sunday’s game will mark the second time the Hilltops, who are the five time defending CJFL champions, play at home this season. The Hilltops enter that contest riding a 23-game overall winning streak.

Bowers passing hard for Saskatchewan football community


    The football community in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan was sent reeling by the sudden passing of Kelly “Biff” Bowers.
    Bowers passed away of a heart attack at his home on Tuesday at the age of 70. He is a member of the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame and spent over five decades coaching, officiating and volunteering in the sports scene in “The Bridge City.”
    He is best known for his involvement in football and with the Bedford Road Invitational Tournament, which is one of the best high school tournaments in Western Canada.
    At the time of his passing, Bowers was the president of the Kinsmen Football League.
    He had involvement with the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team in U Sports and the WWCFL’s Saskatoon Valkyries.
    Bower’s celebration of life has been set for Saturday at 1 p.m. at Prairieland Park in Hall C.
    It is hard to quantify the impact Bowers had on Saskatoon’s sports scene. I thought veteran Saskatoon StarPhoenix sports scribe Kevin Mitchell did the best at tackling that task, and Mitchell’s piece on Bowers 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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