Wednesday, 17 March 2021

Warriors’ Yager takes Round 1 versus Pats’ Bedard

Contacts’ grad nets three points in OT win

Brayden Yager in action for the Contacts in 2019-20.
The initial Connor Bedard versus Brayden Yager battle delivered beyond anyone’s expectations.

On Tuesday, Bedard’s Regina Pats took on Yager’s Moose Jaw Warriors in a WHL regular season clash in a bubble environment played without fans at the Brandt Centre in Regina. The encounter was the first head-to-head match between the two young phenom centres.

In the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft, Bedard was selected first overall by the Pats and Yager went third overall to the Warriors.

Bedard became the first player to be granted exceptional player status to play in the WHL as a 15-year-old on a full-time basis.

After playing with the Saskatoon Contacts male under-18 AAA as a 14-year-old underager in 2019-20, Yager went through the process to try and gain exceptional player status to play in the WHL along with Contacts linemate Riley Heidt. Heidt went second overall in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft to the Prince George Cougars.

Yager and Heidt weren’t given exceptional player status.

Due to the fact the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic gutted the minor hockey season in 2020-21, Yager and Heidt were allowed to join their WHL teams on a full-time basis after the Saskatchewan Male Under-18 AAA Hockey League decided against resuming its 2020-21 campaign after it was paused in late November of 2020.

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, WHL clubs are playing a shortened 24-game regular season inside of the circuit’s four divisions. The developmental campaign had a late start with the Central Division getting going on Feb. 26, and the East Division’s bubble taking the ice on March 12.

All of those factors allowed the initial Bedard versus Yager clash to happen on Tuesday.

In that contest, the Pats jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held a 4-1 advantage after the first period. The Warriors battled back to ultimately take the game in overtime 5-4.

Bedard, who stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 165 pounds, had two assists for the Pats. The 15-year-old North Vancouver, B.C., product has three goals, three assists and a plus-one rating over the Pats first three games.

On Wednesday, Bedard had the winning goal, an assist and a plus-three rating in the Pats fourth game of the campaign as they slipped past the Swift Current Broncos 3-2.

Heading into Tuesday’s action, Yager, who turned 16-years-old in early January, had been held off the scoresheet in his first two games with the Warriors. On the Sunday, the Warriors slipped past the Prince Albert Raiders 2-1 after a tiebreaking shootout, and Yager did net the winner in the tiebreaking session.

Against the Pats on Tuesday, Yager, who stands 6-feet and weighs 160 pounds, had a breakout game offensively. The Saskatoon area product netted his first career WHL goal and posted a pair of assists and a plus-three rating.

Yager picked up a helper on Moose Jaw’s overtime winner. The Warriors improved to 3-0 with the win.

After Wednesday’s action, the Pats record sits at 1-2-1.

In normal times, Tuesday’s clash between the Pats and Warriors would have been a marquee match on the CHL circuit due to the presence of Bedard and Yager.

Traditionally, the Pats and Warriors have had arguably the most heated and best rivalry on the CHL circuit. The storyline of Bedard versus Yager adds a unique element to the rivalry.

While it takes more than one player for a hockey team to have success, more people will pay attention to the games between the Pats and Warriors due to the Bedard versus Yager angle.

As for another crazy aspect, the coaching staffs of both teams are playing the two young skaters in all situations. Normally, young rookies like them are eased into the lineup.

Early on in Tuesday’s contest, it looked like Bedard would capture the headlines. As the Pats took a 3-0 lead, Bedard set up Regina’s second and third goals both scored by overage left-winger Carson Denomie.

Defenceman Tom Cadieux had Regina’s first tally.

At the 10:41 mark of the opening frame, Yager scored his first career WHL regular season goal tipping home a point shot from 16-year-old rookie defenceman Denton Mateychuk to cut the Pats lead to 3-1.

On that tally, Yager showed he isn’t afraid to go to the hard areas of the ice and stood his ground in front of the opposition net to tip home a goal.

A short time later, Cole Dubinsky scored to extend the Pats advantage to 4-1 heading into the first intermission.

In the second period, the Warriors trimmed the Pats lead to 4-3 with singles coming from the sticks of Tate Popple and Eric Alarie.

Just 63 seconds into the third, Yager picked up his first assist of the night, when veteran Warriors centre Ryder Korczak popped home a loss puck in the crease of the Regina goal to even the score at 4-4.

In overtime, Yager gave defenceman Daemon Hunt a drop pass at the Regina blue-line. The 2020 NHL Entry Draft selection of the Minnesota Wild proceeded to do his best Paul Coffey imitation weaving around a Pats defender and roofing home the winner to the top left corner of the Regina goal.

Veteran netminder Boston Bilous started the contest for Moose Jaw turning away 12-of-16 shots sent his way. He was pulled after the Pats fourth goal.

Brett Mirwald, who is a 17-year-old rookie, played the rest of the game in relief turning away all 27 shots he faced to pick up his first career WHL victory. Mirwald is a graduate of the Saskatoon Blazers under-18 AAA team.

Following the game, Yager told Claire Hanna of CTV Regina that Bedard congratulated him after he scored his first career WHL goal. The congrats came during a stoppage in the opening frame.

“It was a class act by him (Bedard),” said Yager. “He congratulated me on my first goal.

“It shows what kind of a person he is. He’s a great kid. We’re buddies.

“I mean, he didn’t have to do that. It was just a nice act.”

Yager added he previously passed on congratulations to Bedard, when Bedard netted his first career WHL regular season goal.

While the Pats and Warriors have an intense rivalry, there has been a lot of respect and class shown by both sides over the past five to six years.

Bedard and Yager, who have also known each other through minor hockey for about four years, are continuing that aspect of respect and class too.

If there were any doubts that the head-to-head meetings between these two players were must-watch encounters, those doubts were erased by what took place on Tuesday night at the Brandt Centre.

It should be great to see how this latest aspect of the rivalry between the Pats and Warriors plays out for at least the next two-to-three years to come.

Lisowsky getting big minutes for Blades

Brandon Lisowsky, right, in action for the Blades on March 6, 2020.
Brandon Lisowsky is being allowed to find his top gear skating in his rookie season with the Saskatoon Blades.

The 16-year-old left-winger has been skating on a line with overage captain Chase Wouters playing centre and overager Caiden Daley holding down right wing.

Lisowsky, who stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 160 pounds, was selected by the Blades in the first round and ninth overall in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft. In the team’s abbreviated 24-game regular season played against East Division teams in a bubble environment at the Brandt Centre in Regina due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the world, the Blades coaching staff is playing Lisowsky in all situations in the developmental campaign.

In the Blades season opener this past Saturday, Lisowsky scored his first two career WHL regular season goals in a 4-2 victory over the Swift Current Broncos.

He scored the Blades first goal at the 6:41 mark of the second period converting a backdoor set up from Wouters. Lisowsky also potted Saskatoon’s final tally in that victory.

He was held off the scoreboard in the Blades 6-3 victory over the Regina Pats on Sunday and the Blades 2-1 overtime setback to the Winnipeg Ice on Wednesday.

So far in the Blades 2-0-1 start, Lisowsky is experiencing a typical rookie season for a 16-year-old in the WHL as far as offensive production goes.

With that said, Lisowsky did get to play in two regular season games as a 15-year-old call up in 2019-20. The Blades are doing the right thing in ensuring Lisowsky benefits from some valuable experience in this shortened developmental campaign.

Founder leaves NWHL, other notes

It has been a tough 2021 so far for the National Women’s Hockey League.

Having had the 2020 Isobel Cup championship game originally set for March 13, 2020 between the Minnesota Whitecaps and the host Boston Pride ultimately cancelled due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that had gripped the world, the NWHL was hoping to crown a league champion for the 2020-21 playing in a bubble format.

The circuit’s six team were supposed to play in a bubble environment taking part in a short regular season round and a playoff round running from Jan. 23 to Feb. 5 at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York.

The bubble environment ended up being too loose allowing COVID-19 to infiltrate the teams. The Metropolitan Riveters and Connecticut Whale pulled out of the bubble while the regular season portion of the campaign was in progress.

On Feb. 3, action in the NWHL bubble was suspended due to new positive COVID-19 tests and resulting concerns over player safety. The suspension occurred right before the playoff round was supposed to occur.

Since the circuit first hit the ice in 2015, the collapse of the bubble in Lake Placid, New York, has been arguably the NWHL’s biggest failure.

The NWHL is planning to finish the season with semifinals and a championship game for the Isobel Cup to be held March 26 and 27 at the Warrior Ice Arena in Boston, Massachusetts.

On Tuesday, the NWHL announced that league founder Dani Rylan Kearney was leaving the circuit. The 33-year-old announced her resignation as an NWHL advisor and president of W Hockey Partners, which is the entity that owns the Buffalo Beauts, the Whale, Riveters and Whitecaps.

W Hockey Partners operates those four member clubs with the intent to sell those teams to new owners.

The expansion Toronto Six rounds out the NWHL’s membership.

The Whale, Whitecaps, Pride and Six are the teams slated to compete in the upcoming playoff round.

At age 27, Rylan Kearney founded the NWHL in 2015-16 as the first women’s professional hockey circuit that paid its players. At the moment, the NWHL splits its revenues 50 per cent with the players on the circuit.

Rylan Kearney was the league’s inaugural commissioner.

Rylan Kearney held that role until stepping down on Oct. 12, 2020. She was replaced by Tyler Tumminia as interim commissioner.

Also on that day, the NWHL changed its governing model to an incorporated association that is overseen by a board of governors with on representative per team. At that time, Rylan stayed on with the NWHL as an advisor while becoming president of W Hockey Partners.

During her time with the NWHL, Rylan Kearney had an icy relationship with the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. The CWHL had been a longer standing women’s professional league operating in North American until it folded on May 1, 2019.

Rylan Kearney also had icy relationships with the biggest names in the women’s game and became one of the most polarizing figures in women’s hockey.

It should be noted that Rylan Kearney’s roll started to change with the NWHL after she married Sean Kearney on Aug. 1, 2020.

After the CWHL folded, the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association was formed as a non-profit, and its members include most of the high-profile players that skate for senior national teams in Canada, the United States and Europe.

The PWHPA said it was boycotting the NWHL and any other women’s professional league in North America until players received health insurance and a livable salary.

Basically, the PWHPA would like to see the NHL come in and have the same relationship the NBA has with the WNBA, where the NBA fully backs the WNBA.

The PWHPA participated in a series of exhibition games in 2019-20 called the Dream Gap Tour.

For the 2020-21 campaign, the PWHPA organized into five hubs. The Canadian hubs are Calgary, Montreal and Toronto and the United States hubs are Minnesota and New Hampshire.

PWHPA teams have played a number of exhibition games in the United States in 2020-21 despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Dream Gap Tour continued with a game on Feb. 28 at Madison Square Garden that aired live on the NHL Network in the United States and Sportsnet in Canada.

At the moment, it would appear the PWHPA is looking better than the NWHL.

While Rylan Kearney was a polarizing figure, she put in a tremendous amount of work to build a league from the ground up. During her time with NWHL, she showed she was skilled at growing the business side of the game.

Now that Rylan Kearney is out of the picture, it remains to be seen what direction professional women’s hockey will head in North America.

It is highly unlikely the PWHPA and the NWHL will get together and make nice any time soon.

  • Medicine Hat Tigers overage defenceman Cole Clayton was named the WHL’s player of the week for the week ending on Sunday. Clayton had four goals and three assists in the Tigers three games this past week against the Calgary Hitmen. The Tigers won two of those three contests. In the Tigers seven games this season, Clayton has five goals, nine assists and a plus-one rating. Moose Jaw Warriors veteran netminder Boston Bilous was named the WHL goaltender of the week for the week ending on Sunday. Over the seven-day period ending on Sunday, Bilous, who turned 20-years-old in February, won both his starts stopping 46-of-50 shots sent his way posting a 1.90 goals against average.
  • Tickets are on sale for the March jackpot for the Saskatchewan Amateur Football Mega 50/50 lottery. The funds from this 50/50 lottery will go to support the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder and the WWCFL’s Saskatoon Valkyries and Regina Riot. One prize will be drawn per month, and the remaining draw dates are Wednesday, March 31, April 30 and May 31. Tickets can be purchased by clicking right here, and purchasers must be in Saskatchewan in order to buy tickets.
  • On Monday, the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League announced Saskatoon Stars netminder Kaitlyn Cadrain has committed to play for the Maryville University Saints women’s hockey team in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2021-22, the Saints will be a sophomore Division I program in the independent American Collegiate Hockey Association. In three seasons with the Stars from 2018 to 2021, Cadrain played in 29 regular season games posting an 18-8 record, a 2.24 goals against average, a .911 save percentage and four shutouts.
  • On Monday, the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League announced Notre Dame Hounds forward Brynn Maclean has committed to play with the University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets women’s hockey team in the NCAA Division III ranks. The school is located in Superior, Wisconsin. In four seasons with the Hounds from 2017 to 2021, Maclean has appeared in 65 regular season games posting five goals and 14 assists. She had one goal and five assists in four games with the Hounds in the 2020-21 campaign before it was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • On Tuesday, the Prince Albert Raiders announced their captain and star defenceman Kaiden Guhle will be out indefinitely with a hand injury. He suffered the injury in the Raiders 2-1 setback in a tiebreaking shootout to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Sunday.
  • On Tuesday, Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reported Regina Pats left-winger Jakob Brook is out for the after undergoing surgery to repair a break in his lower right leg. The injury occurred 34 seconds into the Pats regular season opener this past Friday, when they fell 6-3 to the Prince Albert Raiders. Brook helped the Raiders win the WHL title as a 16-year-old rookie in 2018-19 before being traded to the Pats on Jan. 9, 2020 in a blockbuster deal that saw netminder Max Paddock sent to the Raiders.
  • Sophie Shirley, who is an alumna of the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA hockey team, has been named a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award presented to the top player in the top level of NCAA women’s hockey. In 19 overall games this season with the University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team, the skilled third-year forward has 12 goals, 13 assists and a plus-18 rating in the plus-minus department. Shirley was nominated for the same honour last season. On Thursday, the Badgers are slated to play an NCAA Frozen Four semifinal game against the Ohio State University Buckeyes in Erie, Pennsylvania.
  • While there is optimism things will return to normal during these COVID-19 pandemic as vaccines across Canada are distributed for COVID-19, one wonders how much variants of COVID-19 will continue to prevent things from returning to normal. The B.1.1.7 variant, which was first detected in the United Kingdom, is present in Saskatchewan, and it has a sizable enough presence in Regina that it will continue to have slightly tighter restrictions than the rest of the province. On March 4, the Mayo Clinic listed three variants that are causing concern including the B.1.1.7 variant, the B.1.351 variant found in South Africa and the P.1 variant found in Brazil. These variants seem to spread easier and quicker than the regular COVID-19 strain. The Brazil variant has been identified as potentially the most dangerous and less vulnerable to antibodies generated by a previous COVID-19 infection or a COVID-19 vaccine.
  • Gord Steinke, who is not related to me, of Global Edmonton had a good interview with Kaleb Dahlgren, who is a player that survived the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018, on Tuesday. They chatted about Dahlgren’s new book. The interview 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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