A wacked and loony week for social media

Sometimes it is best to not check out those lines

The Blades are doing their part to make Saskatoon a better place.

Social media never seems to disappoint with how crazy it can be in the worst way.

Just when you think social media can be cool, all of a sudden it hits the sewer worse than you ever remember happening before. Out of all the social media lines, it feels like Twitter hits the sewer the fastest and hardest.

For me, the high note of the week on social media came in the early morning hours last Sunday. I got home after covering a WHL regular season game in Prince Albert on Saturday, January 22, where the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers downed the host Raiders 6-4.

Before I went to bed, I decided to check my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Both lines were filled with posts of people saying they were happy to be at the Saskatoon Blades WHL regular season home game on January 22, when they dumped the Winnipeg Ice 7-2.

The majority of the comments focused on the great job the Blades did with their Pride Night theme. The Blades rocked pretty sweet special jerseys for that contest to honour the LGBTQ+ community.

The Blades drew 3,585 spectators to the SaskTel Centre that night, which was their largest crowd since returning from their WHL Christmas break.

I went to bed feeling upbeat about the Blades having done something really positive for inclusion.

Even though I didn’t make that Blades game, it felt like they were able to show that a sports team can truly bring all parts of a community together.

Those feelings were genuine too, because Blades general manager Colin Priestner and his wife, Alanna, live and breathe those values.

Unfortunately, social media started to go south one day later this past Monday.

That was the day the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks announced Emilie Castonguay would be the team’s new assistant general manager. She would become the first female to hold that job title in the history of the Canucks and only the second female ever in the history of the NHL to be named an assistant general manager.

There was a lot of praise that came with that move.

Unfortunately, I came across cringe worthy comments too.

I came across a Twitter account that had just over 100 followers and stated the account holder was based in Alberta.

That account hold wrote a post responding to this announcement that women and gays have no place in hockey.

I was freaked out and felt sad and upset someone would say that so boldly on a public line.

I found a Twitter troll that said women don’t belong in hockey.

That same account said something that was unflattering to a Saskatoon Blades team post about the team’s Pride Game night.

That offending account got pushback from others, with some noting the offending account reinforced negative stereotypes for people from Alberta.

While that offending account that was saying those crazy things wasn’t interacting with my account, I decided to block it just because that offending account was that stupid.

I proceeded to take a look at the accounts the Blades have on various social media lines to check out their Pride Night posts. I found a handful of awful responses in the comments sections of those posts.

On Tuesday, the Blades proceeded to put a story on their website titled, “Saskatoon Blades score one for Pride.”

It was a beautifully crafted post about how great the team’s Pride Night was. If you are curious, that post can be found by clicking right here.

The Blades organization’s reaction to the negative comments was an outstanding one.

Unfortunately, I would continue to encounter rough social media waters in different areas.

Wednesday was Bell Let’s Talk day, which is Bell Canada’s annual mental health awareness and fundraising day.

It felt like the regular fundraising initiatives held over social media lines didn’t get the traction like past years. I traditionally write a post on Bell Let’s Talk day discussing my own mental healthy journey, and my post this year got by far the fewest views in comparison to my Bell Let’s Talk day posts of past years.

I figured that might happen, because I expected there to be a push back against Bell Canada after making huge jobs cuts in less than a week after last year’s Bell Let’s Talk day.

Bell Canada has become a company that talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk when it comes to mental health. However, any negativity towards Bell Let’s Talk day would not be the craziest thing that would be seen this week over social media.

Wednesday was the first day I started to notice posts from the truckers’ convoy that was heading to Ottawa, Ont., to converge on Parliament Hill to call an end for coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine mandates and other public health restrictions.

Truckers and other protestors made it to Ottawa on Saturday for their protest.

Starting on Wednesday, I saw way too many posts from the radicals in this group on the far right that made me cringe. Even posts that weren’t cringe worthy made me shake my head.

One shake my head post came from the “Truckers Freedom Convoy 2022” Instagram account on Saturday. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe put out a letter on his social media accounts thanking truckers, and it called for an end to the cross-border ban on unvaccinated truckers that travel between Canada and the United States.

Twitter is likely the most loony social media line.

Moe’s letter also stated in the not too distant future the Government of Saskatchewan would end its proof of vaccination or negative test requirement policy.

The “Truckers Freedom Convoy 2022” account said Moe’s letter was a step in the right direction, but immediate action was wanted right now. The post also used the hashtag #WeTheFringe.

Of course, you could find numerous posts including cringe worthy ones from the far left condemning those associated with the convoy.

To me, all of this devolved into absolutism that has been present since the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world in March of 2020.

There was lots of my way or the highway rhetoric.

So far during the COVID-19 pandemic, differing views regarding it have been the deal breaker on many friendships and associations and often it has been the only deal breaker.

Ultimately, I don’t think this convoy is going to accomplish much except drown out the voices of people who are reasonable and still have common sense. Any ill feelings will only be intensified.

While the truckers’ convoy dominated the news cycle in Canada, the news cycle in the United States was dominated by escalating tensions between that country and Russia over Russian massing near 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine. Anything related to the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t seem to be top of mind.

Finally on Saturday, social media jumped in a tizzy over a subject that was less serious in nature. Early in the afternoon, news broke that Tom Brady, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback and arguably the NFL’s greatest ever player, was retiring only for that story to be shot down seemingly about an hour later.

Brady’s company TB12sports put out a tweet that indicated Brady was retiring, but that was later deleted.

The NFL put a story on its website that Brady was retiring and put out an announcement on Twitter saying the retirement was happening.

Reactions poured in from around the world congratulating Brady on his career.

Later Saturday afternoon, news came out Brady called Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht to say he had not made a decision yet on his football playing future. Brady, who is 44-years-old, is under contract to play for the Buccaneers in 2022.

With all that has gone on this week, the mix up regarding the story if Brady had made up his mind about retiring from his playing career ended up being a humourous one.

A Saturday afternoon screenshot of NFL.com of a story in error.

In the end, all one can do with these crazy social media waves is roll with the punches as best you can. If you can try to pause, take a deep breath and think critically without emotion about what you are seeing, it could potentially help you navigate those seas.

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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Riding hamster wheel is not always good for mental health

Excusing yourself even for a short time is good for soul

Working on my Bell Let’s Talk piece in the home office.

Sometimes you just have to get off the hamster wheel.

That was analogy I didn’t know was a thing until about three months ago. It actually came to me via the sports entertainment world of pro wrestling early this past November.

During a promo on an AEW Dynamite show, CM Punk talked seriously about one-time rival Jon Moxley. Moxley, who had been that promotion’s heavyweight champion, had entered an inpatient alcohol treatment program.

Punk, whose real name is Phillip Jack Brooks, said he was proud of Moxley for realizing he had to take himself off the hamster wheel to get the help he needed and that Moxley was brave taking that step.

Moxley, whose real name is Jonathan David Good, is married to Renee Paquette, who first made a name for herself as sports broadcaster in Canada with The Score from 2009 to 2012 before shooting to a huge rise in fame in a run with WWE from 2012 to 2020. Moxley, who has been in the pro wrestling business for over 17 years, and Paquette met in WWE.

I had never linked the analogy of the hamster wheel with the mental health world until I saw that promo with Punk, who is very articulate and well thought out.

 I am starting to have what you would consider a longer run with the mental health world with my first realizations almost a decade ago.

On my own front, I have known I have battled with issues dealing with anxiety since 2012. I write about my experiences on the mental health front in hopes it will help others.

Since 2016, I’ve kept up with a tradition where I write a post regarding mental health on Bell Let’s Talk day.

A Jon Moxley AEW figure.

There is still a stigma around mental health issues, and they are unfortunately still treated as the elephant in the room in too many circles.

On my own front, I am in a way better place than I was 10 years ago. I am in a way better spot than I was six years ago.

While I believe I have gotten a tonne better over the last decade, mental health is something I continue to learn about. I will have “aha moments” come to me in the most unlikely of places.

That Punk promo was an “aha moment.”

He explained he made his own choices to get off the hamster wheel in the past. Punk said Moxley had been on a hamster wheel, because he had been going and going, thinking he had to show toughness all the time, battle through injuries like they weren’t there, be sick and show up for work, help other people and be super generous for a long stretch of time.

Punk said you get to the point you have to take yourself off the hamster wheel.

For Bell Let’s Talk day in January of 2020, I wrote that it was a mental health challenge to learn to take a break, and it was important to take breaks.

Punk’s explanation of the hamster wheel took that to a whole new level of realization.

No matter what walk of life you are in, you do get placed on a hamster wheel.

In the world of competitive sports where outcomes are undecided, elite athletes are on a hamster wheel. Whether it be hockey, football, baseball, basketball, softball, track and field, speed skating, soccer or whatever your athletic pursuit, you are training year round and being evaluated constantly to see if you are performing at a high level and continuing to reach new levels of high performance.

A picture of myself in front of photos I've shot over the years.

Sometimes that results in athletes shouldering extra pressure that their team will lose and they will let their teammates down, if they don’t perform well. That can be a hamster wheel.

Those in sports management positions can be on a hamster wheel too. They are constantly trying to ensure athletes, coaches and staffers are healthy physically and mentally, always having to ensure proper funding is coming in to allow athletes to get to events and have the best equipment possible and ensure the business administrative mechanisms are functioning well.

If you miss time as an administrator, there are always worries those jobs won’t get done. You are on a hamster wheel there too.

Those examples can be taken to any working environment be it health career, education, retail, banking, manufacturing, shipping, policing, energy production or whatever the job may be. All those environments create places where those working in them shoulder pressures that they will let everyone down if they are not there to do their roles.

Eventually, you do hit a point where the pressure becomes too much you have to totally cut yourself away from those worlds. It doesn’t have to be forever, but you might need to be away for a span of time.

In Moxley’s case, he got professional and ultimate returned to AEW after about three months.

In some cases, you might not even the assistance of professional help to come to that realization.

I realized that for myself when I attended a wedding for one of my nieces early this past September in Jasper, Alta.

I'm all dressed up out in Jasper, Alta., early last September.

My everyday world is the sports and media world, and I live those careers to a point they are a lifestyle. If I take a break from one aspect of that world, I am still busy with another aspect be it on sports writing, photography or communications.

That wedding marked the first time I totally cut myself off those worlds for at least a one-week period since the summer of 2014, when I relocated from Medicine Hat, Alta., to Saskatoon, Sask.

With Jasper being a resort town with no links to any part of my life, I truly made a clean break for a week. Ultimately, the wedding was awesome and the week was awesome.

On top of being cut off from the sports and media worlds, I allowed myself to be pretty much cut off from social media too.

One day after the wedding, a feeling came over me that this all felt really good. It was a good feeling I hadn’t felt in a long time.

It reminded me of a time when I took actual vacations during my 10-year run as a sportswriter with the Medicine Hat News from 2004 to 2014 and experience more periods of personal time, while still having a busy schedule. While I wasn’t jumping on a plane to go to Hawaii to lie down on a beach, I was off on social excursions with friends, or like the summer of 2007, taking a pleasure drive through the mountains in southern British Columbia.

A lot of that disappeared from 2012 to 2014 when vacations and personal time didn’t feel like those things as those were periods I where I was in my initial stages of working my way through mental health issues.

When Punk gave the promo about Moxley and the hamster wheel in early November, I realized I had gotten off my hamster wheel, when I attended my niece’s wedding. It added a sense of refreshment I hadn’t felt for some time.

Another game day is wrapped up for myself at the SaskTel Centre.

You can also get yourself on a hamster wheel with constant interaction with people you don’t know especially trolls on social media. Sometimes that happens with people you do know on social media.

During this past year with the world still stuck in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, I’ve found social media to be more toxic than ever before. Twitter is the worst social media line for this.

As for Twitter, I’ve followed an example set by Punk here in just blocking the trolls and people you need to block instead of engaging with them. For myself, it feels good every time I block a troll, especially if it is an anonymous account with less than 10 followers.

These days I try to be a bit more mindful of where I am on the hamster wheel. If anyone feels they need to get off their own hamster wheels for a bit, I hope they feel enabled to take that step, because it ultimately show a lot of courage.

Bell Let’s Talk in specter of “Bell Let’s Cut”

A Bell Let’s Talk toque.

I admit I was unsure if I was going to do my traditional mental health post on Bell Let’s Talk day this year.

In recent years, Bell Canada, which is the telecommunications company that run Bell Let’s Talk day, has had a habit of releasing employees in the months after the company’s mental health awareness and fundraising day.

Bell Canada received huge criticism bringing in job days after Bell Let’s Talk day was held last year on January 28.

Any time Bell Canada cuts jobs, the term “Bell Let’s Cut” is inevitably brought up.

The question is brought up that how can a company that supports mental health initiatives turn around and just cut people, who immediately are faced with the prospects of losing their livelihoods and identities.

Due to the Bell Canada operates in the media world, I’ve had friends that have been released from jobs with Bell Canada, and they were all hard working people that showed great initiative.

Bell Canada has been criticized for using the Bell Let’s Talk campaign as a tax write off while bringing in massive amounts of revenue to make you question why jobs are being cut.

After the layoffs Bell Canada made last year, I had to ask myself if I wanted to go through with a new post this year on Bell Let’s Talk Day.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world, I often celebrated the fact so much awareness came up regarding mental health issues on Bell Let’s Talk day.

I also celebrated the progress I’ve made in my own journey often having a nice dinner with my mom in the evening of Bell Let’s Talk day at Cactus Club Cafe in Saskatoon. The last of those dinners came on Bell Let’s Talk day in January of 2020.

I decided to do a post, because of the awareness this day brings regarding mental health issues in Canada.

Searching social media on Tuesday the day before Bell Let’s Talk day, I saw a lot of posts from people saying they had supported Bell Let’s Talk Day in the past but wouldn’t this year due to the employee cuts that have happened in the past.

Today on Bell Let’s Talk day, I’ve seen numerous great shares regarding mental health issues in Canada and people coming forward to share their own stories of challenges on the mental health front.

If people feel better to make donations directly to mental health charities as opposed to participating in Bell Canada’s Bell Let’s Talk day program, I hope people feel free to act in that direction.

If people want to still retweet #BellLetsTalk on Twitter, they should feel free to do so.

It is always a good thing when you can keep the mental health conversation going.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com. My Bell Let’s Talk post from last year called “COVID-19 pandemic forces world to face mental health” can be found by clicking right here. A piece from 2020 called “A big mental health challenge is learning to take a break” can be found right here. A piece from 2019 called “Those facing mental health challenges can still be great in all parts of life” can be found right here. A piece from 2018 called “Being content can become a mental health challenge” can be round right here. A piece from 2017 called “Recognizing and respecting triggers is key for mental health” can be found right here. A piece from 2016 called “Feeling connected calms the mental health seas” can be found right here. A piece called “My Mental Health Story” can be found right here. Another post I like that I wrote in February of 2015 about my mental health journey call “Huskies hockey was good for me” can be found right here.

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Tigers’ Wiesblatt sinks Raiders with first career WHL hat trick

Medicine Hat halts four-game skid with 6-4 win

Oasiz Wiesblatt (#7) reacts to scoring his hat trick goal.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Oasiz Wiesblatt had his best WHL outing to date in the rink his older brother has had numerous big games in.

On Saturday night, the 17-year-old left-winger scored his first career hat trick in the major junior ranks to power his Medicine Hat Tigers to a 6-4 regular season victory over the host Prince Albert Raiders before 2,155 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre.

With the Tigers and Raiders locked in a 4-4 tie after 40 minutes, Wiesblatt scored his second of the night on a perfectly executed two-on-on break to put the visitors in front 5-4.

Oasiz Wiesblatt scored his first career WHL hat trick on Saturday.

Tigers 19-year-old right-winger Brendan Lee broke down the left wing of the Prince Albert zone on the two-on-rush and fed a pass across the front of the Raiders net to Wiesblatt. Wiesblatt quickly converted that pass knocking home a goal past a sprawling Raiders import netminder Tikhon Chaika to give the Tigers a one-goal edge at the 3:33 mark of the third.

The Raiders responded by pressing hard for the equalizer, but Wiesblatt sealed the win for the Tigers scoring his hat trick goal into an empty net with 1:31 remaining in the third to round out the 6-4 final.

The win allowed the Tigers, who are having a rare rebuilding campaign and sit last overall in the WHL, to end a four game losing streak and improve to 8-25-3-1. One night earlier, the Tigers dropped a 9-2 decision to the Blades in Saskatoon.

The Tigers celebrate Oasiz Wiesblatt’s first goal on Saturday.

The Raiders fell to 15-21-1-1 having lost their third in a row.

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said the outcome of Saturday’s clash with the Tigers was disappointing for his side.

“Obviously, we played a team below us in the standings, and we are fighting for points when we can get them,” said Habscheid. “Give credit to them.

“You can tell they lost 9-2 the other night, because they came in with a purpose. They were hungry. They were more hungry than us early for sure.

“We missed some assignments on some goals. Some goals went in that I didn’t like, and we let the score go.”

Wiesblatt seemed focus on having a good night in the rink his older brother Ozzy calls home. Ozzy is a star 19-year-old centre for the Raiders, who helped them win a WHL championship in 2019.

Evan Herman had two goals and an assist for the Raiders.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, Ozzy missed third straight contest after being injured in Prince Albert’s 7-3 victory over the Rebel in Red Deer this past Monday. He was injured in the second period of that contest after being on the receiving end of a rough hit from Rebels defenceman Christoffer Sedoff.

Sedoff was given a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct on the play and later received a one-game suspension from the WHL office.

As for Oasiz Wiesblatt, he turned heads early on Saturday scoring a goal on a sick looking play to give the Tigers a 1-0 edge at the 11:58 mark of the first period.

With the Tigers working in the offensive zone, center Noah Danielson made a smart pass to Wiesblatt to get him in alone coming up the right side of the Prince Albert goal.

Brendan Lee had a goal and an assist for the Tigers.

Wiesblatt went forehand to backhand and put a home a backhanded shot flying thru the air after getting upended by Raiders veteran star defenceman Nolan Allan.

The Raiders proceeded to even things up at 1-1 just under four minutes later when centre Evan Herman roofed home a power-play goal from the left wall.

The two sides went full out playing firewagon 1980s style hockey in the second period.

Lee scored at the 4:03 mark to put the Tigers up 2-1. Just 18 seconds after that tally, Herman netted his second of the contest to even the score at 2-2.

Raiders left-winger Zachary Wilson put the host side up 3-2 at the 6:04 mark of the second, and Tigers 19-year-old centre Noah Danielson evened things up at 3-3 at the 11:03 mark.

Zachary Wilson scored for the Raiders on Saturday.

With 3:06 remaining in the second, Raiders centre Harrison Lodewyk stole the puck from a Tigers defenceman and scored to put the Raiders up 4-3 with a shot close in at the left side of the Medicine Hat goal.

Tigers Russian import defenceman Gleb Ivanov tallied with a point shot to even the contest at 4-4 heading into the second intermission.

Habscheid thought his team played a little too loose over large stretches of Saturday’s outing.

“We just played (crappy) for a lot of the game,” said Habscheid. “Our structure, I don’t know what out structure was, because there wasn’t much of it.

Members of the Raiders and Tigers engage in a scrum.

“We cheated on the game early. That was disappointing, because we talked about that this morning. We talked about the trap (game) and about looking past and all those things.

“We just cheated the game at home, and we paid for it.”

Following the goal gusher in the second, the stage was set for Wiesblatt to score twice in the third to give the Tigers their second win in three meetings with the Raiders this season.

Herman said the equalizer the Tigers scored late in the second and Wiesblatt’s go-ahead tally early in the third tilted the contest in favour of the visitors.

“The game is about ups and downs,” said Herman, who had an assist to go along with his two goals. “We have to stay as level headed as we can throughout the whole game, and ultimately at the end find a way to end.

Carson Latimer fires a shot on goal for the Raiders.

“Good teams find ways to win. Our culture here is a winning culture. That is what the Raiders are.

“We really look to protect that. We look to do that every night.”

Chaika turned away 21-of-26 shot to take the setback in net for the Raiders. Garin Bjorklund stopped 31 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers.

The Raiders return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Regina to face the Pats (7 p.m., Brandt Centre).

The Tigers also get back at it on Tuesday when they host the Saskatoon Blades (7 p.m. local time, Co-op Place).

Going forward, Herman said Saturday’s setback should serve as a reminder for his Raiders that they can’t take team in the WHL lightly.

The Tigers celebrate their victory on Saturday.

“We have to be ready to play every night,” said Herman. “This is a good league.

“There are no bad teams in this league. I think next time we need to just be ready.”

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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If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Rhinehart’s big night paces Blades to 9-2 romp over Tigers

The Blades celebrate a short-handed goal from Rhett Rhinehart (#41).

The Saskatoon Blades were in good hands with Rhett Rhinehart.

The 20-year-old defenceman came up with a monster game posting a pair of goals, an assist and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department as his Blades bashed the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers 9-2 in a WHL regular season clash played before 2,713 spectators on Friday night at the SaskTel Centre.

Rhinehart was playing his first contest since the Blades fell 4-1 at the SaskTel Centre back on January 1. The Lloydminster product has been on the WHL COVID-19 Protocol List, but ultimately only missed two games.

Rhett Rhinehart had two goals and an assist on Friday.

He thought he got better as Friday’s game went on.

“It was pretty good,” said Rhinehart. “It was a little tough at first.

“It was my first game in three weeks. I was just kind of getting my legs back under me at first. Playing lots of minutes kind of helps you get into it.”

Rhinehart’s return was a welcome one as the Blades found themselves short staffed on defence due to fact four regulars were out due to COVID-19 protocols in captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere, Marek Schneider, Tanner Molendyk and Ben Saunderson.

Saskatoon played with four natural defencemen with Rhinehart being paired with Charlie Wright, while rookie Ryan Nolan was paired with sophomore Spencer Shugrue. Centre Mikhail Volotovskii was moved to defence to help out the four natural blue-liners.

Rhett Rhinehart logged a lot of minutes on the Blade blue-line on Friday.

The Blades were also without head coach Brennan Sonne, who was isolating at home due to COVID-19 protocols. Associate coach Ryan Marsh ran the Blades bench along with assistant coach Dan DaSilva and goalie coach Jeff Harvey.

Rhinehart said it was important for the Blades defencemen to play smart, and he thought that helped him be on the ice for about half the game.

“It is definitely pretty gruelling,” said Rhinehart. “You’re going the whole time.

Oasiz Wiesblatt score to put the Tigers up 2-0 early on Friday.

“You get on the bench, and then you are going on in the next 40 seconds. You don’t get a lot of rest, so at points you have to conserve your energy and kind of just not really pace yourself, but take your points when you think you want to go a little harder.”

The Tigers got a quick jump in Friday’s clash jetting out to a 2-0 lead.

On an odd man rush into the Saskatoon zone, Tigers right-winger Carter Chorney charged down the right wing and passed the puck across the front of the Blades net to overage centre Logan Barlage.

Barlage quickly blasted home his eighth goal of the season and first as a member of the Tigers to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at the 3:24 mark of the opening frame. The Tigers acquired Barlage from the Lethbridge Hurricanes in a deal that was made before last Monday’s WHL trade deadline.

Kyren Gronick (#27) celebrates putting the Blades up 3-2.

The Tigers increased their advantage to 2-0 just 2:02 later scoring on the power play. Tigers right-winger Teague Patton passed the puck from the left corner of the Blades zone across the face of the Saskatoon goal to linemate Oasiz Wiesblatt, who tapped home his fifth of the season into an open cage.

Almost as quickly as the Tigers got the jump out of the gate, the Blades turned the momentum of the contest around.

Just past the midway point of the opening frame, Shugrue sprung overage centre Tristen Robins on a breakaway into the Medicine Hat Zone. Robins snapped his 19^th goal of the season past Tigers netminder Garin Bjorklunk to cut the Medicine Hat lead to 2-1.

The Blades evened things up at 2-2 scoring just 18 seconds later, when centre Jayden Wiens slipped home a mid-range shot.

Jayden Wiens had two goals and an assist for the Blades.

Saskatoon then jumped in front 3-2 when right-winger Kyren Gronick tipped home a point shot from centre Trevor Wong with 24.2 seconds remaining in the first for a power-play tally.

Wiens liked how his squad was able to respond quickly after falling behind 2-0 early.

“We’re a team that is not going to quit, even from a tough start like here tonight,” said Wiens. “I think it shows the character of the guys and just the no quit attitude for this group and the resiliency, so that is a good thing to see.”

The Tigers got out to a solid jump to start the second holding a 7-1 edge in shots on goal over the first 8:30 of the frame. The visitors were unable to solve Blades 17-year-old rookie netminder Ethan Chadwick.

Tristen Robins had two goals and an assist for the Blades.

The Blades proceeded to increase their edge to 4-2 at the 9:56 mark of the second period, when Rhinehart fired home a power-play goal through a screen in front of the Medicine Hat net.

The Tigers looked like they were going to have a good chance to change momentum when Nolan was penalized for hooking with 3:46 remaining in the second.

On that kill, the Blades scored a pair of short-handed goals coming 31 seconds apart from each other to push their lead up to 6-2.

Robins netted the first short-handed goal for his second tally of the night and 20^th goal of the season. Rhinehart potted the second short-handed goal and his second of the night coming off a rare offensive rush up the right wing.

Ethan Chadwick made 28 saves in goal for the Blades.

“He (Rhinehart) really stepped his game up,” said Marsh. “He had been off on a little bit of a layoff based off of COVID.

“Coming back in, I was a little bit concerned with us being a little bit short, and him not having played in the last few games. I just thought as the game went on he just got better and better. He played really well for us.

“He stepped up in all situations. He did a really good job on our power play getting some opportunity there with some guys that were out. I thought he was a horse out there on our penalty kill as well, and he was a real leader for us tonight.”

Following Rhinehart’s goal that put the Blades up 6-2, the Tigers pulled starting netminder Garin Bjorklund, who stopped 10-of-16 shots sent his way. He took the setback in goal for the Tigers as they fell to 7-25-3-1 having lost their last four in a row.

Noah Boyko had three assists for the Blades on Friday.

Beckett Langkow played the rest of the way in relief for Medicine Hat turning away five-of-eight shots sent his way.

Just 51 seconds into the third, the Blades netted their third power-play goal of the night, when Wiens netted his second goal of the contest tipping home a point shot from defenceman Charlie Wright.

The Blades proceeded to round of the contest’s scoring with Gronick scoring his second power-play goal of the night and Nolan netting his first career WHL regular season goal.

Nolan was acquired by the Blades from the Tigers in a blockbuster three-team trade that involved the Prince George Cougars on December 27, 2021.

Ryan Nolan scored his first career WHL goal on Friday.

Rhinehart said he was proud of everyone who played on the Blades short staffed back end on Friday night.

“Those guys were really awesome, and we had Misha (Mikhail) Volotovskii help out on the back end as well to give us an extra man for a little bit of help there,” said Rhinehart. “Obviously, Ryan Nolan scored his first Western League goal against his old team was a pretty special moment.

“He made sure that he enjoyed that one.”

Chadwick stopped 28 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who improved to 20-14-1-1 with their third straight victory.

Robins, Wiens and Gronick each picked up a single assist to go with their respective two-goal nights. 

Egor Sidorov (#19) shows off some fancy stick work.

Wong and right-winger Noah Boyko each picked up three assists on Friday for the Blades.

The Blades return to action on Saturday when they host the Winnipeg Ice (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Tigers also get back at it Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to face the 15-20-1-1 Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

Marsh said his Blades will have their hands full on Saturday playing an Ice team that leads the WHL’s overall standings with a 29-5-2 record.

The Blades enjoy their big win on Friday night.

“It is a huge challenge,” said Marsh. “They are really a high-powered offensive team.

“We need to reset. We need to clean a few things up from a defensive standpoint and do some things off the rush. We have to get our rest and recovery tonight and be ready to go to battle.

“We have to play a Blades brand of hockey tomorrow, where you are outworking the opposition and taking care of business away from the puck. We are going to need everyone in all four lines, our six defencemen and (our goalie) making key saves to have success tomorrow.”

“Girls Rock Night” returned on Friday night

Keely Shaw, Brigette Lacquette and Emmarae Dale are saluted.

On Friday, the Saskatoon Blades brought back their traditional “Girls Rock Night.”

The Blades were unable to hold that night last season as they played an abbreviated 24-game schedule in a bubble environment at the Brandt Centre in Regina due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

With the Blades once again being able to host home games with fans this season inside a scheduled 68-game regular season, they are trying to get back to holding a number of traditional theme nights they held before the COVID-19 pandemic clamped down on North America back in March of 2020.

On Friday, the Blades had three special guests at their game in Brigette Lacquette, Keely Shaw and Emmarae Dale.

Lacquette played defence for Canada’s senior national women’s hockey team and is currently a scout for the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks.

The ceremonial faceoff of the Blades “Girls Rock Night.”

Shaw won a bronze medal in cycling at the 2020 Paralympics that were actually held in 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.

Dale just graduated from the Saskatoon Hilltops after playing linebacker for them last season. Dale is the first female to play games in the CJFL.

She is a veteran player of the Saskatoon Valkyries of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League.

The trio took part in a pre-game speaking engagement designed for all ages. They also participated in a ceremonial pre-game faceoff, where they were introduced individually and given big cheers by the 2,713 spectators in attendance.

Following those festivities, the Blades would go on to down the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers 9-2.

Pillar trade a first class move by Blades, Blazers

The Saskatoon Blades don’t mind waiting for a major roster addition, especially when a health situations needs to work itself out.

Before the WHL’s trade deadline this past Monday, the Blades acquired 19-year-old forward Josh Pillar from the Kamloops Blazers in exchange for a conditional third round selection in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft and a conditional second round pick in the 2024 Prospects Draft.

Pillar, who stands 6-feet and weighs 179 pounds, posted 11 goals, 20 assists and a plus-four rating in 29 games with the Blazers this season. In 183 career regular season games with the Blazers, Pillar has 43 goals, 83 assists and a plus-20 rating.

He was selected in the fourth round and 127^th overall by the Minnesota Wild in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

At the time the trade was made, Pillar was at home in Warman, Sask., recovering from a private medical situation. As Warman is located along Saskatoon’s northeast border, management on both teams in conjunction with Pillar’s family agreed it was best for Pillar to be close to home. The Blades and Blazers did the classy thing and made this trade a reality.

Blades general manager Colin Priestner and Blazers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston both deserve a tonne of praise for the work they put in to make this trade a reality to get Pillar to his home stomping grounds.

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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Quirky WHL deadline passes with ho, hum action

Carson Latimer in action for the Prince Albert Raiders.

When it comes to trades in the WHL, it is always advisable for teams to make deals well before the WHL trade deadline.

As the trade deadline nears, normally the prices to make a deal tend to go up, especially if you are trying to pry a good veteran player away from another team.

With the world still in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, this season’s WHL trade deadline was expected to have its quirks. The first quirk was the fact the deadline came Monday at 4 p.m. Saskatchewan time on the date of January 17.

In most seasons, the trade deadline falls on January 10. This year’s deadline was pushed back a week due to the fact the WHL regular season started about 10 days later than usual.

Despite the quirks in a season where the COVID-19 specter is present, it is best to try and get deals done way before the deadline.

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

Watterodt’s first career WHL goal seals Blades 4-1 win

Vaughn Watterodt (#18) celebrates his first career WHL goal.

Vaughn Watterodt delivered for his family.

Entering Saturday, the 17-year-old sophomore left-winger with the Saskatoon Blades was still in search of his first career WHL goal. With some special family members in among the 2,207 spectators in attendance at the SaskTel Centre, Watterodt scored that milestone tally in a very timely moment.

With the Blades holding on to a 2-1 edge over the visiting Swift Current Broncos in a WHL regular season clash, Watterodt netted his first career WHL goal with 2:51 remaining in the third period to extend the host side’s lead to 3-1. The marker was a nice one too, as Watterodt tipped home a point shot from centre Spencer Shugrue for the key insurance tally.

Spencer Shugrue puts a point shot on goal that gets tipped home.

The Blades cruised to a 4-1 victory from there.

Watterodt was pumped to get his first career WHL goal playing for the team he grew up cheering for. He is from Rosetown, Sask., which is located about 100-kilometres west of Saskatoon.

“It was really awesome,” said Watterodt, who was playing in his 31^st career WHL game. “I finally got the monkey off my back, and I was able to do it in front of my parents and my grandma.

“It was my first game my grandma got to see me play in the WHL, so it was really nice to be able to do that for her.”

Vaughn Watterodt (#18) reacts to scoring his first WHL goal.

Watterodt, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 181 pounds, started his WHL career with the Kamloops Blazers and came to the Blades in a trade back on December 2, 2021. He was skating in his 13^th career game with the Blades on Saturday.

On the play where he scored his milestone first goal, Watterodt decided to go to the net after he saw that Shugrue won a race to a loose puck at the right point spot in the Swift Current zone.

“I saw he (Shugrue) had time,” said Watterodt. “I just wanted to get to the net and create a screen on the goalie.

“I was able to tip that in, so it was nice.”

Watterodt’s goal helped the Blades prevail in a contest that was a fairly tight battle.

Having beaten the Broncos 6-4 in Swift Current on Friday night, the Blades got out to a good start in Saturday’s rematch that closed out a home-and-home series.

Kyle Crnkovic scored twice for the Blades on Saturday.

They opened the game’s scoring at the 6:41 mark of the opening frame thanks to a nice setup pass from 16-year-old defenceman Tanner Molendyk. Molendyk broke into the offensive zone on a rush and put a sweet pass across the face of the Swift Current to star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic, who tapped home his 20^th of the season to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

The 19-year-old Crnkovic hit the 20-goal mark for the second time in his WHL career with the first of his two tallies on the night.

Shortly after that marker, the Blades had a couple of big chances to expand their lead working on the power play, but star 20-year-old centre Tristen Robins got stoned on two shots from the left slot by Broncos 20-year-old netminder Isaac Poulter.

Tanner Molendyk makes a nice setup pass on the Blades first goal.

On the Blades second power-play chance of the opening frame, Robins broke through from that left slot spot one-timing home his 18^th of the season on a setup pass from captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere. Robins’ marker increased Saskatoon’s advantage to 2-0.

Swift Current responded with a big push back period in the second.

At the 4:21 mark of the second, the Broncos cut the Blades lead to 2-1, when Swift Current right-winger Caleb Wyrostok snapped home a power-play close in at the left side of the Saskatoon goal.

The Broncos followed up that tally putting on a lot of pressure in the Saskatoon zone looking for the equalizer holding a 12-9 edge in shots on goal in the frame.

Tristen Robins had a goal and two assists for the Blades.

Blades star 20-year-old netminder Nolan Maier kept the visitor at bay.

Saskatoon head coach Brennan Sonne said his squad turned the puck over a little too much in the second period, which allowed the Broncos to carry the momentum for much of that stanza.

“What you have to do is not turn it over through the neutral zone and you have to make sure that when there are turnovers in the offensive zone that your (defence) are on the D-side of their stretch guys,” said Sonne. “We started in second period turning it over, so that just feeds into what their strengths are, which is that transition stretch – the line rush four game.

“We were much more responsible in the third.”

Caleb Wyrostok had the Broncos lone goal on Saturday.

In the third, the Blades were a lot more smart decisions when they had the puck and clamped things down defensively.

That set the stage for Watterodt to come through for his first career WHL goal to put the Blades up 3-1.

Maier said the rest of the Blades enjoyed seeing Watterodt collect his milestone marker.

“When anyone scores but especially when it is their first goal and it is someone who is close to the city, it makes it that more important,” said Maier. “I think we were all ecstatic for him.

Nolan Maier, right, made 28 saves in goal for the Blades.

“We’re just really pumped up for him right now.”

Following Watterodt’s goal, Maier came up with a big glove save on Broncos left-winger Josh Filmon to help take away the hopes the visitors had about making a miracle rally.

Crnkovic proceeded to pot his second of the contest and 21^st of the season into an empty net with 4.5 seconds remaining in the third to round out Saskatoon’s 4-1 victory.

Robins had a pair of assists to go with his goal.

Broncos C Mathew Ward sets to make a pass in the offensive zone.

Maier stopped 28 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades (19-14-1-1). Isaac Poulter turned away 21 of 24 shots to take the setback in net for the Broncos (13-17-4-1).

For the Blades, their clashes with the Broncos on Friday and Saturday were their first games since falling 4-1 at home to the Edmonton Oil Kings on January 1. The Blades played four games in six nights after returning from their WHL Christmas break and that stretch wrapped up with the loss to Edmonton.

The Blades ended up going into a pause period due to a number of their players testing positive for COVID-19 along with most of the rest of the WHL’s member clubs. That caused the Blades to have another extended break.

Aiden De La Gorgendiere had an assist on Saturday.

Sonne said his team’s schedule over the last four weeks had been weird, but it gave his players a lot of jump when it came time to play games again.

“Coming into it, I think that there was just a lot of gusto,” said Sonne. “The guys were sick of practising and just wanted to play, so they were tired of listening to us and tired of our drills.

“It was good to get back to work. It was good to get back playing. That is why we spend all the time preparing and practising and getting ourselves ready is to play games.

“It is nice to do that. It is nice that there are fans here. We’re excited to get back to the grind.”

Broncos D Daylen Weigel shields the puck from two Blades.

The Broncos are slated to return to action on Tuesday when they host the Winnipeg Ice (7 p.m., Innovation Credit Union i-Plex).

The Blades are scheduled to return to action on Friday when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

Maier said his Blades will be looking to build off the wins over the Broncos in the upcoming encounter against the Tigers.

“I think we just have to focus on our game,” said Maier. “We have a certain style of play that we need to keep up with.

The Blades celebrate their win over the Broncos on Saturday.

“If we start stringing along those kind of games together, it is going to be very positive.”

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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