Blades’ Maier picks up 115th career WHL win

Netminder sits five victories shy of league record

Nolan Maier, left, celebrates his 115th career regular season win.

Nolan Maier is closing in on a hallowed record playing his final season for the Saskatoon Blades.

On Sunday night playing before 3,324 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the overage netminder made 25 saves to backstop the Blades to a 4-2 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. With that effort, Maier became just the eighth goalie in this history of the WHL to record 115 career regular season victories.

Maier, who is already the Blades franchise record holder for career regular season victories, is five wins away from equaling the WHL’s career regular season wins record of 120. That record is held jointly by Corey Hirsch and Tyson Sexsmith.

Hirsch picked up his 120 victories playing four seasons with the Kamloops Blazers from 1988 to 1992. Sexsmith collected his 120 wins over five seasons with the Vancouver Giants from 2005 to 2009. He also had one non-decision relief appearance for the Medicine Hat Tigers late in the 2004-05 campaign.

Maier, who stands six-feet and weighs 172 pounds, is going to have ample opportunity to break the WHL’s career wins record. With Sunday’s victory, the Blades improved to 29-18-2-1 and have 18 games remaining on their regular season schedule.

On top of collecting his 115^th win, Maier made his 200^th career regular season appearance playing goal for the Blades. In those 200 regular season games, the Yorkton, Sask., product has posted a 115-64-17 record, a 2.91 goals against average, a .904 save percentage and 10 shutouts.

Nolan Maier makes one of his 25 saves on Sunday.

Maier holds the Blades club record for most career regular season shutouts.

Blades star 20-year-old centre Tristen Robins scored the only goal in the game’s first period to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

Warriors star 17-year-old right-winger Jagger Firkus netted his 30^th goal of the season to even things up at 1-1 at the 5:19 mark of the second period.

Before the second frame ended, the Blades jumped ahead 3-1 with goals coming off the sticks of Vaughn Watterodt and Trevor Wong.

With 3:02 remaining in the third, Warriors star centre Ryder Korczak scored to cut the Blades lead to 3-2.

Saskatoon rounded out the game’s scoring with an empty-net goal from star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic. Crnkovic had an assist to go along with his goal, and he continues to lead the WHL in scoring with 78 points coming off 35 goals and 43 assists.

Overage netminder Carl Tetachuk stopped 27-of-30 shots to take the setback in goal for the Warriors (30-18-3-2).

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

The Warriors also get back at it on Friday when they host the Prince Albert Raiders (7 p.m., Mosaic Place).

Huskies men’s hockey knocked out of post-season by Dinos

The Huskies and Dinos work their way through the handshake line.

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey team saw their 2021-22 campaign come to an end in a gut-wrenching fashion.

On Sunday playing before 2,149 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place, the Huskies dropped a 4-3 decision in a series deciding Game 3 to the University of Calgary Dinos in a Canada West Conference quarter-final playoff series. The Dinos claimed the best-of-three set 2-1 with their victory on Sunday.

The two sides headed into the third period of Sunday’s contest locked in a 2-2 tie. Rookie defenceman Gunner Kinniburgh gave the Huskies a 3-2 advantage at the seven-minute mark of the third.

Calgary pulled even at 3-3 on a goal by fourth-year forward Tim Vanstone with 7:31 remaining in the third.

With 3:53 remaining in the third, Dinos forward Max Patterson deflected home the game and series winning goal off a shot taken by linemate Tyson Upper.

Connor Gutenberg scored in the first period and Riley Stotts tallied at the 10:18 mark of the second to give the Dinos a 2-0 lead.

Huskies rookie forward Vince Loschiavo scored twice before the second period ended to even the score at 2-2. That set up the dramatics in the third.

Brodan Salmond stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Dinos. Roddy Ross turned away 25 shots to take the setback in net for the Huskies.

The Huskies finished fourth in the Canada West Conference standings with a 13-7 record just ahead of the 12-7-1 mark put up by the Dinos.

The Dinos claimed Game 1 of the series with the Huskies 3-2 on Friday, while the Huskies responded with a 4-0 victory in Game 2 on Saturday.

The Dinos advance in the U Sports post-season to play the University of Alberta Golden Bears in a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series. The Golden Bears topped the Canada West standings with a 16-3-1 mark.

Game 1 of the series between the Dinos and Golden Bears is slated for this coming Friday in Edmonton.

Huskies sweep Bisons from playoffs in women’s hockey

Camryn Drever picked up her first U Sports post-season shutout.

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey team played arguably their best two games of the 2021-22 campaign to open their run in the U Sports post-season.

On Saturday night in Winnipeg, Man., the Huskies downed the host University of Manitoba Bisons 3-0 in Game 2 of a Canada West Conference quarter-final series holding a 38-21 edge in shots on goal. The win allowed the Huskies to sweep the best-of-three set 2-0.

The Huskies took Game 1 of the series by a 4-2 final on Friday night holding a 29-20 edge in shots on goal.

In Saturday’s win, the Huskies went ahead 1-0 on a first period goal by third-year forward Sophie Lalor. The Huskies extended their lead to 3-0 with second period goals coming off the sticks of Brooklyn Stevely and Kennedy Brown.

Huskies third-year netminder Camryn Drever stopped 21 shots to pick up the shutout win in goal for the Huskies. The shutout was a first in U Sports post-season action for Drever. Kimberley Davidson turned away 35 shots to take the setback in net for the Bisons.

The Bisons finished fourth in the Canada West regular season standings with a 13-7 record and had beaten the Huskies in all four of the head-to-head encounters between the two sides in the regular campaign.

The Huskies finished fifth in Canada West with an 11-7-2 mark.

The Huskies advance to take on the Mount Royal University Cougars in a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series. The Cougars topped the Canada West regular season standings with a 16-2-2 record.

Game 1 of the series between the Huskies and Cougars is slated for this coming Friday in Calgary, Alta.

Oil Kings dump Raiders 5-2

Carson Latimer scored for the Raiders on Saturday.

The Edmonton Oil Kings proved to be too hot for the visiting Prince Albert Raiders to handle.

On Saturday, the Oil Kings won their eighth straight game dumping the Raiders 5-2 before 5,287 spectators at Rogers Place. Edmonton won five out of the six encounters with Prince Albert this season.

Left-winger Jalen Luypen scored in the first period and at the 4:38 mark of the second to give the Oil Kings a 2-0 lead.

Right-winger Carson Latimer scored for the Raiders at the 5:52 mark of the second to cut the Oil Kings lead to 2-1.

Oil Kings 20-year-old left-winger Carter Souch scored twice before the second period ended to give his club a 4-1 lead. Dawson Seitz, who is a 16-year-old rookie centre, scored in the third to extend the Oil Kings lead to 5-1.

Sophomore 17-year-old right-winger Dallyn Peekeekoot scored before the end of the third for the Raiders to round out the scoring in the contest.

Kolby Hay stopped 22 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Oil Kings, who lead the WHL’s Central Division with a 38-11-2-1 mark. Import netminder Tikhon Chaika turned away 26 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders (19-28-2-1).

The Raiders were without star centre Ozzy Wiesblatt, who was sitting out a one-game league imposed suspension. Wiesblatt was suspended for taking a major penalty for spearing in the Raiders 3-2 setback against the Rebels in Red Deer on Friday.

Prince Albert was also without 19-year-old defenceman Trevor Thurston, who was sitting out the third of a league imposed five-game suspension. Thurston was suspended for picking up a charging major, a cross-checking major and two game misconducts in the Raiders 4-1 victory over the Tigers in Medicine Hat February 21.

The Raiders return to action this coming Friday when they travel to Moose Jaw to face the Warriors (7 p.m., Mosaic Place).

The Oil Kings get back into action on Wednesday when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers (7 p.m. Edmonton time, Rogers Place).

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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Olympic champion Clark soaks in hero’s homecoming

Emily Clark is pictured with a young Saskatoon Comets player.

Emily Clark is living a whirlwind reality that is turning out better than her gold medal winning Olympic dream.

In the early morning hours in Saskatchewan time on February 17, Clark helped Canada’s Senior National Women’s Hockey team down the United States 3-2 in the gold medal game held at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. Growing up playing hockey in Saskatoon, Clark dreamed of winning a gold medal for Canada and realized her dream with that win over the U.S. at the Wukesong Arena.

Since the on ice celebrations of that victory, Clark keeps encountering happy surreal experiences.

Emily Clark arrives home at the airport in Saskatoon.

One of the biggest surprises came when the 26-year-old centre arrived home at the Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport during the 10 p.m. hour on Tuesday. She was greeted by a healthy gathering of supporters that included family and friends, players from local area hockey teams and fans.

“There are so many emotions going through my mind,” said Clark, who stands 5-foot-7. “It is hard to put words to.

“Honestly, I think this is the first time it has felt real getting to be back in Saskatoon and see some friends and family and share it with them. It feels real now, and it is just super special.”

The alum of the Flyers minor hockey zone in Saskatoon and the Saskatoon Stars Female Under-18 AAA team first hugged her father, Del, and mother, Tracy, upon her arrival.

Emily Clark, left, hugs her father, Del Clark.

Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world, Emily Clark and her teammates playing in a bubble environment at the Winter Olympics and have basically been living in a bubble environment for about the last eight months.

The challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic prevented Clark’s family members from making it to the Winter Olympics.

She had family and friends in attendance at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Canada took home the silver medal at those games falling 3-2 after a tiebreaking shootout to the United States in the gold medal final.

A couple of young Comets players display signs for Emily Clark.

After family and friends were there to pick her up emotionally after the disappointment of falling in the gold medal game in PyeongChang, South Korea, in 2018, Clark couldn’t wait to share a golden moment with her family and friends returning home with a gold medal from the 2022 Winter Olympics starting with her parents.

“I remember in 2018 I didn’t get to see them (Del and Tracy) until a little bit after the game at the Canada House,” said Clark. “As soon as I saw them, just getting to share it with them right away it was water works.

“It is super emotional. Everyone that is here still, my siblings, my sister-in-law, even my training partner and one of my best friends for a long time (University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey team defenceman) Evan Fiala is here. They’ve all had such a huge impact on getting me here.

Emily Clark gets up in a group hug with the Saskatoon Stars.

“To get to share it with them, that is why I think I said that is when it feels real, because they are the people I love the most. It feels good to share it with the people that got me here that is for sure.”

Clark received another surprise at her homecoming arrival in the fact the current Stars squad made it to the airport. The Stars had beaten the Prince Albert Northern Bears 5-4 in overtime earlier that night at Merlis Belsher Place.

Stars head coach Robin Ulrich had a bus waiting in front of Merlis for the team to board right after their game to make it to the airport for Clark’s arrival.

Emily Clark is pictured with another young Comets player.

Clark and the Stars had a big group hug. Following the hug, Clark took part in a team picture with the Stars and selfie photos with the individual players, coaches and support staffers.

Clark said she knew a number of the players since the last Olympic cycle and knows the families of Stars forwards Avery Bairos and Sage Babey well.

“It is so cool to watch them grow up and follow in my footsteps,” said Clark, who won an NCAA championship with the University of Wisconsin Badgers Women’s Hockey team in 2018-19. “Now, they are on the Stars.

Emily Clark has some fun with the Stars players.

“Now, they are hoping to get university scholarships. I know they are fans of me, but it is pretty cool to watch them grow up. To see the (Saskatoon) Comets jerseys, to see some young youth hockey boys as well be just as excited as the young girl athletes, it is so special.

“It means the world. I love home. I love being from here. To share those moments with them it does mean a lot to me.”

The Stars contingent included assistant coach Kori Herner, who played with Clark on the Stars during the 2011-12 campaign. Herner held up a sign that said, “Miss Team Canada! Welcome home!”

Emily Clark, left, is pictured with former Stars teammate Kori Herner.

During the 2011-12 season, Clark set the Stars record for most points in one regular season at 60 coming on 26 goals and 34 assists in 26 regular season contests. That record was equaled by Mackenna Parker in the 2017-18 campaign.

Clark said she used to be called “Miss Team Canada” by her Stars teammates. She was happy to see how much of an impact Herner, who played five seasons with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey team from 2013 to 2018, is having on the provincial coaching ranks.

“She (Herner) was a great teammate,” said Clark. “She was one of my best friends when I played for the Stars.

Emily Clark hugs Stars head coach Robin Ulrich.

“To see her still be involved with female hockey, Team Sask and the Stars, I do enjoy when I get to come home and see her and we get to reminisce.”

In the grand scheme things, Clark has had a busy hockey season. She helped Canada win gold at the 2021 women’s worlds played this past August in a bubble environment in Calgary, Alta.

Canada won the gold medal game 3-2 in overtime over United States in that event on August 31, 2021 at WinSport Arena.

Tracy Clark, in white, and Del Clark, on right, are proud parents.

On the day of the gold medal game for the 2022 Winter Olympics, Clark said she had a surreal feeling that something special was going to happen.

“The whole day was a dream honestly,” said Clark, who had two goals, one assist and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department in seven games with Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics. “Waking up, I had a really good feeling.

“Obviously, there was a lot of belief on the team, but I’ve never felt that way on a championship game day. The whole day just felt like a dream. I just had to keep reminding myself it is breakfast time, it is warm up time just taking things one step at a time and not thinking about the result and definitely be in the moment.

Emily Clark visits with members of the Fiala family.

“I was still in the moment that when the game ended I realized that we won, but I don’t really think it hit me that we won an Olympic gold medal.”

After arriving home in Saskatoon, Clark visited various family and friends celebrating the gold medal victory from the Winter Olympics. Having basically trained for the most part in bubble conditions since March of 2020, Clark and a number of her Team Canada teammates departed for a vacation to Mexico on Saturday.

It was the type of change up Clark was looking forward to and admitted she hasn’t done a whole lot of in the past.

Emily Clark poses for a team picture with the Stars.

“I honestly haven’t been on too many vacations,” said Clark. “I think if there is a time to go on one it might be it.”

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Raiders’ Chaika picks up first WHL shutout

Tikhon Chaika earned his first shutout win in the WHL.

Import rookie Tikhon Chaika enjoyed his brightest day in his young WHL career on Wednesday night.

The 18-year-old netminder from Minsk, Belarus, made 26 saves to pick up his first career WHL shutout as his Prince Albert Raiders downed the Hitmen in Calgary 1-0 in a regular season clash played before 4,080 spectators at the Pengrowth Saddledome.

Chaika, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 161 pounds, is going through a growing pains type of season that is understandable for an import rookie, who has to learn a new language and culture on top adjusting to a new hockey league.

As the season has gone on, his statistics are becoming a little more solid. In 33 appearances with the Raiders this season, Chaika has a 13-14-2 record, a 2.98 goals against average and a .900 save percentage to go with his one shutout.

The Raiders got their lone goal at the 12:45 mark of the first period on a gaff by Hitmen Belarusian import right-winger Anton Astashevich. Astashevich had the puck in his own zone and tried to make a cross-ice pass to a teammate.

Astashevich’s pass was picked off by Raiders centre Evan Herman. Herman broke in alone on the Calgary net and put a backhand shot past Hitmen netminder Brayden Peters.

Peters had a solid night himself making 25 saves to take the setback in goal as the Hitmen lost their eighth straight game to fall to 18-23-5-2.

The Raiders have won two straight contests to improve to 19-26-2-1.

They were without 19-year-old defenceman Trevor Thurston, who was sitting out the first of a five game league imposed suspension. Thurston was suspended for picking up a charging major, a cross-checking major and two game misconducts in the Raiders 4-1 victory over the Tigers in Medicine Hat on Monday.

Raiders HC Marc Habscheid picked up a milestone on Wednesday.

Prince Albert’s win on Wednesday unofficially marked the 573^rd career regular season head coaching victory for Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid. The win total includes Habscheid’s time with the Kamloops Blazers, Kelowna Rockets, and the Chilliwack Bruins/Victoria Royals franchise. Habscheid’s first season holding a WHL team’s head coaching duties came in the 1997/98 campaign with the Blazers.

With that total, Habscheid passes Mike Williamson to sit alone for fifth on the WHL’s all-time career regular season wins list. Williamson collected his 572 regular season head coaching victories working behind the bench of the Portland Winterhawks, Calgary Hitmen and Tri-City Americans from the 1999-2000 campaign to the 2017-18 campaign.

Habscheid now trails Lorne Molleken for fourth place on the WHL’s all-time career regular season wins list. Molleken piled up 626 wins working behind the bench with the Moose Jaw Warriors, Saskatoon Blades, Regina Pats and Vancouver Giants during a period of time that spanned from 1989 to 2016.

Don Hay holds the record for career WHL regular season head coaching victories at 750. Hay collected his win total working behind the bench of the Kamloops Blazers, Tri-City Americans and Vancouver Giants during a period of time that spanned from 1992 to 2018.

The Raiders return to action on Friday when they travel to Red Deer to take on the 31-15-2-1 Rebels (6 p.m. Saskatchewan time, 900 CKBI).

Blades drop 6-5 OT heartbreaker in Brandon

Trevor Wong scored twice for the Blades on Wednesday.

Saskatoon Blades weren’t able to hold off a determined Brandon Wheat Kings side.

Holding a 5-4 lead entering the third period of a WHL regular season game at Westoba Place in Brandon, Man., the Blades had their hands full protecting their edge against a Wheat Kings side that carried play in the third frame. With 89 seconds remaining in the stanza, Wheat Kings 19-year-old centre Nolan Ritchie potted his 20^th goal of the season and second tally of the night to force a 5-5 and send the contest to overtime.

With less than six seconds remaining in overtime, Wheat Kings 20-year-old offensive defenceman Chad Nychuk potted the winner to deliver the host side to a 6-5 victory.

Vincent Iorio, Riley Ginnell and Marcus Kallionkieli all netted singles for Brandon.

Trevor Wong scored twice for the Blades, while Vaughn Watterodt, Kyren Gronick and Kyle Crnkovic netted singles.

Crnkovic, who is the Blades veteran star left-winger, continues to lead the WHL in scoring with 74 points coming off of 33 goals and 41 assists.

The Wheat Kings led 2-0 and 4-2, before the Blades scored three goals to close out the second period to take a 5-4 lead. That set up the dramatics late in the third period and in overtime.

Ethan Kruger stopped 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Wheat Kings (26-15-3-2). Nolan Maier turned away 24 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Blades (27-18-2-1).

The two sides will go at it again on Friday in Brandon (7 p.m. Saskatchewan time, 600 CJWW).

Elsewhere in the WHL on Wednesday night, the Regina Pats blanked the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers 2-0, and the Winnipeg Ice slipped past the Hurricanes in Lethbridge 3-2.

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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Clark’s Olympic gold a sweet Sask. feel good sports moment

Emily Clark, centre, pictured with some of her former Stars teammates.

The underage player from the Saskatoon Stars became gold medal winner at the Olympics.

Way back in September of 2009, Emily Clark joined the Stars female under-18 AAA hockey team as an underage forward at age 13. As the youngest player on the Stars, she had the last pick of jersey numbers and selected number 13 as a reminder of her age when she first started skating with the team.

On September 9, 2009, she scored a goal skating in her first game with the Stars in a 3-2 exhibition win at the Gemini Arena over the Prince Albert A & W Bears, who are now known as the Prince Albert Northern Bears.

Clark would turn 14-years-old in late November of 2009, and she played in all of the Stars 28 regular season games collecting two goals and two assists. Before joining the Stars, Clark played on boys teams in Saskatoon in the Flyers Zone.

Her father, Del, was a long time coach and executive with the Flyer program.

Actually, Emily Clark first began playing the game at age three at a University of Saskatchewan Huskies kids camp run by legendary Huskies men’s hockey head coach Dave Adolph.

An Olympic champion was born from that modest start.

An Emily Clark hockey card.

Fast forward to the early morning hours last Thursday in Saskatchewan time. Many in province were awake to watch Clark and her teammates on Canada’s Senior National Women’s Hockey team capture the gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.

Canada downed their forever rivals in the United States 3-2 in the gold medal final held at the Wukesong Arena.

At age 26, Clark has realized her ultimate hockey dream. The power forward picked up two goals and an assist appearing in six of Canada’s seven games.

Clark missed one preliminary round contest against the Russian Olympic Committee due to an inconclusive coronavirus (COVID-19) test. That goes down as a forever side note reminder that the 2022 Winter Olympics were played with the world still in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between that first exhibition game victory with the Stars and the gold medal win with Canada, Clark, who stands 5-foot-7, has piled up many accolades in her hockey journey.

In the 2010-11 campaign, Clark helped the Stars win the female division of the prestigious Mac’s Tournament in Calgary.

In 2011-12, she set the Stars record for most points scored in one regular season at 60 coming off 26 goals and 34 assists in 26 regular season games. That team record would ultimately be matched by Mackenna Parker in the 2017-18 campaign.

Clark’s number 13 was retired by the Stars in December of 2019.

Clark put up big numbers playing for the Okanagan Hockey Academy under-18 prep female team collecting 34 goals and 35 assists in 57 games in two seasons from 2012 to 2014.

A second Emily Clark hockey card.

She proceeded to star for four seasons with the University of Wisconsin Badgers Women’s Hockey team in the NCAA Division I ranks from 2014 to 2019. She left the Badgers for one season in 2017-18 to play for Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, where Canada took home the silver medal falling 3-2 after a tiebreaking shootout to the United States in the gold medal final.

With the Badgers, Clark played in 147 career games posting 70 goals and 76 assists. During her final season with the Badgers in 2018-19, she helped them win an NCAA championship.

On the international scene, Clark helped Canada win gold at two under-18 women’s world championships, three silver medals, one bronze medal and one gold medal at women’s worlds to go with the silver at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The gold medal win at women’s worlds can in August of 2021, when the tournament was held in a bubble environment in Calgary.

Following her time with the Stars, Clark usually wore number 26, which is double the number 13.

No matter where Clark goes in hockey, she still keeps strong ties to her home city of Saskatoon and to Saskatchewan as a province. Some of her favourite teammates from her time in the sport include former Stars teammates like Marley Ervine, Lauren Zary, Sara Greschner and Brooke Mutch.

Clark made numerous friends on the men’s side of the game growing up including Rourke Chartier, who plays with the AHL’s Belleville Senators and Evan Fiala, who plays for the U of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s team in the U Sports ranks.

Everywhere Clark has gone to play hockey, she has been an enduring and favourite teammate. She is also taken to heart because her style of play mirrors that of Wendel Clark, who starred for the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades and the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs. Emily and Wendel are not related.

Emily Clark signs autographs for youngster in November of 2018.

In the Saskatchewan hockey community and Saskatoon as a city, it seems there is just a one or two degrees of separation from knowing someone that knows Emily and her family.

That connection added to how awe inspiring it was to see Clark and her team to realize their golden moment at the Winter OIympics.

In today’s world that is engulfed in news events that can seem chaotic, it felt that much more special to see Clark realize her ultimate gold medal dream on the sports world’s biggest stage.

Memorial Cup gets new dates, WHL schedule adjusted

The Acadie-Bathurst Titan celebrate their Memorial Cup win in 2018.

Last Wednesday, the CHL announced its Memorial Cup championship tournament was being pushed back.

The CHL announced the change with its three member leagues in the OHL, QMJHL and WHL have to extend regular season schedules to play games that were postponed due to challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHL has also dealt with postponements due to bad weather.

The upcoming Memorial Cup is being hosted by the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs in Saint John, New Brunswick. The event was originally scheduled to be held from June 4 to 13, but it will now be held from June 20 to 29.

The changes to the Memorial Cup’s schedule were expected.

In late January, the QMJHL said it intended to play its full 68-game regular season that will conclude on May 1. The QMJHL plays are slated to be held from May 5 to June 15.

Last Thursday, the WHL announced its regular season that was originally slated to end on April 3 will now end on April 17. The adjustment was made to allow the circuit’s member teams to get in their postponed contests in order for each club to play a 68-game regular season.

If any standing tiebreaking games need to be played, they will be held on April 19.

The WHL playoffs are schedule to begin April 22 and could potentially run to June 14, if a series deciding Game 7 is needed for the WHL Championship series.

The WHL is also adjusting its playoff format. Instead of using the division format that was used from 2015 to 2020, the circuit is going back to a conference playoff format that was last used in 2014.

That means, the two division winners in each conference will be seeded one and two in their respective conference brackets. After the division winners, the next six teams in each conference with the most standings points will also make the post-season.

Clubs advancing in each round of the playoffs will be reseeded based on regular season points. Each round of the WHL playoffs will be contested in best-of-seven series.

Controversies plentiful for 2022 Winter Olympics

Controversies seemed to come out of the woodworks to plague the 2022 Winter Olympics that were held in Beijing, China.

They seemly took flight on February 2, which was two days before the games themselves began. That initial one came with Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meylemans asked over Instagram for the International Olympic Committee to free her from one of Beijing’s COVID-19 isolation facilities.

She was placed there instead of the Athletes’ Village isolation centre.

Meylemans tested positive for COVID-19 upon arriving in China. The Belgian delegation stepped in quickly, and Meylemans was moved to the Village one day later.

Some of the controversies will continue to play out after the games came to a conclusion on Sunday.

In Canada, the games will be remembered for the country taking home a total of 26 medals including four gold medals, eight silver medals and 14 bronze medals.

Overall, the 2022 Winter Olympics might be best remembered on the world stage for the controversy swirling around 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who was favoured to win gold in the women’s singles competition.

Before the women’s singles event took place, news surfaced Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, which is a heart drug used to prevent angina and also acts as an oxygen booster. The drug is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Due to Valieva being a minor, it was decided that she would be allowed to compete as the investigation around the positive test continued.

She collapsed in the free skate and finished fourth in the women’s singles event. Russian 17-year-old teammates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova finished first and second respectively, but the medal wins were far from a dream finish for either athlete.

As for other controversies, we had Russian president Vladimir Putin looking like he was going to fall asleep when Ukraine was introduced during the opening ceremonies.

There were a couple of questionable video reviews that gave China gold medals in speed skating and China trying to censor an athlete from Finland for showing flooding in her part of the Athletes Village on social media.

On Sunday, Yahoo Sports posted a list of the various controversies, and that post can be found by clicking right here.

Blades’ Crnkovic retakes WHL scoring lead

Kyle Crnkovic retook the WHL scoring lead.

Saskatoon Blades star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic retook the lead in the WHL scoring race with a three-point night on Sunday.

Entering play on Sunday, Crnkovic trailed Red Deer Rebels overage left-winger Arshdeep Bains by one point for top spot in the scoring race.

Playing before 5,737 spectators at the Scotiabank Saddledown in Calgary against the host Hitmen on Sunday, Crnkovic potted two goals and an assist to power the Blades to a 4-1 regular season victory.

Thanks to that offensive outburst, the Chestermere, Alta., product leads the WHL in scoring with 73 points coming off 32 goals and 41 assists. Crnkovic’s goal and point totals are career highs.

Bains sits second in the scoring race with 71 points coming off 25 goals and 46 assists.

The Blades also received goals from centres Trevor Wong and Trevor Robins, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks.

Zac Funk had the lone reply for the Hitmen.

Rookie Ethan Chadwick made 23 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Blades (27-18-1-1). Ethan Buenaventura turned away 31 shots to take the setback in net for the Hitmen (18-22-5-2).

Blades sophomore left-winger Vaughn Watterodt and Hitmen 20-year-old centre Blake Allan engaged in a first period fight.

The Blades return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Brandon to take on the 25-15-3-2 Wheat Kings (7 p.m. Saskatchewan time, 600 CJWW).

Vitelli nets pair in Raiders 4-1 win over Tigers, other notes

Reece Vitelli scored twice for the Raiders on Monday.

Captain Reece Vitelli got his Prince Albert Raiders back in the win column.

On Monday, Vitelli scored twice in the third period to lift the Raiders to a 4-1 regular season victory over the host Medicine Hat Tigers playing before 2,390 spectators at Co-Op Place.

The Tigers went ahead 1-0 on a goal from Owen MacNeil at the 7:08 mark of the first period.

Before the opening frame ended, Sloan Stanick tallied for the Raiders to even the game’s score at 1-1.

After a scoreless second period, Vitelli scored twice in the third to put the Raiders up 3-1. Veteran centre Keaton Sorensen rounded out the contest’s scoring an empty-net goal for the visitors with three minutes remaining in the third.

Tikhon Chaika stopped 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders (18-26-2-1). Garin Bjorklund turned away 19-of-22 shots to take the setback in net for the Tigers (9-33-3-1).

Raiders star centre Ozzy Wiesblatt and Tigers left-winger Brayden Boehm engaged in a second period fight.

Inside the final 31 seconds of the third, Raiders defenceman Trevor Thurston received a major for cross-checking, a major for charging and a 10-minute misconduct. The two major penalties will be automatically be reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

The Raiders win on Monday unofficially marked the 572^nd career regular season head coaching victory for Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid. The win total includes Habscheid’s time with the Kamloops Blazers, Kelowna Rockets, and the Chilliwack Bruins/Victoria Royals franchise. Habscheid’s first season holding a WHL team’s head coaching duties came in the 1997/98 campaign with the Blazers.

If that total gets verified as official, Habscheid would equal Mike Williamson for the fifth most career regular season head coaching victories in the history of the WHL. Williamson collected his head coaching victories working behind the bench of the Portland Winterhawks, Calgary Hitmen and Tri-City Americans from the 1999-2000 campaign to the 2017-18 campaign.

The Raiders return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Calgary to take on the 18-22-5-2 Hitmen (6 p.m. Saskatchewan time, 900 CKBI).

• Prince Albert product and 16-year-old left-winger Tanner Howe is having a strong season with the WHL’s Regina Pats. In 40 regular season games, Howe has 19 goals and 23 assists for 42 points.
• A spectacular season has vaulted Regina Rebels forward Alexis Petford into a tie for 10^th place on the all-time career regular season scoring list for the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League. In 28 regular season games in the current campaign, Petford has 75 points on 37 goals and 38 assists. All of those totals are career highs for Petford, who is in her final season of under-18 AAA eligibility. In 90 career SFU18AAAHL regular season games, Petford has 126 points coming on 62 goals and 64 assists and is the Rebels all-time career regular season scoring leader. She has equalled Lauren Zary for 10^th on the SFU18AAAHL career regular season scoring list. Zary collected her 126 points on 44 goals and 82 assists playing 103 career regular season games for the Saskatoon Stars from 2008 to 2012. The Rebels have one game remaining on their regular season schedule when they travel to Wilcox on Wednesday to face the Notre Dame Hounds.
• The B.C. Division leading Kamloops Blazers clinched a berth in the WHL playoffs, when they downed the U.S. Division leading Everett Silvertips 4-3 after a tiebreaking shootout on Monday at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops. The Blazers took the tiebreaking shootout 2-1. The Blazers improved to 35-13-2 with the win, while the Silvertips record moved to 35-7-2-5. The Silvertips came into the contest with a WHL playoff berth already locked up.

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 get the effort, Warriors get the win

Remy Aquilon (#7) and the Raiders fell 4-2 to the Warriors.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – The effort is there, but the results aren’t.

On Saturday night before 2,274 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre, head coach Marc Habscheid watched his host Prince Albert Raiders fall 4-2 to the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors. The veteran bench boss believes his players are putting in an effort to get a better result on the scoreboard.

At the moment, he said his club is going through a phase of making mistakes at inopportune times that end up being costly.

“The game is interesting,” said Habscheid. “There are parts in the schedule when you can’t score, and then there are parts in the schedule that you can’t help but to score.

Warriors LW Eric Alarie, left, and Raiders captain Reece Vitelli battle.

“Then your defence or your goaltending struggles or you’re taking bad penalties or whatever. There are just kind of ebbs and flows throughout the season, and right now we make a big mistake and it ends up in our net or we get a chance and we’ll hit a crossbar or something like that.

“That is kind of where we are at right now, so you rely on the experience and we just have to work our way through it.”

The Raiders got out to a tough start on Saturday when Warriors rookie defenceman Matthew Gallant opened the game’s scoring floating home a point shot through a screen at the 4:05 mark of the opening frame.

Josh Hoekstra scored a breakaway goal for the Warriors.

Late in the opening frame, the Raiders had a big chance to even things up, but sophomore right-winger Carson Latimer wired a shot off the post of the Moose Jaw goal.

With 66 second remaining in the first, the Warriors extended their edge to 2-0 on a breakaway goal from left-winger Josh Hoekstra, who turned 19-years-old on Saturday. Warriors star right-winger Jagger Firkus sprung Hoekstra on a breakaway with a stretch pass, and Hoekstra put home his third of the season stick side on Raiders import netminder Tikhon Chaika.

“They capitalized on their chances and we didn’t,” said Raiders 20-year-old defenceman Remy Aquilon. “It was just a tough start to the game.

The Warriors celebrate a goal from Josh Hoekstra, left.

“We have that inconsistency that we are having right now, and we are suffering from it. We just have to figure that out.”

At the 6:48 mark of the second, the two sides played two minutes of four-versus-four action with Warriors left-winger Riley Niven getting penalized for holding and Raiders star centre Ozzy Wiesblatt going off for roughing.

During that stretch of four-versus-four action, Warriors defenceman Maximus Wanner scored to give his side a 3-0 advantage and 19-year-old defenceman Trevor Thurston replied for the Raiders to cut Moose Jaw’s advantage to 3-1.

Thurston’s tally was his first with the Raiders, who acquired him in a trade on December 31, 2021.

Trevor Thurston scored the Raiders first goal on Saturday.

With 47.3 seconds remaining in the second, Firkus potted his 29^th goal of the season to give the Warriors a 4-1 advantage. Firkus had two assists to go with his tally for a three-point night.

Despite being down be three goals entering the third period, the Raiders didn’t go away.

At the 5:40 mark of the third, Raiders centre Evan Herman received a drop pass at the right wing boards from Latimer and wired home his 18^th goal of the season to cut the Warriors lead to 4-2.

Late in the third, the Raiders had a couple of other golden chances to get closer on the scoreboard. Raiders 17-year-old right winger Dallyn Peekeekoot was stopped at the doorstep of the Moose Jaw goal by Warriors overage netminder Carl Tetachuk.

Jagger Firkus had a goal and two assists for the Warriors.

Following that chance, Raiders captain Reece Vitelli fired a shot off the goalpost to put an exclamation point on the tough luck the Prince Albert side is having on the offensive end.

“The try was there,” said Habscheid. “I’m not going to complain when the try is there.

“Guys hit crossbars and sometimes they get up a couple and you can lose heart. The ice tilts, but our guys hung in there and rallied and stayed with it, didn’t lose heart and kept with it. You’d make an error, a big error and then it would end up in our net.

“That is where we are right now.”

Chaika turned away 26 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders (17-26-2-1). Tetachuk stopped 23 shots to pick up the win in net for the Warriors (29-17-3-2).

Evan Herman had the Raiders second goal on Saturday.

With the Raiders going through a reload type campaign, Habscheid said the team’s coaches have to continue to show trust in their players to keep their confidence up. He added if the effort keeps up the mistakes will get corrected and the positive results on the scoreboard will come.

“They try physically, and they try mentally,” said Habscheid. “We’re in a transition phase right now.

“They just have to be patient, keep their spirits up but still they have to be accountable. They have to try. They have to compete.

“They have to do it the Raider way, and for the most part, they do. Other than that, you are never going to accept losing, but guys will give you want the can.”

Dallyn Peekeekoot was stopped on a doorstep chance.

Aquilon said the players appreciate the fact that their coaches know the effort is there, but that he and his teammates still need to execute on the ice.

“It is good to know, but I mean it is on us at the end of the day,” said Aquilon. “We have to do what we have to do to win to win the games.

“I think we are not really executing the small things right, and we just have to figure that out.”

The Raiders return to action on Monday when they travel to Medicine Hat to face the Tigers. That contest starts a five-game road trip for the Prince Albert side.

The Warriors are off until Friday when they host the Swift Current Broncos (7 p.m., Mosaic Place).

Going forward, Aquilon his squad will continue to view every contest they are in as a must-win game.

“We go into every game like that,” said Aquilon. “I mean it is going to be harder on the road for sure.

The Warriors celebrate their victory on Saturday.

“We don’t have our home crowd behind us. We’ll have to use our team and rally up to win these games.”

NOTE - The Raiders wore throwback jerseys for Saturday’s game, with their old pirate logo. The Raiders jerseys with the pirate logo and star design were alternate uniforms during the period of time from about 1999 to 2001. 

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Pats’ Bedard sinks Raiders

Phenom 16-year-old centre nets winner 24 seconds into OT

Connor Bedard, left, enjoys scoring the Pats OT winner.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Connor Bedard might have become public enemy number one in “Hockey Town North.”

On Friday night, the 16-year-old phenom centre netted the winning goal 24 seconds into overtime to deliver his Regina Pats to a 5-4 WHL regular season victory over the host Prince Albert Raiders. Following the goal, Bedard gave off a bit of a swagger like celebration to the dislike of the standing room crowd of 2,962 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre.

Following the contest, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid wasn’t happy his squad lost track of Bedard in the extra session along with committing a number of other errors in the contest.

The Raiders won the faceoff to start overtime and got the puck deep into the offensive zone. At that point, the puck was turned over on a bad pass and Bedard streaked coast-to-coast down the right wing with the puck on a two-on-one rush.

Connor Bedard speeds down the ice on his winning goal rush.

Bedard skated in close to the Prince Albert net and roofed the winner and his 30^th tally of the season to the top left corner of the goal.

“It was disappointing,” said Habscheid. “We got caught on the wrong side of the puck.

“We talked about when he is out there. You have to be careful. You have to be on the right side of the puck, and we got caught on the wrong side to create a two-on-one with a 16-year-old who is a pretty good player.

“It ended up in our net not surprising, but it didn’t start there. It started in their end. We got a little bit greedy, and we paid for it.”

Connor Bedard picked up an assist on the Pats third period goal.

The Raiders entered the third period holding a 4-3 advantage but weren’t able to close out the contest defensively. With 4:31 remaining in the third, Bedard rushed down the right wing and took a shot on goal from a bad angle.

The shot rebounded to the front of the Prince Albert goal to Pats centre Cole Carrier. Carrier popped home his 14^th of the season for the equalizer to make the score 4-4.

The fact that Pats evened the score on a juicy rebound goal on top of losing track of Bedard in overtime made the setback that much more frustrating for the Raiders.

“I thought we played hard for most of the game,” said Raiders captain Reece Vitelli. “It was tough to let that one slip.”

Cole Carrier scored in the third period to force overtime.

The Raiders got out to a strong start scoring 69 seconds into the first period. Raiders left-winger Sloan Stanick jetted into the offensive zone down the right wing and slipped a pass across the front of the Regina goal to linemate Cale Sanders, who popped home his 11^th of the season.

The Pats evened things up at 1-1 just under five minutes later when defenceman Layton Feist rushed with the puck coast-to-coast down the right wing and wired home a shot to the top left corner of the Prince Albert goal. Feist’s tally was off Regina’s first shot on goal of the contest.

With 5:46 remaining in the opening frame, the Raiders jumped back in front 2-1, when right-winger Carson Latimer scored off a net scramble.

Landon Kosior scored twice on the power play for the Raiders.

The Pats came out with all sorts of fire to start the second period and jumped ahead 3-2 at the 7:02 mark of the frame with goals from Borya Valis and Tanner Howe. Valis tallied with the teams playing four-versus-four hockey, while Howe, who is 16-year-old left-winger from Prince Albert, scored with a point shot with the teams playing at even strength.

Before the second period ended, the Raiders jumped back in front 4-3 with a pair of power-play goals coming off the stick of offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior. Kosior drove home both his goals from the left slot while playing left wing.

He converted tick-tack-toe passing plays on both tallies with the first marker coming off a five-on-three situation and the second goal on a five-on-four advantage.

Tikhon Chaika made 31 saves in goal for the Raiders.

The five-on-three situation was created when Bedard received a minor penalty for checking from behind with a Pats player already in the penalty box.

Kosior said his Raiders felt they were in a good spot after he netted his power-play goals.

“I think after those we knew we were up, so we all kind of thought we’d play defence and we had a good chance of winning,” said Kosior. “It was just unfortunate that we weren’t able to pull through with it.”

Near the start of the third period, Raiders right-winger Carson Latimer had a golden chance to net and insurance goal for the host side, but he was turned away by Pats netminder Drew Sim.

Carson Latimer had a goal for the Raiders on Friday.

That set the stage for the Pats to rally for the overtime victory.

Tikhon Chaika turned away 31 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Raiders (17-25-2-1). Sim stopped 22 shots to pick up the win in net for the Pats (18-23-1-1).

The Pats were without head coach and general manager John Paddock for a second straight game for undisclosed reasons. Assistant coach Brad Herauf ran the Pats bench as head coach.

The Raiders return to action on Saturday when they host the Moose Jaw Warriors (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Pats are back at it on Monday when they host the Swift Current Broncos (2 p.m., Brandt Centre).

The Pats celebrate their overtime victory on Friday.

When the Raiders get back at it against the Warriors, Kosior said the focus will be to keep the play in Moose Jaw’s end of the rink.

“I think the biggest thing is just playing some time in their zone,” said Kosior. “I thought in the third period the Pats kind of were in our zone more than we were in theirs.

“We just have to generate momentum by being in their zone.”

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