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| Tristen Robins (#11) eyes up a tribute video standing next to his dad, Trevor. |
“He shared
a little bit growing up about his time with the Blades,” said Tristen, whose is
the 20-year-old captain of the current Blades team. “It was nothing too in
depth.
“It was
nothing too crazy. I think it was his last year with the Blades where they went
on a really far run and ended up losing in the finals, came up a little short.
It is pretty cool to even just play for the same organization that my father
did.”
Tristen Robin’s WHL rights were originally held by the Regina Pats, who selected him in the fourth round and 76 overall in what was then known as the WHL Bantam Draft. The skilled centre’s WHL rights were acquired in a blockbuster trade on January 8, 2018, when Robins was in his 16-year-old season.
The Pats were loading up their roster that season due to being the host team for the Memorial Cup tournament that crowns a CHL champion. They acquired Blades 19-year-old import Czech defenceman Libor Hajek, who had a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, in exchange for 19-year-old defenceman Dawson Davidson, Robins, and a first round selection in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft.
Robins suited up in one game before the trade with the Pats and dressed for his first three games as a member of the Blades as the 2017-18 campaign played to a conclusion. He became a full-time member of the team in his 17-year-old season and rose to star status in 2019-20 putting up 33 goals, 40 assists and a plus-16 rating in the plus-minus department appearing in 62 games with the Blades.
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| Tristen Robins has 200 points in regular season play with the Blades. |
In total, Robins has played in 211 career regular season games with the Blades posting 85 goals and 115 assists for 200 points.
Robins is skating through his final season as a member of the Blades, and he would like create a lasting post-season memory with the team like his father did.
The younger Robins has one last chance to do that as the Blades (38-26-3-1) begin play in the WHL Playoffs taking on the Warriors (37-24-4-3) in Moose Jaw in Game 1 of a best-of-seven first round series on Friday at 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place.
The Warriors finished fourth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 81 standings points just edging out the fifth-place Blades by a single point.
Robins missed the Blades last four regular season games due to injury but is probable for Game 1 of the playoffs against the Warriors.
“I would
love to go as far as we can eventually, you know hopefully, win a
championship,” said Tristen Robins. “It is my last kick at the can here, so I’m
going to do everything I can here to help lead this team to a championship.”
Way back at
the start of the 1989-90 season, Trevor has been in training camp with the
WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings before being cut. He was quickly picked up by the
Blades and made the team as a 17-year-old rookie backing up overager Damon
Kustra.
Tristen Robins had a career high 78 points this season.
Kustra ultimately was dogged by an abdominal muscle injury, and Trevor found himself in the starting role. Trevor posted a 21-21-1 record, a 4.66 goals against average, a .861 save percentage and one shutout helping the Blades make the playoffs with a record of 33 wins 34 loss and 5 ties.
In the high scoring 1980s and early 1990s, Trevor’s statistics were viewed as being good.
The Blades advanced to the second round to play a best-of-seven series against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, who topped the Eastern Conference with a 51-17-4 record. The Hurricanes took a 3-0 lead in the series, but with Robins in goal outside of a short stretch in Game 5, the Blades rallied to even the series at 3-3.
The Hurricanes claimed Game 7 in overtime 4-3 with the winning tally coming from Neil Hawryluk.
The Blades missed the playoffs in Trevor’s second season in 1990-91, but returned to the post-season with a 38-29-5 record in 1991-92. Trevor was named a first team Eastern Conference all-star posting a 24-23-2 record, a 3.50 goals against average and a .884 save percentage.
Saskatoon advanced to the best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference Championship series against their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders, who finished second overall in the WHL with a 50-20-2 mark. The Blades fell behind 2-1 in the series.
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| Tristen Robins (#11) smiles after scoring a goal on March 25. |
In the WHL Final, the Blades faced the Kamloops Blazers, who posted the league’s best record at 51-17-4. The Blades fell in a hard-fought series that went seven games to a Blazers squad that went on to win their first of three Memorial Cup titles in four years as CHL champions.
Trevor completed his major junior career with his hometown Wheat Kings in 1992-92 being once again named a WHL first team Eastern Conference all-star posting a 36-17-4 record, a 3.15 goals against average, a .904 save percentage and two shutouts.
Following that one campaign with the Wheat Kings, Trevor played three seasons in the minor system of the San Jose Sharks after signing a free agent contract with the NHL club. That same Sharks side ultimately drafted and signed Tristen in 2020.
As for Tristen, he has enjoyed his time with the Blades and appreciates hearing old stories from Saskatoon residents about his dad from when he played with the team. The son got a laugh out of hearing how Trevor got kicked out of the Blades Game 5 win in Lethbridge in their 1990 second round playoff series with the Hurricanes.
With the Blades up 6-5 late in the second period, Blades defenceman Mark Wotton was engaged in a fight with Hurricanes rearguard Pat Pylypuik. Trevor got involved in the altercation trying to both break it up and pull Wotton away from the fisticuffs.
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| Tristen Robins has a signed contract with the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. |
Tristen said Trevor talking glowingly of the crowds especially the massive turnouts that came to see the Blades during playoff time that often saw over 10,000 spectators pack into the SaskTel Centre.
“He just
said it was crazy back then,” said Robins. “We’re getting glimpses of that this
year with the great crowds that we are getting.
“I’m super excited for what is to come.”
Blades head coach Brennan Sonne, who is in his first season with the organization, said Robins has been valuable to the club in many ways both on and off the ice. Sonne has been impressed with how Robins has shouldered the role of becoming captain late in the campaign.
On March 30, the Blades announced offensive-defenceman Aidan De La Gorgendiere, who is the team’s captain, needed season ending shoulder surgery and wouldn’t be available to return to the team until the start of training camp next season. Robins was given the role of captain for the rest of the current campaign.
“Just like
anything, your actions much louder than your words,” said Sonne. “I think Robby
has internalized that a little bit.
“I thought
he led the way in terms of dig in, buy in and all that kind of stuff. It is
really unfortunate that we lost De La (Gorgendiere). We wish him the best with
his surgery and recovery.
Tristen Robins will be skating in his last post-season with the Blades.
“Again, we
still have a group, and we put in a lot of time. Robby has stepped up to be
that central leadership figure for the players.”
Robins is having his best season during his final campaign in the major junior ranks. In 62 appearances with the Blades, he has posted 33 goals and 45 assists for 78 points and his assist and point totals were career highs. He also has a plus-four rating.
Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world, Robins wasn’t able to skate in any post-season action in 2020 and 2021, because the WHL wasn’t able to hold playoffs due to challenges with the pandemic. The Memorial Cup was cancelled in each of the past two years.
Robins has only been able to experience one post-season in 2019. The Blades finished fourth overall in the WHL in that regular season with a 45-15-8 record but lost a second round series in six games to the eventual WHL champion Raiders, who topped the regular season standings with a 54-10-2-2 record.
The playoff format for that campaign created a bracket that saw the Blades and Raiders meet in the second round.
Robins said it is different to think that the upcoming post-season will be his last in the major junior ranks.
“It is emotional for sure, but at the same time, I’m super grateful for how this organization has treated me after I came from Regina,” said Robins. “It has been nothing but class.
“I just
want to pass on a legacy of Blades culture and positivity.”
Tristen Robins gives “fives” to his Blades teammates.
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