Netminder makes 35 saves in 2-1 win over
Wheat Kings
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| Blades G Nolan Maier stops Wheat Kings LW Brett Hyland (#7) |
On Friday night playing before 5,609 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, Blades star overage netminder Nolan Maier made 35 saves to backstop his club to a 2-1 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. Maier came out with one of his best performances of the season on a night the Blades honoured their legendary former head coach and general manager Lorne Molleken.
Molleken was celebrated during a pre-game ceremony for his 14 seasons of service over two stints with the team by having his name added to the club’s builder’s banner that hangs in the rink.
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| Brett Hylund brings the puck up ice for the Wheat Kings. |
Early the first, Wheat Kings 17-year-old right-winger Nate Danielson had a point blank chance to open the scoring from the front of the Saskatoon net, but he was stoned by Maier.
Later on in the frame, Maier robbed Wheat Kings left-winger Brett Hyland close in on the right side of the Saskatoon net. The rebound deflected to Wheat Kings 17-year-old centre Rylen Roersma for a backdoor chance at the left side of the Saskatoon goal.
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| Blades G Nolan Maier stops Wheat Kings RW Nate Danielson (#29). |
The Wheat Kings finally got a puck past Maier and took a 1-0 lead on a positive bounce break at the 2:57 mark of the second.
A dump in by Wheat Kings defenceman Logen Hammett saw the puck rim around the left corner boards in the Saskatoon zone, take a weird bounce out of the left corner boards off a crack where a door in the boards opens, hit the post of the Saskatoon net and shoot out in front of the Blades goal.
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| Rylen Roersma (#11) celebrates scoring for the Wheat Kings. |
Then, the momentum shifted in the contest.
Just under four minutes after Roersma’s goal, Blades centre Trevor Wong found himself on a breakaway. He snapped home his 17th tally of the season to even the score at 1-1.
At the 11:56 mark of the second, the Blades went ahead 2-1 off a rush into the offensive zone.
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| Trevor Wong scored for the Blades on Friday night. |
Crnkovic wired a shot short side on Wheat Kings overage netminder Ethan Kruger to the top left corner of the Brandon goal for his 39th tally of the season. That marker turned out to be the sixth game-winning goal Crnkovic would net on the campaign.
The Wheat Kings made a hard charge in the third to try and force overtime holding an 11-6 edge in shots on goal, but Maier kept the visitors at bay.
About five minutes into the frame, Maier flashed his glove to deny a laser drive by rookie import centre Zakhar Polshakov. With about 7:45 remaining in the third, Maier put up a wall to stone Wheat Kings overage import right-winger Marcus Kallionkieli on a redirection chance from the front of the Saskatoon goal.
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| Kyle Crnkovic smiles after scoring for the Blades. |
Kruger turned away 20 shots to take the setback in net for the Wheat Kings.
The Blades improved to 38-26-3-1 closing out their regular season schedule with two straight wins to finish fifth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 80 points in the standings. They will face the Moose Jaw Warriors in a best-of-seven WHL first round playoff series.
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| The Wheat Kings buzz round the Saskatoon goal. |
The Warriors will face the Pats in Regina on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Brandt Centre to close the regular season schedule for both of those clubs.
The Blades and Warriors will open their upcoming playoff series this coming Friday at 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw.
The Wheat Kings fell to 35-27-3-2 and are cemented to finish sixth overall in the Eastern Conference and take on the Red Deer Rebels in a best-of-seven first round playoff series. The Wheat Kings close out their regular season schedule on Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).
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| The Blades start celebrating their win on Friday night. |
Since joining the Blades on a full-time basis in November of 2017, Maier has appeared in 216 career regular season games posting a 122-72-18 record, a 2.89 goals against average, a .905 save percentage and 12 shutouts.
Along with those statistics, Maier has played 12,609 career minutes in goal for the Blades and made 5,788 career saves.
Maier’s career shutout, games played, minutes played and saves totals are all Blades franchise records.
Saskatoon still has four regulars on the injury list. Defenceman and captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere is out for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury.
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| The Blades salute their fans after their win on Friday. |
Robins took part in the post-game ceremony the Blades held to honour their three overage players along with Maier and rugged defenceman Rhett Rhinehart. Odds are high that Robins will be in the Blades lineup when they open their post-season series with the Warriors.
In the post-game ceremony for their overages, the Blades played tribute videos and gave each player special artistic paintings.
Following the presentation, the trio did a victory lap on the ice with Maier waving a big team flag. It was fitting as the puckstopper’s memorable outing allowed the Blades organization to have a banner night.
Molleken gets his night in “Blade City”
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| Lorne Molleken speaks to the crowd at the SaskTel Centre. |
The legendary former head coach and general manager of the Saskatoon Blades was honoured by the team in a pre-game ceremony before the Blades closed their regular season schedule downing the Brandon Wheat Kings 2-1. When Molleken stepped on to the ice surface with his wife, Patsy, and their children and grandchildren, the veteran bench boss received a loud standing ovation from the 5,609 spectators in attendance.
A number of those in attendance included former players and team staffers.
Molleken spent 14 total seasons with the Blades over two stints. He will forever be linked with some of the Blades best days under the ownership of the Brodsky family working alongside Rick and then Jack. Jack Brodsky would quickly become a lifetime best friend.
The first stint from 1991 to 1995 saw Molleken serve as the Blades head coach with one of his lifetime best friends in Daryl Lubiniecki toiling in the role of general manager.
During that run, the Blades advanced to the WHL Championship Series on two occasions in 1992 and 1994. In both appearances, the Blades fell in a series deciding Game 7 to the dynasty Kamloops Blazers, who went on to win the Memorial Cup as CHL champions in both of those year as well as taking the WHL and CHL crowns again in 1995.
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| Lorne Molleken, right, watches the video scoreboard. |
He served as head coach and general manager through to the end of the 2012-13 season after the Blades hosted the Memorial Cup. The Blades were sold from the Brodsky to the Priestner family during the 2013 off-season, and Molleken stayed on for one more campaign just as the general manager with Dave Struch handling the duties of head coach.
Molleken had a 539-325-58 regular season record with 23 ties over his career as the Blades head coach.
Friday’s ceremony for Molleken started with Blades play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk reminiscing about the days when Molleken was with the team. Lazaruk, who was the master of ceremonies for the pre-game festivities, added in a couple of humourous spots.
One of the spots that got the crowd chuckling came when Lazaruk talked about a bad loss the team experienced in Moose Jaw. Lazaruk got to the bus 35 minutes after the game ended, and Molleken mentioned there was a 15 minute rule.
Lazaruk said he was on the air and didn’t know what was talked about in the dressing room and was content to go about his business.
The Blades long time play-by-play voice said it was special him to have Molleken as a friend and that friendship expand beyond life around the rink.
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| Lorne Molleken gathers with his family. |
Following those speeches, attention turned to the rafters of the SaskTel Centre as Molleken’s name was unveiled on the banner that hangs in the building to honour the WHL team’s builders.
Molleken then took the podium to speak. The 65-year-old delivered a classy and dignified speech where he thanked seemingly everyone that was involved with the Blades during his years with the team.
He got emotional and started tearing at the end of his speech when he began thanking his family.
During that part of the speech, Molleken told his wife, “I love you Pat.”
Molleken also thanked the fans and said he believed the day would come when the Blades would win the WHL title and the Memorial Cup under the watch of the Priestner family.
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| The Blades builder’s banner with Lorne Molleken’s name on it. |
Molleken gave a big hug to Blades associate general manager Steve Hildebrand, who was an athletic therapist and equipment manager when Molleken guided the club.
The veteran bench boss also shared some big hugs with his grandchildren.
Originally, the Blades were set to honour Molleken on March 21, 2020. When the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic gripped the world sparing shutdowns in North America starting on March 11, 2020, those original plans to honour Molleken were postponed.
Ultimately, the wait just made Friday night’s ceremony that much more special.
Raiders keep post-season hope alive with 4-1
win over Broncos
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| Carson Latimer had a goal and two assists for the Raiders. |
On Friday night, the Raiders traveled to Swift Current and downed the host Broncos 4-1 before 2,093 spectators at the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex. The win allows the Raiders to tie the Broncos for eighth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and the conference’s final post-season berth.
That encounter closed the Broncos regular season schedule as they finished with a 26-35-5-2 mark.
The Raiders improved to 27-35-4-1 with the win, and they have one game remaining on their regular season slate. Prince Albert closes its regular season schedule on Saturday when they host the 35-27-3-2 Brandon Wheat Kings (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).
The race for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference is a tight one. The 25-34-6-2 Calgary Hitmen are still alive in the playoff chase sitting one point behind the Raiders and Broncos.
The Hitmen close their regular season schedule on Sunday hosting the 32-30-4-1 Lethbridge Hurricanes (2 p.m. local time, Scotiabank Saddledome).
The 26-35-3-2 Regina Pats are two points back of both the Raiders and Broncos and have two games remaining on their regular season schedule. The Pats take on the Winnipeg Ice on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.
That contest is penciled in as a home game for the Ice, because that contest was originally scheduled to be held in Winnipeg but was moved due to adverse weather in the area. The Ice have locked up top spot in the WHL with a 52-10-3-2 and dumped the Pats 6-1 on Friday at the Brandt Centre in Regina.
That Friday encounter was also penciled in as an Ice home game and was originally scheduled to be playing in Winnipeg until the venue was changed due to adverse weather in the area.
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| Sloan Stanick scored for the Raiders on Friday. |
The Raiders could potentially lock up a playoff berth on Saturday night, if they beat the Wheat Kings and the Pats suffer any type of loss to the Ice.
If the Raiders fall to the Wheat Kings on Saturday night, there are still a number of playoff scenarios that could come into play.
If two teams finished tied for eighth place in the Eastern Conference, a tiebreaking game will be held to determine the club that moves on to the post-season.
In Friday’s contest between the Raiders and Broncos, the Prince Albert side was paced by right-winger Carson Latimer, who posted a goal and two assists.
Left-winger Sloan Stanick gave the Raiders a 1-0 lead in the first period potting his 22nd goal of the campaign.
Just 27 seconds into the second period, overage centre Cole Nagy scored for the Broncos to even the score at 1-1.
Latimer scored four minutes after Nagy’s tally to give the Raiders a 2-1 lead. Following that tally, Latimer combined with overage defenceman Remy Aquilon to setup rookie import right-winger Vladislav Shilo for a power-play goal to give the Raiders a 3-1 advantage heading into the second intermission.
Veteran centre Evan Herman rounded out the 4-1 final in favour of the Raiders scoring into an empty net with 2:33 remaining in the third.
Standout defenceman Nolan Allan had a pair of assists and was a plus-one in the plus-minus department for the Raiders.
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| Nolan Allan had a pair of assists for the Raiders on Friday. |
Now, the Raiders will try and take potential their final step to locking away a post-season berth playing in what should be a raucous gathering at their storied home rink.
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