Sidorov delivers OT victory to beat up Blades

Egor Sidorov scored the OT winner for the Blades on Saturday.

Egor Sidorov played the role of savour for a Saskatoon Blades side that seems to be getting more physically beat up by the game.

On Saturday, the Blades found themselves in overtime locked in a 2-2 draw taking on the host Calgary Hitmen at the Tsuut’ina Seven Chiefs Sportsplex in a WHL regular season contest. During the three-versus-three session, Sidorov collected the puck in his own zone, blew coast-to-coast down the left wing and roofed home a shot top corner to the short side of Hitmen netminder Ethan Buenaventura.

Sidorov’s tally delivered the visitors to a 3-2 victory before 1,232 spectators. That marker came at the 2:30 mark of the extra session.

The goal completed a two-point night for Sidorov, who picked up an assist on the Blades first goal of the contest. The 18-year-old Belarusian import right-winger, who is living in Canada full time, is continuing a strong sophomore season having posted 27 goals, 21 assists and a plus-17 rating in the plus-minus department in 33 games.

Last year as a 17-year-old rookie, Sidorov appeared in 58 regular season games for the Blades collecting 23 goals, 12 assists and a minus-two rating.

This season, Sidorov tops the Blades with six game-winning goals and two overtime tallies. The Saskatoon side needed the skilled winger to deliver in the clutch on Saturday.

The Blades entered play on Friday without centre Jayden Wiens and overage star right-winger Josh Pillar with lower body injuries. Both are listed as being out week to week. Saskatoon also entered play on Friday without the services of centre Tyler Parr, who is out indefinitely with an upper body injury.

During a 5-1 loss to the Rebels in Red Deer on Friday, the Blades lost centre Mikhail Volotovski and left-winger Justin Lies due to upper body injuries. Lies taken off the ice on a stretcher at the 5:29 mark of the second period after being on the receiving end of a hit from Rebels left-winger Carson Birnie. Birnie received an interference major and a game misconduct on the play.

The penalty triggered an automatic review by the WHL office for a possible suspension, but no suspension was issued to Birnie. During that same contest, Rebels 19-year-old centre Craig Armstrong was given a double minor for slew-footing near the end of the second period, and the WHL office gave him a one-game suspension in the automatic review for that infraction.

Austin Elliott stopped 24 shots in net for the Blades.

Against the Hitmen on Saturday, Blades overage captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere and star left-winger Conner Roulette both were unable to finish that contest due to undisclosed injuries.

The Hitmen got on the board first against the short-staffed Blades with 17-year-old defenceman Carter Yakemchuk scoring with 2:34 remaining in the opening frame.

Just 14 seconds into the second period, the Blades pulled even at 1-1 on a goal by star right-winger Brandon Lisowsky, who collected his 24^th tally of the season. Lisowsky deflected home a point shot taken by star 17-year-old defenceman Tanner Molendyk to pull the Blades even on the scoreboard.

With 5:13 remaining in the third, Blades standout right-winger Jake Chiasson jetted across the front of the Calgary net and put home a backhand shot to give the Blades a 2-1 advantage. The tally was Chiasson’s first goal as a member of the Blades after being acquired in a trade with the Brandon Wheat Kings made before the WHL’s trade deadline on January 10.

The Blades looked like they were going to make Chiasson’s tally stand up as the winner. With 68 seconds remaining in the third, Yakemchuk netted his second goal of the contest to pull the Hitmen even with the visitors at 2-2. Yakemchuk’s equalizer came with the Hitmen having pulled Buenaventura to play with five skaters versus the Blades four skaters due to some staggered minor penalties that were called.

That set the stage for Sidorov to net the winner in overtime.

Austin Elliott made 24 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Blades (29-11-3-1). Buenaventura turned away 42 shots to take the extra time setback in net for the Hitmen (23-17-4-1).

Saskatoon is 5-6-3-1 since returning to action after the WHL’s Christmas break.

The Blades return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Brandon to face the 19-21-5 Wheat Kings (7 p.m. local time, Westoba Place).

The Hitmen return to action on Sunday when they host the WHL leading 34-6-1 Winnipeg Ice (4 p.m. local time, Scotiabank Saddledome).

Herman, Pakkala push Raiders past Cougars

Evan Herman scored twice for the Raiders on Saturday.

Captain Evan Herman and birthday boy Hayden Pakkala ensured that Saturday night was alright for the Prince Albert Raiders on the road in Prince George.

Herman scored twice and Pakkala had a goal and an assist to push the Raiders past the host Cougars 4-1 in a WHL regular season game played Saturday before 5,101 spectators at the CN Centre. The win marked the beginning of a stretch of six straight road games for the Raiders that will see them take on all five clubs that make up the B.C. Division.

Just 61 seconds into the contest, the Cougars jumped ahead 1-0 as 18-year-old rookie Czech import right-winger Ondrej Becher put a backhander past Raiders netminder Max Hildebrand.

The Raiders evened the score at 1-1 working on the power play with 1:36 remaining in the first period when Pakkala, who turned 19-years-old on Saturday, put home a backhand shot through at crowd into the Prince George net.

Prince Albert jumped ahead 2-1 with 4:44 remaining in the second period thanks to a goal coming from 18-year-old left-winger Carter Anderson. After getting the puck from Pakkala, Anderson jetted down the left wing and wired home his eighth goal of the season to the top right corner of the Prince George goal.

With 2:29 remaining in the second Herman, who is an overager, netted his first to two goals on the night to increase the Raiders advantage to 3-1. Herman added his second of the contest on the power play at the 3:43 mark of the third to ultimately round out the 4-1 final in favour of the Raiders.

Max Hildebrand stopped 28 shots in goal for the Raiders.

Hildebrand stopped 28 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders (17-25-3). Ty Young turned away 26 shots to take the setback in net for the Cougars (19-21-4). 

The two sides, who only play once a season, also engaged in three different fights. In the first period, Raiders centre Cole Peardon took on Cougars centre Carlin Dezainde.

The second frame saw Raiders defenceman Easton Kovacs take on Cougars rearguard Ross Stanley, and the third period featured bout between Raiders defenceman Seth Tansem taking on Cougars left-winger Fischer O’Brien.

The Raiders now travel to Victoria to take on the 14-28-4-1 Royals (7 p.m. local time, Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena).

The Cougars are off until Friday when they host the Royals (7 p.m. local time, CN Centre).

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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Young Ritchie gives hope Raiders fans look for

Ryder Ritchie is having a great rookie season with the Raiders.

Ryder Ritchie is providing one of those noticeable beacons of light that gives Prince Albert Raiders fans hope and optimism.

When a team is going through a reload/rebuild phase, the biggest thing a club can provide is hope. Hope can come from knowing an honest effort is there.

Sometimes, it is hard to know if the effort is there after a bad loss, but it is possible to lose in a bad fashion on the scoreboard and still put in a good effort. There are times efforts are good and honest, but bad decisions are made due to lack of experience. Also, that is why players are in the WHL is to have experiences both bad and good that you learn from to become better.

Hope can also be created when you can see noticeable improvement in players, especially young players. A 16-year-old rookie winger with the Raiders, Ryder Ritchie fits into that department.

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

Shooting from the hip on Bell Let’s Talk day

A display featuring a Bell Let’s Talk toque.

Forget getting out of the starting block, I wasn’t even in the starting block waking up this morning when it came to writing my annual column for Bell Let’s Talk day.

Usually, I have column done ready to go live with pictures when Bell Let’s Talk day begins. After checking messages and taking care of some other work related tasks, I am getting down to work on a piece in earnest at 3 p.m. All of sudden, I am having trouble with my printer/scanner system, and I spend three hours dealing with that to delay things further.

As they say, better late than never.

As a result of those things, this is will be more kind of a “shoot from the hip” type piece.

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.

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.

Abby Soyko heads down ice on a rush for the Pandas.

Actually in the current day, my day to day dealings on the mental health front are likely not that sexy or exciting. I am kind of in the place where I deal with the issues of the day as they come up.

Basically, it often comes from prioritizing what I believe needs to be done and just handling things one day at a time. If something expected comes up that is out of your control that you need to adjust to, you make adjustments.

My world since Thursday has been consumed with putting together hockey stories and columns that had deadlines that needed to be met. All of that work was fun, but I had to push back typing this column out.

I got to see a long time friend in Prince Albert product and University of Alberta Pandas Women’s Hockey Team right-winger in Abby Soyko on Saturday. Due to how the world has played dealing with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that gripped the world in earnest in March of 2020, I hadn’t seen her since crossing paths at a Raiders WHL hockey game in Prince Albert in late December 2019.

We had a great visit after the Pandas downed the host University of Saskatchewan Huskies 3-1 in a U Sports regular season contest at Merlis Belsher Place, and I put together a catch up feature story on her. That piece has been the most viewed post I’ve created on this blog for the last two years.

I also got to chat with Raiders all-time great Dan Hodgson for a story for the Prince Albert Daily Herald about him getting a licensed NHL hockey card. The chat with Hodgson was great, and it is always a highlight any time I can talk to members of the Raiders 1984-85 WHL and Memorial Cup championship team.

As I type this, I wonder what will await me when I tackle messages related to work on the non-hockey front I’ve checked minimally the last few days. I am hoping to get the remainder of the photos I took at the Pandas/Huskies hockey game edited and a small grouping of photos edited for another work-related project done.

I’ve been busy the last few days writing hockey stories and columns.

Those types of things provide what I would grade as standard anxiety for me, but I am confident I will get to them in due time.

One of the things I’m still bad with in day-to-day happenings is shutting out outside noise. If I have phones and social media lines turned off, it usually means I am focusing on work I feel I really need to get done but haven’t due to interruptions. Outside of that, I am likely working out.

As far as shooting from the hip goes, I didn’t really know what I was going to say for this column. A lot of years I have a focused theme as opposed to just going in random directions as I type.

I like today a lot, because I see it gives people freedom to come forward to share their own stories of challenges on the mental health front. I find that part to be extremely helpful and educational for me.

Having worked in the mainstream media, I know this isn’t a great day for a lot of people. 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.

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

I’ve had friends who have been axed by Bell Canada as part of the cuts that have come shortly after Bell Let’s Talk Day in recent years. I saw a post on Twitter from former TSN broadcaster Dan O’Toole asking people to not include him in anything regarding Bell Let’s Talk day due to that day being hard. Bell Canada runs TSN, and O’Toole was released following Bell Let’s Talk day in January of 2021.

Me stationed up in my work perch at the SaskTel Centre.

I met O’Toole along with Jay Onrait at a Saskatchewan Rush NLL home game in April of 2017. 

I had a long visit with them, and you wouldn’t have known we just met. They were outstanding with everyone they met that night.

I decided to keep writing posts on this day, because of the awareness it brings to mental health issues. I know this can be a painful time for friends that used to work for Bell Canada. 

Those cuts have caused people that used to support Bell Let’s Talk day to find other avenues to support charities that assist with mental health causes.

For me, it is fine if you choose to participate in some way on Bell Let’s Talk day, and if you chose not to participate, that is fine too. I am not going to judge anyone.

Since the earnest onset of the COVID-19 pandemic March of 2020, I found the overall toxicity and just plain meanness in the world to have been increased to the highest levels I’ve ever seen in my life. The Twitter social media platform is by far the worst when it comes to encountering people who are toxic.

I try to avoid that type of noise as much as possible, but it is only human to be dragged into it from time to time.

I just hope you are all trying your best to find your way. I am always open for talks about mental health, and I am willing to listen. I know that is not for everyone too.

A picture of myself after finishing a workout.

For myself, I just try to get a little better each day. I hope everyone out in the world can find positive ways to navigate their respective mental health journeys.

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 “Riding hamster wheel is not always good for mental health – Excusing yourself even for a short time is good for soul” can be found by clicking right here. A piece from 2021 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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Soyko takes long and winding road back to hockey

P.A. Bears all-time great makes strong comeback with Pandas

Abby Soyko is putting up points with the Pandas.

Abby Soyko was never going to give into the setbacks in her hockey career even when they came in bunches and were often out of her control.

The 21-year-old alumna of the Prince Albert Northern Bears under-18 AAA female hockey team experienced enough downs over a two-year period that would have knocked most out of the sport and into another stage of their lives. The string of adversity for Soyko started in earnest in April of 2020.

Having finished playing one season with the Northern Alberta Xtreme under-18 female prep team in Edmonton, Soyko was finishing up her Grade 12 studies in high school and looking forward to joining the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns Women’s Hockey Team in September of 2020 along with one of her triplet sisters in Alli. The two sisters had played together on the Xtreme and the Bears.

On April 20, 2020, the University of Lethbridge axed the Pronghorns Men’s and Women’s Hockey team’s due to budget cuts. On May 28, 2020, Abby found a new team and she officially joined the storied University of Alberta Pandas Women’s Hockey Team.

Abby Soyko went over two years between competitive games.

With the world in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Pandas weren’t able to take the ice for game action in 2020-21 due to the Canada West Conference cancelling its season and U Sports cancelling all its national championships.

 In June of 2021, Soyko tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her knee and had to undergo reconstructive surgery. Due to the one year long rehabilitation to it took to comeback from that injury, Soyko was forced to miss the 2021-22 campaign, when all leagues under the U Sports umbrella returned to action.

Even during the worst of the down times, Soyko was not going to give up on playing hockey.

“I just always knew that hockey is what I wanted to do,” said Soyko, who also took part in lacrosse and track and field growing up in P.A. “I just kind of looked at this as more opportunity to just focus on my school and just rebuild myself kind of from the ground up.

Abby Soyko missed the 2021-22 season rehabbing a knee injury.

“I just kind of changed from how I was from (under-18 hockey) to how I am now, because in my opinion, I think I’m a more well-rounded player than I was in (under-18). I just kind of tried to rejuvenate myself.”

These days, Soyko is well into her first season playing full-time with the Pandas. In 20 regular season games with the Pandas, the power forward sits fifth in team scoring with seven goals and six assists for 13 points.

Taking up position on the right wing, Soyko had a goal Saturday helping her Pandas down the host University of Saskatchewan Huskies 3-1 in a U Sports regular season game played before 626 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place. In skating through her first campaign with the Pandas, Soyko is focused on improving and admits she still had to go through her on-ice growing pains with regards to adjusting to the game at the university level.

“I feel like I’ve had my ups and downs,” said Soyko, who stands 5-foot-4. “I expected that completely.

The first U Sports team Abby Soyko committed to folded.

“My coach Howie (Draper) has been really understanding and just really pushing me to be better. That has been really helpful in my mental block. He made it kind of easy for me actually.”

Draper, who has been the Pandas head coach since U Sports started awarding national titles for women’s hockey in the 1997-98 campaign, said one of Soyko’s biggest moments this season was when she scored in the team’s first regular season game back on September 30, 2022. Soyko netted the Pandas first goal of a 3-2 overtime victory over the Mount Royal University Cougars at the Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton.

The tally was a nice one too. Soyko took a drop pass from linemate Megan Wilson at the top of the left faceoff circle in the offensive zone, passed the puck to herself around a Cougars checker and roofed home a shot short side to the top left corner of the Mount Royal goal.

Soyko came to the Pandas with a reputation for putting up points. She is the all-time leading scorer with her hometown Bears piling up 128 points on 65 goals and 63 assists in 136 career regular season games played over five seasons from 2014 to 2019. Soyko is still the ninth all-time leading scorer in the history of the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League.

Abby Soyko scored a goal in her first U Sports game.

During her one season with the Xtreme, Soyko topped her team in scoring posting 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points in 23 games.

When Soyko scored her first goal with the Pandas, she had gone over two-and-a-half years without playing in a competitive regular season or post-season contest. Draper said you could tell it meant a lot for Soyko to get that first goal after all that she had been through.

“It was great to see her score the goal,” said Draper, who has guided the Pandas to all eight of their U Sports national championship wins. “She hadn’t done it in a while.

“She kind of mimicked pulling the monkey off her back. That is the kind of person she is. She got really excited, and we all got excited for her.

“She is going to have a great career here.”

Abby Soyko is the P.A. Northern Bears all-time leading scorer.

When Soyko was dealing with her two-year stretch of multiple adversities, Draper was certain she would be playing full time for the Pandas one day. Draper said Soyko’s passion for the game is too strong to give up on it.

Last season when she was rehabbing her knee, Draper said Soyko was as locked into the game as the players that were on the ice for the Pandas were. The legendary Pandas bench boss said he could feel Soyko’s energy coming from the stands.

Draper said Soyko helped out with statistics and gave good feedback to her teammates trying to help guide them towards a win.

Now that Soyko is on the ice playing for the Pandas, Draper said she aids the team in so many ways.

The Pandas celebrate Abby Soyko’s first period goal on Saturday.

“I think one of the things that we were missing last year was just an extra threat offensively, and she provides that threat,” said Draper. “You can see how she can drive the puck to the net.

“She has tremendous power and the ability to explode just from a standstill and get around the corner. She has a great shot. She is tough and rugged.

“When she plays the game, she doesn’t play it in a dirty way by any stretch. It wasn’t lucky what happened down in Lethbridge with them losing their program, but we were extremely lucky to have her come to us.”

Soyko is happy she has landed on her skates with the Pandas. The opportunity to join U of A’s perennial powerhouse women’s hockey squad kind of came out of the blue.

After the Pronghorns folded, Soyko said things were quiet on the hockey front as restrictions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic had shut down large aspects of life in North American and the world. One day, Soyko got a call from her head coach with the Xtreme in Tyrel Spitzer asking if she wanted to go to the U of A and play for the Pandas.

Abby Soyko has seven goals and six assists in 20 games this season.

The wheels were put in motion from there, and Soyko officially joined the Pandas about a couple of days later. She said it meant a tonne to have her teammates around when she was coming back from her knee injury.

“Everyone was there for me when I was struggling with just not being on the ice,” said Soyko, who is an arts major looking to get into the education at U of A. “They didn’t treat me any different from any other player.

“I was just as included as everyone else. My coach made sure that I knew I was still part of everything. We’re a really tight knit group.

“I live with a couple of girls on the team. I didn’t feel left out at all, and they just made me feel really a part of the team still.”

Abby Soyko aims to keep improving her game with the Pandas.

In Saturday’s game with the Huskies, Soyko opened the scoring in the first period and a single from second-year centre Jadynn Morden allowed the Pandas to exit the opening 20 minutes with a 2-0 edge.

Second-year defender Emily Holmes scored on the power play for the Huskies at the 4:48 mark of the second to cut the Pandas lead to 2-1. Before the second period ended, Pandas second-year right-winger Kallie Clouston netted a single to put the visitors ahead of what would be the 3-1 final score.

Halle Oswald stopped 16 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pandas, who improved to 18-5-1 with their ninth straight win. Colby Wilson turned away 22 shots to take the setback in net for the Huskies, who fell to 12-9-3.

The Pandas return to action this coming Friday, when they travel to Regina to take on the University of Regina Cougars at 7 p.m. at the Co-operators Centre.

Abby Soyko loves how her Pandas are playing overall.

The Huskies are off until Saturday, February 4, when they host U of R at 5 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place.

Soyko said she loves how the Pandas are playing overall as a team and is pumped for what the rest of the season has in store for her squad.

“Coming back from Christmas break, I can say we’re definitely a different team,” said Soyko. “Everyone is on the same page.

“Everyone knows their roles. Everyone has bought in. We’re just kind of flowing right now.

“Everyone is just super excited.”

When her playing days with the Pandas are done, Draper believes Soyko will continue to be in hockey in some capacity.

That led to asking Soyko if she could see herself returning to Prince Albert one day to coach her old Bears team she won a SFU18AAAHL title and earned an appearance at the Esso Cup national female under-18 AAA championship tournament with in the 2016-17 campaign. Soyko enjoyed playing for long time former Bears head coach Jeff Willoughby, and the idea taking on his former role has crossed her mind.

Abby Soyko hugs Huskies centre Kate Ball.

“I don’t know, maybe,” said Soyko with a chuckle. “I have definitely thought about coaching.

“I’m not sure if I’ll go back to P.A., but if need be, I know I could probably make that happen. I have started doing some coaching and on-ice instructing in Edmonton. I definitely could see myself coaching in the future.”

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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That’s just Bananas

Battle-hardened Blades romp over Raiders 6-1

The Blades are all smiles after taking a 4-0 first period lead.

Facing a tough stretch of foes has done the Saskatoon Blades good.

The Blades showed they’re battle hardened from the strength of their recent schedule.

After constantly playing the WHL’s top teams since returning from their Christmas break, the Blades faced off on Friday against their archrivals in the Prince Albert Raiders, who are going sitting on the outside looking in with regards to the WHL playoff picture in going through reload/rebuild campaign.

The Saskatoon side, playing under the nickname “Bananas” for one night as part of a comedic promotion, romped past the Raiders 6-1 to the delight of most of the 4,090 spectators in attendance outside of the healthy contingent of Prince Albert supporters.

Tanner Molendyk scored the Blades first goal on Friday.

In 12 games since returning from the WHL’s Christmas break, the Blades, who are still rated eighth in the latest CHL Top 10 Rankings, have posted a 4-4-3-1 mark. That stretch started with a win over the Raiders and was closed off with another win over the Raiders.

During the 10 games in the middle, the Blades faced the Winnipeg Ice twice, the Red Deer Rebels once, the Seattle Thunderbirds once and the Portland Winterhawks once. Those four clubs sit in the top four of the WHL’s overall standings.

Saskatoon also encountered the Moose Jaw Warriors, who sit sixth in the overall standings, twice and the Calgary Hitmen, who are ninth in the overall standings, once. The Blades also took on the Swift Current Broncos once and the Regina Pats once, when those two clubs were heating up.

Mikhail Volotovskii scored twice for the Blades on Friday.

In most of those setbacks against those stronger foes, the Blades played well and were usually one or two plays or breaks from pulling out a win. Their level of play that they had against those clubs didn’t drop when it came time to play at home against the Raiders on Friday. Saskatoon got rolling quickly and the visitors were never able to recover.

Just 41 seconds into the contest, the Blades broke through first on the scoreboard as highly touted NHL Entry Draft prospect and defenceman Tanner Molendyk fired home a point shot through a screen.

The hosts pushed their advantage out to 2-0 just over six minutes later scoring on the power play. After winning an offensive zone faceoff, Blades Belarusian import right-winger Egor Sidorov drove to the net and put a shot on goal that was stopped causing a net scramble. Blades star right-winger Brandon Lisowsky was able to push the loose puck into the Prince Albert goal to create the two-goal edge.

Egor Sidorov had a goal and an assist for the Blades.

Before the opening frame ended, Blades sophomore 17-year-old centre Mikhail Volotovskii scored a pair of goals 28 seconds apart from each other to give the Blades a 4-0 advantage.

The Raiders proceeded to pull their starting netminder Max Hildebrand after the Blades fourth tally. Hildebrand turned away 5-of-9 shots sent his way to take the loss in goal for the Raiders (15-25-3). Import Belurusian Tikhon Chaika played the rest of the way in relief turning away 19-of-21 shots sent his way.

Just two minutes into the second, the Blades continued to roll entering the Prince Albert zone on a two-on-one break. Saskatoon star left-winger Conner Roulette charged down the left wing and fed a pass across the front of the Prince Albert goal to Sidorov, who popped home his 25^th goal of the season to increase the Blades edge to 5-0.

Sloan Stanick (#23) scored the Raiders lone goal on Friday.

The Raiders finally broke through on the scoreboard offensively at the 9:15 mark of the second period, when star left-winger Sloan Stanick slipped a loose puck home at the right side of the Saskatoon goal to cut the Blades edge to 5-1. Stanick’s goal came just as a Prince Albert power play expired.

With 4:18 remaining in the second, Raiders overage centre Keaton Sorensen took a double minor penalty for high-sticking, which will trigger an automatic review by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

During the first half of that power-play chance, the Blades restored their five-goal edge as centre Jordan Keller wired home a goal from the right slot to make the score sit at 6-1 in favour of the host side. 

Aidan De La Gorgendiere had two assists for the Blades.

The Blades proceeded to cruise from there and shut things down defensively to allow the 6-1 score to hold up as the game’s final outcome.

Ethan Chadwick stopped 17 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who improved to 28-9-3-1 to sit third overall in the Eastern Conference and fifth in the overall WHL standings.

In Friday’s romp, defenceman Ben Saunderson, captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere, right-winger Vaughn Watterodt and Roulette all picked up two assists each for the Blades. 

Molendyk and Sidorov each had assists to go along with their goals to account for respective two-point nights.

The Blades celebrate their victory on Friday night.

The Blades have won all five of their head-to-head encounters with the Raiders this season outscoring the Prince Albert side 25-5 along the way. The two sides go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.

That contest will start a stretch where the Blades will play five straight games on the road.

Going forward, the Blades need to aim to keep their level of play high on a consistent basis. That will get them ready for the time they face teams that sit at or near the top of the WHL standings once again.

NOTES THAT ARE BANANAS – For the second straight year, the Blades rebranded themselves as the Saskatoon Bananas for one game as comedic promotion. 

Mikhail Volotovskii (#17) gives a stick to the crowd at game’s end.

Last year since they played a regular season game on April 1 which is April Fool’s Day, they elected to play that night at the SaskTel Centre as the Bananas in downing the Moose Jaw Warriors 4-1. With Friday’s 6-1 victory over the Raiders in the books, the Blades are 2-0 in games which they take the ice as the Bananas.

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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Warriors’ skill opportunistic in OT win over Blades

Saskatoon holds 43-17 edge in shots on goal in loss

The Warriors celebrate an OT winner from Maximus Wanner, left.

The Moose Jaw Warriors took a page out of the script of the 2000s era Calgary Flames of Jarome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff when it came to winning a hockey game.

That meant the script for victory required your goaltender to make an extraordinary amount of saves, while a skilled guy pumped in some timely offence. Facing the host Saskatoon Blades on Wednesday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Warriors received a 39 save performance from star overage netminder Connor Ungar and a four point night from star right-winger Atley Calvert, who had two goals and two assists, en route to posting a 5-4 overtime victory.

Just 45 seconds into a three-versus-three overtime session, the Warriors burst into the Saskatoon zone on a rush. Warriors star centre Brayden Yager brought the puck in over the blue-line and made a drop pass to Calvert.

Atley Calvert had two goals and two assists for the Warriors.

Calvert had the puck at the point and fed a smart pass to offensive-defenceman Maximus Wanner, who was deep down the left wing alone in the Saskatoon zone. Wanner skated in on the Saskatoon goal, waited for Blades netminder Ethan Chadwick to start going down in the butterfly, and roofed home the winner over Chadwick’s shoulder on the short side of the net to stun most of the 2,929 spectators in attendance.

While the Warriors were outshot 43-17 in the contest, they inexplicably found a way to run their winning streak to four straight games improving to 28-14-0-2. With the extra time setback, the Blades record moved to 27-9-3-1 to sit equal with the Warriors 58 standings points.

The Warriors currently sit third overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference due to having more wins than the Blades, but Saskatoon has four games in hand on Moose Jaw.

Connor Ungar makes one of his 39 saves for the Warriors.

Wednesday’s encounter proved to be head scratcher for Blades supporters. After the game’s opening 20 minutes, the Blades looked like they would bounce back from a 3-1 setback they sustained one night earlier against the Warriors at the Moose Jaw Events Centre in Moose Jaw.

The Blades came flying out of the gate. They opened the game’s scoring at the 4:31 mark of the first period, when Belarusian import right-winger Egor Sidorov popped home a rebound at the right side of the Moose Jaw goal from a shot taken by Blades standout defenceman Tanner Molendyk.

The tally marked the sixth goal in four games for Sidorov.

The Blades celebrate a first period goal from Egor Sidorov (#19).

The Blades held a 7-0 edge in shots on goal 10 minutes into the first and exited the frame with a 12-4 advantage in that department.

In the second frame, both sides decided to dial things back to the run-and-gun era of the 1980s, which seemed to play to the Warriors advantage.

Calvert scored on his team’s sixth shot of the contest deflecting a point blast from star centre Ryder Korczak to even the score at 1-1 at the 6:52 mark of the second. Just 10 seconds later, Blades star left-winger Conner Roulette put the Blades back ahead 2-1 gathering a loose puck and popping it into an empty net after Ungar and Warriors defenceman Lucas Brenton mishandled a shoot in.

Conner Roulette netted a pair of goals for the Blades.

The visitors quickly responded with a pair of goals to go ahead 3-2 with 10:03 remaining in the second period with tallies coming off the sticks of Ryder Korczak and Jagger Firkus on the Warriors seventh and eighth respective shots of the contest. Calvert picked up his first helper of the contest on Korczak’s tally.

The Blades proceeded to pull starting netminder Austin Elliott after Moose Jaw’s third goal. Elliott stopped 5-of-8 shots fired his way. Chadwick turned away 7-of-9 shots in relief in being credited with the extra time setback.

Just 3:24 after Chadwick entered the contest, he was beaten by a shot that accounted for Calvert’s second tally of the contest, with this one coming on a Moose Jaw power play to increase the Warriors advantage to 4-2. Calvert corralled the puck after it changed direction on a crazy bounce right to him and the break allowed him to score into an empty cage.

The Blades work frantically to defend their net.

With 1:52 remaining in the second, the Blades got a big traction goal with Roulette’s second of the contest to cut the Warriors lead to 4-3.

In the third, the Blades threw everything at the Moose Jaw net including the kitchen sink holding a 16-2 edge in shots on goal for the frame. The hosts were only able to beat Ungar once to force a 4-4 tie and ultimately overtime.

With 9:16 remaining in the third, Blades overage captain and offensive-defenceman Aidan De La Gorgendiere wired a point shot on goal that Ungar stopped but also produced a juicy rebound jetting out to the left side of the Moose Jaw net. Blades star centre Trevor Wong collected the rebound and popped home the equalizer into an empty cage.

The Warriors work frantically to keep the puck out of their goal.

That set the stage for the Warriors to pull out victory in overtime. Calvert hit a milestone as the four-point night allowed him to surpass 100 career points in regular season play. In 146 regular season games all with the Warriors, Calvert has 43 goals and 59 assists for 102 points.

When the dust settled, the Blades had to be wondering how they didn’t come out with a win on Wednesday. They are now left to turn the page before returning to action on Friday when they host their archrivals the 15-24-3 Prince Albert Raiders (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

In that contest, the Blades will be doing a promotion for the second straight year where they will play as the Saskatoon Bananas and will sell Saskatoon Bananas merchandise as part of the promotion. Fans enjoyed the comedy of the promotion when the Blades held it last season on April 1, 2022 and posted a 4-1 victory over the Warriors.

The Warriors celebrate their OT win on Wednesday.

The Warriors get back at it when they travel to Winnipeg to take on the WHL leading 31-5-1 Ice twice. The Warriors and Ice will go at it on 7 p.m. local time on Saturday and 4 p.m. local time on Sunday at the Wayne Fleming Arena.

Moose Jaw took both of their earlier meetings with Winnipeg this season on home ice. In the upcoming encounters with Winnipeg, the Warriors would prefer not to go the Iginla/Kiprusoff era of the NHL’s Flames to pull out victory, but they know they are capable of going that route if they have to.

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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Don't you forget about me

Contacts alum Heidt rolling with WHL’s Cougars

Riley Heidt in action for the Contacts in 2020.

In case you hadn’t heard, Riley Heidt of the WHL’s Prince George Cougars is pretty good at hockey.

It seems like a lifetime ago that Heidt was an underage ace player along with best friend Brayden Yager on the Saskatoon Contacts under-18 AAA team. Back in the 2019-20 campaign, Heidt and Yager were 14-year-old forward with the Contacts.

Playing in the Saskatchewan Male AAA Hockey League, Heidt appeared in all of the Contacts 44 regular season games in 2019-20 posting 17 goals and 20 assists for 37 points. Yager also appeared in all of the Contacts 44 regular season games in that season recording 18 goals and 24 assists for 42 points.

When the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft came around, Heidt went second overall to the Prince George Cougars and Yager went third overall to the Moose Jaw Warriors. The only player selected ahead of the two Saskatoon area products was phenom centre Connor Bedard, who went first overall to the Regina Pats.

Fast forward to the current campaign, and Heidt is still rolling on the ice in his 17-year-old season. After picking up an assist for the Cougars on Tuesday night in their 5-2 setback to the Tigers in Medicine Hat, Heidt, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 182 pounds, has appeared in all 40 of Prince George’s regular season games collecting 19 goals and 38 assists for 57 points.

Heidt currently sits fifth in the WHL’s scoring race. Everett Silvertips 18-year-old centre Austin Roest also has 57 points, but he sits ahead of Heidt on the scoring list due to netting 25 goals.

Riley Heidt played for the Contacts as a 14-year-old.

When NHL Central Scouting’s Mid-Term Rankings were announced this past Friday, Heidt was listed 26^th among North American Skaters. It could be argued that Heidt could have been rated higher on that list, but it is safe to say odds are high he will be a great player for any team that selects him in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.

The upcoming NHL Entry Draft will be held June 28 to 29 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

Heidt will play in the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game to be held on January 25 at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.

One of the biggest challenges to why Heidt might not be higher up on NHL Central Scouting’s Mid-Term Rankings might revolve around the opportunities scouts have to see him. On the WHL circuit, the Cougars closest road trip is a six-hour bus ride to Kamloops to face the Blazers.

In the current days when it seems flights get cancelled frequently and the lengthy drive it takes to get to Prince George, it is easier for scouts to wait for Heidt to get to a major centre or a WHL city along the Trans-Canada Highway before seeing him play.

When it comes to development, Heidt is in good hands with the Cougars, who have Mark Lamb as head coach and general manager, Josh Dixon as associate coach and Carter Rigby as an assistant coach.

Still, the upcoming NHL Entry Draft is expected to be one of the deepest in decades and the talent level among the 17-year-olds in the WHL is arguably the strongest it has been in the last 30 years. In the WHL scoring race, four of the top five leading scorers are in their 17-year-old campaigns, and that list of four includes Heidt in the fifth spot.

Contacts alum Riley Heidt is having a great season in the WHL.

Bedard has league highs in goals (36), assists (42) and points (78) appearing in 31 regular season games with the Pats. Kelowna Rockets 17-year-old left-winger Andrew Cristall sits second in the WHL scoring race with 62 points coming off 26 goals and 36 assists in 36 regular season games. Winnipeg Ice 17-year-old centre Zach Benson sits third in WHL scoring with 58 points coming off 23 goals and 35 assists in 35 regular season games.

Yager sits 16^th in WHL scoring with 52 points coming off 20 goals and 32 assists in 43 regular season games with the Warriors.

Due to how deep the 17-year-old talent pool is in the WHL, the number of times one of those players can been seen by NHL scouts becomes even more important as to where they will be taken in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.

Heidt is a lock to be selected in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. He will be hoping NHL scouts won’t forget about him when it comes to where he will be picked in that draft.

Warriors slip past Blades 3-1 for third straight win

Egor Sidorov scored for the Blades on Tuesday night.

The Moose Jaw Warriors appear to be heating up.

On Tuesday night, the Warriors won their third straight game downing the visiting Saskatoon Blades 3-1 in a WHL regular season clash played before 2,488 spectators at the Moose Jaw Events Centre. With the win, the Warriors improve to 27-14-0-2 to sit one point back of the Blades for third overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. The Blades fell to 27-9-2-1 with the setback, but they have four games in hand on the Warriors.

The Warriors got on the board at the 7:20 mark of the first period when left-winger Eric Alarie tapped in a backdoor pass at the right side of the Saskatoon net. Warriors star overage centre Ryder Korczak made a beauty feed across the face the Blades net to set up Alarie for the game’s opening tally.

At the 9:34 mark of the second, Warriors 19-year-old left-winger Josh Hoekstra fired a seeing-eye point shot through a screen into the Saskatoon goal to increase the host’s advantage to 2-0.

Just under three minutes later, the Blades scored on the power play to trim the Warriors lead to 2-1 on a blast form the right slot by import Belarusian right-winger Egor Sidorov. Sidorov blew home a backdoor feed from linemate Trevor Wong for his 23^rd goal of the season.

The Warriors were able to hold off the Blades from that point and sealed victory with a short-handed empty-net goal by star centre Brayden Yager with 1:07 remaining in the third period. The empty-net goal was Yager’s 20^th tally of the campaign. Korczak picked up his second assist of the contest on Yager’s marker.

Connor Ungar turned away 20 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Warriors. Austin Elliott turned away 28-of-30 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades.

The two sides will go at it again on Wednesday in Saskatoon at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Vanstone tracks Bedard’s statistical pursuits, other notes

Connor Bedard is chasing many statistical feats.

So how good is Regina Pats 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard?

Forever Regina Leader-Posts sports columnist and scribe Rob Vanstone is tracking Bedard’s statistical exploits, and Bedard is on pace to do things that haven’t been seen in some time. After being held without a point in the Pats first regular season game, Bedard has netted at least one point in each of the 30 games he’s suited up for the Pats since piling up a league high in goals (36), assists (42) and points (78).

Vanstone, who is a lifelong resident of Regina, noted that Bedard is in pursuit of the Pats team record for longest point scoring streak. The current Pats record in that department stands at 47 contests, and it is shared by Jock Callander and Wally Schreiber both set in the 1981-82 campaign.

Bedard is on pace to become the first Pats player to score 50 goals in 50-or-fewer games since Dale Derkatch back in the 1983-84 campaign.

Vanstone is one of the few veterans that is left on the WHL beat, and WHL followers are able to enjoy knowing about these statistical gems due to Vanstone’s experience.

Vanstone has listed more statistical gems with regard to Bedard in a column that can be found by clicking right here.

• The Winnipeg Ice topped the latest installment of the CHL’s Top 10 Rankings that were released on Tuesday. Three other WHL club’s cracked the list with the Seattle Thunderbirds coming in at third, the Kamloops Blazers at seventh and the Saskatoon Blades at eighth. The Blazers will host the Memorial Cup tournament that crowns an annual CHL champion. The Portland Winterhawks were an honourable mention for this week’s rankings.
• Gregg Drinnan’s latest post in his Taking Note blog is a good one. It leads with a controversy swirling around Russian defenceman Ivan Provorov, who is a grad of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, not taking warm-ups on Tuesday night for the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers. That post can be found by clicking right here.
• On January 9, I had new content appear on the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a piece on the John Sands Classic Long Track Meet hosted by the Saskatoon Lions Speed Skating Club returning to the Clarence Downey Speed Skating Oval for the first time since January of 2019. That piece can found by clicking right here. I also created a photo roundup that shows the beauty sites that can be seen during the winter season on the Complex grounds, and that piece can be found by clicking right here.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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