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| Blades HC Brennan Sonne answers questions at a presser on Thursday. |
Saskatoon Blades head coach Brennan Sonne was posed with the notion that the best way to defend Bedard, who is the Regina Pats 17-year-old phenom centre, is to win faceoffs and play the puck possession game. In turn, you limit Bedard’s time with playing the puck allowing him few chances to hurt you offensively.
“I would
love to hear a coach say, ‘No, puck possession is not important, faceoffs are
not important,’” said Sonne. “It is very important, but you don’t have a full
say in that.
“There is
another team out there. How do you do that? Well, a lot of it is compete.
“You can’t
defend courage. You can’t defend heart, so when you don’t have the puck, let’s
get it back as quickly as possible. When we do, let’s do good things with it.”
Sonne and his Blades have seen their share of Bedard and the Pats. The Blades and Pats met six times in the regular season including two March sellouts of 14,768 spectators at the SaskTel Centre with the Saskatoon side coming out victorious on four occasions. The two clubs have met three times in the month of March, and the Blades won two of those encounters.
Now the two teams will embark on a best-of-seven first round WHL playoff series with Game 1 set for Friday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. Barring something unforeseen, Bedard will be the first overall selection in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft set for June 28 to 29 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
These encounters will mark the final times the Blades will face the North Vancouver, B.C., product. Of course, Bedard is a generational talent who topped the WHL in goals (71) and points (143) while posting a plus-39 rating in the plus-minus department in 57 regular season appearances.
Bedard’s shared the WHL’s assists lead with 72 helpers with Prince George Cougars star centre Riley Heidt, who is a Saskatoon area product who turned 18-years-old last Saturday.
“I don’t
think you just shut down Connor Bedard,” said Sonne. “I don’t think you
shutdown the greats.
“The only
analogy that I have been able to come up with that I think has been fairly app
(applicable) is just like if you have a house on the ocean. Are you going to
stop the waves? The waves are going to keep coming, so what do you do.
“You build
wave breaks. For us that analogy just means well he needs to go through five
guys to get to our house.”
The Blades
were the only team in the WHL to hold Bedard off the scoreboard twice during
the regular season. They held him off the scoreboard in a 5-2 victory in Regina
on March 5, where Bedard posted a minus-five rating. Saskatoon kept Bedard
pointless in a 3-2 win at the sold out SaskTel Centre on March 24, where Bedard
posted a minus-two rating.
Even with
that past success shutting down Bedard, Sonne said the potential is still there
for him to have big games.
“Sometimes, it doesn’t matter,” said Sonne, who Blades are rated 10th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. “Connor (Bedard) is going to make great plays.
“Connor is going to do great things out there. When he does, we have to move on to the next shift really quickly.”
The Blades finished fourth overall in the WHL and second overall in the Eastern Conference with a 48-15-4-1 record. Due to the fact they weren’t a division winner, the Blades are given the third seed for the first round of the Eastern Conference side of the bracket creating the match up with the Pats, who finished sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 34-30-3-1 mark.
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| Trevor Wong speaks during a presser on Thursday. |
Sidorov was second in Blades scoring with 76 points coming off 40 goals and 36 assists to go with a plus-25 rating in 53 games. Lisowsky was third in Blades scoring with 71 points coming off 38 goals and 33 assists to go with a plus-17 rating in 65 games.
“I think
success just starts with my teammates obviously and just confidence they have
in me and them making me better all around,” said Wong. “My line in general is
just looking to play the same way.
“We had a
lot of success this regular season, and nothing is going to change in the
playoffs. We’re just really excited.”
Blades
captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere, who turned 21-years-old in February, led his
team in defencemen scoring with 65 points coming off 12 goals and 53 assists to
go with a plus-19 rating in 65 games.
In goal,
the Blades are relying on two strong netminder in Austin Elliott and Ethan
Chadwick. Elliott appeared in 37 regular season games posting a 25-6-3 record,
a 2.20 goals against average, a .911 save percentage and two shutouts. Chadwick
appeared in 34 regular season contests posting a 23-9-2 record, a 2.61 goals
against average, a .899 save percentage and two shutouts.
Wong, De La
Gorgendiere and Elliott were named East Division second team all-stars on
Tuesday.
On the Pats
side of things, they have two other high scoring forward to compliment Bedard.
Rookie import winger Alexander Suzdalev, who turned 19-years-old in early
March, finished second in Pats team scoring with 86 points coming off 38 goals
and 48 assists in 66 games.
Left-winger Tanner Howe, who is 17-years-old, was third in Pats team scoring with 85 points coming off 36 goals and 49 assists to go with a plus-12 rating in 67 games. Import Stanislav Svozil led the Pats in defencemen scoring with 78 points coming off 11 goals and 67 assists to go with a plus-27 rating in 56 games.
Veteran Drew Sim has been the Pats starter in goal posting a 27-17-2 record, a 3.56 goals against average, a .893 save percentage and two shutouts in 49 appearances.
Bedard and Svozil were named first team East Division all-stars on Tuesday.
Wong said the
Blades are comfortable with their depth.
“Just when
you have depth like that in our forward group and our D-group, you just feel
that extra confidence,” said Wong. “You’re not hesitant to put your fourth line
out there or your third pairing.
“We have 12
forwards, six defence and two goalies who can play. It just helps a lot with
confidence and going out there and doing their job. We know everyone does their
job really well.”
For De La Gorgendiere, the 2023 post-season will mark the final times he skates with the Blades before graduating from the junior ranks. The Langley, B.C., product was selected by the Blades in the first round and fifth overall in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft.
As a career member with the Blades, De La Gorgendiere, who has been a full-time player since his 16-year-old season, has appeared in 248 career regular season games posting 22 goals, 133 assists and a plus-16 rating. He remembers taking part in an introductory press conference with left-winger Kyle Crnkovic, who now plays for the Seattle Thunderbirds, and that day in May 2017 does seem like a long time ago.
“I feel
like a lot of things have happened in my life since then,” said De La Gorgendiere,
who missed last year’s playoffs with season ending shoulder surgery. “I feel
like with injuries and just my personal life with losing my mom and everything
like that I feel like it has kind of been a whirlwind.
“I haven’t
really had too much time to think about it. Time flies. I think you come into
this league, and everyone says enjoy it while it lasts, because it doesn’t last
very long.
“You don’t
really think much of it when you are younger. I guess it is starting to set in
a little bit now, but I’m not really focused on that right now. I’m focused on
winning a championship with our team.”
Aidan De La Gorgendiere speaks during a presser on Thursday.
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