Blades lock up second in WHL’s Eastern Conference

Saskatoon downs desperate Wheat Kings 3-2

Blades LW Justin Lies hands a souvenir stick to a birthday girl.

Starting in the second round of the WHL Playoffs, the Saskatoon Blades picked up a victory on Saturday night that could prove crucial.

Playing before 3,887 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades slipped past a desperate visiting Brandon Wheat Kings side 3-2 in a WHL regular season clash. The win allowed the Blades to improve to 46-14-4-1 to lock up second place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

In the conference playoff format used by the WHL, the two division winners are given the first and second seeds in the first round. From the second round onwards, the teams are reseeded by standings points.

In the Eastern Conference, the WHL leading Winnipeg Ice (54-9-1) have top spot in the conference and the East Division locked up. The Red Deer Rebels (42-18-3-3) have secured first in the Central Division and are cemented as the third place team in the Eastern Conference.

Justin Lies had the winning goal for the Blades on Saturday.

Thanks to finishing second in the Eastern Conference, the Blades would have home ice advantage for any post-season meetings with the Rebels.

The Blades current total of 46 wins marks the most victories the club has posted in a season since posting a team record 56 victories in 2010-11, when the squad put up a 56-13-1-2 mark to finish first in the WHL.

Saskatoon is also guaranteed a fourth place finish in the WHL’s overall standings. The Blades, who have three games remaining on their regular season schedule, could potentially still finish third in the circuit’s overall standings, but Saskatoon trails the Memorial Cup hosting and B.C. Division champion Kamloops Blazers (47-11-4-2) by three points for third overall. The Blazers have four regular season contests left to play.

Blades C Trevor Wong, left, battles Wheat Kings RW Evan Groening.

The setback put a big dagger in the Wheat Kings post-season hopes as they fell to 26-32-8 with a fourth straight loss to sit 10^th overall in the Eastern Conference with two games remaining on their regular season schedule.

The Wheat Kings trail the Calgary Hitmen (28-28-5-3) by four points for eighth place in the Eastern Conference and the conference’s final playoff berth. The Hitmen need to earn one more standings point in their last four regular season games to eliminate the Wheat Kings from playoff contention.

In Saturday’s clash between the Blades and Wheat Kings, Saskatoon jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a goal from 19-year-old defenceman Charlie Wright at the 9:13 mark of the opening frame and a power-play goal from 21-year-old left-winger Josh Pillar at the 12:34 mark of the first.

Jake Chiasson had a pair of assists for the Blades on Saturday.

Blades 19-year-old left-winger Jake Chiasson picked up assists on both goals after signing a three-year NHL entry-level contract earlier in the day with the Edmonton Oilers.

The Wheat Kings battled back to even the score at 2-2 heading into the first intermission. Right-winger and Saskatoon product Nolan Flamand netted the Wheat Kings first tally with 2:12 to play in the opening frame. 

Rookie left-winger Caleb Hadland, who turned 17-years-old on March 6, potted the equalizer with 43.7 seconds remaining in the first to force the 2-2 draw. Right-winger Evan Groening picked up assists on both Brandon goals.

With 3:56 remaining in the second, Blades 18-year-old left-winger Justin Lies netted his eighth goal of the season which stood up as the winner in Saskatoon’s 3-2 victory. 

Charlie Wright has the Blades first goal on Saturday.

Lies’s tally was set up by some great work by Blades 17-year-old rookie right-winger Rowan Calvert.

Calvert intercepted a Wheat Kings pass in the right corner of the Brandon zone. He quickly fed a pass to the front of the Brandon goal to Lies, who buried the winner.

Lies played a strong two-way game for the Blades in being named the first star of the contest. After being named the first star of the contest at game’s end, Lies gave a souvenir stick to a birthday girl in the crowd.

In the third, the Wheat Kings showed their desperation outshooting the Blades 11-4 in the frame.

Netminder Ethan Chadwick turned away all 11 shots he faced in the third and 23 shots over the whole contest to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Nicholas Jones turned away 23 shots taking the setback in net for the Wheat Kings.

The contest ended with a big scrum when time expired in the third period. 

The Blades celebrate their victory on Saturday night.

The officials handed out penalties to only two players giving Blades right-winger Vaughn Watterodt, who turned 19-years-old in February, and Wheat Kings 20-year-old left-winger Calder Anderson double minors for roughing and 10-minute misconducts.

The Blades return to action on Sunday when they host 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats (33-28-3-1) in a highly anticipated match up at 4 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. Bedard leads the WHL in goals (69), assists (71) and points (140).

The Wheat Kings get back at it on Friday, when they host the Ice (7 p.m. local time, Westoba Place).

Raiders eliminated from playoff contention, other notes

Tikhon Chaika made 23 saves for the Raiders on Saturday.

It took seemingly death by 1,000 paper cuts to bring the Prince Albert Raiders post-season hopes to an end, and they were officially brought to an end on Saturday.

On Saturday, the Raiders played the second of a three games in three nights road trip falling to the WHL leading Ice 4-1 in a regular season clash played before 1,746 spectators at the Wayne Fleming Arena. The game was 45 minutes late in starting due to the Raiders bus encountering mechanical issues, while traveling from Brandon to Winnipeg. The Raiders opened their trip on Friday in Brandon downing the host Wheat Kings 4-3.

The Raiders were eliminated from playoff contention with their loss to the Ice and the Calgary Hitmen blanking the Tigers in Medicine Hat 2-0 on Saturday night. Prince Albert fell to 27-35-3 to sit 11^th in the Eastern Conference and can no longer move into eighth in the conference to take the conference’s final playoff berth.

The Hitmen sit eight in the Eastern Conference and hold the conference’s last playoff berth improving to 28-28-5-3.

Landon Kosior had an assist for the Raiders on Saturday.

The win for the Ice improved their winning streak to six games as they continue to top the WHL’s overall standings with a 54-9-1 mark. The Ice sit two points ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds (52-9-1-2), and both clubs have four contests remaining on their respective regular season schedules.

The 54 wins are a new franchise record for the Ice for most victories in one season. Their previous record was set last season, when the Ice topped the WHL standings with a 53-10-3-2 mark.

In Saturday’s clash between the Raiders and Ice, the teams played through a scoreless opening 20 minutes. Ice star centre Zack Ostapchuk opening the game’s scoring at the 10:26 mark of the second to give the host side a 1-0 lead.

Ice increased their advantage to 4-0 in the third with singles coming off the sticks of Evan Friesen, Ben Zloty and Connor McClennon. McClennon’s goal was his 44^th tally of the season and he had an assist to go with his goal.

Carter Anderson had the Raiders lone goal on Saturday.

Ice star centre Matthew Savoie had three assists in the win.

Carter Anderson, who is an 18-year-old left-winger, netted the Raiders lone reply coming with 4:28 remaining in the third to round out the 4-1 final score. Raiders star offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior, who is in his 20-year-old season, picked up the lone assist on Anderson’s goal.

Star netminder Daniel Hauser stopped 19 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Ice. Import netminder Tikhon Chaika turned away 23 shots to take the setback in the Raiders net.

The Ice had won all five head-to-head meetings with the Raiders this season.

The two sides go at it again on Sunday at 5 p.m. local time at the Wayne Fleming Arena.

• The Saskatoon Blades will set a new SaskTel Centre single game team attendance record when they face Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats at 4 p.m. on Sunday. The Blades, who have sold out that clash with the Pats, won’t break the SaskTel Centre’s record attendance for a single sporting event. That record will continue to be held by the NLL’s Saskatchewan Rush, who pulled in 15,192 spectators on May 21, 2016 for their 12-9 victory over the Calgary Roughnecks in Game 2 of a best-of-three West Division semifinal series that they swept 2-0. The Rush are able to hold a party alley in one of the SaskTel Centre’s vehicle entrances leading to the venue’s playing surface. At Blades games, the vehicle entrances leading to the playing surface are usually filled with rink attendants and the team’s game night staff. There is also part of one section of seats that can’t be used for the building’s configuration for hockey games, but can be used for lacrosse games. Due to missing that party alley and being unable to use part of one section of seats, the attendance at Sunday’s game isn’t expected to surpass 15,000.
• Due to being able to use floor seating, the SaskTel Centre’s record attendance for a single event comes from a concert. On September 15, 2018, Metallica drew a record attendance of 16,874 spectators for their concert that night. The band dedicated their performance of “Nothing Else Matters” to those who died in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash on April 6, 2018.
• After 32 regular season home games, the Saskatoon Blades are averaging 3,865 spectators a game. That number will go up as the Blades final two home games on Sunday and this coming Friday are against Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats.
• The Regina Pats officially locked up a berth in the WHL Playoffs with their 7-3 over the Warriors in Moose Jaw in a game played before 4,965 spectators at the Moose Jaw Events Centre. Pats 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard had a hat trick, three assists and posted a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department in that contest.
• The U.S. Division champion Seattle Thunderbirds (52-9-1-2) need to earn just two more standings points in their last four games to lock up first overall in the Western Conference.

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