Blades complete epic and historical series comeback

Saskatoon posts 5-2 Game 7 win, eliminates Rebels

The Blades celebrate their Game 7 win over the Rebels on Tuesday.

The Saskatoon Blades were indeed still standing.

On Tuesday night before 9,489 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades downed the Red Deer Rebels 5-2 in Game 7 of a WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. The win allows the Blades to take the best-of-seven set 4-3 and advance to the Eastern Conference Championship Series for the first time since 1994, when they made the WHL Championship Series and fell in seven games to the eventual Memorial Cup champion Kamloops Blazers.

The Blades will face the Winnipeg Ice in this year’s Eastern Conference Championships series. The Ice topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and were rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Game 1 of that series is set for Friday at the Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg at 6 p.m. local time.

Egor Sidorov (#19) hugs Blades mascot Poke Check.

In the series against the Rebels, the Blades lost the first three games before rallying back to win four straight contests. The Blades became just the third team in the history of the WHL dating back to the circuit’s start in 1966-67 to rally back to win a best-of-seven series having trailed the set 3-0.

“I’m just incredibly proud of the guys,” said Blades head coach Brennan Sonne. “You have to have a tight-knit group and a tonne of belief.

“You have to put your arms around each other instead of pointing fingers when you go down 3-0, and that is what we did. They put their arms around each other as opposed to pointing fingers. They were full of belief, and my God am I proud of them.”

The Spokane Chiefs, who were guided by Mike Babcock as head coach, trailed the Portland Winterhawks 3-0 before rallying to take a first round series 4-3 in 1996. The Kelowna Rockets fell behind the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-0 in 2013 before rallying back to claim that first round series 4-3.

The Rebels react to their Game 7 loss.

Both of those series deciding Game 7s ended in overtime. In the 1996 Game 7 between the Chiefs and Winterhawks, forward Darren Sinclair scored 58 seconds in overtime to deliver the Chiefs to a 4-3 victory. In the 2013 Game 7 between the Rockets and Thunderbirds, forward Tyson Baillie scored at the 5:10 mark of overtime to give the Rockets a 3-2 victory.

Current Rebels head coach Steve Konowalchuk was the head coach of the Thunderbirds in 2013 when they lost their 3-0 series lead to the Rockets. Konowalchuk would guide the Thunderbirds to a WHL championship in 2016-17 before departing to the NHL to become an assistant coach for the Anaheim Ducks.

The Blades and Rebels work their way through the handshake line.

The Blades actually rallied back from being down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series to tie it up at 3-3 for the second time in team history.

Back in 1990, Saskatoon trailed the Lethbridge Hurricanes 3-0 in a second round series in that year’s WHL Playoffs before rallying back to tie the set at 3-3. In a series deciding Game 7 in Lethbridge, the Blades fell 4-3 in overtime with defenceman Neil Hawryluk netting the winning goal for the Hurricanes. Of course, the current Blades were able to one up what the club did in 1990.

Part of the 9,489 fans in attendance cheer on the Blades. 

Going back to their first round seven game series win over Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats, the Blades have won five straight contests in this WHL post-season where they have faced elimination. Konowalchuk said the Game 7 loss to the Blades was a tough one for his Rebels to take.

“It is a hard one,” said Konowalchuk. “I thought our guys played a pretty hard game.

“I thought we played with a lot of time in their end. I thought we had some chances. They’re opportunistic, and they have some skill that doesn’t need a lot of chances.

Spencer Shugrue had a pair of goals for the Blades.

“I think that was the difference in the hockey game tonight.”

In Tuesday’s Game 7 clash, both teams had early scoring chances. Blades captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere wired a shot off the post for the hosts, and Rebels import left-winger Frantisek Formanek hit iron for the visitors.

With 7:50 remaining in the first, the Rebels broke through on the scoreboard. Star left-winger Kalan Lind got the puck to 18-year-old defenceman Hunter Mayo at the right point. Mayo skated the puck into the right faceoff circle and blew home a shot to the top left corner of the Saskatoon goal to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

Lind was playing his first contest since being carried off on a stretcher with a head injury early in the Blades 4-2 victory in Game 4 last Wednesday in Red Deer. Blades gritty right-winger Justin Lies was given a three-game WHL imposed suspension for throwing the head hit hat injured Lind. Tuesday’s Game 7 was the final game of that suspension for Lies.

Conner Roulette had two goals and an assist for the Blades.

Shortly after Mayo’s goal, the Blades pulled even at 1-1 with 5:15 remaining in the first. Blades star left-winger Conner Roulette got the puck to the left of Red Deer’s net, cut across the front of the Red Deer goal and put home a backhand shot for the equalizer.

At the 5:41 mark of the second, the Blades jumped ahead 2-1 when utility player Spencer Shugrue potted home the rebound of a shot taken by Roulette. Roulette’s midrange blast came off the boards being the Red Deer net to Shugrue at the right side of the goal, and he put in the go-ahead tally into an empty cage.

Just 1:54 later, the Rebels evened things up at 2-2 on a goal from left-winger Ryker Singer. Rebels star centre Kai Uchacz dumped the puck it to the left corner of the Saskatoon zone to give Singer a chance to get the equalizer. Singer beat the Blades defence to the puck and wire a shot close in to the left side of the Saskatoon net to the top corner right corner of the goal.

Kalan Lind had an assist returning to the Rebels’ lineup.

With 8:53 remaining in the second, Rebels captain Jayden Grubbe appeared to score on a power-play to put the visitors up 3-2, but the officials waved the goal off ruling Rebels 20-year-old right-winger Jace Isley made incidental contact with Blades netminder Austin Elliott. The ruling was upheld after a video review.

In the third, Shugrue continued to build his case for being the Blades’ “Mr. Game 7.”

At the 4:29 mark of the third, Shugrue won a puck battle against Rebels right-winger Ollie Josephson just inside the Red Deer blue-line. Shugrue pass the puck to centre Jayden Wiens. Wiens rushed down the left wing, and Shugrue skated to the Red Deer goal close to the right goalpost.

Hunter Mayo scored the Rebels first goal on Tuesday.

Wiens passed the puck across the face of the Red Deer net to Shugrue. Shugrue knocked home the puck with a backhanded tap for his second tally of the contest to put the Blades up 3-2.

In the post-season, Shugrue has scored three goals, and all those markers have come in Game 7s. The Vancouver product’s first goal came in the Blades 4-1 victory in Game 7 of a first round series against the Pats back on April 10, and he had an assist on the winning tally in that contest.

“It is obviously a great feeling,” said Shugrue about being reward with some goals for his hard work. “In Game 7, we knew we just had to stick to our systems there, and that is what we had drawn up.

“I’m happy it turned out that way.”

Ryker Singer had the Rebels second goal on Tuesday.

Just 40 seconds later, Roulette worked a give and go with Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov on a three-on-two rush. Roulette received a return pass from Sidorov at the lower part of the right faceoff circle in the Red Deer zone and blew home his second tally of the contest to push the Blades lead out to 4-2.

Roulette’s three-point night on Tuesday matched his production from the Blades first 13 post-season games. The Winnipeg product was pleased to contribute some offence again.

“I think just throughout the playoffs I just wanted to find my rhythm,” said Roulette. “I think I started off a little slow.

The Blades apply pressure around the Rebels net.

“Such a great team and such a great coaching staff were there to help me and push me to play my best. They are telling me every night, ‘This is your game. This is your game.’ Obviously for a night like tonight for me to finally find that rhythm and help the team out, it is a great feeling.

“I’m really honoured to be able to have a night like that. To have slow start to the playoffs as an individual, I’m looking forward to hopefully keeping this up to help the team more. I couldn’t have done it without the support from the teammates.”

Blades hard working right-winger Vaughn Watterodt rounded out the game’s scoring with an empty-net goal with 27.2 seconds remaining in the third.

The Blades celebrate a winning goal from Spencer Shugrue (#26).

Elliott stopped 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Kyle Kelsey turned away 23-of-27 shots to take the setback in net for the Rebels.

The Blades closed the series killing off Red Deer’s last 11 consecutive power-play chances.

The Rebels were without right-winger Jhett Larson, who turned 19-years-old in early February, due to one game league imposed suspension for receiving a fight instigator penalty in the final five minutes of a 5-3 loss to the Blades in Game 6 this past Sunday in Red Deer.

The Blades didn’t have the services of 20-year-old defenceman Blake Gustafson and 17-year-old left-winger Mikhail Volotovskii due to upper body injuries.

The series between the Blades and Rebels was expected to be a tight one, and it ultimately was. 

Jayden Wiens had an assist on the Blades winning goal.

The Blades finished fourth in the overall WHL regular season standings with a 48-15-4-1 record and were rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Rebels finished fifth in the overall WHL standings and topped the Central Division with a 43-19-3-3 mark.

Still, the Blades prevailed in a way that they will always be remembered. Any time a team falls behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven series in the WHL Playoffs, the current Blades will be brought up with the 1996 Chiefs and the 2013 Rockets as the clubs that rallied back to win the series 4-3.

“It is pretty cool,” said De La Gorgendiere. “I don’t think it has honestly set in yet.

The Blades salute the crowd at the SaskTel Centre.

“It is obviously going to be really special. Like Sonne said to us in the room there, we’re going to remember this for the rest of our lives until we can’t remember anything anymore. It is just awesome.”

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