Blades living shades of 1990 against Rebels

Saskatoon trims Red Deer’s series lead to 3-2

The Blades celebrate Tanner Molendyk’s first goal on Friday.

The Saskatoon Blades are reliving the spirit of 1990.

When the dust ultimately settles in their WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Red Deer Rebels, “The Bridge City Bunch” hopes to do one win better in the best-of-seven set.

On Friday night before an appreciative crowd of 5,908 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades downed the Rebels 6-3 holding a 31-17 edge in shots on goal in a spirited effort to take Game 5 of the series. Saskatoon’s victory cut the Rebels lead in the set to 3-2 with a second straight victory. Friday’s contest was by far the most physical out of the five games the two sides played to date.

Saskatoon’s win forces a Game 6 of the series set for Sunday back at the Peavey Mart Centrium in Red Deer for a 2 p.m. local start time. If the Blades win that contest in Red Deer, they will force a series deciding Game 7 on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere had the winning goal for the Blades.

The Blades are one win away from erasing a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series 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.

This year, the Blades are trying to become the third team in the history of the WHL to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series to win it 4-3.

Egor Sidorov scored twice on the power play for the Blades.

Dating back to the WHL’s start in 1966-67, only two teams have rallied back to win a best-of-seven series having trailed the set 3-0. 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.

In Friday’s clash between Red Deer and Saskatoon, the Rebels visibly came out with a game plan to be more physical. The Blades matched the physicality of their Alberta foes. This contest had much more of a feisty edge to it compared to the first four games of the series.

The Rebels got a little too undisciplined with their physical effort and the Blades special teams were back playing to their stellar regular season form took advantage. Saskatoon converted 3-of-6 power-play chances and killed off all three power-play opportunities the Rebels had.

Kai Uchacz had a pair of goals for the Rebels on Friday.

During the regular season, the Blades had the fourth best power play in the WHL converting on 73-of-265 chances for a 27.5 per cent success rate, and they had the third best penalty killing unit on the circuit killing off 202-of-245 opposition power-play opportunities for an 82.4 per cent success rate.

The Blades scored the winning goal on a power play that came on an undisciplined Rebels penalty. Late in the second period with the teams locked in a 3-3 tie, Rebels defenceman Nicholas Andrusiak hit Blades star winger Jake Chiasson from behind on open ice by the boards at the Saskatoon blue-line.

Andrusiak was given a minor penalty for interference with 2:23 remaining in the second period. On the ensuing power play, Blades captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere scored with 24.8 seconds remaining in the second to give the host side a 4-3 lead. De La Gorgendiere was trying to make a pass from the right side of the Red Deer goal to a teammate on the other side of the net.

Ollie Josephson had the Rebels third goal on Friday.

The puck hit a stick and deflected back to De La Gorgendiere, who quickly buried a shot for his second goal of the post-season and second tally in his second straight contest.

In the third, Blades hard-working centre Jayden Wiens knocked home the rebound of his own backhand shot to give his squad a 5-3 advantage at the 5:41 mark of the frame.

With 7:26 remaining in the third, the Blades were working the puck down low in the Red Deer zone. Blades right-winger Vaughn Watterodt flipped a high pass across the face of the Red Deer net that offensive-defenceman Tanner Molendyk knocked home in mid air for his second goal of the contest to round out the 6-3 final.

Tanner Molendyk had a pair of goals for the Blades on Friday.

The play went to a video review to see of Molendyk knocked the puck home with a high stick, but the officials confirmed the goal was good.

While Molendyk closed the game’s scoring, he also opened the scoring in the contest at the 5:39 mark of the first period. On a rush into the offensive zone, Molendyk wheeled to the left faceoff dot and ripped home a shot to the top right corner of the Red Deer net to give the Blades a 1-0 edge.

The opening 20 minutes of Friday’s contest was straight out of the 1980s with lots of goals and banging in the physicality department.

Friday’s contest featured a few scrums between the Blades and Rebels.

Rebels star centre Kai Uchacz evened the score at 1-1 at the 11:08 mark of the first slipping a shot between the legs of Blades netminder Ethan Chadwick.

Just 61 seconds later, Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov slid a shot through screen from the right wing boards for the Blades first power-play goal to give the hosts a 2-1 advantage.

Just under five minutes later, Uchacz banged home a rebound at the right side of the Saskatoon net for his second tally of the contest to even the score at 2-2.

With 1:57 remaining in the first, Sidorov scored his second power-play goal to give the Blades a 3-2 lead. Sidorov faked a Rebels defenceman down the ground and wired home a shot to give the hosts their one-goal edge.

The SaskTel Centre faithful cheer on the Blades.

Following Sidorov’s second marker, the Rebels pulled starting netminder Kyle Kelsey. Kelsey stopped 4-of-7 shots sent his way.

Heading into Friday’s game, Kelsey was the only goalie the Rebels used in their previous nine contests in this year’s WHL Playoffs. In those nine games, Kelsey had posted a 7-2 record, a 1.93 goals against average, a .928 save percentage and one shutout.

Veteran Chase Coward, who turned 20-years-old in January, played the remainder of Friday’s game in relief in goal for the Rebels. He turned away 21-of-24 shots fired his way and was the netminder of record who took the loss in goal for the Rebels.

Just 88 seconds into the second, Rebels centre Ollie Josephson tapped home a loose puck in the crease of the Saskatoon goal to once again even the score at 3-3.

The Blades celebrate a goal from Jayden Wiens (#9).

That set the stage for De La Gorgendiere to score his winner and the Blades to seal the win in the third. De La Gorgendiere had a pair of assists to go with his goal.

Sidorov had an assist to go with his goal. Blades star centre Trevor Wong had three assists in the victory.

Chadwick stopped 14 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades.

Friday’s game ended with a big scrum occurring in the right corner of the Saskatoon zone as time expired. The officials dished out two minor penalties from that scrum including an unsportsmanlike conduct infraction to Rebels right-winger Craig Armstrong and a cross-checking infraction to Blades right-winger Lukas Hansen.

Originally, it was expected that this would be a tight series going in between the Blades and Rebels. 

The Blades celebrate their win on Friday.

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.

The series has played out to be a tight one but not in a way that was expected with the Rebels winning the first three games and the Blades now claiming the last two contests. In the process, the players on the two teams have developed a dislike for each other creating a little snarl in the series.

Now all attention turns to Game 6 on Sunday in Red Deer. Will the Blades take another step in their pursuit of history or will the Rebels finally slam the door on the series for good?

This series has become a must-watch spectacle.

WHL suspends Blades’ Lies for hit on Lind

Justin Lies in action for the Blades on Wednesday.

The WHL’s department of discipline has Saskatoon Blades hard-working and rugged right-winger Justin Lies watching games from the stands for the foreseeable future.

On Friday, the WHL announced Lies has been suspended for the head check major and game misconduct he received for his hit on Red Deer Rebels star left-winger Kalan Lind, who turned 18-years-old in January. The length of the suspension is still to be determined.

Lies’ head check major and game misconduct penalties were assessed at the 3:24 mark of the first period in Game 4 of the WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series between the two clubs on Wednesday. The game was scoreless at the time. The Rebels led 2-0 after the first, 2-1 after the second and fell by a 4-2 final at game’s end.

Lind was taken to Red Deer Regional Hospital on Wednesday and released later that same night. He did not make the trip to Saskatoon, but the Rebels posted a message on Twitter from Lind on Thursday wishing his teammates well from his billet home.

The Blades acquired Lies in a trade with the Vancouver Giants before the current season began back on August 31, 2022. With the Blades, Lies has been the model teammate and a gritty hard working player that plays tough but within the rules.

In 56 regular season games with the Blades, Lies posted career highs in goals (nine), assists (14), points (23) and the plus-minus department (plus-six). Lies had appeared in the Blades first 11 games of their current post-season run posting one goal, one assist and a minus-one rating.

In his previous three seasons with the Giants, Lies was suspended twice for a total of six games, and that could play a part in the WHL’s final decision on his suspension length.

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