Blades will live on in WHL lore thanks to 3-0 series comeback

The Blades celebrate Spencer Shugrue’s winning goal on Tuesday.

The best of the Saskatoon Blades came out when their season was potentially 20 minutes from ending.

On April 19, the Blades were down 3-0 in their best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Red Deer Rebels, and the Rebels were holding a 2-1 lead in Game 4 on home ice at the Peavey Mart Centrium after two periods. In the first three games of the series, the Rebels clamped things down defensively in those third periods to close out victories, so it was hard for any objective person to think Game 4 was going to be any different.

The only people that would have believed the Blades were going to pull out that contest were the Blades players, coaches, management and staff along with ultra-passionate fans that see everything with rose coloured glasses. Red Deer held a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes in that contest, and Blades captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere scored on a power play in the second to pull the visitors to within 2-1.

In a span of four minutes and three seconds coming before the nine minute mark of the third, the Blades rolled off three straight goals coming from the sticks of Jayden Wiens, Brandon Lisowsky and Tanner Molendyk. Throw in a 34 save performance from Saskatoon product Ethan Chadwick in goal, and that 4-2 advantage in favour of the Blades held up as the game’s final score.

While the Rebels still held a 3-1 series lead following Game 4, it felt like the complexion in the series changed. You could see in the eyes of the Blades players and coaches that they had belief that this series wasn’t over.

The Blades faithful cheer on their team on Tuesday.

Last Friday in Game 5 in Saskatoon, the Blades stormed their way to a 6-3 victory while outshooting the Rebels 31-17. The hosts drew their lowest attendance of the post-season but still a good crowd of 5,908 spectators to the SaskTel Centre. The fans were engaged with what was happening on the ice, and following that contest, it felt realistic that the Blades could win two more games to take the series.

Game 6 held this past Sunday back in Red Deer against a Rebels side that was truly refocused was going to be a hard one for Saskatoon to get. The Blades received a huge traction moment 34 seconds into the contest from star import right-winger Egor Sidorov.

Sidorov stole the puck at the left side boards in the Red Deer zone from Rebels star 20-year-old right-winger Ben King. Sidorov wheeled behind the Red Deer goal with King in pursuit and scored on a one-handed wraparound to give the visitors a 1-0 lead on their first shot of the game.

The Rebels came with a huge push back and held 12-2 edge in shots on goal at one point in the first period. Blades star centre Trevor Wong scored with 3:36 remaining in the opening frame, and Saskatoon exited the opening 20 minutes with a 2-0 despite being outshot 16-6.

Spencer Shugrue has become “Mr. Game 7” for the Blades.

The Blades built a 4-1 lead at one point in the second, but the Rebels got one back near the end of the frame and a goal with 7:47 remaining in the third to cut Saskatoon’s advantage to 4-3. Blades hard-working centre Jayden Wiens scored an empty-net goal with 1:52 remaining in the third to seal a 5-3 victory. Netminder Austin Elliott made 35 saves to ensure the Blades pulled out victory.

The Rebels also had to lament a number of turnovers that resulted in Blades goals.

Following that win, Blades head coach Brennan Sonne told the team’s longtime play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk, “Nothing is going to distract us from making history simple as that.”

This past Tuesday 9,489 spectators made their way to the SaskTel Centre to see if the Blades could be the third team in the history of the WHL to lose the first three games in a best-of-seven series and rally back to win the set 4-3. After Katelyn Lehner finished singing the national anthem, the cheers at that point leading to the opening faceoff were the loudest they had been in some time for that point in a Blades game.

After puck drop, the fans stayed engaged with the contest. They even had a hex chant going for Rebels netminder Kyle Kelsey. Usually, there are never such chants for the opposing team’s netminder inside SaskTel Centre.

The building became quiet after Rebels defenceman and Saskatoon product Hunter Mayo scored for the visitors. Just 2:35 later, the noise picked up as star left-winger Conner Roulette replied for the Blades to force a 1-1 tie.

Tanner Molendyk (#24) enjoys a goal with Egor Sidorov in Game 4.

Blades utility player Spencer Shugrue proceeded to ensure he would be cemented with the nickname “Mr. Game 7.”

He scored at the 5:41 mark of the second to give the Blades a 2-1 lead. That was short-lived as Rebels left-winger Ryker Singer replied just 1:54 later to even the score at 2-2.

At the 4:29 mark of the third, Shugrue added his second goal of the contest to put the Blades up 3-2, and that held up as the winner. Roulette popped his second of the contest and Vaughn Watterodt scored into an empty net to round out a 5-2 victory for the Blades.

Elliott made 23 saves to earn the win in goal for the Blades. Kelsey turned away 23-of-27 shots to take the setback in net for the Rebels.

The Blades received a lengthy and deserved salute from their faithful in attendance. The players applauded the fans for their enthusiasm and a few went right to the boards to thank their faithful up close.

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

Ethan Chadwick had a huge Game 4 performance.

On top of coming back to win a best-of-seven series after dropping the first three games in the set to complete the reverse sweep, the Blades also advanced to the Eastern Conference Championships Series for the first time since 1994.

They will face the Winnipeg Ice, and Game 1 of that series is set for Friday at the Wayne Fleming Arena in the Manitoba capital at 6 p.m. local time. 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.

No matter what happens during the rest of the post-season, the Blades will skate away with a special distinction. Any time a team falls behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven series in the WHL Playoffs, the Spokane Chiefs of 1996 and the Kelowna Rockets of 2013 are brought up as the two teams that rallied back to win a best-of-seven series 4-3 after dropping the first three games of that set.

The current Blades will be mentioned along with the 1996 Chiefs and the 2013 Rockets to now share that accomplishment.

Following the Blades Game 7 win on Tuesday, De La Gorgendiere said it hadn’t set in that his Blades team will be brought up with the 1996 Chiefs and the 2013 Rockets any time a WHL club falls behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven series as the group of three teams that erased that series deficit to win the set.

Austin Elliott earned wins in Game 6 and 7 over the Rebels.

There were times after Tuesday’s game concluded and when leaving the rink that night it felt surreal that the Blades had pulled off that rally. On Wednesday, a surreal feeling hit another level when a few Blades fans went on social media to note a number of people in the fan base hadn’t been born the last time the team was in the Eastern Conference final in 1994.

In 1994, the Blades eliminated the Brandon Wheat Kings 4-1 in the Eastern Conference final before falling 4-3 in the WHL final to the eventual Memorial Cup champion Kamloops Blazers.

The current Blades have found that special will that is needed to win in the post-season. Including their seven-game first round series win over Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats, the Blades have faced elimination five times and won each of those contests.

When their backs are against the wall, the current Blades players realize they don’t want to go their separate ways and raise their level of play in order to stay together. They have built a family feeling with the various team activities they have done away from the rink over the course of the entire 2022-23 campaign.

In the Eastern Conference final, the Ice will be the favourites. You can count that the Blades won’t go down without a fight, and their fight might be good enough they advance to the WHL Championship Series.

The Blades celebrate their series comeback win over the Rebels.

The Blades epic and historical series comeback over the Rebels should be celebrated, but it would not be a surprise if more high points were to come as the post-season moves on.

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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