Saskatoon benefited from Bedard bump in last
six home dates
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| A sellout figure is shown at the SaskTel Centre on Monday. |
For their past six home dates including the regular season and WHL Playoffs, the Blades have played Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats. Of course, Bedard was the big draw.
Barring something unforeseen, the 17-year-old phenom centre 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, and he will be skating in the NHL next season as an 18-year-old.
The Blades drew sellout crowds of 14,768 to their final two regular season home games, which were both played against Bedard and the Pats. The two squads met in a best-of-seven first round playoff series, where the series went the distance with the Blades having home ice advantage.
In their four home dates in that series, the Blades drew a total of 47,729 spectators for an average attendance of 11,932 spectators a game. That average attendance was tops in the WHL for the first round of the post-season.
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| Blades D Tanner Molendyk give a stick tap to a group of fans. |
The Blades clinched the series with a 4-1 win in Game 7 on Monday played before a sellout crowd of 14,768 spectators.
“They (the fans) came out tonight on a Monday and were supporting us all night and all series,” said Blades captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere, who will graduate from the junior ranks when the Blades post-season run concludes. “They were huge for us with the energy and the atmosphere.
“Hopefully,
we can see that for round two as well.”
With the series win over the Pats, the Blades advance to face the Red Deer Rebels in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Blades finished fourth overall in the WHL regular season standings with a 48-15-4-1 record and were rated 10th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Saskatoon won three of the four head-to-head regular season meetings with Red Deer.
The Rebels, who topped the WHL’s Central Division, finished fifth in the overall standings with a 43-19-3-3 mark. Red Deer eliminated the Calgary Hitmen 4-1 in a best-of-seven first round series to advance to meet the Blades in the post-season.
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| The SaskTel Centre faithful salute the Blades on Monday. |
The last time the Blades hosted a team other than the Pats at home was Saturday, March 18, when they drew 3,887 spectators for a 3-2 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings.
The Blades hosted the Rebels twice during the regular season. In a 6-2 victory at the SaskTel Centre on Saturday, January 7, the Blades drew 4,351 spectators for that contest. When the two sides met at the SaskTel Centre on Wednesday, March 1, a total of 2,934 spectators turned out to see the Blades post a 5-2 victory.
Due to finishing with a better regular season record than the Rebels, the Blades have home ice advantage for their Eastern Conference semifinal series. Game 1 is set for Friday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre and Game 2 follows on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.
Unless there is a big surge of ticket sales, it is expected attendance will be between 6,000 and 7,000 spectators for Game 1, which is still better than the Blades regular season average attendance.
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| The SaskTel Centre faithful start doing “the wave” on Monday. |
“I hope they enjoyed it,” said Sonne. “That was a wild series to watch.
“It was a
wild series to be a part of, so I hope they enjoyed it and stick with us.”
In the Game 7 win over Bedard and the Pats on Monday, De La Gorgendiere got to hold the puck behind his net for most of the final 30 seconds of the third period with the 4-1 final score burned on the scoreboard. The Pats elected not to rush De La Gorgendiere to allow the remaining time to expire.
De La Gorgendiere did pass the puck back and forth a couple of times with Blades star left-winger Jake Chiasson and took in the fans giving the team a raucous salute.
“It was
crazy,” said De La Gorgendiere. “You see all the fans standing up cheering.
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| Some front row fans join in on a Blades goal celebration. |
“We have a
lot of work to do here coming up.”
Chiasson said it really helped the Blades when the SaskTel Centre was packed like it was on Monday and the fans were engaged with the game.
“It is
pretty crazy when you think that it is a Monday night with that many people in
the building,” said Chiasson. “You can’t do some of the things that you do
without a crowd supporting you just on every given night.
“It is loud
and there is energy. You don’t kind of have to create your own energy. You can
feed into it.
“For us, I
hope what they saw was a lot of excitement and a lot of special things that
this team can do. We definitely appreciate to see them back here, and we really
hope to see them come next round.”
The Rebels
came out of the first round of the playoffs posting the third best average
attendance in the WHL with 5,317 spectators turning out for each of their three
home dates at the Peavey Mart Centrium against the Hitmen. During the regular
season, the Rebels averaged 4,163 spectators per game over their 34 home dates.
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| Justin Lies and Ben Saunderson go celebrate a win with the fans. |
Kai Uchacz
topped the Rebels in regular season scoring with 85 points coming off 50 goals
and 35 assists to go with a plus-21 rating in the plus-minus department
appearing in all of his team’s 68 regular season games. The 19-year-old centre
has four goals and three assists so far in the post-season.
Rebels
captain Jayden Grubbe finished second in team regular season scoring with 67
points coming off 18 goals and 49 assists to go with a plus-10 rating in 64
appearances. The skilled centre, who turned 20-years-old in January, leads the
Rebels in post-season scoring with 10 points coming off one goal and nine
assists.
Rebels
rookie netminder Kyle Kelsey, who turned 18-years-old in January, had a steady
regular season appearing in 37 games posting a 21-11-5 record, a 2.64 goals
against average, a .907 save percentage and four shutouts. He has gone the
distance for the Rebels in the post-season posting a 4-1 record, a 1.87 goals
against average, a .938 save percentage and one shutout.
Centre Trevor Wong, who is 19-years-old, topped the Blades in regular scoring with 86 points coming off 27 goals and 59 assists to go with a plus-23 rating appearing in all his team’s 68 regular season games. All of Wong’s regular season statistics are career highs. He posted three goals and seven assists in the Blades first round series win.
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| Aidan De La Gorgendiere listens to the fans as Monday’s game ends. |
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.
Playing seven games against Bedard who was in on 20 of the Pats 26 goals against the Blades, Elliott’s and Chadwick’s statistics in the post-season have taken a hit. In three playoff appearances, Elliott has posted a 1-1 record, a 3.95 goals against average and a .841 save percentage. In five playoff appearances, Chadwick has posted a 3-2 record, a 3.23 goals against average and a .847 save percentage.
“Obviously,
Red Deer is a good hockey team,” said De La Gorgendiere. “They are a big
physical team.
“We have to
be prepared for that, and I think we know what to expect from them.”
The SaskTel Centre faithful give the Blades an energy boost.
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