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| The Blades traded Justin Lies on June 6. |
The 2022-23 campaign turned out to be one of the best the Blades have had in some time. They finished fourth overall in the WHL regular season standings with a 48-13-4-3 record.
Saskatoon advanced to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series for the first time since 1994 falling in four games to the Winnipeg Ice. In a WHL Eastern Conference semfinal series in the 2023 playoff run, the Blades fell behind 3-0 to the Red Deer Rebels before rallying back to take the series 4-3. The Blades joined the 1996 Spokane Chiefs and the 2013 Kelowna Rockets as only teams to fall behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven series and rally back to take the set in WHL history.
Naturally, the Blades in a perfect world would like return as many players as possible from last season who gained valuable experience from that post-season run. Plus, the rosters of the clubs that finished first to third overall in the WHL regular season in the Ice, league champion Seattle Thunderbirds and Kamloops Blazers are going to look a lot different this season due to their decisions to load up.
The Ice do have the potential to bring back seven core players from their 2022-23 team in Daniel Hauser, Jonas Woo, Zach Benson, Evan Friesen, Carson Latimer, Conor Geekie and Matthew Savoie, but there will be a lot of changes around that group.
With that noted, the Blades have to deal with their share of the cyclical nature of junior hockey. Gone due to graduation having exhausting their major junior eligibility playing out there 20-year-old seasons are captain and offensive-defenceman Aidan De La Gorgendiere, defenceman Blake Gustafson and centre Josh Pillar.
One of the decisions the Blades had to make was in between the pipes. Did they want to return two goalies in their 19-year-old seasons in Austin Elliott and Ethan Chadwick?
The two netminders rotated starts for pretty much the entire campaign last season. Elliott appeared in 37 regular season games in 2022-23 posting a 25-6-3 record, a 2.20 goals against average, a .911 save percentage and two shutouts. He was named a second team WHL East Division all-star and was named to the CHL’s all-rookie team.
Chadwick appeared in 34 regular season contests in 2022-23 posting a 23-9-2 record, a 2.61 goals against average, a .899 save percentage and two shutouts.
On May 11, the Blades traded Chadwick to the Everett Silvertips for a second round selection in the WHL Prospects Draft that was held that day and originally belonged to the Kamloops Blazers and a fourth round pick in the 2025 Prospects Draft. Saskatoon used the second round selection to pick 15-year-old netminder Ryley Budd, who played with his hometown Calgary Northstars Under-15 AAA team last season.
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| The Blades traded Conner Roulette to the Chiefs on May 31. |
With that move, Elliott will likely be the Blades starter next season and a younger goalie in their system will be an apprentice backup. Chadwick will have a good shot to be the Silvertips start for the upcoming campaign.
After trading Chadwick, the Blades started to narrow down the players that could take the three 20-year-old spots they are allowed on their roster. Upon being eliminated from the 2023 WHL Playoffs, the Blades had seven potential players that could fill those 20-year-old spots.
On May 31, they dealt right-winger Conner Roulette to the Spokane Chiefs for a second round selection in the 2024 Prospects Draft and a third round pick in the 2027 Prospects Draft. Appearing in 60 regular season games in 2022-23 with the Blades, Roulette collected 24 goals and 38 assists for 62 points to go with a plus-19 rating in the plus-minus department.
On June 3, the Blades traded rugged right-winger Justin Lies to the Victoria Royals for a conditional third round selection in the 2026 Prospects Draft. Lies appeared in 56 regular season contests for the Blade in 2022-23 posting career highs in goals (nine), assists (14), points (23) and plus-minus (plus-six).
Having completed those two moves, the Blades are down to five potential players who could fill their three 20-year-old spots. Out of that group, left-winger Jake Chiasson has a signed three- year NHL entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers and could potentially be assigned to one of the Oilers’ minor professional affiliates.
Chiasson played 70 regular season games in 2022-23 split between the Blades and the Brandon Wheat Kings posting 20 goals and 38 assists. The Blades acquired Chiasson in a trade on January 10.
If Chiasson is assigned in the Oilers system, the Blades would be down to four potential players that could fill their three 20-year-old spots. Skilled centre Trevor Wong is highly likely to fill one of those spots as he topped the Blades in regular season scoring in 2022-23 posting 86 points coming off 27 goals and 59 assists to go with a plus-23 rating appearing in all the club’s 68 regular season contests.
Defenceman Charlie Wright seems like a solid choice to fill a second 20-year-old spot. Appearing in 66 regular season contests with the Blades in 2022-23, Wright posted career highs in goals (eight), assists (32), points (40) and plus-minus (plus-33).
That would leave the third spot to go to either centre Jayden Wiens or utility player Spencer Shugrue, who are both popular in the Blades dressing room. Wiens battled an injury during the regular season being limited to 42 games, where he posted 17 goals, 10 assists and a plus-one rating.
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| The Blades dealt Ethan Chadwick to the Silvertips on May 11. |
In the 2023 WHL Playoffs, Shugrue earned the nickname “Mr. Game 7” for his heroics in the team’s two Game 7 victories over Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats and the Rebels collecting three goals and an assist in those clutch performances.
Unless a deal comes up the Blades can’t turn down, they will likely sit on their 20-year-old situation as is until training camp comes around.
With all that noted, they’ve done well to find good potential landing spots for Chadwick, Roulette and Lies for the upcoming campaign.
Valkyries receive bye in WWCFL playoffs,
other notes
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| QB Alex Eyolfson (#15) and her Valkyries had this weekend off. |
This past Tuesday, the Valkyries, who topped the WWCFL’s Prairie Conference with a 4-0 record, were informed the Winnipeg Wolfpack, who were 0-4 in the regular season, were forfeiting their WWCFL quarter-final to the Saskatoon powerhouse squad. The Wolfpack also forfeited a quarter-final contest last season to the Valkyries, who advanced on to win their seventh WWCFL championship.
The Valkyries and Wolfpack met in a regular season contest on May 28 at Saskatoon Minor Football Field. Saskatoon blanked Winnipeg 59-0 in a game that was called at halftime due to injuries that had piled up for the Wolfpack.
The Valkyries weren’t the only squad to advance in the WWCFL post-season thanks to a forfeit win. This past Thursday, the Lethbridge Steel, who were 0-4 in the regular season, informed the Edmonton Storm, who were 2-1 in the regular season, they were forfeiting their quarter-final contest to club from the Alberta capital. That contest had originally been scheduled for a 2 p.m. local start in Edmonton on Saturday.
With the forfeit win, the Storm advance to the WWCFL’s Western Conference Championship game to take on the Calgary Rage, who posted a 3-0 record in the regular season. This contest will be played on either Saturday, June 17 or Sunday, June 18 in Calgary at a place and time to be announced.
The Storm and Rage met once in the regular season with the Rage pulling out a 33-14 victory way back on April 29 in Calgary. The two sides were to have played on May 20 in Edmonton, but that contest was outright cancelled due to heavy smoke from the wildfires burning all over Western Canada.
The only quarter-final game that was played came on Saturday as the Winnipeg-based Manitoba Fearless traveled to Regina to face the Riot at Mosaic Stadium. Both squads were 2-2 in regular season play.
The Riot downed the Fearless 26-13 to advance to play the Valkyries in the WWCFL’s Prairie Conference Championship game. That contest will be played at Saskatoon Minor Football Field on either Saturday, June 17 or Sunday, June 18 at a time to be announced.
The Valkyries head into that contest having won their last 25 games overall including two forfeit victories. Saskatoon’s last loss came seemingly a lifetime ago back on June 24, 2018 falling 14-10 in the WWCFL Championship Game to the Riot in Regina at Mosaic Stadium.
This year’s WWCFL Championship Game will be hosted in Saskatoon on Saturday, June 24 at 2 p.m. at Griffiths Stadium. The Valkyries need to beat the Riot in the Prairie Conference final in order to play in the WWCFL final as the host squad.
- On Thursday, the junior A Battlefords North Stars, who are the defending SJHL champions, announced they had signed head coach and general manager Brayden Klimosko, who is 35-years-old, to a five-year contract extension. Klimosko joined the North Stars before the start of the 2018-19 campaign as head coach and took on duties as the general manager before the start of the 2019-20 campaign. This past season, the North Stars top the SJHL regular season standings with an impressive 48-5-2-1 record. They rolled through the SJHL Playoffs posting a 12-1 record to claim the league championship and advance to the national junior A Centennial Cup Championship Tournament in Portage la Prairie, Man. The North Stars advanced to the title game of the Centennial Cup tournament falling to the Alberta-based Brooks Bandits 4-0. The Bandits have won the Centennial Cup the last three times it has been awarded.
- On Thursday, Rob Vanstone received his Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal for his extraordinary leadership and service to local sports. Vanstone had worked full-time for the Regina Leader-Post as a sports writer and columnist from late July 1987 to this past February. He left the Leader-Post to join the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders as their Senior Journalist and Historian. When it comes to the sports scene in Regina, Vanstone has covered it all. His stories on minor sports were as good as the ones he would produce on the Roughriders and WHL’s Regina Pats. The effort he gave to all the stories and columns he wrote was outstanding. He was a deserving recipient of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal.
- On June 9, I had new content appear on the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a piece on Callie Steen, who is a rising star in track and field. Steen is finishing up her Grade 12 year at Hanley Composite School in Hanley, Sask., and she has committed to join the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks Women’s Track and Field team in the NCAA Division I ranks this fall. The piece on Steen can be found by clicking right here. I also put together a photo roundup that shows the track and field season in top gear and the spring season at the Complex rolling on. That post can be found by clicking right here.
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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