Sidorov delivers for family in Blades 4-2 victory

Import RW gets hat trick and assist in win over Rebels

The celebrate a first period goal from Egor Sidorov (#19).

Egor Sidorov has come up with many clutch performances for the Saskatoon Blades, but there was a little bit of a special extra feeling with his play on Friday night.

When the Blades took the ice before 3,758 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, Sidorov, who is now in his third season in the WHL, would be playing for the first time with his parents in the building during his time on the circuit. Sidorov’s parents flew out from Belarus and sat with his billet family in Saskatoon for the Blades WHL regular season contest with the Red Deer Rebels.

The 19-year-old skilled right-winger came through with a hat trick and an assist to go with a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department to power the Blades to a 4-2 victory. Sidorov was named the game’s first star.

Egor Sidorov had a hat trick and an assist on Friday.

When he came out for the first star recognition where the Blades players toss souvenir sticks to the home faithful, Sidorov skated right to where his parents, extended family and friends were and ensured they got the souvenir stick he tossed into the crowd.

In the postgame media scrum, Sidorov delivered a message for his parents in Belarusian and followed up by proceeding to say what that message was in English.

“I said thank you for everything, for your support and I’m happy you guys came to Canada and support me here,” said Sidorov, who was selected in the third round and 85^th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the NHL Entry Draft held this past June. “I love them so much.”

Some of Egor Sidorov’s family, extended family and friends.

Sidorov, who stands 6-feet and weighs 180 pounds, came over from Belarus and joined the Blades as a 17-year-old rookie at the start of the 2021-22 campaign. Life plans changed for Sidorov due to Russia’s war with Ukraine that started on February 24, 2022, which saw Belarus face sanctions due to supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Due to the instability that existed back home, Sidorov elected to remain in Saskatoon during the off-season and live with his billet family. With the Blades as a rookie in 2021-22, Sidorov appeared in 58 regular season games posting 23 goals, 12 assists and a minus-two rating. While he had strong statistics for a 17-year-old rookie, Sidorov went unselected in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.

Egor Sidorov, right, is presented a player of the month award.

As an 18-year-old sophomore in 2022-23, Sidorov blossomed into one of the WHL’s elite players. He appeared in 53 regular season games collecting 40 goals, 36 assists and a plus-25 rating.

Sidorov played a big role in helping the Blades finish fourth overall in the WHL with a 48-15-4-1 record. In the post-season, Sidorov came up with numerous clutch performances in helping the Blades advance to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series for the first time since 1994. Appearing in 16 playoff contests, Sidorov posted nine goals, 10 assists and a plus-three rating.

His stellar play and improvement resulted in him being selected in the third round by the Ducks in the NHL Entry Draft held this past June. After having a good showing at the Ducks rookie and main training camps in September, Sidorov was returned to the Blades for his third WHL campaign.

Egor Sidorov has 28 goals and 11 assists in 27 games.

With his big outing on Friday, Sidorov now has 28 goals, 11 assists and a plus-nine rating in 27 games. The four-point outing allowed him to hit another milestone. Sidorov now has 150 career points in the WHL coming off 91 goals and 59 assists in 138 regular season games.

Since the start of the war between Russia and the Ukraine, Sidorov finally was able to go back to Belarus this past summer, and his parents hadn’t been able to get out to Canada until arriving in Saskatoon on Monday. While Sidorov had a great outing personally, he was pumped his team could get the win with his parents seeing him play live for the first time in the WHL.

The Blades celebrate a second goal from Egor Sidorov (#19).

“It is nice we win,” said Sidorov, whose Blades have won four straight games. “It doesn’t matter how many I score.

“That is good we win. That is very nice when our parents watch that. I am really happy.”

Before the opening faceoff of Friday’s game, Sidorov accepted an award as the Blades player of the month for November.

Once the puck was dropped, he proceeded to open the game’s scoring at the 7:58 mark of the first period. Positioned by the right side of the Red Deer net, Sidorov received a slick backhanded pass from star centre Fraser Minten and popped the puck into the empty side of the cage to give the Blades a 1-0 edge.

Trevor Wong had a goal and two assists for the Blades.

Minten was recently acquired by the Blades in a trade with the Kamloops Blazers and made his home debut with the Blades in Friday’s win.

The Blades proceeded to control play after Sidorov’s first goal of the contest, but momentum swung to the side of the visitors shortly before the first intermission. With 2:16 remaining in the first and working on the power play, Rebels Czech import centre Samuel Drancak wired home a shot near the top of the left faceoff circle to even the score at 1-1.

The hosts proceeded to jump back in front 2-1 with a vintage Sidorov power-play goal coming at the 6:14 mark of the second period. Positioned in the right slot, Sidorov one-timed home a smooth setup pass from Blades star offensive-defenceman Tanner Molendyk for his second goal of the night.

Samuel Drancak had a pair of goals for the Rebels on Friday.

The Blades hit a bump at the 11:58 mark of the second, when left-winger Easton Armstrong was given a double minor for boarding due to a hit he threw on Rebels defenceman Jace Weir. The offence will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension. The Blades killed off the double minor.

Red Deer is known for never giving up, and the Rebels battled back to even the score at 2-2 with 8:17 remaining in the third. Working on the power play, Rebels import right-winger Frantisek Formanek had the puck down low at the left side of the Saskatoon goal.

Formanek passed the puck across the face of the net to Drancak, who popped home his second tally of the game for his second equalizer of the contest. Momentum wouldn’t stay on the visitor’s side for long.

Tanner Molendyk had an assist for the Blades on Friday.

Just 1:45 later, Sidorov had the puck going on a rush in the Red Deer zone. He slipped a smart pass through the Rebels defence that allowed Blades 20-year-old captain Trevor Wong to head to the Red Deer net on a breakaway.

The star centre popped the eventual winning goal to the top left corner of the Rebels net to give the Blades a 3-2 lead.

After the Rebels pulled netminder Rhett Stoesser for an extra attacker, Sidorov was able to complete his hat trick. With 6.7 seconds remaining in third, Sidorov fired a puck from the front of his bench into the vacated Red Deer goal for his third tally of the night that round out the 4-2 final score in the Blades favour.

The Blades celebrate a hat trick goal from Egor Sidorov (#19).

Sidorov was wiped out by a Rebels checker on his final shot, but the hit wasn’t able to prevent the hat trick goal from being scored. After the puck went into the Red Deer net, Sidorov was helped to his feet by his teammates, and the goal celebration included a number of hugs as hats rained down on to the ice surface. 

It all wrote a great conclusion for a storybook night for Sidorov.

Austin Elliott stopped 17 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who continue to top the Eastern Conference with a 20-8-1 mark. Stoesser turned away 20 of 23 shots to take the setback in net for the Rebels, who fell to 13-12-0-3.

Wong has a pair of assists to go with his goal along with a plus-two rating.

The Blades return to action on Saturday when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the Warriors (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre).

Egor Sidorov sets to throw a souvenir stick to his family.

The Rebels also get back at it on Saturday traveling to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

Overall, Friday night belonged to Sidorov and his family. During his time in Saskatoon, Sidorov has become the Blades best big game player. His latest big game had a fairytale feel to it with his parents on hand to see him play for the first time as a member of the Blades.

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