Sonne smashes down hammer, Blades roar to 3-2 win

Blades HC Brennan Sonne instructs his player on Saturday.

Brennan Sonne was mad as hell, and he wasn’t going to take it anymore.

The Saskatoon Blades head coach was not happy with the performance of his team early in their WHL regular season clash with their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday night. Just 29 seconds into the contest, Raiders 19-year-old right winger Niall Crocker scored a gritty goal from the front of the Saskatoon net to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

At the 6:28 mark of the first, Blades import star right-winger Egor Sidorov took an interference penalty when he picked Raiders standout defensive-defenceman Terrell Goldsmith with a shoulder check that sent the 18-year-old regard to the ice. When the officials gave that interference minor to Sidorov, the stoppage for the infraction allowed the first media timeout of the opening frame to be held. The Blades were holding a 4-2 edge in shots on goal at that point in the contest.

The Raiders enjoy a Niall Crocker goal 29 seconds into the game.

During media timeout, Sonne ripped into his team with the riot act tearing into them for a subpar effort to that point. Sonne’s tirade could be heard echoing through the SaskTel Centre for all of the 5,650 spectators in attendance to hear.

Also added to the frustration was the fact the Blades fell 5-4 to the Raiders after a tiebreaking shootout one night earlier at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert. The Blades held a 4-2 lead and a 28-11 edge in shots on goal in that contest before the Raiders rallied back to claim victory.

When Sonne was blasting his players on Saturday during that first media timeout, all the Blades skaters were gathered around their coach listening intently. The bench boss’s message was received.

Niall Crocker gave the Raiders an early 1-0 lead on Saturday.

From that point onward, the Blades proceeded to outscore the Raiders 3-1 to claim a 3-2 victory and the host side held 29-7 edge in shots on goal for a final shots on goal advantage of 33-9. Had it not been for a spectacular 30 save performance from Raiders star goaltender Max Hildebrand, the final outcome on the scoreboard might have been worse.

When the dust settled, the rivalry between the two sides had cranked up to a higher intensity level. Both sides threw some hard hits at each other that borderline could have had worse results had they been closer to the boards.

Overall, Sonne’s tirade showed there are still times when a coach can still go off on his players over a lack of effort and the players still respond. The Blades, who are rated second in the CHL Top 10 Rankings, improved to 32-9-2-3, and they continue to lead the WHL’s overall standings.

Easton Armstrong scored for the Blades to force a 1-1 tie.

Public displays where Sonne went off on his players like he did during the first media timeout in the first period on Saturday are rare. Sonne, who was last season’s WHL coach of the year, is an intense coach and his passion can be visible.

He is also a coach who is very under control and is continually learning, which is why the Blades were 38-26-3-1 in his first season with the team in 2021-22 and 48-13-4-3 in his second campaign with the club last season. The Blades advanced to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series in 2022-23 falling in a series sweep to the Winnipeg Ice.

After Sonne laid down the law during the first media break in the opening frame on Saturday, the Blades proceeded to get the Raiders pinned in their own zone. They got a pair of power plays just after the 10-minute mark of the opening frame and fired a barrage of shots at the Prince Albert net, which were turned away by Hildebrand with some assistance from some scrambling Raiders defencemen.

A scene from one of a number of scrums on Saturday night.

Despite all the pressure from the hosts, the Blades didn’t crack on to the scoreboard until there was 1:48 remaining in the frame. With the Blades again applying pressure in the Prince Albert zone, Saskatoon 20-year-old defenceman Charlie Wright fired a shot from the point that was deflected home by star left-winger Easton Armstrong to even the score at 1-1. The tally was Armstrong’s 24^th goal of the season as he skates though his final campaign of major junior eligibility.

The two sides went into the first intermission locked in a 1-1 tie with the Blades holding a 15-3 edge in shots on goal.

The Blades and Raiders engage in a battle on the boards.

The Blades express continued to roll in the second period holding a 15-2 edge in shots on goal, but it looked like their train was going to be derailed by a brick wall in Hildebrand until near the end of the frame.

With 90 seconds remaining in the second, Blades offensive-defenceman Tanner Molendyk blew home a point shot through a screen with his team working on the power play to give the hosts a 2-1 lead. 

Blades star 19-year-old left-winger Brandon Lisowsky recorded his 200^th career WHL regular season point picking up an assist on Molendyk’s tally.

In 205 career WHL regular season games, Lisowsky, who was selected in the seventh round and 218^th overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs, has recorded his 200 points on 107 goals and 93 assists to go with a plus-46 rating in the plus-minus department.

Tanner Molendyk gave the Blades a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal.

Early in the third, the pot likely got stirred between the two sides with a moment that will be remembered in their final three regular season meetings. At the 1:41 mark of the third with teams playing four-versus-four hockey due to offsetting penalties, Sidorov blew into the Prince Albert zone and wired a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle for his 36^th goal of the season to increase the Blades advantage to 3-1.

Following the tally, Sidorov skated around the Prince Albert goal and proceeded to do a chicken dance celebration looking straight at Hildebrand. After the Raiders beat the Blades on Friday night in Prince Albert, Hildebrand did a chicken dance celebration at the end of the game to celebrate victory after making the final stop in the tiebreaking shootout. 

Max Hildebrand covers up to make one of his 30 saves.

The Raiders were playing that game as a one night rebrand as the Cobra Chickens.

After the Blades went ahead 3-1, the contest got a lot more tight in the checking department. The Raiders held a slim 4-3 advantage in shots on goal in the third.

With the 3:18 remaining in the third and the Blades working on a power play, Raiders star left-winger Sloan Stanick stole the puck from the Blades back end at the Prince Albert blue-line. 

Stanick jetted down the ice on a breakaway and roofed a short-handed goal past Blades netminder Austin Elliott to cut the Saskatoon lead to 3-2. 

Egor Sidorov (#19) does a chicken dance celly after his goal.

The tally was the first short-handed goal the Raiders had scored as a team on the season.

While the Blades had controlled play for almost the game’s entirety, there was still a realistic chance the Raiders could rally back and steal away victory. 

After Hildebrand was pulled for an extra attacker, the visitors applied pressure in the Saskatoon zone, but were never able to find the equalizer. The Blades shut things down defensively to get the win.

Elliott stopped seven shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades.

Sidorov was given a 10-minute misconduct at the end of the game for an unsportsmanlike engagement with the Prince Albert side.

Sloan Stanick scored a short-handed goal for the Raiders.

The Raiders fell to 20-23-1-3 with the loss and remained tied with the 19-18-5-1 Calgary Hitmen for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with 44 standings points. The Hitmen have four games in hand on the Raiders.

The Blades return to action on Sunday when they host the 22-18-2-2 Swift Current Broncos (4 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Raiders get back at it on Wednesday when they return home to host the Red Deer Rebels (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades celebrate their win on Saturday.

In Saturday’s clash between the Blades and Raiders, the game’s turning point came when Sonne blasted his players during the first media timeout in the first period. When used with the correct timing, a coach going off and public yelling out his players can still create a favourable outcome.

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