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| Rowan Calvert (#23) celebrates his second period goal on Friday. |
In the current 2023-24 WHL campaign, opposing teams have to hang on tight when they visit the SaskTel Centre and hope they can stay close to the host Blades. As the Blades have jetted to the top of the WHL standings, they have done so by posting an almost near perfect record at home.
On Friday playing before 5,058 spectators on home ice, the Blades dumped their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders 6-1. The two clubs were tied 1-1 after 20 minutes before the Blades pulled away taking a 3-1 edge into the second intermission and pouring in the final three tallies of the contest in the third.
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| Fraser Minten had one goal and two assists for the Blades. |
“The Bridge City Bunch” have won their last 12 straight games at home. The Blades last home loss came back on December 16, 2023, when they dropped a 5-4 decision in overtime to the Kelowna Rockets.
Saskatoon’s record has been solid on the road too. The Blades, who are rated first in the CHL Top 10 Rankings, are 15-8-1-3 away from the SaskTel Centre.
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| Raiders goalie Max Hildebrand sprawls to make a save. |
Once upon a time, the notion of the Blades having a home ice advantage was passed off. In most seasons, the Blades average around 4,500 at the SaskTel Centre, which has an NHL sized capacity.
The maximum attendance the Blades can hold at home is 14,768. They achieved that attendance between the regular season and playoffs last season on three occasions, when they hosted phenom centre Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats.
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| Alexander Suzdalev set up the Blades winning goal. |
As far as the mid-sized Alberta centres go, it feels like the fans are a force for the Hurricanes at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge, and aura of the Sutter family gives the Red Deer Rebels an edge in the Peavey Mart Centrium. Co-op Place in Medicine Hat can be a tough building to play in when a full house backs the Tigers, but it still doesn’t feel like it gives the edge the Tigers had in their old historic storied for their first 45 seasons in The Arena.
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| Rowan Calvert scored the winning goal for the Blades on Friday. |
The Blades are averaging 4,917 spectators per game over their first 25 home days this season, which is the fourth best average home attendance in the WHL. The Blades have been great at attracting the young fans of child age that drag their parents along to games.
The youngsters create an excited youthful energy in the Blades home rink, which has been really positive for the team. Parents in Saskatoon are learning that if you bring your children to a Blades game it will be a great night out. It also helps the Blades win seemingly every night out too.
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| Turner McMillen (#27) scored short-handed for the Raiders. |
Later on in the frame, Blades import star right-winger Alexander Suzdalev tried to make all the highlight reels scoring on a Michigan shot, but he was turned away by Raiders star netminder Max Hildebrand.
With 1:26 remaining in the opening frame, the Raiders got a big traction moment while on the penalty kill. The visitors sprung overage centre Turner McMillen, who turned 21-years-old in late January, on a breakaway. On the short-handed breakaway, McMillen went forehand to backhand and put his sixth of the season past Blades netminder Evan Gardner to even the score at 1-1.
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| Tanner Molendyk had a goal and an assist for the Blades. |
Following that tally, Blades star 19-year-old centre Fraser Minten proceeded to show why he is one of the WHL’s elite players. With 5:40 remaining in the second, Minten drove hard down the left wing on a rush, blew by a Raiders defenceman and put a backhand shot past Raiders netminder Max Hildebrand to push the Saskatoon lead out to 3-1.
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| The Blades enjoy a short-handed goal from Tyler Parr (#20). |
He fed a pass across the front of the Raiders net to winger Tyler Parr, who jetted into the offensive zone down the right wing. Parr made no mistake in burying his 10th of the season to give the Blades a 4-1 lead. Just 55 seconds later, left-winger Rhett Melnyk scored for the Blades, and Misha Volotovskii followed with a single for the hosts to round out the game’s scoring.
Hildebrand turned away 31 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders. Gardner stopped 19 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades.
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| Rhett Melnyk scored for the Blades on Friday. |
The Raiders fell to 23-25-1-3 with the setback to sit ninth in the Eastern Conference they are one standings point back of the Hurricanes and the Calgary Hitmen from moving into a playoff position. The Hurricanes sit seventh in the conference with a 24-23-3 mark, while the Hitmen are eighth in the conference with a 22-20-6-1 record.
Last season, the Blades posted a 25-6-3 record at home, and the odds are high they will surpass that win total. Due to the fact they will play 34 regular season games at home, they won’t get to the WHL record for most wins at home during the regular season.
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| Brandon Lisowsky circles with the puck for the Blades. |
Last season, the Winnipeg Ice had the WHL’s best home record while hosting 34 regular season home games at 30-3-1.
For now in Saskatoon, the faithful in “Blades City” will have to wait a little bit before seeing their team play at home again. The Blades play their next four games on the road starting on Saturday when they travel to Swift Current to take on the 26-18-4-2 Broncos (7 p.m., InnovationPlex).
The Raiders get back at it on Saturday when they return home to host the 26-19-5-1 Brandon Wheat Kings (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).
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| The Blades celebrate their win on Friday. |
At the moment for Blades fans, every home game is a memorable one.
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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