Blades boot Raiders from first round of WHL Playoffs

Rebels up next for rematch from 2023 post-season

The Blades celebrate an empty-net goal from Trevor Wong (#38).

The Saskatoon Blades delivered a big blow with an early surge of goals their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders couldn’t recover from.

Now, “the Bridge City Bunch” will meet another post-season foe they achieved a historical accomplishment against a year ago.

On Friday before 9,869 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades downed the Raiders 6-2 in Game 5 of their best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs. With the win, the Blades take the set 4-1.

The Blades advance to face the Red Deer Rebels in a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Rebels closed out their best-of-seven first round series with a 5-2 victory over the Tigers in Medicine Hat in Game 5 of that set on Friday.

Brandon Lisowsky scored the Blades first goal on Friday.

In the 2023 playoffs, the Blades and Raiders went at it in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal. The Rebels won the first three games of the series, but the Blades claimed the last four games of the set to take the series 4-3. In the process, Saskatoon became just the third team in the history of the WHL to comeback from a 3-0 series deficit to win a series.

As for the series that just wrapped up between the Blades and Raiders, Blades head coach Brennan Sonne appreciated the unique aspect of going against the Raiders for the first time in the post-season as Saskatoon’s bench boss.

“The game on the ice itself was very gritty,” said Sonne. “I really enjoyed the fandom.

Ben Saunderson (#2) reacts to scoring the Blades second goal.

“I love the crowds we got. I enjoyed even the crowds they had. It felt like a real true playoff series.

“I really enjoyed it. I hope the fans enjoyed to, because their support was phenomenal. In both buildings, it was great.”

Entering the first round series between Saskatoon and Prince Albert, the Blades came into the set as heavy favourites. They finished first overall in the WHL’s regular season with a 50-13-2-3 record and were rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings. The Raiders entered the WHL Playoffs as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 31-32-2-3 mark.

With the difference in the standings noted, Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt liked the compete level his club displayed against the Blades.

Alexander Suzdalev scored the Blades third goal.

“If you take a look at the series, you are up against a tremendously talented team,” said Truitt. “You always go into every playoff series believing you can win, because the slate is clean.

“As the games go on, you have to tweak and see what they’re doing and what you’re doing. We played to our capabilities. We win one game.

“We lose one in overtime. A couple of them were a little bit more distanced, but I won’t fault our guys for anything on their effort. They played hard.”

As for Friday’s clash itself, the Raiders came out and got the first three shots on goal in the contest. At that point, momentum jumped on the side of the Blades in a big way as they surged ahead 4-0.

Fraser Minten scored the Blades fourth goal on Friday.

At the 3:24 mark of the opening frame, Blades star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky jumped on a mishandled puck by a Raiders defenceman in the Prince Albert zone. Lisowsky proceeded to wire a shot from the left faceoff circle through Raiders star netminder Max Hildebrand for his first of the post-season to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. The tally came on the Blades second shot of the game.

During the regular season, Lisowsky appeared in all of the Blades 68 games posting career highs in goals (42), assists (38), points (80) and the plus-minus department (plus-26). While he hadn’t scored in the first four games of the series, Lisowsky, who is a 19-year-old veteran, learned that when he went through scoreless stretches in the past not to press but to play like he normally plays when he is on hot stretches.

The fans at the SaskTel Centre cheer on the Blades.

“Obviously as a goal scorer, you want to score and you want to help the team win,” said Lisowsky. “I kind of know just not to grip the stick too tight and not to go anything about being different.

“I try to be myself. I thought our line has been playing really good, and I thought we got rewarded tonight.”

Blades defenceman Ben Saunderson proceeded to convert a backdoor feed at the left side of the Prince Albert net to put the Blades up 2-0 at the 5:57 mark of the opening frame. Saunderson cashed in a beauty setup feed from Blades captain Trevor Wong, who was positioned beside the right faceoff dot. Saunderson’s tally was the Blades third shot on goal of the contest.

Niall Crocker reacts to scoring for the Raiders in the first period.

Just 73 seconds later, Blades star 19-year-old right-winger Alexander Suzdalev tipped home a shot from the point by Lisowsky to push the host side’s advantage out to 3-0.

With 7:24 remaining in the first, Blades star centre Fraser Minten wired a midrange shot home from the Prince Albert goal to cap the surge that put Saskatoon up by four goals. Minten’s tally came on the Blades 10^th shot of the contest.

“It is a nice way to start a game that is for sure instead of chasing it or anything like that,” said Sonne. “Having a big start like that just makes it a lot easier.”

The Blades and Raiders get into some rough stuff on Friday.

The Raiders tried to stop the bleeding. With 5:47 remaining in the first, Raiders right-winger Niall Crocker popped home his third goal of the post-season to cut the Blades lead to 4-1.

With 18.5 seconds left in the first, Blades breakout rookie netminder Evan Gardner was knocked into by Raiders offensive-defenceman Justice Christensen after Christensen was pushed from behind by Blades defenceman Charlie Wright. Christensen was given a minor for goaltender interference on the play.

Gardner was checked by a Blades trainer but stayed in goal for the rest of the frame.

When the teams came out for the start of the second, Austin Elliott came out to take up the goalie spot for the Blades, and Gardner wasn’t on the bench. Gardner stopped 8-of-9 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Ellliott turned away 15-of-16 shots playing the rest of the way in goal in relief for Saskatoon.

Austin Elliott makes one of his 15 saves in goal for the Blades.

Blades star overage left-winger Easton Armstrong also missed the final two periods of the contest. Sonne didn’t have any updates to pass along about either player at game’s end.

Frustration started to boil over at points for the Raiders in the second. With 6:06 remaining in the frame, Raiders import left-winger Krzysztof Macias nailed Blades centre Lukas Hansen with an elbow to the head. Macias was given a major for checking to the head and a game misconduct. The penalty to Macias will trigger an automatic review from the WHL office for a possible suspension to be applied next season.

The Blades were unable to score on the subsequent man advantage.

The Raiders enjoy a goal from Harrison Lodewyk (#29).

Raiders 16-year-old rookie right-winger Luke Moroz was serving Macias’s penalty, and when the infraction expired, Moroz came out of the penalty box and found himself on a breakaway. Lisowsky jetted up ice on the backcheck and poked the puck away from Moroz to prevent a scoring chance.

“I knew the penalty was getting to an end,” said Lisowsky. “I don’t really know how the puck got there.

“I’m going to have to watch it on video. I just saw a guy out of the box. I just wanted to catch him.

“It could have been a different game, if he scored that. It definitely could have been a different game, so I really wanted to get him and kind of show a 200-foot game from myself. I just had my legs, and I was trying to move as fast as I can.”

Trevor Wong scored a goal for the Blades.

With 4:54 remaining in the third, Raiders left-winger Harrison Lodewyk broke into the Saskatoon zone down the right wing, cut wide around the Blades defence to get alone in front of the Saskatoon net and tucked home his first of the post-season. That tally trimmed the Blades lead to 4-2.

“That is the big thing about our club is they will never give up,” said Truitt. “It has been like that all year long.

“We’ve come from behind to win games. We’ve stuck to it when we’ve had to defend. We won some shootout games and things like that.

“We’ve been down three or four goals before this year and have come back. The belief was still there, but we knew it was going to be a challenge. Again, our guys worked and competed right to the end.”

The Blades start celebrating their series win on Friday.

The Blades called a timeout a short time after the tally by Lodewyk. They snuffed out the attempted rally with an empty net goal from Wong with four minutes remaining in the frame to give the Blades a 5-2 advantage.

Wright added a short-handed empty-net goal with 2:11 left in the frame to round out the 6-2 final in favour of the host side. The tally came on the Blades 40^th shot of the contest.

Hildebrand turned away 35-of-39 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders.

While the Blades will face the Rebels in one Eastern Conference semifinal series, the other Eastern Conference semifinal will see the Moose Jaw Warriors take on the Swift Current Broncos in a rivalry clash. 

The Raiders react to their campaign coming to an end.

The Warriors swept the Brandon Wheat Kings in the first round, while the Broncos had the brooms out to take out the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Game 1 of the series between the Blades and Rebels is set for this coming Friday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. Before thinking about what is to come against the Rebels, Sonne wants his club to enjoy the series win against the Raiders and some down time too.

“They hear from me so much they don’t need to hear from me for a day or two for sure,” said Sonne. “For all of us and the staff too, we have to get around our family a little bit too.

Max Hildebrand (#30) and Egor Sidorov (#19) pass on well wishes.

“We have to be human beings a little bit. It is the only way you stay centred and grounded and maintain the perspective you need to be a really good coach. They don’t need to hear from me for a day or two that is for sure.”

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.