Blades, Warriors series has some underlying fan angst

The Blades and Warriors have played an outstanding series.

MOOSE JAW, Sask. – Some fans of the Saskatoon Blades and Moose Jaw Warriors mirror Peyton Manning in the AFL Championship game from the NFL’s 2006 season.

That NFL conference title match featured Manning’s Indianapolis Colts taking on the visiting New England Patriots quarterbacked by Tom Brady. At that point in time, Brady had three Super Bowl rings and had never lost to Manning and the Colts in the post-season. Manning had yet to quarterback a team to a Super Bowl title.

With a minute remaining in the game, Colts running back Joseph Addai scored a touchdown on a three-yard run to put Indianapolis up 38-34 with one minute remaining in the contest.

Manning feared too much time was left on the clock for Brady. After the Colts scored to go ahead, Manning actually said a prayer to God asking for this one time that Brady doesn’t make game-winning drive for the Patriots. Brady ultimately was intercepted on the Patriots final drive and the Colts won the contest 38-34 and would go on to triumph in Super Bowl XLI.

Currently in the 2024 WHL Playoffs, the Blades and Warriors are going at it in the league’s best-of-seven Eastern Conference Championship Series. The Blades lead the series 3-2 and four of those contests having gone to overtime.

Game 6 is set for Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre in Moose Jaw. Over the first five games of the set, the Blades and Warriors have been playing arguably one of the greatest post-season series the WHL has ever seen.

With that said, there seems to be an underlying feeling of angst among some of the fans of both teams. The angst comes from the fact both teams are searching for their first WHL title and Memorial Cup title, which goes to the CHL champion.

Fans at the SaskTel Centre cheer on the Blades.

The Blades were formed in 1964 and were a charter member of the WHL in 1966. In their history, the Blades have never won a league championship or a Memorial Cup.

The Blades have appeared in the WHL final five times and have come away empty handed on each trip. In the those five trips, the Blades went to a series deciding Game 7 with the set locked in a 3-3 tie and weren’t able to bring a WHL title to Saskatoon.

The Blades made the 1989 title game of the Memorial Cup tournament as the host team and fell 4-3 in overtime to the Swift Current Broncos with Tim Tisdale scoring the winning goal for “Speedy Creek.”

The Warriors franchise played in Winnipeg for four seasons before moving to Moose Jaw in 1984. They Warriors have never won a WHL title or a Memorial Cup title. The franchise’s only appearance in the WHL final came in 2006, when they were swept away by the Vancouver Giants.

A previous Moose Jaw entry in the WHL in the Canucks won the league title in the circuit’s inaugural season in 1966-67.

Fans of both the Blades and Warriors are hoping that 2024 will finally be the one time their team wins one or both the WHL title or the Memorial Title to become CHL champions. When something goes wrong for either side, some fans go through a doomed reaction reflecting on being empty handed when it comes to WHL and Memorial Cup titles.

For the Blades, they have a lot of newer fans and have attracted a lot families with kids to their games thanks to ground work of getting into the community including through elementary school visits and being guest coaches for minor hockey teams. 

Fans at the Moose Jaw Civic Centre cheer on the Warriors.

The kids in those families have greatest time in the world at the Blades home rink in the SaskTel Centre, and the parents are usually pleased their kids are having a good experience.

No matter what happens in the post-season, that group of fans will see the playoff run as being memorable.

The Blades also have legacy fans too who have supported the team for decades. Some of those fans have a higher chance of basing their happiness about the season around the Blades winning one or both the WHL and Memorial Cup titles.

There are legacy fans that will be positive for the Blades no matter what ups and downs come the club’s way. Still, those fans really deep down hope 2024 will be the one time the Blades pull it all out.

The Warriors are an institution in Moose Jaw. It feels like everyone in “the Friendly City” is a legacy Warriors fan.

From 1984 to 2000, the Warriors kind of almost had a lovable loser image similar to that of the MLB’s Chicago Cubs, which the Cubs carried for a lengthy stretch. Over the span of time, the Warriors posted winning records on just four occasions.

Despite that, their legendary former home in the Moose Jaw Civic Centre, which was best known as “The Crushed Can,” was packed with a raucous bunch of supporters. When you played the Warriors at “The Crushed Can,” you were playing against the Warriors and their fans. The noise the fans made came at opposing teams with force.

Kalem Parker (#8) is checked by Fraser Minten.

You also had to form an admiration on some level for Warriors fans, because the losing seemingly wouldn’t drive them away for long. If they did go away, they came back to “The Crushed Can” when just even the smallest positive thing happened for the team. You wondered what Moose Jaw would look like if the Warriors did manage to win WHL and Memorial Cup titles.

Since the start of the 2000-01 campaign, the Warriors have been one of the WHL’s better franchises and at times they have been one of the circuit’s elite franchises. 

They moved into a new home in the Moose Jaw Events Centre at the start of the 2011-12 campaign and finished first in the WHL’s regular season standings in 2017-18 with a 52-15-2-3 mark.

The championship still didn’t come in the post-season.

While the hockey between the Blades and Warriors in this year’s Eastern Conference Championship Series has been beyond epic, some fans will seemingly be bothered or take it too hard when their team doesn’t win. The most visible sign of being bothered usually manifests in blaming losses on the officials.

At times, it seems like the fans on both teams and bond over their shared belief the officials can’t do anything right. With that said, you have to respect the passion the fans have.

Due to the fact the Blades and Warriors are searching for their first WHL and Memorial Cup titles, fans on both sides likely believe their team will win this series, because they are not facing someone with a winning pedigree.

The Blades press around the Warriors net.

Had the Medicine Hat Tigers been made it to the Eastern Conference final and managed to take a 3-2 lead on either the Blades or Warriors, some fans of either the Blades or Warriors would be certain the Tigers would close out the series, because they’ve won the WHL title five times and captured the Memorial Cup on two occasions. There would be a feeling teams like the Tigers are destined for those accomplishments and teams like the Blades and Warriors are not.

Honestly, you hope the fans of the Blades and Warriors get to see their teams win WHL and Memorial Cup titles one day. At the moment, those clubs are giving an incredible show.

No matter who wins this series, hopefully the fans on the winning side will have empathy for the fans on the losing side. They might not be mirror images of each other, but the fans of the Blades and Warrior do share a lot of commonalities.

Cougars have new life in Western Conference final

Keaton Dowhaniuk scored for the Cougars on Thursday.

The heavyweight showdown between the Prince George Cougars and Portland Winterhawks is back on in the WHL’s Western Conference Championship Series.

For a moment, it looked like the Winterhawks were going to skate away with a series victory. Due to the lengthy travel between Prince George and Portland, the series is being conducted in a two-three-two format.

The Cougars finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 49-15-1-3 mark, while the Winterhawks were third overall in the WHL’s regular season with a 48-15-4-1 record. That meant the Cougars would host the first two games and the final two contests of the series.

After the two sides split Games 1 and 2 in Prince George, it appeared the Winterhawks home ice advantage would be too much for the Cougars to overcome. Last Monday, the Winterhawks took Game 3 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland 4-1.

The Winterhawks followed that up claiming a 5-2 victory to take Game 4 of the series on home ice last Wednesday along with a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. It seemed like it was academic the Winterhawks would take Game 5 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum last Thursday.

At the 7:03 mark of the first period of Game 5, 20-year-old star centre Gabe Klassen scored to give the Winterhawks a 1-0 lead. It appeared at that point the party was going to be on in Portland. Since the Winterhawks moved to Portland on June 11, 1976, they have won three WHL titles and two Memorial Cup crowns becoming CHL champions.

Riley Heidt and the Cougars have new life in the post-season.

After Klassen’s goal, the Cougars proceeded to play their best game of the post-season. Cougars skilled 19-year-old right-winger Koehn Ziemmer scored twice before the first period ended to give Prince George a 2-1 lead.

Hunter Laing added a single in the second period to push the Cougars edge out to 3-1. Ondrej Becher, Borya Valis and Keaton Dowhaniuk added singles for the visitors in the third to round out an impressive 6-1 victory. Valis’s tally came on a penalty shot.

Joshua Ravensbergen stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Cougars. Jan Spunar turned away 31 shots to take the setback in net for the Winterhawks.

The Cougars romped to victory in Game 5 with their two biggest stars in Riley Heidt and Zac Funk being held pointless.

With the next two games of the series set for the CN Centre in Prince George, the Western Conference title is up for the taking. Game 6 is slated for Monday at 7 p.m. local time at the CN Centre. If the Cougars win Game 6, a series deciding Game 7 will be held on Tuesday at 7 p.m. local time at the CN Centre.

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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