Blades down Wheat Kings 3-1, return to top of East Division

Evan Gardner made 33 saves in net for the Blades on Wednesday.

Evan Gardner’s roll has vaulted to Saskatoon Blades back to the top of the WHL’s East Division.

On Wednesday, the star netminder made 33 saves to backstop the Blades to a 3-1 victory in a regular season clash over the host Wheat Kings before 2,902 spectators at Westoba Place in Brandon. Gardner, who turned 19 in January, has won his last six straight starts.

He also signed three-year NHL entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday. The Blue Jackets selected Gardner, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 177 pound, in the second round and 60^th overall in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.

Thanks to his efforts, the Blades, who have won their last three straight games, improved to 37-22-3-4 to return to the top of the East Division. They lead their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders (37-23-5-1) by one standings point and hold a two point edge over the Wheat Kings, who fell to 36-23-4-3. All three of those squads each have two games remaining on their respective regular season schedules.

The Blades and Raiders close their respective regular season playing a home-and-home series against each other. The two sides go at it Friday in Saskatoon (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre) and Saturday in Prince Albert (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The winner of Friday’s encounter will sit first in the East Division heading into action on Saturday. The Blades are expecting to draw over 10,000 spectators for Friday’s clash.

The Wheat Kings conclude their slate with a home-and-home series against the Regina Pats (16-42-5-3). Those two teams play Friday in Brandon (7 p.m. local time, Westoba Place) and Saturday in Regina (6 p.m., Brandt Centre). Brandon needs to win both of those contests to have a chance to finish first in the East Division.

The Wheat Kings have won their respective regular season series with the Blades and Raiders. If Brandon finishes tied in wins and standings points with either or both of Saskatoon and Prince Albert, the Wheat Kings will take the standings tiebreaker in that instance.

Wednesday’s battle between the Blades and Wheat Kings was a fairly tight checking affair. The two sides played through a scoreless opening frame with Blades standout 19-year-old left-winger Rowan Calvert nailing the post with a shot inside the final minute of the stanza.

Early in the second, Wheat Kings 20-year-old star right-winger Marcus Nguyen put a backhand shot off the crossbar of the Saskatoon net.

Saskatoon broke through on the scoreboard at the 8:15 mark of the second. Import rookie left-winger David Lewandowski circled around the right side of the Brandon zone holding off a defender and fired home a shot through a screen to put the visitors up 1-0.

Rowan Calvert scored for the Blades on Wednesday.

With two seconds remaining in the second, Blades import centre Frantisek Day engaged Wheat Kings star 18-year-old centre Roger McQueen in a fight. The bout came about in a clunky manner.

During a scramble on the Saskatoon zone, Day cross-checked McQueen accidentally into Gardner. Day saw McQueen knock Gardner and then went after the Brandon forward.

McQueen was given a fighting major, while Day was given a minor for instigating, a major for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct. Working on that ensuing power play early in the third, Wheat Kings standout 18-year-old centre Jordan Gavin wired a shot off the post.

Once the Brandon power play came to an end, the Blades jumped ahead 2-0 at the 7:19 mark of the third, when Calvert tucked in his 24^th goal of the season with a bad angle shot just above the icing line to the left side of the Wheat Kings net.

The Wheat Kings didn’t go away. With 8:13 remaining in the third, Wheat Kings 20-year-old offensive-defenceman Luke Shipley wired a midrange shot through a screen for his 18^th tally of the campaign to cut the Blades lead to 2-1. Wheat Kings 16-year-old rookie centre Jaxon Jacobson stole the puck working the forecheck deep in the Saskatoon zone, and he got the puck to Gavin. Gavin setup Shipley for his goal-scoring shot.

Inside the final two minutes of the third with Brandon having pulled star 19-year-old netminder Carson Bjarnason for an extra attacker, Shipley wired a shot off the post of the Saskatoon goal.

Just moments after that missed chance, Lewandowski potted a long range empty-net goal from the left side boards beside the faceoff circle in the Saskatoon zone to seal the 3-1 victory for the visiting Blades. That tally was the second of the contest for Lewandowski and his 14^th marker of the campaign.

Bjarnason turned away 24-of-26 shots to take the setback in goal for the Wheat Kings.

Last season, the Blades finished with a 50-13-2-3 mark to top the WHL’s overall standings. In the post-season, the Blades advanced to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series and fell in an epic seven-game set that saw six contests go to overtime to the eventual WHL champion Moose Jaw Warriors.

Going into the current campaign, the Blades weren’t expected to challenge for first in the division. They occupied first place for most of the first half of the regular season.

Leading up the WHL’s trade deadline on January 9, the Blades unloaded stars Brandon Lisowsky, Tanner Molendyk and Ben Riche to stock up on draft capital and add solid younger players. The Blades dealt a lot of high draft selections during a load up last season.

Saskatoon fell out of top spot in the East Division in late January. The Blades weren’t expected to be sitting at the top of the division with two regular season games remaining on their schedule.

Now, they will try to conclude a heated three team race with what would be a surprise division title.

Hitmen’s Hauser gets career wins record

Daniel Hauser is the WHL’s new all-time goaltending career wins king.

On Wednesday night, the star netminder, who turned 21 in January, made 21 saves to backstop his Calgary Hitmen to a 5-1 victory over the visiting Red Deer Rebels before 2,573 spectators at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The triumph allowed Hauser to move alone to the top of the WHL’s career regular season goaltending wins list with 123 victories.

Hauser had been tied for top spot at 122 wins with Nolan Maier, who played his entire WHL career with the Saskatoon Blades from 2017 to 2022.

“It feels awesome,” said Hauser to the WHL’s director of public relations and brand communications Taylor Rocca. “I could stand here for hours listing the people I can thank for putting me in this position.

“I’m super grateful for this team, this organization and every team I’ve been on in the past. To share (the record) with this group – these guys play so well in front of me every night. They made it special for me tonight, and it was awesome.”

Hauser, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 166 pounds, started his WHL career playing for the Winnipeg Ice during the circuit’s abbreviated campaign in 2021. The Ice played in a bubble environment at the Brandt Centre in Regina due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

He moved with the Ice franchise when it relocated to Wenatchee, Washington, to become the Wenatchee Wild at the start of the 2023-24 campaign. On January 2, Hauser was dealt to the Hitmen in a blockbuster trade.

Hauser, who is a Chestermere, Alta., product, has appeared in 175 career WHL regular season contests posting a 123-36-9 record, a 2.59 goals against average, a .910 save percentage and 17 shutouts. In combined action with both the Wild and Hitmen this season, Hauser has posted a 28-13-3 record, a 2.57 goals against average, a .912 save percentage and five shutouts.

The Hitmen did their best to ensure Hauser wouldn’t be denied the record on Wednesday. Carson Wetsch and Hunter Aura netted singles in the first period to give Calgary a 2-0 lead. Brandon Gorzynski, Sawyer Mynio and Ethan Moore potted singles in the second period to push the Hitmen’s advantage out to 5-0.

Samuel Drancak tallied for the Rebels in the third to round out the game’s scoring.

Hitmen star right-winger Oliver Tulk collected a pair of assists to hit the 100-point barrier in one regular season for the first time in his WHL career. Tulk, who turned 20 in January, has recorded 38 goals and 62 assists for 100 points to go with a plus-44 rating in the plus-minus department in 63 games with the Hitmen this season.

Peyton Shore turned away 25 shots to take the setback in net for the Rebels, who fell to 26-32-6-2 as they play out the string in 2024-25.

The win allowed the Hitmen to improve to 44-16-3-3.  Their 94 standings points ties the Medicine Hat Tigers (45-17-3-1) for top spot in the Central Division and the Eastern Conference. The Tigers hold the standing tiebreaker due to having more wins. Both clubs have two games remaining on their respective regular season schedules.

The Hitmen and Rebels go at it again on Saturday in Red Deer (7 p.m. local time, Peavey Mart Centrium). The Tigers are also in action on Saturday as they host the rival Lethbridge Hurricanes (7 p.m. local time, Co-op Place).

The Hitmen and Tigers conclude their respective regular season slates playing each other on Sunday in Calgary (5 p.m. local time, Scotiabank Saddledome).

The Rebels conclude their 2024-25 campaign on Sunday traveling to Edmonton to take on the Oil Kings (4 p.m. local time, Rogers Place).

Royals jump to top of B.C. Division

The Victoria Royals are back on top of the B.C. Division.

On Wednesday, the Royals downed the host Rockets in Kelowna 5-3 before 3,451 spectators at Prospera Place. The Rockets took a 2-0 lead in the second period before the Royals rolled off three straight tallies to take a 3-2 edge into the second intermission.

Kelowna scored the equalizer early in the third to force a 3-3 tie, but the Royals netted the contest’s final two markers to pull out the two-goal victory.

Cole Reschny led the way for the Royals with two goals and one assist. Brandon Lisowsky, Reggie Newman and Kenta Isogai all netted singles for Victoria. Isogai tallied into an empty net.

Hiroki Gojsic, Levi Benson and Jakub Stancl replied with singles for the Rockets.

Jayden Kraus stopped 30 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Royals. Rhett Stoesser turned away 32-of-36 shots to take the setback in net of the Rockets.

With the win, the Royals improve to 39-17-3-7 to hold a lead of two standings points over the Prince George Cougars (40-20-4-2) for first in the B.C. Division. Both squads conclude their respective regular season schedules playing each other twice in Prince George. They go at it 7 p.m. local time Friday and 6 p.m. local time Saturday at the CN Centre.

The Rockets have lost 10 straight games to fall to 17-43-4-2 to sit in the basement of the Western Conference. They are playing out the string and have two games remaining on their regular season slate.

The Rockets host the Kamloops Blazers on Saturday (6 p.m. local time, Prospera Place) and head on the road Sunday to take on the Vancouver Giants in Langley, B.C., (4 p.m. local time, Langley Events Centre).

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Veteran star line breaks Blades out of skid with win in Brandon

Egor Sidorov had a goal and three assists for the Blades on Saturday.

A golden veteran line of stars busted the Saskatoon Blades out of a three-game skid.

On Saturday playing before 3,201 spectators at Westoba Place in Brandon, the Blades forward unit of centre and captain Trevor Wong, import right-winger Egor Sidorov and left-winger Brandon Lisowsky, who is a NHL Entry Draft selection of the Toronto Maple Leafs, combined for three goals and six assists to lift Saskatoon past the host Wheat Kings 4-0. The win in the WHL regular season encounter allowed the Blades to end a three-game losing streak where they were outscored 13-2 by their opponents and failed to score on nine power-play chances.

The win saw the WHL leading Blades, who are rated second in the CHL Top 10 Rankings, improve to 43-12-2-3. The Wheat Kings, who have lost three straight, fell to 29-25-5-1 to remain two points up on the Prince Albert Raiders (29-27-1-3) for sixth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

When the Blades were on their three-game skid, they held a combined 104-63 edge in shots on goal over their opponents. Offensively, the Saskatoon side went into a collective funk, and the team’s coaching staff started mixing up the lines to create a breakthrough on the scoreboard.

Going into Saturday’s clash with the Wheat Kings, the Blades reunited Wong, Sidorov and Lisowsky as a forward line. Since Wong was acquired in a trade with the Kelowna Rockets before the start of the 2021-22 campaign, he has played on a line with Sidorov and Lisowsky for the bulk of the time since arriving in Saskatoon.

Their chemistry as a trio proved to be enough to give the Blades offence a kick start. Sidorov posted one goal and three assists, Lisowsky had two goals and one assist and Wong has a pair of helpers.

Brandon Lisowsky had a pair of goals and an assist for the Blades.

At the 15:21 mark of the opening frame, that trio combined on a tick-tack-toe passing play that concluded with Lisowsky putting home a backhand shot to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

At the 3:35 mark of the second, Lisowsky passed the puck to Sidorov shortly after breaking into the Brandon zone. Sidorov dangled past Wheat Kings 19-year-old defenceman Luke Shipley and put home backhand shot for his 45^th goal of the campaign to push the Blades lead out to 2-0.

Saturday’s game had its share of rough stuff too. At the end of the second, Blades veteran right-winger Vaughn Watterodt, who turned 20-years-old in February, took on Wheat Kings 18-year-old defenceman Quinn Mantei in a fight. That seemed to foreshadow more high tensions later on in the contest.

The Blades proceeded to increase their advantage to 3-0 scoring on the power play at the 6:55 mark of the third. Lisowsky gathered a rebound in front of the Brandon net from a shot taken by Sidorov and popped home his second of the night to give the visitors their three-goal edge.

Just 80-seconds after that tally, another fight broke out this time between Blades veteran left-winger Tyler Parr, who turned 19-years-old in January, and Wheat Kings defenceman Rhett Ravndahl, who turned 19-years-old in February.

Things proceeded to get a little crazier on the ice just 18 seconds after that bout. Wheat Kings tough guy Matt Henry proceeded to cross check a Blades player in the head and followed that up by spearing Watterodt.

Henry was assessed a minor for cross-checking, a major for spearing and a game misconduct. These infractions will be automatically review by the WHL office for a possible suspension. Henry is a repeat offender having been suspended on four previous occasions this season for a total of 13 games.

On the ensuing power play, Blades star 19-year-old centre Fraser Minten tipped home a pass from Sidorov at the left side of the Brandon net to round out the 4-0 final in favour of the Blades.

Trevor Wong had a pair of assists for the Blades on Saturday.

Blades star netminder Austin Elliott stopped all 21 shots he faced to pick up his third shutout victory of the season. Wheat Kings star netminder Carson Bjarnason turned away 45 shots to take the setback in net for his squad.

Saskatoon went 2-for-5 on the power play, while Brandon failed to score on four chances with the man advantage.

The Blades dressed 15-year-old associate player call up Ryley Budd as their backup goalie on Saturday as Evan Gardner was out with an undisclosed ailment. Budd has been playing in Calgary with the Edge School’s under-18 prep team.

The Wheat Kings return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Medicine Hat to take on the Tigers (7 p.m. local time, Co-op Place).

The Blades are off until this coming Friday when they host the Tigers (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

Hurricanes hold off Raiders, other notes

Hayden Pakkala (#22) scored twice for the Hurricanes on Saturday.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes held off a Prince Albert Raiders comeback attempt to push their winning streak out the three games at the expense of the Raiders three-game winning streak.

On Saturday in a WHL regular season clash, the visiting Hurricane built up a 4-1 lead after two periods and held off a Raiders charge in the third to post a 4-3 victory to the disappointment of most of the 2,394 spectators in attendance at the Art Hauser Centre. The Hurricanes have won their last three straight, while the Raiders saw their three-game winning streak come to an end with Saturday’s setback.

Hurricanes breakout star 19-year-old centre Brayden Edwards scored to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at the 3:33 mark of the opening frame. Raiders star 17-year-old right-winger Ryder Ritchie answered back just under two-and-a-half minutes later to even the score at 1-1.

At the 8:14 mark of the first, Raiders rookie import right-winger Matej Kubiesa was given a major penalty for checking from behind and a game misconduct. Those infractions will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

The Hurricanes cashed in at the tail end of that power play with a goal coming off the stick of former Raiders centre Hayden Pakkala to give the visitors a 2-1 edge. Before the opening frame came to an end, Pakkala added his second of the contest to give the Hurricanes a 3-1 advantage.

Lethbridge netted the lone goal in the second when 20-year-old right-winger Dylan Sydor tallied on the power play at the 6:12 mark of the frame.

The Raiders proceeded to mount a big push back in the third. Just 77 seconds into the frame, rookie import left-winger Krzysztof Macias scored for the host side to cut the Hurricanes lead to 4-2. Macias added his second of the contest with 6:40 remaining in the third to further trim Lethbridge’s advantage to 4-3.

The Raiders pressed hard in the final two minutes of the contest but were unable to net the equalizer.

Harrison Meneghin stopped 37 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Hurricanes. Max Hildebrand turned away 24 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders.

The Hurricanes converted on 2-of-3 power-play chances on Saturday, while the Raiders didn’t have a single opportunity with the man advantage.

Saturday’s game marked the lone time the Hurricanes were able to beat the Raiders in the four head-to-head encounters between the two sides in the current campaign.

The Raiders fell to 29-27-1-3 to remain seventh in the WHL’s Eastern Conference one standings point ahead of the Hurricanes, who improved to 28-26-5. The Hurricanes hold down eight place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference sitting five points ahead of the ninth place Calgary Hitmen (24-27-7-1).

The Hurricanes return to action on Wednesday when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers (7 p.m. local time, Enmax Centre).

The Raiders get back at it this coming Friday when they host the Edmonton Oil Kings (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

• On Friday, Red Deer Rebels general manager, president and owner Brent Sutter announced the team and head coach Derrick Walser mutually agreed to part ways. The move came after the Rebels dropped a 7-5 decision at home to the Swift Current Broncos. The Rebels were 30-22-2-6 with Walser as head coach. The Rebels named Dave Struch the team’s interim head coach. Struch was behind the Rebels bench when they downed the visiting Calgary Hitmen 2-1 on Saturday.
• On Saturday, Jagger Firkus scored twice to power his Moose Jaw Warriors to a 4-2 victory over the host Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Washington. The Warriors 19-year-old centre leads the WHL in scoring with 105 points coming off 49 goals and 56 assists to go with a plus-21 rating in the plus-minus department. Firkus has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Seattle Kraken.
• Jordan Keller and Logan Bairos each had a goal and an assist to push the host Kamloops Blazers past the Vancouver Giants 3-2 on Saturday. The Blazers improved to 20-34-3-3 with the win, which means every team in the WHL has won at least 20 or more games.
• James Stefan scored 27 seconds into overtime to deliver the host Portland Winterhawks to a 5-4 victory over the Victoria Royals on Saturday. The Royals held a 3-1 lead early in the third period before the Winterhawks rallied for the win. The Winterhawks lead the B.C. Division with a 41-15-2-1 mark.
• Riley Heidt scored at the 2:03 mark of overtime to deliver the host Prince George Cougars to a 5-4 win over the Spokane Chiefs. The Cougars trailed 4-2 but scored twice in the final 63 seconds of the third period to force overtime. Prince George leads the B.C. Division and the Western Conference with a 41-15-1-3 record.

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Raiders capitalize on power play, schedule quirk

Prince Albert does in short-staffed Wheat Kings 5-2

Sloan Stanick, right, scores his first of three goals on Saturday.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Jeff Truitt was pleased his Prince Albert Raiders took advantage of a good hand that was dealt their way.

On Saturday night, the Raiders went 4-for-9 nine on the power play and downed a short-staffed Brandon Wheat Kings side 5-2 in a WHL regular season clash before an appreciative 2,626 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre. The Wheat Kings were also playing their third game in three nights all on the road.

Brandon slipped past the Raiders 3-2 when the two sides met Thursday at the Art Hauser Centre. The Raiders proceeded to have Friday night off, while the Wheat Kings went to Saskatoon and beat the WHL leading Blades 4-1.

The Raiders celebrate a second goal from Sloan Stanick, centre.

In Saturday’s clash between the Raiders and Wheat Kings, the Brandon side played with only 15 skaters. The Wheat Kings were three short of the full complement of 18 skaters due to injuries and one suspension.

Truitt, who is the Raiders head coach, said it was important his team took advantage of a scenario that lined up in his club’s favour.

“We needed it,” said Truitt. “We need to play desperate.

“We knew they had a tough schedule with three in three, which is always hard to play with a short bench as well. We had to take advantage of it, and we did.”

The Wheat Kings injuries included forwards Roger McQueen, Joby Baumuller and Hayden Wheddon, who were all listed as day-to-day with upper body injuries. Centre Nicholas Johnson is listed as week to week with an upper body injury, netminder Ethan Eskit is day to day with a lower body injury and import defenceman Andrei Maliaven was out with an undisclosed ailment suffered on Friday in Saskatoon.

Sloan Stanick had his third career hat trick on Saturday.

Veteran 19-year-old centre Rylen Roersman was out serving a suspension with a length that is still to be determined for being given a checking from behind major in the Wheat Kings victory in Saskatoon on Friday.

When the Raiders went ahead 5-2 with 6:21 remaining in the third on a hat trick goal from star 20-year-old left-winger Sloan Stanick, frustration seemed to boil over on the Wheat Kings side. The final 6:21 featured one big scrum and a few moments when the visitors were losing their cool.

“They are on big three in three,” said Stanick, whose team was wearing special jersey’s for the club’s Kid Takeover Night. “We knew we had to get on their defencemen, and they were down some bodies.

Dominik Petr scored both Wheat Kings goals on Saturday.

“They obviously got a little frustrated there, but it was just saying on the bench just play between the whistles here and let’s get two (standings) points that we really need. You obviously want to defend your teammates and stick up for each other for sure. We were just trying to stay between the whistles.

“You can’t control what they do. We just have to control what we can do.”

The Wheat Kings opened the scoring in Saturday’s contest scoring on the tail end of power play. With 3:55 remaining in the opening frame, Wheat Kings 16-year-old right-winger Brady Turko had the puck at the left side boards and passed it to the doorstep of the right side of the Prince Albert net to 18-year-old import centre Dominik Petr. Petr popped home his 15^th of the season to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.

Justice Christensen had three assists for the Raiders.

Before the first intermission came around, the Raiders scored on a power play of their own. With two minutes remaining in the opening frame, Raiders centre Aiden Oiring tipped home a point shot from offensive-defenceman Justice Christensen to even the score at 1-1.

At the 7:44 mark of the second, the Raiders jumped in front 2-1 when Stanick wired home his 25^th goal of the campaign with his squad once again working on the power play. The hosts really started to take over play territorially in the second holding a 9-4 edge in shots on goal for the frame after holding a 10-8 advantage in shots on goal in the first period.

Aiden Oiring had a goal and two assists for the Raiders.

Stanick said it was big for his club to have the success they did on the power play on Saturday.

“We’ve been working on it lots,” said Stanick, who now has three hat tricks in his WHL career. “It is something that is going to help us win games getting those power-play goals, and it felt good.

“We’re clicking right now - just knock on wood keep it going.”

In the third, Raiders overage centre Turner McMillen scored off a rush to push the host side’s lead out to 3-1 at the 4:38 mark of the frame. Just under four minutes later, Stanick smartly put home his second of the night placing home a shot through a screen with the Raiders working on a two-man advantage to give Prince Albert a 4-1 lead.

Krzysztof Macias had three assists for the Raiders.

With 6:46 remaining in the third, Petr scored short-handed for his second goal of the night to cut the Raiders lead to 4-2. That wasn’t able to spark a comeback.

Just 25 seconds later, Stanick fired home his hat trick goal with his squad still working on the power play to give the Raiders a 5-2 advantage. Stanick said it was big for his side to respond quickly after Petr scored his short-handed goal.

“It was a good shot from their player there,” said Stanick, who has 27 goals and 46 assists for a team high 73 points this season. “We just wanted to stay composed.

“We knew we could win the game. We just had to play our game and to get that one to make it 5-2 was really good.”

Max Hildebrand stopped 15 shots to pick in goal for the Raiders. Carson Bjarnason turned away 29 shots to take the setback in net for the Wheat Kings.

Saturday’s game in Prince Albert include some word exchanges.

Oiring had a pair of assists to go with his goal. Christensen and import left-winger Krzysztof Macias both record three assists each for the Raiders.

The win allowed the Raiders to improve to 27-26-1-3 to remain seventh overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference three points up on the eight place 25-26-5 Lethbridge Hurricanes and four points up on the ninth place 23-25-7-1 Calgary Hitmen. The Hurricanes and Hitmen each have a game in hand on the Raiders and will play each other on Sunday in Calgary.

The Wheat Kings fall to 29-23-5-1 to remain sixth in the Eastern Conference six points up on the Raiders.

The Raiders return to action on Wednesday when they host the Red Deer Rebels (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

Eric Johnston (#3) stands his ground defensively for the Raiders.

The Wheat Kings are off until Friday when the will host the visiting Raiders (7 p.m. local time, Westoba Place).

The Raiders play seven out of their last 11 regular season games at home, and Truitt wants his side to strive to play more consistently both at home and on the road.

“It gives you confidence that is for sure, but we’ve been up and down,” said Truitt. “We were great at home and then we weren’t great at home.

The Raiders salute the crowd after their win on Saturday.

“We were great on the road. It flip flopped. It is always an advantage to play at home there is no doubt about that.

“You have to be able to manufacture things. No matter where you play at home or on the road you have to be to play the right way and play with pace and play with sacrifice and structure and things like that. It is nice to win at home don’t get me wrong, but somewhere in the later on down the line too you have to win on the road.”

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“Tour de Bedard” hits Saskatoon with record buzz

Blades to set team attendance record, could hit building mark

Connor Bedard leads the WHL in scoring with 134 points.

The Saskatoon Blades will see a crowd the size they’ve never seen before thanks to the buzz around Connor Bedard.

On Sunday, the Blades will host Bedard and his Regina Pats for a 4 p.m. regular season clash at the SaskTel Centre. Bedard is the Pats 17-year-old phenom centre who leads the WHL in goals (66) and points (134) to go with a plus-36 rating in the plus-minus department in 53 appearances this season.

The North Vancouver, B.C., product’s 68 assists are tied for tops in the WHL with Prince George Cougars 17-year-old star centre and Saskatoon product Riley Heidt.

Barring something unforeseen, Bedard will be the first overall selection in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft which will be held at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, from June 28 to 29. He is rated first among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting’s Mid-Term Rankings.

The Blades are expecting to smash their single game attendance record as over 15,000 tickets have been sold for Sunday’s contest. The team’s current single game attendance record sits at 12,588 spectators, and that mark came back on February 9, 2013 when they downed the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-2.

This season, the Blades attendance high was 7,868 spectators set back on November 13, 2023, when they downed Bedard and the Pats 5-2. Over 31 home dates, the Blades are averaging 3,864 spectators a game, which is an increase from the average attendance of 3,390 spectators that turned out for the Blades 34 regular season home dates in 2021-22.

It is expected that Sunday’s game will sellout as there were fewer than 100 tickets available as of Friday afternoon. It is uncertain what a sellout figure will look like for a sporting event for the SaskTel Centre.

The Blades are expected to threaten the current SaskTel Centre attendance record for a single sports event. That mark is currently held by the NLL’s Saskatchewan Rush, who the hold the top two single event attendance records for a sporting event in the history of the SaskTel Centre

The Rush drew a SaskTel Centre record 15,192 spectators on May 21, 2016 for their 12-9 victory over the Calgary Roughnecks in Game 2 of a best-of-three West Division semifinal series that they swept 2-0.

Connor Bedard, left, in action against the Blades on Nov. 13, 2022.

On June 4, 2016, the Rush drew the second highest attendance for a sporting event at the SaskTel Centre when 15,182 spectators saw them down the Buffalo Bandits 11-10 in Game 2 of the best-of-three NLL Championships Series. The Rush swept the series 2-0 to claim their second NLL title after having relocated to Saskatoon following their first NLL title victory in Edmonton in 2015.

The Rush claimed victory in dramatic fashion in their win over the Buffalos on June 4, 2016 to capture that year’s NLL championship. With that contest locked in a 10-10 tie with 12 seconds to play, Rush defenceman Jeff Cornwall ran coast-to-coast to score a breakaway goal to deliver the host side a league championship in thrilling style. Those two Rush contests were announced as sellouts.

At that time, the Rush were owned by Bruce Urban. Urban sold the Rush to what is now known as the Saskatoon Entertainment Group owned by Mike Priestner and his son Colin on May 10, 2021. That move brought the Rush and Blades under the same ownership.

The Rush games might end up with a higher attendance as a party alley was hosted in on the vehicle entrance leading to the SaskTel Centre’s playing surface. At Blades games, the vehicle entrances leading to the playing surface are usually filled with rink attendants and the team’s game night staff.

As for Bedard, his brand took a big jump upward after he set numerous Canadian team records at this past world juniors held in Halifax, N.S., and Moncton, N.B., Canada won gold taking the gold medal final 3-2 in overtime over Czechia this past January 5 in Halifax.

Bedard was named the most valuable player at world juniors along with picking up accolades being named the event’s best forward and a tournament all-star.

His tallies for assists (14) and points (23) were new Canadian records for a single world juniors along with setting a new record for points in a tournament by any player aged 18 or younger. In 16 career games played at world juniors, Bedard set new Canadian career records at the event for goals (16) and points (36).

Connor Bedard broke numerous Canadian records at world juniors.

Due to the increase in fandom for Bedard, the Pats had to suspend online sales of their jerseys shortly after the WHL trade deadline passed on January 10 after it was beyond a shadow of a doubt that Bedard would finish his major junior season playing for Regina. A notice on the Pats website said the move was made due to lower inventory levels.

On eBay, Bedard’s first Pats team issued hockey card with a top mint grade of 10 has sold for around $3,400 on a number of occasions. You can find a number of Bedard hockey cards on eBay for around $25, but anything that has a mint grade of 10 usually has bids starting at $1,250.

As for Bedard jerseys, sellers on eBay have autographed versions of his blue Pats jersey for sale in prices ranging from $998 to $2,200. Hockey Canada Bedard jerseys start at $200 for unsigned replica jerseys and go up $2,500 for an autographed jersey.

In the current WHL campaign, Bedard is still rolling. On Friday night before a sellout crowd of 6,499 spectators at the Brandt Centre in Regina, the Pats dropped a 9-5 decision to their archrivals in the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors, but Bedard was in on every Pats tally posting a hat trick and two assists.

The Blades have sold out games in the past, but they haven’t sold out any games since the SaskTel Centre’s current configuration was put in place to accommodate the world juniors that were held in the building during the 2009-10 campaign.

When the Blades made it to the WHL final in 1992 and 1994, the SaskTel Centre was configured to hold a capacity of around 11,310 spectators at that time.

With all the anticipation surrounding Bedard’s visit, it is easy to forget the Blades (45-14-4-1) have a big game on Saturday when they host the 26-31-8 Brandon Wheat Kings (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre). If the Blades win that contest, they will lock up a second place finish in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and ensure they will finish at least fourth in the WHL’s overall standings.

In the first round of the WHL Playoffs, the two division winners are given the first and second seeds. From the second round onwards, the teams are reseeded by standings points.

Connor Bedard and the Pats will be in Saskatoon again on March 24.

In the Eastern Conference, the WHL leading Winnipeg Ice (53-9-1) have top spot in the conference and the East Division locked up. The Red Deer Rebels (42-17-3-3) have secured first in the Central Division and are third in the Eastern Conference.

If the Blades finish second in the Eastern Conference, they would have home ice advantage for any post-season meetings with the Rebels.

Still, Sunday’s encounter with Bedard and the Pats is the main event of the weekend. For anyone who misses that contest, Bedard and the Pats return to Saskatoon on Friday, March 24 for another regular season battle with the Blades set for 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

As of Wednesday, 13,600 tickets were sold for that contest on March 24. In short order, the “Tour de Bedard” hype gets to repeat itself all over again.

Raiders keep playoff hopes alive for another day

Tikhon Chaika made 36 saves for the Raiders on Friday.

The Prince Albert Raiders kept their mathematical shot for making the WHL playoffs alive.

 On Friday night, the Raiders traveled to Brandon and downed the host Wheat Kings 4-3 in a WHL regular season contest played before 3,725 spectators at Westoba Place. The Raiders relied on a trio of their top players to pull out victory.

Import netminder Tikhon Chaika made 36 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders and also recorded an assist. Sloan Stanick, the team’s 19-year-old star left-winger, had a pair of goals, and 16-year-old star right-winger Ryder Ritchie had a goal and an assist.

In 57 games this season, Ritchie has 51 points coming off 20 goals and 31 assists. Stanick has 58 points coming off 26 goals and 32 assists appearing in 63 games for the Raiders. All of Stanick’s totals are career highs.

The win allowed the Raiders to improve to 27-34-3 to sit 11^th overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. They sit five points behind the Calgary Hitmen (27-28-5-3) for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. Prince Albert has four games left on its regular season schedule, while Calgary has five contests left on its regular season slate.

The Wheat Kings fell to 26-31-8 with the setback to sit two points behind the Hitmen and three points ahead of the Raiders. Brandon is tied with the Swift Current Broncos (28-32-1-3) for the ninth and 10^th spots in the Eastern Conference.

The Broncos have four games left on their regular season schedule, while the Wheat Kings have three contests left on their regular season slate.

In Friday’s clash between the Raiders and Wheat Kings, Prince Albert jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals coming from Ritchie and Stanick netting his first of the contest. Just 39 seconds into the second, Nate Danielson netted his 33^rd goal of the campaign to cut the Raiders edge to 2-1.

Ryder Ritchie had a goal and an assist for the Raiders on Friday.

At the 8:48 mark of the third, 18-year-old left-winger Carter Anderson scored for the Raiders to increase their lead to 3-1. Just 61 seconds later, import defenceman Andrei Malyavin replied for the Wheat Kings to cut the Raiders lead to 3-2.

Stanick netted his second of the contest with 2:23 remaining in the third to push the Raiders advantage out to 4-2. Nolan Ritchie responded 53 seconds later to trim the Raiders edge to 4-3. The Wheat Kings were unable to get the equalizer from there.

Carson Bjarnason turned away 17 shots to take the setback in goal for the Wheat Kings, who have lost three straight. Malyavin had an assist to go with his goal, while Quinn Mantei and Kayden Sadhra-King each had a pair of assists for Brandon.

Raiders captain Evan Herman and Wheat Kings 19-year-old right-winger Dawson Pasternak engaged in a fight at the end of the second period.

Friday’s contest started a three games in three nights road trip for the Raiders. The Raiders travel to Winnipeg on Saturday to face the WHL leading 53-9-1 Ice (7 p.m. local time, Wayne Fleming Arena). Those two squads go at it again on Sunday in Winnipeg (5 p.m. local time, Wayne Fleming Arena).

The Wheat Kings get back at it on Saturday, when they travel to Saskatoon to take on the 45-14-4-1 Blades (7 p.m., SaskTel 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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Raiders thrive in do or die, clinch WHL playoff berth

The Raiders celebrate a second goal from Keaton Sorensen (#20).

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Prince Albert Raiders centre Keaton Sorensen credited team business manager Michael Scissons for making sure the playoff party was on.

On Saturday night, the Raiders had just dumped the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings 5-1 to the delight of the standing room crowd of 2,935 spectators at the 2,580 Art Hauser Centre to close the regular season schedules for both clubs. The Raiders had done their part to take care of business to earn a WHL playoff berth.

With the Raiders victory finalized, they just needed the Winnipeg Ice to defeat the Pats at the Brandt Centre in Regina to clinch a post-season berth. The Ice were actually tabbed as the home team in Saturday’s regular season tilt with the Pats.

The Raiders celebrate their playoff berth clinching win.

That contest in Regina was originally scheduled to be played one day earlier in Winnipeg, but it was moved to the Pats home rink due to challenges with extreme weather conditions in the Winnipeg area.

Following the Raiders win on Saturday, captain Reece Vitelli was being presented with the team award for leading the Prince Albert squad in regular season scoring. Vitelli piled up 51 points on 25 goals and 26 assists in 65 appearances with the club.

Reece Vitelli, right, receives the Raiders top scorer trophy.

On the Raiders bench, Scissons was monitoring video of the end of the game between the Ice and the Raiders on his mobile phone. The Raiders saw Winnipeg star centre Matthew Savoie score into an empty net with less than 40 second to play to cement a 6-4 final in favour of the Ice and that meant for “Hockey Town North” the party was on.

“(Raiders business manager Michael) Scissons there had the game open on his phone,” said Sorensen, who had two goals and was a plus-three in the plus-minus department in the Raiders win. “I think we saw Winnipeg score the empty netter there to make it 6-4.

“The boys were all fired up on the bench.”

Evan Herman scored twice for the Raiders on Saturday.

The Raiders whooped it up as they headed to their dressing room. Having bested the Broncos in Swift Current 4-1 on Friday night, the Raiders had won basically two straight do or die games to improve to 28-35-4-1 to lock up eighth place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and clinch the conference’s final playoff berth.

“It is awesome,” said Sorensen. “It is what we work for all year - all the hard work.

“It has all paid off to get there, and now we have to carry it on to the playoffs.”

The last time a WHL playoffs were held the Raiders took the title back in 2019. The WHL post-seasons in 2020 and 2021 were nixed due to challenges associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

Sloan Stanick had two assist for the Raiders on Saturday.

Star right-winger Ozzy Wiesblatt is the only member on the Raiders current roster who played as a main roster player on the 2019 WHL title winning team, and he is out for the rest of the campaign due to an upper body injury. All the players current suiting up for the Raiders in games didn’t play for the club in the 2018-19 campaign outside of left-winger Evan Herman, who skated in three regular season contests, and standout defenceman Nolan Allan, who played in seven regular season games.

“We’re a team that everyone has to pitch in,” said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid, who has the fifth most regular season coaching wins in WHL history. “We had some different games and different guys stepping up.

The Art Hauser Centre faithful cheer a Raiders goal.

“We just found a way. That is what we have been doing all year. Beginning of the year was tough.

“We’re in a point of transition and weren’t very good for a while. Playoffs seemed like a distant dream I guess for us, but Raider pride. No matter what, we expect to win, and we found a way in.”

Saturday’s game with the Wheat Kings got off to a tight checking start where the Raiders held a slim 2-1 edge in shots on goal after the first 10 minutes of the contest.

Shortly after the middle part of the frame, Raiders right-winger Carson Latimer blew down the right, slipped past a defenceman and tried to go five-hole on Wheat Kings rookie netminder Carson Bjarnason. Bjarnason swallowed up the shot to deny the scoring chance.

Landon Kosior controls the puck in the offensive zone for the Raiders.

At the 11:31 mark of the opening frame, the Raiders broke through on the scoreboard. Raiders Right-winger Sloan Stanick broke down the right wing on a rush and passed the puck across the face of the Brandon goal to Herman, who popped home his 27^th goal of the season to give the hosts a 1-0.

Herman said the opening tally got the Raiders in a confident groove but added the fans kept the excitement level high for the players.

“I think in front of these fans there is no settling down,” said Herman. “They are the sixth and seventh player on the ice.

Tikhon Chaika made 19 saves for the Raiders on Saturday.

“We got that first one, and I think it was just a little bit of a breather for us to settle down and get our feet under us to play the way we have to play to get the win.”

The open frame did have its physical moments too including Wheat Kings left-winger Brett Hylund crunching Latimer into the boards behind the Brandon goal late in the period.

At the 7:42 mark of the second, the Raiders pushed their lead out to 2-0 on a great individual effort by Herman. The product of The Pas, Man., blew down the left wing getting behind all five Brandon skaters.

Herman cut across the front of the Wheat Kings goal and tucked home his second tally of the night. After the puck went in, Herman contacted Bjarnason and the netminder’s head hit the post of the goal.

Keaton Sorensen scored twice for the Raiders on Saturday.

The speedy forward received a minor for goaltender interference on the play. Herman’s goal went to a video review, and it was upheld as good.

Bjarnason was helped off the ice by the Brandon training staff and didn’t return to the game. He turned away 12-of-14 shots to take the setback in the Wheat Kings net. Star overage goaltender Ethan Kruger played the rest of the way for the Wheat Kings turning away 17-of-20 shots set his way.

Herman wanted to avoid contacting Bjarnason when he scored his second goal.

Carson Latimer scored in the third period for the Raiders.

“I was just trying to use my speed to get the puck to the net,” said Herman, who posted 28 goals and 18 assists appearing all of the Raiders 68 games. “That was unfortunate whatever happened, happened.”

Habscheid said Herman’s play has been important in helping the Raiders make the playoffs.

“He has been good,” said Habscheid. “He really has been.

Evan Herman celebrates scoring his second goal for the Raiders.

“He was around for the (2019 WHL Championship) year. He didn’t play, but he was around. He saw what was going on in the building and the culture inside the room.

“He is a key guy, because he knows what it is all about. He didn’t play, but he knew what it was all about and dragged the guys into the fight.”

Just 88 seconds after the Raiders went up 2-0, they were checking hard on the penalty kill, and one of the Wheat Kings fanned on a point shot and the puck slid to the blue-line. Sorensen jumped on the loose puck and sped down the right wing on a two-on-one short-handed break.

Chad Nychuk controls the puck in the D-zone for the Wheat Kings.

Sorensen reached the right faceoff circle in the Brandon zone and snapped home his first goal of the contest stick side on Kruger to put the Raiders up 3-0 on the short-handed tally.

“Everybody on the penalty kill there was being aggressive,” said Sorensen. “Everybody was doing their job.

“I guess the puck kind of squirted out. I pounced on it or something. I guess I got a two-on-one there, and I didn’t really see the pass across.

“I just gave it a shot, and it went in.”

The Wheat Kings stopped the bleeding for a bit just over two minutes later. Wheat Kings left-winger Brett Hyland collected a rebound at the left side of the Prince Albert net from a shot taken by linemate Jake Chiasson and fired home his 13^th marker of the season to cut the Raiders lead to 3-1.

Vladislav Shilo had a pair of assists for the Raiders.

The Raiders proceeded to put the pedal to the medal and sealed victory in the third. The host side went up 4-1 at the 4:14 mark of the third, when import rookie left-winger Vladislav Shilo passed a puck from the right boards across the face the Brandon goal and the pass was tipped home by Latimer.

Sorensen rounded out the game’s scoring potting home a loose puck in the crease of the Brandon goal for his second tally of the night to increase the Raiders advantage to 5-1 with 4:05 remaining in the frame.

The final 10 minutes of the third period got fairly feisty and chippy, but the extracurricular action didn’t change the outcome of the game.

Import rookie netminder Tikhon Chaika made 19 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Stanick and Shilo each had two assists for the Raiders.

Dallyn Peekeekoot played a high energy game for the Raiders.

The Wheat Kings, who finish sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 35-28-3-2 mark, now face the Red Deer Rebels, who placed third in the Eastern Conference with a 45-19-2-2 record, in a best-of-seven first round WHL playoff series. Game 1 is set for this coming Friday at 1 p.m. at the Peavey Mart Centrium in Red Deer.

The Raiders will the Ice in a best-of-seven first round WHL playoff series. The Ice topped the WHL with a 53-10-3-2 record, so the Prince Albert side will be sizable underdogs in that series.

Game 1 is set for this coming Friday at 7 p.m. local time at the Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg.

“That is what we’ve been striving for all year,” said Herman about making the WHL playoffs. “Now that it is finally here, I think the energy in the room right now is pretty cool.

The Raiders salute their faithful at the Art Hauser Centre.

“We work so hard all year just to get to this point. Now we’re gearing up and looking forward to getting going and making a good run here.”

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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