Hitmen delay Blades’ playoff clinch party

Focht gets goal, assist in 4-3 Calgary victory

Carson Focht jets up ice on a goal-scoring rush.

    Carson Focht and the Calgary Hitmen sank the Saskatoon Blades post-season clinching party for at least a couple of nights.

    The veteran centre was happy his side found a way to gut out a 4-3 victory in a WHL regular season contest on Wednesday night before 3,063 spectators at the SaskTel Centre over the host Blades. Calgary’s victory came one night after being on the receiving end of an 8-3 drubbing at the hands of the defending WHL champion Raiders in Prince Albert.

    With Hitmen and Blades locked in a 2-2 tie on Wednesday, Focht scored a key turning point goal at the 5:52 mark of the third period. The fifth round NHL Entry Draft selection of the Vancouver Canucks blew down the left wing and wired a close in shot short side over the shoulder of Blades star netminder Nolan Maier.

    Just over three minutes later, the Hitmen extended their edge to 4-2, when overage defenceman Dakota Krebs wired home a shot from the point.

The Hitmen celebrate a goal from Carson Focht.

    While it seemed the visitors appeared to be in complete control, Blades Slovakian import right-winger Martin Fasko-Rudas banged home a gritty goal from the front of the Hitmen net to cut the visitor’s lead to 4-3 with 72 seconds remaining in the third.

    The Hitmen gutted out some nervous moments from that point including mucking up a defensive zone faceoff in the final seconds to hold on for the win.

    “I think these are games that we want to be in,” said Focht, who had an assist to go along with his goal. “At this point in the season, I think it is a good test every night to see where our group is at.

    “I think tonight really showed that we can play a full 60 minutes. We believe that this is a winning team. We’ve had some ups and downs throughout the season, but we’re definitely a really resilient group.

Carson Focht had a goal and an assist on Wednesday.

    “We show that on a daily basis, so I have a lot of faith in all those guys in that room.”

    The win allowed the Hitmen, who have a playoff spot secured, to improve to 35-22-4-1.

    The Blades fell to 31-24-2-3, and they still need to pick up one more point in the standings to clinch the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

    Wednesday’s game got off to a bit of scary start, when Blades right-winger Zach Huber hit Hitmen centre Riley Fiddler-Schultz into the curved part of the glass near the Blades bench just 1:38 into the first period.

    Fiddler-Schultz went down and the athletic trainers for both teams immediate jumped on to the ice to help the Calgary forward. Fiddler-Schultz was moving all his extremities and was helped off the ice by a stretcher.

    Huber came over to check on Fiddler-Schultz and all the Hitmen came off their bench to wish their teammate well.

    “You definitely never want to see a guy get injured like that,” said Focht. “It is just a hockey play.

    “It wasn’t dirty, but you just hate to see a guy go down like that. I thought we really rallied for him, and we had him in our minds thinking that we want to get this done for him tonight.”

Blades D Nolan Kneen hits Hitmen captain Mark Kastelic.

    The Blades proceeded to jump ahead 1-0 scoring at the 2:56 mark of the opening frame, when 16-year-old rookie centre Jayden Wiens collected the rebound of a point shot taken from overage defenceman Nolan Kneen and popped home his second of the campaign.

    The hosts nearly extended their edge a short time later, but a drive by 18-year-old centre Tristen Robins was knocked wide of the Calgary goal by Hitmen netminder Brayden Peters.

    The Hitmen proceeded to get some traction, when left-winger Cael Zimmerman backhanded home the rebound of one of his own shots from point blank range past Maier. That tally evened the score a 1-1 at the 6:55 mark of the opening frame.

    Focht picked up his assist on Zimmerman’s goal.

Dakota Krebs scored a goal for the Hitmen.

    The Hitmen took a 2-1 lead with 3:03 remaining in the second period on a power-play tally from captain Mark Kastelic. After Maier stopped a point shot from Hitmen star offensive defenceman Jeff Woo, the puck sat loose in front of him in the crease.

    Kastelic poked the puck through Maier’s legs and into the goal.

    The Blades evened the score at 2-2 with 1:24 remaining in the second. Right-winger Caiden Daley received a long bank stretch pass off the boards from import Czech defenceman Radek Kucerik, and Daley got in alone, cut across the front of the Hitmen net and tucked home the equalizer.

    Focht admitted his third period goal was fun to score.

    “I just picked up loose puck back in my zone and just ended up skating it all the way up,” said Focht. “I saw the defender was a little flat footed, so I tried to make a move on him and then just tried to beat the goalie.”

Hitmen RW Kyle Olson, centre, stops a shot in the final seconds of the third.

    After his team built a 4-2 advantage only to see the Blades cut the gap to 4-3 with 72 seconds remaining in the third, Focht was pleased his squad sealed the win from that point.

    “I’m not too sure how that third one went in, but it did,” said the Regina, Sask., product. “I thought we did a good job of responding and just really locking it down in those final minutes.”

    Maier turned away 29 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades. Peters stopped 29 shots to get the win in net for the Hitmen.

    Focht is hoping his team can have a long playoff run. On his family side of things, his younger sister, Lauren, recently became the all-time leading scorer for the Regina Rebels female midget AAA team.

The Hitmen celebrate their win on Wednesday.

    The Rebels have the makings to be one of those teams that could appear in the championship game of the Esso Cup female midget AAA national championship tournament in late April in Prince Albert, Sask. Carson said his mom keeps him well informed of how Lauren is doing and that the siblings are pulling for each other to do well.

    “Obviously, both of us want to play as long as we can this year, and I think we are on good teams to do that,” said Carson Focht. “It is definitely not a rivalry between us, but it is good that her team is doing well.”

    The Blades return to action on Friday when they host the Regina Pats (21-33-4-2) at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

    The Hitmen are back at it on Friday when they travel to Medicine Hat to take on the Tigers (38-19-2-1).

Ayres set to appear at Blades Suits Up game

A memory we'll all have forever pic.twitter.com/LUxqs8o3Wr

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) February 23, 2020

    The Saskatoon Blades will be bringing in now famous NHL emergency backup goaltender David Ayres for their WHL Suits Up to Promote Organ Donation on Friday.

    Ayres became famous on February 22 for having to enter an NHL regular season game to play goal for the Carolina Hurricanes against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. After the Hurricanes starting and backup goalies were injured, the 42-year-old Ayres fulfilled his role as the emergency backup entering the contest in the second period with the visitors holding a 3-1 edge.

    He allowed goals on the first two shots he faced and turned away the next eight shots in a 6-3 victory for the Hurricanes. With that result, Ayres became the first emergency backup goaltender to earn an NHL win.

    At age 42 years and 194 days, he became the oldest goaltender to win his NHL regular season debut.

    He is the operations manager for the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Ont., and is best known for being a Zamboni driver.

    Ayres had a kidney transplant in 2004, which has allowed him to live his life to the fullest.

    At the Blades Suits Up game, Ayres will be dropping the puck for the ceremonial faceoff, and he will be signing autographs during the first intermission.

    For the Suits Up game, the Blades will be wearing special Hockey Night in Canada themed jerseys and the coaches will be wearing old school baby blue Hockey Night in Canada blazers. The jerseys and blazers will be auctioned off in a blind auction.

    All the proceeds raised from Friday’s game will be donated to Saskatoon’s Kidney Foundation Branch.

    The Blades will host the Regina Pats in their suits up game on Friday set for 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Blades to honour Molleken on March 21

    When the Saskatoon Blades close their regular season schedule on March 21, they will honour one of the all-time greatest to hold the roles of head coach and general manager in the history of the franchise.

    Before the Blades host their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders on March 21 at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre, they will honour former long time head coach and general manager Lorne Molleken. Molleken’s name will be added to the Builders Banner and raised to the rafters of the SaskTel Centre.

    Molleken will be on hand for a special pre-game ceremony at ice level that will reflect on some of the great memories and moments from his time in Saskatoon. The 63-year-old will be joined by his family, former staff members, former players and friends.

    Molleken’s first stint with the Blades ran from 1991-92 to 1994-95 where he served as the team’s head coach. He guided the Blades to the WHL Championship series in 1992 and 1994. In both those appearances, the Blades fell in a series-deciding Game 7 to the Kamloops Blazers, who advanced on to win the Memorial Cup as CHL champions.

    Molleken departed to the professional ranks and served as head coach of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks in the 1999-2000 campaign.

    He returned to the Blades for the start of the 2004-05 campaign becoming the team’s head coach and general manager. He held the head coach role until the end of the 2012-13 campaign and stayed on as the general manager for the 2013-14 season.

    After leaving the Blades, Molleken served as head coach of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants for most of the 2015-16 campaign.

    Molleken is the Blades all-time leader in head coaching victories at 539 and winning percentage at .591.

    I did a story on Molleken when he returned to Saskatoon as the Giants head coach on October 4, 2015. That piece can be found by clicking right 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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Rebels’ Focht a great made in Regina story

Lauren Focht is the Rebels all-time leading scorer.

    Lauren Focht keeps piling up the highlights and milestones with her elite hometown team.

    On Tuesday at Crescent Point Place in Weyburn, Focht became the all-time leading scorer in regular season for her Regina Rebels female midget AAA hockey team. The skilled forward, who turned 18-years-old in January, picked up a goal and an assist as the Rebels thumped the host Richardson Pioneer Gold Wings 8-2 in a Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League regular season game.

    The effort gave Focht 66 goals and 56 assists for 122 points in 102 regular season games. That put Focht one point ahead of Emma Waldenberger for top spot on the Rebels all-time regular season scoring list.

    Waldenberger collected 60 goals and 61 assists for 121 points playing in 109 career regular season games for the Rebels from 2010 to 2014.

    Besides being the Rebels all-time leader in career points, Focht, who stands 5-foot-3, is also the Rebels leader in all-time career goals. Her 66 tallies ranks eighth on the SFMAAAHL all-time career regular season goals list.

Lauren Focht is the Rebels all-time leader in career goals.

    Focht’s 122 career points are good for 11^th place on the SFMAAAHL’s all-time career regular season points list. Over the Rebels final three games, she has a chance to move past former Saskatoon Stars captain Lauren Zary for 10^th on the SFMAAAHL’s all-time scoring list.

    Zary piled up 44 goals and 82 assists for 126 points playing 103 regular season games with the Stars from 2008 to 2012.

    Focht hasn’t just burst on the scene with the Rebels. She has produced consistent offensive numbers with the team over her four seasons never falling below 23 points in any campaign.

    This season, Focht currently sits second in team scoring with 14 goals and 22 assists for 36 points. Her assist total is a career high showing her playmaking abilities can be just as good as her scoring touch around the net.

    Focht is a Rebels co-captain along with gifted offensive defender Sydney Pedersen.

Actually, Focht doesn’t actively pay attention to her personal statistics and is more focused on team success. You get the feeling she relishes the fact she gets to be one of the sparkplugs that makes the deep Rebels machine go.

    Last season, the Rebels showed they were ready to play with Canada’s best in the female midget AAA hockey ranks. 

Lauren Focht been one of the Rebels most consistent players.

    They finished second in the SFMAAAHL with a 17-7-4 record, advanced to the league championship series and fell to a powerhouse Stars club that was loaded with superstar veterans.

    The Rebels gave the Stars their only regular season loss in the 2018-19 campaign.

    With another year of experience under their collective belts, the Rebels have already locked up first place in the SFMAAAHL with an impressive 26-1-1 record and they are Canada’s top rated female midget AAA hockey team according to the My Hockey Rankings site. The Rebels last topped the SFMAAAHL standings in the 2013-14 campaign.
    The current Rebels have a drive and self-belief that is powerful and beyond the teenage years of the players.

    In Tuesday’s win over the Gold Wings, the Rebels offensive output came from a number of sources. Pedersen and Neena Brick both had two goals and an assist. Kaylee Dyer had a goal and an assist, while Megan Hayhurst and Shaelyn Myers had singles.

    Alexis Petford had a pair of assists, while Penny Bellefontaine and Jasmine Lamotte had single assists.

    Jayden Baker and Lauren Demmans both had a goal and an assist for the Gold Wings.

Lauren Focht (#22) doesn’t actively follow her personal statistics.

    Payton Schlamp made 16 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Rebels. Veteran Chloe Burt turned away 49 shots to take the setback in net for the Gold Wings, who fell to 5-22-2.

    The Rebels return to action this coming Thursday, when they host the Battlefords Sharks at 8 p.m. at the Co-operators Centre.

    Brick, who has been Focht’s linemate for much of the current campaign, leads the SFMAAAHL in scoring with 28 goals and 27 assists for 55 points skating in her sophomore 16-year-old campaign.

    With all that noted, Focht has produced a great made in Regina story. Her family is talented in the game too, as older brother Carson has 31 goals and 20 assists in 55 regular season games with the Calgary Hitmen heading into WHL action on Friday.

    It is almost too bad Carson, who turned 20-years-old in February, didn’t play for the WHL’s Regina Pats.

    When the Rebels season wraps up, Lauren Focht will continue her hometown journey in hockey joining the University of Regina Cougars women’s hockey teams in the U Sports ranks. Focht’s addition is a huge addition for the Cougars.

Many more special moments could awaiting Lauren Focht and the Rebels.

    While it is a big jump to play in the U Sports ranks and success is in no way guaranteed, you have to love that the chance is there for the hometown product to do big things with her hometown university team.

    Until then, Focht and the Rebels are well positioned to make a memorable post-season. With the WHL’s Pats still going through a massive rebuild, Focht and her teammates can capture the imagination of the sports scene in “the Queen City” along with the Regina Pat Canadians, who topped the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League standings.

    Some more special hockey memories are just waiting to be made in the Saskatchewan capital.

    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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Blades fading from WHL playoff race with a whimper

Hitmen depart SaskTel Centre with 5-4 overtime win

Carson Focht (#19) celebrates his third period equalizer for the Hitmen.

    It was a great night for booing, if you were a fan of the Saskatoon Blades.

    On Friday night, it seemed like almost the worst case scenario played out to extremely hamper the Blades hopes of returning to the WHL playoffs for the first time since 2013. Playing before 3,579 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades dropped a 5-4 decision in overtime to the Calgary Hitmen, who sit second last in the entire WHL.

    Sophomore right-winger Tristen Nielsen netted his first career WHL hat trick and an assist, and he capped his three-goal night scoring the overtime winner for Calgary.

Tristen Nielsen, left, slips home an overtime winner for the Hitmen.

    The hosts held leads of 3-1 and 4-3 before coming out on the wrong end of the scoreboard.

    To make matters worse, the Blades lost ground to the two clubs they were hoping to catch for a playoff spot. 

    Out in Prince Albert, the host Raiders won their eighth straight game downing the WHL leading Moose Jaw Warriors 6-4. 

    In Brandon, the host Wheat Kings dumped the Swift Current Broncos, who sit second overall in the WHL, by a 6-3 score.

    The Wheat Kings improved to 36-26-3-2 to hold the first wildcard spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a nine-point edge on the Blades. 

The Hitmen pour off their bench to mob Tristen Nielsen

    The Raiders improved to 31-25-9-2 to sit in the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference with a five-point edge on the Blades. The Blades saw their record move to 32-31-3-1 with the extra time setback.

    All three of those squads have five games remaining on their respective regular season schedules. The Blades and Wheat Kings will go at it on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

    Saskatoon could win all of its final five regular season games and still miss the playoffs. The Blades have collected just three points in the standings in their last six games including Tuesday’s 6-5 win at the SaskTel Centre over the Edmonton Oil Kings, who sit last in the entire WHL, and the overtime setback to the Hitmen on Friday.

Tristen Nielsen had his first career WHL hat trick on Friday.

    Back on February 19, the Blades downed the Oil Kings in Edmonton 3-2 in overtime. With 61 regular season games in the books, the Blades had a 31-27-2-1 record and held the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference with an eight-point edge over the Raiders, who were 23-25-9-2 at the time. The Raiders had two games in hand on the Blades.

    Saskatoon was two points behind the Wheat Kings for the first wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference, as Brandon had a 31-23-3-2 record at that time. The Wheat Kings had two game in hand on the Blades.

    The Blades were sitting pretty going into their last 11 regular season games. Instead of going on one last surge to secure a post-season spot, the Blades have slumped at the worst possible time. Anything they have accomplished in the regular season seems to be going up in smoke with a whimper.

    When they beat the Oil Kings on Tuesday, the Blades had stretches were they were playing to not lose the game instead of playing to win the game.

Gage Ramsay scored the Blades first goal on Friday night.

    That storyline repeated itself on Friday night, but this time the Blades did lose, and it was a game they shouldn’t have lost.

    Just 1:48 into the contest, the Blades scored on a beauty two-on-one rush. Centre Logan Christensen sped down the right wing and fed a pass across the front of the Hitmen goal to linemate Gage Ramsay, who tapped home the puck into an open cage to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

    Nielsen netted his first goal of the game just 50 seconds after Ramsay’s tally to even the score at 1-1.

    Shortly past the midway point of the opening frame, right-winger Josh Paterson netted his 30^th goal of the season for the Blades and Russian import defenceman Mark Rubinchik netted his third of the season to put Saskatoon up 3-1.

    Before the first period ended, the Hitmen tied the contest up at 3-3 scoring two short-handed goals on the same Blades power play.

Mark Kastelic had a short-handed goal for the Hitmen.

    Centre Mark Kastelic got the first shorty for the Hitmen and Nielsen notched his second of the contest after a video review determined his laser shot to the top corner of the Saskatoon net did go into the goal.

    From that point, the Blades were playing on their heels and seemed to be hoping for a break to pull out the win. After being outshot 12-6 in a scoreless second period, the Blades seemed to get the break they were looking for, when overage left-winger Braylon Shmyr wrapped home his 36^th goal of the season to give Saskatoon a 4-3 lead just 41 seconds into the third period.

    The edge would be short-lived.

    At the 8:35 mark of the third period, Hitmen centre Carson Focht got the puck alone in front of the Saskatoon net, and he deked Blades goalie Nolan Maier with a backhand to forehand move to pot the equalizer to tie things up at 4-4.

Braylon Shmyr scored his 36th goal of the season on Friday night.

    Nielsen completed the Calgary comeback scoring on a breakaway with a low shot at the 1:58 mark of overtime.

    Maier turned away 30 shots in goal for the Blades. Nick Schneider, who is in his overage season, turned away 20 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Hitmen, who improved to 21-36-8-2.

    At the moment, it feels like the entire Blades team has hit the wall. They appear to be playing scared and with fear about what they are going to lose as opposed playing free and easy without fear.

    It does take a certain will to make the playoffs and another step up in that same will to remain in them. That might be one lesson the Blades still need to learn with being a younger team.

The Blades playoff hopes have faded over their last six games.

    At the moment, the Blades have to decide how they want to be remembered over their last five regular season games. If they emulate their play from their last six outings, the final memory they will leave the faithful in “The Bridge City” from the 2017-18 campaign won’t be a good 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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    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.