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.

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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“Rock you like a Hurricane,” Blades skid hits three games

The Hurricanes celebrate a goal from Brayden Edwards (#19).

Wiped out by the Wheat Kings, run over by the Rebels and hammered by the Hurricanes.

Just like that, the WHL leading Saskatoon Blades, who are rated second in the CHL Top 10 Rankings, look mortal in suffering their second three-game losing streak of the 2023-24 regular season. The skid began on February 23, when the Blades fell 4-1 to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

It continued this past Tuesday after the Blades were blanked 5-0 by the Red Deer Rebels. On Friday, the Blades dropped a 4-1 decision to the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Every loss on this skid occurred on home ice for the Blades at the SaskTel Centre. Before the skid happened, the Blades had been riding an 11 game winning streak and were 23-1-1 in their home rink.

Brayden Edwards scored twice for the Hurricanes on Friday.

Likely the most concerning thing for the Blades during their current skid is the offence has dried up. While the Blades have been outscored 13-2 in their last three contests, they have outshot the opposition 104-63. Also during their last three games, “The Bridge City Bunch” has come up empty on nine power-play chances.

Their top offensive players in Brandon Lisowsky, Fraser Minten, Egor Sidorov, Easton Armstrong, Trevor Wong, Alexander Suzdalev and Tanner Molendyk are looking ordinary.

In Friday’s 4-1 loss to the Hurricanes before 6,212 spectators, the Blades held a 33-21 edge in shots on goal and failed to score on their two power-play opportunities. After falling behind on the scoreboard, it seemed like the Blades collective confidence around the Lethbridge net wasn’t there, and the confidence grew in the visiting Hurricanes the longer they held the lead.

Easton Armstrong had the Blades lone goal on Friday.

Friday’s clash marked the first time in the four head-to-head encounters between the two sides that the Hurricanes were able to claim victory.

In the latest meeting, the two teams skated through a scoreless first period where the Blades held a 10-6 edge in shots on goal. Early in the frame, Suzdalev was stopped in close on a backhand chance from the right side of the Lethbridge goal by Hurricanes netminder Brady Smith.

Later on in the opening frame, Smith kicked out a close in shot with his right pad from Blades right-winger Rowan Calvert, who was positioned in front of the Lethbridge net.

The Blades broke through on the scoreboard scoring on their first shot of the second period on a two-on-one break. Wong broke into the Lethbridge zone down the left wing and passed the puck across the front of the Hurricanes net to star overage left-winger Easton Armstrong.

Brady Smith made 32 saves in net for the Hurricanes on Friday.

Armstrong popped home his 28^th of the season from the right side of the goal to give the host side a 1-0 lead.

From that point, it seemed like the Blades got stuck in quicksand.

The Hurricanes evened the score at 1-1 with 8:28 remaining in the second on the 24^th goal of the season scored by breakout star 19-year-old centre Brayden Edwards. Positioned at the right side of the Saskatoon net, Edwards collected a rebound from a shot taken by linemate Logan Wormald and popped home the equalizer.

With 2:30 remaining in the second, Edwards potted his second of the contest to put the Hurricanes up 2-1. While working on the power play, Hurricanes star 17-year-old right-winger Miquel Marques passed the puck from the right faceoff circle across the Saskatoon goal to Edwards. Edwards potted the go-ahead goal past a sprawling star Blades netminder Austin Elliott.

Trevor Wong had an assist on the Blades lone goal on Friday.

Before the second period expired, the Blades had a glorious chance to get a traction moment. With 17.7 seconds remaining in the frame, Minten attempted to pass the puck from the left boards in the Lethbridge zone to Lisowsky in front of the Hurricanes net.

Minten’s pass deflected off the stick of backchecking veteran Hurricanes centre Hayden Pakkala and was sliding into an open side of the Lethbridge net. Smith reached out and secured the puck before it could cross the goal-line to preserve the lead for the visitors.

Noah Chadwick had a pair of assists for the Hurricanes.

The officials went to a video review that confirmed Smith did indeed make the save on that play.

At the 4:45 mark of the third, the Blades had another huge chance to even the score on a wraparound opportunity by Minten where Smith had fallen to the ice. When Minten came around to put the puck into an empty side of the Lethbridge goal, he was stopped by Hurricanes veteran defenceman Braeden Wynne.

Minten got the puck and attempted again to put it into the Lethbridge net, but Smith was able to bat the puck away from danger. At the next stoppage occurring at the 5:08 mark of the third, the officials’ video reviewed Minten’s wraparound and his second scoring opportunity on the same play and confirmed the puck did not enter the Lethbridge net.

Fraser Minten was snakebitten around the net on Friday.

The Hurricanes proceeded to kill off a Blades power-play opportunity and proceeded net a key insurance goal at the 8:02 mark of the frame. After the Hurricanes killed off the Blades power-play, Hurricanes 17-year-old centre Kash Andresen fed a stretch pass to Pakkala, who just skated out of the penalty box.

Andresen’s stretch pass sprung Pakkala on a breakaway. He tucked his 11^th of the season between Elliott’s legs to push the Hurricanes lead out to 3-1. Marques rounded out the game’s scoring and a personal two-point night with an empty-net goal with 3.5 seconds remaining in the third.

Elliott turned away 17-of-20 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades, who still top the WHL standings with a 42-12-2-3 mark. Smith stopped 32 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Hurricanes.

Miquel Marques had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes.

Offensive-defenceman Noah Chadwick had a pair of assists for the visitors.

The Hurricanes, who have won two straight, improved to 27-26-5 to eighth place and the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. They sit three standings points ahead of the Calgary Hitmen (24-26-7-1).

The Hurricanes return to action on Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to face the 29-26-1-3 Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades also get back at it on Saturday when they travel to Brandon to take on the 29-24-5-1 Wheat Kings (7 p.m., Westoba Place).

At the moment, the Blades are facing their biggest moment of adversity in the 2023-24 campaign, but it is something they can get themselves out of. They have to keep up their persistence in the offensive zone, and they will eventually be rewarded with a surge of goals.

The Hurricanes celebrate their win on Friday.

While you never want to put extra pressure on the puck stoppers in the game, it would help the Blades if their netminders could make a critical stop when the Saskatoon side is up or even on the scoreboard to give the club’s top offensive players a chance to get out of their collective funk. Something like a 1-0 shutout victory would help the Blades get started back to an upward trend.

Overall, it is better for the Blades to work through a rough patch now as opposed to when the post-season starts. A slump in the playoffs will send even a team sitting first overall in the regular season standings like the Blades into the off-season wondering what might have been.

NOTES – The Blades played Friday’s game as the Saskatoon Berries for one night borrowing the name out of their baseball cousins the Saskatoon Berries. The Berries baseball team will embark on their expansion Western Canadian Baseball League campaign playing out of Cairns Field on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds.

The Blades wore specially designed Berries hockey jerseys. Player starting lineups were done by baseball positions, pucks clearing the glass were called “foul pucks,” and the first few goal announcements were done like they were home runs. The video scoreboard also showed various specially designed Berries graphics.

Barry the Black Bear made his debut on Friday.

During the first media timeout of the third period, a seventh inning stretch was held complete with the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” 

Berries mascot Berry the Black Bear made his debut on Friday. The Blades and Berries are both owned by the Saskatoon Entertainment Group.

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Wright strides into hero’s spotlight in Blades 6-3 win

Saskatoon downs archrival Raiders in crazy clash

Charlie Wright (#47) roofs home the winning goal for the Blades.

Charlie Wright found the perfect timing to find his inner Bobby Orr.

On Wednesday night, Wrights’ Saskatoon Blades were locked in a 3-3 tie with the Prince Albert Raiders late in the third period of a WHL regular season clash at the SaskTel Centre between the archrival clubs. When the Blades went on the power play with 2:31 remaining in the frame, the 20-year-old defenceman skated into the spotlight.

After getting possession of the puck, Wright skated down the right wing of the Prince Albert zone, cut across the front of the visitor’s set and roofed home a power play goal to put the host side up 4-3 with 2:09 remaining in the third. Wright’s power-play tally held up as the winner as left-winger Tyler Parr and centre Lukas Hansen added empty-net goals to deliver the Blades to a 6-3 victory before a season high crowd of 7,920 spectators.

The Blades celebrate Charlie Wright’s power-play winning goal.

Wright’s winning goal was his fourth tally of the season to go along with 17 assists and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department. While the Blades often relay on Wright to be a shutdown defensive-defenceman in his own zone, he has shown this season and last season he can deliver offensively when the Blades need him too.

Last season, Wright posted eight goals, 32 assists and a plus-33 rating appearing 66 regular season games for the Blades.

Wednesday’s encounter between the Blades and Raiders was the first game for both sides since returning from their respective Christmas breaks. It was a crazy one that was full of momentum swings and some irregular occurrences.

Charlie Wright has four goals and 17 assists this season.

The contest was also the Teddy Bear Toss game for the Blades, so that provided sites that are only seen for one home date a season.

Both teams had some key players missing out of their respective lineups, so you got to see how the Blades and Raiders persevered through that development too. The Blades were without star centre Fraser Minten, who is serving as the captain of Canada’s team for the world juniors going on right now in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Blades star 18-year-old defenceman Tanner Molendyk was originally on Canada’s roster for world juniors. Molendyk suffered a fractured wrist in Canada’s 6-2 win over Switzerland in a pre-tournament game this past Friday and is currently unavailable to play for Canada or the Blades.

Easton Armstrong (#27) scored the Teddy Bear goal for the Blades.

Saskatoon’s other scratches due to injury included defenceman Carter Herman (upper body, week-to-week), and left-wingers Misha Volotovskii (upper body, day-to-day) and Vaughn Watterodt (upper body, week-to-week). Associate player call up Colten Worthington was a healthy scratch.

The Raiders were without star 17-year-old left-winger Ryder Ritchie who is listed as week-to-week after taking a knee-to-knee hit by Kelowna Rockets 19-year-old left-winger Max Graham. That hit occurred in the Raiders 4-3 home loss to the Rockets on Dec. 15 at the Art Hauser Centre.

A member of the Blue Crew helps with the stuffed animal clean up.

Raiders 17-year-old import rookie right-winger Matej Kusiesa is out week-to-week with an upper body injury.

In a game that had a lot of back-and-forth play, the Blades broke through on the scoreboard scoring the Teddy Bear goal with 2:42 remaining in the opening frame.

Blades right-winger Rowan Calvert had the puck right beside the ride side of the Prince Albert net. He put a backhand pass out to star 20-year-old left-winger Easton Armstrong, who was set up in perfect shooting position by the right side of the Raiders goal.

A truck is stuffed with stuffed animals for Saskatoon are charities.

Armstrong wired home his 18^th of the season to give the Blades a 1-0. After Armstrong scored, seemingly a whole tonne of Teddy Bears rained downed from the 7,920 fans in the building.

The fans in attendance did such an outstanding job littering the ice with stuffed animals that will be distributed to various Saskatoon area charities it took about 32 minutes in real time to complete the clean up and the first intermission. The teams were sent to the dressing room for an early first intermission after the clean up and the remaining 2:42 of the opening frame was completed after the intermission.

Sloan Stanick had two goals and an assist for the Raiders.

The two pickup trucks that were brought out on the ice to haul away the stuffed animals were filled up to the point that they were overflowing. Blades players and Blades and SaskTel Centre staffers had to push the stuffed animals into a couple of different corner exits to get them off the ice in as speedy a fashion as possible.

When the teams returned to the ice, Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov extended Saskatoon’s advantage to 2-0 with 1:33 remaining in the third. Sidorov roofed home his 33^rd goal of the season on a backhand shot to give the hosts their two-goal edge.

The Raiders proceeded to get some traction scoring 61 seconds into the second period. Star 20-year-old left-winger Sloan Stanick scored on a wraparound on a fallen Blades netminder Evan Gardner to cut the Saskatoon lead to 2-1.

Eric Johnston had an assist for the Raiders on Wednesday.

The visitors pressed hard for the rest of the frame searching for the equalizer, but they weren’t able to even the score when the second period expired.

At the 8:48 mark of the third, the Raiders evened the score at 2-2 after scoring a goal off a positive bounce. 

While applying pressure in the Saskatoon zone, Raiders centre Harrison Lodewyk fired a shot that miss the Saskatoon net, but the puck deflected off the back boards behind the net right to Stanick, who was alone at the left side of the Blades net.

Stanick popped his second goal of the contest to put his Raiders on even terms with the Blades on the scoreboard.

Tyler Parr had two goals and an assist for the Blades on Wednesday.

With 9:18 remaining in the third, the Raiders jumped in front 3-2 on a power-play goal from centre Hayden Pakkala, who deflected home a point shot from Prince Albert captain Eric Johnston.

The Blades didn’t go away and pulled even on the scoreboard just under three minutes later on a strange tally.

While applying pressure in the Prince Albert zone, Parr fired a shot on net past a fallen Raiders netminder Max Hildebrand, and the shot appeared to be kept out of the goal and cleared away by Raiders right-winger Brayden Dube. 

Egor Sidorov scored his 33rd goal of the season on Wednesday.

Dube cleared the puck right on to the stick of Blades veteran defenceman Ben Saunderson. Saunderson quickly popped home the gift for the apparent equalizer.

The officials checked the play out on video review and discovered that Parr’s initial shot indeed crossed the goal-line of the Raiders net to allow the Blades to even the score at 3-3. 

Parr was credited with the equalizer about three seconds before Saunderson put the puck in the net on the original continuation of the play.

That set the stage for Wright to come through with the winner on the power play and for the Blades to round out the scoring with two empty-net goals.

Lukas Hansen scored an empty-net goal for the Blades.

Gardner stopped 29 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who sit first overall in the WHL with a 24-8-2 mark. Hildebrand turned away 31-of-35 shots in net for the Raiders, who fell to 17-16-0-2 to sit seventh overall in the Eastern Conference.

Parr had an assist to go along with his two goals. Armstrong had a pair of assists to go with his Teddy Bear tally. Stanick had an assist to go along with his two markers.

The Blades, who are rated sixth in the CHL Top 10 Rankings, return to action on Friday when they travel to Brandon to take on the Wheat Kings (7 p.m., Westoba Place).

The Blades celebrate their win on Wednesday.

The Raiders get back at it on Saturday when they return home to host the Moose Jaw Warriors (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

So far this season, the Blades have won all four of their head-to-head matchups with the Raiders. Even during stretches were one side is collecting all the wins, Wednesday’s contest showed that rivalry clashes between the Blades and Raiders are still must watch encounters.

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Desperation brings out best effort in Raiders

Prince Albert bashes Blades 8-1 at SaskTel Centre

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

It was a great afternoon to cheer, if you were a fan of the Prince Albert Raiders, and an afternoon to sit in stunned silence, if you were a booster of the Saskatoon Blades.

On Sunday, the Raiders showed the desperation they needed for 60 minutes to keep their post-season hopes realistic. They bombed their archrivals in the Blades 8-1 before 4,875 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

The win allowed the Raiders to end a four-game losing streak and improve to 26-33-3 to get closer into the WHL’s playoff chase that is in the stretch run. The Blades, who won seven of the 10 head-to-head contests with the Raiders this season, saw their seven game winning streak come to an end.

Keaton Sorensen (#20) celebrates his first goal on Sunday.

Prince Albert still sits 11^th in the WHL’s Eastern Conference, but moves to within five points of the final playoff berth in the conference. The Brandon Wheat Kings (26-29-8), Swift Current Broncos (28-30-1-3) and Calgary Hitmen (26-27-5-3) all sit tied for eighth and the Eastern Conference’s final playoff berth with 60 standings points.

The Hitmen have seven games remaining on their regular season schedule, the Raiders and Broncos have six contests to play on their regular season slates, and the Wheat Kings have five regular season games left.

Raiders 21-year-old centre Keaton Sorensen led the way for a great all-around effort by his club with a pair of goals and an assist. The Red Deer, Alta., product along with captain Evan Herman and offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior, are playing out the final games of their major junior careers.

Keaton Sorensen has career highs in goals (25) and assists (28).

Sorensen said the urgency of trying to keep the campaign going for as long as possible is felt by the trio.

“It is not just something that comes up now,” said Sorensen, who has career highs in goals (25), assists (28) and points (53) this season. “It has kind of been a thought in the back of our mind all year just thinking that it is our last shot.

“It is now or never. There is no next season for us in this league, so it is definitely a big step here. I guess it has been almost the whole season we’ve kind of felt that way.

“It is good to see all the boys pulling in the right direction.”

The Raiders broke through on the scoreboard at the 10:21 mark of the opening frame Sorensen potted his 24^th goal of the season from the front of the Saskatoon net to give the visitors a 1-0 edge. Sorensen converted a sweet pass from Raiders star 16-year-old right-winger Ryder Ritchie from behind the icing line at the right side of the Saskatoon net.

Brandon Lisowsky had the Blades lone goal on Sunday.

Just 46 seconds later, the Blades pulled even at 1-1 as star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky drove down the left wing and fired home his 33^rd tally of the season.

Prince Albert jumped back ahead 2-1 just under three minutes later, when captain Evan Herman blasted home his 16^th of the season from the front of the Saskatoon net. Herman converted a beauty setup pass from 19-year-old star left-winger Sloan Stanick, who was position by the left boards at the edge of the faceoff circle.

Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt said he could see his club was playing with an elevated effort compared to when the Blades dumped the Raiders 6-2 on Friday in Prince Albert.

Evan Herman had the Raiders second goal on Sunday.

“I liked our response from 48 hours ago,” said Truitt. “You didn’t know what the guys were thinking, but when we talked about it, we could just see that a lot of the guys are determined coming into the game.

“It was good that we got off to a good start in the first period. We never looked back. I thought pace, our determination and our compete we played the right way.”

At the 5:37 mark of the second, the Raiders pushed their advantage out to 3-1, when 18-year-old left-winger Carter Anderson banged home a rebound from point blank range in front of the Saskatoon goal. Anderson’s gritty tally was his 11^th of the season.

Things proceeded to get feisty shortly after Anderson’s tally. Blades import rookie 17-year-old defenceman Tomas Zizka nailed Ritchie with a hard hit into the boards in the Prince Albert zone.

Carter Anderson celebrates scoring for the Raiders on Sunday.

Raiders 16-year-old rookie centre Grady Martin proceeded to quickly skate towards Zizka to start a fight. Martin, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 167 pounds, and Zizka, who stands 6-feet and weighs 172 pounds, traded some good punches before falling to the ground, where the officials proceeded to break up the bout.

Martin received a minor for instigating, a major for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct, and Zizka was assessed a major for fighting.

At the 11:02 mark of the second, the Raiders had control of the puck in the Saskatoon zone and scored on a delayed penalty call extend their lead to 4-1 on a goal from centre Hayden Pakkala. Pakkala deflected home a point shot from Herman to account for his eighth tally of the season.

Blades D Tomas Zizka (#45) fights Raiders C Grady Martin (#28).

The Blades pulled starting netminder Ethan Chadwick after Pakkala’s tally. Chadwick turned away 5-of-9 shots sent his way to take the setback in goal for the Saskatoon side. Austin Elliott turned away 12-of-16 shots playing the rest of the way in relief.

The Raiders weren’t done there. With 0.6 seconds remaining in the second, 17-year-old rookie defenceman Justice Christensen fired home a shot from the high slot to give the visitors a 5-1 lead.

Sorensen enjoyed seeing numerous players on the Raiders roster find success on the ice on Sunday.

“It is awesome,” said Sorensen. “I haven’t had many of those games in my career.

The Raiders celebrate a goal from Justice Christensen (#7).

“It is awesome to see everyone clicking. All the bounces, I guess, are going our way too. Everyone is just working.

“It is very contagious out there when one line is going and then the next line is going. It just goes down the whole lineup starting from our goaltender just right up to the forwards.”

Just 89 second into the third, Sorensen netted his second of the contest and 25^th marker of the season and Stanick tallied 68 seconds later to surge the Raiders out to a 7-1 lead. Sophomore left-winger Harrison Lodewyk popped in the Raiders final goal on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the third to round out the games scoring.

With 1:27 remaining in the third, Anderson and Blades centre Jayden Wiens engaged in a short fight, which was quickly broken up by the officials. Both were given fighting majors.

Ryder Ritchie had a pair of assists for the Raiders.

Ritchie and 17-year-old defenceman Terrell Goldsmith each had a pair of assists for the Raiders.

Tikhon Chaika stopped 32 shots to pick up the win in net for the Raiders and many of his stops were quality ones. Truitt said Chaika’s play keeping the Blades at bay proved to be key in the Raiders pulling away on the scoreboard.

“We said even after the first period that he was kind of dialled in,” said Truitt. “It was a situation where he was quick in the net.

“Our defence were there to clear pucks away, but he obviously the difference in this game. It could have went either way. We had some pucks bouncing in the slot that they couldn’t get to.

Terrell Goldsmith had two assists for the Raiders on Sunday.

“He had a couple of saves that he made that you might not think he could. That is what we needed. We needed a big goaltending performance tonight, and we got it.”

The Blades, who are rated 10^th in the latest CHL Top 10 Rankings, fell to 44-14-4-1 with their loss on Sunday to sit fourth overall in the WHL, and they need to earn four standings points in their last five games to finish second overall in the Eastern Conference. Saskatoon sits five points up on the Red Deer Rebels (41-17-3-3), who have locked up first in the Central Division.

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, which means the Blades at the moment would have home ice advantage for any potential post-season encounters with Red Deer.

Tikhon Chaika made 32 saves in goal for the Raiders.

Saskatoon has five games remaining on its regular season slate, while Red Deer has four regular season outings left to play.

The Raiders get back at it on Tuesday when they return home to host the WHL leading 52-9-1 Winnipeg Ice (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Swift Current to take on the Broncos (7 p.m., InnovationPlex).

Sorensen said the Raiders have to get ready to have a good focused effort against the Ice.

“It is definitely important just kind of after a game like this to reset,” said Sorensen, who clubs still had to play the Ice three more times this season. “It is a zero-zero hockey game every game we start with.

The Raiders celebrate their win on Sunday.

“We just have to get after them right away and keep to our structure all game and just burying our chances and playing good in the D-zone. I think we’ll have good shots and good games against Winnipeg.”

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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Sidorov delivers OT victory to beat up Blades

Egor Sidorov scored the OT winner for the Blades on Saturday.

Egor Sidorov played the role of savour for a Saskatoon Blades side that seems to be getting more physically beat up by the game.

On Saturday, the Blades found themselves in overtime locked in a 2-2 draw taking on the host Calgary Hitmen at the Tsuut’ina Seven Chiefs Sportsplex in a WHL regular season contest. During the three-versus-three session, Sidorov collected the puck in his own zone, blew coast-to-coast down the left wing and roofed home a shot top corner to the short side of Hitmen netminder Ethan Buenaventura.

Sidorov’s tally delivered the visitors to a 3-2 victory before 1,232 spectators. That marker came at the 2:30 mark of the extra session.

The goal completed a two-point night for Sidorov, who picked up an assist on the Blades first goal of the contest. The 18-year-old Belarusian import right-winger, who is living in Canada full time, is continuing a strong sophomore season having posted 27 goals, 21 assists and a plus-17 rating in the plus-minus department in 33 games.

Last year as a 17-year-old rookie, Sidorov appeared in 58 regular season games for the Blades collecting 23 goals, 12 assists and a minus-two rating.

This season, Sidorov tops the Blades with six game-winning goals and two overtime tallies. The Saskatoon side needed the skilled winger to deliver in the clutch on Saturday.

The Blades entered play on Friday without centre Jayden Wiens and overage star right-winger Josh Pillar with lower body injuries. Both are listed as being out week to week. Saskatoon also entered play on Friday without the services of centre Tyler Parr, who is out indefinitely with an upper body injury.

During a 5-1 loss to the Rebels in Red Deer on Friday, the Blades lost centre Mikhail Volotovski and left-winger Justin Lies due to upper body injuries. Lies taken off the ice on a stretcher at the 5:29 mark of the second period after being on the receiving end of a hit from Rebels left-winger Carson Birnie. Birnie received an interference major and a game misconduct on the play.

The penalty triggered an automatic review by the WHL office for a possible suspension, but no suspension was issued to Birnie. During that same contest, Rebels 19-year-old centre Craig Armstrong was given a double minor for slew-footing near the end of the second period, and the WHL office gave him a one-game suspension in the automatic review for that infraction.

Austin Elliott stopped 24 shots in net for the Blades.

Against the Hitmen on Saturday, Blades overage captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere and star left-winger Conner Roulette both were unable to finish that contest due to undisclosed injuries.

The Hitmen got on the board first against the short-staffed Blades with 17-year-old defenceman Carter Yakemchuk scoring with 2:34 remaining in the opening frame.

Just 14 seconds into the second period, the Blades pulled even at 1-1 on a goal by star right-winger Brandon Lisowsky, who collected his 24^th tally of the season. Lisowsky deflected home a point shot taken by star 17-year-old defenceman Tanner Molendyk to pull the Blades even on the scoreboard.

With 5:13 remaining in the third, Blades standout right-winger Jake Chiasson jetted across the front of the Calgary net and put home a backhand shot to give the Blades a 2-1 advantage. The tally was Chiasson’s first goal as a member of the Blades after being acquired in a trade with the Brandon Wheat Kings made before the WHL’s trade deadline on January 10.

The Blades looked like they were going to make Chiasson’s tally stand up as the winner. With 68 seconds remaining in the third, Yakemchuk netted his second goal of the contest to pull the Hitmen even with the visitors at 2-2. Yakemchuk’s equalizer came with the Hitmen having pulled Buenaventura to play with five skaters versus the Blades four skaters due to some staggered minor penalties that were called.

That set the stage for Sidorov to net the winner in overtime.

Austin Elliott made 24 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Blades (29-11-3-1). Buenaventura turned away 42 shots to take the extra time setback in net for the Hitmen (23-17-4-1).

Saskatoon is 5-6-3-1 since returning to action after the WHL’s Christmas break.

The Blades return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Brandon to face the 19-21-5 Wheat Kings (7 p.m. local time, Westoba Place).

The Hitmen return to action on Sunday when they host the WHL leading 34-6-1 Winnipeg Ice (4 p.m. local time, Scotiabank Saddledome).

Herman, Pakkala push Raiders past Cougars

Evan Herman scored twice for the Raiders on Saturday.

Captain Evan Herman and birthday boy Hayden Pakkala ensured that Saturday night was alright for the Prince Albert Raiders on the road in Prince George.

Herman scored twice and Pakkala had a goal and an assist to push the Raiders past the host Cougars 4-1 in a WHL regular season game played Saturday before 5,101 spectators at the CN Centre. The win marked the beginning of a stretch of six straight road games for the Raiders that will see them take on all five clubs that make up the B.C. Division.

Just 61 seconds into the contest, the Cougars jumped ahead 1-0 as 18-year-old rookie Czech import right-winger Ondrej Becher put a backhander past Raiders netminder Max Hildebrand.

The Raiders evened the score at 1-1 working on the power play with 1:36 remaining in the first period when Pakkala, who turned 19-years-old on Saturday, put home a backhand shot through at crowd into the Prince George net.

Prince Albert jumped ahead 2-1 with 4:44 remaining in the second period thanks to a goal coming from 18-year-old left-winger Carter Anderson. After getting the puck from Pakkala, Anderson jetted down the left wing and wired home his eighth goal of the season to the top right corner of the Prince George goal.

With 2:29 remaining in the second Herman, who is an overager, netted his first to two goals on the night to increase the Raiders advantage to 3-1. Herman added his second of the contest on the power play at the 3:43 mark of the third to ultimately round out the 4-1 final in favour of the Raiders.

Max Hildebrand stopped 28 shots in goal for the Raiders.

Hildebrand stopped 28 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders (17-25-3). Ty Young turned away 26 shots to take the setback in net for the Cougars (19-21-4). 

The two sides, who only play once a season, also engaged in three different fights. In the first period, Raiders centre Cole Peardon took on Cougars centre Carlin Dezainde.

The second frame saw Raiders defenceman Easton Kovacs take on Cougars rearguard Ross Stanley, and the third period featured bout between Raiders defenceman Seth Tansem taking on Cougars left-winger Fischer O’Brien.

The Raiders now travel to Victoria to take on the 14-28-4-1 Royals (7 p.m. local time, Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena).

The Cougars are off until Friday when they host the Royals (7 p.m. local time, CN Centre).

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Blades’ Maier steals victory again in Prince Albert

Netminder makes 49 saves in 3-2 OT triumph

Blades G Nolan Maier keeps the hard charging Raiders at bay.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - You have to wonder when Nolan Maier will appear on the Prince Albert Police Service’s most wanted list, because he keeps robbing the Raiders at the Art Hauser Centre.

On Friday, the overage star netminder was in top form making 49 saves to keep his Saskatoon Blades in their WHL regular season clash with their archrivals in the host Prince Albert Raiders. In overtime with the two sides locked in a 2-2 draw, the Blades ensured Maier would get his 117^th career WHL regular season win.

After killing off a penalty to start the extra frame and the two sides playing four-versus-four hockey, Blades import right-winger Egor Sidorov wrapped home the winning goal with 2:20 remaining in the extra session to give the Blades a 3-2 victory. 

Blades G Nolan Maier covers the puck during a net scramble.

The results sent most of the 2,600 standing room crowd at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre home disappointed outside of the healthy contingent of Blades supporters who made their way up from “The Bridge City” for Friday’s contest.

Maier has won three out of his four starts at the Art Hauser Centre this season turning away 133-of-142 shots fired his way in those contests. He has traditionally played well in “Hockey Town North” throughout his WHL career.

Nolan Maier picked up his 117th career regular season victory.

The Yorkton, Sask., product said he has always gotten up for games in Prince Albert due everything that goes into the rivalry between the Raiders and the Blades, which includes getting a humourous kick out the Prince Albert fans that like to heckle him.

“I think it is just the rivalry,” said Maier, who stands 6-feet and weighs 172 pounds. “I think no matter who you are or how long you have been playing on either team you kind of get that feeling and that sense of the rivalry and that kind of hatred for each other.

“It is a really fun atmosphere to play in here. They (the Raiders fans) get intense and they get into it. You know it is going to be a fun game when you come down to P.A.

“It is always exciting.”

Nolan Maier makes one of his 49 saves on Friday night.

Maier, who is already the Blades franchise record holder for career regular season victories, became just the fifth goalie in the history of the WHL to reach 117 career regular season wins. He needs three more wins to equal the WHL record for career regular season victories of 120 held jointly by Corey Hirsch and Tyson Sexsmith.

Hirsch picked up his 120 victories playing four seasons with the Kamloops Blazers from 1988 to 1992. Sexsmith collected his 120 wins over five seasons with the Vancouver Giants from 2005 to 2009. He also had one non-decision relief appearance for the Medicine Hat Tigers late in the 2004-05 campaign.

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said Maier played a huge role on the penalty kill forcing the Raiders to go 0-for-6 on the power play including a 59-second stretch where they had a five-on-three advantage. In the Raiders five previous outings before Friday’s game, they had gone 6-for-21 on the power play for a 28.6 per cent success rate.

Egor Sidorov (#19) wraps home the OT winner for the Blades.

Sonne said Maier was the reason his club killed off six power-play chances and got the win.

“I think P.A.’s power play the last five games was 28 per cent or something like that,” said Sonne, whose squad improved to 32-18-3-1 with the win. “They are dialled in right now.

“When you give up a five-on-three, a bunch of five-on-fours and a four-on-three, if you don’t get great goaltending they are going to go in the net. That is just the way it is against a power play like that. If not for him (Maier), this is a different story.”

Egor Sidorov, centre, celebrates his OT winner for the Blades.

After the two sides started the contest feeling each other out, the Raiders got buzzing in the Saskatoon zone when they got on the power play with 7:08 remaining in the frame. Just seconds into the power play, Raiders captain Reece Vitelli had a big chance to net the first goal of the contest, but he flipped the puck over top an open Saskatoon net.

A short time later, Maier robbed Raiders star right-winger Ozzy Wiesblatt on a backdoor chance.

“He (Maier) has played well, but we’ve beat him too,” said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid. “We played OK tonight.

“We made some good plays and had some good chances and didn’t have a lot of puck luck around the net. All in all, I liked our game. We have nothing to complain about.”

A trio of Blades fans cheer their team’s OT winner.

In the midst of all the Raiders pressure, Saskatoon would be the first side to get on the scoreboard.

With 2:47 remaining in the first, Blades left-winger Vaughn Watterodt found a loose puck by the right side of the Prince Albert goal during a net scramble. He knocked the puck in the empty cage to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

Just 2:18 into the second, the Raiders evened things up at 1-1, when centre Hayden Pakkala wired home a shot from the front of the Saskatoon goal for the equalizer.

Tikhon Chaika turned away 30 shots in goal for the Raiders.

At the 11:23 mark of the second, Pakkala netted his second of the contest to put the Raiders up 2-1. During furious action around the Saskatoon net, Pakkala got the puck alone in front of the goal and slid home the go-ahead tally past Maier.

Late in the second, the Raiders ended up on two power plays, but weren’t able to pot an insurance marking including playing with a five-on-three advantage for 59 seconds. Left-winger Keaton Sorensen had the best chance to score after the two-man advantage expired, but his close in shot was turned away by Maier.

With the Raiders holding a 2-1 edge going into the second intermission, Pakkala said he and his teammates were feeling positive vibes.

“We were really confident,” said Pakkala. “We had good energy in the room and good energy on the bench.

Hayden Pakkala (#11) scores twice for the Raiders on Friday.

“We definitely felt the rink too.”

At the 7:49 mark of the third, the Blades proficient power play ranked second in the WHL going into action on Friday came through at an opportune time. Blades overage star centre Tristen Robins had the puck by the right boards in the Prince Albert zone, and he found linemate Brandon Lisowsky open in the left slot.

Lisowsky quick blasted home his 31^st goal of the season to put the Blades on even terms with the Raiders at 2-2.

The Raiders thought they went ahead with 4:51 remaining in the third on a goal from overage defenceman Remy Aquilon. The Blades challenged that the Raiders were offside on the play, and video review determined Raiders centre Evan Herman was indeed offside on the rush into the Saskatoon zone where Aquilon’s goal was scored.

Cale Sanders had two assists for the Raiders on Friday.

“Obviously, it sucks,” said Raiders right-winger Cale Sanders, who had two assists on Friday night. “Emotions are high, and then all of a sudden they are so low.

“We just have to figure out a way to get back up high again and work off that.”

With 2:50 remaining in the third period, Robins was given a double minor for boarding for a hit he threw on Sanders. Robins’ double minor infraction will be reviewed automatically by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

The Raiders weren’t able to cash in during the four minutes of power play game that included the first 70 seconds of overtime.

That set up the dramatics on Sidorov’s winner.

Remy Aquilon thought he had a go-ahead goal in the third.

Tikhon Chaika turned away 30 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Raiders (22-28-3-1).

Maier said it was big for his side to find a way to get the comeback win especially with the way the Raiders carried play for a lot of the contest

“We’re trying to move up in the standings, and we’re trying to get home ice for playoffs,” said Maier. “We’re kind of getting ready to get on that roll before playoffs start.

“I think it was really huge for our group to kind of comeback and kind of stick with it and get the two points at the end of the night.”

Pakkala gave props to Maier for his stellar performance on Friday night.

“He (Maier) is a really good goalie,” said Pakkala. “He is really good with his glove.

Brandon Lisowsky scored the equalizer in the third for the Blades.

“It is tough to score on him.”

On the season, the Blades have won four of the seven total head-to-head games with the Raiders. The two teams go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre to conclude a home-and-home series.

Habscheid said all his side could do now was quickly regroup, but he took consolation in the fact his club got a standings point on Friday night.

“It is just a quick turnover,” said Habscheid. “Even though it is a rivalry, we’re interested in points.

The Blades celebrate their OT win on Friday night.

“We got one tonight. It would have been nice to get the other 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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