Blades win away from history, force Game 7 on Tuesday

Rivalry with Rebels cemented as real, series tied 3-3

The Blades erased a 3-0 series deficit to force a Game 7 with the Rebels.

No one could have ever imagined how fitting it would be when the Saskatoon Blades chose Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing” as their victory song.

While they weren’t on home ice to hear it on Sunday, the Blades have the chance to potentially make the playing of that tune the most meaningful it has ever been.

On Sunday afternoon, the Blades were in Red Deer and were facing elimination from their best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series for the third straight outing. Playing before 5,067 spectators at the Peavey Mart Centrium, Blades import right-winger Egor Sidorov made the first big play that set the tone for a post-season contest that seemingly had everything.

Just 34 seconds into Game 6 of the series, Sidorov stole the puck at the left side boards in the Red Deer zone from Rebels star 20-year-old right-winger Ben King. Sidorov wheeled behind the Red Deer goal with King in pursuit and scored on a one-handed wraparound to give the visitors a 1-0 lead on their first shot of the game.

The Blades pushed their lead out to 2-0 by the end of the first and built a 4-1 advantage in the second before the Rebels closed to within 4-2 going into the second intermission. Red Deer further cut the Saskatoon lead to 4-3 in the third, but Blades hard-working centre Jayden Wiens sealed a 5-3 victory with an empty-net goal with 1:52 remaining in the third.

With the Game 6 victory, the Blades have won three straight in the series to tie the set up at 3-3. In the process, they force a series deciding Game 7 to be played on Tuesday at 7 p.m. back on their home stomping grounds in the SaskTel Centre.

Egor Sidorov scored 34 seconds into Game 6 on Sunday.

The Blades are trying to become just the third team in WHL history to come back and win a best-of-seven series 4-3 after losing the first three games of the set.

Dating back to the WHL’s start in 1966-67, only two teams have rallied back to win a best-of-seven series having trailed the set 3-0. The Spokane Chiefs, who were guided by Mike Babcock as head coach, trailed the Portland Winterhawks 3-0 before rallying to take a first round series 4-3 in 1996. The Kelowna Rockets fell behind the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-0 in 2013 before rallying back to claim that first round series 4-3.

The Blades have also rallied back from being down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series to tie it up at 3-3 for the second time in team history.

Back in 1990, Saskatoon trailed the Lethbridge Hurricanes 3-0 in a second round series in that year’s WHL Playoffs before rallying back to tie the set at 3-3. In a series deciding Game 7 in Lethbridge, the Blades fell 4-3 in overtime with defenceman Neil Hawryluk netting the winning goal for the Hurricanes. Of course, the current edition of the Blades will try to one up their club from the 1990 post-season by getting a Game 7 win.

Actually, the Blades were actually 20 minutes away from being eliminated in their series with the Rebels as they trailed Red Deer 2-1 after two periods in Game 4 at the Peavey Mart Centrium before rallying for a 4-2 victory in that contest to start the three game winning streak.

Going back to their first round seven game series win over Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats, the Blades have won four straight contests in this WHL post-season where they have faced elimination.

Austin Elliott made 35 saves in goal for the Blades on Sunday.

Sunday’s Game 6 win in Red Deer did not come easy. Over the course of the series, the Blades and Rebels have developed a real rivalry where the players on the two teams have shown a real dislike for each other resulting in the series having a snarl to it.

After Sidorov opened the Game’s scoring, the Rebels came with a huge push back and held a 12-2 edge in shots on goal at one point in the opening frame. The Rebels had the Blades pinned in their own zone and the outstanding play of Saskatoon netminder Austin Elliott kept the host side off the scoreboard during that wave of momentum.

Just when it seemed the Rebels were rolling, the Blades broke through for their second tally of the contest. With 3:36 remaining in the first, Blades star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky got in close to the left side of the Red Deer goal and fired a shot off the left post.

The puck rebounded to the right side of the Red Deer net to Blades star centre Trevor Wong, who put a backhand shot into an open cage to give the Blades their 2-0 advantage. Wong’s goal came on the Blades third shot on goal of the contest.

The opening frame came to a close with the Blades holding a 2-0 lead and the Rebels holding a 16-6 edge in shots on goal.

Red Deer kept pushing at the start of the second and the hosts were finally rewarded for their efforts with a goal. At the 5:09 mark of the second, Rebels left-winger Jace Isley banged home a puck from the front of the Saskatoon net to cut the Blades lead to 2-1.

Jace Isley scored twice for the Rebels on Sunday.

A short time later, the Blades restored their two-goal edge scoring on the power play thanks to a Red Deer gaff. Rebels captain Jayden Grubbe had the puck in his own zone and tried to make a pass up the centre of the ice though the Red Deer blue-line.

Wong picked off the pass just inside the Red Deer zone to create a three on the goalie break for the Blades. The skilled centre and Lisowsky got the puck over to Sidorov on the right side of the Red Deer net on a tick-tack-toe passing play, and high-scoring winger popped home his second of the contest to give the Blades a 3-1 lead.

Rebels netminder Chase Coward, who was making his first start in the post-season, had absolutely no chance to make a stop on the play.

With 2:23 remaining in the second, the Blades would score off another Rebels turnover. Rebels defenceman Mats Lindgren had the puck in the deep left corner of his own zone and tried to clear it high to centre ice.

Blades utility player Spencer Shugrue knocked down the clearing attempt and took the puck over to the right side of the Rebels net. He passed the puck across the front of the net to Blades star left-winger Jake Chiasson, who buried his fourth of the post-season to give the Blades a 4-1 advantage.

Before the second ended, the Rebels got some traction. Rebels star centre Kai Uchacz drove into the Saskatoon zone on a rush, made a toe drag move and fired home a laser shot from mid range from the front of the Saskatoon goal to cut the Blades lead to 4-2.

Kai Uchacz had a goal for the Rebels on Sunday.

With 7:47 remaining in the third, the determination of Isley paid off again for the Rebels. Isley got a loose puck low in the right corner of the Saskatoon zone and snapped home a shot from the lower part of the right faceoff circle for his second tally of the contest to cut the Blades lead to 4-3.

Red Deer’s rally would be cut short by another turnover. Shortly after pulling Coward for an extra attacker, Grubbe was rushing through the centre ice zone with the puck and he gave it away to Wiens on an attempted short pass.

Wiens popped home an empty-net goal just before the Red Deer blue-line with 1:52 remaining in the third to round out the 5-3 victory.

Any thought of a comeback was further erased when King was given a goaltender interference minor with 74 seconds remaining in the third to put the Blades on the power play.

Frustrations and the personal rivalries boiled over as there were two scrums in the final minute of the third and a third stoppage for an undisciplined Rebels penalty.

The first scrum with 47.7 seconds remaining in the third was the main event of the extra-curricular activities of the final minute of the frame. Out of that scrum, a fight broke out between Isley and Blades right-winger Lukas Hansen. Both players were giving cross-checking minors and fighting majors.

Jayden Grubbe had a tough outing for the Rebels on Sunday.

Out of that scrum, Rebels left-winger Rhett Larson was locked up with Blades centre Jordan Keller. Larson was given a minor for instigating, a fighting major, a game second fight misconduct and a game misconduct.

Keller stayed in the game and took a slashing minor as part of the second scrum with 23.8 seconds remaining in the third.

Ultimately, it took about 12 minutes of real time to complete the final minute of the third. The WHL office will likely look at the shenanigans of the final minute for further possible discipline.

Elliott stopped 35 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Coward turned away 18-of-22 shots to take the setback in net for the Rebels.

The WHL discipline department had been busy with activities from the previous two games in this series.

On Sunday, the Blades were without gritty right-winger Justin Lies, who was sitting out the second of a three-game WHL imposed suspension for a head hit he threw on Rebels star left-winger Kalan Lind in the Blades 4-2 win in Game 4 on Wednesday. Lind has been out with a head injury since that hit.

The Rebels were without import right-winger Frantisek Formanek due to a one-game suspension under supplemental discipline by the WHL. In Game 5, Formanek was giving a boarding minor penalty at the 7:21 mark of the first period in the Blades 6-3 victory in that contest.

Trevor Wong had a goal and an assist for the Blades on Sunday.

Formanek hit Blades 20-year-old defenceman Blake Gustafson from behind, and Gustafson was able to prevent himself from making a hard crash into the boards. The Blades sent in video to the WHL office asking for supplemental discipline as this was a dangerous play.

Gustafson missed Game 6 with an upper body injury. Blades right-winger Misha Volotovsky was also out with an upper body injury and hasn’t played since Game 1 of this series.

Originally, it was expected that this would be a tight series going in between the Blades and Rebels. The Blades finished fourth in the overall WHL regular season standings with a 48-15-4-1 record and were rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. 

The Rebels finished fifth in the overall WHL standings and topped the Central Division with a 43-19-3-3 mark.

When the two sides meet in Game 7 on Tuesday in Saskatoon, the Blades will be trying to advance to the Eastern Conference Championship series for the first time since 1994, and the Rebels are looking to get back to the Eastern Conference title set for the first time since 2016.

Jayden Wiens and the Blades host Game 7 on Tuesday.

The Blades will do everything they can to allow their home ice music man to play “I’m Still Standing” at game’s end, while the Rebels will try to negate that tradition playing the role of spoiler.

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

-------

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

Rebels down Blades with 3-1 textbook road win in Game 1

Saskatoon will try to even Eastern Conference semi on Sunday

The Rebels celebrate a third period goal from Jace Isley.

The Red Deer Rebels made the Saskatoon Blades look like they were fighting their way through quicksand.

On Friday playing before 6,823 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Rebels clogged up the centre ice zone and sealed off the passing lanes in the defensive zone to grind out a 3-1 victory over the host Blades in Game 1 of a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. Game 2 is set for Sunday at 4 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre, where the Blades will be looking to get on even terms before the series shifts to Red Deer for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

Rebels head coach Steve Konowalchuk said he thought his team would be in a tight battle, and that was how Friday’s game materialized.

Christoffer Sedoff had a goal and an assist for the Rebels.

“We knew it would be a tough game, and it was a tough game and goes right to the end,” said Konowalchuk. “It is sure nice to get the first win, but it is back to work and try to reset for next game.

“Our team I thought had some composure. They’ve got a good power play. They usually don’t’ give a lot of power play chances, so we have to be smart on our end as well.”

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said his team played good at times but a better effort was needed overall.

“We didn’t start on time,” said Sonne. “I didn’t like our start.

“I didn’t like the first period. We had good spurts in the second and third. (We were) not consistent enough however and not enough guys really raising their level tonight.”

Tyler Parr returned to the Blades lineup from injury on Friday.

Early in the first period, Rebels captain Jayden Grubbe had a breakaway on the Saskatoon goal. The 19-year-old skilled centre snapped a shot off the goalpost.

Shortly after killing off a Rebels power play, Blades winger Tyler Parr was stopped close in after taking a shot from the right side of the Red Deer net. Parr was playing his first game after missing 48 contests between the regular season and post-season due to an upper body injury. Sonne was pleased with Parr’s performance on Friday.

“We just love Parrsy (Parr),” said Sonne. “He is a workhorse, such a good kid (and) just brilliant.

“It was huge having him back. He was awesome.”

Jhett Larson had the Rebels first goal on Friday.

With 9:21 remaining in the first, there was a bit of confusion when play was stopped in the Red Deer end. The officials were trying to determine if the Rebels were guilty of a high-sticking infraction from a linesman observation, when Blades utility player Spencer Shugrue went down. Shugrue proceeded to finish the game.

The stoppage to discuss the possible penalty lasted about 10 minutes, included video review and saw the officials place Rebels import right-winger Frantisek Formanek in the penalty box and then let him out of the box a couple of minutes later. Formanek looked visibly confused through that whole situation.

When play resumed with no penalty being called, an announcement went up in the building that there was no penalty for high sticking, because a Blades player high sticked himself.

Jace Isley was credited with the Rebels second goal on Friday.

The opening 20 minutes was a feeling out frame with the Rebels holding a 7-5 edge in shots on goal.

Red Deer broke through on the scoreboard at the 4:28 mark of the second, when Rebels right-winger Jhett Larson, who turned 19-years-old in early February, fired home a shot from in front of the Saskatoon net. Larson’s tally came on the Rebels ninth shot on goal in the contest and he converted a beauty drop setup pass from Rebels import offensive-defenceman Christoffer Sedoff.

“It is certainly always nice to get the first goal,” said Konowalchuk. “They block shots, and they do a good job protecting their house.”

Following the Rebels goal, Blades netminder Austin Elliott made a trio of big saves to ensure the Blades made it to the first intermission only down one goal. First, Elliott made a right pad stop on Rebels left-winger Ben King close in on the left side of the Saskatoon net.

Jake Chiasson had the Blades lone goal on Friday.

Elliott proceeded to rob Sedoff with a glove stop. A short time later, Elliott made a left pad stop on a point shot from Rebels defenceman Hunter Mayo, who fed the puck through a screen.

“I think both teams came out ready to go, and it was a tight game,” said Grubbe. “There wasn’t a lot of chances back and forth.

“For the most part, it was pretty tight and getting in shot lanes. Around the net, there wasn’t a lot besides kind of special teams there where it opened up a little bit. I think it was a good start to the series.”

The Blades came out with a good push back in the third. Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov had a great scoring chance one-timing a rocket shot from the right slot that Rebels netminder Kyle Kelsey, who has been sensational in the post-season, got his blocker on.

Kyle Kelsey made 23 stops in goal for the Rebels.

Kelsey proceeded to stone Blades 19-year-old defenceman Charlie Wright who pinched down low to the right side of the Red Deer net for a huge scoring chance.

With 6:41 remaining in the third, the Rebels pushed their lead out to 2-0 thanks to a positive bounce goal. Rebels 20-year-old winger Jace Isley jetting down the right wing, cut across the face of the Blades goal and put a shot of the right post of the Saskatoon net.

The puck proceeded to sit loose in the crease of the Saskatoon goal. Blades 18-year-old defenceman Ben Saunderson scrambled to clear the puck away from the net but inadvertently deflected it off Elliott’s skate into his own goal to give the Rebels their two-goal edge.

The Blades didn’t go away. With 2:27 remaining in the third, they pulled Elliott for an extra skater.

Austin Elliott makes one of his 17 saves in goal for the Blades.

Blades star left-winger Jake Chiasson collected the rebound from a Sidorov shot at the left side of the Red Deer net and put the puck into an empty cage to cut the Rebels lead to 2-1 with 1:52 remaining in the third. The hosts were unable to find the equalizer as Sedoff rounded out the win with a long range empty net goal with 4.1 seconds remaining in the frame.

Grubbe was pleased his squad was able to take the series opener.

“I think for us it was just important to get off to a good start here,” said Grubbe. “You want to ideally get one on the road at least.

Ben Saunderson had some back luck on Friday night.

“It is good to get the first one here to start off and then go from there.”

Elliott turned away 17-of-19 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades. Kelsey stopped 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Rebels in a battle of rookie netminders.

Both squads had three power-play chances, but were not able to score with the man advantage.

Looking forward to Game 2, Sonne said he will be looking for three things from his players.

“Our start needs to be a lot better,” said Sonne. “We need to start on time with everyone.

Rebels D Mats Lindgren fends off Blades RW Vaughn Watterodt.

“We need to get forechecking. I really didn’t think we did enough on the forecheck. I think everyone just to a man has to make sure they are being their best selves, which you really can’t say that about tonight.”

Konowalchuk said his team needs to reset for Game 2 expecting the Blades to come with a stronger effort.

“I think our guys know that,” said Konowalchuk. “I think the other team knows that.

“It is a series. We have to reset, and that would be the message. It is just you know what - let’s go back to work and put this one behind us.

“It is going to be tough for next game.”

The Rebels celebrate their win on Friday.

NOTES – Blades 20-year-old defenceman Blake Gustafson was out with an undisclosed injury and center Josh Pillar, who turned 21-years-old in February, was out for an undisclosed reason. The Rebels were without veteran defenceman Marek Schneider, who turned 20-years-old in February, for an undisclosed reason.

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

-------

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