Blades best Tigers 6-5 in 1980s style rivalry tilt

The Blades and Tigers scrum it up at the end of Friday’s game.

    It felt like old times at the Saskatoon Arena in the late 1980s.

    Back in that era of the WHL, the Saskatoon Blades and Medicine Hat Tigers had quite the heated rivalry. A lot of the heated tensions were due to the fact the two sides met in league semifinal playoff series in 1987 and 1988.

    Those series were ultimately won by the Tigers, who advanced on to win the WHL title and the Memorial Cup title as CHL champions in both of those years.
    Medicine Hat claimed the 1987 series in seven games, when the Blades still played in the Saskatoon Arena, and the Tigers swept the 1988 series, when “the Bridge City Bunch” made their first post-season run playing out of the SaskTel Centre.

    On Friday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Saskatoon Blades and Medicine Hat Tigers engaged in a WHL regular season clash that would have been worthy of the battles from that era.

    There were huge momentum swings, lots of goals, timely saves by goalies, one spirited fight and huge scrum at the end of the contest. It was a game that was all over the map.

Tigers C Ryan Chyzowski, left, fights Blades C Jayden Wiens.

    When the dust settled, the Blades skated away with a 6-5 victory before 3,156 spectators. The fans got their money’s worth and gave the Blades a fairly loud salute at night’s end.

    The unpredictability of the night started in the first period. The Blades carried the play in the opening frame outshooting the Tigers 17-7, but the Tigers came away holding a 1-0 lead.

    Tigers captain James Hamblin tucked home the game’s opening goal on a breakaway in the first.

    Medicine Hat escaped the first holding the end on the scoreboard thanks to the play of netminder Garin Bjorklund. He turned away Blades defenceman Nolan Kneen on a partial breakaway and robbed Saskatoon centre Tristen Robins with a glove stop in the opening 20 minutes.

The Blades and Tigers engaged in a few exchanges on Friday.

    Just 35 seconds into the second, Tigers defenceman Daniel Baker jetted in down the right wing and roofed home his 10^th goal of the season to put the visitors up 2-0.

    At the 11:37 mark of the second, centre Baxter Anderson scored to put the Tigers up 3-0, and it seemed that the visitors were going to cruise from there.

    From that moment, it was time to cue the comeback for the Blades thanks mainly from an offensive explosion coming from their forward line of left-winger Kyle Crnkovic, Robins, and right-winger Martin Fasko- Rudas. They combined for four goals and seven assists.

    Crnkovic posted a goal and four assists. Robins had his first career WHL hat trick. Fasko-Rudas had three helpers.

    Just 70 seconds after Anderson’s goal, Robins netted his first of the contest to cut the Tigers lead to 3-1. 

Tristen Robins had a hat trick for the Blades on Friday.

    Crnkovic potted his 12^th of the season just a little over three minutes later to further trim the Tigers advantage to 3-2.

    With 1:22 remaining in the second, the Blades benefited from a positive type bounce you would see in an old building like the now demolished Saskatoon Arena.

    The puck was in the Tigers zone with the Blades working the power play. The Tigers tried to clear the puck around the glass, but the puck hit a stanchion and deflected to the front of the Medicine Hat goal to Blades captain Chase Wouters.

    Wouters promptly fired the gift into the Medicine Hat net to even things up at 3-3. The tally was Wouters 20^th goal of the season marking the first time the 19-year-old hit that mark in his WHL career.

    The Blades kept rolling going up 5-3 at the 1:55 mark of the third with goals coming from feisty left-winger Riley McKay and Robins netting his second of the contest.

Kyle Crnkovic had a goal and four assists for the Blades on Friday.

    Bjorklund was pulled from the Medicine Hat goal at that point turning away 26-of-31 shots he faced. Mads Sogaard turned away four-of-five shots playing the rest of the way in relief.

    Shortly after the Blades went up by two goals, Saskatoon centre Jayden Wiens, who stands 5-foot-7 and weighs 139 pounds, engaged Tigers centre Ryan Chyzowski, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 170 pounds, in a spirited fight.

    Wiens ended getting the take down for the win in front of a huge ovation from the Saskatoon faithful.

    With the crowd still buzzing from the fight, the Tigers scored seven seconds after the resumption of play with left-winger Corson Hopwo getting his 10 goal of the season. That tally cut the Blades advantage to 5-4.

    Robins completed his hat trick a little over two minutes later to give the Blades a 6-4 advantage.

    Shortly after Robins third tally, the Tigers went on a power play, and Blades netminder Koen MacInnes had to turn away seven shots to ensure the hosts got the two-minute kill.

James Hamblin had the Tigers first goal on Friday.

    MacInnes made a huge sprawling kick save on the kill to rob Tigers star left-winger Cole Sillinger of a sure goal.

    Still the Blades weren’t out of the woods. Tigers left-winger Nick McCarry scored with 4:54 remaining in the third to cut the Blades lead to 6-5.

    With about a minute remaining in the third, Tigers defenceman Eric Van Impe wired a shot off the crossbar of the Blades goal.

    The host side held the fort the rest of the way to preserve their third straight victory. After the final seconds of the game expired, both teams engaged in a big scrum around the Saskatoon goal.

MacInnes made 28 saves to allow the Blades to improve to 23-18-1-2.

    The Tigers fell to 29-14-1-1 with a second straight loss.

The Blades enjoy their win on Friday night.

    The Blades are back at it on Saturday, when they host the Edmonton Oil Kings (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

    The Tigers return to action on Saturday, when they travel to Prince Albert to face the defending WHL champion Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

    If anyone forgot how fun the WHL can be, a reminder about how exciting and unpredictable major junior hockey can be was delivered on Friday night when the Blades slipped past the Tigers.

    Hopefully work of the encounter will attract a few more bodies to come sit in the stands.

    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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Desjardins still a perfect fit in Tigers’ saddle

Willie Desjardins is back behind the Tigers bench as HC and GM.

    The empathy poured out of Willie Desjardins for a fallen opponent, because he too has been on the wrong side of a blowout score.

    The legendary head coach and general manager of the Medicine Hat Tigers saw his squad bomb the host Saskatoon Blades 11-3 in a WHL regular season clash before 2,632 spectators at the SaskTel Centre on Tuesday. The win allowed Desjardins’ Tigers to improve to 21-8-1, while the Blades fell to 14-14-1-2.

    While Desjardins’ Tigers are known for their high-flying, skilled and exciting offensive style, the 62-year-old veteran bench boss thought things just snowballed on the opposition.

    “Everything we shot went in,” said Desjardins. “If you look at the chances, they were probably pretty even tonight.

Cyle McNabb had a hat trick and an assist for the Tigers.

    “We wouldn’t be dominating them. They went out and they would work hard and they would get scored on. It gets pretty deflating after a period of time.

    “They have a good organization. They have some really quality players. This was a tough night for them.”

    With that said, Desjardins is happy to be back behind the bench of the Tigers after being away from the club for nine seasons. The Tigers owners and brothers, Darrell and Brent Maser, brought Desjardins back into his old roles this past May as the club was set to embark on its 50^th anniversary season.

Cole Sillinger had three assists for the Tigers on Tuesday.

    During his first run with the team from 2002-2010, Desjardins cemented himself as “the” Tigers head coach and took on the general manager’s role before the start of the 2005-06 campaign. Under Desjardins guidance over that stretch, the Tigers posted a 323-176-60 regular season record and won WHL titles in 2004 and 2007.

    He departed the team to take on coaching stints in the NHL, AHL and one season with Canada’s senior national team, which won bronze at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Last season, Desjardins was the interim head coach of the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings before making his homecoming to the Alberta centre with a population around 62,000 people and the Tigers.

    “Medicine Hat is a great city,” said Desjardins. “I like the franchise a lot.

    “For me, it is always great when you can be part of this franchise. More than that, I have a really good group of guys and a great staff. It has been nice for me to come into something like that.”

Garin Bjorklund made 20 saves in goal for the Tigers on Tuesday.

    Desjardins said Medicine Hat has always been great to him, his wife, Rhonda Carlson, their sons, Brayden and Jayce and daughter Sheehan. While the family was away, they always ensured to maintain roots in “the Gas City.”

    “We always kept our house, so we were always there in the summers,” said Desjardins. “It wasn’t like we had ever left.

    “It wasn’t like we had ever been gone from Medicine Hat. We were there every year back for the summers, so we were always part of it.”

    Desjardins took over a Tigers team that posted a 35-27-4-2 record last season and fell 4-2 to the Edmonton Oil Kings in a best-of-seven first round playoff series. The Tigers were reloading for what they hoped would be another breakout season, and Desjardins said he walked into a good situation.

Bryan Lockner scored a pair of goals for the Tigers on Tuesday.

    “I think we have a good group of guys,” said Desjardins. “I think we have good structure.

    “I think we have a good staff here. I think (assistant coaches) Joey (Frazer) and Ryan (Smith) do a great job with them. I think they’ve brought a lot of structure from last year that I was able to walk into, and that is important.

    “I think people are probably surprised at how many goals we scored. Our ‘D’ weren’t noted for being offensive ‘D.’ They were known for being pretty defensive, but they’ve found a way to contribute offensively this year.”

    Desjardins also inherited 16-year-old standout rookie left-winger Cole Sillinger. Sillinger had three assists in Tuesday’s win and has piled up 11 goals, 17 assists and a plus-11 rating in the plus-minus department in 25 regular season games in the current campaign.

Tigers HC and GM Willie Desjardins give instructions to his players.

    Sillinger played for Team Canada White at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge that ran Nov. 2 to 9 in Medicine Hat and Swift Current, Sask.

    “The thing I say about Sillinger and the biggest compliment is you don’t even treat him as a 16-year-old,” said Desjardins. “He plays heavy, a heavy game.

    “He plays like an 18-year-old the way he plays. I think he has been good. He has missed some games for the under-17s, but when he has been here, he has been very good for us.”

    While Desjardins saw that he had a good hand coming back to the Tigers, he didn’t expect the season to start out as well as it has.

    “It surprised me a little bit, and I think the thing for us is it is just one game at a time,” said Desjardins. “We’ve been beaten badly by some teams, so it is not like we haven’t had our share of games like this.

Tigers captain James Hamblin had five assists on Tuesday.

    “We lost 5-0 at home (to the Everett Silvertips on Saturday). We lost 4-0 at home (to the Brandon Wheat Kings on Nov. 19). Those are big losses at home as well, so it was a tough one for the Blades, but we’ve had that in our rink.

    “We have a long ways to go to be a top team.”

    As for Tuesday’s game itself, the Tigers stormed out to a 5-0 lead in the first period.

    The surge chased Blades starter Nolan Maier from the Saskatoon goal. He stopped 7-of-12 shots sent his way.

    Koen MacInnes started the second period for Saskatoon and played the rest of the way in relief. He turned away 20 of 26 shots sent in his direction.

The Tigers celebrate a goal from Lukas Svejkovsky (#20).

    The Tigers held an 8-2 edge after the second period and cruised to their 11-3 victory from there.

    Right-winger Cyle McNabb, who was traded to the Tigers by the Blades on Nov. 26, had a hat trick and an assist for the Medicine Hat side. Lukas Svejkovsky and Bryan Lockner each had two-goal nights for the Tigers, while Brett Kemp, Ryan Chyzowski, Elijah Brown and Daniel Baker all had singles.

    Tigers captain James Hamblin picked up five assists in the romp.

    The Tigers played their fourth line of left-winger Nick McCarry, centre Baxter Anderson and right-winger Noah Danielson a tonne in the third period.

    Captain Chase Wouters had a pair of goals for the Blades, while 16-year-old rookie Jayden Wiens netted a single.

    Garin Bjorklund stopped 20-of-23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers. Associate player call up Evan Fradette was inserted in net at the media break with 9:05 remaining in the third period and stopped two shots in his relief appearance.

Daniel Baker scored a goal for the Tigers on Tuesday.

    The Tigers travel to Prince Albert on Wednesday to face the defending WHL champion Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

    The Blades are back in action on Friday when they host the Kamloops Blazers at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

    As the Tigers march through their 50^th season, Desjardins said he isn’t one to look too far ahead. With that noted, he is looking forward to Bob Ridley potentially reaching 4,000 games called near the end of the regular season.

    Tuesday’s game marked the 3,965^th game Ridley has call as the Tigers play-by-play voice in the regular season, one standings tiebreaking game, the WHL playoffs and the Memorial Cup tournament. Ridley has been the team’s only play-by-play voice, and he has only missed one game.

Overager D Parker Gavlas patrols the Tigers back end.

    In 1972, Ridley was assigned by the CHAT radio and television outlet in Medicine Hat to go to Saskatoon to cover the national women’s curling championships. A Medicine Hat rink was the Alberta champion representative, and that squad was skipped by Polly Beaton.

    The foursome had a lead named Terry Kope, who was the wife of the station’s general manager.

    Due to that connection, Ridley was dispatched to Saskatoon and had to miss calling one Tigers regular season game. Ridley drove the Tigers team bus for most of his career too.

    “I think it is a real accomplishment for Bob Ridley,” said Desjardins “What he has done in this game is incredible.

    “How does anybody go 3,900 and some games and only miss one game? Like surely he can be sick sometime along the line or whatever, but never. He wasn’t sick.

Tigers RW Cyle McNabb is stopped on this backhand attempt.

    “He is a big part of the 50 years.”

    Desjardins credited the Maser family for being a big part of the Tigers success as the team owners. Darrell and Brent inherited the team from their late father, George.

    George was part of the ownership group that founded the Tigers in 1970 with Rod Carry and Joe Fisher. George became the sole owner in 1979, and the Tigers have remained owned by the Maser family since that time.

    “The Masers are a great family,” said Desjardins, who was the captain of the 1982-83 U Sports national champion University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team. “They’ve had the franchise the whole time.

The Tigers celebrate their win on Tuesday night.

    “I can’t say enough about them and what they’ve brought to Medicine Hat.”

    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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Future bright for Sillinger with WHL’s Tigers

Medicine Hat still eliminated from playoffs in OT heartbreaker

Cole Sillinger turned heads in the WHL playoffs with the Tigers.

    MEDICINE HAT, Alta. – The month of March has been a whirlwind to say the least for Cole Sillinger.

    The 15-year-old Regina, Sask., product started the month trying to help his hometown Regina Pats Canadians win the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League championship after topping the circuit with a 33-7-2-2 record in the regular season. 

    In helping the Pats earn a first place finish, Sillinger, who is a skilled forward, led the SMAAAHL in scoring with 31 goals and 45 assists for 76 points in 39 regular season appearances.

    The Pat Canadians were eliminated in a best-of-five SMAAAHL semifinal series dropping a 5-2 decision in a series deciding Game 5 at home on March 20 to the Notre Dame Hounds. The Hounds moved on to with the SMAAAHL title for a second straight year.

Cole Sillinger (#44) drives a shot on goal for the Tigers.

    After the Pat Canadians season game to an end, Sillinger was called up to play for the Medicine Hat Tigers in the WHL playoffs. He joined the Tigers on March 23 helping them earn a 2-1 victory in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first round series with the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Alberta capital.

    On Sunday, the Tigers season came to an end as they dropped a heartbreaking 4-3 decision in overtime before 2,872 spectators at the Canalta Centre to the visiting Oil Kings.

    Edmonton netted the winner at the 2:43 mark of the extra session when captain Trey Fix-Wolansky fed linemate Vince Loschiavo with a perfect pass on a two-on-one break and Loschiavo buried the game and series winner.

    While the ending of Sunday’s contest was obviously tough to take for Sillinger, he was thankful he played in all six of the Tigers post-season games. 

Cole Sillinger scored his first goal with the Tigers in the playoffs.

    He believes he can hit the ground running, when he joins the team next season as a 16-year-old rookie.

    “I can kind of get into a routine,” said Sillinger, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 173 pounds. “I can just come in here with lots of confidence and just know that I can play. That will be huge for me.”

    Sillinger comes to the Tigers as a highly touted prospect. The Tigers selected him in the first round and 11^th overall in last year’s WHL Bantam Draft.

    Of course, Sillinger’s father, Mike, played 17 seasons in the NHL from 1990-91 to 2008-09 with 12 different teams.

    As he wasn’t eligible to play full time in the WHL, Sillinger continued to lift his status with how he performed with the Pat Canadians. In leading the SMAAAHL in scoring, Sillinger collected a host of league awards.

Cole Sillinger, left, cuts to the net on an offensive rush for the Tigers.

    He was named the circuit’s most valuable player, rookie of the year, top forward and a first team all-star.

    In the final contest of the SMAAAHL regular season on Feb. 27, Sillinger score a short-handed overtime winning goal to give the Pat Canadians a 3-2 victory over the Blazers in Saskatoon to lock up first place in the league.

    While he played with the Pat Canadians, Sillinger was called up to play four regular season games with the Tigers, where he collected two assists.

Cole Sillinger jets up ice for the Tigers.

    In the WHL playoffs, Sillinger scored his first career goal netting the Tigers first tally in their 5-0 victory in Game 3 of their series with the Oil Kings last Tuesday in Medicine Hat.

    “It was just a huge goal for me, and I will remember it forever,” said Sillinger.

    Sillinger played significant minutes for the Tigers in the post-season, and Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston was pleased with how well Sillinger fit in.

    “He is a great player,” said Clouston. “He is a great kid.

    “He works hard. He is smart. He plays with confidence with the puck.

    “He understands how the game needs to be played. He was good for us in the games that we called him up.”

    Clouston was comfortable enough to call up Sillinger for a key regular season game at the Canalta Centre on March 9 against the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings. Sillinger finished that contest with a plus-one rating in the plus-minus department helping the Tigers pull out a 4-2 victory that really helped them get a lot closer to eventually clinching a playoff berth.  

Vince Loschiavo scored the OT winner for the Oil Kings.

    “It was great to see him score his first goal in the post-season,” said Clouston. “He has a bright future.”

    Sillinger said one of his biggest early hurdles in joining the Tigers for the WHL post-season was getting over the disappointment of the fact the Pat Canadians were eliminated from the SMAAAHL playoffs.

    “I was in the (Tigers) lineup, so I think I had to get that out of my head really quick,” said Sillinger. “I can’t sit on that loss (with the Pat Canadians).

    “I can’t wish that I was going to win a national championship with my midget team. I think that was just the biggest thing. I had to just get that out of my head and then just have the chance to extend my season with the Tigers and do something special with the guys.”

Captain James Hamblin scored a pair of goals for the Tigers.

    Sillinger believes he did a good job of quickly moving on to focus on what he needed to do to help the Tigers. He said he hasn’t even reflected on what it was like to win all the major individual awards he did with the SMAAAHL.

    “I can’t thank my teammates enough for those,” said Sillinger. “I haven’t really been thinking of those.

    “It has been all Tigers and all WHL and focusing on the Edmonton Oil Kings and focusing on what we have to do to win the series.”

    As for Sunday’s game, the Tigers fell behind 1-0 at the 4:09 mark of the first period, when Fix-Wolansky scored a short-handed goal with a backhand shot on a breakaway.

Captain Trey Fix-Wolansky celebrates his first period goal for the Oil Kings.

    Just 1:45 later, the Tigers evened things up at 1-1 on a goal from 17-year-old rookie left-winger Corson Hopwo.

    Early in the second, Tigers captain James Hamblin scored two goals 27 seconds apart from each other to put the hosts up 3-1.

    Just 25 seconds after that surge, Oil Kings defenceman Wyatt McLeod scored to cut the Tigers edge to 3-2.

    Offensive defenceman Conner McDonald netted the equalizer for the Oil Kings to force a 3-3 tie 31 seconds into the third period. That set the stage for Loschiavo to net the winner in overtime.

    Mads Sogaard made 33 saves to take the setback in goal for the Tigers. Todd Scott turned away 26 shots to pick up the win in net for the Oil Kings.

The fans at the Canalta Centre salute the Tigers.

    The result of Sunday’s game brought an end to the WHL careers of the Tigers overage players in Ryan Jevne, Dylan MacPherson and Linus Nassen.

    The Oil Kings finished first in the Central Division with a 42-18-4-4 record and were favoured to beat the Tigers, who placed fourth in the Central with a 35-27-4-2 mark.

    “I guess when you don’t win it is disappointing,” said Clouston. “I think we battled.

    “I think there were times where it looked like Edmonton was going to take the series right over early, but they didn’t. We were able to continue to battle. I’m proud of our effort and disappointed in the final outcome.”

The Tigers and Oil Kings engage in post-series handshakes.

    Sillinger said he learned how important it is to keep battling in the WHL playoffs no matter what was happening to his team.

    “One thing I am going to take away from it is just never give up,” said Sillinger. “That is one thing we did all series.

    “You can’t get too high with your emotions. You can’t get too low, when you are down. I think that is something that we did tonight.

    “I think that will be the biggest thing I’ll take away from the experience of playoffs.”

The Oil Kings celebrate their OT victory and first round series win.

    Edmonton advances to a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series to play the winner of the first round series between the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Calgary Hitmen. 

    The series between the Hurricanes and Hitmen is tied 3-3 and will require a series-deciding Game 7 to be held on Tuesday in Lethbridge.

    Next season will be the Tigers 50^th anniversary campaign in the WHL, and Sillinger can’t wait to hit the ice for that unique season.

    “That will be something special,” said Sillinger. “We’ll for sure have high goals for that.

    “We’ll have lots of these guys back. We’ll be really hungry.”

Ridley could reach 4,000 games next season

Bob Ridley called his 3,935th game as the Tigers play-by-play voice.

    When the Medicine Hat Tigers play through their 50^th anniversary season in 2019-20, one of the biggest celebrations might revolve around Bob Ridley, who is the only play-by-play voice the team has ever had.

    Ridley, who will be 75-years-old during the 2019-20 campaign, is in position to call his 4,000^th game as the Tigers play-by-play voice next season.

    In the 49 campaigns the Tigers have played, Ridley has called 3,935 of the club’s 3,936 games. That tally includes action in the regular season, standings tiebreaker games, WHL playoffs and the Memorial Cup tournament.

    Ridley has called 3,503 of the Tigers 3,504 regular season games, the one standings tiebreaker game the club has appeared in, all of their 411 games in the WHL playoffs and all 20 of their contests in the Memorial Cup.

    At the moment, the Tigers 65^th game in the upcoming regular season would be Ridley’s 4,000^th game.

    Of course, Ridley drove the Tigers team bus for most of that stretch.

    No one has called more games as the play-by-play voice of one hockey team at any level as Ridley has.

    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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Tigers deliver win over Giants in Ridley’s 3,900th game

James Hamblin had three points for the Tigers on Wednesday.

    The Medicine Hat Tigers ensured a milestone night for team’s iconic play-by-play voice would be a memorable one.

    On Wednesday before 2,791 spectators at the Canalta Centre in Medicine Hat, the Tigers slipped past the B.C. Division leading Vancouver Giants 4-3 in a back-and-forth WHL regular season clash. Captain James Hamblin had two goals and an assist to power the Tigers to their fourth straight win.

Medicine Hat has won all four of its outings since returning to action from the WHL Christmas break.

    Wednesday’s game marked the 3,900^th Tigers contest called by Bob Ridley, who is the team’s legendary play-by-play voice. Ridley is the only play-by-play voice the Tigers have had as they play through their 49^th season of existence.

    No one is close to Ridley’s mark for games called as the play-by-play voice of one hockey team at any level.

    To date, Ridley has called 3,474 of the Tigers 3,475 regular season games. His total also includes the one standings tiebreaker game the club appeared in, all of the Tigers 405 games in the WHL playoffs and all 20 of their contests in the Memorial Cup tournament.

    The Tigers have appeared in the Memorial Cup in 1973, 1987, 1988, 2004 and 2007 and won the event in 1987 and 1988.

Bob Ridley called his 3,900 game for the Tigers.

    As it stands already, someone could call 80 games on average between the regular season and playoffs each season for 48 seasons and still fall short of Ridley’s current total of 3,900 games called.
    For most of his broadcasting career, Ridley drove the team bus as well. He gave up those duties about four years back.

    If the Tigers make the WHL playoffs this season, Ridley would be targeted to reach 4,000 games near the end of next season, which would be the Tigers 50^th anniversary campaign.

    Wednesday’s victory allowed the Tigers to improve to 21-15-1-2, while the Giants, who still lead the B.C. Division, fell to 23-11-2 with a third consecutive loss.

    At the moment, the Tigers hold the first wildcard position in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 45 standings points. They hold a lead of seven points over the Calgary Hitmen (17-16-3-1) and nine points over the Brandon Wheat Kings (15-14-3-3).

    The Hitmen have two games in hand on the Tigers, and the Wheat Kings have four games in hand on Medicine Hat. At the moment, Brandon is sitting out of a playoff spot.

    Hamblin opened the game’s scoring at the 15:14 of the first period to allow the Tigers to head into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead.

    Early in the second period, the Giants scored two goals 22 second apart from each other to go ahead 2-1 coming off the sticks of Davis Koch and Justin Sourdif. Following Sourdif’s goal, the Tigers called a timeout to settling things down on their side.

    With 5:15 remaining in the second, Hamblin scored his second of the night to force a 2-2 tie after the Tigers caused a turnover on the forecheck. Just 33 seconds after Hamblin tied the game, centre Elijah Brown potted his sixth goal of the season to give the Tigers a 3-2 edge.

Hayden Ostir scored the winning goal for the Tigers

    At the 8:48 mark of the third, right-winger Hayden Ostir scored for the Tigers to give the host side a 4-2 edge. Hamblin picked up an assist on Ostir’s goal.

    The Giants didn’t go away. With 8:21 remaining in the third, Lukas Svejkovsky scored for the Giants to cut the Tigers lead to 4-3.
    Vancouver pushed hard the rest of the way in search of the equalizer, but Tigers veteran 19-year-old goaltender Jordan Hollett, who was playing in his 100^th career WHL regular season game, slammed the door at that point.

    Hollett made 29 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers. David Tendeck turned away 32 shots to take the setback in goal for the Giants.

    The Tigers return to action on Friday, when they host the Kootenay Ice at 7:30 p.m. local time at the Canalta Centre.

    The Giants resume game action on Friday, when they travel to Lethbridge to face the Hurricanes at 7 p.m. local time at the Enmax Centre.

Shirley named assistant captain for Canada

Grace Shirley will be an assistant captain for Canada.

    Saskatoon Stars captain Grace Shirley was placed on the leadership group for Canada’s under-18 women’s team.

    On Monday, the 17-year-old centre was named an assistant captain for the team. Shirley is playing in her fourth full season in the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League, and she leads the circuit in scoring with 19 goals and 15 assists for 34 points in the current campaign.

    The Saskatoon product is the third all-time leading scorer in the history of the SFMAAAHL piling up 89 goals and 63 assists for 152 points in 100 career regular season games.

    Defender Maggie MacEachern, who is from Brooklin, Ont., will serve as Canada’s captain, and defender Alexie Guay, who is from Magog, Que., will be an assistant captain.

    Canada opens play at the under-18 women’s worlds in Obihiro, Japan, on Saturday against Sweden. The under-18 women’s worlds run through to Jan. 13.

    Shirley is playing in the under-18 women’s worlds for the second consecutive year for Canada.

    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 appear ready to thrill with heart stoppers

Saskatoon starts 3-0 with shootout win over Tigers

Blades G Nolan Maier stones Tigers C Henrik Rybinski on a shootout chance.

    They might need to add a few more defibrillators at the SaskTel Centre, if the host Saskatoon Blades keep playing games like Saturday night’s thriller.

    The local spectators likely won’t mind, because that would mean they get to see the Blades win games like Saturday night’s thriller.

    Taking on the Medicine Hat Tigers, the Blades trailed Saturday’s WHL regular season clash at three different times by scores of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2. On each of those occasions, the Blades managed to tie things up including a power-play point blast by overage right-winger Max Gerlach that forced a 3-3 draw and overtime with 3:15 to play in the third period.

Riley McKay (#39) celebrates scoring on a shootout chance for the Blades.

    After a scoreless overtime frame, the tension got cranked up for the 3,110 in attendance thanks to a tiebreaking shootout that lasted 10 rounds.

    With the Blades shooting first, Saskatoon star sophomore centre Kirby Dach and Tigers captain James Hamblin traded goals in the first round.

    Blades star netminder Nolan Maier and Tigers Danish import goalie Mads Sogaard, who was making his first career WHL regular season start, ensured no one scored through the next seven rounds. During that stretch, the Blades faithful had to wait nervously on pins and needles as six Tigers shooters could have potentially won the game for the visitors had it not been for the work put in by Maier.

James Hamblin had two goals and an assist for the Tigers.

    In the ninth round, Blades overage offensive defenceman Dawson Davidson beat Sogaard giving the hosts a chance to win the game.

    Tigers right-winger Bryan Lockner proceeded to thwart those hopes scoring after Davidson to force a 2-2 tie and a 10^th round in the tiebreaker.

    In round 10, Blades tough guy left-winger Riley McKay snapped a shot past Sogaard to put the hosts up 3-2 in the shootout.

    Maier sealed the win making a pad save on Tigers centre Henrik Rybinski, who tried to score on a backhand deke.

    With that stop, the host side’s fans at the SaskTel Centre were able to exhale as the Blades skated away with a 3-2 win in the shootout and a 4-3 overall victory in the contest to improve to 3-0. The Tigers record moved to 1-3-0-1 with the extra time setback.

    The Blades have missed the playoffs for the last five straight seasons, which included falling out of a playoff position inside of the final 10 games in each of the past two campaigns.

Tigers G Mads Sogaard makes a save on a busy first career WHL start.

    After posting a 35-33-3-1 record last season playing out of an incredibly tough East Division, hopes are high the Blades can return to the post-season in the current 2018-19 campaign.

    Saskatoon won its first two games over the Swift Current Broncos by a combined score of 10-1. With that performance, the Blades found themselves rated 10^th on the CHL’s Top 10 rankings for this past week. 

    That marked the first time the Blades have made those rankings since the 2012-13 season, when they hosted the Memorial Cup, finished first in the East Division and last made the WHL playoffs.

Max Gerlach scored to force overtime for the Blades.

    Against the Tigers on Saturday, the Blades showed a lot of resolve battling back to force a tie score on the three occasions Medicine Hat went up by one goal.

    There were glaring times the Blades showed they were in early season form as well, which is to be expected at this part of the campaign.

    Hamblin gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead at the 3:05 mark of the first period, when his bad angle shot from the right corner boards found its way past Maier.

    After Blades captain Chase Wouters scored just over seven minutes later to force a 1-1 tie, the hosts fell behind again on another “oops.”

    Blades veteran defenceman Jackson Caller attempted to make a backhanded pass along his own blue-line and it was picked off by Hamblin.

Captain Chase Wouters scored the Blades first goal of the night.

    The 19-year-old product of Edmonton, Alta., sped into the Saskatoon zone on a breakaway and potted his second of the contest to give the Tigers a 2-1 edge heading into the first intermission.

    After a scoreless second, Blades rookie Norwegian import left-winger Kristian Roykas-Marthinsen snapped home his first career WHL regular season goal to knot the score up at 2-2 just 62 seconds into the third.

    Medicine Hat appeared to restore order going ahead 3-2 scoring on the power-play at the 8:48 mark of the third, when right-winger Hayden Ostir wired home a setup pass from Hamblin.

Josh Paterson had two assists for the Blades on Saturday.

    That created the stage for the dramatics late in the third, overtime and the shootout.

    Maier made 29 stops over 65 minutes and turned away 8-of-10 shooters in the shootout to pick up the win.
    Sogaard turned away 39 shots over 65 minutes and 7-of-10 shooters in the shootout to take the extra time setback for the Tigers.
    Blades 19-year-old right-winger Josh Paterson had two assists for the hosts making his debut in the current campaign. Paterson missed Saskatoon’s first two regular season games with an upper body injury.

    Overall, the Blades showed their supporters they could be in for a fun and enjoyable season.
    Like the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Blades gave their fans moments to make them aware the 2018-19 campaign won’t always be a joyride.

The Blades begin to celebrate their victory on Saturday night.

    With that in mind, it appears spectators will enjoy the fact they visited the SaskTel Centre on most nights for a Blades game.

    They might even get that enjoyment following the team on the road, as the Blades return to action on Sunday traveling to Prince Albert to take on their archrivals the Raiders (4-0) at 6 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

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

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Estephan’s hat trick pulls Hurricanes even with Tigers

The Hurricanes celebrate Giorgio Estephan’s first goal.

    MEDICINE HAT, Alta. – Giorgio Estephan was the feature attraction of an impromptu 80s night at the Canalta Centre in Medicine Hat.

    The standout centre fired home a hat trick and collected an assist to help his visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes outgun the host Medicine Hat Tigers 7-4 before 4,513 spectators on Saturday night in Game 2 of a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. 

    With the win in a high-scoring 1980s style clash, the Hurricanes even the series at 1-1. Game 3 is set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. Alberta time at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge.

    The setback was also a first in the 2017 post-season for the Tigers, who swept away the Brandon Wheat Kings in four games in the opening round of the playoffs. The Tigers took Game 1 of the series with the Hurricanes 4-0 on Friday night at the Canalta Centre.

    Estephan was pleased his Hurricanes were able to wrestle away home ice advantage from the Tigers. The Hurricanes have defeated the Tigers in six of the last seven encounters at the Enmax Centre over the past two seasons.

Giorgio Estephan had a hat trick and an assist for the Hurricanes.

    “It (the Canalta Centre) is a tough barn to win in too,” said Estephan. “Anytime that you can split a series (of two games on the road) in the playoffs, especially not having home ice advantage, it is a big thing for us.

    “Coming back into our barn with a lot of fans, I think is definitely exciting for us.”

    For a while on Saturday, it appeared the Tigers and Hurricanes were doing their best to burn out the scoreboard at the Canalta Centre.
    The Tigers stormed out to 2-0 lead, when right-winger Zach Fischer scored 20 seconds into the contest and added a second tally at the 2:23 mark of the opening frame. Overage left-winger Steven Owre picked up assists on both of Fischer’s goals.

    Before the nine-minute mark of the opening frame could roll around, Estephan netted his first goal of the game and right-winger Alec Baer scored 27 seconds after that tally to force a 2-2 tie.

    At the 11:10 mark of the first, Tigers right-winger Ryan Jevne scored on a backdoor setup on a power play to put the hosts up 3-2. Before the opening frame ended, Hurricanes overage captain Tyler Wong capitalized on a Tigers own-zone giveaway to tie things up at 3-3.

Tigers right-winger Zach Fischer takes a high shot from a Hurricanes player.

    “We struggled the first game, so we kind of knew that we had to come back stronger,” said Estephan. “We definitely did that today.

    “We didn’t really start the greatest we wanted to, but to kind of show the resiliency like we did to pull out this win, it is definitely something huge.”

    The Tigers jumped back in front 4-3 at the 6:03 mark of the second, when centre James Hamblin tipped home a shot from linemate Max Gerlach. Just over two-and-a-half minutes later, centre Dylan Cozens, who was selected by the Hurricanes in the first round and 19^th overall in last year’s WHL Bantam Draft, potted his first career WHL playoff goal to force a 4-4 tie.

Captain Tyler Wong had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes.

    With 7:09 to play in the third, the Hurricanes took their first lead of the game, when Estephan scored on a power play to give the visitors a 5-4 lead. The Edmonton product said the key to that goal was staying focused when the play got in close on Tigers netminder Michael Bullion.

    “It was a great play from Tyler Wong in the middle to kind of get it out to me wide,” said Estephan. “I tried to get it upstairs.

    “I didn’t get it high enough, but there was a rebound. It kind of just poked through (Bullion’s) legs, and it was sitting behind him. I just tapped it in.”

    Estephan completed his hat trick scoring into an empty net with 1:25 to play in the third shortly after a Tigers power play expired. Tanner Nagel scored an empty-net short-handed goal with 48.6 seconds to play to round out the scoring for the visitors.

    Bullion turned away 19 of 24 shots to take the loss in goal for the Tigers. Stuart Skinner turned away 26 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Hurricanes.

Steven Owre picked up two assists for the Tigers.

    Saturday’s game also contained a number of elements that showed the Highway 3 rivalry is alive and well between these two clubs, which operate in cities that are about 170 kilometres apart from each other. Hurricanes defenceman Brennan Menell took a double minor penalty in the first period for spearing Tigers left-winger Matt Bradley, and that infraction will trigger an automatic review by the league for a possible suspension.

    Fischer engaged with Hurricanes right-winger Zane Franklin in a spirited fight late in the second period, and both sides threw a number of hard hits.

    “It is a rivalry,” said Estephan. “We’re only an hour and a half away.

    “There are a lot of fans coming back and forth, and it is definitely exciting to play in front of them. It definitely gets you fired up to play in the next game.”

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