Fate keeps Raiders in playoff chase after loss to Pats

Connor Bedard (#98) had two goals and an assist for the Pats.

A playoff berth is a pot of gold to the Prince Albert Raiders that is frustratingly fingertips out of reach.

On Saturday, the Raiders had a golden chance to seize a little bit more control as far as the chase for the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference is concerned, but that opportunity fell through their fingers. They dropped a 5-3 decision to Pats before 5,123 spectators at the Brandt Centre in Regina.

Even with that setback, the Raiders are still alive in the hunt for a playoff berth with two games remaining on their regular season schedule.

The Raiders received a huge assist from the Lethbridge Hurricanes, who downed the visiting Calgary Hitmen 5-1 at the Enmax Centre on Saturday night.

That win by the Hurricanes, who improved to 31-30-4-1, locked them into a seventh place overall finish in the Eastern Conference and a first round best-of-seven series against the 47-14-3-1 Edmonton Oil Kings, who are guaranteed of first place finish in the Central Division.

In the race for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, the Swift Current Broncos (26-34-5-2) currently sit in eight spot with 59 standings points. The Hitmen (25-32-6-2) sit one point behind the Broncos in ninth place overall.

The Pats (26-34-3-2) and Raiders (26-35-4-1) both sit two points behind the Broncos and one point behind the Hitmen. Regina is 10^th overall and Prince Albert is 11^th overall in the conference.

The Broncos have one game remaining on their schedule, while the Hitmen and Pats both have three games remaining in their respective regular season slates.

If two teams finish tied in points for eighth in the conference, a standings tiebreaking game will be held to determine who moves on to the post-season.

Evan Herman scored twice for the Raiders on Saturday.

The bunch up in the standings for that final playoff berth means there will be a lot more scoreboard watching over the final eight days of the regular season.

The Raiders also dropped a 2-0 heartbreaker to the Blades in Saskatoon on Friday, with the Blades scoring twice inside the final eight minutes of the third. A win in that contest would have drastically helped the Raiders chances in the post-season chase.

In Saturday’s clash between the Raiders and Pats, 16-year-old right-winger Tanner Howe scored short-handed with 3:56 remaining in the third period to give the Regina side a 1-0 lead.

Just 2:45 into the second period, Raiders left-winger Cale Sanders netted a short-handed goal of his own to even the score at 1-1.

Before the second ended, the Pats got goals from 16-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard and rookie right-winger Borya Valis to take a 3-1 lead into the second intermission. Valis’s tally came on the power play.

Just 1:44 into the second, Raiders veteran centre Evan Herman scored to cut the Pats lead to 3-2. At the 3:59 mark of the third, Raiders left-winger Keaton Sorensen was awarded a penalty shot after being tripped up on a breakaway.

Sorensen proceeded to hit the crossbar on the penalty shot attempt with a backhander.

Bedard scored his second of the game with the Pats working on the power play at the 6:46 mark of the third to push Regina’s advantage to 4-2.

Just 40 seconds later, Herman netted his second of the contest to cut the Pats lead to 4-3.

Pats captain Logan Nijhoff sealed the 5-3 victory with an empty-net goal with 1:40 remaining in the third. Bedard picked up an assist on Nijhoff’s goal to finish with a three-point night.

On the season, Bedard sits fifth in WHL scoring with 92 points coming on 49 goals and 43 assists appearing in 59 games for the Pats.

Logan Nijhoff had an empty-net goal for the Pats.

Howe, who is a Prince Albert product, had a pair of assists to go with his goal for a three-point night.

Kelton Pyne, a 16-year-old netminder who joined the WHL Pats after spending most of the season with the Regina Pat Canadians under-18 AAA team, made 24 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Regina side. Import rookie Tikhon Chaika turned away 13-of-17 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders.

The Pats return to action on Thursday when they travel to Winnipeg to take on the Ice (7 p.m. local time, Wayne Fleming Arena).

The Raiders get back at it on Friday when they travel to Swift Current to face the Broncos (7 p.m., Innovation Credit Union i-Plex).

Ice clinch first in WHL’s Eastern Conference, other notes

Jakin Smallwood had a goal and two assists for the Ice.

The Winnipeg Ice put the race for first place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference on ice.

On Saturday playing before 1,681 spectators at the Wayne Fleming Arena, the Ice downed the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers 6-1 to lock up first place in the Eastern Conference. The Ice, who are rated second in the CHL Top 10 Rankings, improved to 50-10-3-2 with the win.

Winnipeg needs to earn just one more point in the standings to clinch first overall in the WHL.

Overage right-winger Jakin Smallwood potted his 24^th goal of the season at the 6:20 mark of the first to give the Ice a 1-0 lead.

The Tigers evened the score at 1-1 with a goal by overage right-winger Carter Chorney at the 6:40 mark of the second.

From that point, the Ice dominated the rest of the way taking a 3-1 lead into the second intermission before rounding out the game’s scoring with three tallies in the third. Cole Muir and Chase Wheatcroft each scored twice for the Ice, while Jack Finley netted a single.

Smallwood had two assists to go along with his goal, while Wheatcroft had one helper to go with his two tallies.

Daniel Hauser made 16 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Ice. Garin Bjorklund turned away 38 shots to take the setback in net for the Tigers (11-51-3-1).

The two sides go at it again on Sunday at 5 p.m. local time at the Wayne Fleming Arena.

• The Oil Kings locked up first place in the WHL’s Central Division with a 6-4 victory over the visiting Red Deer Rebels on Saturday. Oil Kings centres Justin Sourdif and Dylan Guenther each had two goals and two assists in the win. Edmonton improved to 47-14-3-1 with the win, while the Rebels fell to 44-18-2-2.
• The Brandon Wheat Kings won their fifth in a row downing the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors 3-2 after taking a tiebreaking shootout 1-0. Wheat Kings centre Nate Danielson, who had an assist in regulation, had the lone goal in the shootout. The Brandon win tightens the race for fourth in the Eastern Conference and home ice advantage for a first round playoff series. The Saskatoon Blades (37-26-3-1) and Warriors (36-23-3-3) each have 78 standings points. Saskatoon sits fourth due to having more wins, while the Warriors are fifth. The Wheat Kings (35-25-3-2) sit sixth in the Eastern Conference three points back of both the Blades and Warriors. The Warriors and Wheat Kings, who both have two games in hand on the Blades, face each other again on Tuesday in Brandon.
• Rebels overage left-winger Arshdeep Bains leads the WHL in scoring with 105 points coming on 39 goals and a league high 66 assists appearing in all the Rebels 66 games. He has a three-point lead over teammate in 19-year-old centre Ben King and Kamloops Blazers centre Logan Stankoven. King recorded his 102 points on a league leading 50 goals and 52 assists appearing in all the Rebels 66 games. Stankoven posted his 102 points on 44 goals and 58 assists appearing in 57 games for the Blazers.
• Blazers netminder Dylan Garand leads the WHL in goaltending wins at 33. Garand has appeared in 43 games this season posting a 33-8-1 record, a 2.15 goals against average, a .925 save percentage and four shutouts.
• I put together new content for the Gordie Howe Sports Complex’s Howe Happenings blog that went live on Saturday. I created a piece called “Sawi makes surprise burst on to football scene – Running back thankful friends prompted him to try sport.” That piece focuses on Holy Cross High School Crusaders football team running back Charles Sawi naming an out of nowhere rise to standout status. Sawi has an extremely bright football future. That article can be found by clicking right here. I also created a photo round up that can be found by clicking right here.

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

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Blades officially playoff bound with 3-1 win over Pats

Rivalry picks up heat as fans heckle Bedard

Rhett Rhinehart (#41) waves goodbye to Logan Nijhoff (#29).

Business is picking up in the dormant rivalry between the Saskatoon Blades and Regina Pats.

On Friday night, a season high 7,523 spectators turned out at the SaskTel Centre to see the Blades take on 16-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard and his Regina Pats in a WHL regular season clash. It was obvious the presence of Bedard helped bring the large turnout.

The contest itself was a spirited and feisty affair that included some physical play and more than usual chirping between the players on the ice.

Blades sophomore defenceman Marek Schneider, who turned 19-years-old in early February, was the hero on the night as his first career WHL goal in the second period stood up as the winner in a 3-1 victory by the home side. He engaged Pats rookie 17-year-old left-winger Zane Rowan in a short third period fight to gain more stature in the eyes of Saskatoon fans.

Connor Bedard (#98) received lots of attention on Friday.

Blades overage defenceman Rhett Rhinehart was engaged in frequent talking sessions and a few physical sessions with Bedard for much of the first two periods and then Pats overage captain Logan Nijhoff for a lot of the third period.

With Blades up 3-1, some of the spectators at the SaskTel Centre started the “overrated” chant for Bedard with 11:11 remaining in the third and again with 5:45 left in the frame.

The North Vancouver, B.C., product looked visibly frustrated by the end of the night as he was held pointless bringing an end to his streak of recording at least one point in 21 consecutive games, which was the longest consecutive games point streak in the WHL this season. During that run, Bedard put up 45 points coming on 23 goals and 22 assists.

Blades D Marek Schneider fights Pats LW Zane Rowan.

When the dust settled, the Blades not only claimed victory in the game but locked up a berth in the WHL playoffs. The playoff clinching scenario played out due to the fact the Prince Albert Raiders fell 5-3 to the Wheat Kings in Brandon on Friday night.

To added extra icing to the cake for Blades fans, their team has won all five head-to-head meetings with the Pats this season in overtime.

If freelance writer Darrell Utley, who was known as Barney from the bowling alley,” was still typing columns for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix like he did in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he would have likely typed out what it a joy it was to see the “snaky” Pats fans in attendance slither quietly out of the SaskTel Centre after their team lost.

Marek Schneider celebrates scoring his first career WHL goal.

As has been tradition for decades, the Pats had a fan bus and a healthy contingent of supporters on hand for Friday’s game.

During the history of the Blades franchise, there have been stretches of time where Saskatoon supporters have taken the team’s rivalry with the Pats more seriously than the rivalry with the Raiders. Part of that came from a long time overall hatred for Regina, which has been shown also towards the Regina Rams football team in both the CJFL and now the U Sports ranks as the University of Regina Rams during a lengthy stretch in the past.

For Saskatoon fans on Friday night, it was apparent the rivalry between Saskatoon and Regina was more in the spotlight as the Blades faced the Pats.

Marek Schneider was a Blades fan favourite on Friday night.

In the game itself, Bedard had a couple of big scoring chances in the first period. On a dangerous rush down the right wing, Bedard was turned away on a backhand shot by Blades netminder Ethan Chadwick.

A short time later, Bedard wired a laser shot off the post.

With 4:39 remaining in the opening frame, the Blades jumped ahead 1-0 on a goal from import right-winger Egor Sidorov. Blades centre Josh Pillar forced a turnover in the Regina zone and chipped the puck to Sidorov, who was alone in front of the left side of the Regina goal.

Sidorov immediate roofed home his 18^th tally of the season to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

Egor Sidorov scored the Blades first goal on Friday.

With 3:08 remaining in the first, the Pats tied things up a 1-1 on a power-play goal from Nijhoff. Pats left-winger Tanner Howe had the puck at the right side boards and passed it down to Nijhoff at the right side of the Regina goal.

Nijhoff went backhand to forehand and popped home the equalizer.

Play was fairly even in the first 20 minutes as the shots on goal were tied 13-13.

The Blades dominated the second period peppering Pats sophomore netminder Drew Sim with a 21 shots as the Pats only replied with four shots in the stanza.

The hosts were only able to cash in with one goal as sophomore Schneider blew home a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle to give the Blades a 2-1 lead. Defensive partner Charlie Wright made sure to collect Schneider’s goal puck for a souvenir of that first WHL tally.

Rhett Rhinehart (#41) tangles with Connor Bedard.

Late in the second, things got testy. Inside of the final 25 seconds of the second, Bedard made an open ice hit on Blades star overage centre Tristen Robins in the Saskatoon zone. The hit allowed Bedard to get the puck off Robins and create a scoring chance.

As the time on the clock hit zero, Bedard hit Robins again on the boards. Rhinehart proceeded to go after Bedard causing a massive scrum to ensue.

Ultimately, the Pats found themselves on a two-minute power play to start the third, but were unable to score with the man advantage.

Shortly after that kill at the 3:11 mark of the third, Robins came down the left wing on a rush, gathered a loose puck, cut across the front of the Pats net and put home his 32^nd goal of the season to push Saskatoon’s lead out to 3-1.

Logan Nijhoff scored the Pats lone goal on Friday.

The Blades closed out the game defensively the rest of the way to secure victory.

Chadwick stopped 23 shots in goal for the Blades, who improved to 34-22-3-1. Sim turned away 41 shots to take the setback in net for the Pats, who fell to 23-30-3-2 having lost three straight games.

Right-winger Kyren Gronick picked up a pair of assists for the Blades.

The Blades return to action on Saturday when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the Warriors (7 p.m., Mosaic Place). That clash could prove to be big when it comes to getting home ice advantage potentially for a first round playoff series as the Warriors, who have a 34-21-3-2 record, lead the Blades by one point for fourth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

Tristen Robins scored the Blades third goal on Friday.

The Pats also get back at it on Saturday when they return home to host the Brandon Wheat Kings (7 p.m., Brandt Centre). Regina trails the 24-30-5-2 Swift Current Broncos by four points for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, and the Pats have three games in hand on the Broncos.

When the final buzzer ended in Friday’s clash between the Blades and Pats, the teams engaged in one last scrum behind the Saskatoon goal. As the officials separated the players, Rhinehart waved goodbye to Nijhoff.

The Blades celebrate their victory on Friday night.

At the moment, the rivalry between the Blades and Pats has returned at a more intense level. The two sides meet one last time in the regular season this coming Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.

It is safe to suspect the drama will carry over to that next clash.

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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“Crank” up the party – Blades lock up playoff berth

Kyle Crnkovic celebrates his OT winner for the Blades on Friday.

    Kyle Crnkovic officially got the playoff party started for the Saskatoon Blades.

    On Friday night playing before 4,478 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades entered overtime locked in a 1-1 tie with the visiting Regina Pats. The host side went on the power play 29 seconds into the extra session, when Pats right-winger Riley Krane was given a minor penalty for tripping.

    Working on the power play, Crnkovic received a backdoor pass from linemate Tristen Robins by the right side boards in the offensive zone. Crnkovic quickly wired a shot on goal putting the puck in short side on Pats netminder Spencer Welke.

    The left-winger’s tally just 74 seconds into the extra session gave the Blades a 2-1 victory in the WHL regular season clash. 

Kyle Crnkovic came up clutch for the Blades on Friday.

    Saskatoon improved to 32-24-2-3 and officially locked up a berth in the WHL playoffs for the second straight year.
    “It felt like we were at like one (standings) point is all it took, and it felt like we were there forever,” said Crnkovic. “To have that now and secure a spot, now it is just trying to work our way up (the standings).

    “It is just trying to work our way up now and just keep playing hard.”

    The Blades had to battle through a tough break that went against them late in the third period. The hosts were nursing a 1-0 lead, and it looked that score would ultimately be the final result.

    With 43.5 seconds remaining in the third, a point shot from Pats defenceman Ryker Evans deflected up high into the air as a maze of bodies engulfed the crease area of the Saskatoon goal causing a net scramble.

Logan Nijhoff scores the late third period equalizer for the Pats.

    During the scramble, Krane ended up on top of Blades netminder Nolan Maier, and Maier’s catching glove got caught in Krane’s skate. When the puck came down, Pats left-winger Logan Nijhoff backhanded home the equalizer that forced a 1-1 tie.

    The officials went to a video review to determine if there was goaltender interference or incidental contact on the goalie to possibly disallow the goal but ruled Nijhoff’s tally was good.

    “There is not really much to say,” said Maier. “I don’t want to get too much into it.

Logan Nijhoff celebrates scoring the late third period equalizer for the Pats.

    “My glove was caught in his (Krane’s) skate and someone was on me and I couldn’t really move. The puck was able to find the back of the net. I like how the guys responded.

    “The guys were really positive on the bench. They were all awesome with me just trying to keep me under control and not kind of over think or get off my game. It is good.”

    Blades head coach Mitch Love was pleased with how his team bounced back after the Pats tied the game.

    “I thought our guys did a good job of resetting themselves, because it was a little emotional there at the end,” said Love. “I’ll be honest I wasn’t real thrilled with the call.

Tristen Robins picked up an assist on the Blades OT winning goal.

    “I had seen it and seen the overhead. It wasn’t just the incident. It was the few incidents leading up to it during the game that I felt like our goalie was being interfered with.

    “That is an argument for another day, but our guys stayed with it. We were composed. We earned that opportunity in overtime on the power play and got one past the young kid (Welke).”

    The Blades came out with good jump in the opening 20 minutes outshooting the Pats 16-11. With that noted, the Pats had the best scoring chance in the opening frame when left-winger Cole Dubinsky wired a shot off the post of the Saskatoon net.

    With 3:59 remaining in the second, the Blades took advantage of a positive bounce break. 

Spencer Welke makes one of his 37 saves in goal for the Pats.

    After the Pats coughed the puck up at their own blue-line, Blades rookie centre Colton Dach quickly fired home a shot from the right point that handcuffed Welke to give the host side a 1-0 edge.

    In the third, Robins had a huge chance to net an insurance goal for the Blades, but he fired a shot off the crossbar of the Regina goal.

    That set the stage for the dramatics at the end of the third period and overtime.

    Maier stopped 32 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Welke turned away 37 shots taking the overtime setback in his second career WHL start for the Pats as an associate player call-up.

    The Pats record moved to 21-33-5-2.

    Welke was playing for the Prince Albert Mintos, who have been eliminated from the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League playoffs. 

Nolan Maier (#73) held the fort in goal for the Blades.

    The Pats, who have been eliminated from contention for the WHL playoffs, have announced Welke will remain on their roster for the rest of their regular season schedule.

    The Pats were without their two regular goalies as Donovan Buskey is listed day-to-day with a hamstring injury, while Danton Belluk is out day-to-day with an upper body injury. The Pats had a backup goalie dressed and sitting on the bench who was not listed on the gamesheet.

    “Give the kid (Welke) credit over there,” said Love. “He is an AP goalie that played real well for them.

Ryker Evans controls the puck in the offensive zone for the Pats.

    “It was tight checking game on both sides, which has kind of been the season series so far.”

    Regina also scratched left-wingers Carter Massier with and upper body injury and Cole Carrier with an undisclosed ailment.

    Pats overage left-winger Robbie Holmes was sitting out the first of a four-game league imposed suspension, and right-winger Carter Chorney was sitting out the first of a three-game league imposed suspension. Holmes and Chorney were suspended for their actions in a melee that occurred at the end of a Pats 7-4 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors in Regina on Tuesday.

Colton Dach had the Blades first goal on Friday.

    Injuries were also piling up for the Blades. Overage defenceman Scott Walford is listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury and right-winger Randen Schmidt is also out with an upper body injury with his return timetable still to be determined.

    The Blades lost defenceman Rhett Rhinehart and right-winger Evan Patrician in Wednesday’s 4-3 setback at home to the Calgary Hitmen with undisclosed injuries.

    As a result, defenceman Marek Schneider, who is in his 16-year-old season, dressed for his sixth regular season game as an associate player call-up. Schneider was playing for the Mintos, and he is eligible to remain with the Blades for the rest of the 2019-20 campaign.

    Brandon Lisowsky, who is a 15-year-old left-winger, made his WHL regular season debut for the Blades. 

Nolan Kneen controls the puck for the Blades.

    The Blades selected Lisowsky in the first round and ninth overall in last year’s WHL Bantam Draft.

    Maier said the Pats always play his club hard and gave credit to Pats head coach Dave Struch for having his side ready.
    In their four head-to-head meetings this season, the Blades and Pats have gone to extra time three times and have each posted two wins.

    “That is just their culture in Regina,” said Maier. “Dave Struch is really committed to their hard work.

    “They give us a battle every night. It never changes with them. We know what we are going to get when we play the Regina Pats.

    “They just never quit, and they work hard all the time. That is all the credit to Dave Struch.”

    The two teams go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. from the Brandt Centre in Regina.

The Blades celebrate their overtime win on Friday.

    Love is expecting his club to be better in the second half of this weekend’s home-and-home series as opposed to last weekend’s home and home series against the Prince Albert Raiders.
    Last Friday, the Blades downed the Raiders 4-2 at the SaskTel Centre before getting dumped 3-0 one night later by the Raiders at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.

    “We learned our lesson that way last weekend,” said Love. “That was mentioned to our group.

    “We have to make sure we remember what that was like. I think our start will be important in their building and just an opportunity to learn from last weekend. I’m intrigued to see where our team is at heading into tomorrow night.”

Ayres special guest at Blades Suits Up game

David Ayres, right, is pictured with a minor hockey team from Rosthern.

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

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

    He allowed goals on the first two shots he faced and turned away the next eight shots in a 6-3 victory for the Hurricanes. With that result, Ayres became the first emergency backup goaltender to earn an NHL win.
    At age 42 years and 194 days, he became the oldest goaltender to win his NHL regular season debut.

David Ayres, second from right, appears at the a ceremonial faceoff.

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

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

    At the Blades Suits Up game, Ayres took part in the ceremonial faceoff before the contest, and he signed autographs during the first intermission. The line up to get his autograph was a lengthy one.

    For the Suits Up game, the Blades wore special Hockey Night in Canada themed jerseys and the coaches wore old school baby blue Hockey Night in Canada blazers. Blades play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk also wore one of the old school baby blue Hockey Night in Canada blazers.

    The jerseys and blazers were auctioned off in a blind auction.

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

Burtney gets WHL Distinguished Service Award

Bernie Burtney, right, receives a WHL Distinguished Service Award.

    Long time Saskatoon Blades off-ice official Bernie Burtney was named a recipient of the WHL Distinguished Service Award on Friday night.

    Burtney was presented with his award by WHL commissioner Ron Robison in a pre-game ceremony before Friday’s WHL regular season contest that saw the host Blades down the Regina Pats 2-1 in overtime.

    Burtney is currently the off-ice officials supervisor for the Blades, and he has said this will be his final season working Blades home games.

    For about the past 30 seasons, Burtney has become a key figure in the Blades off-ice game operations. He is responsible for scheduling, interviewing, hiring and management of all off-ice officials at Blades home games.

    Burtney has conducted himself in a professional manner going above and beyond the normal requirements for the voluntary role. He rarely misses a game and shows up to the rink well in advance to prepare.

    During his time workings Blades home games, Burtney has consistently provided a welcoming atmosphere for off-ice officials and makes sure all are briefed and ready to perform their duties on arrival.

    The WHL Distinguished Service Award was introduced back in 2004 and is presented annually to individuals who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes on behalf of WHL franchises. In doing so, those individuals have made an extraordinary contribution at the club and league level over an extended period.

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

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