Tigers remain kings of the tiebreaking shootout

Raiders fall in fast-paced heartbreaker

The Tigers mob Brett Kemp (#21) after his shootout winning goal.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – It was a game where both sides deserved to win.
    On Saturday night, 2,577 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre saw the WHL at its best as the defending WHL champion and host Raiders went toe-to-toe with the Medicine Hat Tigers in a high paced back-and-fourth affair, where both teams transitioned quickly up and down the ice.

    The two sides exited regulation and a five minute three-versus-three overtime session locked in a 3-3 tie, which forced them to go to a tiebreaking shootout.

    In the shootout, captain James Hamblin and star right-winger Brett Kemp scored for the Tigers to give them a 2-1 victory in the tiebreaking session and a 4-3 overall victory in the game.

Brett Kemp scored the shootout winning goal for the Tigers.

    Raiders star centre Ozzy Wiesblatt, who had two assists in regulation, scored the Raiders goal in the shootout.

    The Tigers improved to a WHL best 5-1 in shootouts this season and upped their regular season record to 30-14-1-1. The Raiders fell to 1-4 in shootouts and saw their regular season record move to 24-14-5-4.

    Kemp was the final player to take shot in the shootout, and Tigers offensive defenceman Daniel Baker said his club was thankful Kemp’s shot found the back of the net.

    “It was just relief,” said Baker. “You don’t like it to come down to one shot.

    “Mads (Sogaard) has made some big saves for us and Jimmy (James Hamblin) and Kemper netted some big goals, so it was good.”

Ozzy Wiesblatt had a pair of assists for the Raiders on Saturday.

    With Prince Albert having downed the WHL Eastern Conference leading Edmonton Oil Kings 3-2 at the Art Hauser Centre on Friday night, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid was fine with how things played out for his club.

    “It was a good weekend,” said Habscheid. “We accomplished a lot of things.

    “We got our identity back. We got our foundation in place. They beat us in the skills contest tonight, so it is all good.”

    The Tigers opened the scoring 52 seconds into Saturday’s tilt as right-winger Corson Hopwo zipped down the right side of the Raiders zone and slipped in a close in shot past Raiders netminder Max Paddock. Hopwo scored on the Tigers first shot of the game.

Daniel Baker had a goal and an assist for the Tigers on Saturday.

    Just over two minutes later, the Raiders returned the favour scoring on their first shot of the game with left-winger Matthew Culling netting his sixth of the season.

    Culling had an assist to go along with his goal in a real spirited effort on Saturday.

    “He does a lot of the hard work,” said Habscheid. “He goes to the net.

    “He forechecks. He can kill penalties and play power play. He just plays the right way.”

    Before the opening frame ended, the Raiders jumped ahead 2-1 when defenceman Landon Kosior fired home a point shot through a screen on the power play.

    Kosior scored on the second part of a power play that was created when Kemp was given a double minor penalty for high sticking. 

Matthew Culling had a goal and an assist for the Raiders on Saturday.

    Kemp’s penalty will automatically be reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

    The two clubs continued to blitz up and down the ice in the second, but the only goal came when Baker fired home a point shot through a screen to even the score at 2-2 with 2:37 remaining in the frame.

    Baker, who had an assist to go with his goal on Saturday, is having a breakout season as an 18-year-old sophomore. In 45 regular season games with the Tigers, the Edmonton, Alta., product has 11 goals, 22 assists and a plus-32 rating in the plus-minus department.

    As a rookie last season, Baker had two goals and 15 assists appearing in all of the Tigers 68 regular season games.

    “He (Baker) has been big,” said Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins. “He has certainly put up bigger numbers than last year.

Kyle McNabb had two assists for the Tigers on Saturday.

    “I think he is a guy that he always seems to find his spot to jump in the rush or do whatever. Our whole defence is good. I thought all the guys played hard.”

    Baker said he has found a higher comfort level on the ice playing through his second full season in the major junior ranks.

    “It has been really good so far,” said Baker. “The puck is going in the back of the net.

    “Our forwards do a good job of getting to the net, so it has been good.”

    Just 1:58 into the third, the Tigers jumped back out in front 3-2. Entering the Raiders zone with speed on a rush, Tigers right-winger Kyle McNabb fed a pass across the front of the Prince Albert goal to linemate Nick McCarry, who knocked home his eighth goal of the season to give the visitors the lead.
    The assist was McNabb’s second helper of the contest.

Kaiden Guhle scored the third period equalizer for the Raiders.

    The Raiders didn’t goal away. With 7:34 remaining in the third period, Raiders offensive defenceman Kaiden Guhle wired home his eighth goal of the season to force a 3-3 tie and overtime.

    Guhle potted the equalizer about four minutes after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Tigers right-winger Lukas Svejkovsky. Svejkovsky received a minor penalty for that hit.

    Habscheid thought Svejkovsky’s hit could have resulted in a stiffer penalty but noted the officials only get to see a play once in making a judgment call.

    “That was a dirty hit,” said Habscheid. “I hope the league looks at that.

    “That was just a bad hit. We don’t want that type of hit in this game. I think that if they looked at it on replay they might have called it differently.

    “They don’t get that opportunity.”

    Guhle’s equalizer ultimately set the stage for the Tigers to take the contest in the tiebreaking shootout.

Mads Sogaard makes a third period stop in goal for the Tigers.

    Mads Sogaard made 19 saves over 65 minutes in goal for the Tigers and turned away two of three shooters in the shootout. Paddock turned away 30 shots over 65 minutes in goal for the Raiders and one of three shooters in the shootout.

    Desjardins said Saturday’s contest was a tossup, where his side just happened to come out on the better end of the scoreboard.

    “I thought it was a good game,” said Desjardins. “I thought it was a playoff type game.

    “I thought both teams played hard. Obviously if you go into a shootout, the game could have gone either way.”

    While the Tigers are known for their fast-paced style of going up and down the ice, Desjardins said the Raiders are strong at playing that way too.

The Tigers celebrate their win on Saturday night.

    “They are a good team,” said Desjardins. “They can play that way as well.

    “They have some high end guys that like to skate and like to play a transition game. I think whenever you look at their game you think of them as a transition team, a speed team. I think it was probably equally suited for both teams.”

    The Tigers are back in action on Tuesday when they host the Swift Current Broncos (7 p.m. Alberta time, Canalta Centre).

    The Raiders return to play on Wednesday when they host the Victoria Royals (7 p.m., 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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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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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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Raiders seen as “the boys” enjoying Habscheid’s 500th win

Marc Habscheid picked up his 500th career  win on Saturday.

    You had to love how the Prince Albert Raiders celebrated Marc Habscheid picking up his 500^th head coaching victory in the WHL, because it was just fun.

    On Saturday, the Raiders traveled to Lethbridge to take on the Hurricanes in the third stop on a four game road trip. The two squads entered the third period locked in a 4-4 tie.

    The Hurricanes jumped ahead 5-4 on a goal from star centre Jake Leschyshyn at the 5:57 mark of the third period. The tally was the second of the game for Leschyshyn.

    Just 53 seconds later, Raiders 16-year-old rookie centre Ozzy Wiesblatt tied things up at 5-5 and star left-winger Cole Fonstad netted the winner giving Prince Albert a 6-5 victory with 6:37 remaining in the third period. The winner was Fonstad’s second marker of the contest.

    That will allowed Habscheid, who is the Raiders bench boss, to pick up his 500^th career regular season victory as a WHL head coach. The Raiders, who are rated second in the CHL Top 10 rankings, improved their WHL leading record to 45-7-0-2 with their fourth win in a row.

    Following the game, Habscheid was given the top hat the Raiders usually give to their hardest working player and a game puck. An impromptu team picture was taken in the team’s dressing room, which the Raiders have share over various social media channels and their website. 

Ozzy Wiesblatt scored the equalizer for the Raiders.

    After everyone had cleaned up, it was off to a Lethbridge area Dairy Queen for ice cream.

    Habscheid touched base with Gregg Drinnan, who is “The Dean” when it comes to covering the circuit, following the game regarding the celebration.

    “I had a large chocolate sundae,” said Habscheid to Drinnan. “The boys got whatever they wanted. Best $180 I ever spent.”

    For those that were with the Raiders, that had to be one of the most fun nights of the year. The Raiders were slated to play next on Wednesday, when they traveled to Swift Current to face the Broncos (7 p.m. local time, Innovation Credit Union i-Plex).

    With having three off days between games, the Raiders had the chance to soak in and enjoy the accomplishment. That night at Dairy Queen, you can be sure a tonne of good-natured jokes were flying with the down time.

    Over the course of a long hockey season, it is those moments that the Raiders experienced on Saturday night that get remembered many years down the road. Those moments when you are together and having fun during down times are the points where teams can really bond.

    The Dairy Queen visit almost feels like those one impulse fun ideas someone comes up with and then it gets acted on.

    During my 20 seasons covering the WHL, I’ve seen guys on teams impulse going to Subway, jetting off to an electronics store to get a gadget for a bus trip, head out to a movie or venture to a thrift shop to pick up something to use as a Halloween costume.

    All those experiences help teammates bond that much closer together and play harder for each other. Also, the memories that are made are priceless.

    So it was good on the Raiders for making the Dairy Queen stop.

Cole Fonstad had the winning  goal for the Raiders.

    As far as the record breaking game went, Eric Pearce, Parker Kelly and Sean Montgomery had singles for the Raiders.

    Jake Elmer, Ty Prefontaine and Igor Merezhko replied with singles for the Hurricanes.

Boston Bilous made 29 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Carl Tetachuk turned away 31 shots to take the setback in goal for the Hurricanes.

    Habscheid became just the eighth coach in the history of the WHL to reach 500 wins. He is closing on becoming just the eighth person to be the head coach for 1,000 regular season games. Habscheid has been behind the bench for 995 games as a head coach including time he spent with the Kamloops Blazers, Kelowna Rockets, Chilliwack Bruins and Victoria Royals.

    Don Hay, who is now an assistant coach with the Portland Winterhawks, holds the WHL all-time regular season coaching wins record at 750 in 1,364 games. Ken Hodge, who is a former Portland head coach, holds the all-time regular season games coached record at 1,411.

    On another side note, Fonstad was named the WHL player of the week on Monday after posting five goals, three assists and a plus-six rating in the plus-minus department as the Raiders won the first three games of their current four-game road trip.

Live look inside the Raiders locker room celebrating Marc’s 500th win! pic.twitter.com/fiMSSUOu1t

— Prince Albert Raiders (@PARaidersHockey) February 10, 2019

Feel good dream season for Raiders’ “Monty”

Sean Montgomery has enjoyed a career year with the Raiders.

    The Prince Albert Raiders are having a dream season and one of cool feel good parts of that story is the fact overage centre Sean Montgomery gets to experience all of it.

    The Calgary, Alta, product has been a full-time member with the Raiders since his 16-year-old season in 2014-15. He is a heart and soul member of the team.

    During his time in Prince Albert, Montgomery has seen a lot of ups and downs with the team. The Raiders missed the playoffs in his first and third seasons.

    They made the post-season in his second campaign and last season. In last year’s playoffs, the Raiders fell to the Moose Jaw Warriors, who had the league’s best record in 2017-18, in a tough first round series 5-4 in a series deciding Game 7.

    Over that whole time, Montgomery, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 176 pounds, was the good soldier, who always represented the team well. He wasn’t the highest scorer recording 43 goals and 42 assists for 85 points in 278 regular season games heading into the current campaign. From those numbers, you wondered if he would stay on with the team or would management find a more prolific scoring overager.
    The Raiders stuck with their character guy, who had given lots to the organization. Montgomery, who is an assistant captain, has gone on to have a career year posting 22 goals, 28 assists for 50 points and a plus-39 rating in the plus-minus department appearing in all of the Raiders 54 regular season games. Those career highs have smashed the previous highs he posted in any other season.

Sean Montgomery holds the Raiders team record for career games played.

    The Raiders have had a dream season posting a 45-7-0-2 record and are rated second in the CHL’s Top 10 rankings.

    Montgomery has now appeared in 332 regular season games with the Raiders breaking the old club record of 330 games held by winger Brett Novak, who played for the Raiders from 2000 to 2006. 

    Novak was a member of the last Raiders team that appeared in the WHL Eastern Conference Championship series back in 2005, when they fell in a tough seven game series to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

    That journey through the playoffs is known as “The Run” in P.A.

    Montgomery and the current Raiders have already delivered some amazing memories to “Hockey Town North,” and you can bet they will do their best for the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs to try and create more memories.

Blades trio on fire

Dawson Davidson has points in 13 straight games.

    The Saskatoon Blades have a trio that might be too hot to handle at the moment.

    Offensive defenceman Dawson Davidson, right-winger Max Gerlach and left-winger “Uncle” Gary Haden are all riding lengthy scoring streaks, where they are putting up some crazy numbers.

    Davidson has posted points in 13 straight games collecting two goals and 19 assists over that span of time. He leads the Blades in scoring appearing in all of the team’s 55 regular season games posting 10 goals, 51 assists for 61 points and a plus-19 rating in the plus-minus department.

    Gerlach has points in his last 11 straight games posting nine goals and 10 assists over his run. He has 33 goals, 26 assists for 59 points and a plus-one rating for the Blades this season.

    Haden has points in his last eight straight games posting 10 goals and seven assist over that stretch.

Max Gerlach has points in his last 11 straight games.

    He has 26 goals, 30 assists for 56 points and a plus-13 rating in 51 games split between the Medicine Hat Tigers and the Blades.

    That trio has helped the Blades win their last four straight games and collect points in their last 10 straight contests posting an 8-0-2 record over that stretch.

    The Blades return to action on Wednesday, when they travel to Medicine Hat to face the Tigers at 7 p.m. local time at the Canalta Centre, and Davidson, Gerlach and Haden will try and keep their streaks intact.
    Gerlach and Haden are also both former Tigers players and were dealt to the Blades in separate trades. Gerlach joined the Blades in January of 2018 and Haden came to Saskatoon in October of 2018. 

Positive vibes flow in Blades’ “Welcome the World” game

On Sunday, 42 people became Canadian citizens at the Blades game.

    The Saskatoon Blades always have a number of creative promotions for their games, but one of their best ones has to be their annual “Welcome the World” game.

    The Blades held their “Welcome the World” game on Sunday when they downed the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-3 at the SaskTel Centre. The game attracted 4,815 spectators, and a number of those were seeing their first live hockey game ever.

    As part of the “Welcome the World” game festivities, 42 people took their citizenship oath to become Canadian citizens during a pre-game ceremony.

    The concourse at the SaskTel Centre was a fun place as well. If you did a lap of the concourse, you saw dancers and performers representing a number of different cultural groups.

    Overall, the Blades “Welcome the World” game always has a great vibe. It also had a real inclusive feel, something special that makes it unique.

    Here is hoping the newcomers like what they saw, and the Blades will have a few new hockey fans coming out to the SaskTel Centre.

Huge thank you to all the talented dancers and entertainers on the concourse today at @bladeshockey ! Especially Randee and Hayden. This girl was obssssed with you 😍😘 #welcometheworld pic.twitter.com/qtNG2jo12x

— Alanna Priestner (@alannapriestner) February 11, 2019

Beware of the Tigers

Ryan Jevne is having a career year with the Tigers.

    It looks the Medicine Hat Tigers have hit high gear to make a second half push.

    After finishing first in the WHL’s Central Division each of the past two seasons, the Tigers appeared set for a reloading phase. For anyone that has seen this team play since the start of the 2002-03 season, their reloads don’t take that long, and before you know it, the Tigers are skating with the best clubs in the league again.

    At the WHL’s Christmas break, the Tigers had a 17-15-1-2 record. Since returning to action after the WHL Christmas break, the Tigers had posted a 14-3-2 record to improve to 31-18-3-2 to sit second in the Central Division one point behind the Edmonton Oil Kings (30-16-4-4).
    The Tigers have made the playoffs in 15 of the last 16 years, and they lost out in a standings tiebreaking game in failing to make the post-season in 2016.

Captain James Hamblin leads the Tigers in scoring.

    They always find speedy and skilled players that fit their transition style game where they get up and down the ice quickly with crisp breakouts and passing. The defenceman are good at protecting their own end and making the first pass up ice allowing the Tigers to explode into action.

    One of their breakout players has been rookie netminder Mads Sogaard, who is an import player for Denmark. The 18-year-old puck stopper, who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 190 pounds, has posted a 15-4-4 record, a 2.19 goals against average, a .935 save percentage and three shutouts. His save percentage tops the WHL.

    On Monday, Sogaard was named the WHL’s goaltender of the week. In his three appearances in the preceding week, Sogaard posted three wins, a 1.30 goals against average and stopped 96-of-100 shots for a .960 save percentage. On Tuesday, Sogaard took home CHL goaltender of the week honours.

    Captain James Hamblin leads the Tigers in scoring with 30 goals and 34 assists for 64 points and he has a plus-26 rating in the plus-minus department. Overage left-winger Ryan Jevne sits second in team scoring posting career highs in goals (25), assists (28) and points (53).

Mads Sogaard has had a breakout rookie season for the Tigers.

    Overage defenceman Linus Nassen, who is an import from Sweden, has played well both ways in the back end. He leads all Tigers blue-liners in scoring with five goals and 35 assists for 40 points to go along with his plus-11 rating.

    Of course, the WHL’s Central Division has been highly competitive this season, but the Tigers can be their most dangerous, when no one is looking their way. It would not be a surprise to see them continue on their upswing and make noise in the post-season.

    They host the Saskatoon Blades on Wednesday at 7 p.m. local time at the Canalta 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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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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