Roulette hatty delivers Blades seventh straight win

Raiders drop fourth in a row, sit seven points out from playoffs

Conner Roulette (#34) celebrates his hat trick goal.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – A Roulette hat trick ensured a lucky seventh straight win for the Saskatoon Blades.

Star right-winger Conner Roulette had a banner night for the Blades netting a hat trick to power his squad to a 6-2 victory in a WHL regular season clash over the Raiders in Prince Albert on Friday night. Roulettes efforts ensure the Blades didn’t have to hear the playing of The Guess Who’s “Runnin’ Back to Saskatoon” at the Art Hauser Centre to the disappointment to most of the standing room crowd 2,758 spectators in attendance at the 2,580 seat facility.

It is tradition in Prince Albert to play “Runnin’ Back to Saskatoon” any time a hockey team from “Hockey Town North” defeats a visiting Saskatoon side including action in the WHL, under-18 AAA and female under-18 AAA.

Conner Roulette (#34) has three career WHL hat tricks.

Friday’s victory was a seventh straight win for the Blades, and they have wins in 11 of their last 12 games. The one setback came 6-5 in overtime against the Raiders in a meeting at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon on February 24. The surge has allowed the Blades to improve to 44-13-4-1 to sit third in the overall WHL standings and second overall in the Eastern Conference.

Roulette said he was happy to pickup his second hat trick of the season and third three-goal game of his WHL career.

“Obviously, the last few games have been tough,” said Roulette, who had gone the Blades previous seven straight contests without a goal. “I haven’t been able to find the back of the net.

Conner Roulette has two hat tricks this season.

“I had a talk with the coaches before the game. I was talking to (Blades assistant coach) Wacey Rabbit. I feel like I pass a little too much.

“I’m always looking to pass and not shoot. The morning skate today I was just trying to work on the shoot first mentality and picking my spot.”

Just 1:32 into the opening frame, the Blades drew first blood in Friday’s game scoring on their second shot of the contest thanks to Roulette. The Winnipeg, Man., product stole the puck from a Raiders player just inside the Prince Albert zone, circled to the left side of the Raiders net and popped home shot to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.

Conner Roulette has 24 goals and 35 assists this season.

“The first goal that came off my stick there I was able to shoot,” said Roulette, who stands 6-feet and weighs 178 pounds. “I was thinking pass.

“I won’t hide the fact there, but I decided to shoot. I just got lucky. I kind of whiffed on it a bit.”

Roulette added that tally set the stage for the night he was going to have.

“For me, I was trying to work on just that shoot first mentality,” said Roulette, who was selected in the fourth round and 111^th overall by the Dallas Stars in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. “When you get a chance like that early the game, I guess it kind of sets the tone.

Conner Roulette celebrates his first goal on Friday.

“It gives that confidence and the momentum. You feel like the chances are going to keep coming to you, when you get them that early. I guess it really did help boost momentum.”

The Raiders pushed back and evened the score at 1-1 just over two minutes and 30 seconds later when star left-winger Sloan Stanick put a long range shot past Saskatoon netminder Austin Elliott. The host side went up 2-1 at the 8:50 mark of the first, when 16-year-old star rookie right-winger Ryder Ritchie drove home a power-play goal on a midrange shot through a screen in front of the Saskatoon net.

With 4:25 remaining in the opening frame, Roulette evened the score at 2-2 scoring for the visitors potting his second of the contest with a backhand shot from the front of the Prince Albert net past Raiders netminder Max Hildebrand. Roulette was put in alone on the Prince Albert goal after executing a give-and-go play with linemate in star left-winger Jake Chiasson.

Sloan Stanick had the Raiders first goal on Friday

The Blades proceeded to enter the first intermission holding a 3-2 edge when Chiasson fired home his 20^th goal of the season on a close in drive from the right wing.

Saskatoon opened the floodgates in the second netting three goals on five shots to surge ahead 6-2. Just 78 seconds into the second, Blades 19-year-old defenceman Charlie Wright picked up his seventh goal of the season to put the visitors up 4-2 after knocking home a puck backdoor at the right side of the Prince Albert goal after receiving a pass from star import right-winger Egor Sidorov.

With 3:29 remaining in the second, Roulette completed his hat trick finishing off a passing play from Chiasson and Blades captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere to push Saskatoon’s advantage out to 5-2. Mikhail Volotovskii, who is a 17-year-old sophomore right-winger, completed the Blades surge giving the visitors their 6-2 edge with 2:35 remaining in the second.

Ryder Ritchie had the Raiders second goal on Friday.

The Raiders pulled Hildebrand after the second period. He took the loss in net turning away 9-of-15 shots sent his way. Import Tikhon Chaika turned away all nine shots he faced playing the third period in relief.

“We lost battles,” said Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt. “We weren’t strong on pucks.

“We didn’t make plays either. We might have made one play, but then it seemed like we had to break the puck out two or three times out of our own zone, because we didn’t get the puck going north. We didn’t get many quality opportunities.

“It was just one of those real kind of ‘blah’ games that we didn’t get anything done both defensively puck movement wise or offensively.”

Jake Chiasson had a goal and two assists on Friday for the Blades.

In the third, Roulette had a couple of opportunities to net his fourth goal of the contest, but he wasn’t able record the first four-goal game of his career.

“Some go in and some don’t,” said Roulette who has 24 goals and 35 assists in 54 appearances with the Blades this season. “I think just getting the chances are good enough in a game like this.

“Obviously, we have the lead. Scoring the extra goal or scoring another goal is always nice. In a game we’re winning by four or we’re winning by three whatever it was, you just want to keep the pressure on and don’t let them get any chances and just be able to kill the game off.”

Charlie Wright scored the Blades fourth goal on Friday.

Elliott turned away 24 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who are rated 10th in the latest CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Raiders dropped to 25-33-3 with their fourth straight loss. They sit 11^th in the Eastern Conference and seven points back of a post-season berth with seven games remaining on their regular season schedule.

The Swift Current Broncos (28-29-1-3) and the Calgary Hitmen (26-26-5-3) are tied for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with 60 standings points. The Broncos have seven games remaining on their regular season schedule, while the Hitmen have eight games left on their regular season slate.

The Blades and Raiders go at it again on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre after a day off on Saturday.

Mikhail Volotovskii scored the Blades sixth goal on Friday.

“Tomorrow, we have the day in between, so we have to review and reset and get ready to go in Saskatoon,” said Truitt. “We have to be a lot better right from older guys, younger guys and everybody.

“We have to collectively be better.”

Reflecting on his game on Friday night, Roulette gave credit to his linemates in Chiasson and rookie centre Jordan Keller and Wright for the success he had. Looking towards the next encounter with the Raiders, Roulette believes his club will hit the ice on Sunday refreshed with the day off between games.

“The day off is always nice,” said Roulette. “You get the mind away from hockey.

“We’ve had such a busy schedule in the last few weeks. We just want to take care of our bodies with lots of hydration and get the legs going a bit. Obviously, days off are huge for us.

The Blades celebrate a seventh straight win on Friday.

“We had a day off last night, and we came out flying. Days off are key leading into playoffs.”

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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That’s just Bananas

Battle-hardened Blades romp over Raiders 6-1

The Blades are all smiles after taking a 4-0 first period lead.

Facing a tough stretch of foes has done the Saskatoon Blades good.

The Blades showed they’re battle hardened from the strength of their recent schedule.

After constantly playing the WHL’s top teams since returning from their Christmas break, the Blades faced off on Friday against their archrivals in the Prince Albert Raiders, who are going sitting on the outside looking in with regards to the WHL playoff picture in going through reload/rebuild campaign.

The Saskatoon side, playing under the nickname “Bananas” for one night as part of a comedic promotion, romped past the Raiders 6-1 to the delight of most of the 4,090 spectators in attendance outside of the healthy contingent of Prince Albert supporters.

Tanner Molendyk scored the Blades first goal on Friday.

In 12 games since returning from the WHL’s Christmas break, the Blades, who are still rated eighth in the latest CHL Top 10 Rankings, have posted a 4-4-3-1 mark. That stretch started with a win over the Raiders and was closed off with another win over the Raiders.

During the 10 games in the middle, the Blades faced the Winnipeg Ice twice, the Red Deer Rebels once, the Seattle Thunderbirds once and the Portland Winterhawks once. Those four clubs sit in the top four of the WHL’s overall standings.

Saskatoon also encountered the Moose Jaw Warriors, who sit sixth in the overall standings, twice and the Calgary Hitmen, who are ninth in the overall standings, once. The Blades also took on the Swift Current Broncos once and the Regina Pats once, when those two clubs were heating up.

Mikhail Volotovskii scored twice for the Blades on Friday.

In most of those setbacks against those stronger foes, the Blades played well and were usually one or two plays or breaks from pulling out a win. Their level of play that they had against those clubs didn’t drop when it came time to play at home against the Raiders on Friday. Saskatoon got rolling quickly and the visitors were never able to recover.

Just 41 seconds into the contest, the Blades broke through first on the scoreboard as highly touted NHL Entry Draft prospect and defenceman Tanner Molendyk fired home a point shot through a screen.

The hosts pushed their advantage out to 2-0 just over six minutes later scoring on the power play. After winning an offensive zone faceoff, Blades Belarusian import right-winger Egor Sidorov drove to the net and put a shot on goal that was stopped causing a net scramble. Blades star right-winger Brandon Lisowsky was able to push the loose puck into the Prince Albert goal to create the two-goal edge.

Egor Sidorov had a goal and an assist for the Blades.

Before the opening frame ended, Blades sophomore 17-year-old centre Mikhail Volotovskii scored a pair of goals 28 seconds apart from each other to give the Blades a 4-0 advantage.

The Raiders proceeded to pull their starting netminder Max Hildebrand after the Blades fourth tally. Hildebrand turned away 5-of-9 shots sent his way to take the loss in goal for the Raiders (15-25-3). Import Belurusian Tikhon Chaika played the rest of the way in relief turning away 19-of-21 shots sent his way.

Just two minutes into the second, the Blades continued to roll entering the Prince Albert zone on a two-on-one break. Saskatoon star left-winger Conner Roulette charged down the left wing and fed a pass across the front of the Prince Albert goal to Sidorov, who popped home his 25^th goal of the season to increase the Blades edge to 5-0.

Sloan Stanick (#23) scored the Raiders lone goal on Friday.

The Raiders finally broke through on the scoreboard offensively at the 9:15 mark of the second period, when star left-winger Sloan Stanick slipped a loose puck home at the right side of the Saskatoon goal to cut the Blades edge to 5-1. Stanick’s goal came just as a Prince Albert power play expired.

With 4:18 remaining in the second, Raiders overage centre Keaton Sorensen took a double minor penalty for high-sticking, which will trigger an automatic review by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

During the first half of that power-play chance, the Blades restored their five-goal edge as centre Jordan Keller wired home a goal from the right slot to make the score sit at 6-1 in favour of the host side. 

Aidan De La Gorgendiere had two assists for the Blades.

The Blades proceeded to cruise from there and shut things down defensively to allow the 6-1 score to hold up as the game’s final outcome.

Ethan Chadwick stopped 17 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who improved to 28-9-3-1 to sit third overall in the Eastern Conference and fifth in the overall WHL standings.

In Friday’s romp, defenceman Ben Saunderson, captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere, right-winger Vaughn Watterodt and Roulette all picked up two assists each for the Blades. 

Molendyk and Sidorov each had assists to go along with their goals to account for respective two-point nights.

The Blades celebrate their victory on Friday night.

The Blades have won all five of their head-to-head encounters with the Raiders this season outscoring the Prince Albert side 25-5 along the way. The two sides go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.

That contest will start a stretch where the Blades will play five straight games on the road.

Going forward, the Blades need to aim to keep their level of play high on a consistent basis. That will get them ready for the time they face teams that sit at or near the top of the WHL standings once again.

NOTES THAT ARE BANANAS – For the second straight year, the Blades rebranded themselves as the Saskatoon Bananas for one game as comedic promotion. 

Mikhail Volotovskii (#17) gives a stick to the crowd at game’s end.

Last year since they played a regular season game on April 1 which is April Fool’s Day, they elected to play that night at the SaskTel Centre as the Bananas in downing the Moose Jaw Warriors 4-1. With Friday’s 6-1 victory over the Raiders in the books, the Blades are 2-0 in games which they take the ice as the Bananas.

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

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Sidorov snipes OT win for Blades against Tigers

Saskatoon downs Medicine Hat 4-3 for fourth straight victory

Egor Sidorov (#19) celebrates scoring the OT winner for the Blades.

Egor Sidorov has developed a knack for being in the right place at the right time for the Saskatoon Blades.

On Friday night at the SaskTel Centre, the import right-winger was having kind of a quiet night as his club took on the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers. In the third period, Sidorov started to put together consecutive dangerous offensive shifts as the two clubs went into overtime deadlocked at 3-3 in a WHL regular season clash.

At the 1:11 mark in the extra session, Sidorov was positioned in front of the Medicine Hat net, when he received a setup pass from Blades centre Jayden Wiens. Sidorov proceeded to dangle around a Tigers checker and sniped home a shot to the low left side of the Medicine Hat goal to deliver the host side to a 4-3 victory to the delight of 3,106 spectators.

Egor Sidorov leads the Blades with four game-winning goals.

The tally was Sidorov’s only goal of the contest, but it was his team leading fourth game winner of the season. While he missed 11 games due to injury, Sidorov, who stands 6-feet and weighs 180 pounds, is still one of the Blades top offensive threats.

He has at least one point in each of the eight games he has appeared in so far this season posting nine goals and nine assists to go with a plus-10 rating. The 18-year-old is following up on a solid rookie campaign in 2021-22 that saw him record 23 goals and 12 assists in 58 regular season games.

Since joining the Saskatoon side, Sidorov quickly became a fan favourite amongst the Blades faithful. The support has only increased as Sidorov decided to live in Saskatoon year round due to the political situation involving his home country of Belarus.

Egor Sidorov has 18 points in eight games for the Blades.

With Belarus supporting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, Sidorov is in a situation where he doesn’t know when he will ever return home. Sidorov had been with the Blades for six months when Russia started its invasion of Ukraine this past February.

Sidorov and the Blades organization know that the skilled forward runs the risk of not being able to return to Canada, if he does return home to Belarus. As a result, Sidorov’s billet family and the Blades team have become a much closer extended family.

When Sidorov is on the ice, it feels like all the worries outside the team environment go away. He wears his heart and enthusiasm for the game on his sleeve. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Sidorov has the most fun on the ice in pretty much every game he plays.

Jayden Wiens had an assist on the Blades OT winner.

Friday’s encounter with the Tigers ended up being one of those fun back-and-forth games that was made for television.

The teams played through a feeling out style and tight checking first period with the Blades holding a 7-6 edge in shots on goal. Right-winger Brendan Lee had a good early chance to score for the Tigers, but his close in shot was turned away by a pad stop from Blades netminder Ethan Chadwick.

The Blades had their best chance to score inside the final minute of the first 20 minutes. While working the power play, Sidorov got the puck at the right boards, cut to the front of the net and fired a shot through a screen that was turned away by Tigers netminder Beckett Langkow.

Brendan Lee had a goal and an assist for the Tigers.

That late first period power play came due to the fact Tigers right-winger Brayden Boehm received a double minor for slew-footing. That infraction will trigger an automatic review for a possible suspension by the WHL office.

Business picked up offensively in the second.

The Tigers broke through at the 6:11 mark of the frame on an offensive zone rush. After entering the Saskatoon zone, Lee chip passed the puck past the Blades defence putting linemate Andrew Basha in the clear. Basha quickly buried his sixth of the season to put the visitors up 1-0.

Just 41 seconds later, the Blades evened the score at 1-1, when right-winger Vaughn Watterodt fired home a shot through a maze of players for his fourth goal of the season.

Blades RW Vaughn Watterodt, left, and Tigers RW Dallon Melin jockey.

At the 10-minute mark of the second, the Blades went ahead 2-1 on a great effort by Mikhail Volotovskii. Volotovskii got into the Medicine Hat zone on a partial break. The sophomore 17-year-old centre fended off Boehm and fired home to the top right corner of the Medicine Hat net to give the hosts a one-goal edge.

Just 10 second after that goal, Blades left-winger Justin Lies and Tigers defenceman Rhett Parsons engaged in a short fight. Both players threw about two punches at each other before falling to the ice.

Andrew Basha scored the Tigers first goal on Friday.

They were each given fighting majors and kind of surprising game misconducts. In that situation, that was a signal by the officials to both teams they weren’t going to tolerate any scraps that night.

With 2:18 remaining in the second, the Tigers were able to even the score at 2-2 thanks to a positive bounce play. Medicine Hat centre Tyler Mackenzie took a stride over his own blue-line and shot the puck into the Saskatoon zone.

The puck deflected off the boards behind the Saskatoon net out to Boehm, who was positioned in front of the Blades net after rushing into the offensive zone. Boehm quickly wired his eighth goal of the season past a handcuffed Chadwick to put the visitors on even terms.

Brandon Lisowsky had a goal and an assist for the Blades.

At the 1:27 mark of the third, the Blades went back in front 3-2 scoring on the power play as star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky one-time home a setup pass form linemate Trevor Wong.

The Tigers didn’t go away. Just 2:29 later, the visitors scored on the power play to even the score 3-3, when Lee one-timed home a setup pass from 17-year-old centre Oasiz Wiesblatt.

That set the stage for Sidorov to come through with his winner in overtime.

Chadwick made 16 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who improved to 15-4 with a fourth straight victory. Langkow turned away 21 shots to take the extra setback in net for the Tigers, whose record moved to 6-9-4-1.

Ethan Chadwick makes a glove save for the Blades.

Lisowsky had an assist to go along with his goal for a two-point night.

The Tigers return to action on Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the 7-12-2 Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades are off until next Friday, when they host the Winnipeg Ice (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

While the contest against the powerhouse Ice will be the Blades biggest challenge of the season, you can expect Sidorov will take that as another opportunity to get out on the ice and have fun soaking in the game he loves. His positive outlook helps give great levity to pressure packed situations during games.

The Blades celebrate their OT win on Friday.

If Sidorov keeps piling up the points, you have to believe NHL scouts are going to come calling. If Sidorov ends up with an NHL club, it would be an ultimate feel good moment.

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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