Blades lock up second in WHL’s Eastern Conference

Saskatoon downs desperate Wheat Kings 3-2

Blades LW Justin Lies hands a souvenir stick to a birthday girl.

Starting in the second round of the WHL Playoffs, the Saskatoon Blades picked up a victory on Saturday night that could prove crucial.

Playing before 3,887 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades slipped past a desperate visiting Brandon Wheat Kings side 3-2 in a WHL regular season clash. The win allowed the Blades to improve to 46-14-4-1 to lock up second place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

In the conference playoff format used by the WHL, the two division winners are given the first and second seeds in the first round. From the second round onwards, the teams are reseeded by standings points.

In the Eastern Conference, the WHL leading Winnipeg Ice (54-9-1) have top spot in the conference and the East Division locked up. The Red Deer Rebels (42-18-3-3) have secured first in the Central Division and are cemented as the third place team in the Eastern Conference.

Justin Lies had the winning goal for the Blades on Saturday.

Thanks to finishing second in the Eastern Conference, the Blades would have home ice advantage for any post-season meetings with the Rebels.

The Blades current total of 46 wins marks the most victories the club has posted in a season since posting a team record 56 victories in 2010-11, when the squad put up a 56-13-1-2 mark to finish first in the WHL.

Saskatoon is also guaranteed a fourth place finish in the WHL’s overall standings. The Blades, who have three games remaining on their regular season schedule, could potentially still finish third in the circuit’s overall standings, but Saskatoon trails the Memorial Cup hosting and B.C. Division champion Kamloops Blazers (47-11-4-2) by three points for third overall. The Blazers have four regular season contests left to play.

Blades C Trevor Wong, left, battles Wheat Kings RW Evan Groening.

The setback put a big dagger in the Wheat Kings post-season hopes as they fell to 26-32-8 with a fourth straight loss to sit 10^th overall in the Eastern Conference with two games remaining on their regular season schedule.

The Wheat Kings trail the Calgary Hitmen (28-28-5-3) by four points for eighth place in the Eastern Conference and the conference’s final playoff berth. The Hitmen need to earn one more standings point in their last four regular season games to eliminate the Wheat Kings from playoff contention.

In Saturday’s clash between the Blades and Wheat Kings, Saskatoon jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a goal from 19-year-old defenceman Charlie Wright at the 9:13 mark of the opening frame and a power-play goal from 21-year-old left-winger Josh Pillar at the 12:34 mark of the first.

Jake Chiasson had a pair of assists for the Blades on Saturday.

Blades 19-year-old left-winger Jake Chiasson picked up assists on both goals after signing a three-year NHL entry-level contract earlier in the day with the Edmonton Oilers.

The Wheat Kings battled back to even the score at 2-2 heading into the first intermission. Right-winger and Saskatoon product Nolan Flamand netted the Wheat Kings first tally with 2:12 to play in the opening frame. 

Rookie left-winger Caleb Hadland, who turned 17-years-old on March 6, potted the equalizer with 43.7 seconds remaining in the first to force the 2-2 draw. Right-winger Evan Groening picked up assists on both Brandon goals.

With 3:56 remaining in the second, Blades 18-year-old left-winger Justin Lies netted his eighth goal of the season which stood up as the winner in Saskatoon’s 3-2 victory. 

Charlie Wright has the Blades first goal on Saturday.

Lies’s tally was set up by some great work by Blades 17-year-old rookie right-winger Rowan Calvert.

Calvert intercepted a Wheat Kings pass in the right corner of the Brandon zone. He quickly fed a pass to the front of the Brandon goal to Lies, who buried the winner.

Lies played a strong two-way game for the Blades in being named the first star of the contest. After being named the first star of the contest at game’s end, Lies gave a souvenir stick to a birthday girl in the crowd.

In the third, the Wheat Kings showed their desperation outshooting the Blades 11-4 in the frame.

Netminder Ethan Chadwick turned away all 11 shots he faced in the third and 23 shots over the whole contest to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Nicholas Jones turned away 23 shots taking the setback in net for the Wheat Kings.

The contest ended with a big scrum when time expired in the third period. 

The Blades celebrate their victory on Saturday night.

The officials handed out penalties to only two players giving Blades right-winger Vaughn Watterodt, who turned 19-years-old in February, and Wheat Kings 20-year-old left-winger Calder Anderson double minors for roughing and 10-minute misconducts.

The Blades return to action on Sunday when they host 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats (33-28-3-1) in a highly anticipated match up at 4 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. Bedard leads the WHL in goals (69), assists (71) and points (140).

The Wheat Kings get back at it on Friday, when they host the Ice (7 p.m. local time, Westoba Place).

Raiders eliminated from playoff contention, other notes

Tikhon Chaika made 23 saves for the Raiders on Saturday.

It took seemingly death by 1,000 paper cuts to bring the Prince Albert Raiders post-season hopes to an end, and they were officially brought to an end on Saturday.

On Saturday, the Raiders played the second of a three games in three nights road trip falling to the WHL leading Ice 4-1 in a regular season clash played before 1,746 spectators at the Wayne Fleming Arena. The game was 45 minutes late in starting due to the Raiders bus encountering mechanical issues, while traveling from Brandon to Winnipeg. The Raiders opened their trip on Friday in Brandon downing the host Wheat Kings 4-3.

The Raiders were eliminated from playoff contention with their loss to the Ice and the Calgary Hitmen blanking the Tigers in Medicine Hat 2-0 on Saturday night. Prince Albert fell to 27-35-3 to sit 11^th in the Eastern Conference and can no longer move into eighth in the conference to take the conference’s final playoff berth.

The Hitmen sit eight in the Eastern Conference and hold the conference’s last playoff berth improving to 28-28-5-3.

Landon Kosior had an assist for the Raiders on Saturday.

The win for the Ice improved their winning streak to six games as they continue to top the WHL’s overall standings with a 54-9-1 mark. The Ice sit two points ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds (52-9-1-2), and both clubs have four contests remaining on their respective regular season schedules.

The 54 wins are a new franchise record for the Ice for most victories in one season. Their previous record was set last season, when the Ice topped the WHL standings with a 53-10-3-2 mark.

In Saturday’s clash between the Raiders and Ice, the teams played through a scoreless opening 20 minutes. Ice star centre Zack Ostapchuk opening the game’s scoring at the 10:26 mark of the second to give the host side a 1-0 lead.

Ice increased their advantage to 4-0 in the third with singles coming off the sticks of Evan Friesen, Ben Zloty and Connor McClennon. McClennon’s goal was his 44^th tally of the season and he had an assist to go with his goal.

Carter Anderson had the Raiders lone goal on Saturday.

Ice star centre Matthew Savoie had three assists in the win.

Carter Anderson, who is an 18-year-old left-winger, netted the Raiders lone reply coming with 4:28 remaining in the third to round out the 4-1 final score. Raiders star offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior, who is in his 20-year-old season, picked up the lone assist on Anderson’s goal.

Star netminder Daniel Hauser stopped 19 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Ice. Import netminder Tikhon Chaika turned away 23 shots to take the setback in the Raiders net.

The Ice had won all five head-to-head meetings with the Raiders this season.

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

• The Saskatoon Blades will set a new SaskTel Centre single game team attendance record when they face Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats at 4 p.m. on Sunday. The Blades, who have sold out that clash with the Pats, won’t break the SaskTel Centre’s record attendance for a single sporting event. That record will continue to be held by the NLL’s Saskatchewan Rush, who pulled in 15,192 spectators on May 21, 2016 for their 12-9 victory over the Calgary Roughnecks in Game 2 of a best-of-three West Division semifinal series that they swept 2-0. The Rush are able to hold a party alley in one of the SaskTel Centre’s vehicle entrances leading to the venue’s playing surface. At Blades games, the vehicle entrances leading to the playing surface are usually filled with rink attendants and the team’s game night staff. There is also part of one section of seats that can’t be used for the building’s configuration for hockey games, but can be used for lacrosse games. Due to missing that party alley and being unable to use part of one section of seats, the attendance at Sunday’s game isn’t expected to surpass 15,000.
• Due to being able to use floor seating, the SaskTel Centre’s record attendance for a single event comes from a concert. On September 15, 2018, Metallica drew a record attendance of 16,874 spectators for their concert that night. The band dedicated their performance of “Nothing Else Matters” to those who died in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash on April 6, 2018.
• After 32 regular season home games, the Saskatoon Blades are averaging 3,865 spectators a game. That number will go up as the Blades final two home games on Sunday and this coming Friday are against Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats.
• The Regina Pats officially locked up a berth in the WHL Playoffs with their 7-3 over the Warriors in Moose Jaw in a game played before 4,965 spectators at the Moose Jaw Events Centre. Pats 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard had a hat trick, three assists and posted a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department in that contest.
• The U.S. Division champion Seattle Thunderbirds (52-9-1-2) need to earn just two more standings points in their last four games to lock up first overall in the Western Conference.

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 rally past Wheat Kings

Chiasson nets winner and two helpers for Saskatoon

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

A spark seemingly out of nowhere triggered a comeback victory for the Saskatoon Blades.

On Sunday evening at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades found themselves in stuck quicksand trailing the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings 2-0 late into the second period of a WHL regular season contest. 

With 1:53 remaining in the second, Blades steady 19-year-old defenceman Charlie Wright popped home a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle in the offensive zone for his fourth goal of the season to cut the Wheat Kings lead to 2-1.

The Blades built momentum after Wright’s tally and rolled off three goals in the third to pull out a 4-2 victory to the delight of most of the 4,038 spectators in attendance. 

Sunday’s game marked the second time the Blades came back to win a game after trailing on the scoreboard entering the third period. On the season, the Blades entered the third period trailing on the scoreboard on 13 occasions.

The win allowed the Blades to improve to 33-12-3-1 to remain one point ahead of the Moose Jaw Warriors (32-16-0-3) for third overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. The Warriors downed the Hitmen in Calgary 2-1 on Sunday to remain one point back of the Blades. Saskatoon has three games in hand on Moose Jaw.

The Wheat Kings opened the game’s scoring with just 2.5 seconds remaining in the opening frame when 19-year-old left-winger Brett Hyland slid home a backhand shot for his 23^rd goal of the season. At the 6:34 mark of the second, the Wheat Kings extended their lead to 2-0 when 20-year-old centre Nolan Ritchie netted his 19^th tally of the campaign.

At that point, Wright proceeded to score shortly before the end of the second to trigger the Blades rally.

Saskatoon pulled even at 2-2 at the 7:28 mark of the third on Jordan Keller’s first of two goals on the night. The 17-year-old rookie centre collected the rebound of a point shot taken by Wright at the right side of the Brandon goal popped home his eight of the season to erase the Brandon lead.

Blades 19-year-old left-winger Jake Chiasson, who came to the Saskatoon in a deal with the Wheat Kings right before the WHL’s trade deadline on January 10, picked up an assist on Keller’s equalizer.

Egor Sidorov had an assist for the Blades on Sunday.

Chiasson netted the winner on a beauty play at the 11:58 mark of the third with the Blades working on the power play. Blades star centre Trevor Wong passed the puck from the left side boards of the Brandon zone to Chiasson, who was at the doorstep of the Wheat Kings net.

Chiasson toe dragged the puck between his legs roofed home his 14^th goal of the season to the top right corner of the Brandon net to give the Blades a 3-2 advantage. Blades captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere also picked up an assist on the go-ahead goal.

Just 1:43 later, Keller drove hard in close to the right side of the Brandon net and powered home his second goal of the contest to round out the 4-2 final in the Blades favour. Chiasson picked up an assist on the insurance tally to finish the contest with one goal, two assists and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department.

Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov also had an assist on Keller’s second tally.

Frustration proceeded to set in for the Wheat Kings. With 5:19 remaining in the third, Wheat Kings tough guy left-winger Matthew Henry hit De La Gorgendiere from behind into the boards.

The officials gave Henry a charging minor and a 10-minute misconduct. In 45 games with the Wheat Kings this season, Henry, who is an 18-year-old rookie, leads the WHL with 115 penalty minutes, has no points and is a minus-six.

Ethan Chadwick made 26 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Nicholas Jones, who is an 18-year-old rookie, turned away 27 shots to take the setback in net for the Wheat Kings (19-22-7).

The Wheat Kings sit five points behind the 21-21-7-1 Medicine Hat Tigers for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. Brandon has two games in hand on Medicine Hat.

Saskatoon had 20-year-old defenceman Blake Gustafson back in action on Sunday after he missed the team’s 3-2 victory over the visiting Winnipeg Ice on Saturday due to illness. The Blades took the ice with a full complement of 18 skaters on Sunday, but they still have a lengthy injury list.

Jake Chiasson (#61) gives a souvenir hockey stick to a young fan.

The injury list included netminder Austin Elliott and centres Jayden Wiens and Josh Pillar due to lower body injuries. Also out were wingers Tyler Parr, Conner Roulette and Justin Lies with upper body injuries.

The Blades dressed associate player call up Evan Gardner as the backup netminder. The 16-year-old Gardner has been playing with the Rink Hockey Academy’s under-18 team in Kelowna, B.C.

The Blades return to action on Tuesday when they host the 8-37-3 Edmonton Oil Kings (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Wheat Kings are off until Friday when they host the Oil Kings (7 p.m. local time, Westoba Place).

Coyotes return Guenther to WHL, other notes

Dylan Guenther in action for the Oil Kings in January of 2022.

The powerhouse Seattle Thunderbirds just became even stronger and likely the top favourite to win the WHL championship.

On Sunday, the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes assigned 19-year-old right-winger Dylan Guenther to the Thunderbirds. Guenther appeared in 33 games with the Coyotes posting six goals, nine assists and a minus-seven rating in the plus-minus department. The Coyotes selected Guenther in the first round and ninth overall in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

Guenther’s WHL rights were held by his hometown Edmonton Oil Kings. The Oil Kings dealt Guenther’s WHL rights to the Thunderbirds in a deal right before the WHL’s trade deadline on January 10.

In that trade, the Oil Kings sent Guenther’s rights, the rights to prospect forward Jordan Ramsay, who turned 16-years-old on January 24, and an eighth round selection in the 2023 WHL Prospect Draft to the Thunderbirds. In exchange, the Thunderbirds sent the rights of prospect forward Koji Gibson, who will turn 16-years-old on March 10, and a fourth round selection in the 2024 Prospect Draft to the Oil Kings.

The Thunderbirds also included six conditional Prospect Drafts selections in the deal including a second round pick in 2023, a sixth round pick in 2024, a fourth round pick in 2025 and first, fourth and fifth round picks in 2026. On Sunday, the Thunderbirds confirmed all six of those selections were transferred to the Oil Kings now that Guenther has been assigned back to the WHL.

Last season, Guenther had a memorable campaign with the Oil Kings, who selected him first overall in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft. Appearing in 59 regular season games, Guenther posted 45 goals, 46 assists and a plus-51 rating in the plus-minus department. In 16 games in the WHL playoffs, Guenther recorded 13 goals, eight assists and a plus-12 rating.

 In 2021-22, the Oil Kings finished second overall in the WHL standings with a 50-14-3-1 record. In the WHL playoffs, the Oil Kings captured a league championship posting a 16-3 record. Guenther was unable to play for the Oil Kings in the Memorial Cup tournament that crowns a CHL champion due to sustaining a knee injury in Game 3 of the WHL final.

The Oil Kings eliminated the Thunderbirds in six games in the 2022 WHL final. This season, the Oil Kings sit last in the entire WHL with an 8-37-3 record.

The Thunderbirds sit first overall in the WHL’s Western Conference and second in the circuit’s overall standings with a 36-9-1-1 record after downing the visiting Spokane Chiefs 3-1 on Sunday. Seattle has a stacked roster that includes 10 players who have either been drafted or signed with an NHL team.

Guenther did play for Canada at this past world juniors. In the gold medal game played on January 5 in Halifax, Guenther had two goals including the overtime winner and an assist as Canada downed Czechia 3-2.

Playing in all of Canada’s seven games at that event, Guenther recorded seven goals and three assists for 10 points. He tallied six goals on the power play, which was record for most power play goals by a Canadian at one world juniors.

The Coyotes had loaned Guenther to Canada for world juniors.

Guenther could potentially debut for the Thunderbirds on Friday when they host the Red Deer Rebels (7 p.m. local time, accesso ShoWare Center).

• On Sunday, 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard scored his 45^th goal of the season to give the visiting Regina Pats a 1-0 lead over the host Tigers in Medicine Hat. The Tigers responded with five straight goals to post a 5-1 victory. Pavel Bocharov, Kurtis Smythe, Rhett Parsons, Dallon Melin and Oasiz Wiesblatt all netted singles for the Tigers. The Tigers drew a season high 6,178 spectators to Co-op Place for the clash with Bedard and the Pats.
• Star offensive-defenceman Olen Zellweger scored with 22.4 seconds remaining in the third period to lift the host Kamloops Blazers to a 4-3 victory over the Victoria Royals. The Royals held a 3-1 lead early in the second period before the Blazers rallied with three straight goals to pull out the victory. The Blazers improved to 31-10-4-2 riding a four game winning streak to sit first in the B.C. Division. They officially clinched a berth in the WHL Playoffs with Sunday’s victory. The Memorial Cup hosting Blazers drew 4,920 spectators in their win Sunday over the Royals.
• The Prince Albert Raiders posted a 3-2 record on their five-game road trip through the B.C. Division that concluded with a 4-0 loss to the Rockets in Kelowna on Saturday. The Raiders outshot the Rockets 51-23 in the setback. With a 19-27-3 record, the Raiders sit nine points back of the 21-21-7-1 Medicine Hat Tigers for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. The Raiders have a game in hand on the Tigers.

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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Roulette comes up OT lucky in big night for Blades

Saskatoon quietly improves to 20-5 with win over Wheat Kings

Conner Roulette had two goals and two assists for the Blades.

Conner Roulette had the luck of James Bond in a casino when it came getting goals on video review.

With his Saskatoon Blades locked in a 4-4 tie in overtime with the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings on Tuesday night at the SaskTel Centre, Roulette broke into the offensive zone on a two-on-one rush to support linemate and standout centre Trevor Wong, who was carrying the puck. Wong zipped down the left wing and slid a pass across the front of the Brandon net to Roulette.

Roulette quickly wired a shot to the top left corner of the Wheat Kings net but the puck hit a post and quickly deflected away, but the officials weren’t sure if the puck hit one of the posts inside the net holding off on calling a goal. Roulette was certain the puck went in for the winning tally and raised his arms to celebrate.

Trevor Wong picked up an assist on the Blades OT winner.

As the Wheat Kings got set to rush back up ice, Roulette got set to be in a defensive position, but kept yelling his shot went in along with voices from the Blades bench. The officials proceeded to blow the play dead to go to video review.

They didn’t look at the video for long as the video angle from the top of the Brandon net clearly showed the puck going into the goal. That video was played on the scoreboard at the SaskTel Centre and the victory celebration was on for the Blades who pulled out the 5-4 victory in the WHL regular season clash.

The host side received an appreciative salute from the 2,611 spectators in attendance, who braved the -35 C conditions outside to make it two the Blades home rink located in the north end of Saskatoon.

The Blades celebrate Conner Roulette’s OT winner.

Netting the overtime winner capped a big night for Roulette. The 19-year-old right-winger finished the night netting two goals, which both had to be confirmed by video review, and two assists to go with a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department.

The Blades increased their winning streak to five games improving to 20-5 on the campaign. Their .800 winning percentage in the overall WHL standings trails only the .852 winning percentage of the league leading Winnipeg Ice (23-4).

During their winning streak, the Blades have beaten the Ice and the Red Deer Rebels (18-5-1-3), who sit first in the Central Division. When the latest CHL Top 10 Rankings were released on Tuesday, the Blades moved from sixth up to the fifth overall ranking.

Justin Lies scored the Blades first goal on Tuesday.

While the Blades have jumped out to one of their best starts in team history, they’ve kind of come up under the radar. When the season started, the Blades were expected to be a playoff caliber team, but the Ice and Rebels were projected to be the class clubs of the WHL’s Eastern Conference to contend for the league championship.

After the Blades graduated star netminder Nolan Maier at the conclusion of last season, the Blades weren’t expected to be contender for a WHL title or even occupy a top five spot in the circuit’s overall standings. Maier graduated from the WHL holding the league’s career record for regular season goaltending wins at 122, and the Blades didn’t have any concerns in net during the five campaigns Maier was with the club.

Calder Anderson scored the Wheat Kings first goal on Tuesday.

Saskatoon looked towards a pair of 18-year-olds in their system to carry the load in net in sophomore Ethan Chadwick and rookie Austin Elliott. So far, the Blades have posted the WHL’s lowest team goals against average at 2.10, while Chadwick has recorded a .908 save percentage and Elliott has put up a .930 save percentage.

Against the Wheat Kings, the Blades showed they had the mental toughness to withstand the push backs of a pesky opponent that gained some confidence looking to build on two straight wins entering play on Tuesday.

The Blades opened the game’s scoring just 1:56 into the first period, where Roulette picked up his first assist of the contest. Roulette had control of the puck at the left side of the Brandon net and fed a pass across the face of the goal to linemate Justin Lies. Lies potted home the backdoor feed to give the Blades a 1-0 lead.

Tyler Parr scored on a second period breakaway for the Blades.

Just over 10 minutes later, Roulette proceeded to put the Blades up 2-0 on his first goal that was confirmed by video review. He had puck deep in the Brandon zone by the right boards at a bad angle, but he still managed to fire home a shot to the top left corner of the Wheat Kings net for his ninth tally of the season.

The officials didn’t at first rule Roulette scored, even though he started to celebrate. When play stopped, the officials went to a video review and confirmed that Roulette did score to put the Blades up by two.

With just over two minutes remaining in the first period, the Blades turned the puck over at the Brandon blue-line to Wheat Kings 20-year-old right-winger Calder Anderson. Anderson broke down the ice on a contested breakaway and fired home a shot to the left corner of the Saskatoon net to cut the Blades lead to 2-1 with 1:59 remaining in the frame.

Rylen Roersma scored the Wheat Kings second goal on Tuesday.

The Blades restored their two-goal edge at the 8:13 mark of the second. Wong sent a long flip pass to spring left-winger Tyler Parr on a breakaway. Parr broke into the Brandon zone and snapped home his fourth of the season to give the Blades a 3-1 advantage.

With 4:04 remaining in the second, the Wheat King cut the Blades lead to 3-2 when Brandon left-winger Rylen Roersma tipped home a shot from the point taken by defenceman Andrei Malyavin.

Saskatoon again went back up by two goals with 1:34 remaining in the second, when centre Jayden Wiens corralled a loose puck at the right side of the Brandon goal during a net scramble and popped home his 10^th of the season to put the hosts up 4-2. Roulette picked up his second assist of the game on Wiens’s tally.

Jayden Wiens scored his 10th goal of the season on Tuesday.

Just 69 seconds into the third, Wheat Kings left-winger Brett Hyland potted his 11^th of the season to cut the Blades lead to 4-3. The Blades challenged that the Wheat Kings were offside on the play, but the officials ruled the video replay was inconclusive allowing the Brandon tally to stand.

The teams traded scoring chances as the frame went on, but the Wheat Kings found some last second heroics to force overtime. With 10.1 seconds remaining in the third, Wheat Kings 20-year-old centre Nolan Ritchie had the puck at the right side of the Saskatoon net and fed a pass across the face of the goal to linemate Jake Chiasson.

Chiasson converted the backdoor feed popping the puck into an empty cage to create a 4-4 tie and force overtime.

Jake Chiasson celebrates his equalizer in the third period.

That set the stage for the dramatics of Roulette’s winner that had to be confirmed by video review.

Chadwick made 16 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Nicholas Jones turned away 25 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Wheat Kings (10-15-3).

The Wheat Kings return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the 10-15-2 Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades get back at it Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

As the Blades keep moving forward, they will be looking to keep building on the feel good story they’ve created so far in the current campaign. You can be sure there are doubters out there who are waiting for the wheels to fall off.

The Blades leave the ice happy with pulling out their OT victory.

On the other hand, what if the wheels don’t fall off for the Blades this season? What if this Blades team is special?

If this turns out to be a Blades team that can accomplish special things, it might be best to just soak and appreciate in the cool moments that happen in the present like Roulette’s memorable big Tuesday night.

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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