Madden 2008 finally came out in these COVID-19 days

I dug out Madden 2008 for the PlayStation 2.

    Madden 2008 made its first appearance at my household during these COVID-19 self-isolation times.

    On Friday night, I finally dug out the PlayStation 2 and fired up the Madden 2008 video game. The franchise I was using was in off-season mode, so I didn’t play any actual full out games.

    I spent a couple of hours working through the very realistic off-season that was created in the game. In future versions of Madden, the off-season was toned down to fit with the hyper fast life most of North American society lives.

    Still, real football geeks more tilted to the fantasy side love the off-season mode in Madden 2008. I like it too, but I normally wouldn’t find time to play through something like that.

With society being shut down, I have been in the home office lots.

    With society being shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I worked my off-season up to training camp and played through a couple of drills before packing it in for the night.

    Even just for playing the off-season, it was a fun change of pace.

    Over the past week, I think I have come to accept the fact the world won’t snap back to the way it was before the shutdowns that started to happen in North America on March 11 to try and prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

    At the moment, it is pretty safe to say the local sports world that I am involved in won’t be resuming normal activity for some time yet or at least until governments at all levels start lifting emergency measures and some travel restrictions.

I pulled out the Wayne Gretzky jersey on Thursday.

    While many things have shut down, I still kept busy this week. Usually, WHL playoffs would have started during this period of time, and I would be hyper busy.

    This week, I have been busy at a steady controllable pace.

    One thing I feel that has gone away for myself is the daily anxiety when it comes to checking messages and social media links for the first time each day. When the shutdowns first started to happen, I dreaded turning on any electronic device to see what new measures governments at any level might be bringing in.

    I like socializing, and I worried what it was going to be like to not be out at sporting events. A lot of my work involves getting out and meeting people.

    Over this past week, it hasn’t bothered me to work from home. Actually, most places I do to or spend time at away from home are now closed, so it is easy to spend time at home.

    With the extra time I have during the day, I have started into a habit of sleeping in. I’ve come to the conclusion that is allowing me to have the extra energy I need to carry on through the day and face anything that comes up.

I suspect I won’t be taking pictures of moments like these any time soon.

    Right now, there is so much uncertainty about how the world will unfold under the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The sports world, especially at the professional level, is really at the mercy of what governments elect to do with their emergency measures and travel bans.

    Even the Summer Olympic Games have been postponed until next year.

    Right now, there is so much speculation going around it is hard to know what to believe. There has been a fear the MLB, CFL, and U.S. college football seasons could be totally called off.

    I’ve heard speculation that society would be smart to stay in lockdown for a year.

    I’ve heard other speculation that this could let up in a month or two months.

The streets in my Saskatoon neighbourhood are quiet.

    Rod Pedersen, who does recovery and addictions work along with sports broadcasting, said and wrote the world is in a state of trauma.

    He said the two definitions of trauma he learned are “any situation your brain can’t comprehend,” or “a deeply distressing or disturbing event.”

    The COVID-19 pandemic is something the brain can’t comprehend, and it is an event that is deeply distressing or disturbing. I am pretty certain the world is experiencing trauma.

    As I have said before, I am just taking things day by day, because that is all anyone can control is how they react daily to something when it unfolds. The governments of the world have chosen their courses of action, and they aren’t going to change.

I’ve spent time reflecting and wondering when things will be normal.

    It feels weird to have not seen or covered a live sporting event since March 12.

    I try not to look too far ahead in the future, because that fuels anxiety. I am mindful that the world will likely be very different when the COVID-19 pandemic runs its course compared to where the world was before it started.

    In Canada, that last normal day was likely March 10.

    I hope this will be over by the middle of May, or the outlook will be better even two weeks from now. That is also an unknown.

    Until then, I just worry about finishing the most pressing task I need to get done that day, and try to spend some down time with family and friends.

    It is really the only way to proceed right now.

Robins cleans up on Blades awards, other notes

Tristen Robins won four Blades team awards.

    Tristen Robins was the man of the hour, when the Saskatoon Blades announced their team awards on Thursday night.

    The 18-year-old sophomore centre from Clear Lake, Man., had a breakout campaign leading the Blades in scoring with 33 goals and 40 assists for 73 points in 62 regular season games. Robins, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 173 pounds, posted a plus-16 rating in the plus-minus department.

    Thanks to his efforts, Robins was named the WHL team’s top defensive forward, the most gentlemanly player, best forward and most valuable player.

    Due to government restrictions against gatherings of over 10 people at the present time, the Blades weren’t able to hand out their team awards after the final game of their regular season or at a team function.

    They neatly rolled out their awards via Twitter on Thursday night. They were able to produce great short videos with team supporters announcing the award winners.

    Captain Chase Wouters was another multiple award winner being named the club’s hardest working player and taking the team’s community minded award.
    Overager Scott Walford was named the Blades best defenceman. Left-winger Colton Dach, who was playing through his 16-year-old season, claimed honours as the Blades rookie of the year.

Captain Chase Wouters won two Blades team awards.

    Overage defenceman Nolan Kneen took home honours as the Blades hardest hitter. Sophomore rearguard Aidan De La Gorgendiere claimed the award as the club’s most improved player.

    Rookie 16-year-old centre Jayden Wiens claimed the Bentley Memorial Academic Award.

    Feisty overage left-winger Riley McKay captured the Fan’s Choice Award as the team’s favourite player for a second straight campaign.

    The Blades fan of the year award was given to Ryan Collinge.

    The Blades had locked up a playoff berth for the second straight season and had a 34-24-2-3 record in the regular season before the CHL cancelled the remainder of the regular season and entire post-season in the 2019-20 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The Blades have to love the fact they have Mitch Bach as their new manager of communications. Bach was a skilled broadcast sports journalist, who spent a lengthy stretch at CHAT Television in Medicine Hat, Alta. The tribute videos he created for the Blades digital networks for overage players Kneen and McKay have been outstanding. The video for Walford is slated to run at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
• While there is great excitement in Regina the historic Pats will get to select Connor Bedard first overall in the WHL Bantam Draft on April 22, Saskatoon got to enjoy watching two highly touted bantam draft prospects play this past season. Forwards Brayden Yager and Riley Heidt had outstanding seasons playing as underage players for the Saskatoon Contacts midget AAA team. Yager had 18 goals and 24 assists appearing in all of the Contacts 44 regular season games. Heidt also played in all of the Contacts 44 regular season games piling up 17 goals and 20 assists. Bedard has exceptional player status to allow him to play full time in the WHL as a 15-year-old. Yager and Heidt were prospects for the exceptional status tag, but there hasn’t been any word if either of them would get that tag. Even if they don’t get that tag, they will be great additions for the WHL teams they join.
• With most gyms closed across the country and everyone trying to stay home as much as possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve seen pictures of a handful of home gyms come across various social media lines. Most have a partial old school feeling to them. Some of the coolest I’ve seen have been courtesy of track and field star Sage Watson, Hamilton Tiger-Cats long snapper Aaron Crawford, Saskatoon Hilltops receiver/kicker and star curler Rylan Kleiter and Hilltops alum and University of Regina Rams defensive lineman Garth Knittng.
• Big props to the crew I work with at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex for the newsletter that was put out this week. The lead front page column dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and sports was outstanding. Just to note, I did not have a hand in writing it, but it is fantastic. You can check it out by clicking right here.

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

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Wheat Kings wipe out Blades 5-1

P.A. product Schneider posts goal, assist and plus-three rating

Braden Schneider had a goal, an assist and was a plus-three for Brandon.

    Braden Schneider had a Prince Albert moment playing for the Brandon Wheat Kings.
    With his team holding a 3-0 advantage on the host Saskatoon Blades, the 18-year-old defenceman saw his goaltender Jiri Patera get knocked to the ice via a trip from veteran Blades right-winger Zach Huber. Schneider, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 208 pounds, confronted Huber, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 197 pounds, starting a scrum.

    Schneider was given minor penalties for cross-checking and roughing, while Huber was assessed minors for goaltender interference and roughing.

    Schneider, who is a Prince Albert, Sask., product and played for the Prince Albert Raiders bantam AA team and the Prince Albert Mintos midget AAA club, admitted a little bit of his personality from his hometown coming out in that moment.

Braden Schneider (#2) takes part in Brandon’s head butt goal celebration.

    “I think I am a competitive guy,” said Schneider. “I think any guy on our team would do the same.

    “I think we are just a tight-knit group, and I think we have each others’ back no matter what happens. If we think it is dirty, we will be standing up for each other for sure.”

    Had the officials stretched the call and given out fighting majors in that moment, Schneider would have ended up with the Gordie Howe hat trick. Still, he had a great night posting one goal, one assist and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department.

Braden Schneider controls the puck at the point for the Wheat Kings.

    Overall, the Wheat Kings rolled to a 5-1 victory in Wednesday’s WHL regular season clash played before 2,815 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

    Schneider said it was cool to have nights where seemingly everything went right for his side, but he added that isn’t always the case.

    “All our guys rose to the occasion,” said Schneider. “After the game, we reset and get ready for the next one, because the next one is just as big.”

    On a personal front, Schneider is having a breakout campaign in his third season in the WHL. He has posted six goals and 28 assists for 34 points to go with a plus-11 rating in 49 regular season appearances with the Wheat Kings.

Braden Schneider is having a breakout season with the Wheat Kings.

    Schneider’s assist and point totals are already career highs. He said the experience he gained over his first two major junior campaigns is helping out now.

    “Everyone is a bit bigger, a bit faster and a bit stronger,” said Schneider. “It is a little bit of an adjustment from midget, but once you get used to it, it almost seems easier.

    “I know where the little soft spots are now, and I am using my guys and carrying the puck a little bit more and shooting a little bit more. I think just the comfort level and the opportunity is helping me find the net a little bit more.”

    Wednesday’s game got off to an auspicious start for the Blades, which seemed to foreshadow what was to come. About a couple of minutes into the opening frame, Blades netminder Nolan Maier had the puck behind his net and nonchalantly sent a backhand pass into the left slot right to Wheat Kings centre Jake Chiasson.

Braden Schneider starts a rush up ice for the Wheat Kings.

    Chiasson wasn’t able to capitalize on the gift firing a shot wide of the Saskatoon goal.

    The Wheat Kings proceeded to a pot a goal seconds into a power-play at the 6:02 mark of the frame. Off a draw on from the faceoff circle to the left of the Saskatoon goal, Wheat Kings captain Connor Gutenberg slipped a pass across the face the Blades net to linemate Cole Reinhardt, who buried his 26^th goal of the season.

    Before the first ended, the Blades had a couple of strong chances to net the equalizer. 

Ridly Greig had two goals and two assists for Brandon.

    Patera made a glove stop on a drive by feisty Blades left-winger Riley McKay and then stoned Huber from point blank range.

    With 2:31 remaining in the first, the Wheat Kings expanded their edge to 2-0 off an offensive rush, where a pinching Schneider potted a backdoor pass from centre Luka Burzan at the left side of the Saskatoon goal.

    The assist was Burzan’s 100^th of his WHL career.

    Just 12 seconds into the second, Gutenberg netted his 11^th of the season to put the Wheat Kings up 3-0.

Connor Gutenberg had a goal and three assists for Brandon.

    The Wheat Kings took further control of the contest with 2:07 remaining in the second, when centre Ridly Greig fired home a power-play goal from the right boards to put the visitors up 4-0.
    The only thing that seemingly didn’t go right for the Wheat Kings was that Greig was stopped on a penalty shot about a couple of minutes before his power-play goal.

    “It is a lot easier to play, when everyone is going like that, and we are playing the way we want to be playing,” said Schneider. “We came prepared tonight, and it was a big game. “

    The Blades showed a bit of fight at the start of third. Following a penalty kill, overage Blades defenceman Nolan Kneen jetted into the Brandon zone on a breakaway and fired home his 11^th of the season to the top right corner of the Wheat Kings net.

    If there were any dreams of a comeback by the home side, the Wheat Kings burst that bubble scoring a short-handed goal on a two-on-one break with nine minutes remaining in the third. 

Nolan Kneen had the Blades lone goal on Wednesday.

    Greig potted his second of the night converting a setup pass from right-winger Ty Thorpe to give the visitors a 5-1 advantage.

    Greig had a pair of assists to go with his two goals for a four-point night. Gutenberg had three helpers to go with his goal for a four-point night as well.

    Patera turned away 22 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Wheat Kings (28-19-3-2). Maier turned away 27 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades (27-21-2-3).

    Back on Dec. 28, the Wheat Kings had a 15-17-1-2 record, and there was uncertainty in which direction their season could go. In their 17 outings since, the Wheat Kings have posted a 13-2-2 record.

    “I think everyone is just buying in to what we are given,” said Schneider. “When we do that, we are a pretty tough team to beat.

Jiri Patera makes one of his 22 saves for the Wheat Kings.

    “I think everyone has learned their role and is buying into the system. I think it is all just coming around full circle for us. I think at the start some people were starting to write us off.

    “We were a little inconsistent. We were trying to find our stride, and I think once we found it, it was pretty scary.”

    The Blades and Wheat Kings will go at it again on Friday in Brandon (7:30 p.m. local time, Westoba Place).

    Schneider expects the intensity will be a lot higher in Friday’s encounter than it was on Wednesday.

    “The challenge is that they are going to be coming harder than they did tonight,” said Schneider. “I think the challenge for us is to be prepared and be ready to go and reset.

The Wheat Kings celebrate their win on Wednesday.

    “We know that they are going to be coming for blood from us.”

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

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

Robins rescues Blades

Breakout centre nets OT winner to thwart Warriors comeback

Tristen Robins (#11) celebrates his overtime winner.

    Tristen Robins stopped the Moose Jaw Warriors from getting out of Saskatoon with a big steal.
    On Sunday afternoon at the SaskTel Centre, the host Saskatoon Blades took a 3-1 lead in a WHL regular season contest into the third period over the visiting Warriors. Despite the fact the host side controlled most of the contest, the Warriors potted two early third period goals to force a 3-3 tie and ultimately overtime.

    With 49.1 seconds remaining in overtime, Robins deflected home a shot from linemate Kyle Crnkovic to deliver the Blades to a 4-3 victory before 3,687 spectators. The goal capped a three-point night for Robins, who had a pair of assists in regulation.

Tristen Robins had a goal and two assists for the Blades on Sunday.

    He was pumped to come through with the winner in overtime.

    “It is a little more dramatic getting it in the last minute,” said Robins. “It was for sure quite a rush.”

    Robins is having a breakout sophomore season leading the Blades in scoring posting 26 goals and 30 assists for 56 points to go with a plus-10 rating in the plus-minus department.

    The 18-year-old centre had two goals, two assists and a plus-four rating on Saturday when the Blades hammered the Warriors 8-2 in Moose Jaw.

    Blades head coach Mitch Love was pleased with how Robins played in Sunday’s win.

Tristen Robins leads the Blades in scoring this season.

    “He was good,” said Love. “When you watch him play hockey, when he is really moving his feet and he is skating, you know he is dialed in.

    “The puck touches offensively when his legs are moving seem to have a little more pop off his stick. He plays a lot of minutes for us. He seems to never run out of gas.

    “I thought him and Crnkovic were good tonight. They had a lot of jam. They were both the two guys that were out on the ice there along with (overage defenceman Scott) Walford in overtime that got us the win.”

    The Blades came out with a lot of jump at the start of Sunday’s contest. Just 2:05 into the first period, Saskatoon centre Evan Patrician got in close on the Moose Jaw goal on a rush down the right wing and snapped a shot past Warriors netminder Brock Gould to put the host side up 1-0.

Nolan Kneen played in his 300th WHL regular season game on Sunday.

    Shortly after that tally, Blades overage defenceman Nolan Kneen nailed Warriors right-winger Kade Runke with a big hit. Kneen, who started his WHL career with the Kamloops Blazers, was playing in his 300^th career WHL regular season game on Sunday, and he admits there are times he feels like the elder statesman.

    “My body is feeling it for sure,” said Kneen, who finished with a plus-one rating on Sunday. “It is not every day someone hits 300.

    “It is pretty special, and I am honoured to have that.”

    The hit parade continued a couple of minutes later when Czech import defenceman Radek Kucerik nailed Warriors centre Kyle Crosbie.

    Just when it seemed the Blades had all the momentum, the Warriors evened the score at 1-1 at the 7:47 mark of the opening frame. 

Ryder Korczak scored the equalizer for the Warriors in the third period.

    Warriors centre Garrett Wright fired home the equalizer from the front of the Saskatoon goal after receiving a pass from linemate Martin Lang from behind the Blades net.

    The Blades went back out in front 2-1 at the 11:39 mark of the opening frame, when Slovakian import right-winger Martin Fasko-Rudas blew home a setup pass from Robins for a power-play goal.

Gould closed the opening frame making a couple of big glove saves off Blades wingers Colton Dach and Riley McKay.

    The Warriors puck stopper did his best to keep his squad in the game as the Blades dominated played in the second period outshooting the visitors 14-5 in the frame.

Brock Gould makes one of his 44 saves in goal for the Warriors.

    With 1:21 remaining in the second and the two teams playing four-on-four hockey, the Blades picked up an insurance marker to go up 3-1 when Walford blew home his 11^th of the season from the top of the left faceoff circle in the Moose Jaw zone.

    Early in the third, the Warriors changed the game’s momentum in a big way. At the 5:04 mark of the frame, 18-year-old right-winger Logan Doust scored for the Warriors to cut the Blades lead to 3-2.

    Just 80 seconds after that tally, Doust sprung linemate Ryder Korczak on a breakaway, and the 17-year-old centre beat Blades netminder Koen MacInnes on a backhander to even the score at 3-3.

Scott Walford had a goal for the Blades on Sunday.

    “We find a way to do it to ourselves a lot of nights,” said Love. “If you look at the goals, we got really puck focused any time when pucks were behind our net and exposed the middle part of the rink in our own end.

    “If you look at the Korczak situation, we win a clean draw in the offensive end, and we need to get a puck to the net. We don’t elevate, and he (Doust) picks it off and goes. He (Korczak) is a good player, and he puts it in the back of your net.

    “We make life a lot harder on ourselves than we need to sometimes, but that being said they had 22 shots on net. I didn’t think we gave up a tonne of chances to them.”

    Shortly after the Warriors evened the score, Korczak broke down the left wing into the Blades zone on another dangerous rush, but MacInnes came up with a glove stop.

Evan Patrician had the Blades first goal on Sunday.

    That set the stage for the contest to go to overtime, where Robins netted his winner.

    “We gave up a couple of tough goals there in the defensive zone,” said Robins. “We’re just fortunate to get the bounce in overtime.”

    MacInnes stopped 19 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades (27-20-2-3). Gould turned away 44 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Warriors (12-34-3).

    The Blades return to action on Wednesday when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings (27-19-3-2) at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

    The Warriors are back at it on Wednesday when they travel to Spokane to face the Chiefs.

    Love expects his squad will be in for a big battle against the Wheat Kings on Wednesday.

The Blades celebrate their overtime win on Sunday.

    “If you don’t have a good start against Brandon on home ice on Wednesday, we’re going to be in big trouble against that team,” said Love. “They play hard, they forecheck hard, they are physical, they have some skill and they are playing with some confidence and some swag right now themselves over the last month and a half.

    “We’re finding ourselves in a little bit of a fight here in the East Division. We are excited for that opportunity, and we’ll see what happens Wednesday.”

    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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Fourth time is a charm – Blades finally get initial home win

Nolan Kneen, left, celebrates his winning goal for the Blades with Kyle Crnkovic.

    Nolan Kneen admitted it felt like his Saskatoon Blades finally got a monkey off their collective backs.

    After dropping their first three home dates at the SaskTel Centre including a 5-4 setback last Sunday after a tiebreaking shootout to the Brandon Wheat Kings, the Blades finally got their first win at home of the current WHL campaign.

    On Wednesday before 2,715 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades slipped past the Vancouver Giants 2-1 in a competitively contested regular season game.

Nolan Kneen scored the third period winner for the Blades.

    “It was kind of funny to hear the win song for the first time at home, which was nice,” said Kneen, who is an overage offensive-defenceman with the team. “It is obviously nice to get the first win under the belt.”

    The Blades went into the clash with the Giants with the heartbreaking setback to the Wheat Kings on their mind. In the loss to Brandon, Saskatoon held a 4-2 lead before the Wheat Kings scored twice in the final 65 seconds of the third period to force a 4-4 tie and overtime.

    That set the stage for Brandon to prevail after a tiebreaking shootout.

    On Wednesday night, the Blades entered the third period holding a 1-0 lead over the Giants. The Giants evened things up at 1-1 at the nine-minute mark of the frame, when overage defenceman Dylan Plouffe blew home a mid-range drive.

    The Blades answered back working on the power play with 6:34 remaining in the third, when Kneen pinched down the right wing with the puck and fired home a close in shot to put the host side up 2-1.

Dylan Plouffe scored the third period equalizer for the Giants.

    Blades star netminder Nolan Maier made 30 saves on the night to ensure Kneen’s marker stood up as the winner.

    “I think we just played a full 60 tonight,” said Kneen, whose team improved to 4-3-0-1. “There were kind of times where we slowed down and let them play their game, but I think overall we had a good 60 minutes.

    “When they scored, we kind of kept it even-keel and didn’t stray from our systems or anything. We just came back and ended up getting another one.”

    Blades head coach Mitch Love was pleased with how his team responded after the Giants tied things up.

Blades goalie Nolan Maier holds of the Giants late in the third period.

    “I said to our guys tonight I liked after they scored their goal to tie it that we didn’t panic,” said Love. “We stayed patient.

    “That is sometimes hard to do, especially after a night on Sunday, where we gave up a couple of late goals for them to tie it up. I liked our composure in those times.”

    Overall, Love liked his is team played against Giants side that returned a large number of players that helped Vancouver reach the WHL final last season before falling in 3-2 in overtime in a series deciding Game 7 to the Prince Albert Raiders.

    “A bit of our game plan was obviously to try to limit their offence from their back end,” said Love. “That is the strength of their hockey team along with their goaltending.

Chase Wouters scored in the first period for the Blades.

    “They are a little depleted up front right now. They had some defencemen playing forward for them, so they are not at full health there. Again, they play a really, really good team game.

    “They’ve got a lot of good little schemes out there that they run that you have to be dialled in on. We were fortunate we had a few days between our Sunday game and tonight to prep for that, and I thought our guys did a good job of limiting their offence.”

    The Giants entered the game without injured second-year right-winger Lukas Svejkovsky (upper body, day-to-day) and injured rookie left-winger Cole Shepard (lower body, week-to-week). Due to their absence, the Giants had defencemen Nicholas Draffin and Tanner Brown play up front.

Despite the injuries, the Giants played a solid game.

Giants D Dylan Plouffe, left, battles Blades LW Colton Dach for the puck.

    At the start, the Blades got the jump. They broke through on the scoreboard, when captain Chase Wouters tipped home a point shot from defenceman Scott Walford for a power-play goal 78 second into the contest for a 1-0 lead.

    Near the midway point of the first, the Giants had a big chance to even things up, but a backdoor drive by Giants right-winger Tristen Nielson was turned away by the glove had of Maier.

    With 6:54 remaining in the first, Blades feisty left-winger Riley McKay was hauled down on a breakaway by Giants left-winger Jackson Shepard resulting in a penalty shot.

Trent Miner made 29 saves in goal for the Giants on Wednesday.

    On the penalty shot, McKay tried to go forehand to backhand but he was denied by a left pad save from Giants goalie Trent Miner.

    In the final seconds of the first, McKay made his presence felt again levelling Shepard with an open ice hit.

    The teams played through a scoreless second with the Giants holding a 12-10 edge in shot over the 20-minute stanza. Maier and Miner, who are both 18 years of age, put up walls in front of their respective goals denying all shooters that came their way.

    “He (Maier) looked sharp tonight,” said Love. “He looked like he was in the zone, a competitive zone.

Two young fans cheer on Blades LW Riley McKay.

    “I think sometimes as a goalie you also look at the other guy that is at the other end, and you want to try and out do him. Miner is a good young goal, the same age. There is some extra motivation there I am sure.

    “Both kids were real good tonight. Again when you have that, it tends to lead to a low scoring hockey game.”

    The scoreless second gave way to the drama in the third.

    Inside of the final two minutes of the third, Maier made key back-to-back stops on Nielsen and Giants star offensive-defenceman Bowen Byram to preserve the Blades victory.

    Miner turned away 29 shots to take the setback in goal for the Giants (4-5).

    “I think obviously when you come out with a win it is a fun game,” said Maier. “There are a lot of guys in the locker room that I think played their best game of the year.

    “That is really positive, especially for our young guys that aren’t getting as much minutes as our older guys. They are kind of finding their way. We’re all looking comfortable out there, so it is really good from a team perspective.”

The Blades celebrate their win on Wednesday night.

    The Blades return to action on Friday, when they travel to Brandon to take on the Wheat Kings. The Giants are also back at it on Friday traveling to Moose Jaw to take on the Warriors.

    Maier said the Blades will be looking to earn a little bit of redemption in Friday’s game against the Wheat Kings after what happened last Sunday.

    “I think we want to prove something that we didn’t have our best game,” said Maier. “We kind of let it slip away from us, so I think we are going to have a really big one against them in their barn.”

    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 shouldn’t have been rated third in CHL pre-season rankings

Netminder Nolan Maier is currently the Blades biggest star.

    The Saskatoon Blades have the roster to be a good team and maybe a great one, but they should not have been rated third in the CHL pre-season rankings.

    The Blades had a remarkable campaign last season finishing fourth in the entire WHL with a 45-15-8 mark, and they advanced to the second round of the WHL playoffs. In the second round, they fell 4-2 in a best-of-seven series to their archrivals and eventual WHL champion Prince Albert Raiders.

    Over the course of the off-season, their roster got shuffled a little too much. Due to that fact alone, expectations for the Blades have to be tempered during the early part of the campaign besides the fact the team’s roster will still shuffle a little over the next few weeks.

    The fact the Blades were rated third in the pre-season WHL Top 10 rankings on Sept. 18 was way too high.

    The roster shuffle is one of the reasons the Blades are 3-3 over their first six games of the current campaign.

Head coach Mitch Love tried to temper early expectations for the Blades.

    Before the season started, you could tell that Blades general manager Colin Priestner and head coach Mitch Love felt the rating was too high. During media interviews, both were saying the ranking was nice, but noting there had been turnover and there was still lots of work to do.

    All that rating was good for was for giving Priestner and the Blades organization a tip of the cap for building a club that had the season it did in 2018-19.

    The Blades weren’t like the Raiders of last year, who entered that campaign with a strong core group of returning players.

    When you look at the changes the Blades had on defence, those changes alone should have prevented them from being ranked.

    Gone from their regular starting six were Dawson Davidson, Brandon Schuldhaus, Reece Harsch and Emil Malysjev. Davidson and Schuldhaus were lost due to overage graduation.

    Harsch is now in his overage season, and the Blades traded him to the Winnipeg Ice early in May expecting Malysjev to be back.

Scott Walford is a stable presence on the Blades defence.

    The Blades were expecting to reload their back end around Malysjev, who elected in June to play professionally back home in Sweden.

    Priestner did an admirable job filling the holes in the back end. He picked up Czech products Libor Zabransky and Radek Kucerik in the CHL Import Draft. Zabransky had played in 109 regular season games with the Kelowna Rockets over two seasons.

    The Blades general manager was able to add overage offensive-defenceman Scott Walford in a trade with the Victoria Royals.

    Saskatoon returned Nolan Kneen as an overager on the back end along with Aiden De La Gorgendiere and Majid Kaddoura. Both De La Gorgendiere and Kaddoura were rookies last season, and it is expected they will take big steps forward in their respective games this season.

    With that in mind, the group on defence needs time to find chemistry with each other.

    Of course, the biggest the loss the Blades have at the moment is 18-year-old centre Kirby Dach.

Kirby Dach has been the Blades biggest missing piece.

    Dach was drafted in the first round and third overall by the Chicago Blackhawks last June and signed to an NHL Entry Level contract.

    Dach is still with the Blackhawks, and he had been undergoing concussion protocol after being on the receiving end of a dirty hit at a rookie tournament in Traverse City, Mich.

    The fact Dach isn’t back with the Blades has been a big blow for the team. It is likely the high pre-season ranking was given to the Blades partially on the assumption Dach would be back in Saskatoon.

    Another blow was losing sharpshooting right-winger Max Gerlach to overage graduation.

    The Blades turned heads when they elected to trade high-scoring right-winger Ryan Hughes to the Kamloops Blazers to get down to the league limit of three overage players. In making that move, the Blades elected to keep feisty left-winger Riley McKay, who is best known as an agitator and a pest and has shown flashes in producing offence.

    McKay is well respected in the Blades dressing room and is looked upon as one of the team’s leaders.

The Blades elected to keep feisty Riley McKay as one of three overagers.

    Ultimately, it was the right decision to keep McKay, because the Blades needed his toughness and intangibles to play in a physical East Division.

    McKay appeared in all of the Blades 68 regular season games in 2018-19 collecting 12 goals, 17 assists and a plus-16 rating in the plus-minus department to go with a league high 149 penalty minutes.

    He has the potential to be a better offensive player than most people outside the Blades would have thought. McKay has two goals, two assists and is a plus-five in his first five appearances this season, and my gut feeling believes that is going to continue.

    McKay has earned his spot to be on the team.

    The Blades have a forward group that can deliver the goods offensively in captain Chase Wouters, Eric Florchuk, Kyle Crnkovic, Colton Dach, Tristen Robins and Kyle McNabb.

    All these players need time to adjust to new roles.

    They are not yet a veteran scoring forward crew like the Raiders had last season or the Swift Current Broncos had, when they won the WHL title in 2017-18.

The Blades will lean on Kyle Crnkovic for more offence.

    The current Blades forward crew can’t be expected to be like those forward crews the Raiders had last season and Broncos had in 2017-18.

    On that front, the Blades shouldn’t have been rated third in the CHL pre-season rankings.

    One spot the Blades are secure in is the fact they have 18-year-old veteran Nolan Maier starting in goal. He is a true star starting franchise netminder and one of the best puck stoppers in the league.

    He will allow the Blades time to adjust and grow.

    On Friday playing against the Raiders in Prince Albert, the Blades showed they still have the heart and character to gut games out that start out adversely.

    Raiders star right-winger Ozzy Wiesblatt scored at the 1:52 mark of the first period to give the host side a 1-0 lead in front of 2,687 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre.

    De La Gorgendiere scored on the power play to tie things up at 1-1 at the 6:21 mark of the opening frame.

    From that point, the Raiders threw everything including the kitchen sink at Maier, who stood his ground.

    The game went to overtime and Walford and McKay team up to set up Wouters to score the winner. Maier made 36 saves to pick up the victory.

Overage defenceman Nolan Kneen (#27) is a key returnee from last season.

    The other thing the Blades have to worry about is it seems the people of Saskatoon don’t react well to the team, if there are high expectations and those expectations are not met.

    Back in the 2010-11 campaign when the Blades were still owned by Jack Brodsky, they were battling for first overall in the WHL. The Blades made a monster deal to acquire local product and star forward Brayden Schenn from the Brandon Wheat Kings.

    It was perceived that the Blades would win the Memorial Cup that season with Schenn on their roster. The Blades topped the WHL standings with a franchise best 56-13-1-2 record. When they were swept 4-0 by the eventual WHL champion Kootenay Ice in the second round of the playoffs, there was a fan backlash at the time against Schenn.

    It also seemed like the playoff exit in that campaign was held against the team for an extended time.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere will see more time on the back end.

    Heck, back in the days when Daryl Lubiniecki was the general manager of the Blades, there were lots of times he could have captured the title of least popular person in Saskatoon. That includes times during the 1991-92 and 1993-94 campaigns, when the Blades fell in Game 7 of the WHL final.

    Now under the ownership of Mike Priestner with his son, Colin, as the general manager, the Blades management and coaches are prudent in any efforts they make to temper high expectations.

    In the pre-season CHL rankings, the Edmonton Oil Kings were rated eighth, the Vancouver Giants were placed 10^th and the Calgary Hitmen were an honourable mention.

    All three of those WHL teams had strong returning groups and should have been rated higher than the Blades. On top of that, the Giants fell in the WHL final last season, and the Oil Kings bowed out in the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship series.

    The Blades continue their journey in the current campaign, when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings (2-4) at 4 p.m. Sunday at the SaskTel Centre.

    By the end of the season, the Blades might become a team that should be rated high in the CHL Top 10 rankings.

The Blades are still a work in progress in the current campaign.

    They still have a lot of work to do and a number of steps to take to reload to get to that point.

    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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