WHLers storm on to Canada’s world junior team roster

Guhle, Schneider and WHL alum Dach to chase gold medal

Kaiden Guhle in action for the Raiders last season.

In world juniors that will be like no other, fans of the WHL will have lots of reasons to watch Canada chase a second straight gold medal.

On Friday, Hockey Canada announced its 25-player roster for the world junior tournament, which will run in a hub city bubble format from Dec.25 to Jan. 5, 2021 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alta. Teams are slated to arrive in Edmonton on Sunday and quarantine for five days before beginning practices on Dec. 18.

The hub city bubble format is being used due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

Team Canada is wrapping up selection camp activities in Red Deer, Alta. The Canadian team roster that will play in Edmonton contains nine current WHL players and one WHL alum, who was loaned to the Canadian side by an NHL team.

Kirby Dach, who is a centre with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, was the WHL alum that was loaned to Team Canada. Dach was a star with the Saskatoon Blades from 2016 to 2019 before being selected in the first round and third overall by the Blackhawks in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.

The 19-year-old Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., product appeared in 64 regular season games with the Blackhawks last season posting eight goals, 15 assists and a minus-one rating in the plus-minus department.  

Kirby Dach in action for the Blades in 2018-19.

Dach, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 200 pounds, suited up for nine post-season games with the Blackhawks recording one goal, five assists and a plus-three rating.

Due to the NHL playoffs being conducted in a hub city format, Dach is the only player on the Canadian roster who has experience with what his team is going to deal with. The Blackhawks played all of their games in the last NHL post-season in Edmonton.

Defenceman Bowen Byram of the Vancouver Giants and centre Dylan Cozens from the Lethbridge Hurricanes are part of the group of six returnees from Canada’s gold medal winning entry at the last world juniors, which were held in Ostrava in the Czech Republic. Both are in their 19-year-old junior seasons.

Byram, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 197 pounds, appeared in 50 regular season games with the Giants last season posting 14 goals, 38 assists and a plus-19 rating. Cozens, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 198 pounds, suited up for 51 regular season games with the Hurricanes last season recording 38 goals, 47 assists and a plus-23 rating.

Braden Schneider in action for the Wheat Kings last season.

Kaiden Guhle, who is an 18-year-old defenceman for the Prince Albert Raiders, is one of the many newcomers to the Canadian side. He appeared in 64 regular season games last season posting 11 goals, 29 assists and a plus-23 rating.

Guhle, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 209 pounds, has past international experience playing in Hockey Canada’s program. 

He was a captain for Canada Red at the 2018 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, where he picked up three assists in six games. That event was held in Quispamsis and Saint John, New Brunswick.

He was an alternate captain for Canada’s silver medal winning team at the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, where he posted one assist in five games. That event was played in Breclav in the Czech Republic and Piestany in Slovakia.

Joining Guhle on the back end is Prince Albert product Braden Schneider, who is 19-year-old defenceman with the Brandon Wheat Kings. Schneider, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 207 pounds, appeared in 60 regular season games with the Wheat Kings last season recording seven goals, 35 assists and a plus-nine rating.

Kaedan Korczak in action for the Rockets last season.

Also suiting up on the blue-line is Yorkton, Sask., product Kaedan Korczak, who is a 19-year-old defenceman with the Kelowna Rockets. 

Korczak, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 192 pounds, suited up for 60 regular season games for the Rockets last season posting 11 goals, 38 assists and a plus-seven rating.

Saskatoon product Connor Zary, who stands 6-feet and weighs 177 pounds, is the final player with Saskatchewan ties to earn a spot on Canada’s roster. 

Zary, who is a 19-year-old centre with the Kamloops Blazers, appeared in 57 regular season games last season recording 38 goals, 48 assists and a plus-30 rating.

Rounding out the WHL player representation on the Team Canada roster is 19-year-old centre Peyton Krebs of the Winnipeg Ice, 18-year-old goaltender Dylan Garand of the Blazers and 19-year-old netminder Taylor Gauthier of the Prince George Cougars.

Blades head coach Mitch Love, Blades assistant coach Tyler Dietrich and Giants head coach Michael Dyck will all serve as assistant coaches for Canada. Moose Jaw Warriors general manager Alan Millar is part of Team Canada’s management group.

Connor Zary in action for the Blazers last season.

Calgary Hitmen assistant and goaltending coach Jason LaBarbera is the goaltending coach for Canada. Edmonton Oil Kings head athletic therapist Brian Cheeseman is a therapist for the Canadian side.

In these crazy times, Friday’s roster announcement for Team Canada was an upbeat day for Canadian fans who follow world juniors. No matter what wrenches get thrown into the event from the COVID-19 front, Canadians will tune into world juniors in droves, especially when Canada is playing.

With numerous parts of Canada observing stricter lockdown measures through the Christmas season, world juniors should have quite the captive audience.

If Canada repeats as a gold medal winner, you can expect an outpouring from joy from Canadian fans on Jan. 5, 2021. For fans of the WHL, a Canadian gold medal win at this would junior tournament will feel that much more sweet.

NHL all about speculation, other notes

A Brayden Point card.

If you follow all the speculation that is swirling around the NHL right now, you would probably not get anything else done your day-to-day life.

As the days of December 2020 drift away, it becomes more obvious that the NHL isn’t going to begin its upcoming season on its original targeted start date of Jan. 1, 2021. The continuing surge of new COVID-19 cases in Canada and the United States will likely see certain to that.

With the initial rollouts of COVID-19 vaccines to come in a limited form, the world in North America is still several months away from returning to normal.

It was announced on Friday the closer of the border between Canada and the United States for all non-essential travel currently goes to Jan. 21, 2021.

Most areas of Canada are observing stricter restrictions and lockdowns to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. Some areas of the United States have brought in stricter COVID-19 restrictions too.

If Canadian NHL teams were supposed to hold training camps to prepare for a Jan. 1, 2021 start, players from outside the country would already have to be arriving in Canadian cities to quarantine for 14 days.

So far, the NHL hasn’t officially announced any new plans. That has lead to lots of speculation.

So what might the upcoming NHL season look like?

On Tuesday, Frank Seravalli of TSN said that outlet’s sources have said the NHL’s targeted start date is now Jan. 13, 2021 with a 56-game regular season. The start date and regular season length haven’t been confirmed, but they seem to be reasonable expectations.

On Tuesday during an online interview with The Maccabi USA Sports Show, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said realignment would likely be necessary because of travel restrictions between Canada and the United States.

“There are a lot of things we have to do to return to play,” said Bettman. “For us to return to play, we’re not going to play 82 games, obviously, and we have travel issues because of the restrictions at the border between Canada and the U.S.

“You can’t go back and forth, so we’re actually going to have to realign. If everything stays the way it is, we’re probably going to have to have a Canadian division and realign in the U.S., and we’re trying to focus on dealing with all of those challenges.”

The nugget of a Canadian division has many NHL fans in Canada in an excited frenzy.

It wasn’t that long ago when the Tampa Bay Lightning captured their second Stanley Cup title with a 2-0 Game 6 championship series win over the Dallas Stars in the hub city of Edmonton on Sept. 28. That contest officially concluded the 2019-20 NHL campaign that had a wrench thrown into it due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sports media outlets in Canada can have a field day with all the speculation. The crew at The Rod Pedersen Show in Regina, Sask., must loved the fact they have this as one of many subjects to endlessly talk about.

 NHL fans might be best to take a “they will play when they play” approach. They should avoid spending too much time dwelling on all the possibilities.

• On Wednesday, I went live with a new piece on the Howe Happening blog, which supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I wrote an introductory piece to the sport of Nordic skiing thanks to the help of the Saskatoon Nordic Ski Club. That piece can be found by clicking right here.
• On Wednesday, I put together a post of the coolest and sweetest photos of construction projects taking played at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex taken by operations manager Johnny Marciniuk. Marciniuk can take the bulk of the credit for the work there. That post can be found by clicking right here.
• On Thursday, Planet S Magazine announced its results in its annual “Best of Saskatoon” contest. People can vote for the city’s best in various categories. Pat McKay of CTV Saskatoon was voted Best Sports Reporter. It was a cool nod as McKay has been a general assignment news reporter who does some sports stories since returning to CTV Saskatoon early in the year from CTV Winnipeg as a sports reporter. Due to the restructuring of CTV across Canada, that media outlet has very few just dedicated sports reporters. Before leaving for a short stint in Winnipeg, McKay had a great run as a sports reporter at CTV Saskatoon, when there was a dedicated sports reporter spot there. Knowing the public has fond memories of McKay’s work as a sports reporter, could CTV Saskatoon bring back that type of dedicated position for him? As the old cliché goes, this might be a case of giving viewers what they want. They have spoken with their votes.

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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White’s third-period winner puts Blades on Ice

Jaeger White had the winning goal for the Ice on Thursday.

    Jaeger White believes he hit the jackpot when it comes to playing with potential linemates as an overage player in the WHL.

    The 20-year-old Medicine Hat product was traded from his hometown Tigers to the Kootenay Ice on Aug. 14. With the ice, White has found himself playing right wing on a forward line centred by 17-year-old star Peyton Krebs, who is targeted to be a possible high selection in next year’s NHL Entry Draft.

    The two combined for a highlight reel goal in a Thursday WHL regular season clash between the Ice and the host Saskatoon Blades at the SaskTel Centre. With the two sides locked in a 2-2 tie in the third period, Krebs and White broke into the Blades zone on a rush.

    Krebs slide a pass across the face of the Saskatoon net to White, who promptly buried his ninth goal of the season to give the Ice a 3-2 at the 9:32 mark of the frame.

The Ice celebrate White’s winning goal.

    With 64 seconds to play in the third, Krebs blasted home and insurance marker to give the Ice a 4-2 victory before 3,802 spectators.

    “Obviously, I am really fortunate to play with Peyton (Krebs),” said White, who has nine goals and six assists appearing in all 16 of the Ice’s regular season games in the current campaign. “He has unbelievable skills.

    “I try to just keep it simple out there and do the right things for him. We found some success so far this year.”

    Scoring the winning goal helped White out on his individual game. Entering play on Thursday, he was held pointless in each of the Ice’s three previous outings.

    “I’ve been in a little bit of a slump, so that was obviously a big goal and good for my confidence,” said White. “To get the two points and help the team out is nice.”

    The Blades drew first blood in Thursday’s clash, when feisty left-winger Riley McKay forced a turnover on the forecheck in the offensive zone. The puck found its way to Blades centre Tristen Robins behind the Ice net.

Jaeger White (#21) had a strong game on the forecheck.

    Robins centred a pass to the front of the net to Kristian Roykas-Marthinsen, and the Norwegian import right-winger quickly buried his sixth goal of the season to give the Blades a 1-0 lead at the 11:45 mark of the first period.

    The Ice tied things up at 1-1 just 46 seconds later. On rush down the right wing, Krebs sent a shot on the Saskatoon goal off a spin move, and right-winger Nick Bowman potted the equalizer on the rebound.

    While White is Krebs’ linemate, the veteran winger said he hasn’t needed to pass on any advice to sophomore centre.

    White first began playing in the WHL on a full-time basis as a 16-year-old with the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the 2014-15 campaign. He has been a journey man in the major junior ranks being a member of six different teams and hitting the ice to play for five of those squads.

Cameron Hausinger had two assists for the Ice on Thursday night.

    “I am always there, if he (Krebs) needs someone,” said White. “He is a super intelligent kid.

    “He is mature beyond his years. I’m there when he needs me, but for the most part, he is a pretty smart kid. He has a good head on him.”

    With 14.1 seconds remaining in the second period, the Blades jumped back out in front 2-1, when left-winger Gary Haden knocked home a loose puck in the crease of the Ice goal.

    Just seconds after that goal, Blades netminder Nolan Maier stoned Ice centre Brett Davis on a chance from in front of the Saskatoon goal.

    Thursday’s game derailed for the hosts in the third period. At the 6:02 mark, Meier tried to pass the puck down the boards in his own zone.

Peyton Krebs had a goal and two assists for the Ice on Thursday night.

    The puck landed on the stick of Ice right-winger Cameron Hausinger. Hausinger passed the puck in front of the Saskatoon goal to linemate Brad Ginnell, who fired home his fourth goal of the season to force a 2-2 tie.

    Ginnell’s goal kicked the Ice into high gear resulting in the tallies from White and Krebs that followed. Hausinger picked up his second assist of the contest on Krebs’s goal.

    “I thought we had an unbelievable third period and overall a good game,” said White, who had a strong game on the forecheck. “Obviously, that is a good team over there.

Peyton Krebs, left, and Duncan McGovern celebrate the Ice’s win.

    “We were really proud of our effort tonight.”

    Maier made 27 saves to take the setback in goal for the Blades (9-6-2). Duncan McGovern stopped 32 shots to pick up the win in the Ice (6-7-2-1) net.

    The Ice face a big challenge on Friday, when they travel to Prince Albert to face the WHL leading Raiders (15-1). The Raiders have been the top rated team in the CHL Top 10 rankings for the past three weeks.

    Going forward, White is happy he has found a home for his overage season with the Ice.

    “It is nice to finish off the year and play as a 20-year-old,” said White. “I am really happy to finish it out with Kootenay.

    “We have a good team here, a lot of guys that want to be here and succeed. For sure, we are going to push for playoffs.”

    The Blades return to action on Friday, when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the Warriors (6-4-3).

Clark out of Four Nations Cup with leg injury

Emily Clark waves to the SaskTel Centre crowd.

    One look at Emily Clark and it was obvious that she wouldn’t be available to play for Canada at the Four Nations Cup women’s hockey tournament.

    The 22-year-old Saskatoon product is a forward on Canada’s senior national women’s hockey team and helped Canada win a silver medal at the Winter Olympics held last February in PyeongChang, South Korea. Clark took part at a pre-game ceremony at the Saskatoon Blades contest on Thursday night at the SaskTel Centre sporting a walking boot on her left leg.

    The skilled forward suffered a left leg injury while playing for the University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Clark’s injury occurred in the opening minutes of a Badgers 4-2 home win on Oct. 13 against the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs.

    Hockey Canada announced on Thursday that Clark and forward Sarah Potomak, who is from Aldergrove, B.C., would be unable to play in the Four Nations Cup due to injury.
    Kristin O’Neill, who is from Oakville, Ont., and Jamie Lee Rattray, who is from Kanata, Ont., will replace Clark and Potomak on the Canadian roster for the Four Nations Cup, which will run in its entirety at the SaskTel Centre.

    Clark is an alumna of the Saskatoon Stars female midget AAA hockey team.

    The Four Nations Cup opens on Tuesday with Finland taking on the United States at 12 noon, and Canada will take on Sweden at 7 p.m. The four-team tournament runs through to Nov. 10.

    Canada will face Finland in pre-tournament game on Sunday in Prince Albert at 6 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

Back in the Express with Four Nations Cup advancer

    I was back in the pages of Saskatoon Express this week with a cover story to advance the Four Nations Cup hockey tournament.

    The Four Nations Cup is an annual elite women’s hockey tournament that features the senior national teams from Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden. It starts on Tuesday and runs through to Saturday, Nov. 10 with all games being held at the SaskTel Centre.

    The Four Nations Cup itself started in 1996 as the Three Nations Cup featuring Canada, the United States and Finland. The event became the Four Nations Cup in 2000, when Sweden joined the field.

    My Express story on that event can be found by clicking right here.

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

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    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.

Blades hold off late Ice rally

Right-winger Michael Farren (#27) scored twice for the Blades in their win on Tuesday.

    The Saskatoon Blades likely didn’t want things to get that dramatic on the ice.

    On Tuesday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades put together one of their better outings. They appeared poised to cruise to victory holding a 4-1 lead on the visiting Kootenay Ice with three minutes to play in the third.

    The Ice proceeded to score two goals in a span of 52 seconds to cut the Blades edge to 4-3 with 1:54 to play in the third.

Chase Wouters sealed the Blades win with an empty-net goal.

    The drama came to an end when Blades centre Chase Wouters scored into an empty net just inside of the final 55 seconds of the third to cement a 5-3 victory for the host side in the WHL regular season clash played before 2,861 spectators.

    “I saw them score the first goal, and I was a little bit upset about that,” said Blades right-winger Michael Farren. “Then they got the second, and we all kind of knew right there we kind of have to flip the switch.

    “The game is not over until the last buzzer. We did that, and we ended up holding on to the win.”

    Had the Ice completed the comeback, it would have dampened the fact that Farren had arguably his best outing of the campaign. The 17-year-old Surrey, B.C., product scored twice to account for his first multipoint night of the season.

    At the 2:47 mark of the second, Farren potted the rebound from a Max Gerlach shot for a power-play goal to give the Blades a 1-0 lead. 

Blades LW Eric Florchuk, left, battles Ice C Peyton Krebs for the puck.

    After Ice captain Colton Kroeker scored to tie things up a 1-1, Farren deflected home a shot from Blades Russian import defenceman Mark Rubinchik to put the host side up 2-1 at the 7:33 mark of the second.

    Farren, who is in his second WHL season, scored both of his goals by driving to the net. He said he wasn’t overly consumed with doing that, but with the way the game played out, he ended up going hard to the Ice goal.

    “I think I just tried to play my game,” said Farren. “Luckily, it (success) happened to me, so I am pretty grateful for it. I think I should start going there more.”

    Last season, Farren turned some heads appearing in 63 games with the Blades as a 16-year-old rookie netting eight goals and 22 assists. The offensive numbers haven’t come as frequently this season as Farren has six goals and five assists in 45 appearances.

Max Gerlach had a goal for the Blades.

    In hopes of helping Farren find some confidence, Blades head coach Dean Brockman put the sophomore forward on a line centred by Kirby Dach along with Eric Florchuk on left wing. Brockman was pleased to see Farren pick up two solid tallies with that move.

    “He (Farren) had such a good year last year,” said Brockman. “He was having a tough year.

    “We are just trying to gain him some confidence as we are going down the stretch. Obviously, we talked to him a lot. We can’t play for him, so it was great to see him get a couple.”

    Before the second period ended, centre Brad Goethals scored a short-handed goal for the Blades tucking home the rebound from a shot taken by Dach.

    At the 5:12 mark of the third, 19-year-old right-winger Max Gerlach found himself on a breakaway and laser beamed a shot home to the top right corner of the Kootenay goal to put the Blades up 4-1.

    The Blades had such good control of the contest that they actively tried to set Farren up for a hat trick goal while working on a power-play chance that came shortly after the halfway point of the third.

    When everything seemed secure, the Ice comeback attempt took off. Kootenay right-winger Colton Veloso scored with 2:46 remaining in the third to cut the Blades lead to 4-2. Veloso proceeded to set up standout rookie centre Peyton Krebs for another Ice tally just 52 seconds later to cut the Blades lead to 4-3.

Josh Paterson, right, drives a shot on goal for the Blades.

    That set the stage for Wouters to ice the game.

    Nolan Maier turned away 21 shots to pick up the win in goal for Saskatoon.
    The Blades improved to 26-25-2-1 to sit two points up on the Prince Albert Raiders (21-20-9-2) in holding the second wildcard spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. The Raiders have two games in hand on the Blades.

    Matt Berlin, who turned 20-year-old in January, turned away 29-of-33 shots to take the setback in goal for the Ice, who sit third in the Central Division with a 23-27-3 record.
    The Ice were without 17-year-old rookie goalie Duncan McGovern, who was sitting out a one-game league imposed suspension for taking a match penalty in the Ice’s 5-3 loss at home to the Swift Current Broncos on Saturday.

The Blades celebrate their win on Tuesday.

    The Blades ended a two-game losing skid with their win on Tuesday. Brockman said his club’s performance was much better than in their last outing, when they traveled to Prince Albert last Friday and fell to the Raiders 5-2.

    “Our effort level was I think up from the last game in P.A. for sure,” said Brockman. “Certainly, there is a long ways to go. A win is a win, and we need wins.

    “We are just going to try and consume ourselves with us. I think that is the most important thing right now.”

    The Blades return to action on Friday, when they travel to Brandon to take on the Wheat Kings (29-19-3-2).

Back in the Express with Maier

Nolan Maier makes a glove stop for the Blades on Tuesday.

    I was back in the Saskatoon Express this week with a feature on Saskatoon Blades rookie sensation Nolan Maier.

    Maier, who turned 17-year-old on January 10, has had an outstanding first season playing goal for the Blades. In 29 regular season games, the Yorkton, Sask., product had posted a 17-10-1 record, a 3.24 goals against average, a .902 save percentage and two shutouts.

    He joined the Blades permanently on a full-time basis last Nov. 14 after playing for Team Canada Black at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge held jointly in Dawson Creek and Fort St.  John, B.C.
    The Express story on Maier can be found 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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    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.