Raiders’ grad Kosior leads P.A. connections that power Huskies

Landon Kosior in action for the Huskies in February of 2024.

Landon Kosior and a number of other Prince Albert connections have put the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey Team on quest to capture Canada West Conference and U Sports national titles.

Last Saturday at Merlis Belsher Place on the University of Saskatchewan campus, the Huskies concluded their regular season downing the University of Manitoba Bisons 4-2. That win allowed the Huskies to improve to 23-5 and lock up first place in Canada West and home ice advantage through the conference playoffs. The last time the Huskies pulled that feat off was back in the 2018-19 campaign under now retired legendary head coach Dave Adolph.

U of S is also rated second in the U Sports Top 10 rankings.

The Huskies roster includes Kosior and Keaton Sorensen, who are grads of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders. U of S’s roster includes Rhett Rhinehart, who started his WHL career with the Raiders, and Ty Prefontaine, who played the first three games of his WHL career with the Raiders before playing most of his major junior career with the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Josh Pillar and Ashton Ferster are grads from the Prince Albert Mintos under-18 AAA team who are skating with the Raiders. Prince Albert product Ethan Regnier came up through Prince Albert’s minor hockey system and found his way to the Huskies after playing in the WHL with Swift Current Broncos and Everett Silvertips.

This column of mine appeared in the Prince Albert Daily Herald. To read the full article, feel free to click right here.

Blades had good return to full season play

Injuries prevented Saskatoon from realizing more potential

The Blades celebrate a goal on March 25.

While the injury bug was a big foe, Saskatoon Blades had a respectable campaign playing their first full regular season since 2018-19.

In 2021-22, the Blades finished fifth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 38-26-3-1 regular season record. With one more standings point, the Blades would placed fourth in the Eastern Conference during the regular season and earned home ice advantage for a first round playoff series.

The WHL wasn’t able to play any complete regular seasons or crown league champions in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that gripped the world. The CHL didn’t crown any Memorial Cup champions in either of those campaigns too.

When the WHL Playoffs came around following the completion of the 2021-22 regular season, the Blades found themselves taking on the Moose Jaw Warriors. The Warriors finished fourth overall in the Eastern Conference with a 37-24-4-3 mark to just edge out the Blades with 81 standings points to 80.

Saskatoon won six out of the eight head-to-head meetings between the two sides in the regular season. The Warriors claimed a best-of-seven post-season series 4-1.

Moose Jaw clinched the series with a 6-3 victory at home in Mosaic Place in Game 5 on April 29. The Warriors have to be credited with building a skilled younger roster that played well together in the series against the Blades.

The Blades had a fairly young roster too, and they had some skilled youngsters too that came along way.

Kyle Crnkovic was the Blades leading scorer.

Left-winger Brandon Lisowsky appeared in all 68 of the Blades regular season games in his 17-year-old campaign piling up 33 goals and 25 assists to go with a plus-one rating in the plus-minus department.

Rookie 17-year-old import left-winger Egor Sidorov made noise potting 23 goals and 12 assists appearing in 58 regular season games.

Defenceman Tanner Molendyk skated through his 16-year-old season, and he has potential to be one of the better rearguards on the WHL circuit. He had three goals, 15 assists and a minus-six rating in 55 regular season games, but he showed he could play a high volume of minutes when injuries added up.

When it came to the injury department, Blades play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk calculated the club lost 250 man games due to injury in 2021-22. Blades first-year head coach Brennan Sonne had to lament all the line juggled he had to perform due to necessity.

When playoffs came around, the Blades were without captain and star offensive-defenceman Aidan De La Gorgendiere, who had season ending shoulder surgery. During his 19-year-old season, De La Gorgendiere appeared in 54 regular season games for the Blades posting four goals and 41 assists.

He last played on March 25, when the Blades downed the visiting Regina Pats 3-1 at the SaskTel Centre.

Star overage centre Tristen Robins, who finished the campaign as the Blades captain when De La Gorgendiere wasn’t able to comeback, missed the Blades last four regular season games due to injury and their first two playoff contests.

Robins, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks, suited up for the Blades last three post-season games playing only on the power play with a hobbled ankle. In 62 regular season games, Robins recorded 33 goals, 45 assists and a plus-four rating. He was only a shadow of that type of player in the post-season due to his ankle injury.

Tristen Robins had 33 goals and 45 assists for the Blades.

The Blades came out of the gate with a hot start posting a 9-2-1 record. Struggles took hold of the team at that point.

Following a 4-1 loss to the Prince Albert Raiders on home ice on Dec. 18, 2021, the Blades found themselves heading into the Christmas break with a 15-13-1 mark. At that point, the fact that about two-thirds of the Blades roster had never been through a full 68-game regular season became apparent.

There were a lot of guys that ran out of gas and played on fumes, when the schedule turned to November.

After returning from the Christmas Break, the Blades and the rest of the WHL had their troubles with players, coaches and staff dealing with COVID-19. Most of the WHL was shut down for the first two weeks of January, which included the Blades not playing any games between Jan. 1 and Jan. 14.

Blades rugged overage defenceman Rhett Rhinehart found himself on the WHL COVID-19 Protocol List for a short span.

There was a period of time ranging from three-and-a-half to four weeks during the campaign when Blades general manager Colin Priestner was down due to COVID.

Despite the challenges, the Blades rallied on the ice and had a 29-18-2-1 record when February came to a close.

Over the Blades last 18 regular season games, injuries really started to pile up. 

Rhett Rhinehart gave the Blades a physical presence.

By the time a 7-0 loss to the Warriors in Moose Jaw ended on March 26, the Blades were down eight regulars due to injury including all four regular centres in Robins, Jayden Wiens, Trevor Wong and Josh Pillar.

When the playoffs came around, the Blades were relatively healthy outside of the big exceptions that De La Gorgendiere was out and Robins played the club’s last three post-season games being limited physically due to his ankle injury. Besides the injury battles, the campaign had its highlights.

On April 8, Blades overage star netminder Nolan Maier made 20 saves in a 2-0 win over the visiting Prince Albert Raiders to move alone into top spot on the WHL’s all-time career regular season goaltending wins list with his 121^st victory. 

He finished his regular season career with 122 victories.

Maier had a strong final campaign with the Blades posting a 31-23-4 record, a 2.82 goals against average, a .910 save percentage and three shutouts.

Blades star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic, who was skating through his 19-year-old season, finished fifth in the WHL’s regular season scoring race piling up 94 points on 39 goals and 55 assists to go with an even rating. Crnkovic’s goal, assist and point totals were all career highs, and he was the Blades leading scorer.

With the 2021-22 campaign at an end for the Blades, they of course graduate Maier, Robins and Rhinehart due to the fact they age out of the major junior ranks.

The Blades celebrate a win on April 15.

There were some fans that gripped on social media with classic moans about the Blades lack of post-season success that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic caused shutdowns in March of 2020. Those moans are misplaced due to what has happened in the world since March of 2020, but some upset fans will continue their upset fandom no matter what happens in the world, while conveniently forgetting they cried about having no Blades hockey to watch during shutdowns.

The Blades have the potential to return a strong roster for the upcoming 2022-23 campaign and will have a more regular off-season to prepare for the next season.

Going forward, there should be some well-placed optimism about the future looking good for the Blades.

Oil Kings deal Rebels major blow with OT win, other notes

Jake Neighbours scored the OT winner for the Oil Kings.

Captain Jake Neighbours’ overtime goal might be a blow the Red Deer Rebels can’t come back from.

On Monday before 3,506 spectators at the Peavey Mart Centrium in Red Deer, Neighbours, who is a star left-winger, scored his first goal of the post-season at the 7:17 mark of overtime to deliver his Edmonton Oil Kings to a 5-4 victory over the Rebels in Game 3 of a WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series between the two sides.

With the win, the Oil Kings took a stranglehold 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven set. The favoured Oil Kings will try to close out the series against the Rebels in Game 4 on Wednesday set for 7 p.m. local time at the Peavey Mart Centrium.

Luke Prokop, Dylan Guenther, Carter Souch and Justin Sourdif all had singles in regulation for the Oil Kings. Liam Keeler, Kalan Lind, Arshdeep Bains and Jhett Larson replied with singles for the Rebels in regulation.

Edmonton had a 4-2 lead, but Bains scored with 7:10 remaining in the third and Larson potted the equalizer with 6:34 to play in the third to force overtime.

The Rebels comeback wasn’t to be as Neighbours netted the overtime winner.

Sebastian Cossa made 18 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Oil Kings. Connor Unger turned away 47 shots to take the setback in net for the Rebels despite a valiant effort to steal the game.

On Monday, Cossa was named the WHL’s goaltender of the week for the week ending on Sunday. He captured the weekly award having shutout the Rebels in the first two games of the series.

Last Thursday, Cossa made 18 saves as the Oil Kings downed the Rebels 4-0 in Game 1 of the series at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Cossa followed that up with a 26 save performance last Saturday as the Oil Kings blanked the Rebels 5-0 in Game 2 of the series also played at Rogers Place.

The WHL’s conference semifinal round could potentially be a quick one. In the other Eastern Conference semifinal, the Winnipeg Ice, the WHL’s top club in the regular season, hold a 2-0 series lead over the Moose Jaw Warriors.

In the Western Conference, the favoured Kamloops Blazers lead the Vancouver Giants 2-0 in one semifinal series, and the favoured Portland Winterhawks lead the Seattle Thunderbirds 2-0 in the other semifinal series.

• On Monday, Winnipeg Ice left-winger Owen Pederson was named the WHL’s player of the week for the week ending on May 8. He had a goal and four assists helping the Ice win the first two games of their WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Moose Jaw Warriors.
• On Monday, Kelowna Rockets import right-winger Pavel Novak signed an NHL entry-level contract with the Minnesota Wild. The Wild selected Novak in the fifth round and 146^th overall in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Novak, who turned 20-years-old on April 16, appeared in 62 regular season games for the Rockets in 2021-22 recording 29 goals, 43 assists and a plus-26 rating in the plus-minus department.
• Last Wednesday, Mitch Love, who is the head coach of the Stockton Heat, was named the AHL’s coach of the year. Love guided the Heat to a first place finish in the Pacific Division with a 46-16-5-2 record. The 46 victories is a regular season record for the Heat along with the team’s 97 standings points. The division title win was a first in Heat franchise history. Before joining the Heat, Love was the head coach of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades for three seasons.
• I put together new content for the Gordie Howe Sports Complex’s Howe Happenings blog that went live on Monday. I created a piece called “Home is where the heart is for Neufeld – O-lineman finds stomping grounds in Sask. and the ’Peg.” It is a catch up piece with Winnipeg Blue Bombers star offensive lineman Patrick Neufeld, who is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Football team from the U Sports ranks. That article can be found by clicking right here. I also created a photo roundup that 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.

-------

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 had closer to normal season with unique challenges

Reflections on campaign, recent years go in many directions

The Blades celebrate a win at the SaskTel Centre on April 15.

While they played a full regular season with playoffs, the Saskatoon Blades admit the 2021-22 campaign was still another season like no other due to factors beyond the team’s control.

Even two days after Saskatoon was eliminated from the WHL Playoffs in a 6-3 loss to the Warriors in Moose Jaw in Game 5 of a best-of-seven first round series, the Blades team members all seem to have their own unique spins on what happened this past season and the past two years. Due to challenges associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world, there were no WHL Playoffs in 2020 and 2021 for the Blades to take part in.

The Memorial Cup tournament to crown a CHL champion was nixed in both of those years too.

The 2019-20 season was flowing like normal and the Blades had a 34-24-2-3 record in the regular season before all action in the campaign was halted by the league on March 12, 2020. The Blades played an abbreviated 24-game regular season in a bubble environment in Regina against the WHL’s other four Saskatchewan franchises and two Manitoba clubs in March and April of 2021 to account for a 2020-21 campaign.

The Blades posted a 16-5-2-1 record playing in that special situation.

Rhett Rhinehart motors up ice for the Blades.

Going into the 2021-22 season, the Blades were trying to play their first full campaign since 2018-19. They played all 68 of their regular season games finishing fifth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 38-26-3-1 mark before falling to the Warriors 4-1 in a best-of-seven set.

On Sunday, the Blades hosted the local area media for a season ending presser. The standard talk about hockey was there regarding the series against the Warriors, injuries to key players, what the team will look like next year and what the future has in store for the graduating players.

Still, specter of the COVID-19 pandemic was there, and the Blades had to adjust to wrenches that were thrown their way there. That included almost all of the WHL getting put on pause for the first two weeks of January causing games to be rescheduled pushing the end date for the regular season from April 3 to April 17.

“It is a what if year, but it is also a year I’m just honestly grateful for that we got through it,” said Blades general manager Colin Priestner. “I had COVID for three-and-a-half to four weeks where I couldn’t even get out of bed or walk up the stairs.

“Every day, we had one or two new players getting it. It wasn’t like we got it all over with in one weekend. Every week there were the COVID tests over and over and over.

“We had nights with nobody here (in the stands at the SaskTel Centre), because there was COVID going around the city so much. I’m grateful we got a season in.”

Nolan Maier has a WHL record 122 career regular season wins.

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said it felt normal from the standpoint the team got a full regular season and playoffs in. On top of missing players due to COVID-19 illness, the Blades dealt with numerous injuries throughout the campaign.

Sonne made the analogy that he saw himself being a circus clown due to the fact he was always juggling the team’s lines due to players being out due to injury or illness.

“That is not easy, because your lineup is different every night,” said Sonne. “It is not ideal to be juggling lines all the time.

“You want guys to get some consistency together, some comradery, to jell and all those words. You kind of want that. When you win a game, you want to kind of just roll the lineup the next night as well, and we really couldn’t do that like ever.”

Sonne said it was an adjustment to play a full 68-game regular season once again after playing two abbreviated campaigns. The Blades carried three overage players and had five players skating in their 19-year-old seasons on their final roster.

Due to the fact any type of hockey season was abbreviated including the under-AAA and junior A campaigns in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sonne had more players than ever on his roster experiencing a full 68-game regular season for the first time.

“Guys wore down,” said Sonne. “Guys wore out.

Tristen Robins is signed by the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.

“It was pretty obvious to us as coaches. It happened at different times with different guys. We knew guys were worn out, because guys coming from (under-18 AAA) where they maybe in COVID they played what 10, 15 games, 20 maybe and they’re 16.

“Now they’re coming into 68 with travel and school.”

As far as the post-season was concerned, Sonne believed nerves got the better of his younger player, and the team had good energy going into their series with the Warriors. Still, the bench boss said the grind during the regular season was a challenge.

“It is grind, and guys definitely got worn out,” said Sonne. “There was no question.”

Blades overage defenceman Rhett Rhinehart said he was still mulling over how this past season and everything dating back to March 12, 2020 have played out. 

While he was happy the Blades returned to action, he admits he wondered what might have been in the two post-seasons that were nixed due to COVID-19 and thinks about special moments that could have happened from time to time.

“There are a few ways you can look at it,” said Rhinehart. “For me, one thing I think about was having the shortened season.

“I missed 15 games this year with injuries. I finished with 261 regular season games in the Western Hockey League. You play a full season last year and a little more healthy this year like I would have played over 300 (games).

Blades HC Brennan Sonne, back left, gives direction in a timeout.

“You have those little milestones and things like that you think about. I definitely think there are things we missed out on with COVID there.”

Blades star overage netminder Nolan Maier, who holds the WHL’s career regular season goaltending wins record with 122 victories, took the glass half full approach when it came to reflecting on everything that happened since March 12, 2020.

“I think we’re the lucky ones, and we are grateful for even getting to play hockey,” said Maier. “I know a lot of guys who weren’t able to.

“There was no point of being kind of bummed out about some things not happening. I’m just grateful that things did happen.”

Blades overage captain and star centre Tristen Robins said he felt fortunate and had a lot of fun playing the abbreviated 2020-21 campaign in the bubble in Regina. Robins, who was hobbled in the post-season with an injured ankle, said was thankful that his WHL career ended where his team played a full regular season and playoffs.

He thought everyone on the team did their best adjusting to factors beyond their control since March 12, 2020 as far as the COVID-19 pandemic was concerned.

“It happened,” said Robins, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks. “We were all in that together.

Nolan Maier, left, and Tristen Robins hug after a win on Feb. 27.

“It affected everyone differently. At the same time, it was tragic on many people. Fortunately enough, we still got to play the game we love, and you guys (the assembled media) got to do your jobs reporting it as well.”

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

-------

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 officially playoff bound with 3-1 win over Pats

Rivalry picks up heat as fans heckle Bedard

Rhett Rhinehart (#41) waves goodbye to Logan Nijhoff (#29).

Business is picking up in the dormant rivalry between the Saskatoon Blades and Regina Pats.

On Friday night, a season high 7,523 spectators turned out at the SaskTel Centre to see the Blades take on 16-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard and his Regina Pats in a WHL regular season clash. It was obvious the presence of Bedard helped bring the large turnout.

The contest itself was a spirited and feisty affair that included some physical play and more than usual chirping between the players on the ice.

Blades sophomore defenceman Marek Schneider, who turned 19-years-old in early February, was the hero on the night as his first career WHL goal in the second period stood up as the winner in a 3-1 victory by the home side. He engaged Pats rookie 17-year-old left-winger Zane Rowan in a short third period fight to gain more stature in the eyes of Saskatoon fans.

Connor Bedard (#98) received lots of attention on Friday.

Blades overage defenceman Rhett Rhinehart was engaged in frequent talking sessions and a few physical sessions with Bedard for much of the first two periods and then Pats overage captain Logan Nijhoff for a lot of the third period.

With Blades up 3-1, some of the spectators at the SaskTel Centre started the “overrated” chant for Bedard with 11:11 remaining in the third and again with 5:45 left in the frame.

The North Vancouver, B.C., product looked visibly frustrated by the end of the night as he was held pointless bringing an end to his streak of recording at least one point in 21 consecutive games, which was the longest consecutive games point streak in the WHL this season. During that run, Bedard put up 45 points coming on 23 goals and 22 assists.

Blades D Marek Schneider fights Pats LW Zane Rowan.

When the dust settled, the Blades not only claimed victory in the game but locked up a berth in the WHL playoffs. The playoff clinching scenario played out due to the fact the Prince Albert Raiders fell 5-3 to the Wheat Kings in Brandon on Friday night.

To added extra icing to the cake for Blades fans, their team has won all five head-to-head meetings with the Pats this season in overtime.

If freelance writer Darrell Utley, who was known as Barney from the bowling alley,” was still typing columns for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix like he did in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he would have likely typed out what it a joy it was to see the “snaky” Pats fans in attendance slither quietly out of the SaskTel Centre after their team lost.

Marek Schneider celebrates scoring his first career WHL goal.

As has been tradition for decades, the Pats had a fan bus and a healthy contingent of supporters on hand for Friday’s game.

During the history of the Blades franchise, there have been stretches of time where Saskatoon supporters have taken the team’s rivalry with the Pats more seriously than the rivalry with the Raiders. Part of that came from a long time overall hatred for Regina, which has been shown also towards the Regina Rams football team in both the CJFL and now the U Sports ranks as the University of Regina Rams during a lengthy stretch in the past.

For Saskatoon fans on Friday night, it was apparent the rivalry between Saskatoon and Regina was more in the spotlight as the Blades faced the Pats.

Marek Schneider was a Blades fan favourite on Friday night.

In the game itself, Bedard had a couple of big scoring chances in the first period. On a dangerous rush down the right wing, Bedard was turned away on a backhand shot by Blades netminder Ethan Chadwick.

A short time later, Bedard wired a laser shot off the post.

With 4:39 remaining in the opening frame, the Blades jumped ahead 1-0 on a goal from import right-winger Egor Sidorov. Blades centre Josh Pillar forced a turnover in the Regina zone and chipped the puck to Sidorov, who was alone in front of the left side of the Regina goal.

Sidorov immediate roofed home his 18^th tally of the season to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

Egor Sidorov scored the Blades first goal on Friday.

With 3:08 remaining in the first, the Pats tied things up a 1-1 on a power-play goal from Nijhoff. Pats left-winger Tanner Howe had the puck at the right side boards and passed it down to Nijhoff at the right side of the Regina goal.

Nijhoff went backhand to forehand and popped home the equalizer.

Play was fairly even in the first 20 minutes as the shots on goal were tied 13-13.

The Blades dominated the second period peppering Pats sophomore netminder Drew Sim with a 21 shots as the Pats only replied with four shots in the stanza.

The hosts were only able to cash in with one goal as sophomore Schneider blew home a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle to give the Blades a 2-1 lead. Defensive partner Charlie Wright made sure to collect Schneider’s goal puck for a souvenir of that first WHL tally.

Rhett Rhinehart (#41) tangles with Connor Bedard.

Late in the second, things got testy. Inside of the final 25 seconds of the second, Bedard made an open ice hit on Blades star overage centre Tristen Robins in the Saskatoon zone. The hit allowed Bedard to get the puck off Robins and create a scoring chance.

As the time on the clock hit zero, Bedard hit Robins again on the boards. Rhinehart proceeded to go after Bedard causing a massive scrum to ensue.

Ultimately, the Pats found themselves on a two-minute power play to start the third, but were unable to score with the man advantage.

Shortly after that kill at the 3:11 mark of the third, Robins came down the left wing on a rush, gathered a loose puck, cut across the front of the Pats net and put home his 32^nd goal of the season to push Saskatoon’s lead out to 3-1.

Logan Nijhoff scored the Pats lone goal on Friday.

The Blades closed out the game defensively the rest of the way to secure victory.

Chadwick stopped 23 shots in goal for the Blades, who improved to 34-22-3-1. Sim turned away 41 shots to take the setback in net for the Pats, who fell to 23-30-3-2 having lost three straight games.

Right-winger Kyren Gronick picked up a pair of assists for the Blades.

The Blades return to action on Saturday when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the Warriors (7 p.m., Mosaic Place). That clash could prove to be big when it comes to getting home ice advantage potentially for a first round playoff series as the Warriors, who have a 34-21-3-2 record, lead the Blades by one point for fourth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

Tristen Robins scored the Blades third goal on Friday.

The Pats also get back at it on Saturday when they return home to host the Brandon Wheat Kings (7 p.m., Brandt Centre). Regina trails the 24-30-5-2 Swift Current Broncos by four points for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, and the Pats have three games in hand on the Broncos.

When the final buzzer ended in Friday’s clash between the Blades and Pats, the teams engaged in one last scrum behind the Saskatoon goal. As the officials separated the players, Rhinehart waved goodbye to Nijhoff.

The Blades celebrate their victory on Friday night.

At the moment, the rivalry between the Blades and Pats has returned at a more intense level. The two sides meet one last time in the regular season this coming Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.

It is safe to suspect the drama will carry over to that next clash.

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

-------

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 rock Rebels 5-2 in bounce back win

Tristen Robins had a pair of goals and an assist on Saturday.

It proved to be no problem at all for the Saskatoon Blades to get a bounce back win against a team that had won seven in a row.

On Saturday night, the Blades rolled off a 5-2 WHL regular season victory over the visiting Red Deer Rebels to the delight of 3,999 spectators in attendance at the SaskTel Centre. The Rebels, who have been one of the WHL’s top teams this season, entered Saturday’s clash riding a seven game win streak.

The Blades went into the encounter having dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker in overtime at home one night earlier to the WHL East Division leading Winnipeg Ice.

The Blades celebrate a goal from Noah Boyko.

After falling to the Ice, the response by “the Bridge City Bunch” against the Rebels was a welcome one. Actually, Blades head coach Brennan Sonne appreciated how his club took on the Rebels’ traditionally tough and physical style of play.

“My favourite part of tonight was that we stayed in the battle,” said Sonne. “Red Deer is a big, strong, physical team.

“They can be intimidating. Instead of shying away from that, I thought we engaged with it, which is awesome from our group. As kind of a younger team and a smaller team, we engaged in that battle pretty much the whole time, so I was really pleased with that.”

The Rebels came out of the gates holding a 7-2 edge in shots on goal before the Blades hit top gear.

With 6:19 remaining in the first, the Blades broke through on the scoreboard, when right-winger Noah Boyko deflected home a point shot by defenceman Rhett Rhinehart to give the host side a 1-0 lead.

Rhett Rhinehart scored for the Blades on the power play.

About two-and-a-half minutes later, Rhinehart pushed the Blades advantage out to 2-0 floating home a point shot through a screen to the top left corner of the Red Deer goal with the hosts working on a power play.

The Blades weren’t done on the scoreboard there. With 54.6 seconds remaining in the first, Blades overage star centre Tristen Robins scored on a one-timer off a set up pass from sophomore defenceman Tanner Molendyk. The puck from Robins’ shot hit Rebels netminder Chase Coward, bounced high into the air and floated over top the puck stopper into the Red Deer goal giving the Blades a 3-0 lead.

Vaughn Watterodt, right, drives a shot on goal for the Blades. 

“We’ve kind of eased into games as of late,” said Sonne. “The first five minutes or so we’ve just kind of not been right into it right away.

“It has been a point of emphasis for us. Once we got our legs under us a little bit, and we started spending some offensive zone time I thought we just kind of got rolling and got some pucks to the net and did some good things.

“Those offensive zone shifts really helped.”

The only down part for the Blades in the opening 20 minutes was fact veteran 18-year-old centre Trevor Wong went down with the team holding a 2-0 edge. Wong went down after taking a cross check in the mid-section from Rebels import defenceman Christoffer Sedoff after making a pass in the offensive zone.

Tristen Robins scored a key power-play goal in the second period.

No penalty was called on the play.

The injury brought an end to Wong’s streak or recording a point in 11 consecutive games. During that streak, Wong piled up 17 points coming on eight goals and nine assists.

The Blades kept coming in the second period. Working on the power play, Robins blasted down the left-wing and put home his second of the contest fooling Coward on a deke move to give Saskatoon a 4-0 edge at the 5:11 mark of the second frame.

Coward was pulled after that tally having stopped 9-of-13 shots sent his way to take the loss in goal for the Rebels (36-16-2-1). Connor Ungar turned away 14-of-15 shots playing the rest of the way in relief for the Rebels.

Vaughn Watterodt tallied to give the Blades a 5-0 lead.

Just over five minutes later, the Blades went ahead 5-0 on a goal from left-winger Vaughn Watterodt, whose bad angle shot handcuffed Ungar and went into the Red Deer goal.

Robins said it was big for his squad to have a strong start to the second period to follow the strong finish they had to the opening frame. The Clear Lake, Man., product thought his club did a good job matching the Rebels physical style.

“They are physical team, and that is what helps them win,” said Robins, who had an assist to go with his two goals on Saturday. “We elevated our game.

Arshdeep Bains scored 21 seconds into the third for the Rebels.

“We had a physical night as well. We didn’t shy away at all and ultimately came out with these two points.”

Just 21 seconds into the third, the Rebels got on the scoreboard as Rebels star overage right-winger Arshdeep Bains scored on the power play to trim the Blades lead to 5-1. Bains was his 30^th goal of the season marking the first time in his WHL career he hit the 30-goal plateau.

Sedoff added a second power-play goal for the Rebels to round out the game’s scoring.

Nolan Maier stopped 28 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades (30-18-3-1). The victory was Maier’s 116^th of his regular season career, and he is just sixth goalie in the history of the WHL to reach that milestone.

The officials break up a scrum in the third period.

Maier, who is already the Blades franchise record holder for career regular season victories, is four wins away from equaling the WHL’s career regular season wins record of 120. That record is held jointly by Corey Hirsch and Tyson Sexsmith.

Hirsch picked up his 120 victories playing four seasons with the Kamloops Blazers from 1988 to 1992. 

Sexsmith collected his 120 wins over five seasons with the Vancouver Giants from 2005 to 2009. He also had one non-decision relief appearance for the Medicine Hat Tigers late in the 2004-05 campaign.

Robins said the bounce back victory for his team on Saturday was big after falling in heartbreaking style in overtime one night earlier.

Nolan Maier picked up his 116th career regular season win.

“It was awesome that we got three out of four points this weekend, but it is easily a weekend where we should have had four out of four,” said Robins. “Coming into this game and executing like we did is a must.”

Blades captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere wasn’t able to finish Saturday’s game. There was no status update for either De La Gorgendiere or Wong at the end of the game.

The Blades return to action on Wednesday when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Rebels get back it on Friday when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers (7 p.m. Red Deer time, Peavey Mart Centrium).

Robins said his Blades will continue to work on smoothing out kinks in their game in preparation for their clash with the Hurricanes.

The Blades celebrate their win on Saturday over the Rebels.

“We just have to take things one day at a time,” said Robins. “We’re going to have a couple of good practice days here right away to get right and tune things up for that game and hopefully bring back another two big points.”

NOTE – The Blades wore special jerseys for Saturday’s contest to honour the Saskatoon Police Service.

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

-------

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’ power play drills Oil Kings in romp

Saskatoon rolls to 6-1 win over CHL’s second ranked team

The Blades enjoy an Aidan De La Gorgendiere power-play goal.

The Saskatoon Blades highly rated power-play unit took the Edmonton Oil Kings highly rated penalty killing unit out to the woodshed.

Entering play Friday, the Blades power play was rated second in the WHL, while the Oil Kings had the second best penalty killing unit on the circuit. Unfortunately for the Oil Kings, the Blades power-play unit proved to be too much to handle.

The Blades cashed in on 3-of-7 power-play chances as they rolled to a 6-1 victory over the Oil Kings in a WHL regular season clash that sent the 2,407 spectators at the SaskTel Centre home happy.

Rhett Rhinehart had the Blades first goal on Friday.

The Oil Kings are rated second in the CHL’s Top 10 rankings, but the Blades have split their four head-to-head meetings with the Edmonton side this season.

Saskatoon has an overtime win against Edmonton to go with Friday’s regulation romp, while the Oil Kings have prevailed in two regulation encounters.

The Blades opened the game’s scoring at the 10:11 mark of the opening frame on an unassuming situation. Saskatoon veteran defenceman Charlie Wright entered the offensive zone on a rush down the left wing.

Wright’s defensive partner in 20-year-old Rhett Rhinehart jumped up in the play to create a two-on-one rush. Wright passed the puck across the front of the Edmonton goal to Rhinehart, who buried his fifth goal of the season on a perfectly executed play.

Kyle Crnkovic leads the WHL in scoring with 63 points.

Before the opening frame ended, the Blade extended their lead to 2-0 scoring their first of three power-play goals on the night. On a rush into the offensive zone, centre Jayden Wiens came down the right wing with the puck and hit left-winger Kyle Crnkovic with a centering pass.

Crnkovic took a couple of strides with the puck and passed it back to Wiens at the right side of the Edmonton goal. Wiens popped his 15^th of the season into an empty cage to give the Blades their two-goal edge.

The Oil Kings held a 16-6 edge in shots on goal over the opening 20 minutes, but they were held at bay by Blades overage star netminder Nolan Maier.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere had a goal and two assists on Friday.

The Oil Kings got some traction at the 6:24 mark of the second when captain Jake Neighbours snapped home a point shot to cut Saskatoon’s lead to 2-1.

Near the end of the second, the wheels fell off the wagon for the Oil Kings as the Blades scored three times – including twice on the power play - in the final 3:24 of the frame to surge their advantage out to 5-1.

The surge started with Crnkovic firing home a power-play goal from the slot through a screen shortly after an offensive zone faceoff to put the Blades up 3-1.

With 72 seconds remaining in the second, the Blades scored on an even-strength rush. Blades left-winger Vaughn Watterodt zipped down the right wing and delivered a backhanded pass across the front of the Edmonton goal to linemate Kyren Gronick at the left side of the Oil Kings net.

Tristen Robins had three assists for the Blades on Friday.

Gronick popped his sixth of the season to push the Blades lead out to 4-1.

The surge concluded with 29.2 seconds remaining in the second when captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere slipped home a power-play goal from the point to give the Blades a 5-1 advantage. De La Gorgendiere’s tally was the Blades third power-play goal of the contest.

Edmonton pulled starting star netminder Sebastian Cossa following the conclusion of the second period. He turned away 10-of-15 shots sent his way to take the loss in goal for the Oil Kings, who fell to 30-11-2-1.

The Blades celebrate a goal from Tyler Parr (#20).

Kolby Hay played the third in relief for the Oil Kings allowing a goal on the one shot he faced in the frame.

Blades rookie right-winger Tyler Parr beat Hay with a long rage on ice shot from the front of the Edmonton goal at the 11:32 mark of the third.

Down 6-1, the Oil Kings showed their frustration. With 5:15 remaining in the third, Neighbours went after Wiens following a neutral zone faceoff. That action started a scrum, but the scrum was de-escalated quickly as the officials swiftly and smartly jumped in.

Watterodt got the only penalty for the Blades in a scrum with a roughing minor. Neighbours made an early trip to the showers after getting roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct minors and a 10-minute misconduct.

Blades C Jayden Wiens tangles with Oil Kings LW Jake Neighbours. 

While the Oil Kings are near the top of the standings in the WHL, they are the second most penalized team on the circuit piling up 607 minutes in the sin bin. Going forward, the Oil Kings have to do a better job of finding a way to stay out of the penalty box, because that is their Achilles heel.

The Blades have come out of Friday’s game having great confidence on their power play. On the season, the Blades have scored 50 goals on 172 power plays for a 29.1 per cent success rate.

Saskatoon’s power play was so good on Friday it knocked the Oil Kings penalty kill from second to fourth best in the league. The Oil Kings have killed of 169-of-206 opposition power plays for an 82 per cent success rate on the season.

Nolan Maier earned his 110th career regular season win on Friday.

Maier stopped 38 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who improved to 23-15-1-1 having won six of their last seven games. The Yorkton, Sask., product now has 110 career regular season victories in his WHL career, and he became the ninth netminder in league history to hit that milestone.

Maier is now 10 wins away from equaling the WHL’s all-time career regular season wins record of 120 victories held jointly by Corey Hirsch and Tyson Sexsmith. Hirsch picked up his 120 victories playing four seasons with the Kamloops Blazers from 1988 to 1992.

Sexsmith collected his 120 wins over five seasons with the Vancouver Giants from 2005 to 2009. He also had one non-decision relief appearance for the Medicine Hat Tigers late in the 2004-05 campaign.

Crnkovic and De La Gorgendiere each had a pair of assists to go with the single goals they each picked up for respective three-point nights. Crnkovic continues to lead the WHL in scoring having piled up 26 goals and 37 assists for 63 points appearing in all of the Blades 40 games.

The Blades celebrate their win on Friday night.

Blades 20-year-old star centre Tristen Robins picked up three assists in the win. He sits fifth in the WHL scoring race with 20 goals and 36 assists for 56 points in 38 appearances this season.

The Oil Kings are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades also get back it on Saturday when they host the Red Deer Rebels (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

With the success that the Blades have had on the power play this season, they continue to show they can be a handful for any team in the WHL including clubs that sit near or at the top of the standings.

“Bridge City Bunch” honours Lazaruk for 2,000^th call

The Blades present Les Lazaruk a framed jersey for his 2,000th call.

The Saskatoon Blades saluted veteran play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk for joining the 2,000 club.

On Wednesday, Lazaruk call his 2,000^th game as the Blades play-by-play voice when they downed the Pats in Regina 5-4 at the Brandt Centre.

Before the Blades dumped the powerhouse Edmonton Oil Kings 6-1 on Friday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades honoured Lazaruk in a pre-game ceremony. Lazaruk was given a loud round of cheers when he was made his way to centre ice and was introduced to the 2,407 spectators in attendance.

Following Lazaruk’s introduction, the Blades played a video just over six minutes in length of former Blades players, former Blades coaches and broadcasters from around the WHL and in the professional ranks congratulating him on his 2,000^th call. The video can be found on the Blades social media channels.

Former players that wished him well included Chase Wouters, Nelson Nogier and Nick Zajac. Former coaches that passed upbeat on messages to Lazaruk included Lorne Molleken and Mitch Love.

Les Lazaruk, second from right, is pictured with his framed jersey.

The broadcasters that gave their congratulations included Claire Hanna of TSN, Peter Loubardias, of TheFan 960 in Calgary and iconic Medicine Hat Tigers play-by-play voice Bob Ridley, who has called 4,021 Tigers games.

After the video was played, the Blades presented Lazaruk with a large framed team jersey with Lazaruk’s name bar and the number 2,000 stitched on the back.

During the win over the Oil Kings, the Blades would play one of Lazaruk’s trademark energetic goal calls before playing the team’s goal song.

Lazaruk began calling Blades games at the start of the 1994-95 season after spending over a decade working in Winnipeg, which included 10-and-a-half years hosting the hour long pre-game and post-game shows of the original Winnipeg Jets NHL broadcast for CJOB radio.

During his time calling games in the WHL, Lazaruk has built a reputation for being one of the best in the business. He also brings a great professionalism and class to his trade.

Lazaruk has become so closely branded with Blades broadcasts you almost couldn’t imagine another person making those calls.

For you, Les, three words.

Simply the best. pic.twitter.com/iqqGOrq5rK

— Saskatoon Blades (@BladesHockey) February 3, 2022

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

-------

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.

Rhinehart’s big night paces Blades to 9-2 romp over Tigers

The Blades celebrate a short-handed goal from Rhett Rhinehart (#41).

The Saskatoon Blades were in good hands with Rhett Rhinehart.

The 20-year-old defenceman came up with a monster game posting a pair of goals, an assist and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department as his Blades bashed the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers 9-2 in a WHL regular season clash played before 2,713 spectators on Friday night at the SaskTel Centre.

Rhinehart was playing his first contest since the Blades fell 4-1 at the SaskTel Centre back on January 1. The Lloydminster product has been on the WHL COVID-19 Protocol List, but ultimately only missed two games.

Rhett Rhinehart had two goals and an assist on Friday.

He thought he got better as Friday’s game went on.

“It was pretty good,” said Rhinehart. “It was a little tough at first.

“It was my first game in three weeks. I was just kind of getting my legs back under me at first. Playing lots of minutes kind of helps you get into it.”

Rhinehart’s return was a welcome one as the Blades found themselves short staffed on defence due to fact four regulars were out due to COVID-19 protocols in captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere, Marek Schneider, Tanner Molendyk and Ben Saunderson.

Saskatoon played with four natural defencemen with Rhinehart being paired with Charlie Wright, while rookie Ryan Nolan was paired with sophomore Spencer Shugrue. Centre Mikhail Volotovskii was moved to defence to help out the four natural blue-liners.

Rhett Rhinehart logged a lot of minutes on the Blade blue-line on Friday.

The Blades were also without head coach Brennan Sonne, who was isolating at home due to COVID-19 protocols. Associate coach Ryan Marsh ran the Blades bench along with assistant coach Dan DaSilva and goalie coach Jeff Harvey.

Rhinehart said it was important for the Blades defencemen to play smart, and he thought that helped him be on the ice for about half the game.

“It is definitely pretty gruelling,” said Rhinehart. “You’re going the whole time.

Oasiz Wiesblatt score to put the Tigers up 2-0 early on Friday.

“You get on the bench, and then you are going on in the next 40 seconds. You don’t get a lot of rest, so at points you have to conserve your energy and kind of just not really pace yourself, but take your points when you think you want to go a little harder.”

The Tigers got a quick jump in Friday’s clash jetting out to a 2-0 lead.

On an odd man rush into the Saskatoon zone, Tigers right-winger Carter Chorney charged down the right wing and passed the puck across the front of the Blades net to overage centre Logan Barlage.

Barlage quickly blasted home his eighth goal of the season and first as a member of the Tigers to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at the 3:24 mark of the opening frame. The Tigers acquired Barlage from the Lethbridge Hurricanes in a deal that was made before last Monday’s WHL trade deadline.

Kyren Gronick (#27) celebrates putting the Blades up 3-2.

The Tigers increased their advantage to 2-0 just 2:02 later scoring on the power play. Tigers right-winger Teague Patton passed the puck from the left corner of the Blades zone across the face of the Saskatoon goal to linemate Oasiz Wiesblatt, who tapped home his fifth of the season into an open cage.

Almost as quickly as the Tigers got the jump out of the gate, the Blades turned the momentum of the contest around.

Just past the midway point of the opening frame, Shugrue sprung overage centre Tristen Robins on a breakaway into the Medicine Hat Zone. Robins snapped his 19^th goal of the season past Tigers netminder Garin Bjorklunk to cut the Medicine Hat lead to 2-1.

The Blades evened things up at 2-2 scoring just 18 seconds later, when centre Jayden Wiens slipped home a mid-range shot.

Jayden Wiens had two goals and an assist for the Blades.

Saskatoon then jumped in front 3-2 when right-winger Kyren Gronick tipped home a point shot from centre Trevor Wong with 24.2 seconds remaining in the first for a power-play tally.

Wiens liked how his squad was able to respond quickly after falling behind 2-0 early.

“We’re a team that is not going to quit, even from a tough start like here tonight,” said Wiens. “I think it shows the character of the guys and just the no quit attitude for this group and the resiliency, so that is a good thing to see.”

The Tigers got out to a solid jump to start the second holding a 7-1 edge in shots on goal over the first 8:30 of the frame. The visitors were unable to solve Blades 17-year-old rookie netminder Ethan Chadwick.

Tristen Robins had two goals and an assist for the Blades.

The Blades proceeded to increase their edge to 4-2 at the 9:56 mark of the second period, when Rhinehart fired home a power-play goal through a screen in front of the Medicine Hat net.

The Tigers looked like they were going to have a good chance to change momentum when Nolan was penalized for hooking with 3:46 remaining in the second.

On that kill, the Blades scored a pair of short-handed goals coming 31 seconds apart from each other to push their lead up to 6-2.

Robins netted the first short-handed goal for his second tally of the night and 20^th goal of the season. Rhinehart potted the second short-handed goal and his second of the night coming off a rare offensive rush up the right wing.

Ethan Chadwick made 28 saves in goal for the Blades.

“He (Rhinehart) really stepped his game up,” said Marsh. “He had been off on a little bit of a layoff based off of COVID.

“Coming back in, I was a little bit concerned with us being a little bit short, and him not having played in the last few games. I just thought as the game went on he just got better and better. He played really well for us.

“He stepped up in all situations. He did a really good job on our power play getting some opportunity there with some guys that were out. I thought he was a horse out there on our penalty kill as well, and he was a real leader for us tonight.”

Following Rhinehart’s goal that put the Blades up 6-2, the Tigers pulled starting netminder Garin Bjorklund, who stopped 10-of-16 shots sent his way. He took the setback in goal for the Tigers as they fell to 7-25-3-1 having lost their last four in a row.

Noah Boyko had three assists for the Blades on Friday.

Beckett Langkow played the rest of the way in relief for Medicine Hat turning away five-of-eight shots sent his way.

Just 51 seconds into the third, the Blades netted their third power-play goal of the night, when Wiens netted his second goal of the contest tipping home a point shot from defenceman Charlie Wright.

The Blades proceeded to round of the contest’s scoring with Gronick scoring his second power-play goal of the night and Nolan netting his first career WHL regular season goal.

Nolan was acquired by the Blades from the Tigers in a blockbuster three-team trade that involved the Prince George Cougars on December 27, 2021.

Ryan Nolan scored his first career WHL goal on Friday.

Rhinehart said he was proud of everyone who played on the Blades short staffed back end on Friday night.

“Those guys were really awesome, and we had Misha (Mikhail) Volotovskii help out on the back end as well to give us an extra man for a little bit of help there,” said Rhinehart. “Obviously, Ryan Nolan scored his first Western League goal against his old team was a pretty special moment.

“He made sure that he enjoyed that one.”

Chadwick stopped 28 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who improved to 20-14-1-1 with their third straight victory.

Robins, Wiens and Gronick each picked up a single assist to go with their respective two-goal nights. 

Egor Sidorov (#19) shows off some fancy stick work.

Wong and right-winger Noah Boyko each picked up three assists on Friday for the Blades.

The Blades return to action on Saturday when they host the Winnipeg Ice (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Tigers also get back at it Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to face the 15-20-1-1 Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

Marsh said his Blades will have their hands full on Saturday playing an Ice team that leads the WHL’s overall standings with a 29-5-2 record.

The Blades enjoy their big win on Friday night.

“It is a huge challenge,” said Marsh. “They are really a high-powered offensive team.

“We need to reset. We need to clean a few things up from a defensive standpoint and do some things off the rush. We have to get our rest and recovery tonight and be ready to go to battle.

“We have to play a Blades brand of hockey tomorrow, where you are outworking the opposition and taking care of business away from the puck. We are going to need everyone in all four lines, our six defencemen and (our goalie) making key saves to have success tomorrow.”

“Girls Rock Night” returned on Friday night

Keely Shaw, Brigette Lacquette and Emmarae Dale are saluted.

On Friday, the Saskatoon Blades brought back their traditional “Girls Rock Night.”

The Blades were unable to hold that night last season as they played an abbreviated 24-game schedule in a bubble environment at the Brandt Centre in Regina due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

With the Blades once again being able to host home games with fans this season inside a scheduled 68-game regular season, they are trying to get back to holding a number of traditional theme nights they held before the COVID-19 pandemic clamped down on North America back in March of 2020.

On Friday, the Blades had three special guests at their game in Brigette Lacquette, Keely Shaw and Emmarae Dale.

Lacquette played defence for Canada’s senior national women’s hockey team and is currently a scout for the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks.

The ceremonial faceoff of the Blades “Girls Rock Night.”

Shaw won a bronze medal in cycling at the 2020 Paralympics that were actually held in 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.

Dale just graduated from the Saskatoon Hilltops after playing linebacker for them last season. Dale is the first female to play games in the CJFL.

She is a veteran player of the Saskatoon Valkyries of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League.

The trio took part in a pre-game speaking engagement designed for all ages. They also participated in a ceremonial pre-game faceoff, where they were introduced individually and given big cheers by the 2,713 spectators in attendance.

Following those festivities, the Blades would go on to down the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers 9-2.

Pillar trade a first class move by Blades, Blazers

The Saskatoon Blades don’t mind waiting for a major roster addition, especially when a health situations needs to work itself out.

Before the WHL’s trade deadline this past Monday, the Blades acquired 19-year-old forward Josh Pillar from the Kamloops Blazers in exchange for a conditional third round selection in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft and a conditional second round pick in the 2024 Prospects Draft.

Pillar, who stands 6-feet and weighs 179 pounds, posted 11 goals, 20 assists and a plus-four rating in 29 games with the Blazers this season. In 183 career regular season games with the Blazers, Pillar has 43 goals, 83 assists and a plus-20 rating.

He was selected in the fourth round and 127^th overall by the Minnesota Wild in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

At the time the trade was made, Pillar was at home in Warman, Sask., recovering from a private medical situation. As Warman is located along Saskatoon’s northeast border, management on both teams in conjunction with Pillar’s family agreed it was best for Pillar to be close to home. The Blades and Blazers did the classy thing and made this trade a reality.

Blades general manager Colin Priestner and Blazers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston both deserve a tonne of praise for the work they put in to make this trade a reality to get Pillar to his home stomping grounds.

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

-------

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.