Blades run winning streak to five games

Nolan Maier won his eighth straight start playing goal for the Blades.

    The Saskatoon Blades rang in the new year with a victory.

    On Monday, the Blades ran their winning streak to five games downing the visiting Swift Current Broncos 4-2. The Blades have won eight of their last night outings and their current winning streak is their longest of the season.

    Saskatoon and Swift Current traded goals to exit the opening frame locked in a 1-1 tie with Dryden Michaud scoring for the Blades and Ethan Regnier replying for the Broncos. The two sides traded goals in the second exiting that frame locked in a 2-2 tie with captain Evan Fiala scoring for the Blades and Kole Gable replying for the Broncos.

    Winger Josh Paterson scored the winner for the Blades at the 5:36 mark of the third. The Edmonton product has been on fire recording points in each of the Blades last five games recording eight goals and three assists over that stretch.

Captain Evan Fiala scored for the Blades in Monday’s game.

    Overage winger Braylon Shmyr sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 1:44 remaining in the third. Shmyr also had a helper on Fiala’s goal.

    Nolan Maier turned away 20 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. The 16-year-old rookie has won his last eight straight starts for Saskatoon.

    Overager Logan Flodell stopped 38-of-41 shots taking the setback in goal for the Broncos.

    The Blades improved to 19-17-2-1 to hold one of the two wildcard playoff spots in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. The Broncos have lost three straight falling to 26-10-2.

    The Blades return to action on Friday, when the host the Red Deer Rebels at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Bears fall in Mac’s final

Camryn Amundson scored for the Bears in the Mac’s final.

    The Prince Albert Northern Bears came away with a silver medal finish at the prestigious Mac’s Midget AAA Hockey Tournament in Calgary.

    The Bears made it to the final of the Female Division and fell 6-2 to the Alberta based Rocky Mountain Raiders at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday. The Raiders won the Mac’s final for a second straight year having downed the Saskatoon Stars 5-4 in overtime in last year’s championship game.

    In Monday’s championship game, the Bears got out to a good start as speedy star forward Camryn Amundson scored 79 seconds into the first period to give Prince Albert a 1-0 lead.

    The Raiders responded with five straight goals to take a 2-1 into the first intermission and 5-1 edge into the second intermission.

    Kassidy Kicia scored early in the third for the Bears to cut the Raiders edge to 5-2 before the Alberta side rounded out the scoring with a goal late in the third.

    Kara Kondrat scored twice for the Raiders, while Isabella Pozzi, Chloe Puddifant, Josie McLeod and Nicole Fry netted singles. Gabriella Durante turned away 19 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders.

    Ryan Fontaine took the setback in goal for the Bears.

    The Raiders posted a 6-0 record at the tournament, while the Bears went 3-2-1.

    Prince Albert went into the title game have downed the Regina Rebels 5-4 in a marathon double overtime game on Sunday. Kate Ball netted the winner for the Bears in that encounter.

    The Bears had three players named to the tournament’s two all-star teams. Defender Hannah Koroll was named to the first all-star team, while Amundson and defender Jordan Ashe were named to the second all-star team.
    Koroll was named the top defender in the tourney on the female side, while Bears head coach Jeff Willoughby was named the top coach among the teams in the female field.

    The Bears resume their Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League regular season schedule on Jan. 13, when they travel to Melville to take on the Prairie Fire.

Clouston moves to top of Tigers career wins list

Shaun Clouston, centre, became the Tigers leader in coaching victories.

    Shaun Clouston moved into the top spot on the Medicine Hat Tigers career coaching wins list on Saturday.

    Clouston, who is the Tigers head coach and general manager, picked up his 324^th career regular season win behind the Medicine Hat bench, when the Tigers downed the visiting Red Deer Rebels 4-3 in overtime before 3,361 spectators at the Canalta Centre. Willie Desjardins, who guided the Tigers as head coach from 2002 to 2010, is second on the Tigers career regular seasons wins list with 323 victories. Desjardins was also the Tigers general manager from 2005 to 2010 as well as the club’s head coach.

    In Saturday’s game with the Rebels, Tigers captain Mark Rassell scored twice including the winner in overtime, while Gary Haden and Tyler Preziuso had singles for Medicine Hat. Michael Bullion turned away 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers.

    River Fahey, Arshdeep Bains and Mason McCarty replied with singles for the Rebels. Ethan Anders started the game in goal for Red Deer and turned away 23 of 26 shots in the game’s first two periods. Riley Lamb played the third period and overtime in a relief appearance turning away 16 of 17 shots sent his way.

    On Monday, the Tigers traveled to Cranbrook, B.C., and downed the Kootenay Ice 5-4 in overtime for Clouston’s 325^th victory as the Tigers head coach. Kristians Rubins netted the overtime winner for Medicine Hat. James Hamblin scored twice for the Tigers, while Ryan Chyzowski and Rassell had singles.

    Alec Baer scored twice for the Ice, while Brett Davis and Cameron Hausinger had singles.

    Jordan Hollett turned away 35 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers (21-15-2). Bailey Brkin turned away 31 shots to take the setback in goal for the Ice (18-17-3) before 2,426 spectators at Western Financial Place.

    The Tigers return to action on Wednesday, when they travel to Calgary to take on the Hitmen.

Clark assists Huskies in “Play for a Cure” game

Come on out to our Play For A Cure game Jan 5th vs Lethbridge for your chance to bid on this @HC_Women signed Breast Cancer Awareness stick donated by @emclark13. Thank you Emily. pic.twitter.com/HyO7Z3uU9I

— UofS Women's Hockey (@HuskiesWHKY) December 31, 2017

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey received a sweet assist from Emily Clark in their upcoming “Play for a Cure” game.

    Clark, who is a member of Canada’s senior national women’s hockey team and will play in the upcoming Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea in February, donated a stick autographed by all the members of the women’s senior national team to be used for the silent auction at the Huskies “Play for a Cure” game. The Huskies will hold their 10^th annual “Play for a Cure” game on Friday at 7 p.m. against the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns at the ancient Rutherford Rink.

    The Huskies will be wearing special pink jerseys for that contest which will be silent auctioned off as well. The Huskies are raising money for breast cancer research.

    Clark, who is from Saskatoon, never played for the Huskies but is friends with numerous members of the team. The skilled forward used to be teammates with current fifth-year Huskies forwards Kennedy Harris and Kori Herner, when all three were members of the Saskatoon Stars female midget AAA team.

    At the university level, Clark has played three season with the University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s team and is slated to return to the Badgers for her final campaign with the team in 2018-19 in the National Collegiate Athletic Association ranks.

    The Huskies sit fourth in the Canada West Conference of U Sports with a 9-6-1 record, while the Pronghorns are seventh with a 5-9-2 mark.

    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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Borbandy aims to catch on with U of S Huskies blue-line

Defender Teagan Borbandy hopes to catch on with the Huskies.

    Teagan Borbandy doesn’t want to hang up her skates just because she had to switch schools.

    For the past two seasons, Borbandy was a defensive defender with the Red Deer College Queens of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference. Over two seasons, she appeared in 29 regular season games with the Queens posting an assist and 22 penalty minutes, and she helped Red Deer College win an ACAC title in 2016.

    The Langdon, Alta., product is pursuing studies in bio-chemistry and knew she would have to transfer out of Red Deer College to a University to finish her degree. Borbandy wanted to transfer to the University of Saskatchewan for academics, and her thoughts started to drift towards the Huskies women’s hockey team, who play in the U Sports ranks.

    “I love Saskatchewan, and I love this school,” said Borbandy. “It is beautiful.

    “They have a really good program, so I thought I would come. I decided about two months ago that I wanted to continue to playing hockey, so I came out as a walk on.”

    Borbandy found a phone number for Huskies head coach Steve Kook and called about trying out as a walk on. From that conversation, Borbandy joined the Huskies for their training camp.

Huskies AC Brian McGregor, left, talks with Teagan Borbandy.

    She made the trip with the Huskies to Athabasca, Alta., for the Athabasca College Hockey Challenge last weekend and dressed for one of two exhibition games U of S split against the defending U Sports champion U of Alberta Pandas. The Huskies fell 3-2 after a tiebreaking shootout last Friday and won 2-1 last Saturday.

    As for Borbandy’s status with the team, things are progressing a day at a time.

    “We don’t have an idea of how many defencemen that we are going to take if it is seven, if it is nine,” said Kook, who returned to the Huskies after a one-year professional leave of absence. “If we think you are going to help us, we’ll carry you.

    “We agreed to take it day by day. At the end of every practice, we have a chat, and we’ll let her know if we like to see her another day. It is how it has been.”

    Borbandy, who stands 5-foot-4, comes to the Huskies with a solid hockey background. Besides playing for the Queens, she suited up for three seasons from 2012 to 2015 with the Rocky Mountain Raiders based in De Winton, Alta.

Teagan Borbandy listens to instructions at practice.

    Traditionally, the Raiders have been one of Alberta’s stronger female midget AAA programs, and Borbandy was an assistant captain with that club before finishing her time with that squad as captain.

    She always loved the comradery she had with her teammates and being active on the ice. Her first interactions with the Huskies players and coaches have built a desire to want to stay.

    “They are great,” said Borbandy. “They are such nice girls. They are very opening and helpful.

    “I’ve never seen so many girls that want help each other. It is not a competition within the team. It is a competition to make everybody better.

    “The coaches are great, very nice, encouraging and very supportive. They are always telling me things to improve on which is great. I love feedback.”

    Borbandy’s love for hockey hasn’t diminished over her career. She said it was great to join the Huskies having come from a good situation of having played with the Queens, who were 14-7-3 last season. The Queens fell in a best-of-three ACAC semifinal series to the MacEwan University Griffins 2-1.

    “It was a good step out of midget,” said Borbandy. “I enjoyed my team.

    “I had a great set of girls. I enjoyed the opportunity to continue playing. The school is a great school.”

Teagan Borbandy starts a rush out of her own zone.

    The Huskies had a strong campaign last season posting a 15-10-3 record. They fell in a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series to the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. The Dogs fell 3-1 in a series deciding Game 3, but had they prevailed, they would have earned a berth to the U Sports final eight national championship tournament.

    When Borbandy talked to Kook about joining the Huskies, the bench boss advised the young defender, who will turn 20 on Sept. 20, to not leave anything behind.

    “We had a chat with her early in the summer, and I said if you are going to come to this thing and if you are going to come to tryouts, don’t come halfway be all in,” said Kook. “Whether it lasts one day or three days, you have to just make sure there are no regrets.

    “What I told her today is you are having a good camp so far. Comeback tomorrow, we want to see more. The way it works is pretty soon you are going to be coming back enough days that you are going to find yourself on a bus with us somewhere.”

Teagan Borbandy moves the puck up ice in a transition drill.

    The Huskies are returning five defenders from last year’s team, so ice time will be at a premium for any newcomers. Going forward, Borbandy can gain further motivation from another hockey development in her family.

    Last Friday, her younger sister, Emma, who is current playing defence for the Raiders, signed a letter of intent to play for the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds women’s hockey team for the start of the 2018-19 campaign. If Teagan stays with the Huskies, it is possible the two siblings might face each other on the ice one day.

    With all that in mind, Teagan said she just wants to work on getting better in the present.

    “My hopes are to work on things I know I need to work on, to improve and get to where some of their top defencemen are and maybe play a few games,” said Borbandy. “It would be awesome.”

    The Huskies resume their pre-season schedule this coming Saturday and Sunday, when they travel to Calgary to face the Mount Royal University Cougars on each of those days. The green and white open the regular season on Oct. 6 against their provincial rivals the U of Regina Cougars at 7 p.m. at the ancient Rutherford Rink.

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

Stars raise bar for success

Saskatoon’s SFMAAAHL team truly hits elite status

The Stars give a final salute at the Esso Cup.

    WEYBURN, Sask. - In the current day, trips to the Esso Cup national champion tournament seem like a habit for the Saskatoon Stars, but not that long ago those trips were only a dream.

    On Saturday at Crescent Point Place in Weyburn, the Stars female midget AAA hockey season came to an end after they dropped a 3-0 decision to the De Winton, Alta., based Rocky Mountain Raiders in the bronze medal game of this year’s Esso Cup tournament. The result on the surface feels like a disappointing follow up to the team’s first trip to the national championship tournament a year ago in Red Deer, when the Stars downed the Portage la Prairie based Central Plains Capitals 5-1 to win the bronze medal.

    While the Stars weren’t able to capture a national championship or a medal this year’s Esso Cup, they piled up accomplishments they never achieved during the first eight years of their decade as a member of the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League.

    Before the 2014-15 season started, the Stars only hug one banner at their home rink in Saskatoon, the Agriplace Arena. That banner came from winning the tournament title at the prestigious Mac’s Midget AAA tournament in Calgary during the 2010-11 campaign.

    Saskatoon qualified for three straight SFMAAAHL finals from 2010-12, but were never able to win the Fedoruk Cup. That generation of Stars players included the likes of current Canadian senior national team member Emily Clark, Katie Sigurdson, Lauren Zary, Marley Ervine, Sara Greschner, Kennedy Harris, Brooke Mutch and Alyssa Dobler. The latter five of that group moved on to help the University of Saskatchewan Huskies win their first Canada West conference title coming in the 2013-14 campaign.

Defender Willow Slobodzian drives up ice for the Stars.

    During the three year period from 2010-12, the Stars ultimate bar for success was making the SFMAAAHL championship series with the hope that one day the Fedoruk Cup would come to “the Bridge City.”

    In 2013-14, the Stars were a respectable 13-11-4 and were swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats. After that campaign, the Stars reached heights they never thought imaginable.

    Over the course of the past two seasons under head coach Greg Slobodzian, they brought home five more banners to hang in the Agriplace Arena. The 2014-15 campaign saw the Stars capture another Mac’s tournament title, their first SFMAAAHL championship and first Western regional banner. This past season the Stars won their second straight SFMAAAHL title and second Western regional banner.

    They have posted back-to-back 45-win campaigns in the process. To put that in perspective, the rebuilding Saskatoon Blades would almost kill to get back to that point in the Western Hockey League. There are also a few other WHL franchises that are in that same boat.

Captain Danielle Nogier (#15) has provided a lot of grit for the Stars.

    The Stars posted a 45-5 overall record in 2014-15 and followed that up with a 45-13 overall mark in 2015-16.

    A new generation of young standouts took centre stage as the likes of current Canadian under-18 national team member Sophie Shirley, Nara Elia, Emma Johnson, Mackenna Parker, Grace Shirley, Anna Leschyshyn and Willow Slobodzian. The era of the last two seasons is also defined by the gritty determination of this year’s four graduates in captain Danielle Nogier and defenders Rayah DeCorby, Danielle Girolami and Hollie Coumont.

    All of those recent era players likely haven’t hit their peak moments in their hockey careers and unbelievably have the potential to still do much more.

Grace Shirley has become one of the Stars young standouts.

    On Saturday against the Raiders, the Stars fought hard to the end in the bronze medal match of the Esso Cup. They could have very easily exited the first period with a 2-0 lead, as winger Julia Rongve was robbed twice on two great backdoor chances.

    The Raiders slowly started to pull away in the second thanks to a tipped home power-play goal by Hanna Matchett and a tally from Breanne Trotter, which came off an untimely Stars defensive zone giveaway.

    Saskatoon still kept battling, and tried to pull Johnson, who is their money netminder, with 4:13 remaining in the third period. Leschyshyn had a golden chance from point-blank range, but she was stoned by Raiders goalie Kate Lloyd.

    A late third period penalty to Saskatoon forced Johnson to return and remain in the goal. The Raiders sealed their 3-0 win, when Hailey McCallum blasted home a power-play goal to the top corner of the Saskatoon net with 37.6 seconds to play.

Mackenna Parker is one of the Stars top offensive players.

    Johnson turned away 18 shots in the setback and Lloyd turned away 18 shots to earn the shutout.

    In making the Esso Cup in back-to-back years, the Stars have set a new standard of ultimate success that all their future teams will try to emulate. Over the last two seasons, they have almost touched the Esso Cup, and that had to be viewed as impossible at one point in time.

    Winning an Esso Cup has become a very possible reality that future generations of Stars players will strive to achieve.

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