Out of here for rest of July

I’m hoping to get a little more down time the next few weeks.

Time seems go by faster and faster the older I get.

I kind of underestimated how fast this past winter sports season would go by. Going into the 2021-22 winter campaign, I didn’t really know what to expect.

A year ago in July of 2021, it seemed like restrictions regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic could come and go seemingly at a moment’s notice. After there wasn’t much of a winter sports season in 2020-21, I wasn’t sure what to expect in 2021-22.

I have to admit I did not follow through with the original plan in my head. Originally, I was thinking about making just weekly or twice weekly posts on this blog and sitting back and seeing how the sports world in Canada would play out.

I expected there would be pauses and schedule alterations due to positive COVID-19 tests and there were.

It was still in the realm of possibilities that sports seasons that start in Canada might not be completed. To my knowledge, all seasons in the 2021-22 winter campaign were played to a conclusion.

At the professional level, I was pretty certain the NHL season would be completed as the Stanley Cup was awarded in 2020 and 2021. In a 2021-22 campaign that still had its wonky parts, the circuit finished a regular season where every club played a full schedule of 82 games.

The regular season was followed by on exciting post-season. There was still a fairly late finish as the Colorado Avalanche captured the Stanley Cup in Game 6 of the NHL title series by a 2-1 score against the host Lightning in Tampa Bay on June 26.

The Avalanche became “the team” by beating “the team” in the Lightning, who won the Stanley Cup the two previous years.

Hockey in the major junior ranks had an even later finish. In the Memorial Cup championship game held on June 29, the host Saint John Sea Dogs downed the OHL champion Hamilton Bulldogs 6-3 to take the CHL title. The Sea Dogs bowed out in the first round of the QMJHL playoffs but used the time off to be able to finish first in the preliminary round standings with a 2-0-1 record at the Memorial Cup tournament before claiming the event’s championship game.

The one loss came in overtime by a 4-3 score to the WHL champion Edmonton Oil Kings. The Oil Kings win ended a 14-game skid by the club that was the WHL champion at the event.

It was great seeing the Hilltops back in action last season.

Before the Oil Kings win, the last time a WHL champion posted a win at the Memorial Cup came back on May 29, 2015, when the Kelowna Rockets hammered the host Remparts 9-3 in Quebec City, Quebec, in a semifinal contest.

The Oil Kings weren’t able to make the playoff round with their 1-2 record getting edged for third place in the preliminary round standings and the tournament’s final playoff berth by the 1-2 Hamilton Bulldogs.

Hours before the tournament started on June 20, the CHL announced a new points system would be used for the preliminary round standings that saw three points given for a regulation win and two for a win in overtime. The Bulldog advanced to the playoff round due to the fact their win came in regulation, and it came against the Oil Kings to boot.

The overtime format was changed for the preliminary round too. Overtime in the preliminary round would be 20 minute periods played in a sudden death three-versus-three format.

The merits of those changes can be debated, but the timing of the announcement of when those rules were changed was awful. If the CHL was going to change rules in the Memorial Cup format, they should have been announced before the 2021-22 season started.

If the rule changes were announced during the event starting with next year’s tournament, the CHL would have come away with a way better look there.

With all that said, I didn’t find myself on the perimeter watching the 2021-22 winter sports season play out. 

Opportunities arose to get back into covering games of the CJFL powerhouse Saskatoon Hilltops in a beat writer fashion and the WHL, where I focused around covering the Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades.

In my head, I was thinking the mainstream media in Canada wanted to get out of covering the sports world unless it was the NHL, so I wasn’t thinking opportunities would come in that realm. I find in the overall populous in Canada sports isn’t a big thing unless you are involved in sports with the NHL being the exception to that thought.

I also had an opportunity to get back into covering the University of Saskatchewan Huskies teams in a bigger way. I wasn’t expecting that to come up.

The Oil Kings won the WHL title in 2021-22.

The opportunities to cover the Hilltops and the WHL came up first, so I decided to go with those routes. Out of all the leagues in Canada, I thought U Sports would be the one where their season wouldn’t be played to completion. Fortunately, I was proved wrong on that front and U Sports did play its season to conclusion.

The other decision to just focus on Hilltops and WHL was to limit covering stops and starts and possible cancellations due to COVID-19 positive tests. The WHL had to pause its season for almost all the first two weeks of January due to an abundance of positive COVID-19 tests.

 Following the WHL season, I thought I was going to go for a rest, evaluation and reset period. I elected to cover the Saskatoon Valkyries in a beat writing form as they won their seventh WWCFL title, because my relationship with that team has always been outstanding.

I decided I didn’t want to miss out, because they had a lot of returning players that were around from the 2019 squad before the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions occurred. I enjoyed getting to know the first and second year players this past Valkyries season too.

Now that Valkyries season is done, I’ve decided take a break from creating content for this blog for the rest of the month of July. On the weird part, the break from writing this blog won’t be primarily due for rest and recharge reasons.

At the moment, I am working on a project on the side. I need to sacrifice time in other areas to focus on that project.

In August, I’m hoping you will all get to enjoy seeing the results of the project I am working on.

I hope to get some rest and recharge time in too. Actually, it disappoints me to see my two mountain bikes have been sitting in storage this year waiting to be tuned up for use. I haven’t used them yet.

When August comes, I will be back covering the Hilltops in a beat writing form. I suspect the upcoming 2022-23 winter sports season will see me focusing on the Hilltops and WHL.

I figured I need to focus, because even with the opportunities that have come my way, almost everything in Canada’s sports scene is not being covered outside the NHL, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto Blue Jays, Toronto Raptors and the MLS teams in Canada’s three big cities.

It was so much fun seeing the Valkyries in a seventh WWCFL title.

By the amount of releases and news that comes my way in the sports world for Canada, I have to say that everything is happening now. Everybody in some way is searching for attention.

I will never close the door with regards in potential directions I could go. I do have to weigh how involvement in Canada’s sports scene affects and accompanies everything else in my life, and I find I do that a lot more than I ever had before in my life.

For now, it is time to sign off for a bit. I’ll see you all in August.

Rabbit’s return big for Blades, other notes and observations

Ashley Callingbull, left, and Wacey Rabbit. (Photo courtesy Saskatoon Blades)

The Saskatoon Blades made a big splash bringing Wacey Rabbit back to his first and long time WHL home.

On June 27, the Blades announced that Rabbit was returning to the team as an assistant coach. His wife, Ashley Callingbull, joined the Saskatoon Entertainment Group, which is the parent company that owns both the Blades and Saskatchewan Rush, as an ambassador.

Rabbit, who is 35-years-old, played centre for the Blades starting as an underage call up way back in 2001-02 and the following four seasons through to the conclusion of the 2005-06 campaign, when he was the team’s captain. The Kainai First Nation, Alta., product played in 259 career regular season games with the Blades posting 80 goals, 106 assists and a plus-seven rating in the plus-minus department.

During his overage season in 2006-07, Rabbit started the campaign playing for the Providence Bruins of the AHL. After his WHL rights were traded to the Vancouver Giants, Rabbit was returned to the major junior ranks.

Rabbit finished his WHL career with the Giants appearing in 30 regular season games posting 11 goals, 25 assists and a plus-13 rating. He helped the Giants advance to the WHL Championship Series, where they fell in seven games to the Medicine Hat Tigers. Following that series, he helped the Giants win the Memorial Cup as the tournament’s host team.

Rabbit proceed to play 14 seasons in the minor professional ranks and retired from the game as a player on August 26, 2021. Last season, Rabbit was an assistant coach and skills development coach for the Alberni Valley Bulldogs of the junior A British Columbia Hockey League.

Callingbull, who is 32-years-old, is an actress, model, motivational speaker and international celebrity who has over 1.2-million followers on Instagram. The Enoch Cree Nation, Alta., product became the first Canadian and Indigenous woman to win the Miss Universe title on August 29, 2015.

The Blades had a coach vacancy to fill when it was announced on June 20 associate coach Ryan Marsh was leaving his position to become an assistant coach with Schwenninger Wild Wings in Germany’s top professional league.

Rabbit was a fan favourite during his time with the Blades and is one of the all-time most enduring players for the team’s fanbase. When a coaching role came open on the team, Blades management made the first move to contact Rabbit about returning to the club in a coaching role.

Rabbit said in many media interviews he wasn’t looking for jobs in the WHL, but when the Blades came calling, he said that was the team was going to say yes to. Rabbit has always considered Saskatoon as a second home.

Both Rabbit and Callingbull have been active with regards to Indigenous outreach throughout their adult lives, and they plan to continue that work in Saskatoon. Both have been outstanding role models for Indigenous youth.

For the Blades, bringing Rabbit back was a home run on so many levels and some levels that might not even be comprehended at the moment.

Blades management deserves huge applause for having the vision and making the approach to bring Rabbit and Callingbull to the team. This will likely be a move that has a huge positive impact on the community beyond what happens on the ice surface at the rink.

• Saskatoon Blades left-winger Brandon Lisowsky was selected in the seventh round and 218^th overall on Friday by the Toronto Maple Leafs on the final day of the two-day NHL Entry Draft held in Montreal, Que. Last season in his 17-year-old campaign, Lisowsky appeared in all the Blades 68 regular season games posting 33 goals, 25 assists and a plus-one rating in the plus-minus department.
• In the CHL Import Draft on July 1, the Saskatoon Blades selected 17-year-old defenceman Tomas Zizka, who is from Zlin, Czechia, in the first round and 37^th overall. Zizka, who stands 6-feet and weighs 170 pounds, played last season with the Lidingo Vikings J18 squad posting one goal and 13 assists in 31 games. He also played 11 games for Czechia’s under-17 team collecting four goals. Zizka joins 18-year-old fan favourite Belarusian right-winger Egor Sidorov as the Blades two import players. Due to Russia’s invasion attempt and war with Ukraine, Sidorov is residing in Saskatoon for the foreseeable future.
• The Prince Albert Raiders didn’t make any selections in the CHL Import Draft held on July 1. They will return Belarusians in goaltender Tikhon Chaika and left-winger Vladislav Shilo as their two imports. Both are heading into their 19-year-old seasons. Both Chaika and Shilo are residing in Prince Albert for the foreseeable future due to Russia’s invasion attempt and war with Ukraine.
• On July 2, Bret “the Hitman” Hart turned 65-years-old. Hearing that, it is another sign that time is passing way too fast. When it comes to sport entertainment’s pro-wrestling especially if you reside in Canada, Hart will always be, “The best there was, the best there is and the best there ever will be.”
• Jorde Chartrand is the unknown Canadian idol. The 19-year-old right handed pitcher and Weyburn, Sask., product has been playing with Softball Canada’s National Women’s Team. She has been training and playing on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds for a number of years. She has a good following inside the local Saskatchewan softball community, but with Canada’s downsized mainstream media particularly when it comes to covering sports, Chartrand isn’t well known outside the sport. That is too bad, because she is an outstanding role model athlete that excels in the classroom as well as the field of play. Don’t be surprised if she pops on the media radar in a future Olympics.
• The Saskatoon Cubs will host the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League under-18 AAA championship tournament July 22 to 24 at Cairns Field and Leakos Field. If you have never seen a Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League game, you are missing out. In Saskatoon, it is still kind of a hidden gem. As the SPBL regular season heads into the home stretch, the Cubs top the under-18 AAA standings with a 19-4 record.
• The prestige and reputation of Hockey Canada has taken a major hit over the past four months. On April 20, a woman, who is now 24-years-old, filed a $3.55-million lawsuit in London, Ont., against Hockey Canada, the CHL and eight unnamed CHL players over an allegation she was sexually assaulted by the players. The alleged sexual assault was said to occur a hotel room after Hockey Canada gala and golf event in London, Ont., in June 2018 and members of Canada’s 2017-18 gold medal winning world junior team were alleged to be among the eight players. The allegations have not been proven in court. Hockey Canada quietly settled the lawsuit in May. The Government of Canada started looking into Hockey Canada’s handling of the lawsuit in June. That included a meeting with the House of Commons standing committee on Canadian Heritage, where Hockey Canada executives were grilled and came out not looking good including then Hockey Canada CEO Tom Renney, who retired on July 1. After that meeting, the federal government froze fund they were putting into Hockey Canada. A number of major sponsors have frozen their funding to Hockey Canada. This story isn’t leaving the news cycle, so expect developments to keep coming.
• From what I heard, Kevin Waugh, who is a Conservative MP representing Saskatoon-Grasswood and is a former CTV sports reporter, was one of the key figures that pushed for the federal government to look into Hockey Canada’s handling of quietly setting a lawsuit regarding sexual assault allegations with a now 24-year-old woman. Waugh was concerned that the stories produced by TSN’s Rick Westhead weren’t getting traction in the rest of the mainstream media, so he wanted to bring the federal government into the picture. Ultimately, Waugh might be looked upon for playing a sizable role in finding out the truth and creating accountability over this matter.
• Regarding Hockey Canada’s handling of quietly settling a lawsuit regard sexual assault allegation with a now 24-year-old woman and the fallout that is still coming, you have to wonder if those holding leadership positions in Hockey Canada will be able to survive in those positions. In a strange coincidence, Hockey Canada announced on April 20 that CEO Tom Renney was going to retire effective July 1, 2022. That April 20 announcement was the same day the alleged sexual assault lawsuit was filed in court in London, Ont. With that noted, somebody in Hockey Canada’s leadership could have fallen on the sword taking ultimate responsibility over the handling of the lawsuit in being in a leadership position in the organization. That type of act could have prevented a funding freeze from the federal government and sponsors.
• The most powerful person in sports entertainment’s pro-wrestling is being dogged by sexual misconduct allegations. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal published a story saying Vince McMahon, the famed CEO of WWE who stepped down from his role on June 17, paid four women US$12-million total over the past 16 years to hide numerous allegations of sexual misconduct. This story came out after the Wall Street Journal reported on June 15 that McMahon, who is 76-years-old, paid out a US$3-million to hide an alleged affair with a former employee, who reportedly was hired as a paralegal in 2019. The WWE’s board of directors was investigating the US$3-million payout, and McMahon stepped down from his CEO role due to that investigation. McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie McMahon, is serving as interim CEO and interim chairwoman after serving as the company’s chief brand officer. The US$3-million payout was part of the US$12-million payout in the Wall Street Journal’s latest story. This story has been picked up by most of the major mainstream media outlets in the U.S. It is possible this could end Vince McMahon’s involvement in sports entertainment’s pro-wrestling scene.
• Today on Saturday, July 9, I had new content appear on the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a feature story Parker Frey, who is the ace pitcher of the Saskatoon Cubs under-18 AAA team. The piece on Frey can be found by clicking right here. I also created a new photo roundup of the sweet cool moments happening on the Complex grounds 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.

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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.

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Time for a short-term hiatus

I am not packing it in, just taking a break

I enjoy getting to events like Huskies hockey, but it is break time for me.

    It is break time for yours truly when it comes to writing this blog.
    The main reason for taking a break is because I have never taken a hiatus from writing this blog since starting it up on August 29, 2014. I usually try to have at most six off days between posts.

    Starting on Monday, my plan is to go 18 consecutive days without writing a post on this blog. You all will probably have a laugh for my return date.

    I plan to be back on here on Jan 24, when the Medicine Hat Tigers arrive in Saskatoon to face the host Blades in a WHL regular season contest. I figured that would be the best time to get back at it, when the Tigers are in “The Bridge City.”

    Of course, I have lots of links to the Tigers due to covering them as a beat writer for 10 seasons from 2004 to 2014 for the Medicine Hat News.

    My break is also a smart one in the veteran move department, because that means I get to avoid dealing with the WHL trade deadline.

    Believe it or not, I am not a big WHL trade deadline fan. That goes back to my time in the Hat.

I plan to post again when Cole Sillinger and the Tigers come to town.

    While I always felt like I did a good job covering items on the trade deadline front, I never liked saying farewell to players and watching them leave town on a personal front.

    The guys that came through the Tigers were all good, and you got to know them fairly well. It made the departures always feel tough.

    I actually started to formulate the plan for taking a break, when I was creating my “Top 10 cool things I saw in 2019” post.

    I figured there would never be a truly perfect time to take a break. With that said, my annual memories post was completed, so it felt the timing was more ideal once that was done.

    On the hockey front, that is a sport that seemingly has something happening all through the year. I figured it would be good to take a break now before all the playoff cycles started.

    I enjoyed being at the rinks all through December after I wrote my “I’m exhausted” post.

    I was happy covering the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey games at Merlis Belsher Place on Friday and Saturday.

Clashes between the Blades and Raiders are always a fun time.

    It always makes it worthwhile to see the likes of Prince Albert Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid, Medicine Hat Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins, Kamloops Blazers head coach Shaun Clouston, Saskatoon Blades associate coach Ryan Marsh and Huskies men’s hockey team head coach Dave Adolph at the rinks.

    I was pumped to see Canada down Russia 4-3 at the world junior hockey championships in Ostrava in the Czech Republic to win the gold medal on television today. Blades head coach Mitch Love was an assistant coach for Canada.

    Love oversaw the Canadian power play, which went 14-of-34 for a 41.2 per cent success rate.

    More importantly, I know how much pressure there is for anyone associated with the Canadian team to win gold at that event, so I was happy to see Love would get to enjoy a big high.

Blades HC Mitch Love won a world juniors gold medal on Sunday.

    The break will allow me to get my feet wet on some new normals.

    On Friday, I agreed to become the communications coordinator for the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I’ve already started to create some social media posts.

    The Gordie Howe Sports Complex is just a 10-minute drive from my residence, and I can even bike there in summer. My mind has been flooded with ideas of what I want to do, and it is getting cluttered.

    Needless to say, I want to get used to ins and outs there and get organized.

    When I accepted the spot, I had a mixture of being nervous and being pumped, so I believe this means this will be a good thing.

    I am also trying to help out a couple of old friends in Dan Senick and Cam Hutchinson as they go full steam ahead with running The Davidson Leader weekly paper. I am not going to be able to help out as much as they originally hoped, but I will still try to be a contributor.

    I am working on a couple of articles for them over the next two days. I am planning to be at one of the U Sports women’s hockey games on either Friday or Saturday night, when the Huskies host the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.

I will be around the Gordie Howe Sports Complex a little more often.

    I am hoping to catch up with a player who is very popular in the area The Davidson Leader serves and has been a popular subject for page views on this blog. We will see how the week plays out first.

    I might still drop in on some WHL games just to scout them. I haven’t done that since the 2016-17 campaign, and it helps me see the game in a different light.

    I find it hard to just go to a WHL game just to watch it unless I am involved somehow.

    Away from sports, I might be able to take in things like a Tuesday night movie. I haven’t been able to do that for some time.

    The sports scene was busy today. Out in Edmonton, Alta., the Blades nearly rallied back past the host Oil Kings before falling 4-3. The Oil Kings lead the WHL standings with a 27-7-5-2 mark.

    Out in Winnipeg, Man., the defending WHL champion Prince Albert Raiders downed the host Ice 5-3. The Raiders had lost seven times in regulation and once in extra time in eight outings before Sunday’s win.
    The Raiders are 21-14-4-1 and the Blades are 18-17-1-2. Both should be in the post-season picture.

The Hilltops celebrate winning the Canadian Bowl in Nov. 2018.

    On the SFMAAAHL front, the Prince Albert Northern Bears took two of three games against the visiting Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats at the Art Hauser Centre over the last three days.

    The Bears won 5-4 and 3-2 respectively on Friday and Saturday. The Wildcats took Sunday’s clash 3-0.

    At Merlis, the Saskatoon Contacts fell 5-4 to the Tisdale Trojans in SMAAAHL action on Sunday.

    There seems to always be something happening.

    One of the tough things I find when it comes to covering the local, provincial and WHL sports scenes is you are always taking from Peter to pay Paul when decisions are made about what events you will work.

    As soon as you do one thing, you are leaving something else out. There are only so many hours in the day.

    In the current climate, it always feels like you are doing a disservice to someone.

I will return to the rinks and the SaskTel Centre press box before you know it.

    For now, I am not going to let any of those matters enter my mind. It is break time, but it is not pack it in time.

    You will still see me around, and I will be back on this blog. It isn’t going anywhere.
    Plus, I would miss seeing Saskatoon Blades play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk too much, if I wasn’t in the press box for Blades games.

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

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Blades continue to hold hex over Raiders

Saskatoon claims 6-3 victory for fourth straight win versus P.A.

The Blades celebrate a empty-net goal from Kyle Crnkovic, centre.

    It might have looked pretty and then not looked pretty, but the Saskatoon Blades still found a way to keep a hex hanging over the Prince Albert Raiders.
    On Saturday at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades jumped out to a 5-0 lead at one point in the second period only to have the Raiders cut the gap to 5-3 going into the second intermission.

    While the defending WHL champion Raiders pressed in the third, they weren’t able to get any closer on the scoreboard.

    Blades 17-year-old sophomore left-winger Kyle Crnkovic tipped home a shot from linemate Tristen Robins into an empty net to seal a 6-3 victory for the host side before 3,868 spectators.

    In six head-to-head encounters between the two sides, the Blades have won five of those contests. 
    Saturday’s game finished a stretch where the two clubs played each other three straight times, and the Blades took every single one of those encounters. The Blades have won their last four straight games against the Raiders.

Scott Walford had two goals and an assist for the Blades.

    “I think it is just that we’ve come out and really embraced the rivalry,” said Blades overage defenceman Scott Walford, who had two goals and an assist in the win. “I think it is something we have to do maybe against other teams.

    “We just have to bring that intensity to every game. They are at the top of our division for a reason. They are a fast team.

    “They are a hard team to play against. They are well coached. I think it is big for us to really take that into the next games, and we can show what kind of team we have.”

    The game got off to a big start for the host side when Blades 18-year-old sophomore defenceman Matthew Sanders fired home a shot from the point at the 1:50 mark of the opening frame to give Saskatoon a 1-0 lead. Sanders’ tally was his first goal of his WHL career and came on the Blades’ first shot of the game.

Ilya Usau had two goals and an assist for the Raiders.

    Captain Chase Wouters scored at the six-minute mark and Walford potted his first of the night at the 7:13 mark of the opening frame to give the Blades a 3-0 edge.

    The tallies by Wouters and Walford came on the same power play after Raiders right-winger Jacob Brook was given a major penalty for hitting Blades overage defenceman Nolan Kneen from behind.

    The infraction against Brook will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

    After Walford gave the Blades a 3-0 edge, the Raiders pulled starting netminder Carter Serhyenko, who stopped one of four shots sent his way.

    Boston Bilous played the rest of the way for the Raiders turning away 14-of-16 shots fired in his direction.

Blades captain Chase Wouters (#44) screens Raiders goalie Carter Serhyenko.

    Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said Serhyenko, who is from Saskatoon, had an off night.

    “This is his hometown,” said Habscheid. “(Serhyenko has been) really good and consistent for us.

    “Really, this is his first game where he had a tough night. He’s a young guy (and) whatever experience good or bad is good for him. I felt bad for him as he’s been consistent for us.

    “He just had a tough one.”

    At the start of the second, it appeared a route would be on. Walford netted his second of the contest just 35 seconds into the frame, and 16-year-old right-winger Colton Dach tallied at the 4:32 mark of the stanza to put the Blades up 5-0.

Matthew Sanders scored his first career WHL goal on Saturday.

    The Raiders called a timeout after the Blades fifth goal in order to regroup.

    “No matter what, to get goals scored on you that quickly puts you on your heels (and) that’s what happened to us,” said Habscheid. “I want guys to keep their composure, but it’s tough.

    “Young guys, once they gathered and collected themselves we were pretty good.”

    Raiders 18-year-old rookie left-winger Ilya Usau stopped the bleeding scoring at the 10:34 mark of the second to cut the Blades lead to 5-1.

    Usau potted his second of the contest with 1:23 remaining in the second, and Raiders Belarusian import centre Aliaksei Protas netted his 20^th goal of the campaign just 33 seconds later to trim the Blades lead to 5-3. Usau picked up an assist on Protas’s goal.

Nolan Maier made 35 saves in goal for the Blades on Saturday.

    Blades associate coach Ryan Marsh said his club focused on regrouping in the second intermission noting they still led the contest.

    “We just had to get back to our game,” said Marsh. “I thought that we were a little bit careless with our puck management a little bit.

    “A credit to them. They really stepped their game up and started to push hard and had some good extended O-zone play and put us into some bad spots. I thought our competitiveness in the D-zone was a little bit lackadaisical.

    “You get up, and you start to cheat a little bit on offence. Our details weren’t great there, and they stepped their game up. We were able to come in after the second and regroup, and I thought we had a pretty good third period.”

    The Raiders outshot the Blades 17-5 in the third, but couldn’t get anything past Blades star netminder Nolan Maier.

The Blades fans enjoy their team’s victory on Saturday.

    Maier made 35 saves to pick up the win. He has played in all of the Blades encounters with the Raiders this season and has stopped 170-of-180 shots fired his way in those games.

    The effort by the Yorkton, Sask., product allowed the Blades to lock away the game with Crnkovic’s empty-net goal.

    “Nolan (Maier) is a phenomenal goalie, and any time that he has a great game we normally win,” said Walford. “I think he had another stellar performance tonight.

    “I don’t think we were as god as we could have been in front of him at times. That is something that we are going to have to go back to the drawing board on.”

    Going forward, Walford would like to see his club explode offensively again like they did on Saturday. The Coquitlam, B.C., product said the key for his squad is to not over think things in the offensive zone.

The Blades celebrate their win on Saturday.

    “Every time that we have success offensively, normally, we keep it pretty simple,” said Walford. “It is when we are forcing things that we don’t get our offence.
    “A lot of plays start in our own end, and it is just simple chip out of the zone. Guys come through, pick it up and make another chip. Somehow, we get an offensive zone possession.

    “We work it around, and that is our team. If we can keep it simple and get it in and make plays when we have time that is how we score.”

    The Blades improved to 17-15-1-2 with the win, while the Raiders fell to 20-11-3-1.

    The Raiders return to action on Monday, when they host the Winnipeg Ice (21-13-1) at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre. Prince Albert sits first in the WHL’s East Division one point ahead of Winnipeg, so Monday’s clash looms as a big one.

    The Blades are back at it on Wednesday, when they host the Ice on New Year’s Day on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Blades’ Huber issued two-game suspension for head hit

Blades RW Zach Huber was suspended by the WHL on Saturday.

    The Saskatoon Blades were without 19-year-old right-winger Zach Huber on Saturday due to a suspension imposed by the WHL office for supplemental discipline.

    Huber received a two game suspension for delivering a head hit to Prince Albert Raiders star left-winger Ozzy Wiesblatt with 2:19 remaining in the third period of a regular season game won 3-2 by the Blades on Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre.

    Huber was given a minor penalty for checking to the head at the time of the infraction.

    On the play, Wiesblatt toe dragged around a Raiders defenceman and wired a shot on goal that was stopped by Blades star netminder Nolan Maier.

    After shooting the puck, Wiesblatt was drilled with a high hit from Huber. Wiesblatt went down on the play, but left the ice under his own power.

    He came out for the second shift of the ensuing Raiders power play and finished the game.

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid made his feelings noted about the hit following Friday’s game.

    “We’ll let the league deal with that, but that was a dangerous hit,” said Habscheid. “We’re trying to protect the players.

    “The head was targeted, and we will see what the league says about it.”

    The Raiders appealed to the league office following the contest for the play to be looked at.

    Huber will conclude his suspension missing the Blades upcoming game on Wednesday at 2 p.m. on New Year’s Day against the Winnipeg Ice.

    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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