Maier’s heart will always be with Blades, his only WHL team

Record setting netminder sees Saskatoon as second home

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

Nolan Maier will always wear his heart on his sleeve when it comes to the Saskatoon Blades, and he expects it will take some time to digest his playing career has come to a close with the team.

On top of being the team’s overage star netminder, Maier played his entire WHL career with the Blades. He joined the team full time as a 16-year-old on November 14, 2017.

He came to the Blades after playing for Team Canada Black at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge that was held jointly that year in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, B.C.

Maier’s WHL career officially came to a close with a 6-3 loss to the Warriors in Moose Jaw in Game 5 of a WHL first round series on Friday, April 29. The Warriors took the best-of-seven series 4-1.

Over the course of five seasons, Maier put a tremendous investment into the Blades and has become fond of Saskatoon as a city itself. Even eight days after the campaign ended, it is a tough pill for Maier to digest that won’t be playing for Saskatoon’s WHL side anymore.

“It is emotional,” said Maier. “I think when you spend a good part of your life in one spot and you get to know a lot of people very well and just like seeing you guys (the media members) every day at the games being around the rink it is very emotional.”

He still feels the sting of the post-season ending loss in Moose Jaw at Mosaic Place.

“It still hurts,” said Maier, who stands 6-feet and weighs 172 pounds. “I think none of us wanted it to end like that or that way at all.

Nolan Maier has a Blades record 5,788 career regular season saves.

“We all thought we had more in us. I think I’m just more grateful that it happened, and I was around such a great group of guys and coaches and management for my whole time here the whole five years. It has just been an honour for me so far.”

Maier departs the Blades as one the team’s all-time greats. He appeared in 216 career regular season games posting a 122-72-18 record, a 2.89 goals against average, a .905 save percentage and 12 shutouts.

Along with those statistics, Maier has played 12,609 career minutes in goal for the Blades and made 5,788 career saves.

His 122 career regular season wins is a WHL record. Maier’s career shutout, games played, minutes played and saves totals are all Blades regular season franchise records.

Getting the WHL career wins record was Maier’s highlight with the Blades. He took sole possession of the record with his 121^st win that came on April 8 with a 2-0 victory over the archrival Prince Albert Raiders before 4,802 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

Maier made 20 saves to pick up his 12^th and final regular season shutout of his career.

He moved past Corey Hirsch and Tyson Sexsmith for top spot on the WHL’s career regular season wins list. Hirsch and Sexsmith sit tied for second on that list with 120 victories.

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.

Nolan Maier makes a save as a 16-year-old rookie in Nov. 2017.

“It is something I will never forget,” said Maier. “It was kind of the perfect ending just to have it home against P.A. while you get a shutout.

“It was almost like that storybook ending. To get that record definitely means so much, especially just with the same jersey on my back for five years. That definitely meant more to me just to have that.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the team and obviously management for trusting me to play me as much as they did when I was young. That was the only reason I was able to come close. It was something that I will never forget and super special.”

The Yorkton, Sask., product said the WHL wins record wasn’t his greatest achievement with the Blades.

“I think the friendships and the family is what I’m most grateful to achieve,” said Maier. “I think that is something that I will never forget.

“The record, obviously, means a lot to me and is close to my heart, but just the people and everyone that I’ve known and love for the past five years here will be forever.”

Over the past five seasons, the Blades didn’t have any questions in net with Maier playing goal. The Blades will return backup Ethan Chadwick, who is a graduate of the Saskatoon Contacts under-18 AAA team, and associate player call up Austin Elliott, who played most of 2021-22 with the Notre Dame Hounds in the junior A ranks of the SJHL, to be in the goaltending mix as 18-year-olds in 2022-23.

Maier believes the Blades future is bright in goal with the youngsters.

“It will be fun to watch,” said Maier. “I think I will be able to just see from a different view almost as a fan now and just always keeping an eye on them.

Nolan Maier makes a save versus the Raiders on Dec. 27, 2021.

“They have bright futures, and they just got to stick with it and just kind of play their game, because they are here for a reason. They just have to find their own way and just kind of get as many games in as they can, because that is all you have to do especially coming in as a young person. They’ll be fine.

“I’m extremely happy to kind of see their careers unfold.”

As for his future in hockey, Maier doesn’t know what is going to happen. While he has put of great statistics, the 21-year-old has never been drafted by an NHL team or even invited to an NHL training camp.

The fact he stands just 6-feet tall and isn’t at least 6-foot-2 or 6-foot-3 is the obvious drawback as most NHL personal look at size in goaltenders.

Maier said he doesn’t let the lack of NHL opportunities bother him.

“It used to drive me nuts,” said Maier. “It is just that nothing has unfolded yet.

“I’m just looking forward to hopefully something happening this summer. I’m just getting ready for any chance I get.”

Maier is still hoping to play professionally. If that doesn’t work out, he would like to play for a post-secondary school team.

The veteran netminder said he has talked to a lot of post-secondary school teams, but he hasn’t gone any further on that route.

Nolan Maier (#73) departs the Blades as one of their all-time greats.

“I don’t have one picked at all or if I am going to go the school route,” said Maier. “I’m just trying to digest everything kind of coming to an end here.

“I don’t what the future is going to hold, but I will know later on.”

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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“Acknowledge Him!” – Blades’ Maier becomes WHL’s all-time goaltending wins king

Goalie Nolan Maier begins celebrating his WHL career wins record.

Nolan Maier stands alone on the mountain top as the WHL’s goaltending wins king.

On Friday night, Maier made 20 saves to backstop the Saskatoon Blades to a 2-0 victory over their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders before 4,802 spectators at the SaskTel Centre. The victory allows the Yorkton, Sask., product to sit alone in top spot on the WHL’s career regular season wins list with 121 triumphs.

The overage star netminder passed Corey Hirsch and Tyson Sexsmith for first on the all-time wins list. Hirsch and Sexsmith now sit tied for second on the WHL’s career regular season wins list with 120 victories.

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.

The Blades mob netminder Nolan Maier after Friday’s win.

In Friday’s clash between the Blades and Raiders, Maier was in awe of the moment when the game clock hit zero and everyone in the building was on their feat saluting his accomplishment.

“It was surreal,” said Maier, who stands 6-feet and weighs 172 pounds. “It is a moment I will never forget.

“I’m just so happy that I was able to do it at home and just against our rivals. It almost brings a certain sentimental value to it too. It is pretty amazing.”

When the game clock hit zero, the Blades players poured off their bench and mobbed Maier in a scene that looked like the celebration of a championship win.

Nolan Maier (#73) gets a hug from Trevor Wong (#38).

“It was a little excessive,” said Maier with a laugh. “It looked like we won the Stanley Cup.

“They (his teammates) were pretty excited, and I think that is awesome just to have a big group of brothers in there and just how they’ve supported me all year. It has been awesome. I couldn’t ask for anything better from them.”

Maier joined the Blades on a full-time basis as a 16-year-old rookie in November of 2017. He has appeared in 215 career regular season games with the Blades posting a 121-72-18 record, a 2.90 goals against average, a .905 save percentage and 12 shutouts.

Members of the Blades faithful cheer Maier’s record accomplishment.

Along with those statistics, Maier has played 12,549 career minutes in goal for the Blades and made 5,753 career saves.

Maier’s career shutout, games played, minutes played and saves totals are all Blades franchise records.

For the veteran puck stopper, he was happy to capture the WHL’s career regular season wins record playing his whole major junior career with the Blades, who played a tribute for him at game’s end.

Blades players watch a tribute video for Nolan Maier.

“I think that is what makes it so much special for me to be able to do it with the same team and under the same management and a few different coaches,” said Maier, who was selected in the second round and 25^th overall way back in the then 2016 WHL Bantam Draft by the Blades. “For most of it, it was kind of all the same.

“It means everything, and everyone here is just a huge part of my family, especially (Blades owner) Mike (Priestner) and (Blades general manager) Colin (Priestner) and (Blades associate general manager) Hilty (Steve Hildebrand) and now (Blades head coach) Sonnes (Brennan Sonne) and (Blades associate coach) Marshy (Ryan Marsh) and everyone and especially (Blades goalie coach) Harv (Jeff Harvey). I wouldn’t have been able to do it without him.

Nolan Maier cuts a piece of the net from his record win.

“It is just unbelievable the support I’ve had here.”

Sonne was proud to see Maier take sole possession of the WHL’s career regular season wins record. The bench boss said when you reflect on all the netminders who have come through the WHL during the history of the league it makes Maier’s accomplishment look that much more impressive.

“I mean think of the goalies, right,” said Sonne. “It is phenomenal.

“I’m not going to say anything that would even do it justice. It is incredible. It is awesome.

“We are so happy for him.”

Maier made his first big save of the night when the Blades were working on a power play about seven-and-a-half minutes into the opening frame. Raiders overage captain Reece Vitelli had a short-handed breakaway, but he was stoned by Maier, who swallowed the puck in his midsection.

Nolan Maier embraces his teammates after cutting a piece of the net.

With about 2:31 remaining in the first, the Blades had their best scoring chance of the frame, when right-winger Noah Boyko was robbed close in by the left side of the Prince Albert goal by the glove had of Raiders rookie import netminder Tikhon Chaika.

The teams played a tight checking opening 20 minutes where the shots on goal were tied 6-6. The second frame was a tight checking one too, even though the Blades had a 10-8 edge in shots on goal in that stanza.

Nolan Maier stops Raiders captain Reece Vitelli (#15).

The Blades had the best scoring chance in the second near the middle part of the period, when defenceman Tanner Molendyk was denied close in by Chaika with a shot coming close in on the left wing off a two-on-one break.

With the game remaining scoreless after 40 minutes, Maier said he did get some antsy feelings.

“I think those thoughts creep into your head,” said Maier, who has three shutouts this season. “As a goalie, you try not to worry about it.

“It is a cliché, but near the end going into the third 0-0, I knew we just needed one. Once we got that one I knew it was going to happen.”

Nolan Maier makes a stop on a screen shot.

With 9:21 remaining in the third, Raiders defenceman Tayem Gislason drew a double minor for high sticking. The infraction will automatically be reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

Near the tail end of the first half of that power play, Blades rookie import right-winger Egor Sidorov banged home a shot from the front of the Prince Albert goal to give the host side a 1-0 lead with 7:43 remaining in the frame.

From that point, the Blades skaters did a solid job of clamping things down defensively, and the Raiders didn’t have any real solid scoring chances.

Egor Sidorov (#19) had a goal and an assist for the Blades.

With 1:59 remaining in the third, Blades centre Trevor Wong backhanded home an insurance goal during a net scramble over top of a fallen Chaika. That sealed the 2-0 win for the host side. Sidorov picked up an assist on Wong’s tally.

Wong, who joined the Blades in a trade with the Kelowna Rockets right before the start of the regular season, said it was important to the players on his team to do their part to help Maier get the WHL career regular season wins record.

“He (Maier) is kind of the role model for this whole organization, and a lot of our guys look up to him,” said Wong. “I’m pretty new here, but I could already see since the day I got here by the way he carries himself and just the way he treats others he is a class act.

Egor Sidorov (#19) celebrates scoring for the Blades.

“It was huge that we got it done for him.”

Chaika turned away 22 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders.

The Blades improved to 37-26-3-1 with the win, and they moved one point ahead of the 36-23-3-2 Moose Jaw Warriors for fourth place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. The fourth place club in the conference will have home ice advantage for a best-of-seven first round playoff series against the fifth place squad.

The Brandon Wheat Kings sit sixth overall in the conference with a 34-25-3-2 record and are five standings points behind the Blades and four standings point back of the Warriors. The Wheat Kings won their fourth straight game on Friday downing the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers 6-3.

Tanner Molendyk controls the puck in the offensive zone.

The Blades have one game left on their regular season schedule, while both the Warriors and Wheat Kings have four contests remaining on their respective regular season slates.

The Blades are off until this coming Friday when they close out their regular season schedule against the Brandon Wheat Kings (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

Saskatoon still has five regulars on the injury list. Defenceman and captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere is out for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury.

Overage star centre Tristen Robins, who is the Blades captain for the rest of the current season, is out day to day with an upper body injury and the same goes for veteran centre Josh Pillar.

Trevor Wong scored the Blades second goal on Friday.

Rookie centre Lukas Hansen is week-to-week with an upper body injury, and utility player Spencer Shugrue is day to day with a lower body injury.

Overage defenceman Rhett Rhinehart returned to the Blades lineup from an upper body injury for Maier’s milestone win.

Sonne said his Blades need the time off before their next contest.

“It feels like so long where we’ve played three games a week and that is just taxing,” said Sonne. “We’re not like an older team either.

“We’re a younger team, so it is just even more so. We just get back at 5:30 in the morning (on Thursday) from Lethbridge (after a 6-1 loss to the Hurricanes on Wednesday night), and these guys are getting up to go to school. This has been getting taxing.

Raiders G Tikhon Chaika stops a screen shot.

“They need a few days off, so it is a really good thing.”

The Raiders fell to 26-34-4-1 with the setback to remain 10^th in the Eastern Conference. They sit two points behind the 26-34-5-2 Swift Current Broncos for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

Prince Albert is one point behind the 25-31-6-2 Calgary Hitmen for ninth in the Eastern Conference. The Raiders are two points ahead of the 25-34-3-2 Regina Pats.

The Broncos have one regular season game remaining, the Raiders have three contests left on their slate and the Hitmen and Pats each have four games remaining on their respective schedules.

Nolan Maier made 20 saves on Friday night.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes (30-30-4-1) officially locked up a playoff berth with their 5-4 overtime setback to the Rebels in Red Deer on Friday. 

The Hurricanes sit seventh overall in the Eastern Conference.

The Raiders return to action on Saturday when they travel to Regina to take on the Pats (7 p.m., Brandt Centre).

With sole possession of the WHL’s career regular season wins record under his belt, Maier said his milestone win to sit alone as the record holder will be a night he always remembers.

Nolan Maier (#73) is saluted by his teammates.

“Easily, this will be the highlight of my life, especially just to do it here in front of my fans and lots of family and friends I have here,” said Maier. “I couldn’t have wrote it any better.”

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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Tigers would not be denied of 2007 WHL title

Bosch’s 2OT winner in Game 7 ends intense series

The Tigers team picture after winning the 2007 WHL title.

    It is the moment you can always see in The Arena even when it is empty.
    It is the second overtime in Game 7 of the WHL Championship series, and the host Medicine Hat Tigers are locked in a 2-2 tie with the Vancouver Giants.

    Tigers talented centre Brennan Bosch has the puck near the blue-line in his own zone, and he is tapped by a swinging stick of a Giants player. The Martensville, Sask., product goes down to his knees, quickly gets up and a 3-on-1 break ensues.

    Bosch skates two to three strides past the Vancouver blue-line and wires home the winner low stick side on Giants goaltender Tyson Sexsmith. The sellout crowd of 4,006 spectators at The Arena explodes like never before with the home side pulling out a 3-2 win and capturing their fifth WHL title.

    That was how the scene played out on May 14, 2007 in what goes down as arguably one of the greatest games in the history of the WHL.

    From that moment, Bosch would be forever cemented as a hero in “the Gas City.”

    It is crazy to think 13 years has passed since that game was played. I worked that game for the Medicine Hat News as the beat writer that covered that Tigers team.

    I can still remember that day and game well.

    Looking back now, I see myself as being really young. I was a really young guy who was locked into that series that day.
    That series had been an intense one. Before the opening faceoff of Game 1, there was a jostling match, followed by a beautifully conducted tag team fight in Game 2 and an overtime winner by Tigers defenceman Trevor Glass in Game 3.

A Tigers celebration picture from the pages of the Medicine Hat News.

    After Game 3, the Tigers were up 2-1 in the set.

    Game 4 featured “the bite,” where Tigers agitator Derek Dorsett bit the finger of Giants pest Kenndal McArdle, when McArdle was trying to use his finger to fish hook Dorsett.

    Dorsett was ultimately suspended for Game 5 for the bite. There were members of the Vancouver media that painted Dorsett as the real life Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter.

    The Giants claimed a 4-0 victory in Game 4 and a 3-0 win in Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead in the series as it returned to the Hat for Games 6 and 7.

    Dorsett was inserted into the starting lineup for Game 6. He was the last Tigers member announced as part of the starting six.

    The fans at The Arena rose to their feet to give Dorsett a standing ovation that was cut off after 90 seconds by the start of the national anthem.

    Dorsett went out and immediately laid a massive hit on Giants captain Brett Festerling. The Tigers took the game 4-3 with star centre Darren Helm scoring the winner with 7:43 remaining in the third period that broke a 3-3 tie.

    The series was now tied 3-3 going to the first Game 7 to be played in a WHL final in 13 years.

    Looking at the intensity of the battle in that 2007 WHL final, one would never suspect both the Tigers and Giants had berths locked up in that year’s CHL Championship tournament – the Memorial Cup – due to the Giants being the host team for that event.
    With all that had happened in the series to that point, I was ready for anything to happen in Game 7. Of course, I wanted the Tigers to win, and I believed they would find a way to get it done.

    The guys on that team were my buds. Until this day, the guys that played for the Tigers over the two seasons from 2005 to 2007 are still the best group I ever dealt with in hockey.

The left and right photos show Tigers Game 7 moments from 2007.

    It also helped that Tigers star captain Kris Russell and the leadership group were great at making you feel a part of everything.

    Still, I prided myself in being able cover games objectively, and I felt set for any outcome to play out. I wasn’t making any predictions for that game.

    In the hours leading up to that game, I remember fielding a couple of requests from people looking for Game 7 tickets. The Tigers were in the midst of a lengthy sell out streak, and I had to tell those looking for tickets that they were out of luck.

    I arrived at The Arena about 90 minutes before puck drop. I remember being so nervous that I had to go to the washroom to vomit.

    About four of the Tigers veterans saw me throw up before the game, and that seemed to provide a laugh and levity.

    I was thankful I had a great crew at The News to cover that game with and the bench was emptied for that one. I was in the press box with my partner in crime Collin Gallant.

    Sports editor Sean Rooney motored back and forth between the rink and The News office putting together a column and handling the desking.

    The talents of Emma Bennett and Ian Sorensen expertly took care of the photography.

    Believe it or not, there was a time I went a lengthy stretch where I didn’t shoot photos of sports events. As a result, you won’t see a whole lot of photos with this post.

    In later years, I would try to mirror a lot of Bennett’s pictures when it came to championship celebrations.

    I just had to focus on my main story and a sidebar column filled with my three stars and odds and ends.

    Another group that was ready for the game were the fans. The rivalry between the Tigers and Giants built up to the ferocity you would see between bitter division rivals, and the Tigers faithful did not like the Giants.

    Despised might have been an accurate descriptor. The biggest Vancouver villains were McArdle and right-winger J.D. Watt.

A Tigers WHL championship T-shirt.

    They were heckled any time they hit the ice, and one Tigers fan had a sign for Watt that said, “Watt’s your problem.”

    When the Tigers came out to the ice before the start of the first period, they were greeted with a wave of noise the drowned out the public address announcer.
    They were engaged in the game with constant chants of “Go Tigers Go,” cheers for every big Tigers play and hit and chants of “Keets!” for every big save from hometown hero netminder Matt Keetley.

    Game 7 carried the intensity of the previous six encounters of the series.

    Tyler Ennis put the Tigers ahead 1-0 in the first period.

    Vancouver forwards Wacey Rabbit and Michal Repik potted singles in the second period to put the Giants up 2-1.

    At the media break of the third period, in game host Mike Thibeau rallied the fans to give a salute to Tigers overagers in Dorsett, Keetley and Chris Stevens for playing their final home game that night.

    Within about a couple of minutes of that salute, centre Daine Todd scored for the Tigers to even the score at 2-2 and force overtime.

    Another what would become a romantic moment came in the extra sessions. Due to being warm outside, the fog descended on to the ice at The Arena.

    On about two or three stoppages, the players came off their respective benches to skate circles to dissipate the fog.

    The Tigers hit another gear in the first overtime holding a 10-6 edge in shots on goal.

    That set the stage for Bosch’s goal in the second overtime frame creating the signature moment in the Tigers storied old home rink.

    Right after Bosch scored, I phoned my mom in Saskatoon, who was watching the television broadcast of the game with family.

    Energized, I jetted to the ice surface. I remember interviewing both Bosch and Keetley and their excitement was going all over the place.

    Keetley, who was named the MVP of the WHL playoffs, spotted a big gathering of his family in the crowd and gave a shout out and wave to them.

    Even at that time and looking back now, that was a game neither team deserved to lose.

    With that noted, the fact the Tigers won was a good thing.

    Even with a deadline looming, it felt effortless to finish of the work that night.

    After the work was finished, it was off to the Silver Buckle for a victory party. There were a few different ones that happened in town that night.

    To this day, that game is still my best memory in hockey.

My story of the Tigers Game 7 victory in the Medicine Hat News.

    Of course, it was a great one for that Tigers team, which began a tradition of getting together every summer to enjoy the memories of that day and run. It appears that the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will be the thing that breaks up those annual reunions this year.

    There are a lot of points in time I wish I could go back, be as young as I was and relive that day again. The fact that day happened will always make me smile.

    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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