Blades, Raiders focused on the right now in WHL post-season

Saskatoon tries eliminate rival Prince Albert in Game 5

Blades HC Brennan Sonne wants his team to focus on the present.

For Brennan Sonne, it is all about right now for his Saskatoon Blades.

On Friday, the Blades have a chance to close out their best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs against their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders. The two sides will do battle in Game 5 at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

The Raiders claimed victory in the first game of the series, and the Blades have won three straight since then to lead the set 3-1. Sonne, who is the Blades head coach, said his team has to have their total focus on winning Game 5.

“It is just every game is its own beast,” said Sonne. “We just have to reset and refocus, not live in the past, not live in the future and just live in the present and be ready for the start of the first period in Game 5.”

Raiders HC Jeff Truitt passes on instruction to his players.

Entering the first round series between Saskatoon and Prince Albert, the Blades came into the set as heavy favourites. They finished first overall in the WHL’s regular season with a 50-13-2-3 record and were rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings. The Raiders entered the WHL Playoffs as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 31-32-2-3 mark.

Prince Albert claimed Game 1 of the series 4-3 back on March 28 to give belief that an upset is possible. The Raiders dropped a 4-3 overtime heartbreaker in Game 3 of the series at home on Tuesday. If the Raiders would have won that contest, the complexion heading into the series for Game 5 would have been different.

Max Hildebrand has a .903 save percentage in the playoffs.

Facing elimination, the Raiders lone goal is to force a Game 6 back at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert on Saturday. They are well aware their backs are against the wall.

“She is one day at a time, and one period at a time,” said Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt. “Now, it has to be at our best.

“We’ve won in that building before. We’ll see where it goes.”

Raiders star netminder Max Hildebrand has done his best to give his team a chance to win on a nightly basis. He has stopped 130-of-144 shots in the series for a .903 save percentage.

The Blades have gotten great goaltending from breakout rookie netminder Evan Gardner. Since entering the series at the start of Game 2, Gardner, who turned 18-years-old in January, has stopped 64-of-69 shots for a .928 save percentage.

Evan Gardner has a .928 save percentage in the playoffs

Raiders star 17-year-old right-winger Ryder Ritchie has been stellar in the series leading his club in scoring with six points coming on three goals and three assists. Truitt said Ritchie has found another level.

“I see a little bit of expansion to his game,” said Truitt. “He is in tight quarters.

“He is being very elusive with the puck. He is putting himself in opportunities to shoot the puck and get goals. He is also doing a good job of distributing the pucks and staying in motion.

“He is just not standing still. He is distributing and giving himself some space and putting himself in good situations to get perhaps a second opportunity. He has been great.”

Ryder Ritchie has six points in four post-season games.

Blades star overage left-winger Easton Armstrong was a member of the Winnipeg Ice last season when they advanced to the WHL Championship Series falling to the Seattle Thunderbirds in five games. When the Ice franchise moved to Wenatchee to become the Wenatchee Wild, Armstrong followed the club to the state of Washington.

He played four regular season games with the Wild at the start of the 2023-24 campaign before the Blades acquired him in a trade on October 10, 2023. The Blades gave up a third round selection in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft and a conditional sixth round pick in the 2027 Prospects Draft to get Armstrong.

The Los Angeles, Calif., product said he has enjoyed his time with both franchises, and he believes the Blades have an intangible special feeling going on.

Easton Armstrong has seven points in four post-season games.

“Both teams have been unbelievable,” said Armstrong. “It has been such a good experience.

“I think this is one of the best cultures I’ve ever been a part of. That has been unbelievable. I don’t think I can really compare the two teams, because it is two complete different teams.

“I think the culture here is unbelievable.”

When the Blades took both Games 3 and 4 in Prince Albert, Armstrong was so strong in both those contest he became the target of boos from the Raiders faithful. In Game 3, Armstrong had a hat trick including the winner in the 4-3 overtime triumph. He was later credited with an assist on the Blades third goal.

The Raiders tackle Blades LW Easton Armstrong.

In Game 4 on Wednesday, Armstrong scored with 1.7 seconds to play in the first period to start the Blades on their way to a 4-1 victory.

Armstrong said it would be big for the Blades to eliminate the Raiders on Friday. At the moment, it appears the first round of the WHL’s post-season could be a quick one.

Out of the eight first round series, four of them have already ended in sweeps. In the Eastern Conference bracket, the Central Division champion Swift Current Broncos swept away the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Blades and Raiders players get tangles up.

On Thursday in Brandon, the Moose Jaw Warriors dumped the host Wheat Kings 6-2 to take Game 4 of that series and close out a sweep. The Warriors jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first period and cruised to victory from there.

The other four series in the first round all have the potential to conclude in Game 5.

Armstrong said it is big his squad is in a position to close things out at home.

“It is huge,” said Armstrong, who leads the Blades with seven points in the post-season coming on five goals and two assists. “If we get an opportunity to win on Friday night, then we get a little bit of a break towards the next series.

The Blades and Raiders engage in some rough stuff.

“That would be pretty huge going into round two if we were able to finish it.”

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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Wild focus on reload as WHL trade deadline draws near

Conor Geekie in action for the Winnipeg Ice in 2023.

So who would have had Kenta Isogai being the face of the Wenatchee Wild a year ago on their bingo card as being a thing in the WHL?

The 19-year-old left-winger Nagano, Japan, is playing through his first year in the WHL leading the Wild in scoring with 56 points coming off 20 goals and 36 assists to go with a plus-23 rating in the plus-minus department. Entering play on Tuesday, he sat ninth in the overall scoring race for the circuit.

Isogai is not a rookie junior. He played the last nine seasons with the Youngstown Phantoms of the United States Hockey League helping the Phantoms win the USHL title last season.

The Wild claimed Isogai’s CHL rights by selecting him in the first round and 60^th overall in the CHL Import Draft held on July 5, 2023. The Phantoms proceeded to allow Isogai to be released to the Wild.

Of course, the Wild franchise in the WHL was formerly the Winnipeg Ice, who fell in last year’s WHL Championship Series to the Seattle Thunderbirds. The Ice were sold to David and Lisa White of the Shoot the Puck Foundation, who owned the junior A Wenatchee Wild franchise that has played in the British Columbia Hockey League since 2015.

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

Wenatchee biggest winner in Ice off-ice saga in WHL

The Ice celebrate a goal in Game 1 of the WHL final on May 12.

The Winnipeg Ice are no more and the Wenatchee Wild era has begun.

On Friday, the WHL announced that the Winnipeg Ice franchise was sold to David and Lisa White of the Shoot the Puck Foundation. The Shoot the Puck Foundation is a non-profit organization based in California. The franchise has relocated to Wenatchee, which is located in the state of Washington in the United States.

The Whites through the Shoot the Puck Foundation own the junior A Wenatchee Wild franchise that had played in the British Columbia Hockey League since 2015. The Wild won the Fred Page Cup as BCHL champions in the 2017-18 campaign and the Doyle Cup as the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s Pacific region champion.

The Wild appeared in the Canadian Junior A national championship tournament in 2018 known at the time as the Royal Bank Cup, which was held at Prospera Centre in Chilliwack, B.C. Wenatchee posted a 2-2 record in round robin play and fell in a tournament semifinal 2-1 to the Wellington Dukes from Ontario.

Wenatchee was the only U.S. centre to have a team playing in the BCHL.

With the purchase of the Ice WHL franchise, the Whites own what was once Winnipeg’s membership in the major junior circuit. A relocation of a franchise was executed without the use of any moving trucks.

Zach Benson in action for the Ice in the WHL final on May 13.

The Wild as an entity will be promoted up from junior A to major junior. As part of the WHL, they will play in the U.S. Division that will now have six teams.

The division will provide the Wild instantly with four in-state rivals in the Everett Silvertips, the Seattle Thunderbirds, the Spokane Chiefs and the Tri-City Americans. The Portland Winterhawks, who have been one of the circuit’s elite clubs for the past 14 seasons, round out the U.S. Division.

The Wild hockey operations and business staff that is already in place will now operate the club in the WHL. The hockey operations staff is under the direction of general manager Bliss Littler, and Chris Clark is the club’s head coach and assistant general manager. After the announcement that Wenatchee was in the WHL was made, the Wild on Friday put up job postings for a full-time athletic trainer and a full-time equipment manager.

Wenatchee will play out of the Town Toyota Centre that has a seating capacity of 4,300.

The Ice roster and protected list is transferred to the Wild. The fate of the Wild’s BCHL franchise is still to be determined outside of the fact the BCHL said it won’t operate in 2023-24.

As for the players that were part of the Wild’s junior A roster, BCHL commissioner Steve Cocker told Castanet on Friday there won’t be a dispersal draft and the players are now free agents.

Matthew Savoie in action for the Ice in the WHL final in May 12.

As of June 1, the BCHL began governing its teams outside of Hockey Canada’s system. With the departure of Wenatchee, the BCHL has 17 teams all operating in British Columbia. It hasn’t been addressed if the BCHL’s decision to leave Hockey Canada’s system played a part in the Wild owners electing to leave that circuit for the WHL.

While the community of Wenatchee was the biggest winner in this development, it wasn’t a positive development on a tonne of other fronts. If you check out social media on Friday and Saturday, you can find a boatload of disappointment and hurt feelings over the sale of the Ice franchise.

In the 2010s, the WHL pursued a vision of having a team in each capital city in Western Canada. That vision was realized when the Ice franchise under the ownership of 50 Below Sports + Entertainment Incorporated headed up by Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell began playing at the 1,600 seat Wayne Fleming Arena on the University of Manitoba campus at the start of the 2019-20 campaign.

Fettes served as the Ice’s governor, and Cockell was the club’s president, general manager and alternate governor.

The Ice franchise had been relocated from Cranbrook, B.C., where the club was known as the Kootenay Ice. The Ice franchise was sold to Fettes and Cockell on April 27, 2017 by the Chynoweth family.

Carson Lambos in action for the Ice in the WHL final on May 12.

Fettes and Cockell moved the Ice to Winnipeg with the promise they would be able to build a new arena for the team to play in that was up to WHL standards.

The Ice put out a statement by Fettes on Friday and part of that statement regarding building a new arena said, “Unfortunately, we were just never able to get the project on solid footing due to the changing landscape (during and post-pandemic). Simply put, we ran out of time.”

While there has been criticism Fettes and Cockell took the WHL for a ride, it is possible to say it was true the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that gripped the world causing massive shutdowns in March of 2020 caused any efforts to build a WHL sized arena that would seat 4,500 to 5,000 spectators to go up in flames.

If anyone has seen the news cycle, stories on economic inflation dominate it, so anyone who lives in reality knows the chances of getting the funding together to build a new WHL size rink in Winnipeg were remote. It is safe to say Fettes and Cockell don’t have those types of assets in the bank to build a rink on their own.

Still, how the WHL’s situation played out in Winnipeg will invite heaps of criticism, and the criticism is deserved. The WHL does come out of this saga sporting a look that it got suckered.

Gregg Drinnan, who is still the all-time dean of WHL sportswriters, took a deep dive on his Taking Note blog of the many levels of how ugly the Ice saga is, and that piece can be found by clicking right here. He could probably wrote a longer piece than he did, and that is crazy to think about.

HC James Patrick mans the Ice bench in the WHL final on May 12.

While the Ice were a mess off-ice with their arena situation, the Ice’s on ice product was far from a mess. In fact, the Ice were one of the WHL’s best teams on ice in the four seasons they played in Winnipeg posting a 166-49-6-2 mark in regular season play.

In 2021-22, the Ice topped the WHL’s regular season standings with a 53-10-3-2 mark and advanced to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series falling in five games to the eventual league champion Edmonton Oil Kings. This past season, the Ice again topped the WHL’s regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and advanced to the WHL Championship Series falling in five games to the Thunderbirds.

If you were able to travel to Winnipeg, you would have found out the Ice developed a following. On the coverage priority of the local sports media, the Ice were buried well behind the NHL’s Jets, the CFL’s Blue Bombers and the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.

While the majority of the attention was on those three professional teams, it is a disservice to say the Ice had no fans in Winnipeg. They had a fan following, and that fan following got burned.

Ice head coach James Patrick is one of top first class hockey guys you will find in hockey. He is now living in his hometown without a team to coach. If the Jets do decide to go in the direction of a total rebuild, Patrick would be a perfect candidate for a potential future new head coach in a start over scenario.

Fans watch the Ice play in Winnipeg in the WHL final on May 12.

The Ice had good people on their hockey operations and business staff, and now they will all be out of work.

The Ice players will still have a chance to play in the WHL, but now they have to adjust to a new community.

The community of Cranbrook, which was home to the Ice from 1998 to 2019, still feels burned by the WHL. The Ice were successful for most of their years in Cranbrook having won WHL championships in 2000, 2002 and 2011 and the Memorial Cup as CHL champions in 2002.

During the Ice’s final season in Cranbrook in 2018-19, they finished last in average attendance in the WHL averaging 2,214 spectators per game for their 34 regular season home dates, but there were people there who still felt the team could turn around and experience brighter days again in that community.

In October and November of 2015, there was a local based group in Cranbrook that talked to Chynoweth family about possibly purchasing the Ice, but nothing came out of those talks. It is likely failure of that attempt to purchase the team and keep it in Cranbrook hurt some in the community there.

Jeff Chynoweth, who oversaw the Ice’s operations, and his family began trying to sell the Ice in 2011 and the team stayed for sale until the deal was reached with Fettes and Cockell in April of 2017. It should be noted that Cranbrook is a tourist industry town and the Chynoweth family was faced with the constant task of reintroducing the game to new fans during the Ice’s time in that centre.

Daniel Hauser in action for the Ice in the WHL final on May 12.

Life also changed for the Chynoweth family with the passing of patriarch Ed Chynoweth in April of 2008. Ed played an instrumental role as a builder in the history of the WHL. Ed’s passing and the unique challenges to marketing the team in Cranbrook had Jeff and his family looking to get out of the WHL ownership game.

Still, there were a lot of Ice supporters in Cranbrook who hold ill will toward Jeff Chynoweth over when his family sold the Ice.

Along with that, the City of Cranbrook has a lawsuit against the Winnipeg Ice and the WHL that is still before the courts regarding the arena deal the Ice had with the B.C. centre that was to run through to June of 2023.

On a sentimental front, other group that lost out in this saga are the alums of the Ice franchise. The alums especially the ones that played for the Ice during their days in Cranbrook often have great memories of the B.C. centre.

It is common for alums of other WHL clubs to return to their former teams when they are older and have families for visits. Those visits often include alums getting pictures taken with their families in their old dressing room stalls during the summer months. There are Ice alums that lament they can’t partake in doing something like that.

On top of that, the Ice franchise identity will now cease to exist on the WHL landscape. While the Wenatchee owns the Ice WHL franchise, the Wild team identity will continue to be used, and it will go on as continuation from that club’s junior A days in the BCHL.

In the end, the WHL’s experiment with the Ice in Winnipeg failed. Had True North Sports and Entertainment the parent company that owns the Jets and Moose had interest in owning a WHL franchise, the major junior circuit might still be in the Manitoba capital.

The Ice salute their fans after Game 1 of the WHL final on May 12.

Overall, at least the franchise transfer was done at this early juncture of the off-season, so all parties that have a stake in what is going on know where they stand. From an “it is what it is” perspective, the ugly is there.

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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De La Gorgendiere thankful for time with Blades

Graduating captain played entire WHL career in Saskatoon

Aidan De La Gorgendiere (#5) enjoys a goal with his teammates.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere never imagined how important the Saskatoon Blades would be when it came to being there for the ups and downs of the late teenage years of his life.

Way back in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft, the Blades selected De La Gorgendiere in the first round and fifth overall. In late May of 2017, the Langley, B.C., product took part in an introductory press conference along with good friend Kyle Crnkovic, who is currently playing with the WHL champion Seattle Thunderbirds at the Memorial Cup tournament in Kamloops, B.C.

A short time after the Blades drafted De La Gorgendiere, the reliable defenceman found out his mother, Marla Meginbir, had been diagnosed with cancer. She would pass away on November 12, 2019 at age 51, when De La Gorgendiere was skating through his 17-year-old sophomore season with the club. 

With the support of the Blades he had though that time, De La Gorgendiere couldn’t imagine playing for another WHL team.

“I’m going to be really thankful and happy,” said De La Gorgendiere about playing his entire WHL career with the Blades. “I wouldn’t be here without the Priestner family (and Blades owners) drafting me at 15-years-old and not really knowing what to expect.

“My first year, it was a really big learning experience for me. They’ve been awesome to me. This past year was awesome.”

De La Gorgendiere missed the tail end of the Blades abbreviated season in 2020-21 when they were playing in a bubble environment at the Brandt Centre in Regina due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that had gripped the world. During his first campaign as the team’s captain in 2021-22, De La Gorgendiere missed the last part of the regular season and the entire WHL Playoffs due to season ending shoulder surgery.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere, right, at his first Blades presser in 2017.

In his 20-year-old campaign this past season, De La Gorgendiere appeared in 65 regular season contests with the Blades posting 12 goals, 53 assists and a plus-19 rating in the plus-minus department. He skated in all of the Blades 18 post-season games posting three goals, 14 assists and a minus-two rating.

De La Gorgendiere helped the Blades post a 48-15-4-1 regular season record to finish fourth overall in the WHL and 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Blades advanced to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series for the first time in 29 years where they got swept by the Winnipeg Ice.

In a WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Blades fell behind the Red Deer Rebels 3-0 before rallying to take the best-of-seven set 4-3. The Blades became the third team in the history of the WHL to comeback after being down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series to take the set 4-3. 

They joined the 1996 Spokane Chiefs and the 2013 Kelowna Rockets as the three clubs to pull off that comeback.

During the first round of the WHL Playoffs, the Blades eliminated 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats in an exciting seven-game series. The Blades drew over 10,000 fans for the first three home games of that series and a sellout crowd of 14,768 spectators to the SaskTel Centre for their 4-1 victory in Game 7.

Overall, De La Gorgendiere found this past season to be his most enjoyable campaign with the Blades.

“It was probably the most fun I’ve had just with our group we’ve had and how tight we are off the ice,” said De La Gorgendiere, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 184 pounds. “I think that has big correlation to our play on the ice there.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere spent his whole WHL career with the Blades.

“Playing in front of sold out rinks was pretty cool, especially when there is 15,000 people cheering for your team. The fans were awesome for us this playoff run.”

De La Gorgendiere’s WHL career came to an end on May 3, when the Blades dropped a 3-2 decision to the Ice in Winnipeg’s Game 4 Eastern Conference Championship Series win at the SaskTel Centre. After the Blades saluted their fans while being saluted themselves by their faithful, De La Gorgendiere was the final Saskatoon player to step off the ice.

Before coming off the ice, he first gave a stick to some friends in the crowd. De La Gorgendiere then reflected on all the good memories he collected playing for the team before stepping off the ice to depart for the dressing room. He also felt sad at the same time knowing his time playing for the Blades had come to an end.

The star rearguard was also happy to think about how far the team had come during his time with the club. When he joined the Blades, they were going through a stretch of missing the post-season for five straight campaigns.

That drought came in an end in De La Gorgendiere’s rookie year in 2018-19 finishing fourth overall in the league with a 45-15-8 mark. This past season, the Blades had their longest post-season run since making the WHL final in 1994, when they fell in seven games to the eventual Memorial Cup champion Kamloops Blazers.

“It is pretty cool,” said De La Gorgendiere about seeing the Blades progress during his time with the squad. “I think being part of that culture change around our organization and a lot of change that happened throughout those years.

“I’m fortunate enough to stick around through it all, so I’ve kind of seen it. I’m so fortunate to be around here. I tried and did my best for this team and this organization and helped with my leadership qualities I guess.”

Aidan De La Gorgendiere was the Blades captain the past two seasons.

The now 21-year-old earned the respect of players and coaches around the WHL during his playing career. Ice head coach James Patrick, who played 1,280 career regular season games in the NHL as a defenceman from 1983 to 2004, would like to see De La Gorgendiere play in the professional ranks. The two talked in the handshake line for a short visit after the Ice eliminated the Blades.

“For me, certainly in the last two years he was one of the best defencemen in the league,” said Patrick. “I’d put him up in the top two or three D.

“Every game we played them over the last couple of years he was a handful for us. He was a guy who played 30 minutes a night. He could join as a fourth man.

“He is as mobile a D as there is on the blue-line. I told him what an outstanding career he has had here. I told him I know he can play at the next level, and I hope he gets that opportunity.”

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said that De La Gorgendiere did a tonne for getting the Blades to where they are today.

“What a job at building a culture, because it is not just the coaches,” said Sonne, who was named the WHL’s coach of the year for this past season. “The players have to want that too.

“Sometimes, they don’t, and there is the push back. He steered the ship. When we left the room, he steered the ship in terms of fitness culture, in terms of how we do business, in terms of how we act, how we work in practice.

“Incredible leader. I’m very, very proud of him. He has a very long pro career coming.”

De La Gorgendiere is still exploring what his future options are in continuing his playing career. He added that one of the biggest honours he received in his time in Saskatoon was being named the captain of the Blades.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere (#5) hugs Tanner Molendyk.

During his first three seasons with the Blades, De La Gorgendiere watched how Chase Wouters carried himself as captain of the team. The two became good friends, and once De La Gorgendiere became captain, he would contact Wouters to talk about various variables about the leadership role.

Overall, De Le Gorgendiere wanted to carry on the outstanding work Wouters put in as the Blades captain. De La Gorgendiere was proud to be the captain of the Blades.

“It means a lot to me,” said De La Gorgendiere. “I pride myself in being a good teammate and a good person and trying to be a leader for our team.

“Young guys coming in, I try and welcome them and make them feel comfortable. I’d say I pride myself in wearing this letter. I’m just happy I could be that guy for this team.”

DaSilva inks extension with Blades, named associate coach

Dan DaSilva, back row centre, checks out action from the Blades’ bench.

Dan DaSilva will be back with the Saskatoon Blades as part of the team’s coaching staff.

On Wednesday, the club announced DaSilva, who is from Saskatoon, signed a two-year extension with the team and has been promoted from assistant coach to associate coach. DaSilva, who is 38-years-old, joined the Blades before the start of the 2021-22 campaign and has helped the club post an 86-41-7-2 over the past two seasons.

Last season with DaSilva on a staff led by head coach Brennan Sonne, the Blades finished fourth overall in the WHL regular season standings with a 48-15-4-1 record and were rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. In the post-season, the Blades advanced to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series for the first time in 29 seasons falling in a sweep to the Winnipeg Ice.

In an Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Blades fell behind the Red Deer Rebels 3-0 before rallying to take the series 4-3. With that rally, the Blades became the third team in the history of the WHL to rally from behind down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series before coming back to take the set 4-3. They joined the 1996 Spokane Chiefs and the 2013 Kelowna Rockets as the three clubs to pull off that comeback.

“I’m very happy to be coming back for another two years,” said DaSilva in a release. “I’d like to thank the Priestner family and (associate general manager) Steve Hildebrand for believing in me and giving me this opportunity.

“The organization has been unbelievable to me and my family over the past two years, and so it was an easy decision to return for two more. I look forward to getting back to work with the coaching staff and players later this summer. We have a great group, and I see big things happening over the next two seasons.”

A graduate of the Saskatoon Contacts under-18 AAA team, DaSilva played right wing for three seasons from 2002 to 2005 with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks appearing in 200 WHL regular season contests piling up 76 goals and 75 assists for 151 points. He moved on to play professionally for 15 seasons from 2005 to 2020 with various clubs in North America and Europe.

“Since day one, Dan has been a leader with his care and passion for the players,” said Sonne in a release. “His positivity within the coaches’ office and in the dressing room is infectious, and his growth as a coach has been exponential.

“The best coaches are those that are simultaneously good people and (have) good hockey minds, and when you already have one within your organization, you do your utmost to retain them.”

DaSilva rejoins Sonne’s staff that features assistant coach Wacey Rabbit, goaltending coach Jeff Harvey, assistant coach Jerome Engele and video coach Braeden Dahl.

Blades deal Roulette to Chiefs

Conner Roulette in action for the Blades in the WHL Playoffs.

Conner Roulette will be finishing up his WHL career with a team other than the Saskatoon Blades.

On Wednesday, the Blades dealt the 20-year-old standout right-winger to the Spokane Chiefs for a second round selection in the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft and a third pick in the 2027 Prospects Draft. The Blades acquired Roulette in a trade on August 30, 2022 with the Seattle Thunderbirds.

In the 2022-23 campaign, Roulette appeared in 60 regular season games with the Blades recording 24 goals, 39 assists and a plus-19 rating in the plus-minus department. He picked up another three goals and four assists in the Blades 18 games played in the 2023 WHL Playoffs.

In 191 career WHL regular season games played with the Thunderbirds and Blades, Roulette has posted 73 goals, 107 assists and a plus-59 rating. Roulette was selected by the Dallas Stars in the fourth round and 111^th overall in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

“We would like to thank Conner for a great season with us,” said Blades general manager Colin Priestner in a release. “He was a great player on the ice and his leadership with Indigenous youth in our city will have a lasting impact.”

With having dealt Roulette to the Chiefs, the Blades now have six players who could return this coming season to compete for three 20-year-old sports. Defencemen Charlie Wright and Spencer Shugrue along with forwards Jayden Wiens, Trevor Wong, Justin Lies and Jake Chiasson are the players that could potentially be battling for the Blades three 20-year-old spots. Chiasson has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers.

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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WHL Playoffs all about the favourites in 2023

Post-season lacked drama for most part on major junior circuit

Seattle C Jared Davidson is pursued by two Ice players.

Outside of a pair of series involving the Saskatoon Blades, the WHL Playoffs were pretty “ho hum” in 2023.

In the 15 best-of-seven series that made up the WHL’s post-season bracket, the team that posted the better record in the regular season won 14 of those sets. The only time a team with the weaker regular season record took a series came in the WHL final, when the Seattle Thunderbirds took out the Winnipeg Ice in five games.

That series wasn’t that much of an upset at all.

The Ice topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and was rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The 57 wins and 115 standings points are new franchise records for the Ice.

The Thunderbirds topped the Western Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 54-11-1-2 record. The U.S. Division champions were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Seattle’s 54 wins and standings points total of 111 points are new regular season club records.

Looking back, you could have made a case that the Thunderbirds should have been favoured over the Ice in the WHL Championship Series.

Connor Bedard almost singlehandedly won a playoff series.

Seattle’s roster contains 10 players who have been drafted by NHL teams and seven players who participated in the last world juniors. Winnipeg’s roster contained eight players who have been drafted by NHL teams and one player who participated in the last world juniors.

Still, the WHL Playoffs were all about the favourites in 2023. When the favourites got rolling, it often produced series that were short ones.

Out of the 15 series that made up the WHL’s post-season, seven of those series ended in sweeps and three of those sets concluded in five games. Only five out of the 15 series in the WHL Playoffs could be classified as long ones with three series ending in six games and just two series needing a series deciding Game 7 to reach a conclusion.

The Blades were involved in both series that needed a deciding Game 7 in the 2023 post-season. They were involved in the playoffs most compelling series taking on Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats in the first round.

Bedard did his best to singlehandedly win that set recording 10 goals, 10 assists and a plus-eight rating in the plus-minus department in those seven contests. The Pats won the first two games, the Blades claimed Games 3 to 5, Regina was victorious in Game 6 and Saskatoon closed things off with a 4-1 victory in Game 7.

Blades utility player Spencer Shugrue (#26) became “Mr. Game 7.”

That Game 7 was played before a sellout crowd of 14,768 spectators at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon and created an electric atmosphere in the Blades home rink.

The Blades were involved with the best story when they took on the Red Deer Rebels in an Eastern Conference semifinal Series. The Rebels won the first three games of the set, and were up 2-0 after 20 minutes and 2-1 going into the third period of Game 4 at the Peavey Mart Centrium in Red Deer.

A three-goal surge in the third period lifted the Blades to a 4-2 victory. That marked the first of four straight wins for the Saskatoon side allowing the Blades to become the third team in WHL history to rally back and win a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games of the set.

The Blades joined the 1996 Spokane Chiefs and the 2013 Kelowna Rockets as the only clubs in the history of the WHL to pull off that type of series comeback. Saskatoon took Game 7 of their series with the Rebels by a 5-2 score in front of an energized crowd of 9,489 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

Blades utility player Spencer Shugrue earned the nickname of “Mr. Game 7.” He had a goal and an assist in the Game 7 win over the Pats and two tallies in the Game 7 win over the Rebels.

Fatigue took its toll on Shugrue and the Blades gutty stars in Trevor Wong, Egor Sidorov, Aidan De La Gorgendiere, Brandon Lisowsky and the rest of the Saskatoon roster. The Blades were swept away by the Ice in the Eastern Conference Championships Series.

Ice C Matthew Savoie (#93) corners past Blades C Trevor Wong.

The Ice managed to get off the ropes in their Eastern Conference semifinal with the Moose Jaw Warriors. The Warriors led the series 2-1 and Game 4 in Moose Jaw went to overtime. Ice star centre Zack Ostapchuk scored in extra time to allow Winnipeg to take that contest 3-2 to even the series at 2-2.

Following that Game 4 win, the Ice pulled out a gritty 5-2 victory in Game 5 in Winnipeg and rolled to an 8-2 victory in Game 6 in Moose Jaw.

The Thunderbirds claimed a physical six-game set in the Western Conference Championship Series against the Kamloops Blazers. The Blazers are the host squad for the CHL’s championship tournament – the Memorial Cup. With that noted, they went full out to try and get to that event as WHL champions.

While the WHL Championship Series ended in five games, it was tightly contested. The Ice won the first contest, and the Thunderbirds rolled off four straight wins from there to claim their second league title in team history.

Game 4 of that series proved to be pivotal. The two sides entered the third period locked in a 2-2 tie, and the Thunderbirds scored twice in third to pull out a 4-2 victory at the Accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash.

Had the Ice won that contest, the series would have been tied 2-2 and was guaranteed to go six games. That could have produced a different ending to the WHL final.

Thomas Milic was the MVP of the WHL Playoffs.

In Game 5 at the Accesso ShoWare Center, it seemed like it became a mental block came over the Ice players when it came to trying to shoot on Thunderbirds star netminder Thomas Milic. The Winnipeg players passed up many shooting opportunities in that contest.

The Thunderbirds skated away with a 3-1 win to claim the Ed Chynoweth Cup before a sellout crowd of 6,202 spectators and Milic was named the MVP of the WHL Playoffs.

Overall, the WHL Playoffs were predictable in 2023, and that kind of dulled the interest in the post-season outside of the Blades two series wins in Game 7 and a couple of other spots here and there.

The WHL Playoffs in 2023 just happened to be one of those years where there was a lack of drama in the post-season.

Habscheid joins Vienna Capitals as head coach

Marc Habscheid raises the Ed Chynoweth Cup in 2019.

Marc Habscheid had elected to remain in Austria to coach for the upcoming 2023-24 campaign.

Habscheid, who is 60-years-old, was named the new head coach of the Vienna Capitals located in Vienna, Austria, of the ICE Hockey League in April shortly after the club’s former head coach in Dave Barr, who is 62-years-old, stepped down after two seasons. The Capitals posted a 24-17-7 record last season to finish sixth in the 13-team circuit.

Habscheid’s move to the Capitals came shortly after he resigned as head coach of Bemer Pioneers Vorarlberg located in Feldkirch, Austria. The Swift Current, Sask., product was the Pioneers first head coach and play on the same circuit as the Capitals. The Pioneers finished last on the 13-team circuit with an 11-34-3 mark.

Before heading over to Austria, Habscheid served as the head coach for the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders from November 1, 2014 to July 14, 2022. He guided the Raiders to their second WHL championship in team history in the 2018-19 campaign.

Habscheid was a long time star coach in the WHL having spent time behind the bench of the Kamloops Blazers, Kelowna Rockets and the Chilliwack Bruins/Victoria Royals franchise before joining the Raiders. He guided the Rockets to a WHL championship in the 2002-03 campaign and a Memorial Cup title in 2003-04.

In 18 seasons as a WHL head coach, Habscheid has coached in 1,166 regular season games posting 582 wins, 456 losses and 128 games where his team earned standings points in ties and extra time setbacks. His 582 victories places him fifth on the WHL’s all-time career regular season wins list.

During his time as a head coach in the WHL, Habscheid’s teams made the post-season on 14 occasions and he coached in 139 games in the WHL Playoffs posting 75 wins and 64 losses. His 75 career victories in the WHL Playoffs are the seventh most in the history of the circuit.

Before becoming a coach, Habscheid had a lengthy playing career as a skilled centre skating in 345 NHL regular season games spread over 11 seasons from 1981 to 1992 with the Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota North Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Calgary Flames where he recorded 72 goals and 91 assists.

He starred for the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades from 1979 to 1982 before concluding his time on the major junior circuit playing six games with the Kamloops Junior Oilers in the 1982-83 campaign. In 148 career regular season WHL contests, Habscheid recorded 107 goals and 169 assists for 276 points. He was a member of Canada’s first gold medal at world juniors in the 1981-82 campaign.

Remparts, Petes round out Memorial Cup field, other notes

The Quebec Remparts and the Peterborough Petes will round out the field at the four-team Memorial Cup tournament.

The field already included the host Kamloops Blazers and the WHL champion Seattle Thunderbirds for the annual event that crowns a CHL champion. On Sunday, the Remparts captured the QMJHL title and the Petes claimed the OHL crown. The Memorial Cup starts this coming Friday and runs through to Sunday, June 4 at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops.

The Remparts took the best-of-seven QMJHL final in six games against the Halifax Mooseheads. In Game 6 on Sunday, the Remparts trailed the Mooseheads 4-3 with less than three minutes remaining in the third period but rallied for a 5-4 victory before 10,300 spectators at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, N.S.

The Remparts finished first overall in the QMJHL regular season standings with a 53-12-1-2 record and were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Mooseheads finished second overall in the QMJHL regular season with a 50-11-4-3 mark and were rated seventh in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Petes claimed the best-of-seven OHL final in six games against the London Knights. In Game 6 on Sunday, the Petes slipped past the Knights 2-1 before a supportive home crowd of 4,101 spectators at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.

The Knights finished fifth overall in the OHL regular season standings with a 45-21-2 mark, while the Petes were 10^th overall with a 35-29-2-2 record.

The Memorial Cup opens on Friday with the host Blazers taking on the Remparts at 6 p.m. local time. The Thunderbirds face the Petes on Saturday at 3 p.m. local time. The championship final is slated for Sunday, June 4 at 4 p.m. local time.

• Last Thursday, Steve Konowalchuk stepped down as head coach of the Red Deer Rebels for family reasons. His family resides in Seattle, Wash. The 50-year-old Konowalchuk served as the Rebels head coach for the past two campaigns posting an 86-36-3-3 record in regular season action. The Rebels topped the WHL’s Central Division in 2022-23 with a 43-19-3-3 mark and were eliminated in the post-season in an Eastern Conference semifinal series by the Saskatoon Blades in seven games. Ryan Colville, who is 40-years-old, also resigned as a Rebels assistant coach last Thursday in order to look for a coaching position closer to his home in Cincinnati, Ohio.
• Last Friday, Kamloops Blazers left-winger Daylan Kuefler signed a three-year NHL entry-level contract with the New York Islanders. In 54 regular season games with the Blazers this season, Kuefler, who turned 21-years-old in February, recorded 31 goals, 30 assists and a plus-32 rating in the plus-minus category. Kuefler’s assists, points and plus-minus totals were all career highs.
• The AJHL’s Brooks Bandits are building a junior A dynasty. On Sunday, the AJHL champion Bandits blanked the SJHL champion Battlefords North Stars 4-0 in the championship game of the Centennial Cup tournament held in Portage la Prairie, Man. The Bandits allowed just four goals in six games. They have won the Centennial Cup the last three times it has been awarded and four times total in team history.
• On May 9, I had new content appear on the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a piece on Evan Johnson, who is the starting right guard with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders. Johnson likes giving back to the sport of football by coaching young players at the grassroots level of the game representing the Roughriders at community events. The piece on Johnson can be found by clicking right here. I also put together a photo roundup that shows the spring season at the Complex finally hitting high speed. That post 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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Thunderbirds perch on WHL mountaintop as champs

Seattle captures second league title in team history

The Thunderbirds are WHL champs. (Photo courtesy Seattle Thunderbirds)

The unsung heroes sealed the WHL championship celebration for the Seattle Thunderbirds.

On Friday night, the Thunderbirds got goals from 19-year-old checking centre Sam Popowich and standout 18-year-old left-winger Nico Myatovic to skate away with a 3-1 victory over the visiting Winnipeg Ice in Game 5 of the WHL Championship Series before a sellout crowd of 6,202 at the Accesso ShoWare Centre in Kent, Wash.

With the win, the Thunderbirds claimed the best-of-seven series with the Ice 4-1 and captured the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions for the second time in team history. The Thunderbirds won their first WHL title in 2017 in an era where Mathew Barzal and Ethan Bear starred for the team.

In 2017, Seattle captured the WHL title with a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 6 of the championship series in Regina against the host Pats courtesy of Alexander True’s winner to take that series 4-2. On Friday, the Thunderbirds won the league title in front of a raucous home crowd that stood and saluted the team as the final seconds of the third period ticked away.

While the Thunderbirds got key goals from Popowich and Myatovic in Game 5, one of their best known heroes in netminder Thomas Milic came through with another big performance. He made 30 saves in Friday’s victory. On top of making key stops, Milic seemed to have the Ice’s best player off balance as they started to look hesitant and seemed to be second guessing some of their shot choices.

On top of backstopping the Thunderbirds to a league championship, Milic was named the MVP of the WHL Playoffs. Milic was the only goalie the Thunderbirds used in their 19 post-season games, and he posted a 16-3 record, a 1.95 goals against average, a .933 save percentage and one shutout.

Lucas Ciona, left, gets the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

The Coquitlam, B.C., product had to assert himself early in Friday’s contest. Early in the first period, Ice right-winger Owen Pederson, who turned 21-years-old in March, was turned away on a close in opportunity thanks to a right pad save by Milic. Later in the first period, Milic stopped Ice star centre Matthew Savoie on a dangerous scoring opportunity from the right faceoff circle on a Winnipeg power-play chance.

The Thunderbirds got a boost on Friday returning standout centre Jordan Gustafson, who turned 19-years-old in January, to their lineup. During the Thunderbirds six-game Western Conference Championship Series win over the Kamloops Blazers, it is suspected Gustafson was injured as part of the celebration for offensive-defenceman Jeremy Hanzel’s overtime winner in Game 2 of that set claimed by the Thunderbirds 4-3 on April 30.

The Thunderbirds healthy scratched 19-year-old forward Ashton McNelly to make room for Gustafson.

The Ice were without 19-year-old defenceman Wyatt Wilson, who was injured in Game 5 on April 22 of the team’s Eastern Conference semifinal series win over the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Late in the first period, Gustafson had a big chance to open the game’s scoring when he found himself on a breakaway. He snapped a shot that got past Ice star netminder Daniel Hauser but rang it off the post of the Winnipeg net. The puck landed in front of the goal-line of the Winnipeg net before it was swept away by Hauser.

Thomas Milic, left, is named MVP of the WHL Playoffs.

At the conclusion of the first period, the contest was scoreless with the Ice holding an 11-9 edge in shots on goal. The contest remained scoreless until there was 6:45 remaining in the second period, when Popowich broke the ice for the Thunderbirds.

Standing in front of the Winnipeg net, Popowich gave the Thunderbirds a 1-0 lead tipping home a shot taken from the right point by Hanzel. That tally was Popowich’s second post-season goal to go with five assists appearing in all of the Thunderbirds 19 games in the WHL Playoffs. Popowich, who is in his third full season with Seattle, appeared in all of the Thunderbirds 68 regular season contests recording nine goal, 14 assists and a plus-14 rating in the plus-minus department.

At the 2:27 mark of the third, Myatovic forced the Ice into an error he was ultimately able to cash in on. Myatovic had a breakaway on the Winnipeg net, but he was chopped down by diving Ice defenceman Graham Sward. The officials award Myatovic a penalty shot.

On the penalty shot, Myatovic put a deke on Hauser going forehand to backhand to forehand before snapping a shot into the Winnipeg net to give the host side a 2-0 advantage. Skating through his third season with the Thunderbirds, Myatovic had a breakout campaign appearing in all of his club’s 68 regular season contests recording career highs in goals (30), assists (30), points (60) and plus-minus (plus-43).

The Prince George, B.C., product’s production was a bit more quiet as he skated in all his squad’s 19 post-season games recording four goals, three assists, seven points and a plus-eight rating.

Thunderbirds fans cheer on their team.

The Ice didn’t go away. At the 5:02 mark of the third, hard working left-winger Evan Friesen snapped a midrange shot home through a screen to cut the Thunderbirds advantage to 2-1.

With 4:20 remaining in the third, the Ice had a huge chance to get the equalizer, when Thunderbirds captain Lucas Ciona was given a minor penalty for boarding. Due to good work by the Thunderbirds penalty killers and the Ice players second guessing shot opportunities, the Winnipeg side wasn’t able to manufacture any good scoring chances with that opportunity with the man advantage.

After that penalty was killed, the Ice pulled Hauser with 1:52 remaining in the third for an extra attacker. With 66 seconds remaining in the third, Thunderbirds star right-winger Dylan Guenther got a pass to star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic to send Crnkovic in alone on the empty Winnipeg net. Crnkovic put home the empty-net goal to seal the Thunderbirds 3-1 victory.

Hauser turned away 35-of-37 shots to take the setback in goal for the Ice.  

The WHL final between the Ice and Thunderbirds was expected to be a heavyweight tilt.

Winnipeg topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and was rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The 57 wins and 115 standings points are new franchise records for the Ice.

Daniel Hauser contemplates the Ice’s loss in the WHL final.

The Thunderbirds topped the Western Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 54-11-1-2 record. The U.S. Division champions were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Seattle’s 54 wins and standings points total of 111 points are new regular season club records.

Seattle’s roster contains 10 players who have been drafted by NHL teams and seven players who participated in the last world juniors. Winnipeg’s roster contained eight players who have been drafted by NHL teams and one player who participated in the last world juniors.

Winnipeg won the opening game of the series, before Seattle roared back with four straight victories. Heading into the WHL Championship Series, the Ice hadn’t lost more than two in a row at any part of the 2022-23 campaign.

Last season, Seattle fell in six games in the WHL final to the Edmonton Oil Kings, while the Ice fell in five games to the Oil Kings in the Eastern Conference Championship Series.

Now, the Thunderbirds will head to the CHL championship tournament – the Memorial Cup. The Memorial Cup runs from May 26 to June 4 at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, B.C.

The Blazers, who are the tournament hosts, open the event hosting the QMJHL champion on Friday, May 26 at 6 p.m. local time. The Thunderbirds will take on the OHL champion on Saturday, May 27 at 3 p.m. local time.

The QMJHL and OHL championship series are still in progress. The Quebec Remparts lead the Halifax Mooseheads 3-2 in the QMJHL final, and the Peterborough Petes lead the London Knights 3-2 in the OHL final.

The Thunderbirds will undoubtedly get rest before turning their attention towards the Memorial Cup tournament.

Thomas Milic skates with the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

No matter what happens there, they will never forget their WHL title clinching win and the celebration that followed with their home fans on what turned out to be magical night for the host side at the Accesso ShoWare Center.

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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