Sidorov loves hockey, nets hat trick to push Blades past T-birds

Egor Sidorov celebrates his hat trick goal on Saturday.

The more fun Egor Sidorov has the better he plays.

Taking ice on Saturday against the Seattle Thunderbirds, who entered the night leading the WHL’s overall standings, at the SaskTel Centre, the 18-year-old Belarusian import right-winger, who is residing in Canada full time, set out to be the best version of himself suiting up for the Saskatoon Blades. That meant a smile was on his face that was a mile wide and he approached the game with the joy of a classic Saskatchewan farm kid skating outside on a frozen over slough just outside of a classic “wheat province” town like Borden.

Sidorov proceeded to post his third hat trick of the season to power the Blades to a 4-2 victory. With the two sides locked in a 1-1 tie, Sidorov proceeded to score once late in the second and twice in the third to give the Blades a 4-1 edge. The host side cruised to victory from there.

Egor Sidorov (#19) enjoys his hat trick goal with his teammates.

After each time he scored, Sidorov, who stands 6-feet and weighs 180 pounds, celebrated each of his goals with childlike enthusiasm. When he was named the game’s first star, Sidorov, who is a fan favourite, decided to have some fun with the fans.

For years, the Blades players give souvenir sticks out to the fans to acknowledge three star selections during home games. When Sidorov came out to hand out his souvenir stick, he started to skate across centre ice, but made a quick u-turn to toss his stick to a child aged supporter who was sitting just down the row from the Thunderbirds bench.

Since arriving in Saskatoon before the start of the 2021-22 campaign, Sidorov has gotten better at speaking English, but he kind of sticks to simple sentences. Still, he draws the biggest fan reaction to the live audience post-game interviews Blades play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk does either in the concourse area on the west side of the building that has restaurant style seating or from the building’s main fan lounge.

Egor Sidorov controls the puck in the offensive zone.

Following Saturday’s win over the Thunderbirds, Sidorov was pulled over for an on ice interview next to the Blades bench by game host Clayton Kroeker. The first thing Sidorov did was thank the 4,605 spectators for coming out for that night’s game.

Most of the fans were still in the building to see Sidorov take his first star hours, and they gave the Blades star a nice round of applause. Sidorov was indeed the best version of himself, and the Blades seemed to have their “moxie” going for the whole contest.

Over the past eight games, the Blades, who improved to 27-8-2-1 with the win on Saturday to sit fifth overall in the WHL standings, faced their hardest stretch of quality opponents. On top of taking on the Thunderbirds, they faced the Eastern Conference leading Winnipeg Ice twice, the Red Deer Rebels, who equaled Seattle for most standings points at night’s end, once and the Portland Winterhawks, who sit fourth overall in the WHL standings, once.

Egor Sidorov (#19) goes by Seattle LW Kyle Crnkovic on a rush.

On top of that, the Blades took on the 22-12-3-1 Calgary Hitmen, encountered the 20-17-0-1 Swift Current Broncos on a hot streak and mixed it up with the 21-19-1-1 Regina Pats as they start to get hot with phenom centre Connor Bedard back in the lineup.

Saturday’s victory over the Thunderbirds marked the second time the Blades have posted a win over their challenging last eight game stretch. During that stretch, the Blades had outings where they played well and lost.

That included falling twice to the Ice in Winnipeg 2-0 on Dec. 30, 2022 and 2-1 in overtime on Dec. 31, 2022 along with taking a 3-1 setback against the Winterhawks at home on Wednesday. In those games, the Blades made one or two mistakes that were costly.

Austin Elliott made 30 saves in goal for the Blades on Saturday.

The Blades had other outings where their game went away from them over stretches of like 10 minutes. Along with those losses, the Blades downed the Rebels at home 6-2 on Jan. 7.

The Saskatoon side needed a traction win against a top tier club to get a groove going again. Saturday’s win over the Thunderbirds seemed to provide just that.

The Blades systematically took control of play in the first period and broke through on the scoreboard with 6:07 remaining in the frame. Blades star centre Trevor Wong received a pass in front of the Seattle net from linemate Jake Chiasson and wired home a midrange shot for his 15^th tally of the season to put the hosts up 1-0.

Trevor Wong had a goal and two assists for the Blades.

When the first period came to an end, the Blades were holding a 10-5 edge in shots on goal.

The Thunderbirds pushed back in the second. The visitors evened the score at 1-1 at the 11:12 mark of the frame, when 18-year-old right-winger Nico Myatovic swooped from behind the Saskatoon net into the right faceoff circle and wired home his 16^th goal of the season.

At that point, Sidorov, who is rated 86^th among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting’s Mid-Term Rankings, went to work. With the Blades working on the power play, Sidorov received a pass from Blades captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere, set up to the left of the right faceoff dot in the Seattle zone and zipped home a shot short side on Thunderbirds netminder Scott Ratzlaff to put the hosts up 2-1 with 1:24 remaining in the second.

Nico Myatovic scored the Thunderbirds first goal on Saturday.

Sidorov netted his second tally of the contest at the 5:46 mark of the third off a two-on-one rush. 

On the play, Wong entered the Seattle zone with the puck on a rush down the left wing. He fed a pass across the front of the Seattle net to Sidorov who quickly snapped home a shot to give the Blades a 3-1 advantage.

At the 11:28 mark of the third, Sidorov completed the hat trick. He got the puck alone at the left side of the Seattle net, put a deke on Ratzlaff and lifted a shot over top the netminder’s blocker to give the Blades a 4-1 advantage.

In 27 games with the Blades this season, Sidorov now has 22 goals, 19 assists and a plus-17 rating in the plus-minus department.

Kevin Korchinski had a goal for the Thunderbirds on Saturday.

The Thunderbirds didn’t go away. With 3:01 remaining in the third, Thunderbirds offensive-defenceman Kevin Korchinski swooped down from the point to the left side of the Saskatoon net and covered a backdoor feed from Thunderbirds right-winger Brad Lambert to cut the Saskatoon lead to 4-2.

Saskatoon proceeded to close out the game defensively to make the 4-2 score hold up as the final outcome of the contest.

Austin Elliott stopped 30 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Ratzlaff turned away 18 shots to take the setback in net for the Thunderbirds, who fell to 30-7-1-1.

Wong finished the contest with three points picking up two assists to go with his goal.

The Blades celebrate their win on Saturday.

The Thunderbirds return home and are off until Friday, when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

The Blades return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the 26-14-0-2 Warriors (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre).

The Warriors should provide another stiff test for the Blades. With that said, Saturday’s win over the Thunderbirds should prove as a timely reminder for the Blades that they beat the WHL best teams, and Sidorov showed once again you can have fun doing it too.

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Bedard no deal means WHL trade rules work

Connor Bedard star status grew at world juniors.

The WHL trade deadline came and went on Tuesday, and Connor Bedard remained a member of the Regina Pats.

That development proved the WHL’s trade rules work.

Following the 2017-18 season, the WHL put in rules that teams aren’t allowed to trade 15-or-16-year-old players who have signed WHL contracts. The only time a 17-year-old player will be allowed to be traded is if that player requests a trade.

The 17-year-old player will have to approach the team’s general manager to ask for a trade, and a team won’t be able to make the first move asking a 17-year-old player to waive his no trade clause.

The rule changes were made in response to the large number of trades that were made involving younger players leading to the WHL’s trade deadline of January 10, 2018. There were cases where 15-year-old players were being dealt before they had a chance to play a regular season game with the club that originally drafted them.

The spirit of the rules were to allow those players the chance to play with the team that drafted them and not have to worry about changing schools, while they were still in high school. The request for trade provision was put in to allow players who felt they were slipping through the cracks with regards to a lack of playing time to get a fresh start with a new club. A reality of junior hockey is that happens.

What goes against those roles is trying to convince a 17-year-old phenom to be traded to get a huge return of assets.

Bedard’s presence in the WHL created the biggest challenge to those rules. Coming into the WHL for the 2020-21 season, Bedard was the first player to be granted exceptional player status to play in the WHL at age 15.

Connor Bedard leads the WHL in scoring

Now at age 17, Bedard, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 185 pounds, has lived up to every bit of the tag of being a generational talent. His star status grew that much larger at this past world juniors, which concluded on January 5 with Bedard’s Team Canada side downing Czechia 3-2 in overtime in the gold medal final at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, N.S.

For that event co-hosted in Halifax and Moncton, N.B., Bedard topped the tourney in goals (nine), assists (14), points (23) and had the best plus-minus (+13). The North Vancouver, B.C., product was named the most valuable player at world juniors along with picking up accolades being named the event’s best forward and a tournament all-star.

His tallies for assists and points were new Canadian records for a single world juniors along with setting a new record for points in a tournament by any player aged 18 or younger. In 16 career games played at world juniors, Bedard set new Canadian career records at the event for goals (16) and points (36).

On WHL trade deadline day, Bedard was leading the league in scoring, and the Pats sat seventh overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference holding the conference’s second last playoff position, if the regular season ended that day.

Before leaving to join Canada’s world junior team, Bedard spoke to the media in Regina on December 7, 2022, and he said he wanted to remain with the Pats and play the entirety of his junior hockey career in Regina. Right there, that should have been the end of the story on the trade front.

Still, that didn’t seem to be enough for way too many WHL fans, WHL followers and media types who cover hockey at both the junior and professional levels. Chatter on social media and sports talk shows was that Bedard should be traded to a team near the top of the WHL’s overall standings that was in better position to contend for a league title and the CHL championship trophy - the Memorial Cup - for a king’s ransom of assets.

Often, those comments came with complete silence over the rules regarding trading high school aged players in the WHL.

Connor Bedard was the MVP of world juniors.

There were people that didn’t take Bedard or Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock, who said repeatedly he wasn’t going to trade Bedard, at their word. There were people out there who thought both Bedard and Paddock were lying and would believe what they saw if Bedard was indeed trade or not traded.

There were people who thought Pats management should be unscrupulous and convince Bedard he needed to be traded to a club at or near the top of the WHL overall standings to get a massive haul in assets and that the WHL office should look the other way when this all goes down. Due to the fact numerous unscrupulous things go down in all walks of life these days, there were people who believed that Bedard would be traded hook or crook.

Those types of talks or thoughts speak more about the people who envisioned things going down in an unscrupulous manner as opposed to Bedard and Paddock.

In Bedard’s short career in hockey and the seemly the six decades long career in the game of the 68-year-old Paddock, both have been straight shooters. It could be argued that Paddock is as straight of a shooter as you will ever find in the game of hockey.

Bedard wanted to remain with the Pats and the spirit of the rules in the WHL with regards to trading 17-year-old players was respected. This was a big win for the league, because it shows the rules that were put in place work.

Following Friday’s action in the WHL, the Pats sport a 20-19-1-1 and still sit seventh overall in the Eastern Conference. Bedard still leads the WHL in scoring totally 75 points coming off 34 goals and 41 assists to go with a plus-21 rating in 30 appearances with the Pats.

On Friday, NHL Central Scouting’s Mid-Term Rankings were released, and Bedard was listed as the top prospect among North American skaters for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, which will be held at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, from June 28 to 29. Barring something unforeseen, Bedard will be the first player selected in that draft.

Connor Bedard is likely skating in his final months as a WHLer.

Until then, Bedard makes the Pats a dangerous team. Even if the Pats make the WHL Playoffs with one of the bottom two seeds in the Eastern Conference, they can be a bracket buster. Bedard has the potential to will the Pats past superior opposition.

If Bedard is able to do that, it might go down as a bigger accomplishment than Lionel Messi willing Argentina to a World Cup title in soccer, which is known as football outside of Canada and the United States, this past December.

Over the long term, the Pats will reap benefits as being the only junior team Bedard played for before joining the NHL.

Overall, the right thing happened, when Bedard remained a member of the Pats at the WHL trade deadline. Again, fans of all type should get out to the rink and enjoy the Bedard phenom while it is still in the WHL.

Bedard bashes Blades in Pats 7-4 win

Connor Bedard, right, had five points for the Pats on Friday.

Not even any Friday the 13^th hexes could stop Connor Bedard.

The Regina Pats 17-year-old phenom centre had another spectacular night as the Pats posted a 7-4 victory over the visiting Saskatoon Blades on Friday night. Bedard recorded a hat trick that including the winning goal, two assists and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department in the Pats victory, which saw a season high crowd of 5,651 spectators turn out at the Brandt Centre.

With the five-point outburst, Bedard was able to surpass 200 career regular season points during his time in the WHL. In 107 career regular season games, Bedard has 97 goals and 106 assists for 203 points to go with a plus-30 rating.

Zack Stringer, Steel Quiring, Braxton Whitehead and Borya Valis all netted singles for the Pats. Czech import defenceman Stanislav Svozil collected four assists for Regina.

Trevor Wong, Egor Sidorov, Brandon Lisowsky and Tanner Molendyk replied with singles for the Blades. Wong has a pair of assists to go with his goal.

Drew Sim stopped 21 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pats (20-19-1-1). Ethan Chadwick turned away 18-of-25 shots taking the setback in net for the Blades (26-8-2-1).

The two sides were tied 1-1 after 20 minutes, and the Pats held a 3-2 advantage after two periods.

The Pats return to action when they host the Portland Winterhawks (28-7-2-1) at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.

The Blades are back at it on Saturday when they host the WHL leading Seattle Thunderbirds (30-6-1-1) at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Thunderbirds slip past spirited Raiders 3-2

Ryder Ritchie had a pair of assists for the Raiders on Friday.

The Seattle Thunderbirds allowed star defenceman Nolan Allan to come out a winner on his return to Prince Albert.

On Friday night playing in front of a standing room crowd of 2,602 spectators at the 2,580 Art Hauser Centre, the Thunderbirds gutted out a 3-2 victory against a host Raiders squad that put in a spirited effort. Allan, who is a 19-year-old alternate captain with the Thunderbirds, started the current season as the Raiders captain before being dealt to Seattle in a blockbuster trade on November 16, 2022.

Allan appeared in seven regular season games for the Raiders in their 2018-19 WHL championship season as an associate player call up before joining the club full time in 2019-20. In 162 career regular season games with the Raiders, Allan recorded 14 goals, 49 assists and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department.

The Davidson product, who helped Canada win gold at this past world juniors, was held without a point on Friday but was still named the game’s third star.

Overage star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic netted his 20^th goal of the season and recorded an assist to pace the Thunderbirds. Brad Lambert and Jordan Gustafson recorded singles for Seattle.

Lambert, who is a centre from Finland, was playing in his first career WHL game after being assigned to the Thunderbirds by the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. He had been playing with the Jets AHL affiliate in the Manitoba Moose.

Niall Crocker and Sloan Stanick replied for the Raiders. Ryder Ritchie, who is a 16-year-old rookie left-winger, picked up assists on both Prince Albert goals. In 33 appearances with the Raiders, Ritchie has 11 goals and 14 assists.

Thomas Milic stopped 26 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Thunderbirds (30-6-1-1). Max Hildebrand turned away 31 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders (14-23-3).

After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, the two sided were tied 1-1 after the second before the Thunderbirds squeaked out the victory.

The Raiders hit the road to take on the Oil Kings (6-34-1) on Saturday in Edmonton (7 p.m. local time, Rogers Place).

The Thunderbirds are also back in action on Saturday as they take on the Blades (26-8-2-1) in Saskatoon (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

“All in” cost become too high on WHL trade front

It appears win now and lose for five seasons afterwards has become commonplace thinking for some WHL teams and also with some fans judging by social media.

What recent history has shown in the WHL, fans that were all in for a load up like Saskatoon in 2013 and Regina and Swift Current in 2018 had short memories when the following season rolled around. Often, those fans of the Blades, Pats and Broncos were all upset about why their respective teams couldn’t win anymore and loss totals tallied up anywhere between 45 and 51 defeats excluding extra time setbacks.

Starting in 2018 when WHL trades started to be more commonplace where one player was traded for a boatload of assets, it seemed deals that were made approaching this year’s WHL trade deadline, which passed at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, confirmed that the “all in” mentality is here to stay.

The craziest trade came on Sunday between the Kamloops Blazers, who will host the CHL championship tournament in the Memorial Cup, and Everett Silvertips. In the deal, the Blazers received 19-year-old defenceman Olen Zellweger, who helped Canada win gold at the recently wrapped up world juniors, and star overage power forward Ryan Hofer.

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

Jockims nets Winterhawks winner in hometown curtain call

Former Contacts captain fitting in with WHL powerhouse

Braeden Jockims scored his first career WHL goal on Wednesday.

Braeden Jockims ensured his parents collected one more memento from his hockey career before departing to his new WHL home in the western United States.

On Wednesday night at the SaskTel Centre, the 17-year-old right-winger and Saskatoon product was playing in just his second career WHL regular season game as his Portland Winterhawks took on the host Saskatoon Blades. With the two sides locked in a 1-1 with just under six minutes remaining in the second period, Jockims broke into the Saskatoon zone down the right wing on a two-on-one rush with linemate Nick Johnson against Blades overage captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere.

Braeden Jockims (#8) battles along the boards for the puck.

When De La Gorgendiere slid down on the ice to take away the passing lane to Johnson, Jockims wired a shot past the glove of Blades netminder Austin Elliott into the Saskatoon goal from the right faceoff circle. 

The tally was Jockim’s first career WHL goal and it stood up as the winner in a 3-1 Winterhawks victory before a gathering of 2,979 spectators.

Following the contest, Jockims said the first thing he wanted to do with the goal puck was give it to his father Greg Jockims, who is a long time elite level basketball coach, and mother Shana McLean.

“I don’t trust myself to not lose it,” said Braeden with a chuckle.

Braeden Jockims was playing his second career WHL game.

Over the past seven days, Braeden learned a newfound appreciation for the opportunity to play in front of family and friends in his hometown, especially his parents. At the start of the new year, Braeden was the captain of the Saskatoon Contacts under-18 AAA team.

He was having a solid season too appearing in 27 regular season games with the Contacts posting 14 goals and eight assists.

Braeden was listed by the Winterhawks in 2021, and the team’s management believed he had improved enough that time came to offer him a roster spot. On January 4, Braeden officially signed a WHL player agreement with the Winterhawks and joined the club’s active roster immediately right before the squad started a six-game road trip through the WHL’s East Division.

Winterhawks Booster Club members do the“T.N.T.” goal chant.

He made his WHL debut on Tuesday, when the Winterhawks downed the Raiders in Prince Albert 5-3. When he got to play at home against the Blades, Braeden was pumped his could pot his first WHL goal with his parents in attendance along with a sizable gather of family and friends.

“I really enjoy playing in front of my parents,” said Braeden, who stands 6-feet and weighs 174 pounds. “I always like to get texts from my dad of what I did wrong and what I did good, so I get some feedback right away.”

While he was making a memory potting a big goal with his new team, Braeden admitted he was going to miss his old team. He said it was difficult to leave the Contacts behind at midseason, but everyone with the under-18 AAA squad was supportive of the opportunity he had with the Winterhawks.

Winterhawks goalie Dante Giannuzzi, left, dives on a loose puck.

“It was a tough decision,” said Jockims. “It definitely affected my decision on whether or not I wanted to leave them.

“Once I told them that I got offered a spot, everyone said I should go. That is the whole point of the team is to get to the next level as quick as possible, and they wanted me just to get there as fast as possible. They were all supporting my aspirations.”

Jockims said the decision to join the Winterhawks was made easier by the fact he knew he was going to a good place. Since the start of the 2009-10 season, the Winterhawks have regularly been one of the WHL’s top teams.

Robbie Fromm-Delorme (#11) looks to set up a screen.

With Wednesday’s win, they improved to 28-6-2-1 to sit one point behind the Seattle Thunderbirds (29-6-1-1) for first in the Western Conference. Jockims said the Winterhawks have a good vibe going on the team.

“The guys have been really welcoming to me,” said Jockims. “It feels like I have been here since the start of the year.

“Everyone is super kind to me and welcoming.”

As for another bonus when it comes to playing for the Winterhawks, Jockims couldn’t help but keep smiling when he heard members of the Portland Winterhawks Booster Club in the crowd doing the team’s goal chant to AC/DC’s “T.N.T.” after he scored. The Booster Club is following the Winterhawks around to every stop on the East Division road trip.

Vaughn Watterodt scored for the Blades on Wednesday.

“I think it is really cool,” said Jockims. “I think it is probably the best goal chant in the WHL in my opinion.”

Overall, Jockims said that first WHL goal will always be a career highlight.

“It was pretty exciting, especially scoring in front of family and friends,” said Jockims. “It was a great experience, and I’m hoping to score more for the rest of the year.

“It felt good to get the monkey off the back right away, and I am hoping to score more.”

The Winterhawks got on the board just 3:46 into the opening frame of Wednesdsay’s game when star right-winger Robbie Fromm-Delorme sniped home a shot from the left slot past Blades netminder Austin Elliott. Fromm-Delorme converted a nice drop pass from captain Gabe Klassen to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.

Jake Chiasson made his Blades debut on Wednesday.

The Blades evened things up at 1-1 seven minutes later. While working on the power play, right-winger Vaughn Watterodt potted his 17^th goal of the season close in from the left side of the Portland net to put the Blades on even terms. Defenceman Charlie Wright and right-winger Jake Chiasson picked up assists on Watterodt’s goal.

Chiasson, who is 19-years-old, was making his debut for the Blades having been acquired in deal with the Brandon Wheat Kings before the WHL’s trade deadline on Tuesday.

The hosts came out flying in the second period and were outshooting the Winterhawks 10-3 in the frame, when Jockims scored to seemingly halt Saskatoon’s momentum.

Nick Johnson (#92) rushes into the offensive zone for Portland.

In the third, the Blades pushed hard for the equalizer, but Winterhawks 19-year-old right-winger James Stefan finally sealed victory rounding out the 3-1 win with an empty-net goal with 11.1 seconds remaining in the frame.

Austin Elliott turned away 17-of-19 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades, who fell to 26-7-2-1. Dante Giannuzzi stopped 28 shots to pick up the win in net for the Winterhawks.

The Winterhawks get back at it on Friday, when they travel to Moose Jaw to face the 24-14-0-2 Warriors (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre).

The Blades return to action on Friday, when they travel to Regina to take on the Connor Bedard and the 19-19-1-1Pats (7 p.m., Brandt Centre).

The Winterhawks enjoy an empty-net goal from James Stefan (#13).

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Jockims believes he is going to have a lot of great experiences and more memorable moments with the Winterhawks.

“It is exciting,” said Jockims. “We got a really good group of guys.

“Everyone is really excited to keep going and keep working and keep pursuing and hopefully we take it all the way.”

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Break time on here for catch up, Christmas and a break

I’m dressed in a signature look for Saturday’s WHL game in Prince Albert.

Just when I feel like I am getting back in my WHL groove, I am putting this blog aside for a bit to get a break.

It seems a bit weird to do this now. Due to the way life has dealt out the cards, I wasn’t able to get back into the WHL rinks as quickly as I wanted.

I got out to scout a game in Regina between the host Pats and the Everett Silvertips on Oct. 29. The next day I covered the PFC final between the Saskatoon Hilltops and host Regina Thunder at Mosaic Stadium, which was won by the host side.

I finally started covering WHL games again in November, and it felt outstanding to be back in the rink. I feel like I am in my good place, when I am covering WHL games, because I’ve had so many great experiences with that circuit covering it over a span of time that now stretches to 24 seasons.

With that said, I’ve been trying to get off the train for some time since the end of the 2021-22 campaign to get recharge time. I will still be around the WHL rinks, as I write columns for the Prince Albert Daily Herald, and I will still be busy with work at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.

When I took a break from producing content for this blog back in July, I replaced with work on a special project I was doing. That special project was putting together a longer reflection feature on the Hilltops run of six straight CJFL title wins from 2014 to 2019 for the team’s first game program of the 2022 campaign. That feature also appeared on this blog.

The Hilltops reflection feature was fun, but transcribing the seven long interviews and crafting everything still took time to do. Plus, spring and especially summer are the busy times at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex, so I was putting in extra hours there in summer.

I didn’t really have any days that were like days off outside of a day here and there I just slept away.

At Mosaic Stadium for the PFC final on October 30.

The tough part about the sports world in Canada is no aspect of it gets the coverage it should outside of NHL hockey. When you are involved in sports in Canada, you are often always making decisions that come down to robbing Peter to pay Paul.

If you decide to do stories and cover games of one team, you have decided you won’t be doing stories or covering games of another team. You throw in juggling time where family needs you and all of a sudden you are wondering where weeks and months disappeared to.

Starting in August of 2021 when the Hilltops got back into action after the 2020 CJFL season was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world, I’ve been going non-stop. When the WHL returned to full regular season play for the 2021-22 campaign, I hit the ground running covering games from the opening night of the regular season on October 1, 2021. I also got in a handful of University of Saskatchewan Huskies events mainly games involving the football team.

When the sports world started to return to normal for the 2021-22 season, there were still no guarantees if seasons would play out. A year ago at this time, you needed to show proof of vaccination for COVID-19 to get into most sports facilities in Canada.

Outside of going to a wedding for my niece in early September of 2021, I avoided all big gathering events on the social front. The only big gather events I went to were the games I covered, and I got out to those lots.

There are times people are shocked to hear I haven’t been to a Saskatchewan Roughriders game since the Labour Day Classic on September 1, 2019, or since March 15, 2020, I hadn’t gone to events as a ticket buyer until I went to a WWE show at the SaskTel Centre this past October 2 or went to a smaller venue concert that expanded to a social night out this past November.

During the 2021-22 campaign, one of my main focuses was to not accidentally be the one that brought COVID-19 to a team I was covering, because you knew in that campaign a team would be shut down for two weeks. The WHL was pretty much all shut down for the first two weeks this past January, and it was due to multiply positive COVID-19 tests among the member clubs.

It is amazing how quickly people forgot those things were a reality. It has only been since the start of the current 2022-23 sports season where I have started to experiment with going out again to something that is not a sports event I am working in some capacity.

Any time spent with the Valkyries is always a fun time.

When the WHL playoffs started in April of 2022, I did get that feeling like everything was a grind, as I covered the Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades going out in the first round. While WHL playoffs are life consuming, I had never felt like I was in a grind until this past season. That was a sign I needed a break.

Still, the train didn’t stop. I elected to cover the Saskatoon Valkyries as they went 7-0 and won the Western Women’s Canadian Football League championship. I hadn’t been around women’s sports as much as I would have liked since everything started up again.

The Valkyries have always been one of my favourite teams, and everything naturally clicks when I’m around them. I didn’t want to miss out when they returned to normal play.

In July, the Hilltops feature consumed my time. In August, the Hilltops started their 2022 campaign, but life threw a wrench in the path.

An immediate family member found out after a medical appointment in late August a surgery was needed right away, and that family member had that surgery in early September. Everything on that front was a resounding success, but that kept me stapled close to home for six weeks starting in early September taking on extra responsibilities.

Over that period of time, the extra responsibilities ate up the time I would have used on the sports front. When I was writing sports stories and columns, the task seemed to be harder than normal, which was another sign a break is needed.

In my home office, I have a stack of WHL game notes from last season, camera equipment I purchased that I need to test out and there a bunch of other catch up and clean up tasks I need to do. I am one of those persons that rightly or wrongly likes to get those tasks done before something becomes a need to do task where you have to drop everything.

I know there are people out there that never do catch up tasks until they are need to do tasks and that is fine, if it works for their lives.

My plan right now is to not return to this blog until the first week of January 2023 in the new year. I will still be writing WHL columns for the Prince Albert Daily Herald, so I will try to do teases from this blog to the Daily Herald pieces in between now and the first week of January 2023.

Tanner Molendyk is heading to the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.

On the Daily Herald front, I am still trying to figure out what I am going to say about the 9-0 loss the Raiders took on the chin at home this past Saturday against the Saskatoon Blades for my column this Wednesday. On the Blades front, they got more great news today as 17-year-old defenceman Tanner Molendyk was invited to the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game set for January 25, 2023 at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.

Saskatoon born 17-year-old defenceman Caden Price, who plays for the Kelowna Rockets was also invited to the Top Prospects Game. Saskatoon area products in Riley Heidt, who plays for the Prince George Cougars, and Brayden Yager, who plays for the Moose Jaw Warriors, are both heading to the Top Prospects Game as well. Heidt and Yager are both 17-year-old centres.

Red Deer Rebels 17-year-old centre Kalan Lind from Shaunavon rounds out the Saskatchewan products heading to the Top Prospects Game.

Of course, Regina Pats 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard will be the main showcase player for the Top Prospects Game.

On Saturday, it was cool to see Medicine Hat Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins record his 400^th career regular season win as head coach of the Tigers, when his squad downed the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors 6-3 at Co-op Place. Desjardins is the first to record 400 regular season head coaching wins behind the bench of the Tigers.

While I will still be doing work for the Daily Herald and the Gordie Howe Sports Complex, I am hoping the break from this blog will give me catch up time and down time. I am also hoping to take part in more Christmas time gatherings. I am slated to go to one of those this coming Saturday.

With that noted, the time off from this blog will fly by, and it will be the first week of January 2023 before any of us know it.

For now as Winnipeg product and God of pro wrestling Kenny Omega would say, I must bid you all adieu.

Dressed up and looking good with the Hilltops mascot Topper.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and spectacular holiday season.

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Blades live a dream night in Prince Albert

Raiders suffer nightmare 9-0 loss to archrivals

The Blades celebrate Brandon Lisowsky’s hat trick goal.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – The Saskatoon Blades owned the Art Hauser Centre.

“The Bridge City Bunch” lived through a dream Saturday night downing their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders 9-0 in a WHL regular season clash in front of 2,149 stunned spectators in the storied home rink for the “Hockey Town North” side. The Blades, who are rated fifth in the CHL Top 10 Rankings, had a dominant performance on all fronts winning their sixth straight to improve to 21-5, while the Raiders looked outclassed by their rivals and were sent back to the drawing board losing their fifth straight to fall to 10-18-2.

It took just 51 seconds into the contest for the Blades to open the scoring in Saturday’s clash. Blades star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky picked off a Raiders pass in the centre ice zone to spring himself into the Prince Albert zone on a breakaway.

Egor Sidorov had two goals and an assist on Saturday.

Lisowsky snapped home a shot to the low left side of the Prince Albert net give the Blades a 1-0 edge. Saskatoon proceeded to keep the goals coming in a frequent manner from that point.

At the 12:38 mark of the first, Blades import right-winger Egor Sidorov snapped home a midrange power-play goal from just off to the right of the centre from the Prince Albert net to give the visitors a 2-0 edge.

Just under two minutes later, the Blades went ahead 3-0, when 17-year-old centre Lukas Hansen snapped home a shot from the left faceoff circle.

With 68 seconds remaining in the opening frame, the Blades struck again on the power play to go up 4-0. Saskatoon skilled centre Trevor Wong had the puck at the left side of the Prince Albert zone and hit Sidorov with a backdoor pass at the right side of the goal. Sidorov quickly potted his second of the contest and 14^th of the season into an empty cage to give the Blades their four goal advantage.

Lukas Hansen fires home a first period goal for the Blades.

After 20 minutes were complete, the Blades were ahead 4-0 and held a 20-6 edge in shots on goal. The Raiders faithful at the Art Hauser Centre usually anticipate encounters with the Blades with gleeful excitement looking to pounce with heckles on their hated rivals from Saskatoon. When the first period wrapped up, it was so quiet in the Raiders home barn you could almost hear a pin drop.

The Raiders attempted to make a push back at the start of the second and had the Blades pinned in their own zone for some stretches. Blades standout right-winger Conner Roulette scored at the 8:03 mark of the second on the power play to allow the visitors to resume their domination going up 5-0.

Conner Roulette (#34) fires a shot on goal for the Blades.

Just over five minutes later, Lisowsky netted his second of the contest to put the Blades up 6-0 and chase Raiders starting import goaltender Tikhon Chaika from the game. Chaika was pulled after Saskatoon’s sixth goal and took the loss for the Prince Albert side turning away 22-of-28 shots fired his way.

Max Hildebrand played the rest of the way in relief turning away 10-of-13 shots sent in his direction.

With 1:31 remaining in the second, Hansen notched his second goal of the contest deflected home a point shot from 20-year-old defenceman Blake Gustafson to put the Blades up 7-0.

In the third, Blades hard-working right-winger Vaughn Watterodt netted his ninth goal of the season to put the Blades up 8-0, and Lisowsky completed his first hat trick of the season scoring on the power play to round out the 9-0 final in favour of the visitors.

Trevor Wong had three assists for the Blades on Saturday.

Lisowsky had an assist to go with his three goals for a four point night, and he posted a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department. Sidorov had an assist to go with his two tallies, and he was a plus-two.

Wong and captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere each recorded three assists for the Blades. Watterodt had an assist to go with his goal.

Austin Elliott, who is the Blades 18-year-old rookie netminder, made 25 stops to pick up his second shutout of the season, and his side held a 41-25 edge in shots on goal.

With 4.6 seconds remaining in the third, frustration boiled over on the Raiders side and a massive scrum ensued around the Saskatoon goal. Out of that scrum, a feisty fight ensued between Raiders 18-year-old left-winger Carter Anderson and Blades 16-year-old rookie left-winger Smyth Rebman. Both traded solid shots before the officials jumped in to break things up.

Austin Elliott made 25 saves to earn a shutout win.

The fight did bring a short rise out of the crowd at the Art Hauser Centre, but that quickly faded away as the final seconds of the contest ticked away. The Blades began their celebration as the Raiders home rink quickly emptied out.

So far this season, the Blades have taken all three head-to-head meetings between the two sides. Saturday’s clash was by far the most lopsided encounter, and the biggest victory the Blades have posted over the Raiders in some time.

With having won six straight, the Blades are jumping at the chance to return to action. They get back at it again on Tuesday, when they host the 11-15-4-1 Medicine Hat Tigers (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Raiders have three days to regroup before hosting the Tigers on Wednesday (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades celebrate their 9-0 victory on Saturday night.

For the moment, the Blades will be able to reflect on what was a joyful trip to Prince Albert. For the Raiders and their fans, they likely hope they can wake up on Sunday hoping that Saturday’s clash was a bad dream.

All the Prince Albert side can do starting on Sunday is try to regroup and leave the 9-0 loss to the Blades in the rearview mirror as quickly as possible.

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Bedard should be allowed to stay with Pats

Connor Bedard jets up ice for the Pats in a game in April.

If Connor Bedard wants to stay with the Regina Pats, he should be allowed to stay with the world’s oldest major junior franchise.

Since the start of the current season, there has been no end to the speculation that the Pats should trade the phenom centre for what would be a massive haul of players and WHL Prospects Draft selections. That speculation has increased due to the fact the Pats appear to be your typical middle of the road post-season team.

Without Bedard on Friday night, the Pats downed the Raiders in Prince Albert 3-2 for third straight win to improve to 15-12-1-1.

Bedard, who is the Pats captain, is a generational talent and was one of a handful of players to be granted exceptional player status to play in the major junior ranks at age 15.

 During an abbreviated 2020-21 regular season, Bedard at age 15 suited up in 15 games for the Pats posting 12 goals, 16 assists and a plus-nine rating in the plus-minus category. The 2020-21 campaign was an abbreviated one due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

In 105 career regular season contests with the Pats, Bedard has recorded 90 goals, 102 assists and a plus-23 rating. He is currently at the selection camp for Canada’s world junior team and is pretty much a lock to be on that squad again to play in the world juniors that start December 26 and run through to January 5, 2023 in Halifax, N.S., and Moncton, N.B.

Bedard, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 185 pounds, helped Canada win gold at the last world juniors that were held this past August in Edmonton. He is the consensus pick to be selected first overall in the next NHL Entry Draft, which will be held at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, from June 28 to 29.

Following the first overall selection, Bedard will be signed to an NHL entry-level contract and be playing in the NHL full time as an 18-year-old. Only something unforeseen would see that chain of events not play out.

Bedard handles himself so well on and off the ice with a maturity seemingly beyond his years that one tends to forget the North Vancouver, B.C., product is still 17-years-old. He isn’t old enough to vote in a political election or have an alcoholic drink legally.

Yet, it seems people already expect him to be Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux, when they were in their prime as NHL players. At the moment, Bedard is still technically an amateur hockey player. While Bedard has a tonne of maturity for his age, he still deserves to have some leeway to be your typical 17-year-old who is finishing a final year of high school.

When Bedard met the media in Regina on Wednesday before departing for the selection camp of Canada’s world junior team, he said he wanted to remain with the Pats and play the entirety of his junior hockey career in Regina. Right there, that should be the end of the story.

Connor Bedard has 192 points in 105 career WHL regular season games.

If Bedard wants to stay in Regina and is able to stay there, it would meet the spirit of the rules that are currently in place in the WHL when it comes to making trades.

Following the 2017-18 season, the WHL put in rules that teams aren’t allowed to trade 15-or-16-year-old players who have signed WHL contracts. The only time a 17-year-old player will be allowed to be traded is if that player requests a trade.

The 17-year-old player will have to approach the team’s general manager to ask for a trade, and a team won’t be able to make the first move asking a 17-year-old player to waive his no trade clause.

The rule changes were made in response to the large number of trades that were made involving younger players leading to the WHL’s trade deadline of January 10, 2018. There were cases where 15-year-old players were being dealt before they had a chance to play a regular season game with the club that originally drafted them.

The spirit of the rules were to allow those players the chance to play with the team that drafted them and not have to worry about changing schools, while they were still in high school. The request for trade provision was put in to allow players who felt they were slipping through the cracks with regards to a lack of playing time to get a fresh start with a new club. A reality of junior hockey is that happens.

There are fans out there that believe somehow Bedard should be convinced that he wants to be traded to a club that is viewed to be a contender for the WHL championship and a CHL title, which is awarded to the winner of the Memorial Cup tournament. Often talk involves Bedard being moved to the Memorial Cup hosting Kamloops Blazers, the WHL leading Winnipeg Ice, Red Deer Rebels, Portland Winterhawks or Seattle Thunderbirds.

There are some fans that say if Bedard doesn’t want to be traded to a contender that has a major shot to win a Memorial Cup that there is something wrong with him and maybe he shouldn’t be the first overall selection in the NHL Entry Draft.

Once again, Bedard is 17-years-old and he is still not a professional hockey player at the moment. If he wants to remain with the Pats, that should be the end of the story.

He should be allowed to be a 17-year-old in some ways, because he will have lots of time in his life to deal with the business aspect of hockey. As a generational talent, it is unlikely he will be passed up as the first selection of the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.

Back on November 30, Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock got old school confrontational and testy with the media in Kamloops regarding questions about trading Bedard. Once it was clear Bedard wasn’t going to be traded, things calmed down and he had a pretty good discussion with the media.

Frankly, Paddock should have the freedom to go the old school route of being confrontational and testy with the media if he believes that is what is needed if Bedard doesn’t want to be traded and that question comes up. Over the years, Paddock has often been viewed by former players as the best coach they’ve ever hard, and Bedard is fortunate to have Paddock as his junior head coach and general manager.

With the way the WHL trade rules are, the only exception that could come up with the trading of a younger player would be to deal them to their hometown club, if their parent is dealing with a critical illness. Back in the 2006-07 season, then Pats general manager Brent Parker and then Saskatoon Blades head coach and general manager Lorne Molleken made one of the classiest trades ever involved left-winger and Saskatoon product Derek Hulak, who was 16-years-old at the time.

Connor Bedard said he wants to stay with the Pats.

Derek’s mom, Alina, was battling cancer and ultimately passed away on March 27, 2007. Derek was playing with the Pats at the time, and Parker and Molleken ensure he was dealt to the Blades partway through that season to allow him to be closer to his mom.

If that type of situation came up again, you can be sure WHL office and the league’s member teams wouldn’t stand in the way of that type of trade being made to help a player off the ice.

In Bedard’s case, he doesn’t have to deal with anything like that. If his heart is set on staying with the Pats, that is the team he should be rejoining once his time with Canada’s entry at the upcoming world juniors concludes. That would also show the WHL’s current trade rules are doing what they are supposed to be doing too.

Benson nets first hat trick in Ice win, other notes

Zach Benson had a hat trick for the Ice on Friday.

Zach Benson had a milestone night powering the Winnipeg Ice to victory.

On Friday night playing before 1,621 spectators at the Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg, the 17-year-old centre recorded his first career WHL hat trick. Benson also picked up an assist as the Ice, who are rated third in the CHL Top 10 Rankings, doubled up the visiting Spokane Chiefs 6-3.

On the season, Benson, who is eligible for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, leads the Ice in scoring with 43 points coming on 18 goals and 25 assists to go with a plus-26 rating in the plus-minus department in 27 games.

Conor Geekie had a pair of goals and an assist for the Ice, while import centre Vladislav Shilo potted a single into an empty net for the Winnipeg side.

Tommaso De Luca had a pair of goals for the Chiefs, while Carter Streek had a single.

Daniel Hauser made 25 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Ice, who top the WHL’s overall standings with a 24-4 mark. Cooper Michaluk turned away 38-of-43 shots for the Chiefs, who fell to 5-19-0-1.

The Chiefs return to action on Saturday, when they travel to Brandon to take on the Wheat Kings (11-15-3).

The Ice get back at it on Sunday, when they host the Pats.

• The Moose Jaw Warriors hammered the visiting Calgary Hitmen 9-2 on Friday night at the Moose Jaw Events Centre. Import left-winger Martin Rysavy had a huge night for the Warriors recording two goals, three assists and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department.
• Tyson Greenway scored 21 seconds into overtime as the Tri-City Americans slipped past the visiting Prince George Cougars 4-3 at the Toyota Centre in Kennewick, Wash. The Cougars led 3-1 early in the third period, before the Americans rallied back to take the game. Netminder Ty Young turned away 48 shots to take the setback in goal for the Cougars.
• On Friday, I had new content appear on the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a feature on University of Saskatchewan Huskies place kicker and punter David Solie, who recently signed with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders. Solie has worked at the Complex for a number of years and made a tonne of good relationships there over that time. The piece on Solie can found by clicking right here. I also created a photo roundup that focuses on showing the Indoor Training Centre getting into its busy season, and that piece can be found by clicking right here.

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.