SASKATOON — The close-knit Saskatoon Blades followed a successful regular season with a playoff run that demonstrated their ability to overcome adversity.
The Blades wrapped up the 2022-23 campaign last week when they fell 4-0 to the Winnipeg Ice in the Western Hockey League Eastern Conference finals series. In the first round of the playoffs, the Saskatoon squad overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat the Regina Pats, 4-3. Facing the Red Deer Rebels in the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Blades fell down 3-0 before winning four straight games to advance to the conference championship series. Saskatoon became the first WHL team to come back from a 3-0 deficit past the first round. It was the first time since 1994 that the Blades have made it to the conference finals.
“A lot of people didn’t believe in us,” Blades forward Jayden Wiens of Carrot River said in a video interview on the team’s website. “We believed in each other and went to the conference finals.”
The Blades’ quality play and success certainly gave the city plenty to cheer about. The fans came out in droves during the playoffs. All four of the postseason contests at the SaskTel Centre against the Pats and Connor Bedard, the projected No. 1 pick in the NHL Entry Draft, drew more than 10,000. Game 7 had an announced attendance of 14,768. For the seventh contest against Red Deer, the crowd was 9,489. The Blades’ two home games against the Ice drew 6,058 and 5,638.
“I’ve been here since I was 16. … I haven’t seen the city rally around us like that. I don’t know if a lot of people have in their life. It was awesome to see that. … It was loud too. … We fed off them. … We can’t thank them enough for coming out and supporting us.”
The Blades’ postseason run came after a strong regular season. They posted a 48-15-4-1 record. It was the most wins the Blades have posted in a 68-game season. It was the Saskatoon team’s fifth 100-plus point season. This season the Blades got to 20 wins in 25 games – the fastest in team history. Blades head coach Brennan Sonne won the Dunc McCallum trophy as the WHL Coach of the Year.
“This is the closest team I’ve been on and that started from the coaching staff,” Wiens said. “They made it fun to come to the rink every day and the guys wanted to come to the rink every day. You don’t get that every year.”
Playoff Stats
Trevor Wong paced the Blades with 21 points in 18 postseason games. He led the squad with 15 assists. Egor Sidorov was the Blades’ leader in goals with nine. Captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere was the team’s top scoring defenceman with 17 points.
Game 3
Ice 5, Blades 1
The Winnipeg team led 3-0 after the first period and held a 4-0 lead early in the second. Justin Lies scored the Blades’ goal in the second. Ethan Chadwick started in net for Saskatoon. He made 20 saves on 24 shots. Austin Elliott came on in relief and stopped all nine shots he faced.
Scoring for Ice were Matthew Savoie (power play), Zah Benson, Evan Friesen, Connor McClennon (power play), and Owen Pederson. Daniel Hauser had 17 saves.
Game 4
Ice 3, Blades 2
Facing elimination, the Blades scored first with De La Gorgendiere doing the honours at the 15:08 mark of the opening period. On a power play, McClennon tied things up before the end of the period. In the second, McClennon put the Ice up 2-1. Wong knotted the game at 2-2 early in the third period. Less than four minutes later, Briley Wood scored the game winning goal for Winnipeg.
Elliott had 33 saves on 36 shots. Hauser made 16 saves.
