Saskatoon Blades blog

In a span of 2 days, the Blades added 4 defensemen to their roster.  The big name being Scott Walford.  The 6'2 NHL 3rd round defenseman brings a wealth of experience having played in over 250 WHL games(regular and post season)  He should have no problem settling in as he was a team mate of Current Blades forward Eric Florchuk.  No doubt Walford will slot in as that other top pairing D-man along side Nolan Kneen.  Going to Victoria is Gary Haden, unsigned prospect Riley Gannon, and a 4th round pick, the Blades will also receive a 7th rounder in 2020. The Blades also announced that they have signed their 2 import D-men in Libor Zabransky and Radek Kucerik.  Zabransky is an interesting case, having played in the WHL already with the Kelowna Rockets and spent half of last season in the USHL.  I don't know what happened in Kelowna, but from the clips ive seen and the fans iv'e talked to it sounds like Zabransky is better than his stats show. Radek Ku...

        The Blades are back(in a few ways) In the playoffs and did so in style.  Sweeping a talented Moose Jaw team before falling in 6 to the heavily favored(and future WHL champion) rival Prince Albert Raiders.  I believe Saskatoon exceeded expectations last season and that experience is only going to help them moving forward.  Saskatoon will host the inaugural CEBL championship which will be decided next Sunday then immediately after ushering teams and fans out of the building, Sasktel Center will flood the ice and the Blades start camp just hours later.         Bantam Draft:  This was definitely the most exciting Bantam draft in quite some time(possibly ever) for many reasons - Savoie, the most highly touted western forward in recent memory was taken #1 overall and although he definitely is an exceptional player, he was "denied" status largely due to reporting concerns and not based on talent, regardless, he is signed ...

        I get that Saskatoon can be an easy target for shade, a team that traded literally everything to make a run for the Memorial Cup.  While the run fell short, it also left wonderful memories of some of the best Junior hockey iv'e ever seen and possibly the best Blades game iv'e seen live(Blades vs Mooseheads)  Fast forward to the aftermath and there was a BIG mess to clean up.  The Priestner family came in to clean that mess up, it all started the summer of 2013, immediately following the Memorial Cup.         The Priestners come in and say they want a competitive team in 5 years.  That seemed like a tough task at the time, given the fact that their first, 1st round pick was just finishing his 12 year old hockey season at the time.  It was a tall task but i think they did better than expected.  Here is a timeline of what the Priestners did when they arrived. 2013-2014 season:  1st year of the new era. ...

To start with a 5-3, then a 4-2, and lastly a 3-1 win.  The pattern?:  Each game the Blades score 1 less, but also allow 1 less.  Almost like they're trading a goal to prevent 1.  Whatever the strange system is, its working.  Saskatoon, despite having 1 of the shortest training camps appears to be one of the most "battle-ready teams"  Their Power-play throughout the 3 games has been a very respectable 5/16, while their PK is also a solid 16/19. While dressing similar lineups against PA and MJ, Saskatoon had a much better lineup on paper VS SC but only won that game 3-1, however they did out-shoot Swift 37-21 while carrying the play and only allowing 2 shots in the 3rd period(a game in which they were protecting the lead)  Koen MacInnes has a solid 2.00 GAA and a .933 save% in the 2 outings.  Other Net minder Luding has a decent .923 save% as well as a 2.00 GAA but has only had 1 start.  I would guess he gets the nod for the next game against ...

Another training camp in the books.  While i think the team looks great there was a very unfortunate moment when 1st round pick Kyle Crnkovic went into the corner board awkwardly, left the game and didnt return.  The Blades have not issued a statement on Crnkovic yet but it looked like a shoulder injury(which can be very time consuming)  Crnkovic was on fire before the injury scoring 6 goals in 2 games.  The young sniper has his name pegged in the lineup as soon as he returns. Kristian Roykas Marthinsen (19, Norway, NHL 7th round Washington)  Is still getting his feet wet and used to the North American quick style of play(smaller rink)  So far he has shown that he can play physical, decent skater(gotta work on the edges) and an absolute bomb of a 1 timer.  I think he will take a few games to get comfortable with the pace but could make his living as a left handed weapon on the powerplay(giving the Blades another option from RW Paterson)  De La G...

I don't mind this decision.  He has been an assistant for quite some time and is still young enough to connect with the team.  I heard he is a players coach and every one who's worked with him holds him in the highest regard(including Hockey Canada brass)  He will inherit a strong team so lets see what he can do.  It's known that there were many applicants for the job, apparently some guys with past NHL experience too.  Priestner made a great point going with Love, he made a comment along the lines of  "We had some NHL guys applying for this job, but we don't want a coach who has experience that is on his way out(winding down his career)  We wanted to go for a younger coach who is on his way up in the coaching world and get him signed to a multi year deal"  I couldn't agree more, especially considering the Blades already tried the NHL-type coach once  with Bob Woods, who did a great job but got called back to the pros earlier than expected ...