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WHL Saskatoon Blades

2019/20 Mid-Season Review: 2019 Archive

December 31, 2019 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Saskatoon Blades News Release


An up and down first half to the Saskatoon Blades season has resulted in a 17-15-1-2 record just shy of the turn of the decade, which is good for 3rd place in the East Division heading into 2020.

The Blades started the 2019-20 campaign strong by splitting their first two opening games with the reigning champion Raiders, winning in overtime on the opening night in Prince Albert before falling 1-0 the next night at home. Saskatoon shored up their 20-year-old situation on September 25th as the team sent Ryan Hughes to the Kamloops Blazers in exchange for tawo draft picks and Saskatoon local Jerzy Orchard. The trade left the Blades with leading scorer Riley McKay as well as their top two leading defensemen in Scott Walford and Nolan Kneen.

The next two games were dropped by the Blades in contrasting fashion. A high scoring affair saw the Blades lose 7-6 to Winnipeg and a goaltending battle saw the Blades lose 2-1 in Red Deer. Saskatoon won their next two games as Koen MacInnes won his first career Western Hockey League game, a 3-2 affair in Lethbridge. Saskatoon then returned to Prince Albert to beat the Raiders for the second time in overtime with Blades Captain Chase Wouters notching the winner.

The Blades earned a possible nine out of 10 points in their next five games with wins over Vancouver, Brandon, Lethbridge and Calgary, with their only loss coming in the shootout against the Wheat Kings in Saskatoon. Over that span, the Blades begun a winning streak that was halted at four straight after suffering a 3-1 loss against one of the top teams in the WHL, the Medicine Hat Tigers. The team then drove to Winnipeg for their first time since the Warriors left Winnipeg at the end of the 1983/84 season. Unfortunately the trip saw a pair of losses to the ICE. However, Saskatoon would get revenge in the rematch at SaskTel Centre on October 25th, as the Blades took the game 8-3 with Wouters recording his first WHL career hat trick.

After losing to the Moose Jaw Warriors in overtime, Saskatoon hit the road to Alberta and split games against the Edmonton Oil Kings (4-3 loss) & Calgary Hitmen (3-2 win). After the Alberta trip the Blades switched their European situation as they traded Libor Zabransky to Moose Jaw for a 7th round pick and then acquired Matej Toman from Prince George in exchange for a 6th round pick. Back at home for a four game homestand, the Blades earned six of a possible eight points, highlighted by a 4-0 win over Moose Jaw with Koen MacInnes registering his first WHL career shutout.

The Blades departed on a searching U.S. division trip in which they were only able to win one of their five games. The team team turned things around on their final stop in the States as Nolan Maier made 34 saves in a 2-1 victory over Tri-City. Returning to Canada, Maier & the Blades followed that up with a 4-3 shootout win over Lethbridge.

https://twitter.com/BladesHockey/status/1200635174989398016

The team's win streak would end at two as they fell the next night in Medicine Hat before finally returning home to Saskatoon.

A week later in their first game back from their road trip and their first game in the month of December, the Blades were handed a controversial 4-3 shootout loss against the 2020 Memorial Cup Hosts Kelowna Rockets. On December 9th, 2019, Saskatoon acquired local product Alex Morozoff from the Seattle Thunderbirds. Morozoff made an immediate impact by scoring in his first game against the Kamloops Blazers. After a tough December, the Blades' finally found their groove again against a familiar face: their bitter arch rivals the Prince Albert Raiders. With their last game before the break, the Blades defeated the Raiders 4-1 with Tristen Robins scoring his second career Teddy Bear Toss goal.

Returning from the Christmas Break, the Blades quickly notched two more wins over the Raiders with back to back games in Prince Albert and then in Saskatoon, to head into 2020 on a three game winning streak - all against their rivals.

To put things into perspective the Saskatoon Blades have had an up and down first half to the season. A reason to be positive considering all things is that the Blades have had a tough schedule with six of their nine long distance road trips of the season already done and dusted in 2019. They played against the Prince Albert Raiders & Winnipeg ICE, the two top teams in the East Division, 10 times. They also faced the top four teams of the Central Division 10 times and the top two teams in the B.C. Division. Additionally, while gruesome, having the U.S. division road trip behind them and still retaining 3rd place in the East Division is also positive.

In the second half of the season the Blades should be well rested with just three road trips of greater than 3 hours, hitting up Red Deer/Edmonton at the start of January, Brandon/Swift current on February 14th and Winnipeg/Brandon on March 13th. As far as the Blades' competition, they will face the bottom four teams in the Eastern Conference a whopping 16 times highlighted by six meetings with the low ranked Regina Pats. These meetings will be key for another reason as well: the Blades own the Pats' 1st round pick at this season's WHL Bantam Draft and the lower Regina finishes, the higher the Blades' odds are at winning Bantam Draft Lottery for first overall pick in May.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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