WHL Saskatoon Blades

Blades Look to Dethrone Oil Kings

Published on October 3, 2018 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Saskatoon Blades News Release


Tonight... The Saskatoon Blades pay their first visit to Edmonton looking to dethrone the unbeaten Oil Kings. The Blades enter the game playing their 4th game in 5 nights, having lost their last two outings. Meanwhile, the Oil Kings haven't played since Saturday when they doubled up on the Calgary Hitmen 6-3.

Head to head... Last season the Blades went 4-0-0-0 against the Oil Kings with one win coming in overtime. This is the first meeting of the season... the Blades enter with a +6 goal differential while the Oil Kings lead the WHL at +14. The Blades do bring in one of the top power play units (30.4%) in the league after adding another two goals on the man advantage last night, but they'll be faced with Edmonton's penalty kill (88.9%) that's ranked 3rd in the WHL.

Who's hot... Kirby Dach was the WHL & CHL Player of the Week to start the season. The 17-year-old centre now has 3 goals and 9 points through 5 games, including 2 assists last night in Red Deer. Eric Florchuk scored his 1st goal of the season last night giving him 5 points in 5 games... Josh Paterson had 2 points last night bringing his season total to 1G, 3A in 3GP... Dawson Davidson has 3 assists in his last 2 games.

The opponent... Last year's cellar dwellers have burst out of the gates this season and it would appear they aren't pretending. Edmonton enters tonight's match with a 5-0-0-0 record lead offensively by their captain Trey Fix-Wolansky, who has 10 points in 5 games. Off-season acquisition, 20-year-old Vince Loschiavo is right behind with 5 goals and 8 points. The Oil Kings have also got solid goaltending from their tandem of Boston Bilous and Dylan Myskiw who have two and three starts each.

The lineup... The Blades will receive a boost on the blue line as 20-year-old defenseman Brandon Schuldhaus is expected to make his debut in Blades uniform tonight. Schulhaus was acquired just yesterday in a trade with the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Check out the Saskatoon Blades Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Western Hockey League Stories from October 3, 2018


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.

OurSports Central