The Blades: Hoping to rebound this weekend....

When the Blades played the Oil Kings on Friday night it was not the start they were hoping to get off too.... They battled hard to stay in the game but an empty net goal put the game away....but with 4 days off after the loss on Friday the team has time to refocus for the weekend.

The Blades added an experienced forward in Jeremy Boyer to the roster will hopefully help the Blades get on the winning track,but the Blades still have to trade away/release 1 player to equal the limit of 3 overagers and 2 imports. They have until October 15th to do so. (I hope it does not take that long!!!)

The trade of Chris Langkow to the Silvertips in my mind helped Kytnar's chances of sticking with the Blades. I am hoping that Lorne Molleken will possibly have this issue solved by the weekend.

I have an idea of what might happen but we will wait for official news to break about this.

The Blades play in Prince Albert on Friday and then make the trip to Brandon Manitoba to battle the Wheat Kings on Saturday.

Hampus Gustafsson's name has disappeared so it appears for now that there were no takers for him.

The bridge city bunch are once again ranked in the CHL top 10 for the 3rd consecutive week,this week they are at the 9th spot.

The Blades roster now consists of 14 forwards,8 defencemen and 2 goalies. Now all the Blades must do is trade one overager..... I have a feeling that it may be Walker Wintoneak.

The Trades Continue & A Defencemen Is Reassigned.

The Blades traded away Tyler Matheson to the Kelowna Rockets for a conditional 7th round

pick in 2010.

Reducing the number of forwards to 15,but the Blades will be down to 13 once a 20 year old is traded and when Hampus Gustafsson is traded/goes home.....Yes it was reported on Global Sports at 6 P.M. today that if the Blades can not not find any takers for the european rookie then he will go back home and play for a club in Sweden.

One more roster move to talk about now, Woody Klassen has been reassigned to the North

Battleford Stars of the SJHL. The team now stands with 8 defencemen,15 forwards and 2 goalies.

Blades Acquire Hometown Talent.....

The Blades have been making some trades recently,first Chris Langkow was dealt and now acquiring Jeremy Boyer (who I think wanted out of Seattle) from the Thunderbirds for Stefan Burzan (who was a 6th round pick in this most recent Bantam Draft) and a 3rd round pick in 2010 . The Blades now have 27 players on the roster: 16 forwards,9 defencemen, and 2 goalies.
If Jeremy Boyer's birthdate that is listed is correct then that means he was traded on his birthday..... I would say that it was pretty good birthday present!!!!!

Hampus Gustafsson's name is no listed on the Blades roster anymore.... I guess the Blades just outright released him..... Which is too bad because I would have liked to see him still play in the WHL. Maybe he will re-enter the import draft next season and the Blades will pick him again? LOL.

Expect more moves possibly soon and more line juggling as well.

Blades find success in Regina.... & Improve Record.....

Sam Klassen was a scratch for this game.....The Pats scored first... but the Blades did not give up. The game was even until Curtis Hamilton tied up the game and from then on the Blades basically took control of the game....Stefan Elliott scored the 2nd goal for the Blades, then Travis Toomey scored the third goal for the visitors,and Josh Nicholls scored the 4th and final goal for the Blades.... He also had a 3 point night. Jordan Weal for the Pats scored the lone goal for them....speaking of Jordan and the Pats, I saw on the TV that the Oilers have reassigned Jordan Eberle back to the Pats...which is good news for them.

OK more hockey talk but it is a couple of years away from the WHL level.... My 12 year old brother (Who is a defencemen) is currently in hockey tryouts to see what tier he will be placed in....last year he played in tier III but this year he is aiming for better.... I hope he achieves that goal but as long as he is having fun playing the game of hockey!!!!!

The Blades now have 4 days off and do not see game action until Friday night in Prince Albert, then a trip to Brandon on Saturday to play this years Memorial Cup hosts: The Wheat Kings.

The Blades record is now 2-1-0-1 good for 5 points and 2nd place in the East Division.

Blades Comeback Cut Short......

The Blades did not start the game off well.... Morrison is no Holtby despite being drafted one round earlier than the elder Holtby. The visiting Oil Kings scored on the first shot of the game..... The CUC was stunned. The Blades gave up another goal and that made the score 2-0.

Both defencemen Sam Klassen and Tyler Kizuik saw there first action of the season tonight. Both of them played pretty well too.

The Shots after one period were: Blades 14 Oil Kings 8.

In the 2nd period the Blades and Calgary Flames prospect Gaelan Patterson scored a really nice shorthanded goal.My mom liked the sound of that because she is a Flames fan unlike me.... LOL. If I remember correctly also in this period Curtis Hamilton had a breakaway chance but was stopped by Torrie Jung. Score 2-1 Oil Kings at the end of the 2nd.

Shots after the 2nd period Blades 10 Oil Kings 7.

In the 3rd and final period the Blades did not give up hope... Colorado Avalanche prospect Stefan Elliott scored the game tying goal in the 3rd period,but the Oil Kings spoiled the party again scoring another goal to take a 3-2 lead. The Blades pulled Adam Morrison in an attempt to tie the game again,but Czech Oil King forward Thomas Vincour scored the empty net goal, putting the game out of reach for good this time.

The shots on goal were 14 for the Blades and 8 for the Oil Kings.

The Oil Kings survived 2 too many men calls... I thought at least 1 of them should have been called.

Anyways the Oil Kings win 4-2. Which now weakens the Blades record to 1-1-0-1

The attendance at tonight's game was 3,667.

The final tally of the shots on goal were 36 for the Blades and Oil Kings 23

The 3 stars were: Gaelan Patterson 1st star, Tomas Vincour 2nd star and Torrie Jung 3rd star.

The Blades will play the Pats once again in Regina on Sunday and then they have a 4 day break to practice and heal any injuries. They will ride the bus and play games in PA and Brandon before coming home again and play the Kootenay Ice at the CUC on Oct 7th ( a game that can also be seen on Shaw Cable channel 10....) So if you do not want to shell out the money for a ticket to that game, you can sit on your couch and watch it if you have Shaw Cable like me..... But I will not be stuck at home watching the game....I WILL BE AT THE GAME!!!!!!!!!!

Blades Gameday...... Home Game #2

The Blades will try and improve their 1-0-0-1 record against the Edmonton Oil Kings, who have a record of 0-1-0-1. Hopefully Michael St. Croix of the Oil Kings is playing tonight because I have heard that he is a pretty good hockey player. I think Torrie Jung might get the start in between the pipes for the Oil Kings and we may see Chris Sharkey tonight in goal for the Blades.

I am guessing that Hampus Gustafsson will be a scratch again as the Blades are still trying to find a team to trade him too. Which of the 20 year olds with play tonight? Well I think that Milan Kytnar will be in the line-up,since he was a scratch against the Pats.

One injury to report Charles Inglis is out indefinitely with Mono...... But with Kytnar probably playing tonight and taking that spot the Blades will still be a solid team. When the Blades do not have Charles Inglis in the line-up I feel that they are weaker because he brings so much to the table every game....even when any player is missing that is bad news.

Puck Drop is set for 7:05 tonight at the CUC. Be There!!!!!! (If you are not you will probably miss a pretty good hockey game.)

Tonight is also fridge magnet night!!!!

Sam Klassen is a Blade again.???..........

Apparently today the Rangers sent the 20 year old rearguard back to the Blades..... I honestly did not think that was going to happen.... I guess the Rangers have enough depth in their system and decided that one more year in the WHL would further benefit Sam Klassen.

Now the Blades have 4 overage players,they were down to the limit of 3 until this unexpected move happened. The Blades must make 2 moves now to get down to the league limit of 3 overage players and 2 imports. Now the question is who is on the way out once again? All 4 of these players can play in this league and still are important pieces to the Blades success.

The Blades also have a crowded blueline now.... 10 defencemen.... I think most of the guys are safe but maybe Tyler Kizuik will be reassigned/traded,maybe Sam's brother Woody is reassigned? Maybe Sam himself is traded? (I do not think that will really happen) It should be an interesting next couple of days....stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blades Loose in a shoot-out......

I was working the night shift so I only heard the score when it was 2-1 for the good guys going into the 3rd period. The Blades did outshoot the Pats but loose by a score of 4-3 in way of a shoot-out. Milan Kytnar did not play but the other 3 players mentioned in the last post did suite up.

Adam Morrison started his 2nd straight game and Dawson Guhle started his 1st WHL game I think.

Derek Hulak and Burke Gallimore attempted to score goals in the shoot-out but were unsucessful. The Blades record falls to 1-0-0-1 which is good for 3 points so far. Both Derek Hulak and Burke Gallimore managed to be named 3rd and 2nd star.

The Blades will play the Oil Kings at the Credit Union Centre on Friday.... Fridge Magnet Night..... Then it is back to Regina for yet another rematch against the Pats on Sunday the 27th.

Blades VS Pats.....Again

Tonight's game will feature the two teams who played each other in the Blades home opener last weekend and the Blades came out with their 1st W of the 09-10 season in a 5-1 win. Tonights rematch could be different because of added star power on both teams.... The Blades will probably have Niemi and Kytnar in the line-up,and the Pats will probably try to match that and insert Teubert and Delahey into their defensive pairings tonight. I am not to sure who the goalies will be but it may be Morrison VS Ketlo again.

I excpect a very heated game...it will be interesting to see which team can outwork their opponent.

Just a little side note here the Blades have moved up 1 spot in the CHL Rankings from #7 to #6.

Langkow Traded to Everett.....Gustafsson's Future Unknown?

The 20 year old forward was traded to the Silvertips for a 6th round draft pick in 2010,and a 3rd round draft pick in 2011. That is quite the return for a 20 year old and rightfully so because he was a big part of the 49 win team last season.

It was obviously just a numbers game and someone had to go. Now with this move I am not sure how one team would go about acquiring Hampus Gustafsson but it also must be a team with an import spot to fill. The possible locations for Gustafsson to go are: Calgary,Swift Current(although not the smartest place to send him) Medicine Hat,Kelowna,(Saskatoon product Cody Ito now plays for them) and Seattle.

So I think that realistically there are 4 possibilities where Gustafsson could end up: Calgary,Kelowna,Seattle,and Medicine Hat. Or he could just bolt back home to Sweden,but I would like to see him play somewhere in the WHL because I think he has great potential.

Blades Imports Returned.....

Today both Jyri Niemi and Milan Kytnar were returned to the Blades from NHL camps, Neimi attended New York Islanders camp here in Saskatoon,and Kytnar attended Edmonton Oilers camp in Edmonton.

Now the descision for Molleken is to trade one of the three because WHL teams are only allowed to carry 2 non Canadian/American players.

The Blades now have Kytnar,Niemi and rookie Hampus Gustafsson.

Interesting situation because there are teams out there that still do not have any imports like Swift Current for example but I can not really see the Blades pulling the trigger on a deal there,another possibility is Calgary who only has one import.

We shall see which one gets moved and where!!!!

I have an idea of who would go but my ideal trade would see 2 players being moved.

Blades start the season 1-0 & with a bang!

I think it is safe to say that the Blades and Pats rivalry had the most edge that I have ever seen but maybe not as big as the PA & Saskatoon rivalry but pretty close.

There was no scoring after the first period but in the second both teams potted a goal each. After that the Blades ran errr skated with the game and never looked back.Brendon Wall played a pretty decent game....no replace decent with EXCELLENT,his performance earned him 1st star hounors.

Rookie defenceman Dalton Thrower earned himself 14 penalty minutes and no this is not a typo. That is quite the first WHL game for a 16 year old!!!!

Teigan Zahn and Garrett Mitchell fought in the 3rd and I would have to say that Zahn got the best of Mitchell but if you listened to the game or were at the game then you be the judge.

The final 3 minutes was when the game started to become a show because the focus at this point was not really to score goals. The Blades went on to defeat the Pats 5-1 in front of a crowd of 5,219.

They outshot the Pats 39-18.

The Pats should have a decent team once they get some veterans back from NHL camps.

The Blades next action is a road game on the 23rd against those same Regina Pats.

The next home game for the Blades is on the 25th when the Edmonton Oil Kings enter Credit Union Centre. Be there!!!!!!!!!!!

Season Opener Tonight!!!!!!!! HOCKEY IS BACK.

The summer is gone but not really.... The Blades will start the season tonight in hopes of building off of a sucessful season last time around and with 16 veterans returning the Blades are in the running to contend for a 2nd straight east division banner. (if all goes according to the plan)

As expected Adam Morrison will get the start in net tonight against the Pats. The East Division Banner goes up and I am able to test out my new seat....kinda pumped for that. haha

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!!

Blades acquire a Defencemen from PG & Shrink Roster....

TRADE

The Blades have acquired a defencemen from Prince George by the name of Tyler Kizuik. The Blades only had to give up a 6th round draft pick in the 2011 bantam draft. He is a 17 year old from Saskatchewan so kind of a homecoming I guess....but my other question is with 8 defencemen still on the roster what is coming next? Another trade or is this just added depth?

If you do not know who is pictured below it is Chris Sharkey the back-up who beat out Mathew Krahn for the job.

In other news the Blades have reassigned Goaltender Mathew Krahn and Defencemen Zane Morin to their respective clubs. The Blades roster now sits at 25 players. More news most likely before Friday.

Blades VS Raiders Remach #3 Tonight...CUC.

I know that the Raiders are the Blades biggest rival but to play them 3 times in the pre season is a bit much I think.. It probably does not help that the Blades were not involved in a tournament as in years past,but from what I am hearing they only put on the Ice Breaker every other year.....last year and next year....... Anyways tonight is hopefully Season ticket pick-up at the CUC. I would hope because the only time buses go out there is during an event. Oh and two more things, the new RBK Edge jerseys will be on sale at the Blades store....I am going to buy one but the question is Blue or White?

I also picked up a ticket for the NYI VS Calgary Flames game,I had to buy the package deal which was $100 and it included: 1 ticket to an NHL NYI preseason game of your choice,a ticket to the Blades home opener VS the Pats on the 18th ,and a ticket to see the Rodeo when it comes here.....I just wanted the NHL ticket but I had to buy the package...so now I must find someone to give the Blades ticket and Rodeo ticket too.

Blades release New RBK Edge jerseys....Gustafsson Gone???

All teams in the CHL did this today,I have only seen the new WHL ones(all I really care about) Some of them look better and some of them look the same....not really a change

Here is the link:
http://chl.ca/reebok-edge-team.php?league=whl

There are reports that Milan Kytnar could be back in a Blades uniform for this season...I am not sure if this is true or not but keeping Kytnar would make life tough for all the 20 year old players that are still trying to secure a spot on the Blades roster.

Blades Ranked in pre-season CHL Top 10.

With a record of 3-1 in the pre-season so far this has caught the eyes of NHL scouts and this puts them in 7th spot in the CHL preseason Rankings. Other WHL teams in the top 10 include the Calgary Hitmen, WHL Champion: Kelowna Rockets and this year's Memorial Cup Hosts:Brandon Wheat Kings.

Blades Reassign 3 more.....

The Blades roster is now just down to 29 players,Darren Dietz was returned to his Alberta Midget team...(get ready for it) the Medicine Hat Big Country Energy Tigers.

Gregory Kost of the Saskatoon Midget AAA's Saskatoon Blazers was also returned.

We all knew this one was coming sooner or later....Ryan Olsen has been returned to the Greater Vancouver Canadians of the B.C Major Midget League. The Blades roster now consists of 16 forwards 10 Defencemen and 3 goalies. 10 of those players are away at NHL camps.

I have seen 3 of the 4 preseason games so far(will soon be 4 out of 5 after friday) but If I had to pick a roster I probably could.

Now I could include Sam Klassen but without him it would be a young backend. I would pick 7 defencemen and 15 forwards(there may be more or less than this I know.) I would probably take Sharkey over Krahn (but hey that is just me) and who am I? LOL Another tough descision if Kytnar comes back but that could be a rare senario but if by chance he does than that means that one of the other two Imports must go so I would rather see Kytnar make the jump to the AHL and give the spot to Hampus Gustafsson.

There may be another update before friday but maybe not.

Aberdeen Game VS Medicine Hat.

This game was a little bit different from the other preseason games that the Blades have played. Not only did they play a different team in the Medicine Hat Tigers but they did not score first or they did not even have a lead in this game. The Blades were still throwing the body around which is always a good thing to do even when a team is trailing. Curtis Hamilton scored the only goal for the Blades.

There were two fights except one did not even break out because the refs jumped in....about the refs in this game....I know it is only a preseason game but some of the penalties called and off-sides called and missed were kinda frustrating to watch...so back to the fights Tyler Yaworski of the Blades attempted to fight a Tigers player but the refs stepped in before any real damage was done. In the other tussle Darian Dziurzynski fought Tomas Carr of the Tigers and this fight was a closer fight but I would call it a draw. Matthew Krahn's performance was decent but I think he could have had a better game,and the back-up goaltender is................ haha you thought I was going to let you in on a secret didn't you??? Well sorry but one can only guess that one goalie might have a tiny advantage over the other when battling for that 2nd spot to complete the duo .

Most of the walk on/listed players for the Blades (Tyler Yaworski,Darren Dietz,Woody Klassen,and Tyler Matheson) have really impressed me,they have each brought a different skill/element to the Blades that helps the team. I wish that the Blades could keep most if not all of those guys but the reality is that it probably is not going to happen based on numbers..... The good thing is that I am sure that these guys are now protected by the Blades and can have another shot at the target next training camp.

Oh and by the way the final score of the game was Tigers 4-Blades 1 which now weakens the Blades preseason record to 2-1.

One thing that I noticed on the Medicine Hat roster for the game was that it said they have a 95 born player on their roster....I said to my friend beside me "That can not be right" It probably was not correct but that is the first time that I have seen something like that.

Next up for the Blades is yet another contest between their rivals from the north....yes those same Prince Albert Raiders (Well probably not the SAME PA Raiders as last time but you know.......) See you at the friendly Credit Union Centre on Friday Sept 11th.

WHL Jersey Rankings

I spotted a link on Luber's Lounge ( The Brandon Wheat Kings PBP guy's blog) and I thought that it is interesting . The Blades are #17 on that list.

Here is the link: www.thehockeynews.com/articles/27574-The-Hockey-News-WHL-Jersey-Rankings.html

Saturday Blades gameday!!!!

The Blades and Medicine Hat Tigers will face off in Aberdeen at 7:05. The Tigers play in Prince Albert on friday night before making the trip to Saskatoon for Saturday's match-up. The Blades still have 32 players on their roster and it will remain the same until at least September 13th or shortly there after. Waiting for news on what will happen with the 11 Veterans attending NHL training camps. Some of them must be sent back to the WHL...some players like Derek Hulak,Milan Kytnar,Sam Klassen,Braden Holtby could make the jump to the AHL. There are still roster spots up for grabs yet,and depending what happens with those players listed,this in a way effects roster moves. I am sure the two rookies Mathew Krahn and Chris Sharkey will split time to help make a descision as to who deserves to be Adam Morrison's back up. I will probably be at the game on Saturday and I will give another update after the game.