Blades Earn Road Victory.

One night after the Blades fell apart in Red Deer,they tried to pick up the pieces and did well by scoring the opening goal.

The Blades took a 2-0 lead into the 3rd period. The Hitmen tried to battle their way back into this game by cutting the Blades lead in half.

A goal a piece by Stefan Elliott and Curtis Hamilton in the final minute of the game guaranteed their 11th win of the season.

The line of Hamilton-Viedensky-Nicholls has combined for 54 points.

The Blades take on the Spokane Cheifs on Tuesday on home ice.

Blades Lose,Road Woes Continue.

I listened to bits and pieces of the game tonight and it was one sided. Red Deer outshot the Blades 40-26 and did all of their damage (score 7 goals) in the last 40 minutes, Now there are hopes that Steven Stanford will come back real quick,because some think that without him the Blades will go down-hill.

If you look at the stats Red Deer is a good team. This was a learn from your mistakes game (in fact every game is). It is still early in the season and with a young team the Blades are bound to go through slumps.

The Blades got into penalty trouble 13 penalties for the Blades compared to 6 for the Rebels.

What is it going to take for the Blades to be able to start winning on the road? A minor trade? A day in the classroom to teach discipline/composure?

Hopefully the Blades can rebound tomorrow afternoon against the struggling Hitmen who are 4-9.

Steven Stanford Injured,Blades Call Up Adam Todd.

http://www.saskatoonblades.com/article/adam-todd-is-recalled

Steven Stanford is dealing with what Adam Morrison dealt with in the playoffs last year: a concussion,so the Blades have called up 16 year old Adam Todd for these two games in Alberta. It will be interesting to see if Adam Todd starts a game this weekend.

Steven Stanford will not be able to play until Nov 6th. So I think that Adam Todd will start at least one game because I can not see Morrison being forced to start 5 straight games but we will see.

Blades Fall To Pats. Road Struggles Continue.

This is Junior hockey after all. Anything can happen on any given night. The Blades started the scoring in the 1st period but the Pats basically took the game over from that point,in terms of scoring. The final score was 5-2 for the Pats.

On a positive note Darian Dziurzynski scored another goal which gives him 10 on the season. At this pace he will pass his point total from last season 29 pts. He already has 14 pts only 13 games into the season.

The Blades are playing .500 hockey on the road which is decent but I would think everyone wants to have an even balance.

The Blades are 2-0 so far when playing in Alberta so hopefully that can help them this weekend when they play the Rebels on Saturday and Calgary on Sunday.

NHL news now. The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Florida Panthers by a score of 3-1, which gives them a 5-2-1 record. They will play the Boston Bruins on Thursday.

Blades Keep It Going..Still Unbeaten At Credit Union Centre.

Steven Stanford was given the start tonight. The game was scoreless until the 2nd period. Curtis Hamilton got the Blades on the board.

The 1st line of Hamilton-Viedensky-Nicholls is playing really well,but the Blades MUST get secondary scoring from the other 3 lines in order to be a memorial cup contender. Darian Dzuirzynski's line has played well together because he has the most goals on the team with 10. Do not let the 10-2 record fool you.

The Blades have 8 players who have not completed 1 season in the WHL. Are the top 2 lines, defence and goaltending carrying this team right now? The Blades have played 7 games within the East division, and 5 games against Central division and US division teams. They are 7-0 on home ice. It is still early in the season and once the Blades get on the road in November and December things should become interesting.

The Blades controlled the pace of the game after they scored the 1st goal. They took a 3-0 lead into the 3rd period. You knew there were going to be some fights with a frustrated Medicine Hat team. In the 3rd period Kale Kessy of the Tigers took on Lukas Sutter and Kessy got the better of Sutter,but Sutter picked up an instigator penalty.

Steven Stanford was very much a factor in this game,he helped keep Emerson Etem,Linden Vey from scoring. The Blades as a team played well.

One scary moment in the 2nd period (if I remember correctly) A puck was deflected and it hit Stefan Elliott in the face, he was ok. It is never a good thing a puck or stick gets near the face and makes contact.

The Tigers scored their only goal in the 3rd period. They looked tired and probably used up their offence,the previous night in Prince Albert. Being without Tyler Pitlick and some other players probably did not help things for the Tigers.

2 Edmonton Oiler prospects (Curtis Hamilton and Tyler Bunz) were playing in the game tonight so you can bet your money that there were Oiler's brass at the game tonight.

The addition of Jake Trask has been a good one,sure he is not a goal or point scoring machine yet,but he is another veteran body,and hopefully he will be able to get a streak going.

There was one more fight that was unable to develop and it all started when the play was in the Tigers zone and a Blades player (it might have been Brent Benson) was in puck pursuit and a Tiger player had clipped him and right away Darren Dietz came in and wanted to drop the gloves but the referees did not let it happen.

the final score was 4-1 for the Blades who now continue to play well sporting a 10-2 record.

The Blades will travel to the Queen City on Tuesday to take on the Regina Pats.

Blades Shine In Shoot-Out (300th Post)

This is the 300th post on this blog & many more to come. I hope you enjoy reading it as I do writing recaps and such.

Adam Morrison was the starter for the Blades tonight. The Hurricanes scored first and managed to take a 3-1 lead into the 3rd period. I thought that the Blades were very strong when they had possession of the puck and this is a good sign.

Some penalties allowed each team to score goals changing the game, in fact the Blades scored 2 power play goals so their special teams was clicking tonight.

Ryan Olsen had a great game,scoring his 1st WHL goal in the 1st period on a spin-o-rama type shot.

The Blades battled back from being down 3-1 to tie the game. Duncan Siemens did so on a wrist shot.

Overtime would solve nothing but with 4 on 4 you have to be so careful: No room for mistakes.

In the Shoot out, Both teams took 2 shots: No goals so far so.... Lethbridge's 3rd shooter misses. It is all up to 16 year old Ryan Olsen and he scores!!!! The Blades are 9-2 now and No other Blades team in their history has started the season 9-2. They also maintain a perfect 6-0 record at home.

Hard fought game and tomorrow the Riders play but there was a good article in the Saskatoon paper today,so if you have not read it please do.

one thing that I noticed was in the score sheet insert in the program. Almost everything was right the Hurricanes goalies and defence but the forwards were not correct. They still had the Tri City Americans forwards instead of the Lethbridge Hurricanes forwards.

I hope they fix this by the next game which is tomorrow. It is a minor mistake. Speaking of improvements!! The Blades game day presentation is very much improved. They have the names and numbers of the players on the jumbo-tron when they get a penalty. They have someone with a Blades flag skating around the Blades zone which is cool. Maybe they could take some lessons from Medicine Hat? I was there for 2 playoff games when the Blades were swept in 4 straight (If my memory is correct) and they do an AWESOME pre game show with Rrory the Tiger.

Quite a difference from the last time these two teams met (the Blades winning 4-0 in Lethbridge)

The Blades will face a hot Medicine Hat Tigers team who exploded with offence defeating the Prince Albert Raiders by a score of 9-2 tonight.

Will the Blades be up to the task of taming Emerson Etem and the Tigers?

Go to the game tomorrow night and cheer on the Blades. Why not? After all they are off to a great start and deserve the support!!!

Blades Beat By Warriors.

Steven Stanford played 1 period plus a few minutes allowing 1 goal,and Adam Morrison played the rest of the game allowing 4 goals.

Jake Trask made his debut and had 2 minutes in penalties. Darian Dzuirzynski scored the lone goal for the Blades and Matej Stransky added the assist.

By looking at the stats sheet Curt Gogol fought Joel Edmundson of the Warriors. The Blades were outshot 27-23.

The final score was 5-1. The Blades record now stands at 8-2. Next up is a pair of home games this weekend. Lethbridge on Friday and Medicine Hat on Saturday night.

Roster Move & A Trade.

Today the team reassigned Brett Stovin to the Interlake Lightning of the Manitoba AAA Midget hockey League,the Blades made a trade with the Kamloops Blazers to acquire a hometown Right Wing/Centre: 19 year old Jake Trask. In exchange for a 6th round pick in 2012.

Blades Weekend Fights In Red Deer.

I found videos of the 2 fights that the Blades, Dalton Thrower and Lukas Sutter were involved in.

Sutter VS Robinson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiAhCBoirfE

Thrower VS Elson (It starts at the 2:35 mark in the video)

http://www.reddeerrebels.com/video/index/id/7670ae888a7575e7165e14af043d6151

There is also highlights of the Hurricanes/Blades game on the Hurricanes website.

Blades Succeed in Alberta

The Blades had a good two road games in Alberta. Barely getting past the Rebels last night 2-1 and making easy work of the Hurricanes tonight shutting them out 4-0.

With this win the Blades have won 6 straight games and are 8-1 overall. Elliott,Bews,Viedensky and Benson provided the goals and Adam Morrison provided good goaltending. Dietz,Siemens had 2 assists each. Hamilton,Dzuirzynski and Nicholls all added assists.

The Blades were against outshot by the home team but what matters is when the pucks go in the net and the Blades are doing that.

The Blades will rest and practice until a game Tuesday night in Moose Jaw.

Blades Sneak Past Rebels. Leafs Still Undefeated.

After a 7 day break from action the Blades faced off against Red Deer. The Blades scored in the first period. The Rebels managed to tie up the game. Marek Viedensky and Dalton Thrower scored for the Blades. Brent Benson added a helper in the winning cause.

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Lukas Sutter dropped the gloves with Turner Elson. Look for a video on you tube of the fight in the coming days.

Steven Stanford was in net for the Blades. He now has 6 wins on the season. Red Deer our shot the Blades 41-23. Ryan Nugent Hopkins was a minus 1 and had zero points in this game. 2-1 was the final score.

The Blades travel to Lethbridge to play the Hurricanes tomorrow night. The recored improves 7 -1.

Some NHL news to pass along. The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the New York Rangers 4-3. Giving them a 4-0 record. It was a good night in the hockey world for me.

Blades Visit Red Deer and Lethbridge this weekend.

They will play the Rebels later tonight and it will be the 1st time since their 1st round playoff series last spring (which the Blades took in 4 games)

On Saturday they will take on the Hurricanes,Josh Nicholls has been cleared for contact and will most likely be inserted back into the line-up on friday. This weekend will be a good test for the team but reuniting the top line will help.

Josh Nicholls 2nd goal against the Tri City Americans made the top 5 plays of the week this week in the WHL plays of the week. His goal was ranked #4.

http://www.whl.ca/video/index/id/9336b7dddad96a2615c7379e386702b5

Maple Leafs are 3-0

The Leafs have found a way to win once again. Luke Schenn chipped in with 2 assists.

You can read the rest of the game summary here: http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010020039&navid=sb:recap

Blades Ranked #4 in the CHL.

Here is the press release: http://www.saskatoonblades.com/article/bmo-chl-mastercard-top-10-week-4

WHL gives Brendan Shinnimin 12 Games.

I think that is a reasonable number of games for the 1st time offender.

What is everyone else's opinion?

Maple Leafs Win Again!!!

The Leafs gave started the season off with 2 wins in a row and against arch rivals too. I only saw the last part of the 2nd and entire 3rd but the Leafs won 5-1. The Tri City Americans defeated the Brandon Wheat Kings 3-1 The Rebels also beat the Warriors too 3-0 ,so that does help out the Blades.

Blades Outlast Warriors. Blades Remain Unbeaten At Home.

I decided to listen to this game on the radio so I could enjoy thanksgiving supper with my relatives and I am glad that I have that as a plan B because Les Lazaruk and Cody Nickolet do a good job calling and describing the games.

The Blades led the game for well over 40 minutes and the Warriors attempted a 3rd period comeback,but it failed. As a result the Blades scored 2 empty net goals. Darian Dzuirzynski netted a hat trick. Curtis Hamilton had 3 points tonight. Josh Nicholls was indeed a scratch for tonights game. Brendan Shinnimin recieved a 2 game suspension until the WHL makes a final descision .

Marek Viedensky and Curtis Hamilton are 9th and 11th respectively in WHL scoring, while Ryan Nugent Hopkins and Andrej Kudrna lead the WHL in points and the Blades will take on the Rebels in Red Deer on October 15th.

The attendance was in the 3,500 range tonight.

The final score was 6-4 and this win gives the Blades a 5-0 record on home ice and 6-1 overall which is the best record in the WHL for the time being.

The Blades will hit the road for 2 games in Alberta Red Deer and Lethbridge next weekend and will not have home games until the 22nd and 23rd, another back to back weekend of hockey!!!!

Hampus Gustafsson was traded to the Brandon Wheat Kings from the Pats tonight. The Pats are sure making deals as of late. Some fans are wondering if it is the coach and not the players? The Regina Pats have traded 3 players in the past couple of days.

Leafs Win Home Opener. Video of last nights hit.

The Leafs beat the Canadeins 3-2 was the score. I was only able to watch the end of the 2nd and final period. Clarke MacArthur was 2nd star scoring one goal,Phil Kessel and J-S Giguere was the other stars of the game. The Leafs will take on the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

Ok now onto the video replay of the Josh Nicholls hit at the end of the 3rd period.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Rncb-t8mc%E2%80%8C

He did not have the puck and it was not a very smart move on Shinnimin's part.

He is lucky that Nicholls is not severely hurt maybe a concussion and a bruised back. Still I do not like to see anyone on either team get hurt in any game.

One more piece of news: Adam Iwan has been sent back home. The Blades will probably go with a strong duo of Stanford and Morrison. Adam Morrison looks very much improved from last season.

The Blades will face the Moose Jaw Warriors tomorrow night. I think we may see Josh Nicholls sit this one out.

Blades Shut Down Americans,Extend Streak To 3.

Adam Morrison was given the start tonight for the Blades and he played well. I wonder if the Blades are going to go with Stanford and Morrison as their 2 goalies?? Something to think about.

The Blades jumped out to a 2-0 lead with Josh Nicholls scoring 1 minute into the game and Darian Dzuirzynski scoring the Blades 2nd goal

The way this game was played with intensity and everything else you would think that it was arch rivals playing one another. Tri City put together a good effort. if these two teams met in the playoffs it would be a very good series.

I do not know how to put this without getting jumped on and either way I might, but there were some questionable hits that Tri City put on some Blades players. One in particular was Brendan Shinnimin hitting Josh Nicholls who stayed down for a while. It will be interesting to see if anything else results from that hit. I do not know if it was just Tri City hitting dangerously or someone letting the game get out of control?

This was a good hockey game to watch. Fast paced action with hits and good saves.

I think Les Lazaruk mentioned in the pre game video that if the Blades won this game it would be the best start that the Blades have had since also going 5-1 in 1985 if I remember correctly?

The hit of the game was thrown by Darian Dzuizynski and the hardest working player for the Blades was Marek Viedensky.

There was a lot of Tri City Americans fans there tonight,I do not think that their team has a booster club so either die hard fans are following the AMS or either family that live out in Saskatchewan?

The final score was Blades 5 Americans 3. The Americans are now 0-2 on their East Divison Road Trip. The Blades meanwhile are 3-0 in their last 3.

The attendance was only 3,026 or around there. You would think that their would have been more people at the game considering it was a team that only comes here every other year or 2 years. Sure it would be great to see decent crowds every game but whatever. The Blades are winning and the team looks great. It is only the start of the season but early success is crucial.

Andrej Stastny now listed By the Vancouver Giants....

Read this blog http://communities.canada.com/theprovince/blogs/dubhub/default.aspx and you will see what I am talking about or I will just spill the beans now. The Blades had given up on him and no doubt he is a talented player. This will not go over well if he does play for the Vancouver Giants. It makes one wonder if the Slovakian team will release Stastny now. That sure would be a kick in the ass for Saskatoon. Interesting situation we have here.

Former Captain Hulak Earns Pro Contract.

As many of you know earned an invite to the Phoenix Coyotes rookie camp and he did well enough that he has secured a pro contract with the Reading Royals of the ECHL. I saw the news on the Blades color commentators blog: http://whl-from-above.blogspot.com/ So I did not report it first.

It says that the Royals are affiliated with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins. So does that mean he could play for both the Bruins and Leafs? Haha probably not. Congrats to him. His hard work has paid off. Always nice to see a player get rewarded for their efforts.

The Blades (4-1) will face the Tri City Americans 4-0-1 on Wednesday night and their will be AMS fans in attendance. So I ask this of you: Please be nice to them. I know sometimes visiting teams fans are not treated well (I have experienced this) some of that was my own fault but show them them how great the hockey fans in Saskatoon can be.

Blades Take 2 out of 3 & Get Revenge.

Steven Stanford started the game for the Blades and he allowed 2 goals in the 1st period but the Blades did not panic but rather tie the game up.

In the third period the Wheaties tied up the game with about 9 minutes left but the Blades took the lead again,so that forced the Wheat Kings to pull Ty Rimmer but that did not work.
The Blades won the game by a 1 goal margin 4-3.

The Blades record improves to 4-1.

Playing 3 games in 3 nights is a tough grind but winning 2 out of 3 is an AWESOME accomplishment. The guys deserve some rest on Monday for sure.

Matej Stransky looks like the real deal. The Blades have a good European combo.

Darian Dzuirzynski was awarded the hit of the game and Teigan Zahn was the hardest working player.

The Blades traded with the Prince George Cougars. The Blades received a 3rd round draft pick in 2011 for 20 year old forward Sena Acolatse. This is a good trade!!!

Blades Deafeat Pats

After a disastrous game is Brandon last night the Blades got on track quickly by jumping out to a 2-0 lead. The Pats made it a close game scoring 1 goal soon after. The Blades kept on rolling as they scored 3 more goals and made the score 4-1. The Pats scored again and that would be all that they could get past Steven Stanford. The final score was 6-2 for the Blades. The hardest hit of the the game was awarded to Darian Dzuirzynski and the hardest working player was Brent Benson.

The Blades get set for a rematch against those same Wheat Kings tomorrow night. Things could get really interesting between Adam Morrison,Steven Stanford and Sena Acolatse because both Stanford and Acolatse can not stay.

Blades Blanked By Wheat Kings,Suffer 1st loss.

It was probably a good thing that I did not listen to this game because the Blades were totally dominated by the Wheat Kings. Some people blame Adam Morrison. It was the Blades as a team that did not come through and do the things needed to win a hockey game. Brandon crushed the Blades 7-0

The Blades have given up on Andrej Stastny so their two imports will be Matej Stransky and Marek Viedensky.

Hopefully the Blades show up for the next 2 of their remaining games this weekend.