Blades Select 12 Players.

Today in the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft the team selected 7 forwards,4 defencemen and 1 goalie. It looks as if the Blades took a mindset of drafting smaller and hopefully skilled players.

It looks as if the Blades picked a great player in the 1st round,his stats are good. Stats do not tell the entire story though.

For more information on the draft selections go to www.saskatoonblades.com.

NHL Playoffs.... WHL Bantam Draft 2010 Edition.

Wow what a game between the Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals. Upset of the Playoffs??? I think so. Montreal took out Mike Green,Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals.

I will cheer for Devin Setoguchi and the Sharks now. Not too many former Blades to cheer for now.

The WHL Bantam Draft is tomorrow. I will be working so someone will have to tell me via text messages. Who the Blades pick in each round.

Rumour is going around that the Red Deer Rebels may be trying to trade Landon Ferraro. Should the Blades try and acquire hm? At what cost? I think the Blades need scoring forwards and Ferraro could be one of those guys. I am sure that the Blades will put an offer on the table.

Hockey Notes

Just a reminder for WHL draft enthusiasts,the big day is only a few more days away April 29th. The Blades have the 20th pick in the 1st round.

The Tri City Americans took out the Vancouver Giants,so the AMS will face the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL Finals.

I am hoping that the Americans can make it to the Memorial Cup,to cap off a great season that they had.

Either way the WHL will have to strong teams that will battle for the Memorial Cup in Brandon.

I was taking a peak at Rod Petersen's Blog and Moose Jaw has started to build the new arena.

Some NHL notes now. Vancouver's other hockey team: the Vancouver Canucks defeated Drew Doughty and the Kings. If am I am thinking right Vancouver will play the winner of the Chicago VS Nashville series?

The Montreal Canadiens will be looking to force a game 7 in Washington,but they must win game #6 first. Can you guess who I am cheering for in this series??? I will give you some hints: I am a Leafs fan, I like to follow Blades Alumni when they graduate from the WHL. The answer is the Washington Capitals.

Patterson Joins AHL's Heat... 2010 WHL Bantam Draft.

The news of Gaelan Patterson joining the Calgary Flames AHL team is old but his hockey season has been extended. The WHL Bantam Draft is being held in Edmonton on April 29th. Thus it sparks the discussion of who the Blades will take at 20th overall? (the same pick they had last season)

I would say take the best player available and hope and pray that it is a forward,do not get me wrong the Blades do have good depth but players are added and removed from the 50 man PPL.

I am sure that the Blades will pick well in the draft.

Blades Re-tooling For Next Season??

firstly here are 3 more pictures.



The first one is a sign by a restaurant near my house:






If you look back at the Saskatoon Blades 2009-2010 campaign,they accomplished many things: They battled hard with those same Wheat Kings in an attempt to repeat as East Division Champions. Near the end of 2009 and starting the new year they posted a 5-1 record on their US Division roadie. With one game in Cranbrook as well.


They posted a regular season record of 46 wins 19 losses for 99 points. They were also in the CHL top 10 for most,if not all of the regular season.


They swept their 1st round opponent, in the 2nd round they came back from being down 2-0 and almost forced a game #7.


Now a look ahead to next season. The bridge city bunch have 9 twenty year old possibilities but only 3 spots.


Here are the candidates: Jeremy Boyer,Gaelan Patterson,Steven Stanford,Travis Toomey,Sena Acolatse,Teigan Zahn,Randy McNaught,Marek Viedensky,and Jyri Niemi. The last two are probably not going to be returning since they are both drafted and take up two spots (but you never know)


I am going to wait until I make a prediction as to who I think will stick with the Blades as 20 year olds.


Now a look at the rookies that could possibly making the team next season. Ryan Olsen,a 1st round pick of the Blades in 2009. Darren Dietz a 17 year old defencemen from Medicine Hat. Colton Robak (yes that is the younger brother of Wheat Kings d-man Colby Robak) Davis Vandane.


There may be some names that I missed.


Now the forwards. I think that Lukas Sutter will make the team based on his impressive showing in his time with the team. Ryan Olsen should challenge for a spot. Alex Elliott. Does the name sound familiar? If Stefan and Alex are related,I hope that hockey runs in their family.

Braden Johnson who was up playing for the Blades this season until trades were made and he was sent down. Levi Bews could make the jump as well. Also Jonathon Robinson the kid from California could surprise some people but at least he is reporting... US flavor.... remember Aaron Bader??


Their may be some names that I missed.


Both Steven Stanford and Adam Morrison could return to keep the goaltending situation under control next season.


One more thing Wired 96.3 pulled some pranks on the Red Deer Rebels and Brandon Wheat Kings... quite funny if you are a Blades fan. If you want to listen go to Wired 96.3's facebook page and it is there....some searching is required though.

The Blades Lose it....

There was a good atmosphere at the CUC tonight and I had a laugh when I saw the crowd get behind the Wheaties bench and do what the Brandon fans did to the Blades in Brandon.


For the love of god how can a team give up a 3 goal lead?!?!?!?!?!? I know that the Wheat Kings are a stellar team and everything else. Oh it just came to me. I think the Blades kind of sat back..... Something a team should never do.

The final score was 5-4. It was a hard fought series by both teams.

Congratulations and good luck to the 3 twenty year old players: Derek Hulak,Walker Wintoneak,and Sam Klassen.

My eyes will be tuned to Shaw TV now to watch WHL playoff hockey. I do not know who I am going to cheer for yet.

Blades WIn 2 out of 3 in Brandon..... Trail 3-2

I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!!!

Well if you are a Blades fan you may be saying "that stinks" or maybe not but this has been a road team series for the most part except game #5.

The Blades have done really well in this series,they battled back and won games in Brandon to tie up the series,so I think being down 1 game is not bad.... Scary? yes,but the Blades are still in it but on life support.

Both games were pins and needle,edge of your seat games.

Jyri Niemi did play in game #5 and the Wheat Kings mascot was mocking him because he also had tape around his fingers as well did some little kids who were Wheat King fans bellow us in Section 21.

Thse fans in Brandon are creative with making signs,I did see one good sign in Saskatoon @ game #1 though.

It was a different experience sitting and watching the game from behind the net.

The Wheat Kings prevailed by a score of 3-2 when Toni Rajala scored the game winner.

Game #6 is at the CUC on Monday Night, I am excited and nervous all in one beat!!!!!

Positive Thinking..... Go Blades Go.

1 more game in Brandon...Hopefully.

There is no word yet if Jyri Niemi will be suspended.... I would not doubt it though.

Jay Fehr will be back in the Wheat Kings line-up,and the Blades need to be ready for that.

The Blades played an excellent road game last night.

There will be a game #6 back in Saskatoon on Monday night. Let's just hope that there is a bigger crowd to cheer the team on.

This my first trip to Brandon has been an AWESOME trip. The fans are friendly and I like the arena as well.

Enjoy the game tonight everyone. It should be a good one once again.

Go Blades Go.

Series Tied At 2.

This game tonight was possibly the best road game that I have attended. The Blades came out hard and did not quit.

As we all know these games are very close and powerplays are so important.

This series just turned into a great series, Obviously because the Blades worked their tail off and won 2 games in Westman Place, Something that is not easy.

There was one situation that may hurt the Blades: Jyri Niemi fought with fellow european foe Alexander Urbom and Niemi was issued a match penalty because he taped up his broken finger and the hometown crowd was not happy that he backed out of the fight.

Water under the bridge really. The Blades won 4-3 to tie up the series.

I picked up a Memorial Cup hat and t-shirt...which was an awesome deal.

I will upload pictures when I arrive back in Saskatoon.

Blogging From Brandon

I am here in my hotel room waiting for tickets to be given out. I am excited. It is windy here but nice outside.... What about Saskatoon? Well they are enduring a storm last I heard.

That is all I have for now. Enjoy the game tonight and Go Blades Go!!!!!

Blades Get A W!!!!! Series Now 2-1.

With their head coach behind the bench I am sure that it helped the guys stay calm ect... The Blades battled back from trailing 3-1. Steven Stanford may have taken this game away from the Wheat Kings.

The Blades edged out the Wheat Kings 5-4. Wow was I ever relieved when I heard Les Lazaruk say that score.

Derek Hulak contributed with 1 goal,and now I think that the Blades still have a chance in this series. Randy McNaught returns for game #4 on Friday.

This hockey fan is excited to be making the trip to Brandon early Friday morning. It should be a good weekend.

Go Blades Go.

Game #3 In Brandon Tonight.

We all know that tonight is a MUST win for the Blades. Randy McNaught returns in game #4 and the Wheat Kings are still without Jay Fehr (who is still serving his suspension.)

Adam Iwan has been called up for the remainder of the playoffs,so Adam Morrison`s injury must be season ending.

Another thing the Blades will have to deal with is not having last change,and this scares me because the Wheat Kings can roll 4 lines.

There is still hope........ GO BLADES GO!!!!!!

Blades Down 2-0.... Not Looking Good!!!

The first 2 periods were fine but the Blades could not beat the Wheat Kings in scoring race like in game #1.

The bridge city bunch could not match Brandon's offensive power tonight, and so they tried their chippy in your face style and that got them nowhere because they were penalized numerous times, and the fans let the referee know how they felt.

In all honesty I think the Blades are done in 4 or 5.

Lorne Molleken is back behind the bench for game #3 and he may find a way to help the Blades battle their way back into this series but it will be tough.

The Blades booster club fan bus probably will still go for game #4.

Game #2 Tonight.

The Blades will be able to dress Duncan Siemens,Sena Acolatse and Darian Dzuirynski as they have all served their 3 game suspension.

By the sounds of things, Curtis Hamilton may be done for the series. Tough luck for him.

The Blades have called up Adam Iwan for the game to back-up Steven Stanford.

I think that the young guys:Sutter,Dietz and Bews will be taken out of the line-up to make room for Siemens,Acolatse and Dzuirynski. Those young guys have played really well,so I think we will see them crack the Blades roster next season.

I hope it is a close game like last night,this is exciting hockey that is for sure.

I hope the Blades can earn a split before the series goes to Brandon for the next 3 games.

There is a picture of me on the ebrandon website.

It is the 6th picture in the slide show on the right side of the page.
http://www.ebrandon.ca/messagethread.aspx?message_id=271465&cat_id=1

Blades VS Wheat Kings.... Game #1.

This series may go 7 games. The game was back and forth after Brandon got up 2-0 in the 1st period. Special teams was a big factor in this game. Adam Morrison got injured in practice so the Blades had to call up an emergency back up Matt Canaday. I wonder if the Blades will call up one of their other goalies in the system?


I think that this game was the best Blades?Wheat Kings game I have seen in a while. I love seeing back and forth action and teams trading goals like that.


The Blades top 4 defencemen played a ton of minutes tonight and they looked tired towards the end of the game.

Curtis Hamilton is having the toughest luck with injuries this season/playoffs ..... The check by Jay Fehr seemed like it was a clean hit but he did get a penalty for it.... Maybe the WHL will review it? The damage was done. Curtis Hamilton is injured again.

The Blades could not manage to tie up the game in the final minute with Stanford on the bench.

The final score was 6-5 for the Wheat Kings.

The attendance was about 6,400.

The 50/50 jackpot was around $12 or $14 Thousand,the biggest in a long while.

The "White Out" was good but I think it could have been whiter in the seats haha.

I was able to meet a couple of Wheat Kings fans one who posts on the WHLfans.ca message board.

I am excited for game #2 tomorrow night.

I am also excited to make another road trip with the Blades booster club fan bus to Brandon (My first time) for games #4 and #5 next weekend. Hopefully to meet some more message board posters.


AHH I love this game of hockey and how much fun it is to travel and meet new people.