Blades And Broncos Finish Season Series

The Saskatoon Blades (31-21-0-3) are looking to keep the ball rolling as they play host the Swift Current Broncos (27-24-3-2) tonight.  The Blades enter the game with a season-high 8-game winning streak on the line, while the Broncos are coming off of 2-straight wins over Edmonton and Prince Albert.

Blades Last Game

The Blades won their biggest game of the season on Saturday night as they dumped the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-2 in front of a record crowd.  The Blades got a big performance from their captain Brenden Walker, as he registered 2 goals and an assist in the win while going +2.  Saskatoon also got goals in the win from Shane McColgan, Matej Stransky and Nathan Burns while Michael Ferland put up 3 assists.  In goal, Andrey Makarov took home 2nd star honours after a 27 save game.  On special teams, the Blades went 1 for 5 on the PP, 3 for 3 on the PK and outshot the Hurricanes 39-29.

Previous Meetings

Tonight’s game marks the 8th and final meeting of the regular season between the Blades and Broncos.  It also marks the 2nd meeting between them in 5 days and 3rd meeting between them this month.  So far, the Blades have posted 4 wins in the season series, including back-to-back 4-1 victories.  The season series has shaped up as follows:

– Blades 2 @ Broncos 1 (OT) – September 29th – Josh Nicholls had the OT winner

– Broncos 10 @ Blades 1 – October 5th – Adam Lowry had 2G, 2A – Jessey Astles had lone Blades goal

– Blades 1 @ Broncos 2 – October 19th – Eetu Laurikainen 43 saves for Broncos – Lukas Sutter had lone Blades goal

– Blades 4 @ Broncos 3 – December 14th – Josh Nicholls and Shane McColgan had 3 points each and were both +3

– Blades 1 @ Broncos 3 – December 18th – Adam Lowry scored twice – Nathan Burns had lone Blades goal

– Broncos 1 @ Blades 4 – February 2nd – Michael Ferland had 3 goals and an assist as his line was a combined +9

– Broncos 1 @ Blades 4 – February 8th – Darren Dietz had 2 goals and an assist, including the game-winning goal

Walker Wins WHL Player Of The Week

A big reason for the Saskatoon Blades current winning streak has been due to the play of forward Brenden Walker.  The Blades captain was rewarded for his efforts yesterday as he was named as the WHL Player Of The Week.  Walker collected 9 points, scoring 4 goals and 5 assists to go with a +6 rating in four games over the past week, helping the Blades to a 4-0-0-0 record in that span.  Walker currently rides a 6-game point streak, registering at least a point in every single Blades game so far this month.  He’s registered 6 goals and 13 points over his personal streak, while currently sitting 4th in team scoring with 20 goals and 51 points in 55 games so far this season.

Burns Breaks 100

First-year Saskatoon Blades forward Nathan Burns entered last game with 99 career points, registering a goal and an assist to reach and surpass the 100 career regular season point milestone.  Burns did so while putting together a personal 4-game point streak.  Burns has put up 7 points in 6 games so far in February, while scoring a career-high 17 goals and tying his current career high of 34 points.  Burns was acquired by the Blades from the Vancouver Giants earlier this season, having spent the previous three seasons of his career with Vancouver.

Next 5 Games

@ Moose Jaw Warriors – Feb. 15th

@ Medicine Hat Tigers – Feb. 16th

vs. Brandon Wheat Kings – Feb. 18th

vs. Moose Jaw Warriors – Feb. 20th

vs. Brandon Wheat Kings – Feb. 22nd

 

For a further breakdown of tonight’s game, check out our game notes page here.

The puck drop tonight goes at 7:05PM from the Credit Union Centre. Great seats are still available as the Blades look for their 9th straight win.  Get tickets here.

If you can’t make it to the game, make sure you tune in to WHL Live, listen along on 92.9 The Bull or follow @bladeshockey on Twitter for all the game updates.