Blades Host Raiders
The Saskatoon Blades (38-28-1-2) look to continue to improve their playoff positioning as they play host to the Prince Albert Raiders (21-41-3-3) for the final time this season.
The Blades currently sit 7th in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 79 points, one point back of both the Kootenay Ice and Regina Pats. The Raiders sit at 12th overall in the Eastern Conference with 48 points.
Blades Last Game
The Saskatoon Blades are coming off a weekend split with the Brandon Wheat Kings.
The Blades fell in the final game of that set, losing 2-1 in Brandon on Saturday night. Eric Roy and Michael Ferland scored the goals for Brandon, late in the first and early in the second, respectively. Both goals also came on the man advantage.
Lukas Sutter had the Blades answer in period two, his 28th of the season, but it wasn’t enough for Saskatoon to walk away with points. Corbin Boes stopped 34 shots for the win while Andrey Makarov had 31 saves in the loss.
Previous Meetings
Tonight marks the 8th and final meeting of the season between the Saskatoon Blades and Prince Albert Raiders. The Blades have found success against their rivals, winning 6 of the first 7 games that the teams have played. Those meetings have broken down as follows:
– 4-3 win in Saskatoon on September 23rd
– 5-3 win in Prince Albert on September 24th
– 4-3 win in Prince Albert on October 29th
– 5-2 loss in Prince Albert on December 29th
– 9-4 win in Saskatoon on December 30th
– 8-6 win in Saskatoon on January 14th
– 2-0 win in Prince Albert on March 7th
Stransky Streaking
Blades leading scorer Matej Stransky continues to push the pace in his game.
Stransky posted a goal and four assists over the weekend in Brandon to put him at 36 goals and 72 points on the season. He now has points in 5 of his last 6 games, with 8 points over that span.
The Dallas Stars draft pick has seen amazing growth in his game since last season, a year where he scored 14 goals and had only 26 points.
Stanley Cup Is Coming
The Saskatoon Blades have big things planned as the season winds down. One of those things is having the Stanley Cup ® in the building tonight as the Blades host the Raiders.
The trophy will be on hand as part of the Scotiabank ‘Celebration of Hockey’ program. Fans will have a chance to get their picture taken with the cup as a part of the celebration.
Blades Statistical Leaders
– Matej Stransky leads the team with 36 goals and 72 points.
– Jake Trask, Matej Stransky and Dalton Thrower lead the team with 36 assists.
– Connor Cox leads the team with a +25 rating.
– Lukas Sutter leads the team with 156 penalty minutes.
– Stransky leads the team with 12 powerplay goals.
– Josh Nicholls leads the team with 5 shorthanded goals.
– Sutter leads the team with 7 game winning goals.
Blades Approaching Milestones
– Matej Stransky recently scored his 50th career WHL goal
– Michael Burns is 2 goals away from 50 in his career
– Matej Stransky is 2 assists away from 50 in his career
– Matej Stransky is 2 points away from 100 in his career
– Brent Benson is 4 points away from 100 in his career
– Darren Dietz is 4 assists away from 50 in his career
– Kyle Haas is 4 PIMs away from 100 in his career
– Locke Muller is 5 games away from 100 in his career
Tonight’s game goes at 7:00 PM from the Credit Union Centre. If you can’t catch the game live, you can also watch it on Shaw TV. You can also tune in to the game on 92.9 The Bull starting with the pregame show at 6:30 PM.
Saskatoon Blades Hockey, It Starts Here!
