Saturday,February 11th, 2017 – 7:00pm at SaskTel Centre,Saskatoon, SK
Saskatoon Blades (22-25-5-1 – 50pts)
5th – East Division 8th – Eastern Conference
PP – 52/250 = 20.8% (12th in WHL)
PK - 173/224 = 77.2% (14thin WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings (27-20-5-2 – 61pts)
7th–EastDivision4th – Eastern Conference
PP – 51/231= 22.1% (8thin WHL)
PK – 204/258 = 79.1% (12th in WHL)
Tonight…The Saskatoon Bladeshost the Brandon Wheat Kings looking for their 3rd straight win. This will be the 8th and final matchup of the season for these two division rivals. Brandon leads the season series with 4 wins; Saskatoon won the last two meetings 4-2 in Brandon on January 3rd and back on January 20th 3-2 in a shootout.
The Last Game…The Blades are coming off a 4-2 win on home ice last night over the Moose Jaw Warriors. Kirby Dach scored twice, including the game winner. The Wheat Kings knocked off one of the top teams in the league last night, edging out the Everett Silvertips 2-1 in Brandon. Both teams head into tonight looking for a 3rd consecutive win.
Head to Head…Braylon Shmyr leads the Blades with 8 points against Brandon this season, but the former Wheatie isn’t in the lineup due to injury. Veteran Jesse Shynkaruk is next in line with 5 points in 5 games against Brandon this year. For Brandon, Reid Duke and Tanner Kaspick each have 8 points against the Blades.
Back in Blue… ’97 F Mason McCarty returned to the Blades lineup last night after missing 27 games with a lower body injury. McCarty chipped in with 1 goal and a +3 rating in his return, earning himself 2nd star. McCarty now has 24 points including 15 goals in 27 games this season.
Something to Dach about… Highly touted prospect, Kirby Dach, was called up to the Saskatoon Blades this week on an emergency basis to join the club full time for the rest of the season. Last night was his 5th game in the WHL and he scored twice; both highlight reel quality goals for his first tallies in major junior. The 2016 2nd overall pick also finished with a +3 rating and was named 1st star of the game. Dach is expected to stick on his line with Mason McCarty and Arjun Atwal again tonight.
Home Sweet Home… This is game #6 in a 7 game stretch at home for Saskatoon – the longest ofthe season. The Blades are 13-11-3 at SaskTel Centre this season and went 5-3-1 in the month of January at home, and are 2-1 so far in February. The home stand wraps up on Wednesday against the Everett Silvertips.
You Don’t Sayers… ’96 D Bryton Sayers leads by example on and off the ice for the Blades, and over the past month has been leading on the scoresheet as well. Over the last 11 games, Sayers has 10 points, and is tied for the lead in assists on the Blades with 22.
Rising Wouters…2000 FChase Wouters has 4 points in his last 3 outings. Wouters has taken on all sorts of roles in his rookie campaign and hasn’t skipped a beat doing so. Wouters won a silver medal with Team Canada Black at the World U17 Championships back in November. The Lloydminster product sees regular time on the Blades powerplay, penalty kill, and now has 16 points in 46 games.
Draft Watch… ’99 F Josh Paterson was listed at 163rd in the NHL Central Scouting Midterm rankings… ’99 D Mark Rubinchik was ranked 119. Paterson scored his 12th goal of the season last night, giving the Edmonton product 29 points in 54 games this season. Rubinchik had 1 assist in the win last night, totaling 17 points in 45 games this season.
This Date in Blades History… February 11, 2011…the Blades won their fifth straight game…all by scoring at least five goals…as they whipped the visiting Prince Albert Raiders 7-2 in front of 5,833 fans at Credit Union Centre. Brayden Schenn scored the first two goals of the game for the Bridge City Bunch with Chris Collins tallying the eventual winning and insurance goals. The Double Blue out-shot the Raiders 43-27 as they improved their record to a W-H-L-leading 43-10-2 for 88 points.
Injury report…
97 F Cam Hebig – upper body – indefinitely
97 F Braylon Shmyr – upper body – day-to-day
96 F Markson Bechtold – upper body – day-to-day
98 F Caleb Fantillo – upper body – day-to-day
99 F Lukus MacKenzie – upper body – week-to-week
99 D Jake Kustra – upper body – week-to-week
Roster breakdown:
16 Forwards
7 Defenseman
2 Goalies
Age Breakdown:
1996 – 3
1997 –6
1998 – 5
1999 – 8
2000 – 2
2001 - 1
The way they became Blades…
Round / # / Player (Overall - Year)1st / 1 / Wouters(19th - 2015), Dach(2nd – 2016)
2nd / 3 / Kustra (34th - 2014), Christensen(30th - 2014), Paterson(25th - 2014)
3rd / 2 / Hebig(56th – 2012), MacKenzie(60th – 2014)
Euro / 2 / Hájek (2nd - 2015), Rubinchik (7th - 2016)
List / 4 / Shynkaruk, Farren, Hamm, Michaud
Trade / 12 / Leslie, Sayers, McCarty, Ramsay, Shmyr, Flodell, Fantillo, Caller, Johnson, Fiala, Bechtold, Atwal
Team Leaders:
Goals: Braylon Shmyr (27)
Assists: Braylon Shmyr & Bryton Sayers (22)
Penalty Minutes: Evan Fiala (99)
+/-: Evan Fiala (+4)
PPG: Braylon Shmyr (13)
GWG: Jesse Shynkaruk (7)
SV%: Logan Flodell (.911)
GAA: Logan Flodell (2.90)
Rookie Points: Michael Farren (22)
2016-17 TEAM RECORDS
1-goal games / 9-5-5-12-goal games / 11-6-0
3-plus-goal games / 2-14-0
Scoring first / 17-3-2-1
Opponent scoring first / 5-23-3
Leading after 2 periods / 13-1-1-1
Trailing after 2 periods / 4-21-1
Tied after 2 periods / 5-3-2-0
Overtime Record / 3-5
Shootout Record / 2-1
Out-shooting opponent / 10-3-1-1
Out-shot by opponent / 10-21-4-0
Shots are even / 2-2-0
vs. BC / 2-3-0
vs. US / 1-3-0
vs. Central / 7-7-3
vs. East / 12-13-2-1
Month / Games / Record / Home / Road
September / 3 / 1-2-0-0 / 0-1-0-0 / 1-1-0-0
October / 12 / 6-5-1-0 / 2-1-1 / 4-4-0-0
November / 13 / 3-9-1-0 / 2-3-0 / 1-6-1
December / 11 / 4-5-1-1 / 2-2-1-0 / 2-2-1-1
January / 12 / 6-5-1-0 / 5-3-1-0 / 1-2-0-0
February / 12 / 2-1-0-0 / 2-1-0-0 / 0-0-0-0
March / 9 / 0-0-0-0 / 0-0-0-0 / 0-0-0-0
Totals / 72 / 22-26-5-1 / 13-11-3-0 / 9-15-2-1