Friday,February 10th, 2017 – 7:00pm at SaskTel Centre,Saskatoon, SK
Saskatoon Blades (21-25-5-1 – 48pts)
5th – East Division 8th – Eastern Conference
PP – 51/244 = 20.9% (12th in WHL)
PK - 169/220 = 76.5% (15thin WHL)
Moose Jaw Warriors (32-15-7-1 – 72pts)
2nd–EastDivision3rd – Eastern Conference
PP – 47/215= 22% (10thin WHL)
PK – 159/195 = 81.1% (6th in WHL)
Tonight…The Saskatoon Bladesfaceoff against the Moose Jaw Warriors for the 7th time this season. Moose Jaw leads the season series 4 wins over Saskatoon; the most recent a 4-2 Warriors win on January 27th in Moose Jaw. Saskatoon will have rest on their side having not played since last Saturday on home ice, while the Warriors are back on the road again after playing in Brandon on Wednesday night.
The Last Game… The Blades are coming off a 4-2 win over the Red Deer Rebels last Saturday at SaskTel Centre. Jesse Shynkaruk scored twice (23,24) and added an assist in the win. The Warriors are coming off an overtime loss on Wednesday night to the Brandon Wheat Kings. In fact, the Warriors had to play a period and half of hockey to make up for a game in September that was cancelled due to fog in the arena. Moose Jaw won 4-3 in overtime before facing off for the originally scheduled game on Wednesday, losing 4-3 in overtime to the Wheat Kings. Jayden Halbgewachs scored his league leading 42nd goal of the season in the loss.
Head to Head…Four Blades players have 4 points this season against Moose Jaw; Jesse Shynkaruk (2G-2A), Bryton Sayers (1G-3A), Braylon Shmyr (1G – 3A), and Michael Farren (4A). Jayden Halbgewachs leads the way for Moose Jaw with 5 goals and 6 assists in 6 games vs Saskatoon this season.
Back in Blue… ’97 F Mason McCarty will make his return to the Blades lineup tonight after missing 27 games due to injury. McCarty was leading the Blades with 23 points (14G-9A) in 26 games at the time of his injury.
Dach Exchange… Highly touted prospect, Kirby Dach, was called up to the Saskatoon Blades this week on an emergency basis and will remain with Saskatoon for the balance of the season. Dach was the 2nd overall pick in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft has 26 points in 22 games this season with Fort Saskatchewan of the AMHL. Kirby skated on a line with Mason McCarty and Arjun Atwal on Thursday in practice.
Farren Finding A Way… 16 year old Michael Farren continues to impress in his rookie season after going undrafted in 2015 and earning a roster spot in his first WHL camp. The Surrey, BC product has 22 points in 44 outings this season, sitting 2nd among 2000 born players in the WHL for points. In 6 games vs Moose Jaw, Farren has 4 assists and a shootout winning goal.
Home Sweet Home… This is game #5 in a 7 game stretch at home for Saskatoon – the longest ofthe season. The Blades are 12-11-3 at SaskTel Centre this season and went 5-3-1 in the month of January at home, and are 1-1 so far in February. The home stand continues tomorrow night against the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Leading By Example… The leaders of the team have been consistently contributing offensively in the second half of the season. ’96 D Bryton Sayers has 9 points in his last 10 games, and ’96 F Jesse Shynakruk is coming off a 3 point performance in his last game, and has the highest points-per-game for Saskatoon at 0.97.
Rising Wouters… The other 2000 born player on the Blades, Chase 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 15 points in 45 games.
This Date in Blades History: February 10, 2009…the Blades opened a home-and-home series with Medicine Hat by blanking the visiting Tigers 3-0 at Credit Union Centre. The victory upped the Bridge City Bunch’s record to an East Division-leading 41-13-4. Braden Holtby was named the game’s first star, making 24 saves for the shutout while Czech import centre Milan Kytnar scored twice, including the game-opening goal on a second period power play. Stefan Elliott also tallied on the man advantage for the Double Blue.
Injury report…
97 F Cam Hebig– upper body – indefinitely
97 F Braylon Shmyr – upper body – day-to-day
96 F MarksonBechtold – upper body – day-to-day
98 F Caleb Fantillo– upper body – day-to-day
99 F LukusMacKenzie – 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 (22)
Penalty Minutes: Evan Fiala (93)
+/-: Evan Fiala (+3)
PPG: Braylon Shmyr (13)
GWG: Jesse Shynkaruk (7)
SV%: Logan Flodell (.911)
GAA: Logan Flodell (2.93)
Rookie Points: Michael Farren (22)
2016-17 TEAM RECORDS
1-goal games / 9-5-5-12-goal games / 10-6-0
3-plus-goal games / 2-14-0
Scoring first / 16-3-2-1
Opponent scoring first / 5-23-3
Leading after 2 periods / 12-1-1-1
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 / 9-3-1-1
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 / 11-13-2-1
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 / 1-1-0-0 / 1-1-0-0 / 0-0-0-0
March / 9 / 0-0-0-0 / 0-0-0-0 / 0-0-0-0
Totals / 72 / 21-26-5-1 / 12-11-3-0 / 9-15-2-1