Wednesday,November 1st, 2017 @ 7:00PM Enmax Centre, Lethbridge, AB
Saskatoon Blades (5-7-1-0 – 11pts)
6th – East Division 11th – Eastern Conference
PP – 8/51 = 15.7% (18th in WHL)
PK–37/55 = 67.3% (21st in WHL)
Lethbridge Hurricanes(7-6-0-0 – 14pts)
4th–Central Division9th – EasternConference
PP – 16/50 = 32% (3rd in WHL)
PK – 37/49 = 75.5% (17th in WHL)
Tonight…The Saskatoon Blades open a 3 game road trip through the Central Division making their first stop in Lethbridge to open the season series with the Hurricanes.
The last game…Cam Hebigscored twice to cap off a 5 goal weekend and Tyler Lees scored his 2nd straight game winning goal as the Blades beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 4-1 on Saturday in Saskatoon. Ryan Kubic made 32 saves to earn 1st star for the second consecutive game. Brad Goethals also had 2 assists in each game last weekend bringing his season total to 12 points in 13 games.
Goe Brad Goe… ’98 F Brad Goethals was acquired in the off-season to help the Blades’ offense and has done just that so far. Through 13 games this season, the 19-year-old sophomore has 12 points including 3 goals and 9 assists.
Second helping…The Blades secondary scoring has come alive recently and the results are showing. Rookie Tyler Lees made his season debut last weekend after missing the 1st month due to injury. The 17-year-old scored 2 goals in 2 games, both game winners. Dryden Michaud is currently riding a 3 game point streak and sophomore centreChase Wouters is contributing regularly with 7 points in 13 games.
Rookies reppin’…The Blades will be without forward Kirby Dachand goaltending prospect Nolan Maier(SJHL-Yorkton) who are both competing in the World U17 Hockey Challenge. Both Dach & Maier will suit up for Team Canada Black, opening with a pre-tournament tilt against Finland on Thursday.
Recent moves… ’01 F Logan Dousthas been recalled for the upcoming road trip. Doust, a 9th round pick in 2016, played in 5 pre-season games with Saskatoon and has 3pts in 5GP with the Vancouver NW Giants of the BCMML this year. ’99 D Jantzen Leslie was traded on Monday to the Edmonton Oil Kings in exchange for a conditional 2018 8th draft pick.
This Date in Blades History:November 1, 1993…The Blades exchanged 20-year-old defencemen with the Tri-City Americans. The Ams got rough-and-tumble Mark Raiter…a popular figure with Saskatoon fans…getting Todd Simpson in return. In his one season with the Blades, Simpson solidified the team’s defensive corps, and added nine goals amongst 31 points as Saskatoon made it all the way to Game 7 of the WHL final before losing in Kamloops.
Injury report…
F Logan Christensen – upper body, 3-5 weeks
F Caleb Fantillo – upper body, weekly
F Brandon Machado – upper body, day-to-day
Milestone Tracker
250 WHL games – Braylon Shmyr (241)
50 career assists– Libor Hájek, (49)
Roster breakdown:
16Forwards
6Defenseman
2Goalies
Age Breakdown:
1997 – 3 2000 - 5
1998 – 6 2001 - 2
1999 – 8
How they were built
Round / # / Player (Overall - Year)1st / 2 / 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),
5th / 2 / Machado(101st – 2015), Lees (94th – 2015)
9th / 1 / Doust(198th – 2016)
11th / 1 / Grzybowski(223rd – 2014)
Euro / 2 / Hájek (2nd - 2015), Rubinchik (7th - 2016)
List / 2 / Farren, Michaud
Trade / 9 / Ramsay, Shmyr, Fantillo, Fiala, Atwal, Kubic, Bafaro, Caller, Goethals
Team Leaders:
Goals: Hebig (12)
Assists: Goethals (9)
Penalty Minutes: Kustra (25)
+/-:Bafaro (+6)
PPG: Hebig (3)
SOG:Shmyr (53)
GWG: Lees (2)
SV%: Kubic (.869)
GAA: Kubic (3.99)
Rookie Points:Dach (3)
Faceoff %: Machado (60.4%)
2017-18 TEAM RECORDS
1-goal games / 2-0-1-02-goal games / 1-0-0-0
3-plus-goal games / 2-7-0-0
Scoring first / 4-1-0-0
Opp. scoring first / 1-6-1-0
Leading after 2 per. / 4-1-0-0
Trailing after 2 per. / 0-6-1-0
Tied after 2 per. / 1-0-0-0
Overtime Record / 0-1
Shootout Record / 0-0
Out-shooting opp. / 2-2-1-0
Out-shot by opp. / 3-5-0-0
Shots are even / 0-0-0-0
vs. BC / 0-2-0-0
vs. US / 0-0-0-0
vs. Central / 2-2-0-0
vs. East / 3-3-1-0
Month / Games / Record / Home / Road
September / 3 / 1-2-0-0 / 1-2-0-0 / 0-0-0-0
October / 10 / 4-5-1-0 / 1-3-0-0 / 3-2-1-0
November / 13 / 0-0-0-0 / 0-0-0-0 / 0-0-0-0
December / 12 / 0-0-0-0 / 0-0-0-0 / 0-0-0-0
January / 14 / 0-0-0-0 / 0-0-0-0 / 0-0-0-0
February / 11 / 0-0-0-0 / 0-0-0-0 / 0-0-0-0
March / 9 / 0-0-0-0 / 0-0-0-0 / 0-0-0-0
Totals / 72 / 5-7-1-0 / 2-5-0-0 / 3-2-1-0