The Blades and the Warriors — so-called Beasts of the East — will clash in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference final best-of-seven series.
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The Saskatoon Blades hope their depth gives them an edge against the Moose Jaw Warriors.
The two teams — so-called Beasts of the East — will clash in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference final best-of-seven series.
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Game 1 is Friday night at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.
“We’ve got an unbelievable team,” said Blades forward Fraser Minten, a Toronto Maple Leafs prospect. “It’s our full team. I think we play better than them as a full group and that’s what we’re going to have to rely upon, and we need contributions from everyone.”
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While Moose Jaw boasts lots of firepower with the likes of Jagger Firkus (get ready for another round of the Firkus Circus), Denton Mateychuk, Brayden Yager, Matthew Savoie and Atlee Calvert, Minten says bring it on.
“It’s exciting,” he said of the matchup. “They’re really good players, and I’ll take it because we’ve got guys like (Lukas) Hansen, (Misha) Volotovskii, (Rowan) Calvert, (Tyler) Parr’s unfortunately out, (Rhett) Melnyk, he’s a former (WHL) captain — all of those guys in our, say, bottom six, who maybe aren’t point-a-game players or get attention for scoring, play the right way and I think that’s where we have an advantage in this series.”
Saskatoon has its own formidable top six up front with Minten, Trevor Wong, Egor Sidorov, Brandon Lisowsky, Alexander Suzdalev and Easton Armstrong, who will miss the first two games of the series due to a suspension. The back end includes play-making D-men Tanner Molendyk, Charlie Wright, Ben Saunderson and Grayden Siepmann.
The Blades have had to rely on their depth, particularly up front.
“It’s just guys stepping up,” said Wong, the Blades captain. “It’s kind of the beauty of our team that we have so many guys like that who can step up and contribute in so many ways: PK (penalty kill), power play or scoring even-strength goals. It’s huge, especially in playoffs when your horses aren’t going as much at times and you get a guy like (Rowan Calvert) who can step up. It’s huge for us.”
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Blades head coach Brennan Sonne admits that depth becomes even more important come playoffs when it becomes a battle of attrition.
“No one comes through playoffs unscathed,” stressed Sonne. “There’s always injuries or this or that to keep guys out of the lineup because it’s a long season and it’s a physical, demanding game … All the teams left have played a lot of games so you’re not unscathed, ever, and when it happens, because it’s inevitable, you have to have depth: developed, grown, guys who have been in the lineup and know how to play, that can just fill in. That next-man-up mentality is crucial in playoffs.”
It’s next-man-up and next-banner-up for the Blades, who were the top WHL team during the regular season.
“Everything’s amplified,” said Wong. “There are only two teams left in the conference and two left on the other side. Win this one and you get a ticket to the dance.”
Said Sidorov: “We just play hard, smart: back-check, fore-check, pay-cheque — just joking — it’s just all about working. If you work hard, you deserve to win.”
For the second straight year, the Blades are in the Eastern final. They come into this year’s series well rested, which wasn’t the case a year ago when they lost to the Winnipeg Ice.
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“It’s huge,” said Wong. “Last year, playing two seven-game series wears you out. We were pretty worn out by the third round against a real good team last year in Winnipeg. This year, we accomplished our goals, getting a series done as quickly as we could and we got as much rest as we could and now we’re ready to go.”
Said Sonne: “It’s two real good Saskatchewan teams playing against each other. That’s great. It’s great for the province; it’s great for the cities. I eagerly await the series and it should be a lot of fun.”
Sonne is looking for all of his players to elevate their games as the WHL playoffs continue to ratchet up, whether that’s high-scoring Sidorov or others.
“We need guys like that, players like that, to be Conn Smythes. If you get 20 Conn Smythes in a playoff series or playoff run, you’re doing well. I hope everyone strives to be a Conn Smythe.”
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