There were few hotter teams in the Western Hockey League (WHL) than the Saskatoon Blades to kick off the 2024-25 season, going 4-0 in their first four games and were the first team in the league to hit 10 wins, which they did so by game 13. Ben Riche was the perfect addition to the young squad, cruising to 21 points in 13 games, and after starting the season missing veterans Tanner Molendyk and Brandon Lisowsky, the two returned without having missed a step, putting up 17 and 13 points in their first 10 games back with the Blades.
The Blades’ most recent road trip, however, was the polar opposite of their early season surge, coming away with just three points in five games and a disappointing 1-3-1 record. Their struggles allowed the Swift Current Broncos and Lethbridge Hurricanes to slip ahead of them in the Eastern Conference. However, the trip wasn’t without merit, and the Blades learned plenty about their team and what they need to work on to remain a force in the WHL.
Blades Need to Find Consistency on the Road
The Blades have been one of the best teams at home, sporting a 6-0-1 record over seven appearances in SaskTel Place and outscoring their opponents 30-16. Their only loss came at the hands of the West-leading Everett Silvertips, and even then, Saskatoon took the bigger, stronger, faster and more experienced team into overtime.
On the road, it’s been a different story. Following their B.C. trip, their record dropped to 5-5-1, and although many of their losses have been close, they’ve struggled to maintain pressure for the full 60 minutes. The Blades scored the first goal of the game in all but five of their road games this season. Of those five, they only won twice, beating the Calgary Hitmen 5-3 and crushing the Edmonton Oil Kings 6-2. So, while they can often get started quickly, they can’t finish with the same strength.
However, there isn’t an easy fix for that. While the Blades will face the likes of Calgary and Edmonton multiple times throughout the season, they only play against the American and B.C. teams once before the playoffs, making home-ice advantage much more impactful. “The games were so close, so intense from start to finish, and with all the travel and everything, it’s really, really hard,” said head coach Dan DaSilva on Wednesday after their first home practice in nearly a month. “Not to make excuses, obviously we know we can be better in some areas, but I think they learned it’s a really difficult league to be consistent and play hard every single night with back-to-backs and travel and all that.”
Blades Offense Shines Throughout Roster
Even though the Blades didn’t take home many points, the B.C. road trip also proved this team is not one to be trifled with. Every game was decided by one goal, two of which needed extra time to solve. It wasn’t just one line that was putting up the points, either; 10 of the team’s 13 forwards and four of eight defencemen ended up on the scoresheet, showing how much of a group effort these games were.
“We learned a lot about our group and what it takes to win,” said Riche, who finished the trip with three goals and three assists, “especially against good teams because the B.C. is a good division this year, but I think overall we learned that we can play with anyone and every one of those games we were in, and we could have won at any point…I think it was our resilience, whether we were up and then lost the lead, or we were down and then we crawled back into it. It’s our resilience, we don’t give up, we don’t give up on games no matter how they look, and I think that’s the best part of this group.”
Along with Riche, six players finished with five or more points and 10 total players chipped in a goal. The Blades’ big guns were firing on all cylinders with Lisowsky scoring a team-leading six goals, but so was German rookie David Lewandowski, who finished with two goals and three assists and was only held off the scoresheet once during the road trip. Lukas Hansen, who missed the first 13 games due to a personal reason, scored his first goal of 2024-25 in the Blades’ overtime win over the Cougars.
Saskatoon Continues to Lag in the Second
Despite the great offensive numbers across the roster, Saskatoon struggled to maintain pressure throughout a full 60 minutes. The Blades started all but one game by scoring the first goal, all of which occurred within the first 10 minutes and three games saw them score in the first six minutes. The only problem is that, in all but one of those games, the opposing team scored the next goal in 11 minutes or less to tie the game. The Blades managed to keep pace, but they were never able to take a breather, which had adverse effects on the outcome of the game.
“Obviously our record wasn’t what we’d wanted to be at the start of the road trip, but all games were one-goal games against some pretty good teams out there,” said veteran Tyler Parr, who finished the trip with three goals and six points. “All those teams are very competitive, so I think what we learned is we can play with any team in this league when we’re on, but we have got to be on for 60 minutes and I thought that was something that we could do better was just sticking to our game for 60 minutes. But we learned that we could play with any team and we beat Prince George, one of the best teams in the league, so that’s pretty good stuff.”
Related: Saskatoon Blades Rookie David Lewandowski Is Quickly Becoming a Star
Those problems came back to bite them on Friday night when the Blades hosted the Oil Kings. After two quick goals in the first period, the team lagged a bit in the second, allowing the Oil Kings to even up the game. Thankfully, they came away with the win in regulation, but it was much closer than it should have been. “We weren’t playing to our identity and that hurt us a little bit,” said Riche. “I think we need to clean up that area of our game and start playing a full 60 minutes.”
“We just got a little comfortable,” added Molendyk. “You’re up 2-0, I think we kind of fell into that trap here in the last little while where we go up and then just fall into their game and we’ve got to get rid of that streak or else it’s going to start beating us in the butt.”
But the foundation is there for improvement. The Blades have given up the second-least number of goals in the WHL so far this season thanks to great performances from across the roster and are almost always able to find a little extra in the third period to make up for their mistakes. If they can push through and put on a more consistent effort for the entire game, this team will be one to watch come playoff time.
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