Blades Face Highway 11 Rivals on Shaw-TV

The Saskatoon Blades hit the road for a matchup against the Prince Albert Raiders at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert tonight. Game time is 7:00 pm. The game can be seen live on the WHL on Shaw.

Head-to-Head
This is the fifth of eight meetings this season between the Blades and Raiders. Both teams enter the game with identical 2-1-0-1 records in the head-to-head battles.

Derek Hulak (Saskatoon, SK) leads the Blades’ attack against the Raiders this season with 4 goals and 3 assists for 7 points. Hulak’s linemate Josh Nicholls (Tsawwassen, BC) is next with 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points.

Blades goaltenders Adam Morrison (White Rock, BC) and Steven Stanford (Calgary, AB) each have started two games this season versus the Raiders. Morrison is 0-1-0-1 despite making 82 saves on 86 shots. Stanford is 2-0 against his former team after making 47 saves on 52 shots.

Former Blade Dustin Cameron leads the Raiders’ charge in the season series with 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points. Four Raiders – Justin Maylan, Mark McNeill, Craig McCallum, and Jordan Rowley – are second on the team with 3 points.

Garrett Zemlak, another former Blade, leads current Raider goaltenders in appearances against the Blades with two and is 2-0 after making 73 saves on 76 shots.

Saskatoon Blades
The Blades (34-11-3-3, 74 points, 1^st in East Division, 1^st in Eastern Conference) come into tonight’s contest having earned a point in three straight games. The team was last in action on Saturday night in Swift Current and came away with a 7-4 victory over the Broncos. Hulak (2 G, 1 A), Nicholls (1 G, 2 A), and rookie defensemen Duncan Siemens (Sherwood Park, AB) (3 A) led the way for the Blades with three points each. Sophomore forward Charles Inglis (Saskatoon, SK) chipped in two goals while Darian Dziurzynski (Lloydminster, AB) and Walker Wintoneak (Flin Flon, MB) added singles. Stanford picked up the win between the pipes with 15 saves after relieving Morrison, who had made 7 saves.

Hulak continues to sit on top of the Blades’ scoring list with 22 goals and 39 assists for 61 points on the campaign. Wintoneak, with 21 goals and 34 assists for 55 points,is second on the team. Defenseman Stefan Elliott (North Vancouver, BC) is third on the Blades’ list with 18 goals and 28 assists for 46 points and is tied for sixth in scoring amongst WHL defensemen.

With his 22 goals, Hulak leads the team in that category.

Randy McNaught (Nanaimo, BC) leads the team and is fourth overall in the WHL with 142 penalty minutes on the season. Curt Gogol (Calgary, AB) is second on the team and seventh in the league with 133 penalty minutes.

Elliott is first on the team in the plus/minus category at +33, putting him second overall in the league. Sam Klassen (Watrous, SK) is second on the Blades and tied for third overall in the WHL at +31. Hulak comes in third on the team at +30, which puts him tied for sixth in the league.

In goal, Stanford has made 29 appearances this season and sports a 19-5-3-0 record with a 2.57 goals against average (4^th in the WHL) and a .910 save percentage (7^th in the WHL). Morrison is 15-8-0-3 with a 3.12 goals against average and a .898 save percentage in 28 games played.

The Blades are ranked 19^th in the WHL in power play efficiency at 16.0%. The penalty killing unit is ranked 4^th in the league at 84.1%.

Prince Albert Raiders
The Raiders (27-23-2-2, 58 points, 4^th in Central Division, 8^th in Eastern Conference) enter tonight’s game on the heels of a 5-4 defeat in overtime at the hands of the Edmonton Oil Kings on Sunday night.

The Raiders are led in scoring by the McCallum, who has 21 goals and 38 assists for 59 points on the season. Brandon Herrod is second on the team with 32 goals and 25 assists for 57 points. Igor Revenko (23-25-48) and Ryan Harrison (13-35-48) come in tied for third in team scoring this season. Rowley leads the team’s rearguards with 8 goal and 36 assists for 44 points on the campaign.

Herrod leads the team and is seventh in the WHL in goal scoring with 32 markers so far this season.

Harrison has 103 penalty minutes to lead the team in that category.

McCallum has the top plus/minus rating on the team at +22.

In net, Zemlak comes into tonight’s game with a 22-16-2-1 record with a 2.91 goals against average and a .915 save percentage (6^th in the WHL) in 42 games played this season. Jamie Tucker, acquired earlier this season from Vancouver, has made 35 total appearances and sports a 19-11-0-2 record to go along with a 2.77 goals against average (10^th in the WHL) and a .898 save percentage.

The Raiders feature the 12^th-ranked power play in the WHL at 20.2% on the season. The team is ranked 13^th in the league while shorthanded at 79.4%.

Blades vs Raiders
Tonight’s game can be heard live on 92.9 The Bull with “The Voice of the Blades” Les Lazaruk. For the first time this season while the Blades are on the road, fans can also tune in and watch the game on the WHL on Shaw across Western Canada on SHAW TV and Shaw Direct ‘Channel 299’.

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