Home from the holidays: Blades look to return to winning ways

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The Saskatoon Blades are hoping for a Christmas wish to come true.

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The Blades return to action from their Western Hockey League Christmas holiday break Friday with a game against the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Game-time is 7 p.m. at SaskTel Centre.

Here are five things to know about the Blades as they resume WHL action Friday:

1. LOOKING TO END SLUMP

The Blades would like nothing more than to end their end six-game winless skid with a win Friday.

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That slump was a lump of coal to chew on through the Christmas holidays.

Saskatoon will play four games in six days, starting with games Friday against Moose Jaw and Saturday in Regina against the Pats.

The Blades head into the weekend with a 17-10-2-2 record and 38 points, good enough for second place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference behind the first-place Medicine Hat Tigers.

Saskatoon will also play Monday in Prince Albert and New Year’s Day Wednesday at home against the same Raiders. Game-time Wednesday is 4 p.m.

2. WORLD JUNIOR PARTICIPANTS

The Blades will be playing without star defenceman Tanner Molendyk, who is away playing for Canada at the IIHF world junior hockey championship in Ottawa.

Molendyk — who has four goals and 17 assists for 21 points in 21 games for the Blades this season — is an assistant captain on Team Canada.

The Blades will also be missing rookie forward David Lewandowski, who is playing for Team Germany at world juniors.

Lewandowski has seven goals and eight assists for 15 points in 20 games this season for Saskatoon.

The Blades will be looking to welcome back forwards Rowan Calvert and Willy James after the Christmas break as they recover from injury. The team has been missing Calvert, an alternate captain, from its lineup during the recent slump.

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Calvert has 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points in 27 games prior to injury. He last played back on Dec. 7.

3. TEAM STATISTICAL LEADERS

NCAA-bound Ben Riche still leads the Blades in scoring.

Riche has 18 goals and 23 assists for 41 points in 30 games.

Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick Brandon Lisowsky is right behind him with 18 goals and 17 assists for 35 points in just 25 games.

Tyler Parr has 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points in 29 games.

NCAA-bound Blades captain Ben Saunderson is second among Blades defenceman, behind Molendyk, with three goals and 15 assists for 18 points in 31 games.

Goalie Evan Gardner has a 13-7-2-0 record, 2.85 goals-against average and .909 save-percentage this season with the Blades.

4. TRADE DEADLINE APPROACHING

The WHL Jan. 10 deadline is just around the corner and quickly approaching.

It will be interesting to see if the Blades will be “buyers” or “sellers” or “standing pat” at the deadline.

Blades general manager Colin Priestner is traditionally busy at the deadline, so it would not be surprising to see him make some moves.

Besides their three overagers (Saunderson, Lisowsky and defenceman Grayden Siepmann), the Blades have six 19-year-olds (2005’s) on their roster, including Molendyk, Calvert, Riche, Parr, Lukas Hansen and Misha Volotovskii.

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5. BUSY STRETCH TO RING IN NEW YEAR

It’s a busy stretch for the Blades as they return from holiday break.

They have nine games over a 15-day stretch, with six of those nine games on the road. That includes a four-game road swing prior to the Jan. 10 trade deadline.

The three home games are against Moose Jaw, Prince Albert and the Brandon Wheat Kings.

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