Blades March into Edmonton
The Saskatoon Blades look to pull closer to the top of the conference with a win over the Edmonton Oil Kings tonight at Rexall Place. Game time is 8:00 pm (Sask. time).
Head-to-Head
This is the final of four meetings this season between the two clubs. The Blades come into tonight’s game with a 2-1-0-0 record in the season series while the Oil Kings are 1-2-0-0. Saskatoon has outscored Edmonton 11 to 6 thus far in the series.
Walker Wintoneak (Flin Flon, MB) leads the Blades’ offensive charge this season against the Oil Kings with two goals and four assists for six points. Derek Hulak (Saskatoon, SK) is second with two goals and three assists for five points.
Steven Stanford (Calgary, AB) is 2-0 with a 1.00 goals against average and a .950 save percentage. Adam Morrison (White Rock, BC) started the opening game of the year between the teams and made 23 saves on 26 shots in a losing cause.
Robin Soudek and T.J. Foster lead the Oil Kings’ efforts versus the Blades this season with two points each.
Torrie Jung has a 1-2 record in goal with a 3.67 goals against average and a .889 save percentage against the Blades.
Saskatoon Blades
The Blades (43-16-3-4, 93 points, 2nd in East Division, 3rd in Eastern Conference) enter the game on a two-game losing streak. On Wednesday night, the Bridge City Bunch dropped a 5-3 decision to the Brandon Wheat Kings on the road. Patterson, Josh Nicholls (Hameenkyro, Finland), and Hulak scored in the losing cause while Stanford stopped 19 of 23 shots in between the pipes.
Hulak remains atop the Blades’ scoring list with 30 goals and 46 assists for 76 points this season. Wintoneak, an overage winger,is second on the team with 23 goals and 45 assists for 68 points. Defenseman Stefan Elliott (North Vancouver, BC) is third in team scoring with 23 goals and 37 assists for 60 points and sits fourth in scoring amongst WHL defensemen this season.
Hulak has the team lead in goals scored with 30 markers on the campaign.
Randy McNaught (Nanaimo, BC) leads the Blades in penalty minutes and is ninth overall in the WHL with 157. Darian Dziurzynski (Lloydminster, AB) is second on the team and tenth in the league with 156 penalty minutes.
Elliott has the top plus/minus on the team and is tied for sixth in the WHL at +38. Hulak is tied for eighth in the league at +36. Sam Klassen (Watrous, SK) rounds out the Blades in the WHL top 10 for plus/minus in tenth at +34.
In goal, Stanford is 26-8-3-1 record with a 2.75 goals against average (10th in the WHL) and a .900 save percentage. Morrison, meanwhile,has a 17-10-0-3 record with a 3.07 goals against average and a .900 save percentage in 32 games played this season.
The Blades power play is working at a 15.6% rate and is ranked 19th in the WHL. The penalty kill unit is ranked 6th in the league at 82.0%.
Edmonton Oil Kings
The Oil Kings (16-38-4-9, 45 points, 6th in Central Division, 12th in Eastern Conference) enter the game on a three-game winless streak. The home squad extended the streak with a 7-3 loss to the Kootenay Ice at home on Wednesday.
Rookie Michael St. Croix leads the Oil Kings in scoring this season with 16 goals and 25 assists for 41 points. Overager Garry Nunn is second on the team with 17 goals and 19 assists for 36 points. Foster is third on the team with 8 goals and 26 assists for 34 points. Mark Pysyk is tops amongst the team’s defensemen with 7 goals and 17 assists for 24 points.
Nunn has a team-leading 17 goals this season.
Winger Cameron Abney has 115 penalty minutes to lead the team in that category.
Devin Balness has the lead in plus/minus for full-time players remaining with the Oil Kings at 0.
In between the pipes, Jung has a 9-25-2-5 record with a 3.52 goals against average and a .892 save percentage in 44 games this season. Cam Lanigan has seen action in 35 games this season and sports a 10-14-1-1 record to go along with a 3.61 goals against average and a .896 save percentage.
The Oil Kings have the 22nd ranked power play in the WHL at 11.6%. While shorthanded, the Oil Kings are ranked 21st in the league at 75.5%.
Blades vs Oil Kings
Listen to all the action tonight on 92.9 The Bull with Les Lazaruk. The game is also available for purchase on WHL WebTV.
The Blades are back in action tomorrow afternoon with a matinee affair in Calgary against the Hitmen. Game time is 3:00 pm (Sask. time). The game will shown live across Canada on Rogers Sportsnet and across the United States on the NHL Network.
The next Blades home game is Tuesday night when the Moose Jaw Warriors are in town. Game time at Credit Union Centre is 7:05 pm. Tickets are available online at Ticketmaster.ca, by calling 938-7800, or by visiting any Ticketmaster location.
The Blades are pleased to announce that 2010 WHL Playoff packages are now available for rounds 1 and 2. For more information on securing your package call the Blades office at 975-8844 or stop by the playoff ticket booth at Tuesday’s game.
Back
Vs
