It’s my Parting Shot for a sixth edition this season of, What to make of the Saskatoon Blades?…..

The last one of these updates came just under a month ago, on February 9, and originated from Kamloops as the Bridge City Bunch were about to start their five-game B-C road trip.

The Blue and Gold’s record on February 9 was 33-12-4, they had fallen out of the C-H-L’s Top 10 and were in danger of slipping behind Moose Jaw into third place in the East Division and fourth spot in the Eastern Conference. Fast forward 26 days and the Blades went 9-1-1 in their last 11 outings, leaving them with a 42-13-5 mark. They’ve clinched a playoff spot and home-ice advantage in the first round of the post-season and are on the verge of ensuring they are no worse than the third seed for the first round and are trending towards being no worse than the second seed in the Eastern Conference for round two of the playoffs!

Why has this happened? In a word, healthy!!

Not completely healthy. Saskatoon still has 17-year-old forwards Tyler Parr and Misha Volotovskii sidelined on a long-term basis, but the Bridge City Bunch are icing their oldest and best-possible line-up these days and have been doing so for most of the last 11 games. If they stay healthy, the Blue and Gold are a legit contender for the W-H-L title, seeings how they have the fourth-best record in the league behind Winnipeg, Seattle and Kamloops…all of whom were expected to be in those spots before the campaign began!

Before the season began, I thought the Blades could win 40 games and have somewhere between 80 and 90 points in the standings with the biggest question mark being in goal. Austin Elliott and Ethan Chadwick have more than ably answered the question and Saskatoon is where they are at because all the players are buying what head coach Brennan Sonne and his staff are selling! Where and when it all ends is up for debate, but I think this group could do something special!!

That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!…..