Blades finish weekend with two wins, continue homestand Friday

The Saskatoon Blades’ five-game homestand couldn’t have started any better than securing two wins.

They took advantage of facing the team at the bottom of the standings on Friday by shutting out the Edmonton Oil Kings 5-0. The team then wrapped the weekend by outscoring Connor Bedard and provincial rival Regina Pats on Sunday night 5-2.

There was a chance, though, that it could’ve been a rough weekend, according to Blades head coach Brennan Sonne.

“It was a really tough week for us, truthfully,” Sonne shared. “We had more than half the team sick. I mean, guys are not feeling great right now. The whole city’s that way, it feels like.”

Sonne said even though his squad wasn’t feeling 100 per cent, he was happy with the outcome on the ice.

“There was good energy. Guys were working (with) a lot of competitiveness,” he added.

Even if the players weren’t feeling the best, it didn’t show up on the ice. Some players were feeling just fine.

Forward Trevor Wong scored the opening goal in both games and couldn’t put a finger on why they are seeing the early success.

“I don’t know, our line likes scoring early. It feels good when you get it early and then you kind of get momentum for the rest of the game,” Wong said.

He says the team has built some good chemistry this season and it showed this weekend.

“With the sickness and everything and everyone not feeling 100 per cent, you kind of have to lean on that sort of thing,” Wong added.

He finished with four points on the weekend — two goals and two assists.

The Blades also had plenty of eyes watching them Sunday night with more than 7,000 fans in attendance to watch Bedard.

Bedard finished with two points and a highlight-reel goal in the second period.

Wong said it’s easy to get distracted, but the entire team stayed focused on the game plan.

“Obviously, it’s in the back of your mind, the best player in our league, but at the end of the day you’ve got to stick to our game plan. You know we can’t think about him too much or it’s going to get in our head, so ultimately just sticking to our game plan and playing him hard,” he said.

The Blades have five remaining games against the Pats in the regular season.

Next up for the Blades will be the Medicine Hat Tigers at SaskTel Centre on Friday before wrapping up the homestand with two games against the Winnipeg Ice next weekend.