(SaskatoonBlades.com)Saskatoon Blades @ Prince Albert Raiders
Tonight’s game is the seventh of eight regular season meetings this season between the Saskatoon Blades (30-9-0-1) and the Prince Albert Raiders (16-22-2-2). The Blades have dominated the season series thus far winning 5 of the 6 meetings this season including the last three meetings between these fierce divisional rivals.
The Blades scoring against the Raiders is well distributed this season as 12 different members of the Blades have scored against P.A. this year. Leading the way is the Blades leading scorer Josh Nicholls who has picked up 8 points (5G 3A) in the 6 games vs. P.A. Darian Dziurzynski 7 points (4G 3A), Brent Benson 6 points (2G 4A), Jake Trask 6 points (2G 4A), and Chris Collins 6 points (1G 5A) closely follow Nicholls for the point lead vs. the Raiders. In goal for Saskatoon, Steven Stanford has posted a 4-0 record to go along with a 3.00 GAA and 91.9% save percentage against his former club in Prince Albert.
For the Raiders, Brandon Herrod will look to continue his strong play this year versus Saskatoon. In 6 games against the Blades the 19 year-old product from Meadow Lake, SK, has picked up 10 points (8G 2A). Herrod`s 8 goals vs. Saskatoon account for 50% of Prince Albert`s goals on the Blades this season.
Blades Last Game
Stefan Elliott knows how to celebrate a milestone in style. The 19-year-old defenseman had a goal and three assists in his 250th career Western Hockey League game to pace the Saskatoon Blades to a 5-0 white-washing of the Calgary Hitmen last night. Elliott's goal was his 200th career point...just the second defenseman amongst 44 skaters in the 47-year history of the Blades' franchise to crack the 200-point club. Adam Morrison made 29 saves for the shutout...15 of those in the first period when the last place Hitmen carried the play against first place Saskatoon, in front of 3,619 fans at Credit Union Centre. Marek Viedensky, Duncan Siemens, Brent Benson and Jake Trask also scored for the 30-9-1 Blades who have won 10 straight home games.
Blades Banter
- Returning to the Blades line-up tonight are Ryan Olsen and Levi Bews who rejoin the club after spending the past couple weeks with Team Pacific at the World Under 17 Hockey Challenge in Winnipeg where they won a Bronze medal. Also back with the team, but not in the line-up tonight, is Curtis Hamilton who was a member of the Silver Medal winning Team Canada squad at the World Junior Hockey Tournament.
- On Wednesday the Canadian Hockey League today announced the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings for week 15 of the 2010-11 season. The Saskatoon Blades jumped 2 spots, and are now the 4th ranked team in the CHL. The weekly rankings of the Canadian Hockey League’s Top 10 teams are selected by a panel of National Hockey League scouts.
By The Numbers
- Jake Trask will be playing in his 175th career WHL regular season game tonight. Since being acquired by the Blades, Trask has appeared in 31 games and has collected 9 goals and 14 assists. Trask has picked up points in 5 of his last 6 games played and is coming off a month which saw him pick up 11 points in 11 games.
- Duncan Siemens will be playing in his 100th career WHL regular season game tonight. Siemens was the Blades 1st round pick (3rd overall) in the WHL Bantam Draft. Siemens made his WHL debut on January 1st, 2009 and since then has picked up in 7 goals, 38 assists, and 163 PIM’s in his career. Siemens was one of 13 WHL draft eligible prospects to be invited to the CHL Top Prospects game which will be held in Toronto later this month.
- Brent Benson enters tonight’s game riding a 6 game point streak. Benson has picked up goals in 5 of those games and has picked up a total of 11 points (6G 5A) in that time.
- The Saskatoon Blades are sporting the leagues 2nd most potent offense, having scored 151 goals in 40 games this season. Led by Darian Dziurzynski and Josh Nicholls with 19 goals apiece, the Blades line-up boasts 5 players who have scored 15 or more goals this season.
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