Blades bench boss ready for year two in Saskatoon

Mitch Love is ready to get to work on another hockey season.

The Saskatoon Blades head coach arrived in the bridge city last summer after seven seasons with the Everett Silvertips knowing little about the community, the team he was helming or the fans that would cheer on the Blades all season.

After a year full of miniature lessons, Love feels more prepared for certain aspects of his job this fall, like taking his time leaving the rink.

“Things move at a little bit of a slower pace on the roads,” Love said. “I felt that first-hand after leaving a game one night and got dinged with a speeding ticket myself. It’s just the way of life in Saskatchewan compared to a big city in the United States where I spend my off seasons.”

Love and the rest of the Blades are set for a home opener Saturday against the Prince Albert Raiders with more anticipation and excitement than has been seen in the city in recent years.

A second-round playoff exit to Prince Albert before the Raiders claimed the Ed Chynoweth Cup was a comforting sight for fans after six years of not competing in the postseason.

With Prince Albert expecting to regress, and other teams in the East Division still recovering from depleted depth after lengthy playoff runs, many people across the league believe it’s the Blades division to lose.

Love was quick to notice the high expectations last year.

“The biggest change for me coming from a United States junior market to a Canadian market was how passionate the fans are up here about their hockey,” he said. “The American fan is entertained, and the Canadian fan — it’s theatre to them.”

If those expectations from inside his own community weren’t enough, the CHL’s preseason rankings released two days before Saskatoon’s 3-2 overtime win in Prince Albert on Friday has the team ranked third in the country.

“I guess it’s better than the latter,” Love joked at the ranking, while not looking too much into it.

Love also got to experience the rivalry between Prince Albert and Saskatoon last season. He even exchanged verbal jabs with Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid during the playoffs last season.

“You never know what’s going to happen in a rivalry game,” Love said. “I think both teams having some success just generates a tonne of interest between both communities. It maybe brings back a little of what it used to be, and I think that’s important for the players that are involved in it now and the staffs, and the communities and the fans. It’s what you want in two teams that are only an hour and fifteen minutes apart.”

For the Blades to meet the expectations put on them from outside the locker room, Love knows a combination of discipline and stellar individual performances are needed.

Throw in the complication of waiting to see if third overall NHL Draft selection Kirby Dach returns from the Chicago Blackhawks and you have a mystery when it comes to scoring potential for the Blades.

If Dach doesn’t return, the Blades will be without all of its top three scorers from a season ago.

“You’re going to need guys to step up. We’ve got to make sure that we’re ready with that and continue to develop our players and make sure that they give themselves the best chance to have successful years.”

Now that the season has finally begun, Love can’t wait to get on with another season in Saskatoon.

“I should be extremely excited for everybody around (here),” Love said. “What our group of players and staff were able to do last year to generate that life back into the community of Blades hockey — we want to build on that.”

Opening night at SaskTel Centre

The team has a variety of events planned for Saturday’s home opener.

Not only is the 50-50 starting at $50,000, former NHLers like Wendel Clark and Paul Bissonnette will be part of a pregame tailgate party in the parking lot.

There’s no word if the team will be without top centreman Eric Florchuk after he left Friday’s game after taking a hard hit from Raiders’ defenceman Justin Nachbauer.

Saskatoon already has more wins in Prince Albert than it did last year after going winless in Northern Saskatchewan.

Ryan Hughes was the Blades top performer on Friday, scoring one goal and two assists.