Blades looking to build on recent success with upcoming homestand

It seems everything has been bouncing in the Saskatoon Blades’ direction over the past month.

The team has won nine of its past 11 games and now sits in second place in the WHL’s East Division and third in the Eastern Conference.

That stretch included a seven-game winning streak, part of it coming on an Alberta road trip.

Now the Blades will be at home for the next five games before heading back to Alberta.

Head coach Brennan Sonne says he’s making sure the team doesn’t get complacent with its recent success.

“When you win, you just think you can show up and you don’t have to put in the extra work that it requires to be really successful,” Sonne said.

He says the Blades have an older team and a number of the players were on the roster last season, which made Sonne’s system and coaching more familiar coming into the season.

And the players are buying into the system, as forward Tyler Wong says they know they have a long season ahead.

“We’ve got a good start so far, but like I said, it’s a long way away from what our end goal is,” said Wong, who’s tied with Brandon Lisowsky for the team lead with 18 points.

As much as Wong likes being one of the leading scorers, he says the team chemistry is more important and his teammates are really helping him — including his linemate, Lisowsky.

“Me and (Lisowsky) are just trying to work as hard as we can and the points just kind of fall into place. We don’t really worry about it,” said Wong, who noted they’re just focusing on working hard.

Sonne says that work ethic starts with his staff as well and not grinding his players and overworking them every single day.

“I don’t want to wear them down with too much, meaning meetings every day and just grinding them down. That gets old,” said the coach, adding he relies on his veterans to lead by example and put in the work.

Sonne and the team have done a number of team-building events. They went to an Oilers game while in Edmonton, they went to Big River, and are planning on going ice-fishing in January, according to the coach.

But the players know when it’s time to work and the importance of the upcoming homestand.

“We love playing in front of our fans. These next five games are huge and we’re going to take advantage of that,” Wong said.

The Blades are to be back on the ice Saturday, when they welcome the last-place Edmonton Oil Kings to SaskTel Centre.