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Starting next month, icons of the Saskatoon Blades will be honoured by the organization in a new way.
On Tuesday, the franchise announced the creation of the Saskatoon Blades Hall of Fame, which will recognize former players whose “contributions on and off the ice left a lasting impact on the organization and community.”
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According to Colin Priestner, the team’s president and general manager, the Blades wanted to give their alumni a spotlight beyond their jersey retirement ceremonies, which require a lot of planning and schedule co-ordination.
“Five or six guys with retired jerseys over the course of a nearly 70-year-old organization doesn’t seem fitting enough,” Priestner said.
“This will give us a chance to really showcase names from the past, and also names from the recent past as well.”
Two custom plaques recognizing players will be added to the wall at SaskTel Centre every year to recognize former players, beginning with Kelly Chase and Mark Wotton on March 21, during the team’s inaugural “Legend’s Night.”
Chase, who played 195 games with the Blades between 1985 and 1988, went on to a 12-year NHL career as an enforcer with the St. Louis Blues, Hartford Whalers and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Wotton dressed for 296 WHL games in Saskatoon from 1989 to 1994, and played nearly two decades of professional hockey with the NHL, American Hockey League and Kontinental Hockey League.
Both former Blades will be returning to Saskatoon on Mar. 21 for the induction ceremony ahead of the team’s final regular-season game of the year, a match against the Prince Albert Raiders. They’ll be honoured in a pre-game ceremony alongside their families.
“You want to have the opportunity for them to get their families in and relieve those amazing years they had with the club when they were teenagers,” Priestner explained.
Along with the annual inductees, all retired players and builders currently honoured in the rafters at SaskTel Centre will be automatically included into the team’s hall of fame as a part of the inaugural class. That list includes seven players: Gerry Pinder, Brent Ashton, Brian Skrudland, Bob Bourne, Bernie Federko, Wendel Clark and Frank Banham.
The Brodsky family and a group of “Blades Builders” in Jim Piggott, Jack McLeod, Nate Brodsky, Daryl Lubiniecki, Jerome Engele and Lorne Molleken will also be a part of the 2026 class.
Priestner said “Legend’s Night” will be important for the fans each year, giving the team’s supporters a chance to reconnect with some of the players who have created magical moments on the ice in a Blades jersey.
“This is really to recognize the people that have been with us, the fans, the longest,” Priestner said. “The ones that maybe had a favourite player in the ‘90s they got to watch them from afar in the NHL, and they get to come back and see it all come full circle.”
