Saskatoon Blades determined to rise to occasion in first-round series against Oil Kings

With the hours ticking down until the start of the Western Hockey League’s playoffs, the Saskatoon Blades are sporting a new look around SaskTel Centre.

A group of players are walking the hallways of the rink wearing half-sleeved sweaters featuring the phrase “The Blade Way.”

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Set to lead the Blades into their first playoff game of the year, captain Tyler Parr said it’s a fitting moniker to guide their path into the playoffs, reminding everyone of the high standards the team sets for itself, both on the ice and off.

“Just how we handle ourselves and how we carry ourselves,” Parr explained. “It’s kind of our motto, our standard for the playoffs, and we’ll hold each other to it.”

For the first time since 1971, Saskatoon will be squaring off against its Edmonton rivals in the WHL post-season, with the Blades and Oil Kings locked into a first-round, best-of-seven series.

Alternate captain Brayden Klimpke said the Blades are itching to hit the ice in Edmonton on Friday night and begin their chase for the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

“We’re fired up in that room,” Klimpke said. “I think we all believe in this group, and we know the kind of damage we can do.”

The Blades earned the Eastern Conference’s sixth seed with a 34-27-5-2 regular season, the same position they finished in last season.

They’ll take on an Edmonton squad which was the third-best team in the Eastern Conference with a 45-18-3-2 record.

The Oil Kings cleared the Blades by 13 points in the standings, but Blades head coach Dan DaSilva said he doesn’t believe there’s much separating the two teams heading into the opening-round series.

“All that playoffs means is that we’ve all earned our right to be there and to compete,” DaSilva said.

“For us, the rankings are out the window. It’s a fresh slate, and we’re excited to get going.”

Saskatoon earned a 4-3 victory in its first meeting with Edmonton this season, but the Blades dropped all three of their following games against the Oil Kings.

Struggling all season to work their way out of the middle tier of the conference, the Blades’ biggest hurdles this year have been ongoing injuries throughout the lineup and a lack of consistency.

According to DaSilva, the Blades will need to be dialed in if they want to have a shot at advancing to the second round.

“That’s the biggest thing I found throughout the season,” DaSilva said.

“We would lack that at times, and not be at the level that we need to be at. We need to be an extremely hard-working team.”

The Blades will be facing a deep Edmonton team on the blue line, with a pair of NHL draft picks in Blake Fiddler and Carter Sotheran, as well as veteran Ethan MacKenzie, who also is expected to be selected in this summer’s NHL draft.

Saskatoon will be relying on their top offensive producers to come alive in the playoffs with David Lewandowski, Hunter Laing, Cooper Williams, Rowan Calvert and Parr expected to see lots of time up front.

In net, the Blades are hoping for a vintage series out of goaltender Evan Gardner, who was tied for third in the WHL with three shutouts and finished the season with a .902 save percentage.

Working on their consistency will be a huge point of emphasis when the puck drops in Edmonton according to Klimpke. He said the team’s defensive structure will need to be sound in order to hold off Oil Kings stars like Lukas Sawchyn and Miroslav Holinka.

“It’s just hard, fast, defensively responsible hockey,” Klimpke said.

“When we’re playing our best, we’re giving up 20 shots a game, and that’s the kind of style we’ll have to play. We might not have the superstars on this team, but we’re a really deep team. When all four lines are going, we’re hard to play against.”

The Saskatoon players are determined to write a better script in the playoffs this year, after an underwhelming exit last spring to the Calgary Hitmen in the first round, when the Blades were swept cleanly in four games.

Outscored 19-6 over the course of the series, it was a humbling way for the 2024-25 season to come to a close.

“It’s kind of in the back of my head, for sure,” Parr said. “That was a tough series for us. We definitely didn’t play the way we liked. That’s a really good team, and it was a tough series.”

That loss has stuck in Gardner’s mind as well. He said he wants to get back to the team’s deep playoff runs, which captivated the city’s attention in 2023 and 2024.

“It wasn’t a fun series to be a part of, getting embarrassed like that,” Gardner said.

“It definitely gives me a ton of motivation, and I imagine it gives everyone else a ton of motivation in that room as well.”

One question mark heading into Friday’s series opener will be the status of Calvert for the Blades. He exited the team’s penultimate game of the regular season on March 20 in Prince Albert with injury, and did not play the following night.

“We’re still evaluating Rowan right now,” DaSilva said. “He’s trending (towards playing). He’s doing well in his recovery, and he’ll be a game-time decision.”

Calvert led all Blades players with 31 goals in 67 games this season, tallying 15 of those on Saskatoon’s power plays.

A five-year teammate of Calvert’s, Parr said he’s eager to have his friend back into the lineup.

“He’s working really hard right now to get himself back,” Parr said.

“He’s doing everything he can. He’s a huge part of our team. He does everything for us.”

Saskatoon hasn’t picked up a victory in the playoffs since May 3, 2024 when they took a 3-2 series lead on the Moose Jaw Warriors in the Eastern Conference final, a series which the Blades ultimately lost in heartbreaking fashion.

Few players from that team remain, but the Blades are confident they can tap into the DNA of those deep playoff runs, even if that means entering this year’s WHL post-season without much hype around the team.

“People might see us as the underdog but I don’t think we mind that,” Klimpke said. “We have a lot of confidence in that room and we believe in this group. I don’t think it really phases us.”

The Blades and Oil Kings will face off at 7 p.m. on Friday night at Rogers Place in Edmonton, with the second game of the series set for 2 p.m. on Sunday.