Sarah Mills: There are always things for which we should be grateful
Sarah Mills says that even in tough times, we all have things we should be grateful for over the Thanksgiving weekend.
As one of the oldest defencemen on the Saskatoon Blades this season, Isaac Poll hasn’t been able to experience the Western Hockey League quite like he’d hoped.
While his teammates like Jack Kachkowski (182 games), Tyrone Sobry (165 games), Brayden Klimpke (160 games) and Jordan Martin (142 games) have all racked up big minutes on the Blades blueline, injuries have limited Poll to just 97 career regular season and playoff games.
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This weekend, the towering 19-year-old hopes to put that chapter behind him and make his long-awaited season debut for Saskatoon.
“I just can’t wait to be under the lights in the SaskTel Centre,” Poll said. “Hopefully, I can have my first game at home.”
Poll has come off the WHL’s injury report for the first time since March, and according to head coach Dan DaSilva, he’s likely to be in the lineup on Friday night when Saskatoon hosts the Moose Jaw Warriors.
“He was close to playing last weekend,” DaSilva said. “Probably could have played, but we made the decision just to give him another week to practice and continue to feel good and feel better every day. He’s ready.”
While Poll still awaits final word to see if he’ll make his 2026-27 season debut this weekend, the 21st overall pick in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft feels ready to jump back into game action and start laying hits again.
“Hopefully, I get to come back and join the boys this weekend,” Poll said. “I’m really excited and I guess we’ll see (Friday).”
Saskatoon Blades defenceman Isaac Poll was limited to just 34 games during the 2025-26 season due to injury which resulted in off-season surgery. (Steve Hiscock/Saskatoon Blades)
Poll was limited to just 34 games last season with lower-body injuries suffered in October and March, which eventually forced the defenceman to undergo medial patellofemoral ligament surgery in the off-season to stabilize his knee.
What followed was months of rehab and recovery, before Poll took part in his first practices a few weeks ago in a non-contact jersey.
“Obviously, it was a lot of adversity to face,” Poll said. “It was kind of a summer of rehab and little exercises at home, but I’m glad to be back and back on the ice. It was all worth it to get back to where I am now.”
To the delight of DaSilva and the Blades staff who have watched his progress, Poll will join the Blades’ defence corps as an immediate top-four option with his combination of size, age and defensive responsibility.
“There’s been some hard days where he’s been frustrated with injuries,” DaSilva said.
“Some days I’m sure it was hard to come here and just get in the gym again, and not be able to go out and practice or play with the guys. He’s shown a lot of mental toughness, it hasn’t been easy at all.”
Those hurdles have strengthened the White City, Sask., product’s resolve to continue his junior career, and he said he now knows what his body and mind are capable of.
“I feel really good,” Poll said. “I feel confident in myself. I feel almost better than before the injury because I went through some things and definitely was a perspective changer. I think I’m ready to go this year.”
Poll isn’t the only big return expected for the Blades this weekend, as Martin is also likely to play after he suffered an upper-body injury in Saskatoon’s season opener against the Prince Albert Raiders on Sept. 18.
Eighteen-year-old defenceman Kaden Allan has also re-joined the team after missing training camp and the start of the season due to a ‘personal matter.’
Acquired in a trade with the Spokane Chiefs last December, Allan recorded four assists in 19 regular season games with Saskatoon and played in all 11 playoff games for the team.
His season debut with the Blades won’t come this weekend, however, according to DaSilva.
“It’s great having Kaden back obviously,” DaSilva said.
“This was his first couple of practices, so he won’t be available. He won’t be playing this weekend, it will be a work in progress to get him up and running.”
The Blades have not played since last Friday’s 4-2 loss to the Red Deer Rebels, in which Saskatoon struggled to rally from three early goals scored by Red Deer in the opening 6:13 of the game.
DaSilva said it was a frustrating night with the team unable to dig themselves out of that hole.
“It’s not even the fact that it’s the start,” DaSilva said.
“It’s the reaction to something bad happening. We’re not going to score first every single night, I’d like to see it happen more often, but it’s just not realistic that it’s going to happen every night. We got to be able to handle those situations where we don’t score first better.”
Saskatoon has given up the first goal in three of their five games so far this season, including both games played at SaskTel Centre.
According to DaSilva, the early pop of the crowd has been missing, and the Blades will be prepared to respond right from the opening face-off.
“That first goal would be huge, especially after what happened last week,” DaSilva said. “We’re going to be ready to go for (Friday’s) puck drop, I can guarantee that.”
The Blades (2-2-1) take on the Warriors at 7 p.m. on Friday night and will continue their homestand on Saturday at 7 p.m. against the Regina Pats.
