Game over: Calgary Hitmen sweep Saskatoon Blades out of WHL playoffs

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For the Saskatoon Blades, simply making the playoffs was more than most observers expected.

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But that didn’t make the end to the season — a first-round sweep at the hands of the Calgary Hitmen — any less difficult in the moment.

The Blades’ season came to a close on Wednesday, when Ben Kindel’s hat trick highlighted a 6-2 rout and helped complete the four-game sweep in favour of the Hitmen at SaskTel Centre in Western Hockey League playoffs.

‘SURPRISING’ SEASON

Leading up to the post-season, Blades GM Colin Priestner admitted the 2024-25 campaign has been a pleasant surprise.

In the mix the past two years to win the Memorial Cup, the team was expected to be in a rebuild this season. Instead, not only did they qualify for playoffs as the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference, they were actually one win away from capturing the East Division banner. That came despite trading several veteran stars for younger players and future draft picks.

“From where we were six months ago, and a lot of the predictions out there, we stuck to our plan and process that we had,” Priestner said recently.

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“It’s been a really pleasant and, in some ways, unexpected year to have an opportunity to compete for a division title up until the last seconds of the season and also kind of forego the traditional rebuild that a lot of teams have to go through after they go all in.”

HITMEN DOMINATED SERIES

In the series clincher on Wednesday, Kindel scored three times for the Hitmen, while David Adaszynski, Carter Yakemchuk and Oliver Tulk rounded out the attack for Calgary.

Anders Miller made 27 saves for the win.

Zach Olsen and Hayden Harsanyi scored 44 seconds apart in the second period for Saskatoon, while Evan Gardner stopped 30 shots in net.

Neither team scored on the power play. The Hitmen were 0-for-4 and the Blades went 0-for-6.

Attendance for Game 4 was 5,228 at SaskTel Centre.

In the four games, Calgary outscored the Blades 19-6 and outshot them 158-90 — an average of 39.5 shots per game, compared to 22.5 for Saskatoon.

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The Hitmen won the first two games at home by scores of 4-2 and 5-1, followed on Tuesday by a 4-1 road victory.

BIG STRIDES FOR YOUNGSTERS

Following their moves to bring back young talent and draft picks in exchange for some older standouts, the Blades noted they were the second-youngest team in the post season, with an average age of 17.9 years old.

After losing 12 regulars from last year’s squad, the Blades were still among the top teams in the East through the first half of the season. Around the trade deadline, they dealt away a group of veterans including Tanner Molendyk, Misha Volotovskii, Brandon Lisowsky and Lukas Hansen.

Priestner said that despite the early-season success this year, “we knew all along that, when you make the decisions we made in the previous year, we made those with the 100 per cent knowledge that we would have to make reciprocal moves this season to balance those out.”

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Blades head coach Dan DaSilva last week said he was “extremely proud of this group.”

“It took some time, yes, to mature, learn what it takes to win, learn what it takes to play at a high level every single night, and, really, I think we’ve seen that maturity kick in.”

FAREWELL TO THE CAPTAIN

Blades captain Ben Saunderson, as well as Grayden Siepmann, played their final game on Wednesday with the franchise.

Saunderson, who is headed next season to play for Quinnipiac University, was the 63rd captain in team history. He played parts of five seasons with the Blades after being drafted in the fifth round of the 2019 WHL Prospects Draft.

Saunderson finishes with 87 points and a plus-57 in 259 regular season games, along with 11 points in 39 playoff games. Twice, he was a key member of a Blades team that advanced to the East Division final.

Earlier this season, Priestner said Saunderson has “been the model for Blades hockey and development on and off the ice since he was drafted in 2019. He’s been a workhorse on our blue line and we couldn’t be more excited for Ben to showcase his talents at the NCAA level.”

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