SASKATOON, Sask. – The MasterCard Memorial Cup host Saskatoon Blades could receive a bye to Sunday’s championship final with a win over the Portland Winterhawks on Wednesday.
Both teams enter the final round robin game of the tournament with 1-1 records. By virtue of the Blades’ win over Halifax on Sunday, the Blades would hold the tiebreaker with the Mooseheads if they both finish with 2-1 records. The loser of this game will play the London Knights in Thursday’s tiebreaker, a scenario both teams will be looking to avoid.
“It’s going to be a war,” predicted Blades defenceman Matt Pufahl. “It’s going to be a battle every single shift.”
There won’t be much familiarity between the two Western Hockey League teams. The U.S. Division Winterhawks only face Eastern Conference teams once a season, and beat the Blades 4-0 at the Credit Union Centre on Oct. 10.
Much has changed for both teams since then, so the preparation for each other is similar to the way both teams would prepare for non-league opponents London and Halifax.
“We don’t know Saskatoon that well,” conceded Winterhawks head coach Travis Green. “It does help that we’ve seen them twice in the tournament already. That will make it a lot easier and we do know the players. Most of them have been in the league since (the Winterhawks’ coaching staff has) come into the league.”
Both teams are coming off wins and will look to manufacture the same desperation that propelled them to their first victory in the tournament.
“Every game has to be desperate,” Blades forward Lukas Sutter said. “Every game matters here. That’s the beauty of this tournament, there’s no chance for a letdown.”
CAN THE BLADES’ PHYSICAL PLAY WEAR DOWN THE WINTERHAWKS?
The Blades are by far the most physical of the four teams assembled in the MasterCard Memorial Cup. They rode this brand of hockey to a win over the Mooseheads on Sunday, constantly barreling through the defencemen and establishing their presence in front of the net.
Blades overage forward Michael Ferland delivered some crushing blows against the Mooseheads, and Sutter could see the results.
“Definitely, it opened up some room and some time and space for us,” he said. “There’s not too many guys in the CHL that can finish checks like that. You get a little bit of emotion on the bench from a hit like that and everyone else kind of picks up from where he’s leading off.”
HOW WILL THE WINTERHAWKS RESPOND TO THE PHYSICAL PLAY?
For a WHL team, the Winterhawks aren’t a very gritty team. Their game is based more on skill and mobility, and the Blades are hoping their intimidating style will get the Winterhawks off their game.
“They don’t like to get hit,” Ferland said. “We want to be on them early and for sure get in their faces.”
It’s nothing the Winterhawks haven’t seen before. Many teams have tried running them out of the rink, but their skill beat grit on most nights.
“We’ve seen that a lot,” Green said. “Seattle’s a big, strong physical team that comes after us, seems to come after us every time we play. I thought Kamloops tried to play that way against us in our playoff series… Our guys manage against any kind of team. I’m not worried about that at all. When our puck management’s real good, it’s hard for sometimes those teams to contain our guys.”
“You always have to be physical right back,” Winterhawks defenceman Seth Jones said. “You have to move pucks around them. They like to take pot shots at you, come right at you. If you have the puck, you have to tip it around them and work it down low. I think we’ll be real prepared and we’ve faced similar teams.”
HOW WILL THE BLADES DEFEND AGAINST THE CYCLING ‘HAWKS?
The Winterhawks pose quite the problem for teams trying to defend against them due to their strong cycle. Portland likes to activate its defencemen while the forwards work in concert to take the spot they vacate.
It can be confusing for defenders to know which man is theirs, which can lead to an open man and a scoring chance.
“They’re such a skilled team,” Blades head coach Lorne Molleken said. “You have to be sharp and you’re going to have to do certain things and obviously, some teams play man-to-man, some teams play zone. But with our team, it’s just a matter of reading off each other and doing a good job in that area.”
“We really have to be moving our feet, chipping pucks in, tight turns down low, really taking pucks to the net on them,” Jones said.
WILL BOTH TEAMS CREATE TRAFFIC IN FRONT?
The Blades’ pre-scouting will be aware Carruth likes to engage and being engaged in his crease. He’s not afraid to mix it up after the whistle and chirp his opponents. Saskatoon won’t deviate from the plan of sending forwards to the top of the crease and jamming at loose pucks since it worked so well against Halifax.
“Carruth, he’s pretty yappy so I’m pretty interested to see how it’s going to be,” Ferland said.
The Winterhawks may have the same plan for Blades goalie Andrey Makarov.
“He really stands out in his crease and he challenges pucks,” Jones said. “You have to get a guy right in front of him to make sure he can’t come out as far and challenge and make sure his vision is impaired all night. We have to get sticks, bodies in front of him and pucks to the net.”
