'What's next?' Riders' Armstead focused on showdown with Ottawa
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"I have a 'What's next?' mentality," said Ryquell Armstead, who faces his former team on Saturday.
The Saskatoon Blades are taking their red-hot play on the road one final time this season.
Saskatoon begins a four-game road trip over the next 10 days by tangling with the Medicine Hat Tigers Wednesday before settling into the Sasktel Centre for most of the remaining schedule.
“I enjoy getting on the bus with the guys, to hear the laughter and the buzz on the bus, that’s what junior hockey is all about,” head coach Mitch Love said prior to the trip.
With only two more games on the road this season — March 5 in Moose Jaw and March 16 in Prince Albert — this road trip becomes much more sentimental for the team’s 20-year-old players.
“It’s potentially their last long trip,” Love said of his veteran players. “Those are special moments that you remember for the rest of your life as a young man.”
Saskatoon happens to be hitting the road as one of the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) hottest teams. The Blades are on a four-game winning streak and have gone 8-0-2 over their last 10 games. The two losses in that span came from squandering late leads before losing in overtime.
Blades tough guy Riley McKay wouldn’t mind one more trip away from Sasktel Centre.
“We haven’t really had too many road trips, so the last one will be nice to get out of the way,” he said. “We’re getting into that last stretch where it’s all like playoff hockey.”
Love noted that facing three Central Division teams that are in a tight race for playoffs spots before travelling to Brandon will be a good test for his team.
After that, he’s looking forward to resting.
“This month is pretty busy after a slow January, so our rest, our recovery is so important this time of year,” he said.
“Just come back, put ourselves in a good spot, hopefully.”
Ice Chips
A number of Blades players are looking to extend great performances on the road. Dawson Davidson is riding a 13-game scoring streak in which he has 21 points.
Max Gerlach will also look to extend his 13-game point streak against his old team Wednesday after notching three assists against Brandon on Sunday.
Saskatoon is also eagerly awaiting the return of Kirby Dach. He took a puck to the neck during a game against the Swift Current Broncos last week and is listed as day-to-day nursing the injury.