Blazers aim for national championship after provincial, regional titles

The Saskatoon Blazers have been collecting trophies this season, and the team’s sights are set on the biggest one yet.

First, the Blazers were Saskatchewan U18 AAA Hockey League (SMU18AAAHL) champions after earning 72 points with a 35-7-2 record.

The Blazers only lost twice through three best-of-five playoff series to claim the provincial championship and earn a spot in the regional qualifier.

Saskatoon Blazers, 2023 West Regional Champions. (Saskatoon Blazers/Twitter)

They didn’t drop a single game in that qualifier, and beat the Warman Wildcats in overtime to earn a berth at the 2023 Men’s U18 Club Nationals in Saint-Hyacinthe, Que.

The Blazers leave for Quebec on Saturday, and the team’s first game will take place on Monday against the Quebec regional winners, Blizzard du Séminaire Saint-François.

“It’s been an outstanding season, right down from our players’ point of view to our staff point of view,” said Troy Walkington, one of the team’s coaches.

“We had some goals that we wanted to try and achieve. The first goal was to be able to win the league; I think that was the No. 1 aim for us through the 44 games.”

The next goal, Walkington said, is to win the first national championship in franchise history.

They’ve had plenty of time to prepare for the tournament. Saskatoon last saw game action on April 9, almost two full weeks before its first game at nationals.

The Blazers had a similar break earlier this year when seven players were selected to go to the Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island, putting a halt to their club season for two weeks. Team Saskatchewan ultimately lost the gold-medal game in overtime to Team Ontario.

“We’ll try and do similar things during this two-week break,” Walkington said. “(It’s) different because we have the whole team with us, but we’ll try and be competitive as we can before we fly in.”

The extra practice during the break for the Winter Games did prove to be beneficial, as the team won six straight games to open the playoffs.

The success the Blazers have found this season is because the players bought in to working as a team and accomplishing things together, Walkington said.

“For a lot of these kids, they were the all-stars on their particular team coming in, and sometimes it’s hard to mould that group of best players together, but I think they’ve done an outstanding job of putting their egos aside,” the coach said.

But the emphasis on team play hasn’t halted any personal success or individual recognition.

Forward Cole Reschny was named the SMU18AAAHL Rookie of the Year, SMU18AAAHL first-team all-star, regional round-robin top forward and regional all-star.

Raiden Zacharias was also named a regional all-star forward and round-robin most valuable player, while also being named a SMU18AAAHL second-team all-star.

Defenceman Reese Hamilton was named a SMU18AAAHL first-team all-star and an all-star defenceman during regionals.

And goaltender Alex Garrett was named top goaltender for the round-robin and selected as an all-star during regionals.

Walkington said even though the players received awards individually, they looked at it as a team success.

“The team has done so well, and your individual recognition, you’re almost putting it on a back burner because you want to make sure the team is successful. That’s a real mature way to do things at the age that they are,” Walkington explained.

He said the coaching staff knows this is a big moment for the players.

“You don’t get to play in a national championship every year. And for these kids, for a lot of them this is their first experience doing that,” Walkington said.

“We’re going there to win, but at the same time, let’s make some memories and enjoy the time we’re there.”

This is the Blazers’ second appearance in the tournament but the first since 1974.