Ice completes sweep of Blades in WHL’s Eastern Conference final

The Saskatoon Blades’ 2022-23 season ended Wednesday.

The Winnipeg Ice beat the Blades 3-2 at SaskTel Centre to complete a sweep of Saskatoon in the WHL’s best-of-seven Eastern Conference final.

In the Blades’ two previous series this post-season, they had rallied from 2-0 and 3-0 deficits against the Regina Pats and Red Deer Rebels, respectively, to win in seven games. But Winnipeg didn’t let Saskatoon up off the mat in the conference final.

The Ice outscored the Blades 17-5 in the series.

While this wasn’t the result Saskatoon was looking for, Blades head coach Brennan Sonne knew his team left it all on the ice.

“Every ounce of gas that those guys had in the tank, they used. That tank is completely dry,” Sonne said postgame.

“There’s no hanging heads in shame at all; (in fact, it’s) the opposite. (I’m) completely and absolutely, utterly proud of this team.”

The Blades did get off to a good start on Wednesday, though, when captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere opened the scoring. His wrist shot was able to find its way past a number of bodies and into the back of the net in the first period.

The goal was on a delayed penalty call against Winnipeg that lasted around a minute where Saskatoon controlled the puck.

After a looooong delayed penalty call against Winnipeg, Blades captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere gets Saskatoon on the board first.

1-0 Blades. #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/NSwJRR2jrD

— steve seto (@steveseto) May 4, 2023

Connor McClennon had something to say about that, though, as he tied it a couple of minutes later for the Ice on the power play for his 12th goal of the playoffs.

He wasn’t done there, as he somehow got left alone in front of the Blades’ net and jammed home his second of the night to give Winnipeg the lead at 2-1.

Saskatoon would not go down easy as Trevor Wong tied the game in the third period after he deflected in Spencer Shugrue’s point shot to make it 2-2.

Trevor Wong deflects his sixth of the playoffs and team-leading 21st point. Ties it up at 2 in the third.

2-2. #WHLPlayoffs

pic.twitter.com/f6zD2vlZZ7

— steve seto (@steveseto) May 4, 2023

But Briley Wood added the eventual game-winner at 6:19 of the third period on a tip-in of his own to push the Ice into the WHL final.

Winnipeg retakes the lead as Briley Wood tips it in past Austin Elliott.

3-2 Ice. #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/FSmK7LeZAw

— steve seto (@steveseto) May 4, 2023

The Ice will face the winner of the Western Conference final between the Kamloops Blazers and Seattle Thunderbirds. Seattle leads that best-of-seven affair 2-1, with Game 4 set for Thursday in Kamloops.

The loss Wednesday ended a fine season by the Blades, who finished with 48 regular-season wins and 101 points — the first time they exceeded 100 points in a season since the 2010-11 campaign.

Saskatoon finished the regular season with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, behind only Winnipeg (57-10-1).

Sonne said there are a lot of things he will take away from this season.

“I will absolutely remember the Game 7s. No doubt about it, I’ll 100 per cent remember those crowds,” Sonne said.

“It’s the laughs, it’s the smiles, it’s watching these guys grow. That is what I’ll remember the most. And of course coming back from 3-0 down (against Red Deer), so that’s a record and I’m very proud of that as well and proud of our team for accomplishing that.”

On Wednesday, Sonne was rewarded for the team’s success during the season, earning the award as the WHL’s coach of the year.

But he wasn’t concerned about the recognition; rather, he was thinking of the players in his locker room.

“It is a very sad moment, that’s kind of how I feel. It’s nothing to do with me, it’s sad that this team is over,” Sonne said.

While it was tough for the Blades to find some bright spots in the loss, Ice head coach James Patrick said they should be proud of the season they had.

“I give the Blades all the credit in the world for resiliency, no quit and what they had to do to get to this,” Patrick said.

The Ice coach mentioned it can be emotionally and physically exhausting from going through the first two rounds like the Blades did, and noticed Saskatoon looked tired in the first games of the East final.

Patrick also tipped his cap to Sonne on winning coach of the year.

“I thought he deserved it (with) what he’s done with this club the last couple of years,” he said.

“They are committed to playing the right way, they’re committed to playing defence and it all starts with him.”

It was also a tough night for Blades’ three 20-year-olds who finished their WHL careers: De La Gorgendiere, Blake Gustafson and Josh Pillar.

De La Gorgendiere was clearly emotional after the game, knowing it was his last game after spending his entire career with the Blades. He was the last one to come off the ice, soaking up his final moments as a Blade.

“It was pretty emotional for me. Just thinking of all the great memories I’ve had playing here and how happy I am that I chose to come and play here,” the captain said.

De La Gorgendiere has worn the ‘C’ on his jersey for the past two season and said it has been an honour to wear it.

“It means a lot to me. I pride myself on being a good teammate and a good person and trying to be a leader for our team,” he said.

De La Gorgendiere was wearing his jersey postgame and said he wasn’t going to be taking that uniform off anytime soon, showcasing how much this team meant to him.

His coach wasn’t light on good words about his captain.

“He steered the ship in terms of fitness culture, in terms of how we do business, how we act, how we work in practice. Incredible leader, I’m very, very proud of him and he has a very long pro career coming,” Sonne said about De La Gorgendiere.

The Ice head coach also had a long conversation with De La Gorgendiere during the handshake line after the game and is cheering for him during the next step of his career.

“Certainly the last two years he was one of the best defencemen in the league,” Patrick said.

“I told him what an outstanding career he’s had here. I know he can play at the next level and I hope he gets that opportunity. He just seems like a kid you’d want on your team.”