Blades’ Dach finds scoring touch to begin 2019

There were few people happier to bid farewell to 2018 than Kirby Dach.

While Dach remains a lock to be chosen with one of the first 10 picks in June’s NHL Entry Draft, the Blades standout centreman had a regretful December — especially for his standards.

After scoring early and often to begin the season, Dach scored just four points in December — a significant slump compared to the 41 points he put up in the three months prior.

“That was a tough couple of game there, especially for me personally,” Dach said of his tough end to 2018. “That’s something I take pride in is being able to produce, and not being able to do that was frustrating.”

Dach also experienced an 11-game goalless streak. While a scoring-slump cloud could be hanging over the head of a typical WHL star, Dach used it as an opportunity to let other parts of his game flourish.

“I think I was playing the right way,” he said. “And I was still creating chances, playing a 200-foot game and playing situational hockey, which is something I need to learn to get better and grow as a player.”

Blades head coach Mitch Love agrees.

“The one thing about it during that stretch where he wasn’t really getting the offensive numbers he would have liked, he was still getting a lot of opportunity. He was really doing a lot of other things in his game…he was competitive, he was heavy in situations.”

The scoring woes changed when the Swift Current Broncos appeared on the schedule. A home-and-home series yielded Dach four points, pushing his total to 11 points in four games against the league-worst Broncos.

Love knew it was just a matter of time for his leading scorer.

“That’s what you got to do when you’re in a slump,” he said. “You just stick to the process and things will turn in the right direction for you, and the last couple games it has for him.”

With the Blades hosting the Regina Pats on Friday for its seventh of nine consecutive games against East Division opponents, Love had just two words to express his happiness at having Dach back on the scoresheet.

“It’s huge.”

Ice Chips

There will be a lot of new faces in the lineup for Friday’s provincial battle.

Saskatoon traded away defenceman Zach Ashton and a 2022 5th bantam draft pick to the Seattle Thunderbirds for 19-year-old defenceman Reece Harsch on Wednesday. The Blades followed that trade up by sending Seth Bafaro to the Vancouver Giants for 5th round draft pick in 2021 a few hours later.

Regina has been busy ahead of the Jan. 10 trade deadline, sending Jadon Joseph, Scott Mahovlich and Marco Creta to different teams in the last 48 hours.