Saskatoon Blazers eyeing back-to-back U18 AAA championships

Winning the last game of the season is extremely difficult, but doing it in back-to-back seasons is even tougher.

That’s the challenge ahead for the Saskatchewan Male AAA Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blazers, and they say they’re more than ready for it.

Head coach Troy Walkington said the team is excited.

“For the most part, we’ve got seven players returning so for a lot of these kids, they don’t know what it was all about last year,” said Walkington. “The seven kids that are returning are real excited to get going and I know our team is.”

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The seven returning players have taken on a leadership role for the Blazers and Walkington said they have been an important part of the squad.

“They were always going to drive the bus this year,” said Walkington. “They know the highway to where we want to go and they understand some of the ups and downs throughout the season. They’re really the glue and they lead our hockey team.”

That leadership and familiarity from those seven players will be important as the Blazers prepare to take on the Regina Pat Canadians in a rematch of last year’s league final.

A big key to the championship run last year for the Blazers was goaltending, and this year, Grayson Malinoski returned to the Blazers’ net.

“He’s one of those kids who went through it last year,” said Walkington. “He provides leadership, he gives us the big save when we need it (and) he’s the calming voice in the locker room when we need it a lot of the time.”

Malinoski was one of the best goalies in the province this season. He currently holds a 1.78 goals-against average, which is second-best in the playoffs.

Another key piece to the Blazers is rookie forward Dayne Beuker, who was the top point-getter in the league in the regular season.

Beuker scored 41 goals in 44 regular-season games and had 84 points, but the playoffs have been a bit of a different story for the 15-year-old. Through seven games, he has four goals and three assists.

While it may not be the production Beuker is used to, Walkington said there is nothing to worry about.

“Points are hard to generate in the playoffs,” said Walkington. “Our first two rounds we played a really experienced group, Estevan had 10 or 11 17-year-olds, and against Tisdale, Beuker got matched up against their top line a whole bunch.”

Tisdale’s top line had three of the top five scorers going into the second round of the playoffs, so Beuker had to trade some offence for defence, Walkington explained.

While it was the Blazers who took care of business last season in the final, the Pat Canadians have had the upper hand recently.

The Blazers dropped three of four to Regina during the regular season but Walkington said their record doesn’t paint the whole picture.

“It was 3-and-1 but we lost a game in overtime (and) a game in (a) shootout,” said Walkington. “So is the record 3-and-1? Yes, we did lose three of those games, but they were in extra time.

“When I look back at some of those games, we played them all before Christmas, (and) I don’t think we played our full team until game 39 of 44.”

Walkington said there is a feeling-out process between teams and when these two teams played each other, they played well.

Since Walkington took over as the Blazers’ head coach halfway through the 2022-23 season, the team has been very successful. Walkington credits that to the team, staff and organization.

Walkington noted the team is aware this is going to be a very challenging series.

“We know it’s going to be a five-game series. I think it’s going to be a grind,” said Walkington. “Mentally we have to stay engaged for the full five (games). There is going to be some ups (and) there’s going to be some downs.”

Walkington noted it’s a privilege to be in the provincial final again and said the Blazers are confident going into Friday’s series opener. That contest is set to begin at 7 p.m. at SaskTel Centre.

Pat Canadians prepared

The Blazers finished the regular season in first place in the standings with a 34-7-3 record, with Regina second at 32-11-1.

Pat Canadians head coach Ryan Hodgins said the series could be a long one.

“It’s two teams that match up well so I see it being a back-and-forth series and it’s going to be high-paced, back-and-forth hockey and it will be fun,” Hodgins said.

The first-year Pat C’s head coach said his squad has been great to work with all season.

“(It’s) a skilled group and one of the hardest-working groups I’ve ever been involved with,” he said. “They come to work every day in practice and games and they compete. They are a competitive group that love to play hockey and they have a lot of fun. It’s a fun group.”

Both clubs are trying to get to the Telus Cup, the national U18 championship tournament.

“It would be outstanding. These kids work hard all year and put a lot of time into it, so it would be super-exciting and a great honour for these guys to play in that,” Hodgins said.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray