The Blades return to action with games Friday and Saturday at home against the Edmonton Oil Kings and Tri-City Americans, respectively.
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Chalk it up to a learning experience.
The Saskatoon Blades are happy to be back home after a tough five-game road trip through British Columbia that spanned nearly two weeks.
The Blades return to action with games Friday and Saturday at home against the Edmonton Oil Kings and Tri-City Americans, respectively.
Game-time is 7 p.m. both nights.
It’s the start of a three-game home-stand which concludes next Tuesday with a game against the Medicine Hat Tigers.
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“It’s taxing physically and mentally,” Blades head coach Dan DaSilva said of the lengthy road swing. “With those one-goal games, there’s no break, no rest, no relief where, whether you’re up 6-1 or down 6-1, you can take a breath and start rolling four lines and give everybody a time to relax.
“We had games that were so close, so tense from start to finish. With all the travel and everything, it’s really, really hard. Not to make excuses — obviously we know we can be better in some areas — but I think they learned that it’s a really difficult league to be consistent and play hard every single night, back-to-back, with travel.
“It was a great learning experience for our group, the young guys especially, but I’m really proud of the way they competed for the most part throughout the duration of that trip.”
The Blades finished the trip with a 1-3-1 record with all five games decided by just one goal and two of the games going into extra time.
“It does take a toll on you,” admitted Blades captain Ben Saunderson. “A lot of hours on the bus. Just a long trip. But when you get to the rink, we do what we love to do, so it’s pretty easy to get up for something you love to do.
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“I think it was super beneficial for our group. On paper, it wasn’t maybe the best trip (results-wise) but all the games were close and I think our group realized that we can play with any team in this league. We were in every game and a lot of (our reasons for losing) was stuff we did to ourselves.”
Saskatoon is now 11-5-1-1 for the season, slipping to third place in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference behind the Swift Current Broncos and Lethbridge Hurricanes.
“It’s recognizing key moments in games, as a team, as a coach and as a group, and maybe having to play a different way to kind of get the momentum back on your side, especially when you’re on the road for as much as we were when you’re playing the opponent, plus the crowd plus everything else that goes into it,” DaSilva said of the learning experience.
“We need to recognize those moments and make better decisions at times. That’s on me, as a coach, and the leaders on the team as well, to recognize situations and make better choices and make sure we always play Blades hockey and not get away from our game.”
DaSilva points to the last game of the trip in Kamloops where the Blades were down 4-0 but fought back and made it 4-3 and gave themselves a chance to win in the third period.
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“I’m really proud of this team and how they work and compete every single night,” he said.
“For the last six games, it’s been one-goal games and we’re in it every single night. Whether we’re on the winning side or losing side, as a coach, when your team gives itself a chance to win every single night, and they’re competitive and proud and resilient, what else can you ask for?
“Most teams in this league we’ve now seen, and we know we can play with them if we’re playing our game for a full 60 minutes. Lots of positives. (Goalie) Evan Gardner was great throughout the trip. Lots of stuff to build off of, for sure.”
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