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The Saskatoon Blades appear to be ahead of the game.
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With two games remaining in their pre-season schedule, the Blades are miles ahead of where they were a year ago when they introduced a new coach, Brennan Sonne, six weeks prior to training camp.
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“It’s coming a lot faster than, say, last year for example,” Sonne said after practice Wednesday at SaskTel Centre.
“It’s really nice to have so many returning guys because our structure remains 85-90 per cent the same. So those guys know it. They can, on top of showing what it looks like, they can help me with other guys pick it up really quickly.
“I’m certainly impressed. It’s really positive around here. It really is.”
The Blades have picked up two wins in three games thus far. They’ll wrap up the exhibition season with a pair of games against the rival Prince Albert Raiders this weekend, Friday in Prince Albert and Saturday night in Warman.
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Their 29-man roster includes players currently away at NHL camps (Brandon Lisowsky, Conner Roulette, Justin Lies, Josh Pillar and Charlie Wright) and players sidelined by injury.
It’s crunch time for evaluation and some tough decisions are yet to be made.
“There’s some job fights going on right now,” Sonne said. “We’re still evaluating. We still got the two games. For me, I’m a coach so I’m really biased to just try and get the team ready to play and just into the season, so I always have to tell myself, ‘Hey, calm down here; it’s still exhibition.’ I want them to be perfect every time but we’re still evaluating as well. I’m trying to find that balance.”
Sonne said the toughest competition is likely on the blue line.
“We have a lot of guys here and Della (captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere) hasn’t played yet, although he’s now skating again.
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“We’ve got (Fraser) Leonard and (Morgan) Tastad, those guys are here and have shown really well. We’ve got a lot of returning guys. We’re returning a lot of guys plus (Tait) Humphries, so a lot of bodies around.”
One of those returning defencemen is Tanner Molendyk.
“It’s been really good,” said Molendyk. “We’ve had a competitive camp and competitive three games. Long travel, already, with six hours to Edmonton. It’s been busy.
“With the moves we’ve made, we’ve got a lot stronger and I think, up front and in the back end, all places we’ve gotten better.”
“I feel the team’s got a really good bond and chemistry building,” said Blades forward Lukas Hansen.
“Everyone is so happy to be around the rink and I feel like, with that energy, we’re really carrying that onto the ice and it’s positively impacting our game and we’re able to get two wins in Edmonton because of it.”
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With two games left, what are Sonne and his coaching staff looking to see?
“Much more Blades hockey, structurally and our work, our habits and things like that,” replied Sonne. “That would be the main thing. As long as we’re taking steps. If I’m comparing it to last year, we were just trying to get everything implemented and ‘let’s go’ and trying to figure out. This year, I’m not nearly in as much of a rush because it’s not brand new. Most of it is not brand new to these guys so we can take it a little bit slower, be a little more detailed with it and focus on a little bit of pace at practice.
“Just taking steps every day.”
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Saskatoon Blades on fast track to regular season, play Raiders in two-game series - Saskatoon Star-Phoenix
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