Trust the Central Saskatchewan rivalry to stoke the fire between the fan bases of the Saskatoon Blades and Prince Albert Raiders!

And, to make me wonder if the six straight wins, 8-0-1 start to the season, scoring lots of goals and giving up very few, etc., is going to amount to anything?!

Let me take you back to Monday…in the midst of the Blades’ victory over the Raiders, a Twitter debate ensued…sparked by a comment from a Blades’ fan towards a P-A supporter saying that he can’t be happy with the Bridge City Bunch being on fire this season. The responses ranged from, “too bad it’s for the COVID Cup. Doesn’t mean ‘shaving cream’,” to, “how many of these in Toon Town?” The latter referred to a picture of  the two W-H-L titles that the Raiders have won while the Blue and Gold have yet to sip from the Ed Chynoweth Cup in their franchise history. That latter comment also tends to end the discussion because that’s what it’s all about and Prince Albert fans have that hammer over Blades’ supporters!

Actually, on this occasion, the Saskatoon fan who instigated the discussion finished with, “big fat 0, but this may be the year.”

But, will it be?

There hasn’t been a definitive answer yet from the Western Hockey League, but a lot of people are taking, “development season,” to mean all teams will play 24 games, then go home and get ready for the next season in the fall. No playoffs, mostly because of the rising COVID-19 numbers…fueled by increasing cases of variant of concern.

Don’t be so sure that will be the case. The W-H-L has all 22 teams started and the four divisions will be finishing their campaigns relatively close to one another…which would allow for some sort of playoffs and declaration of a champion before July! As of now, and this is being written as news of all Kelowna Rockets’ team activities being suspended because a hockey staff member tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the U.S. and B.C. Divisions will finish their seasons on May 11 and 12, respectively. The East Division “Dubble” is to be completed on April 28 and the Alberta teams are to be done on May 8.

The notion that there could be playoffs can be interpreted as me having biased, rose-coloured glasses thinking. Don’t think for a second that those same thoughts aren’t in the minds of all 22 teams…but, especially with Winnipeg, Brandon, Edmonton, Everett, Kamloops, Portland and Medicine Hat! I’ve been told the W-H-L is trying everything they can to have a playoffs of some kind and crown a champion.

I wouldn’t bet against it!