it was a busy Thursday with the Saskatoon Blades.

They are on the road in Winnipeg for a weekend doubleheader Friday and Saturday against the ICE. The Bridge City Bunch met up with Capital City Under-17 Challenge gold medallist, defenceman Tanner Molendyk in Winnipeg and are expected to have blueliner Rhett Rhinehart back from a four-game, Lower Body injury absence. That will make up for the loss of veteran D-man Charlie Wright with an Upper Body hurt, The Blue and Gold also have a trio of affiliate players with them in forwards Jordan Keller from the Yale Hockey Academy Under-18s and Rowan Calvert from the Moose Jaw U-18s plus goaltender Austin Elliott from Notre Dame of the S-J-H-L. They were brought in with goalie Ethan Chadwick sidelined by a Lower Body injury, forward Lukas Hansen down with an Upper Body hurt and forward Igor Sidorov gone home to Belarus to play for his country in the upcoming Division 1-A World Junior Championship in Denmark. In addition, the Blades acquired 17-year-old forward and Rosetown product Vaughn Watterodt from Kamloops. Saskatoon also gets an eighth round pick in next Thursday’s W-H-L Prospects Draft while the Blazers get a fifth round selection in the 2024 Prospects Draft. Watterodt will join the team Friday morning in Winnipeg. Game time for the Blades and the ICE is 7 p.m. both Friday and Satuday with the broadcast on CJWW both evenings beginning at 6:30.