“Happy New Year!!”

Mitch Love calls the W-H-L’s East Division “Dubble” in Regina, “a long road trip.” The seven weeks of games for his Saskatoon Blades begins Saturday at the Brandt Centre against the Swift Current Broncos.

The Saturday game will be the first one for the Bridge City Bunch in 368 days…the last one being a 6-0 victory in Moose Jaw on March 10, 2020. Koen MacInnes stopped 19 shots for the shutout that night against the Warriors while departed overage forward Riley McKay scored the last Blue and Gold, at the time 47-second mark of the third period.

Both teams have 26 players with them in Regina.

The Blades have 10 rookies on their roster, three players from other teams last season with previous W-H-L experience and 13 returning players. Saskatoon had a 34-24-5 record at the time the 2019-20 season was paused, and eventually, cancelled on March 12, 2020. That was good for fourth place in the East Division, but only eight points out of first. They were on a three-game winning streak when the season was shut down

The Broncos were the W-H-L’s worst team last season with a 10-48-5 record. When the campaign was stopped, Swift Current was winless in 18 games with just one extra-time loss. Their last win was January 25, 2020…6-3 in Moose Jaw. The Broncos’ last game was March 11, 2020…a 6-2 home setback at the hands of the Red Deer Rebels.

The Blades have won the last six head-to-head meetings against Swift Current. The last Broncos’ victory was 5-4 in overtime on January 19, 2019. In the last 10 games against Swift Current, Saskatoon has won nine with that O-T loss the lone blemish.

This will be the ninth time the Blades and Broncos have opened a season against one another…Saskatoon has won five of the eight previous openers. All-time, the Blades are 28-24-2 in first games of a new year, including wins in each of the last two seasons.

Saturday’s game starts at 4 o’clock with the broadcast beginning at 3:30 on 98-COOL with the Sardinia Family Restaurant pre-game show.