You have to go back to January 5, 2020 in Edmonton for the last time the Saskatoon Blades played a regular-season W-H-L game in the province of Alberta, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s almost two full calendar years for the Bridge City Bunch’s last visit to Lethbridge as they get set to take on the Hurricanes Friday night. Back on November 29, 2019, Kyle Crnkovic scored the only goal of a shootout to give the Blue and Gold a 4-3 victory over the Canes. Coming off his second career hat-trick in Wednesday’s 6-2 Saskatoon home-ice victory over Moose Jaw, centre Tristen Robins says he and his mates are looking forward to a multi-game road trip…..

Sophomore Blades’ defenceman Pasha Bocharov says he’s looking forward to playing different teams…..

On Friday, the 7-1-1 Bridge City Bunch will bring a five-game winning streak into the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge against the 4-3-0 Hurricanes before visiting Medicine Hat Saturday. CJWW’s broadcast both evenings start at 6:30 with the pre-game show and the play-by-play at 7 o’clock. Earlier Thursday, the Blue and Gold announced the signing of 16-year-old forward Rowan Calvert to a Standard W-H-L Education Contract. The Moose Jaw product was a ninth round pick of the Blades in the 2020 Prospects Draft and attended the team’s training camp last month. Following is the news release from the Blades, plus more audio clips ahead of the Friday night game from Bocharov and head coach Brennan Sonne…..

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SASKATOON, SK — The Saskatoon Blades are pleased to announce the signing of 2005-born
forward Rowan Calvert to a WHL Standard Player Agreement.
Calvert was selected by the Blades in the ninth round, 187th overall in the 2020 WHL Bantam
Draft, and is the sixth player from the 2020 draft class to sign a WHL Standard Player
Agreement with the organization.
“Rowan has put in the work to earn this. He had an excellent training camp and has had a very
strong start to his season with the Moose Jaw U18 team,” said Blades director of scouting Dan
Tencer. “He’s a highly competitive young man who leads by example with his work ethic on and
off the ice.”
In eight games as a rookie with his hometown Moose Jaw U18 Warriors, Calvert has three goals
and seven assists for 10 points, placing him second in team scoring. The 5-foot-9, 181-pound
forward is currently tied for third in SMAAAHL rookie scoring, and has collected multi-point
efforts in three of eight contests.
“Rowan’s game has a lot of substance – he wins his battles, makes smart plays with the puck and
goes hard to the areas that matter most for offence and defence,” added Tencer. “He’s a very
well-rounded player and we’re very happy to have Rowan as part of our future.”
The Saskatoon Blades would like to welcome Rowan and the Calvert family into the community
and organization, and look forward to helping continue his development under the guidance of
Brennan Sonne’s coaching staff.