'Familiarity breeds contempt': Saskatoon Blades rivalry heats up
'Familiarity breeds contempt': Saskatoon Blades rivalry heats up
The Saskatoon Blades stumbled out of the gates as they were unable to sustain pressure on the Regina Pats in the WHL playoffs opener Friday night.
While the two teams met twice in the final week of the regular season, splitting a win each, the intensity has picked up for the postseason.
“I think because we played them so much recently, there’s a bit of added familiarity,” said Blades head coach Brennan Sonne after the game. “And that familiarity breeds contempt. I think that’s what you’re seeing and it’ll be amplified as we play them in a seven-game series.”
The Pats, who out-checked and blocked shots in the opening two periods, were happily taking a 2-0 lead to the second intermission.
“We’ve been better in that area,” said Pats coach and general manager, John Paddock. “We’ve been more responsible, and we just did a better job. That’s something that we’ve talked about, not just this past week, we’ve talked about it period.”
The WHL’s leading scorer in the regular season, Connor Bedard, was an impact player in game one.
He finished with two goals and an assist, one goal was a game-winner and the other was a highlight-reel play that’s making rounds on social media.
A single Blades goal by Lukas Hansen was all they could get past goaltender Drew Sim, who led his team to a 6-1 win and an early 1-0 series lead.
Sonne says his team needs to play more desperate hockey to have success in the postseason.
“The first 40 minutes, we were structurally sound and a little clinical,” he said. “But we’ve got to get out of the clinic and onto the streets in my opinion. I think we have another level of desperate, and while it’s great to be structured and follow the plan, there’s also got to be a little bit of desperate.”
While Bedard says the nastiness was missing in the regular season finale, facing the same opponent this many times can only lead to more bad blood as the series progresses.
“It’s playoffs,” he said. “It’s going to be more physical. It’s going to be faster. You’re going to hate each other more and more. And especially with us playing each other so much recently, I think it’s even added. So we don’t like them, they don’t like us. That’s playoffs.”
The Blades and Pats return to Sasktel Centre on Sunday for game two, before the series heads to Regina for games three and four.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is pushing for special rapporteur David Johnston to 'step aside' from his role examining the issue of foreign interference before he embarks on public hearings.
New Democrat MP Jenny Kwan said Monday that Canada's spy agency has confirmed her long-held belief she is being targeted by the Chinese government, as the prime minister granted the NDP's wish to allow more party members to review top-secret intelligence.
William Karlsson, William Carrier and Jonathan Marchessault are finally getting another chance in the Stanley Cup Final, after the first one that came so quick for the Vegas Golden Knights.
Eastern Conference finals Most Valuable Player Jimmy Butler scored 28 points, and Caleb Martin had 26 points and 10 rebounds to help the eighth-seeded Miami Heat beat the Celtics 103-84 in Game 7 on Monday night and advance to the NBA Finals for the second time in four seasons.
Canadian political leaders and parliamentarians are denouncing a new law passed in Uganda that imposes harsh penalties, including the death penalty, for certain cases involving homosexuality.
There's a heightened risk of wildfires across the country during what has been one of the earliest fire seasons on record. From British Columbia to Nova Scotia, here's where the risk is highest.
New research from Penn State University found certain factors can contribute to reducing what’s known as the 'urban heat island' effect, and that climate knowledge can contribute to better city planning and design.
The first twister of 2023 in the country touched down near Regina over the weekend, according to an analysis from the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP).
One person from Estevan, Sask. is dead and another is seriously injured following a collision between a pickup truck and a motorcycle on May 28 near Fortuna, North Dakota.
A Winnipeg family is asking for help to find their missing teenage son whom they haven't seen since he left for school in the Fort Richmond area last Wednesday morning.
The body of a Winnipeg boy who fell into Sturgeon Falls on Saturday has been found following a desperate underwater search that lasted more than a day.
One long-time electoral tradition came to an end on election day, when Postmedia announced there would be no printed newspaper announcing the winner in Calgary.
Over 170,000 elementary and high school students weighed in on the Alberta election and the NDP had to hope the real voters were listening, because they won the kids' vote.
The Sandy Hill Child Care Centre has an extra two weeks to get its new home up to code months after a fire destroyed its original site on Wilbrod Street.
Ottawa police are praising a local dad for quickly calling for help Sunday afternoon when he accidentally locked his keys in his car, and his infant child along with them.
Ontario Provincial Police say a driver from Augusta Township is facing an impaired driving charge after someone on Highway 416 spotted a vehicle moving erratically.
On Monday, Fraser Health provided two senior leaders to address the latest letter outlining risks to patients, allegations of muzzling, and pleas for help from emergency physicians in the health authority's hospitals.
The president of the BC Trucking Association is issuing renewed calls for safety after a trailer truck smashed into an overhead pass Monday morning in Langley.
The union representing the majority of Quebec's daycare workers is criticizing the government's decision to launch a skimpy 90-hour training program for people who want to be daycare workers but have no prior experience.
A Quebec driver who caused the death of another motorist when he swerved his truck to avoid hitting a family of ducks on the road has been sentenced to eight months in jail and a three-year driving ban.
Capital Bike is encouraging Greater Victoria residents to choose cycling as a way to get around the region during "Go By Bike Week," which runs from May 29 to June 4.
The body of a Winnipeg boy who fell into Sturgeon Falls on Saturday has been found following a desperate underwater search that lasted more than a day.
