The Saskatoon Blades battled right to the final weekend of the season but there will be no playoff hockey in the Bridge City for a fourth-straight year.
While the Blades are bitterly disappointed at the outcome, there’s also plenty of optimism about the future.
READ MORE: Saskatoon Blades win home finale but miss playoffs for 4th straight year
They started the season by declaring that anything less than a playoff appearance would be considered a failure.
However nobody could have predicted how badly they’d be bitten by the injury bug.
With several top players missing significant time, or in the case of projected leading scorer Cam Hebig for the entire season, the Blades used a patchwork lineup for much of the year.
The team isn’t using that as an excuse for missing the playoffs, but the impact it had on their record is undeniable.
“It just never seemed to roll our way in terms of the dice, in terms of injuries and all that stuff,” Blades general manager Colin Priestner said.
“I just give so much credit to the coaches and the players for banding together and making it count until the 71st game of the year.”
There are lots of decisions facing the Blades this summer, including who they’ll keep as over-age players.
Logan Flodell seems like a lock but the rest is anyone’s guess.
READ MORE: Saskatoon Blades goalie Logan Flodell CHL goaltender of the week
Braylon Shmyr is a dynamic scoring threat, while Evan Fiala helped stabilize the blueline after his mid-season acquisition.
Mason McCarty, Brock Hamm and Hebig, who expects to have a clean bill of health, are also in the mix.
One decision that’s apparently already been made is on the future of the Blades coaching staff.
In his first season as head coach, Dean Brockman guided the team to its best record since the 2012-13 season.
There was some speculation that Brockman could be on the hot seat if the team didn’t make the playoffs.
But on Monday, Brockman and his staff received a ringing endorsement from Priestner.
“Bryce Thoma did fantastic with our D. We let one full less goal in a game, which is almost impossible to do year over year, and he did a fantastic job,” Priestner said.
“Ryan Keller, it was his first year coaching and he came leaps and bounds. He just did a great job working with the power play.
“We ended up in the middle of the pack with a lot less talent than some teams had and he just did a great job relating to the players, so I’m very proud of Dean, Bryce and Ryan.”
Priestner added that he hopes the coaching staff will be around for a long time.
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