SaskatchewanOver the past five full seasons, the Blades haven’t placed lower than third in the East Division and made playoff runs to the Eastern Conference final in 2023 and 2024.Blades have experienced forwards and all-star goaltenderDan Plaster · CBC News · Posted: Sep 18, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 33 minutes agoHead coach Dan DaSilva, back, is all smiles as the Saskatoon Blades start the season. (Tanner Chubey/Saskatoon Blades)With the new WHL season approaching, CBC’s Dan Plaster is previewing every Saskatchewan team. Follow all week for a new story each day.It has been some of the best hockey Saskatoon Blades fans have seen in franchise history.Over the past five full seasons (the 2019-20 and 2020-21 post seasons were postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic), the Blades haven’t placed lower than third in the East Division and made two playoff runs to the Eastern Conference final in 2023 and 2024.There are plenty of banners hanging in SaskTel Centre, but one is missing — Western Hockey League champions. That is one thing the team wants to change.”We all have the same goal here, we want to bring a championship here to Saskatoon. We’ve never won it here before. So we feel we have a special group here that can bring a championship here,” said 17-year-old forward Cooper Williams.Williams, who is 2026 NHL draft eligible, is part of a young but experienced core of forwards. The Blades have seven of their top 10 scoring forwards from a season ago returning, including NHL draft pick David Lewandowski (fourth, Edmonton, 2025), and Hunter Laing (fourth, Calgary, 2024). Laing came to Saskatoon in a trade from Prince George late last season.”It’s nice to come in here, feels like a new camp, feels like I’m young again,” Laing said.Forward Cooper Williams looks on at practice. (Tanner Chubey/Saskatoon Blades)A 2024-25 season full of promise didn’t end the way the Blades wanted. They lost a winner-take-all final regular season game in Prince Albert 4-3, giving the Raiders the division pennant. Then the playoff run was a short one, with the Blades losing four straight to a veteran-packed Calgary Hitmen squad.Those hard lessons still linger with the Blades.”Just getting the experience of the playoff series against Calgary, who was a really good team, that helps out a lot for this year,” Williams said. “We’ve got some older guys back, so having that playoff experience helps a lot.”There is a lot of belief in the Blades and it’s showing on head coach Dan DaSilva. This is his fifth season with the team and second as head coach. In his rookie season as the bench boss, DaSilva took the Blades to within a win of the East Division title.DaSilva sees a lot of promise in his team.”If we work as hard as we did last year, and are committed to being better than we were last year, and everyone takes a step in terms of their development, I think we should be in a good spot,” DaSilva said.There will be a lack of experience on the back end, but all of that could be remedied by goaltender Evan Gardner, a Columbus Blue Jackets prospect.WATCH | Is this the year the Saskatoon Blades finally reach the top of the mountain?: Is this the year the Saskatoon Blades finally reach the top of the mountain?With a mix of skilled veterans and highly rated youngsters, the Saskatoon Blades may have what it takes to finally win their first ever WHL title. It took years of building to get the Blades to multiple winning seasons without the dreaded rebuild from the ground up. Those dark days have been erased by a simple culture of being as good off the ice as they are on it.”Being good hockey players and being good people as well. You know, the standards we set and the expectations we’ve set for the players both on and off the ice are extremely high,” DaSilva said. “So I think that the guys have shown up and worked hard.”The Blades season opens up with a marquee matchup. They head to Prince Albert looking for a little revenge against the Raiders on Sept. 19.ABOUT THE AUTHORDan Plaster is a video producer at CBC Saskatchewan. He has more than 30 years of experience in TV, radio and digital media.
Saskatoon Blades look to finally climb to top of WHL mountain
