Road Trip

[Lefty]

Well, the yearly Western Conference road trip is complete and the Saskatoon Blades are finally coming home. Although they only won 3 games, they still managed to collect 8 of a possible 14 points with the 3-2-1-1 record. Considering they played 7 games in 9 nights, I think thats fairly respectable. Hopefully the Blades can come home and be well rested for their Wednesday night game against Kooteney that I sadly won't be able to see.

I look forward to the game Friday though, as the new third jerseys are unveiled that night if I'm not mistaken. Here's hoping for a couple of wins this week.

[Homer]

The game in PG was excellent for a team coming off such a long road trip. Nice looking team you have in Saskatoon.

Rabbit looked great all night and was really dangerous. Haw is a hell of a D-Man. Lorne had the boys working hard.

If you can have a home stand with that kind of effort I will expect to see you at the top of the east.

[scamperdog]

On the way out of town after the game, the Blades team bus hit a moose on Highway 16. The accident happened at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday. Damage to the bus was extensive — front end, windshield and passenger door. Several players were shaken up, but no major injuries were reported. The driver managed to limp the bus into Hinton, where the team waited about three hours for another bus to arrive.

(PG CITIZEN NEWSPAPER)

[GBG BLEED BLUE]

Blades Bus Hit by Moose


Cory Wolfe
The StarPhoenix


The Saskatoon Blades escaped injury early Sunday when their bus collided with a moose on a densely wooded highway east of Prince George, B.C.

"Everybody is fine," Blades coach-GM Lorne Molleken said via cellphone on Sunday afternoon.




The same could not be said for the moose or the bus, which sustained considerable damage and was left behind in Hinton, Alta. The Western Hockey League team was returning from an 11-day road trip through British Columbia and the northwest United States. Following Saturday night's 4-3 overtime loss in Prince George, the team began the long trek home through the night.

The Saskatoon contingent had been on the road for barely two hours when a moose ran in front of the bus at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday.

"We were a little stunned and a little scared," said Blades winger Brandon Tidball, who was sleeping when the collision occurred.

"We thought it was an accident. When we first woke up, we thought we hit another car. Everyone was a little shaky and then eventually everybody went back to sleep. . . . It took a while for some people to calm down a bit, though."

Tidball said that prior to setting course, bus driver Pete Smith had warned the group: "There's a lot of moose out there tonight. We've gotta be careful."

Smith's words proved prophetic.

Blades defenceman Evan Haw was chatting with teammate Dan Waschuk at the back of the bus when a loud bang rocked the vehicle.

"It was pretty scary," said Haw. "It felt like we hit a pole or something. We ran over (the moose) and there was a big 'KLUNK!' and then that was it."

The bus sustained damage mostly to the front end and the passenger side.

"It knocked the front end in, smashed the windshield, knocked the window off (and) knocked the door off," said Molleken.

"We drove along for a while until we got some place where we could get some service and get another bus."

The Prince Albert Northern bus limped into Hinton, Alta., and the Saskatoon entourage waited about three hours for another bus to arrive from Banff.

The team got back on the road at about 9 a.m.

"Pete did a great job to not hit the ditch," Molleken said of the collision. "We pulled over and got the door back in place as best we could. It knocked the mirror off, the shield -- everything.

"It got pretty chilly driving for a while."

Several players were shaken up by the ordeal but no one was injured. Fortunately, the bus's front passenger corner -- where no one is seated -- absorbed the brunt of the impact.

"We're lucky it wasn't more on the driver's side," said Molleken. "It would've busted his legs."

Blades president Jack Brodsky was at home in Saskatoon on Sunday morning when he received word of the accident from Molleken.

"You're always concerned about it, especially on the trip back from there because there's all kinds of wildlife," said Brodsky. "But it's also a trip that lots of teams make pretty regularly and the number of incidents is pretty low."

Brodsky recalled an accident several years ago during a blizzard near Seattle. The Blades' bus "dinged" a half-ton truck that spun out, but damage was minimal.

One tragic tale is well-known in hockey circles, though. In 1986, four members of the Swift Current Broncos died after their bus slid off the Trans-Canada Highway en route to Regina.

"When you think about the number of miles that our bus has put on, the number of incidents overall is really quite low," said Brodsky. "You feel pretty comfortable most of the time.

"But that trip back is always one to be concerned about."


When I first read the full story it sent chills down my spine. It never would be a good experience for anyone on the bus and maybe just a little bit more traumatizing for the rookies that had never been on that big of a road trip.

I am glad to hear that nobody was badly hurt.