Latest first-round exit disappointing

SASKATOON — All season long, Lorne Molleken talked about going “through the front door.”

As hosts of the Memorial Cup, the Saskatoon Blades head coach and general manager wanted to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup and represent the WHL as league champions.

However, for the third year in a row, they were swept out of the playoffs — this time losing to the seventh-seeded Medicine Hat Tigers in an Eastern Conference quarterfinal.

“It doesn’t sit good,” said Molleken at a press conference Thursday, one day after the Blades were ousted. “The coaching staff worked very hard to develop this team into a premier team.

“We’re disappointed. Over the last three years we’ve had some real good hockey clubs and we haven’t been able to produce in the playoffs. That’s disappointing, trust me.”

Molleken admitted the constant talk surrounding the Memorial Cup has provided extra pressure for his players ever since the Blades were awarded the tournament in October 2011.

He added the team was fragile at times, mentioning a 5-4 overtime loss March 3 to Moose Jaw when it relinquished a four-goal thirdperiod lead as a prime example.

But, with the Blades winning 18 straight games late in the season, and 21 of their last 26, Molleken felt the playoff results would be different this time.

“Despite everything going around us this year, we truly felt our hockey team was peaking at the right time and that we were in a great spot to have a long, successful run in the WHL playoffs,” he said.

The Blades became the first-ever second seed to be swept in the opening round of the WHL post-season under the league’s current format.

They were also the first Memorial Cup hosts to be eliminated in the opening round since the distinction befell the Molleken-coached Regina Pats in 2001.

As a result, several Blades supporters have taken to social media calling for Molleken’s dismissal.

While owner and governor Jack Brodsky admitted Thursday that the latest post-season setback was “extremely disappointing for our fans and for our franchise,” he quickly shot down speculation Molleken would be replaced before the tournament.

“I’m not going to let a game or a series or a year be a measure of what this hockey club is about or what my life is about,” said Brodsky.

“I’m not talking about changes. I’m not going to talk about that today because the guy that’s behind the bench for our hockey club is my guy and I’ve got all the trust and respect in the world for him. Period.”

Molleken said he was appreciative of Brodsky’s vote of confidence.

Although he said hasn’t heard the fan reaction since Wednesday’s defeat, Molleken added he has fielded countless calls and emails about the team’s inconsistent performance throughout the season, especially early on when the team got off to a 2-7 start.

“There are always going to be pressures,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for a long, long time. If I couldn’t take the heat, I’d get out of the kitchen. Trust me.”

“Everybody is entitled to their opinion,” he added. “That’s the beauty of this sport. This is what makes competitors tick every day because you have people that have opinions. It makes you better. It makes you stronger.”

Molleken had completely overhauled the Blades by engineering 13 trades since last May.

That was particularly evident among the forward ranks where Brenden Walker, Shane McColgan, Nathan Burns, Michael Ferland and Collin Valcourt were brought in for top draft choices.

Molleken refused to second-guess any of his deals. When asked what responsibility all the players on the team bear for the onice performance, Molleken wouldn’t cast blame.

“I’ve always been the type of person that shoulders the responsibility,” he said. “If I start pointing figures at anybody, there’s more pointed back at me.

“The biggest thing is I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I understand what it takes.”

Molleken said the focus now has to shift to the Memorial Cup.

The players are off for the next two weeks. They return for practices April 15. The Blades open the Memorial Cup against the OHL representative May 17.

It’s the same formula he used in 2001 when the Pats lost to Calgary in the opening round. Regina wound up losing in overtime in the Memorial Cup semifinal to the Val d’Or Foreurs.

This time he’s hoping for a different result.

But as someone who took the Blades to Game 7 of the WHL final in 1992 and 1994 during his first tenure with the franchise, Molleken desperately wanted to win his first title this year.

“Every day I think about my future. Every day,” said Molleken, who has won 603 WHL regular season games — second most in league history.

“Being a part of his organization for as long as I have, yeah I’m disappointed. We’ve never been able to win a championship here. We’ve had a lot of success over the years, in the playoffs many years ago.

“Each and every day I look in the mirror to wonder what we can do better to make this team better and get it to where we need to be.”