Blades focus on working harder than Cougars

The Saskatoon Blades are set to play their first WHL game since claiming their first overtime victory of the season last Saturday.

So are the Blades (14-33-13) due to come down to earth when they host the Prince George Cougars (19-26-2-5) on Wednesday?

Not if their recent play is any indication.

“We don’t look at Saturday as the game. We look at the start of our play since Christmastime,” Blades head coach Dave Struch said. “We haven’t had very many letdowns since the home-and-home with P.A.

“We’re still rolling whether we’ve won or lost. We’ve had a good effort every night. They guys have been consistent.”

After dropping both games against the Prince Albert Raiders after the Christmas break, the Blades have turned over a new leaf since the calendar turned to 2014.

They’re 4-6-1 in January after losing all 11 of their December games.

In Struch’s mind, only two games were subpar outings. The Blades lost 5-0 in Swift Current on Jan. 10 and then dropped a 6-2 decision to Regina the next night.

Both contests were plagued by early penalties, which caused the Blades to put themselves in a big hole.

“In the second and third period of those games we outplayed the opposition,” Struch said. “With the exception of those two periods we’ve been rolling right along.

“It’s really been a great atmosphere every day.”

The Blades host a Prince George team that is hampered by injuries.

The list of the sidelined includes over-age defenceman Peter Kosterman (broken jaw) and 2010 first overall WHL bantam pick Alex Forsberg, of Waldheim, who’s out with an upperbody injury.

But with the Cougars in ninth place and eyeing TriCity for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, Struch is expecting the visitors to be at their best.

“Our message is the same every night for our group no matter who we play,” he said. “We want to be the harder working team.”

Troy Trombley gets his third-straight start in the Saskatoon net.

Alex Moodie is out with a groin strain, an injury Struch classifies as day-today. Nathan Alalouf will back Trombley up.