It’s safe to say the 2024 WHL Eastern Conference Final will go down in Saskatchewan hockey lore for many years to come.
The seven-game epic between the Saskatoon Blades and Moose Jaw Warriors had six games go to an overtime period, making it the only series in league history to require six overtimes.
The Warriors would advance to the WHL Championship series thanks to an overtime winner in Game 7 from Lynden Lakovic. Moose Jaw then captured their first Ed Chynoweth Cup in franchise history after sweeping the Portland Winterhawks.
James Gallo has been on the Warriors broadcast team for 24 seasons and will be entering his 19th season wearing the play-by-play headset this fall. He is also employed by the team as the Director of Hockey Administration on top of his broadcast duties.
Gallo says there are plenty of words that you can use to describe the series.
“Memorable is probably the one (word) that stands out. Entertaining, captivating, thrilling, there’s a lot of words you can use to describe it. It was one for the ages.”
The series was charged with emotion from the word go. Both teams were seeking their first championship in team history and were looking to advance to the WHL Championships for the first time in many years.
Moose Jaw made the final once back in 2006 when they were swept aside by the Vancouver Giants in four straight. Saskatoon had last made the final in 1994 when they were defeated in seven games by the Kamloops Blazers.
With all seven games being closely contested and unpredictable, fans on both sides were chewing fingernails and checking their heart rates.
Despite being closely involved with the Warriors, Gallo says he doesn’t let his own emotions affect the way he calls a hockey game.
“At the end of the day, my emotions really don’t come into play. My job is just to tell the story. Whether it be up, down, to tell the drama, the emotion that’s happening on the ice. My emotions I’ve always felt don’t really matter because I can’t determine the outcome of the game. I just try to keep that in the back of my mind, my job is to tell a story. I hope from our perspective and I hope from even a Blade perspective, that they enjoyed the story that I told”
Even with plenty of memorable overtime winners from both sides in the series, Gallo says the thing that stood out to him the most was the response from various Warrior alumni throughout the series and the playoff run as a whole.
“One thing for that series that had nothing to do with what happened on the ice that is really memorable for me is throughout the playoffs, a lot of Warrior alumni I’m still close with today (reached out), one of which is Joey Perricone. When the Warriors lost Game 5, Joey texted me and he said, this is 2006 all over again. That was the year that the Warriors beat Calgary in the second round and the Warriors lost Game 5. He said it’s just like 2006 against Calgary, you guys still got it.”
“To me, that’s probably one of the big moments that stand out and it had nothing to do with the game. It goes to show the connection of Warriors throughout the course of the years. That was an alumni that was cheering from the east coast, hoping his alma mater, his former team could pull one out.”
Gallo says there were a few other series that stood out in his memory including the 2006 second round series against Calgary and the two series Moose Jaw played against Swift Current in 2017 and 2018.
After a few months of reflection, Gallo says the series against Saskatoon has firmly taken the top spot in his mind.
“As the Saskatoon series went on and after it was done and you digest and reflect on what happened, I have no problem saying in my 24 years of broadcasting, that is the best seven game series I’ve been a part of. It was so emotionally draining. The highs and lows, the character of the kids to respond and keep coming back night after night. The buzz in both cities, the buzz in the province, the media attention, it was one that I haven’t seen up until then.”
From the other side: Lazaruk reflects on series
Even though he is not directly employed by the Blades, Les Lazaruk has become synonymous with the team in Saskatoon as the long-time broadcaster for the Bridge City Bunch.
Lazaruk relocated to Saskatoon from Winnipeg in the fall of 1994 and serves as the Sports Director for the Saskatoon Media Group and part of his duties include putting on the headset as the play-by-play voice of the Blades.
Looking back on the 2024 Eastern Conference Final, Lazaruk says the two teams were incredibly well matched.
“It was kind of unbelievable and just a lot about how close the two teams were. Six of the seven games went to overtime. It was a winning goal in overtime that was on the unfortunate side for the Blades. It went in off of a Blades player on a centering pass. For the most part, just unbelievable that you’d have a series like that went the distance and had so many games go to overtime (and) all the drama that was a part of it.”
2024 was the furthest the Blades had gone in the playoffs in Lazaruk’s tenure as the team’s broadcaster. It was the second straight Eastern Conference Final appearance for Saskatoon as they were swept by the Winnipeg ICE in 2023.
Even with the disappointing end to the season for Saskatoon and the emotionally charged series, Lazaruk says he was able to separate his emotions from his call of the game.
“I’m not directly employed by the Blades, I find that keeping my emotions in check is reasonably easy to do because, win or lose, I’m still going to find a way to create the situation as best as I can, and make sure that it gets through to people. That here’s what’s happening, and it’s an honest and truthful way of putting it out there so that people understand what we’re doing.”
The SaskTel Centre was buzzing throughout the playoff run for the Blades. 11,173 witnessed the Blades overtime win in Game 5 while 13,240 spectators witnessed the decisive Game 7 live.
The lowest attendance for any of the Blades home playoff games in 2024 was 6,757 for Game 1 against the Prince Albert Raiders in the first round.
Lazaruk says he enjoyed seeing the city rally around the team during their deepest playoff run since 1994.
“It was great to see the city embrace the team a little more fully than what has been the case in the past. When you’ve had a team and a franchise that hasn’t been to a final in 30 years and you’ve had more down moments than up moments over the course of 30 years. A lot of the younger fans and new fans came to recognize the team.”
“It wasn’t the North End Blades anymore. Folks from all around the city were coming out to the games and from outside of the city were coming into town for the games because the Blades had captured their imagination. That part of it was really heartening to see, they had done such a job of bringing in new fans and being able to see SaskTel Centre nearly full. I think to be able to get 9-10,000 and upwards of 12,000 fans was really good for the franchise to be able to do.”
It was an all-in season for the Saskatoon Blades as general manager Colin Priestner swung some major deals to improve the team’s chances at bringing home the team’s first ever Ed Chynoweth Cup.
In October, the Blades landed defenceman Grayden Siepmann from the Calgary Hitmen. In November, Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Fraser Minten was acquired in a blockbuster deal with the Kamloops Blazers.
Saskatoon also acquired Alexander Suzdalev from the Regina Pats on New Year’s Eve before adding a complementary piece in John Babcock from the Kelowna Rockets in a three-team deal on deadline day.
Even though the team didn’t win the elusive WHL championship, Lazaruk says fans should not be disappointed by what Priestner and the Blades front office did to help the team win.
“They did everything that fans could have asked them to do. They went the extra mile. They made sure they made the move. They brought in the players. They made all the decisions. The coaching staff were able to push all the right buttons for the most part, to win a Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy, to win a couple of playoff rounds, to go to a Game 7 in overtime in the Eastern Conference Final, only to come up just that one goal short.
“In the end, that’s what sports is all about. You put in the effort. You do everything you can to win and you end up coming one goal short. I don’t know that you can be all that terribly disappointed with what was done with this franchise this past year.”
Series Recap
Game 1: Moose Jaw 4 @ Saskatoon 3 OT Hero: Brayden Yager
Game 2: Moose Jaw 2 @ Saskatoon 3 OT Hero: Fraser Minten
Game 3: Saskatoon 1 @ Moose Jaw 3
Game 4: Saskatoon 5 @ Moose Jaw 4 OT Hero: Egor Sidorov
Game 5: Moose Jaw 4 @ Saskatoon 5 OT Hero: Fraser Minten
Game 6: Saskatoon 3 @ Moose Jaw 4 OT Hero: Lynden Lakovic
Game 7: Moose Jaw 3 @ Saskatoon 2 OT Hero: Lynden Lakovic
