WHL NOTEBOOK: Saunderson enjoys five-year ride in WHL

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This article was published 18/03/2025 (380 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ben Saunderson’s major junior career spanned the wildest five years in Western Hockey League history.

The Saskatoon Blades defenceman from Carberry debuted as a 16-year-old in 2020-21 in the Regina hub due to the pandemic, and is graduating to join Quinnipiac University as the first class to become eligible to play in the NCAA in more than four decades.

It’s been quite a ride along the way.

Saunderson was selected 89th overall by Saskatoon in the 2019 WHL draft and signed with the club on Dec. 19, 2019.

He received a call from the Blades around Christmas in 2020, inviting him to Saskatoon to train and he headed out for a week. He was there when the Regina hub was announced in February 2021, and stuck around in quarantine until the team bused its players down to Regina on Feb. 27.

He posted an assist and four penalty minutes in 10 games.

“We were super grateful to be able to play hockey during a time like that,” Saunderson said. “Some days were pretty tough being locked up in your dorm room, other than going to the rink and coming straight back. Just to spend that time with all those guys in such a unique situation, I’ll have a story to tell for the rest of my life.”

Fast forward more than three years, and the NCAA announced a rule change involving major junior players on Nov. 7, 2024 that threw the doors wide open. Saunderson couldn’t have imagined that development back in 2019.

“When you’re 15 you talk about the WHL or NCAA so it wasn’t anything I had ever thought of,” Saunderson said. “I made that decision when I was 15 and signed my contract. I heard rumblings about it probably a month before it actually happened and in that month it was official so it all happened pretty fast.

“I think it’s an unreal opportunity for guys who especially develop a little later in their career. I’m super excited to head down to the States and check it out at Quinnipiac. It’s definitely unique. There have always been talks about the battle between the WHL and NCAA, so to be able to do both is pretty cool.”

Saunderson heard from a number of schools — “It was new to them just like it was for us” — and began to narrow down his list after chatting with some of them.

He had a number of Zoom calls with Quinnipiac, which is a school with about 10,000 full-time students in Hamden, Conn., located south of Hartford and north of Yale University.

After a campus visit, he thought it was the best fit for him and his family.

LOTS OF SUCCESS

Of course a few things happened along the way between those two developments.

Saunderson, who played his 266th regular season WHL game on Sunday and also has been in 35 playoff games, has developed a reputation as a hard-nosed, competitive defensive defenceman with some offence in his game.

As a team, the Blades entered a highly successful window after they finished third in the hub, following that up with 38-, 48- and 50-win seasons.

“It’s unreal,” Saunderson said. “I’ve been super grateful to be on a playoff team all five years — there were no playoffs in the hub but we had a winning record — and very year has been amazing. Every year you don’t know what you can accomplish with the group, and there is no limit to what you can do each year. It’s been super cool going in every night with all these guys.”

After the 48-win season in 2022-23, the Blades ran into a powerful Winnipeg Ice team in the Eastern Conference final and were swept.

A year later, after winning 50 games and the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as regular season champions for the fifth time in franchise history, the Blades went into the conference final against the Moose Jaw Warriors in what will go down as one of the great series in league history. Six games were decided in overtime, and the other one had an empty netter in a two-goal win.

The series was ultimately decided in Game 7 when Moose Jaw forward Lynden Lakovic banked the puck in off a player in front 36 seconds into overtime. While it obviously stings, Saunderson is grateful for the experience.

“It was super cool,” Saunderson said. “I think that’s the way hockey goes. It was two really good teams and six out of seven games go to overtime. Unfortunately we didn’t get the hockey bounces but I thought we played well. Just to play against those players and have a playoff atmosphere in both buildings was super cool. Sometimes you have to let the chips fall as they may.”

One of the chips that fell this season dropped on Oct. 1 when Saskatoon named Saunderson the 63rd captain in franchise history. He actually found out in a text from his defensive partner Tanner Molendyk, who wasn’t aware the team hadn’t told him yet.

“I was super grateful for management and staff to trust me in leading the group,” Saunderson said. “Saskatoon has always had a good culture of everyone chipping in and being leaders, but for me to lead that charge is super awesome.

“It’s a different year as well. We’re a bit of a younger team so anything I can leave to these younger guys in my last year and teach them and show them the ways of playing in the league and helping them is awesome.”

FINAL YEAR

The Blades had made some significant additions in the last couple of years at the cost of draft picks, so this year had all the signs of being a rebuilding year. But Saskatoon held onto the top spot in the East Division for much of the season despite trading top players in Molendyk and forwards Brandon Lisowsky and Ben Riche.

“It was different,” Saunderson said. “I think the messaging in the room was ‘This is what we’re dealing with.’ Hockey is always a business at the end of the day and we have to do what is right for the club as well in the future. We have a younger team so honestly it kind of impacted some of the older guys and myself a little bit more.

“… I think for the older guys, it was losing more than players, it was losing friends. The younger guys didn’t feel that as much. You have to tip your hat to management, they brought back some unreal pieces that have made our group what we are today.”

Saunderson’s last season in the league has brought with it a never-ending series of farewell experiences, and a big one comes on Wednesday when the Blades visit the Brandon Wheat Kings in what will be Saunderson’s final regular season visit to Westoba Place.

After four years of having the opportunity to play in front of family and friends in Manitoba, he’s looking forward to one last game.

“I remember my first time playing in Brandon was so special and it still feels the same way every time,” Saunderson said. “It never gets old. Growing up watching the Wheat Kings and that being my hometown game and having fans and family and friends out, it never gets old.

“Being 20 and realizing that will be my last one in Brandon definitely sucks but I’m super grateful I had the opportunity to play in this league and play at home.”

Saunderson, whose younger brother Nolan plays for the under-18 AAA Brandon Wheat Kings and is a 16-year-old prospect of the Spokane Chiefs, said older players told him his career would pass by in a blur, and it has.

When he glimpses into the future, he has little doubt of what he’ll recall from the past five years.

“There will be some moments I remember on the ice absolutely and some critical moments and good memories on the ice, but I think it’s just the people, the guys you meet, the life experience, the life lessons you learn in the Western Hockey League,” Saunderson said. “In the grand scheme of things, those are the biggest things, the guys you meet … Twenty or 30 years down the line, I’m probably texting half the guys I played with over the last five years.

“That’s the biggest parts for me, the lifelong memories and friendships.”

THIS AND THAT

• QUIZ — Which team has Brandon enjoyed the most success against this season?

• WEEKLY AWARDS — The player of the week, for the third time this season, is 17-year-old Medicine Hat Tigers forward Gavin McKenna of Whitehorse, Yukon, who put up a gaudy four goals and seven assists in two games. McKenna, who isn’t National Hockey League draft eligible until 2026, is riding a 38-game point streak that dates back to Nov. 6.

The goaltender of the week is 19-year-old Saskatoon Blades netminder Evan Gardner of Fort St. John, B.C., who won all three of his starts with a 1.00 goals-against average, a .964 save percentage and back-to-back shutouts.

The rookie of the week is Saskatoon Blades forward Cooper Williams of Calgary, who had three goals and four assists in four games. He turned 17 in February.

• MEDIA AWARD — The late Greg Meachem is this season’s winner of the WHL’s Bob Ridley Award for Media Excellence. Meachem, who died in 2024, worked with the Red Deer Advocate from 1981 until he retired in 2016, and wrote for the Red Deer Rebels website as a retirement job. His wife Brenda was presented with the award by commissioner Dan Near prior to Friday’s game between the Rebels and the visiting Prince Albert Raiders.

• SIN BIN — It’s been a quiet week at the league office, with no suspensions to report since March 5.

• GAME ON — Last Tuesday’s game between the Seattle Thunderbirds and Tri-City Americans at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Wash., which was postponed when Americans defenceman Terrell Goldsmith was knocked out in a fight by Thunderbirds defenceman Ashton Cumby, fell face first to the ice and had to be transported to hospital by ambulance, will be resumed on Sunday at 6:05 p.m. The game will pick up with Seattle leading 2-0 with 18:55 left in the second period. Since the two combatants were both given game misconducts, each team will have 17 skaters. Goldsmith was released from hospital and is recovering at home.

• TIP OF THE CAP — With a 2-1 victory over the Spokane Chiefs on Sunday, the Everett Silvertips earned the franchise’s second Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the top team in the regular season. The club has several Brandon connections, including general manager Mike Fraser, forwards Cole Temple and Nolan Chastko and defenceman Kaeson Fisher. The team, which has never missed the playoffs since joining the league in the 2003-04 season, last won the trophy in the 2006-07 campaign.

• ALUMNI GLANCE — Riley Ginnell, 22, has split this season between the ECHL’s Allen Americans and Worcester Railers, with six goals, six assists and 42 penalty minutes in 50 games. He debuted in pro hockey with the ECHL’s Rapid City Rush a year ago.

Brandon picked up Ginnell on Sept. 17, 2019 for a sixth-round Western Hockey League bantam pick in 2021 from the Kamloops Blazers. The six-foot-four Ginnell appeared in 113 games with Brandon, providing 21 goals, 26 assists and 99 penalty minutes. After Calder Anderson earned the final overage spot in October 2022, Ginnell was dealt to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Oct 10, 2022 for a fifth-round pick in 2024.

He was later dealt to the Regina Pats and skated alongside Connor Bedard at times. He finished his WHL career with 66 points in 163 regular season games and eight points in 13 playoff games.

• BIRTHDAY BOYS — Some of this week’s birthdays include Jacob De Serres (March 18, 1990), Kelly Hitchins (March 18, 1969), Scott Laluk (March 19, 1975), Marcus Kallionkieli (March 20, 2001), Ryan Stone (March 20, 1985), Tim Konsorada (March 21, 1984), Jackson DeSouza (March 21, 2003), Chase Surkan (March 21, 2009), Sven Butenschoen (March 22, 1976), Zach Wytinck (March 22, 1999).

• THE WEEK AHEAD — Brandon finishes its 68-game regular season with a visit by Saskatoon on Wednesday, followed with a home-and-home series against the Regina Pats, at Westoba Place on Friday at 7 p.m., and at Brandt Centre on Saturday at 7 p.m. (CDT).

• ANSWER — The answer from a points perspective is Moose Jaw, who Brandon has a 6-0-0-2 record against this season. You also could have answered Edmonton, who Brandon beat in all four games this season

Here is Brandon’s record against every team in the Eastern Conference.

— East Division: Prince Albert (4-1-1-0), Regina (4-1-1-0), Saskatoon (4-1-2-0), Swift Current (3-2-0-1). 

— Central Division: Red Deer (2-2-0-0), Calgary (1-3-0-0), Lethbridge (1-3-0-0), Medicine Hat (1-3-0-0).