NOVEMBER 5, 2016 - The Steele County Blades will travel to the Wildcat Centre this Saturday against the River Falls Renegades. This will mark the first match up between the two teams this season. Puck drops at 7:30 PM.
Last year, the Renegades were known as the St. Croix Valley Magicians and got the best of the Blades on seven out of the eight regular season meetings. Five of the eight games last season were decided by just one goal. This season, the Renegades sit five points behind the Blades with a record of 4-6. The Blades struggled to gain any ground in the standings last weekend and now sit with a record of 6-3-1 with 13 points. The Renegades pull the short straw on the upcoming weekend, playing the Blades in the middle of a three game set.
“Knowing that the Renegades have a three game weekend, I hope we can out skate our opponent and take advantage of our chances with it being our only game of the weekend," said Assistant Coach Bobby Solari. "Our guys will be well rested and won't have any reason to save any energy for the following day. Also, regardless of a location and name change, this is a team that I feel we owe a certain degree of animosity towards considering how well they did against us last season.”
Both teams post similar numbers for goals scored and goals against a game. The Blades offensive production is average 3.7 goals scored a game while giving up 3.4 goals a game, just good enough to be positive in the category. The Renegades average scoring 3.5 goals a game, but dip negatively while averaging 4 goals against a game. The Renegades also average 25.8 penalty minutes a game compared to the Blades 18.5 minutes a game. With a power-play success rating of 22.4%, the Blades will look to capitalize on the chances they are given.
"It is a big weekend for us to to comeback from a disappointing series," said Blades Forward Kaleb Combs. "We need to show some resiliency and be able to bounce back from some adversity. We want to gain some ground on them early in the season and try and distance ourselves from them as well. We can improve on some areas, for instance, getting the puck out quicker, and trying to turn that into some momentum offensively.”
Make sure to follow the Steele County Blades on social media for updates on tonight's game.
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