Prospect Park Prospect of the WeekIt has been a long hard road for Sam Klassen of the Saskatoon Blades; going undrafted did not stop the young defenseman from Watrous, Saskatchewan as he earned himself a New York Ranger contract with his hard work and determination.
Klassen had the misfortune of having an overage year left with the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL so when the Rangers had a logjam on the blueline in the system; Klassen was returned to the Blades. The Blades were very happy to have Klassen an experienced defenseman back on their roster.
Klassen had a quiet return to the Blades as one can understand being demoted back to the junior level but to Klassen's credit it did not take Klassen long to start having an impact. Klassen told us when we interviewed him for the Blueshirt Bulletin that his goal for the season was to improve offensively.
Klassen did not score in his first 3 games with the Blades and his Blades had gotten off to a 2-2-0-2 start on their season. Last week both the Blades and Klassen had very good weeks as Klassen put up a 1-4-5, +6 10 PIMs week to help the Blades win all 3 of their games.
It started last Wednesday as Klassen put up 3 assists to help the Blades to an 8-4 win over the Kootenay Ice. It was Klassen's first points of the season and match his career high for a single game.
On Friday, Klassen scored his first goal of the season, added a +4 and played perhaps his strongest game of the season as the Blades defeated the Red Deer Rebels 6-3. Klassen earned the third star of the game for his efforts to help the Blades to the road win.
Saturday, Klassen had only one assist but it was his biggest point of the week as Klassen set up Derek Hulak for the tying goal with 42 seconds remaining in regulation. The Blades went on to win the game in overtime for their 3rd straight win 3-2.
Klassen has never been known as a scorer as his career best is 1-24-25 so any extra offense he can provide the Blades will help them as they battle for a WHL championship.
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Chris Doyle (2008 5th) continued his strong play earning the game's second star of the game as his Prince Edward Island Rocket shut out the Saint John's Sea Dogs 4-0. Doyle had an assist but a strong overall game with 4 shots, +1, 3 good hits and 1-1 on faceoffs.
(Sam Klassen courtesy of Steve Hiscock Photography)
(Sam Klassen courtesy of Steve Hiscock Photography)
1 comment:
it's always good to see a prospect not get dejected by a demotion, especially when victim of a numbers game. here's hoping him and kundratek keep the PMA going strong
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