In 1990, the Saskatoon Blades took on some fierce competition, but the toughest opponent was likely a squad of players who had already reached the NHL. That year, the Winnipeg Jets held their training camp in Saskatoon. At the time, the Bridge City was considered by a few to be a potential candidate for a possible NHL team, so the 90s saw some training camps, pre-season games and even some regular season games held at SaskTel Centre. CTV Saskatoon recently found rare footage in our archives of an exhibition game involving a squad of Winnipeg Jets rookies taking on the Saskatoon Blades. The Blades roster for this one also included a few U of S Huskies hockey players, while the Jets had younger talent in Kris Draper, Stu Barnes, Craig Martin and Sergei Kharin. The Jets went on to overwhelm the Blades 10-3. “Neither coach was able to learn much about their respective teams,” local reporter Craig Wilson said in his recap of the game at the time. Perhaps it was a bit of foreshadowing, as the Saskatoon Blades struggled that season, finishing 29-41-2 and missing the playoffs. The Winnipeg Jets also failed to make the playoffs that season, going 26-43-11. Still, it was a rare sight for fans to see a team wearing NHL colors on one side with their hometown Blades on the other.
