By Scott Fisher /

A successful team is greater than the sum of its parts.

Need proof?

Check out the Saskatoon Blades.

There’s no gaudy individual stats. No overblown egos.

But there’s been plenty of victories.

Despite having just three players among the WHL’s top 60 scorers, the Blades are in the hunt for top spot in the overall standings.

“Our powerplay’s towards the bottom of the league, our penalty-killing has slipped from third to sixth, we don’t have the guys in those top categories as far as goal-scoring,” Blades GM/coach Lorne Molleken told the StarPhoenix.

“But we have guys in the top as far as plus/minus goes, and our overall team play reflects where we are in the standings. Collectively, if you want to talk about the Saskatoon Blades, you talk team.
“That’s where our success came from this year.”

There’s been plenty of that.

The Blades entered the final weekend of February sitting at 41-14-7, one point up on the Calgary Hitmen and two ahead of their East Division rival Brandon Wheat Kings. Captain Derek Hulak led the team with 28 goals and 72 points through 62 games, good for 15th in the league.

Walker Wintoneak (23 goals, 67 points) and Stefan Elliott (22 goals, 57 points) are the only other Blades inside the league’s top 60 point-getters.

But the Blades won’t lose any sleep over the numbers.

“That just shows how good a team we are,” Hulak told the Star-Phoenix. “A team like Brandon has a lot of run-and-gun guys who are going to put up a lot of points.

“On our team, on any given night, we have four lines who go out there and do the scoring. If you look at our wins this season, it’s not an individual effort by one guy that’s winning the game, and it’s not one line that’s doing the scoring.

“It’s a combination of all four lines, the defencemen chipping in and our goalies playing well. We define what a team is, when it comes to that, and that’s why we’ve been successful so far.”

Slovakian import Marek Viedensky, acquired from Prince George at January’s trade deadline, has fit in well with his new club.

The 19-year-old centre put up 23 points, including 11 goals, in 20 games with Saskatoon. He’d scored just four goals and 25 points in 31 games with Prince George.