Battle of Highway 11: Saskatoon Blades expect sellout crowd in series final against Regina Pats

The Saskatoon Blades are expecting a sold-out crowd at the SaskTel Centre Monday night for their final game against the Regina Pats.

The contentious series is the last to be decided in the first round of the Western Hockey League playoffs, and the only pairing that required a Game 7 after the Saskatchewan teams tied at three wins apiece.

In Regina, the games have filled every seat in the nearly 6,500-seat Brandt Centre for the three games played at home.

In Saskatoon, the attendance hasn't dipped below 10,000. Early Monday, there were fewer than 1,000 tickets left for the decisive final game in the 14,768-seat SaskTel Centre.

"This year there's a couple of major factors, obviously the first being Connor Bedard being a generational talent, the best player to ever come through the Western Hockey League … so fans are wanting to come out and see him," said Tyler Wawryk, director of team business operations for the Saskatoon Blades.

"The Blades have had one of the best seasons in franchise history as well."

The Blades played their last two home games against the Regina Pats in Saskatoon. Both were sold out.

"This year we saw an approximately 30 per cent increase in our attendance from last season," he said.

In the Blades' Game 4 matchup against the Moose Jaw Warriors last year, there were 3,400 attendees. Wawryk credits the discrepancy to the team's success this year and last year's playoff home games being on weeknights.

Wawryk expects the average attendance at Blades games will grow next season, and with fans coming from across the province to watch games, it's growing the local economy.

"We're getting a lot of fans coming up from Regina, so they're coming and staying in our hotels, eating at our restaurants, shopping in