On Our Own

After the tumultous 1995-1996 season full of a change, another biggie hit the Blades before they had even opened camp on the 1996-1997 season. The San Jose Sharks dropped their affiliation with the Blades in May to move on to the new AHL team Kentucky Thoroughblades. The Blades would operate as an independent for the first time since the inaugural season. This meant that the team would have to sign all the players themself or make agreements with other NHL franchises to take on some players. They also had to find themselves a new head coach. In June, the Blades named Don Jackson, famous for his run-in with the Atlanta Knights mascot Sir Slapshot, as their new head coach.

That summer many players were retained and/or signed to the team. Two notable additions were made on defense with veterans Jim Kyte and Normand Rochefort. And, then tragedy struck the team once again, defenseman Jeff Batters was killed in an automobile accident on August 23.

The Blades started off the new season with a 4-1 at Cleveland. On October 26, they made their first trip to Canada to play the Manitoba Moose in Winnipeg, they lost that game 4-2. The Blades put together a consistent season, but did manage to equal their longest home win streak at nine on April 5.

The 1996-1997 season also saw the beginning of the Kemper Arena expansion. The Blades barn was getting an “upgrade” to help the city hang on to the Big 12 Tournament. The east side of the upper deck had 1,500 seats added. A lobby was added to the East side of the building. Concession stands were remodeled. New seats were installed in the first seven rows. Cushions were added to the rest of the lower level seats. The upgrades made for a hockey seating capacity of 17,857.

While the Blades did qualify for the playoffs, they were swept in the first round in three games by those dreaded rivals the Utah Grizzlies.

Jersey Number	Position	Player	Seasons with Team
10	LW	Ian Boyce	1996-1997
12, 25	LW	David Bruce	1991-1992, 1993-1998
34	C	Jason Cirone	1996-2000
19, 26, 22, 29	C	Dale Craigwell	1991-1994, 1996-1999
23, 10	RW	Brent Cullaton	1996-1998
30	G	Phillipe DeRouville	1996-1997
1	G	Larry Dyck	1994-1997
3	D	Paul Dyck	1995-1997
42	LW	Jason Elders	1996-1997
15	C	Gary Emmons	1991-1997
24, 33	LW	Dean Ewen	1995-1998
9	C	Anton Fedorov	1996-1997
11, 14	C/RW	Pat Ferschweiler	1994-2000
43, 26	D	Bryan Fogarty	1996-1997
16, 32	RW	Lee Giffin	1990-1991, 1996-1997
29, 33	G	Hugo Hamelin	1996-1997
5	D	Shawn Heins	1996-1998
29	RW	Darin Kimble	1996-1998
2	D	Jim Kyte	1996-1998
17, 12	RW	Jeff Madill	1991-1992, 1995-1997
8	LW	Jeff McLean	1992-1994, 1995-1997
4	D	Drew Palmer	1996-1997
4	D	Kevin Pozzo	1996-1997
44	RW	John Purves	1996-1998
20, 25	C/LW	J.F. Quintin	1991-1998
32	G	Andre Racicot	1996-1997
22	D	Normand Rochefort	1996-1998
21	D	Claudio Scremin	1990-1998
26, 42	D	Jeff Sirkka	1995-1997
7	D	Brian Stacey	1996-1998
21	C	Marty Standish	1999-2000
23, 11	RW	Dean Sylvester	1995-1998
5	D	Travis Tucker	1996-1997
16, 18, 13	LW	Dody Wood	1992-1995, 1996-1997, 1998-2001