Darrell Davis: Blades coach making a name for himself

The best line about the new Saskatoon Blades head coach, Mitch Love, appeared on Wikipedia. Love was such a mean fighter in hockey’s minor leagues, Wikipedia said, that he was dubbed “Mitch Hate.”

The feisty, former defenceman has been hired as the latest coach tasked with bringing the Blades back to respectability. The Blades are one of Saskatchewan’s legendary hockey franchises, dating back more than 50 years, but winning a Memorial Cup has eluded them despite a roster of fine coaches that includes: Jack McLeod, Daryl Lubiniecki, Marcel Comeau, Lorne Molleken and Dean Brockman, who was unceremoniously dumped weeks ago after a two-year tenure.

With his new, four-year contract, Love has vowed to make the Blades a hard-working team.

Based on his strong performance as an assistant coach with the Everett Silvertips, that’s easy to believe.

Love played junior hockey in Moose Jaw, Swift Current and Everett before spending six years racking up lots of penalty minutes in the minors, where he spent one season with the Bossier-Shreveport MudBugs. Hey, the “MudBugs” might even be a better nickname than “Mitch Hate.”