SASKATOON, SK – You coudln’t have asked for a better way to end the first half of the season for the Saskatoon Blades. Beating not only the best team in the WHL, but also the fourth best team in the entire CHL.
Early on the Blades generated good quality chances early on in the game as it was mostly a back and forth game for the most part of the first period.
Saskatoon got chances on the breakaway’s but couldn’t find a way to get it past the overage goaltender Jackson Whistle.
Turnovers seemed to get to the Blades in the first period.
Starting with Hajek who unfortunately lost an edge as he went to play the puck which lead to Tanner Wishnowski finding the league’s leading scorer Tyson Baillie on a breakaway who sniped it high glove on Evan Smith giving the Rockets an early lead.
Another turnover would occur for the Blades as Jake Kustra’s drop pass goes right to Dillon Dube in the corner which started a tic tac toe play with Lind’s back hand pass going right to Baillie who unloaded a one timer for his second of the game putting the Rockets up 2-0.
One thing that had plagued Saskatoon for a while is getting deflated after some early struggles. “That’s one thing we preached about was not letting things affect us. We regrouped between periods, we went out determined and I thought our older guys took charge and lead by example,” adds Bob Woods on the morale of his club after two early goals by Kelowna.
Saskatoon would get on the board in the second period just 1:07 in. Wyatt Sloboshan took the pass from Mason McCarty that gets by the Kelowna defense creating a 2 on 1 opportunity and Sloboshan ripped one past Whistle that queued the teddy bear goal with all the bears flying onto the ice. Not only a celebration with all the bears pouring out, but also the start of a big night ahead for the Blades.
Former Kelowna Rocket Mitch Wheaton’s point shot is tipped on net by Nick Zajac that just squeaked past Whistle to tie the game at two.
Just less than three minutes after Zajac tied the game, Cameron Hebig took it up centre passing it to Gay, then Gay dropping the pass back to Hebig who shot it off the post and in giving Saskatoon their first lead in the hockey game.
Kelowna shows why they’re the number one team in the league just five seconds after Saskatoon took the lead. Justin Kirkland from the face-off dot gets through Sloboshan and carried in and took a long shot from the blue line that got by Smith tying the game at three.
Some penalty trouble for the Rockets as Cal Foote cross checks Cam Hausinger in the boards cutting him open and down for a few seconds. The result would be a 5 minute major and a game misconduct ending the rookies night.
On that same power play, Lukus MacKenzie draws another penalty giving the Blades a 5 on 3 opportunity.
On the initial 5 on 3, Ryan Graham’s point shot hits the boards and bounces to Sloboshan on the door step putting it away for his second of the game to give the Blades their lead back at 4-3 with 2:19 left in the period.
Saskatoon looked like the way better in the second generating four goals in that period alone. “Lately we’ve been trying to stay positive and fighting back in games and lately it’s been working out. You never want to be down in a game but if you are, you just have to work hard to get back in the game and that’s what we did,” said Connor Gay after scoring four goals after being down 2-0 early on.
The Rockets desperately trying to get back the game with a big third period for both teams. Kelowna trying to get the goal to tie it up, the Blades looking to play solid defence to keep Kelowna from scoring.
On a another Blades man advantage, Connor Gay on the cycle, shoots it harmlessly from the circles that some how went it beating Jackson Whistle to give the Blades some breathing room with a 5-3 lead.
The Rockets were unable to capitalize on their power play chances with good work by the Blades, and big saves by Evan Smith when they needed it the most.
Mason McCarty had perfect timing out of the penalty box is sprung on a breakaway and tripped up in the process which resulted in a penalty shot that ultimately was stopped by Jackson Whistle.
Lots of late pressure by Kelowna to get within one with their goalie pulled, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Blades played their game and kept calm and blocked everything in sight to hang on to their two goal lead.
They got physical and didn’t give them any time and space after the first two goals. From there on out it was all Saskatoon for the remainder of the hockey game. “Once we started finishing our checks and making it tougher for them we took the game over. It was a great second period to get things going and in the third we did what we have to do and we learned from last night how to protect a lead,” said Woods on the Blades response in the second and third periods.
It was a perfect way to end the first half of the season. Beating the best team in the league, the defending WHL champions and a top five ranked team in the CHL.
The team has a week off then back on December 27th when they head off to Prince Albert to take on the rival Raiders.
Source: saskatoonblades.com
