SASKATOON — Last week was jam-packed with hockey for the Saskatoon Blades.
The Western Hockey League team competed in four contests. Saskatoon went 3-1-0-0 last week.
As of Sunday, the Blades were 32-12-3-1 and sat third in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.
This week the Blades host the Edmonton Oil Kings on Tuesday, before hitting the road. They play in Kamloops on Friday and Kelowna on Saturday.
The Blades competed against the WHL’s Manitoba teams last week. First, the squad headed the squad headed to the Keystone province and beat the Brandon Wheat Kings, 2-1, in overtime on Jan. 31. Charlie Wright’s third goal of the season was the winner just 15 seconds into overtime. Early in the second period, Wheat King Rylen Roersma opened the game’s scoring. In the third, Brandon Lisowsky tied things up at 1-1 on the power play. Saskatoon goalie Austin Elliott turned away 20 of the 21 shots he faced. His Brandon counterpart, Carson Bjarnason, made 31 saves.
After trailing 2-0 at the 11-minute mark in the second period, the host Winnipeg Ice scored four straight goals in their way to a 5-3 victory on Feb. 1. Saskatoon led 1-0 at the first intermission, while Winnipeg was on top, 3-2, at the second.
Scoring the Blades were Lukas Hansen in the first period, Egor Sidorov in the second, and Jake Chiasson in the third. Blades netminder Ethan Chadwick stopped 43 shots.
Daniel Hauser made 26 saves for Winnipeg. Zach Benson and Connor McClennon each scored twice for the Ice. Zack Ostapchuk had the team’s other goal.
On Saturday at home, Chiasson’s 13th of the season lifted the Blades to a 3-2 victory against the Winnipeg Ice. The Ice got out to a 1-0 lead on a Connor McClennon goal in the first period. In the second session, Lisowsky and Sidorov scored on powerplays to put the Blades on top 2-1. Before the end of the period, McClennonn scored with the man advantage to the game at 2-2. Chiasson lit the lamp 3:21 into the final period. Chadwick made 34 saves, while the Ice’s Hauser had 21.
Three goals in the third period got the Saskatoon Blades past the Brandon Wheat Kings, 4-2, on Sunday at home.
The Wheat Kings held a 2-0 lead 6:34 into the second period thanks to goals by Brett Hyland and Nolan Ritchie. Before the session ended, Wright scored to bring Saskatoon within one, 2-1. In the last period, Jordan Keller’s eighth of the year tied the score at 2-2. On the power play, Chiasson put the Blades on top, 3-2. Keller’s second of the night made it 4-2 for Saskatoon.
Chadwick made 21 saves on 23. Wheat Kings goalie Nicholas Jones had 27 saves.
