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| Chase Wouters netted the winning goal for the Blades on Friday. |
Trailing the host Raiders in Prince Albert 1-0 before 3,033
spectators at the Art Hauser Centre on Friday night, the Blades scored two
power-play goals inside of the final six minutes of the third period to pull
out a 2-1 victory in a WHL regular season clash.
Working on a five-on-three power play, Blades left-winger
Eric Florchuk took an offensive zone faceoff and won it back to right-winger
Max Gerlach, who was positioned at the centre of the ice at the top of the two
faceoff circles. The 19-year-old sharpshooter blasted home his 32nd
goal of the season to tie things up at 1-1 with 5:23 to play in the third
period.
With 1:41 to play in the third period, sophomore centre
Chase Wouters scored the winning goal for the Blades with a beauty effort on
the power play. Wouters got the puck at the right side boards from overage
left-winger Braylon Shmyr, cut to the front of the Prince Albert goal, went
forehand to backhand and put a shot past a screened Raiders netminder Ian Scott
to give the visitors a one-goal victory.
Friday’s encounter turned into a classic rivalry clash these
two teams are famous for resulting in three fights.
In the second period, Blades defenceman Jake Kustra tangled
with Raiders left-winger Justin Nachbaur and Saskatoon Russian import defenceman
Mark Rubinchik battled with Prince Albert power forward Kody McDonald.
Kustra and McDonald went at it in the third period. A scrum
and drama also ensued at the end of the game.
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| Jake Kustra was involved in a couple of fights on Friday. |
It appeared Kelly’s goal, which was his 29th of
the season, was going to hold up as the only tally of the contest until the
Blades scored their two late power-play goals.
Brown had a big night making 24 saves including a few
stellar ones to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Scott turned away 20
shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders.
The Raiders, who had earned points in the standings in their
previous 11 games, fell to 32-26-9-4, but they are cemented as the second
wildcard team in the WHL Eastern Conference. They will face the Moose Jaw
Warriors, who finished first overall in the league, in a best-of-seven first
round series.
The Blades improved to 34-33-3-1 with their second win in a
row and actually secured at least an eighth place overall finish in the 12 team
Eastern Conference. Under the current WHL playoff format where the top three
teams in each division and two wildcard teams with the next best records in
each conference make the post-season, the Blades won’t take part in any playoff
action. They have missed the playoffs for five straight years.
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| Braylon Shmyr picked up an assist on the Blades’ winning goal. |
Under the old playoff format that was last used in the
2013-14 campaign where the two divisional winners and the next six best records
in each conference made the post-season, the Blades would have locked up a
playoff berth.
The Blades and Raiders will close out their respective
regular season schedules with one last head-to-head encounter on Saturday at 7
p.m. at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.
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to stankssports@gmail.com.
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