A high stick and a prayer gives Rockets extra time win

Blades fall in controversial fashion at SaskTel Centre

The Rockets celebrate their extra time win on Saturday.

    Someone call the cops, because the Saskatoon Blades were robbed.
    The visiting Kelowna Rockets made off like thieves in the night with a controversial 4-3 victory after a tiebreaking shootout in front of a stunned gathering of 4,215 spectators at the SaskTel Centre on Saturday night.

    The Blades were holding a 3-2 lead with three minutes remaining in the third period. It seemed like the host side was going to defensively close out a victory in a frame where the checking was really tight.

    At that point, craziness ensued.

    Rockets captain Nolan Foote wired a wrist shot on the Saskatoon goal, and his follow through clipped Blades overage defenceman Scott Walford.

Blades defenceman Scott Walford (#6) is attended to after being cut.

    Walford went down in a heap right between the two faceoff circles in the Saskatoon zone, and it was obvious he was hurt as very visible blood came down on the ice.

    With Walford down bleeding right in the middle of the ongoing play, the officials elected to allow the play to continue.

    Foote proceeded to set up left-winger Trevor Wong at the left side of the Saskatoon goal on a backdoor feed, and Wong popped home the equalizer to force a 3-3 tie with 2:52 remaining in the frame.

    The Blades protested the fact the play was allowed to continue, but their protests fell on deaf ears.

Rockets RW Ethan Ernst celebrates his goal in the shootout.

    The two clubs proceeded to go to overtime and remained tied after a three-on-three extra session.

    Rockets 17-year-old right-winger Ethan Ernst scored the only goal in the ensuring shootout to give Kelowna a 1-0 victory in the tiebreaking session and a 4-3 victory in the game.

    The Rockets, who will host the CHL championship tournament – the Memorial Cup – this coming May, improved to 16-8-1-2 with a third straight win.

    The Blades record moved to 14-13-1-2.

    To be blunt, this is a contest Saskatoon should have won.

    Had Walford had being lying hurt behind the play when the Rockets scored their equalizer, there would have been no controversy round the game-tying goal.

Nolan Foote had a goal and an assist for the Rockets.

    The fact that Walford was down on the ice visibly bleeding directly in harm’s way as play was going on and no one blew the play down is very concerning.

    The puck or even a skater could have collided with Walford to cause a greater injury.

    In this instance for player safety, the play should have been blown dead.

    Instead, referees Kyle Kowalski and Trevor Peluk made a call to allow things to go on as is.

    One could have only imagined what the scene would have been like had Walford been cut by a skate instead of being cut by a high stick on a follow through from a shot.

Colton Dach scored his first WHL goal on Saturday.

    Walford was able to return to the Blades bench by the time the tiebreaking shootout was held. If his injury occurred earlier in the game, he would have been able to return to action.

    With all that said, you can’t fault the Rockets for being on the good side of fortune. They capitalized on a break to force overtime.

    It wasn’t their fault the officials didn’t blow the play dead. They proceeded to finish the play, which is what they should do in that instance.

    The Rockets kept their focus in that moment, and they were rewarded for it.

    Outside of the unfortunate dramatics that happened late in the third period, the Blades and Rockets played a decently entertaining clash.

    The two clubs skated through a scoreless first period with the Blades holding a 10-8 edge in shots on goal.

    The second period proceeded to turn into a 1980s styles shootout. Michael Farren, who was a former member of the Blades, gave the visiting Rockets a 1-0 lead.

Blades D Nolan Kneen, left, fights Rockets C Matthew Wedman.

    Saskatoon surged ahead 2-1 with goals coming from Zach Huber and 16-year-old rookie Colton Dach. Dach’s tally was his first career WHL regular season goal.

    Foote wired home the equalizer past Blades netminder Nolan Maier to force a 2-2 tie. The Rockets leader had a two-point night with a goal and an assist.

    With 1:45 remaining in the second, Blades right-winger Tristen Robins broke into the offensive zone down the right wing and wired a shot to the top corner of the Kelowna goal past Rockets netminder Cole Schewebius.

Trevor Wong scored the third period equalizer for the Rockets.

    Outside of Wong’s equalizer, there wasn’t very much offence in the third period as the Rockets held a 5-1 edge in shots on goal. The visitors had a 2-1 advantage in shots on goal in the five-minute overtime frame.

    There were a couple of spirited fights in the third as Blades left-winger Riley McKay took on Rockets left-winger Mark Liwiski in one tilt and Blades defenceman Nolan Kneen faced Rockets power forward Matthew Wedman in the second tilt.

    Maier made 23 saves over 65 minutes and turned away one-of-two shooters in the shootout to take the extra time setback for the Blades. Schewebius stopped 25 shots over 65 minutes and all three shooters in the shootout to pick up the win in goal for the Rockets.

    In the grand scheme of a hockey season, what happened late in the third period of Saturday’s game with the Blades and Rockets will do down as one of those “it is what it is” situations that just happened.

The Rockets leave Saskatoon after winning their third straight game.

    There is still a lot more hockey to be played in the current campaign.

    The officials will likely review the game video and make adjustments from there. It should be noted they were good for a large portion during the rest of the contest.

    The Blades return to action on Tuesday when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

    The Rockets are also back in action on Tuesday, when they travel to Brandon to face the Wheat Kings at 7 p.m. local time at Westoba Place.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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