Saskatoon claims 6-3 victory for fourth straight
win versus P.A.
 |
| The Blades celebrate a empty-net goal from Kyle Crnkovic, centre. |
On Saturday at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades jumped out to a 5-0 lead at one point in the second period only to have the Raiders cut the gap to 5-3 going into the second intermission.
While the defending WHL champion Raiders pressed in the third, they weren’t able to get any closer on the
scoreboard.
Blades
17-year-old sophomore left-winger Kyle Crnkovic tipped home a shot from
linemate Tristen Robins into an empty net to seal a 6-3 victory for the host
side before 3,868 spectators.
In six
head-to-head encounters between the two sides, the Blades have won five of
those contests.
Saturday’s game finished a stretch where the two clubs played each other three straight times, and the Blades took every single one of those encounters. The Blades have won their last four straight games against the Raiders.
Saturday’s game finished a stretch where the two clubs played each other three straight times, and the Blades took every single one of those encounters. The Blades have won their last four straight games against the Raiders.
 |
| Scott Walford had two goals and an assist for the Blades. |
“We just
have to bring that intensity to every game. They are at the top of our division
for a reason. They are a fast team.
“They are a
hard team to play against. They are well coached. I think it is big for us to
really take that into the next games, and we can show what kind of team we have.”
The game
got off to a big start for the host side when Blades 18-year-old sophomore
defenceman Matthew Sanders fired home a shot from the point at the 1:50 mark of
the opening frame to give Saskatoon a 1-0 lead. Sanders’ tally was his first
goal of his WHL career and came on the Blades’ first shot of the game.
 |
| Ilya Usau had two goals and an assist for the Raiders. |
The tallies
by Wouters and Walford came on the same power play after Raiders right-winger
Jacob Brook was given a major penalty for hitting Blades overage defenceman
Nolan Kneen from behind.
The
infraction against Brook will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a
possible suspension.
After Walford
gave the Blades a 3-0 edge, the Raiders pulled starting netminder Carter
Serhyenko, who stopped one of four shots sent his way.
Boston
Bilous played the rest of the way for the Raiders turning away 14-of-16 shots
fired in his direction.
 |
| Blades captain Chase Wouters (#44) screens Raiders goalie Carter Serhyenko. |
“This is
his hometown,” said Habscheid. “(Serhyenko has been) really good and consistent
for us.
“Really, this
is his first game where he had a tough night. He’s a young guy (and) whatever
experience good or bad is good for him. I felt bad for him as he’s been
consistent for us.
“He just
had a tough one.”
At the
start of the second, it appeared a route would be on. Walford netted his second
of the contest just 35 seconds into the frame, and 16-year-old right-winger
Colton Dach tallied at the 4:32 mark of the stanza to put the Blades up 5-0.
 |
| Matthew Sanders scored his first career WHL goal on Saturday. |
“No matter
what, to get goals scored on you that quickly puts you on your heels (and) that’s
what happened to us,” said Habscheid. “I want guys to keep their composure, but
it’s tough.
“Young
guys, once they gathered and collected themselves we were pretty good.”
Raiders
18-year-old rookie left-winger Ilya Usau stopped the bleeding scoring at the 10:34
mark of the second to cut the Blades lead to 5-1.
Usau potted
his second of the contest with 1:23 remaining in the second, and Raiders
Belarusian import centre Aliaksei Protas netted his 20th goal of the
campaign just 33 seconds later to trim the Blades lead to 5-3. Usau picked up
an assist on Protas’s goal.
 |
| Nolan Maier made 35 saves in goal for the Blades on Saturday. |
“We just
had to get back to our game,” said Marsh. “I thought that we were a little bit
careless with our puck management a little bit.
“A credit to
them. They really stepped their game up and started to push hard and had some
good extended O-zone play and put us into some bad spots. I thought our competitiveness
in the D-zone was a little bit lackadaisical.
“You get
up, and you start to cheat a little bit on offence. Our details weren’t great
there, and they stepped their game up. We were able to come in after the second
and regroup, and I thought we had a pretty good third period.”
The Raiders
outshot the Blades 17-5 in the third, but couldn’t get anything past Blades
star netminder Nolan Maier.
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| The Blades fans enjoy their team’s victory on Saturday. |
The effort
by the Yorkton, Sask., product allowed the Blades to lock away the game with
Crnkovic’s empty-net goal.
“Nolan
(Maier) is a phenomenal goalie, and any time that he has a great game we
normally win,” said Walford. “I think he had another stellar performance
tonight.
“I don’t
think we were as god as we could have been in front of him at times. That is
something that we are going to have to go back to the drawing board on.”
Going
forward, Walford would like to see his club explode offensively again like they
did on Saturday. The Coquitlam, B.C., product said the key for his squad is to
not over think things in the offensive zone.
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| The Blades celebrate their win on Saturday. |
“A lot of plays start in our own end, and it is just simple chip out of the zone. Guys come through, pick it up and make another chip. Somehow, we get an offensive zone possession.
“We work it
around, and that is our team. If we can keep it simple and get it in and make
plays when we have time that is how we score.”
The Blades
improved to 17-15-1-2 with the win, while the Raiders fell to 20-11-3-1.
The Raiders
return to action on Monday, when they host the Winnipeg Ice (21-13-1) at 7 p.m.
at the Art Hauser Centre. Prince Albert sits first in the WHL’s East Division
one point ahead of Winnipeg, so Monday’s clash looms as a big one.
The Blades
are back at it on Wednesday, when they host the Ice on New Year’s Day on
Wednesday at 2 p.m.
Blades’ Huber issued two-game suspension for
head hit
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| Blades RW Zach Huber was suspended by the WHL on Saturday. |
Huber
received a two game suspension for delivering a head hit to Prince Albert
Raiders star left-winger Ozzy Wiesblatt with 2:19 remaining in the third period
of a regular season game won 3-2 by the Blades on Friday night at the Art
Hauser Centre.
Huber was
given a minor penalty for checking to the head at the time of the infraction.
On the
play, Wiesblatt toe dragged around a Raiders defenceman and wired a shot on
goal that was stopped by Blades star netminder Nolan Maier.
After
shooting the puck, Wiesblatt was drilled with a high hit from Huber. Wiesblatt
went down on the play, but left the ice under his own power.
He came out
for the second shift of the ensuing Raiders power play and finished the game.
Raiders
head coach Marc Habscheid made his feelings noted about the hit following
Friday’s game.
“We’ll let
the league deal with that, but that was a dangerous hit,” said Habscheid.
“We’re trying to protect the players.
“The head
was targeted, and we will see what the league says about it.”
The Raiders
appealed to the league office following the contest for the play to be looked
at.
Huber will
conclude his suspension missing the Blades upcoming game on Wednesday at 2 p.m.
on New Year’s Day against the Winnipeg Ice.
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comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
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