Wong’s passing touch golden in Blades 5-3 victory

Cougars’ Heidt pots goal, assist in hometown area return

Trevor Wong had three assists for the Blades on Friday.

No one, but no one can share the puck like Trevor Wong.

The Saskatoon Blades captain’s passing touch was at another level on Friday night at the SaskTel Centre. With his Blades taking of the visiting Prince George Cougars in a heavyweight tilt type regular season contest early in the 2023-24 campaign, Wong dished out three beauty helpers to deliver the host side to 5-3 victory in front of an appreciative crowd of 4,516 spectators.

The win allowed the Blades to improve to 10-5, while the Cougars fell to 11-5.

A sizable contingent of spectators were decked out in Prince George #27 jerseys and were out to support Cougars star centre Riley Heidt, who is from the Saskatoon area. Heidt was able to pick up one goal and one assist in the setback for the visitors.

Riley Heidt had a goal and an assist for the Cougars.

The contest overall was an entertaining one that was played at a very fast pace. The Blades jumped out to a 4-0 lead by the 6:20 mark in the second causing the Cougars to basically swim upstream for the rest of the contest.

The hosts broke through on the scoreboard at the 6:10 mark of the opening frame shortly after the expiration of a power play. During a net scramble, Blades sturdy 20-year-old defenceman Charlie Wright pinched down from the point and popped home a loose puck at the right side of the Prince George net to give the hosts their 1-0 edge.

A short time after the Blades went ahead Heidt had a good chance to pull his side even. Heidt, who was selected in the second round and 64^th overall by the Minnesota Wild in the NHL Entry Draft held last June, moved in close to the left side of the Saskatoon goal. After receiving a cross ice pass, Heidt had a close in shot and rebound chance, but he was denied by Blades star netminder Austin Elliott.

The Blades celebrate a goal from Charlie Wright (#47).

With 76 seconds remaining in the first, the Blades pushed their advantage out to 2-0 on the first of the year from right-winger Misha Volotovskii. Volotovskii received a cross ice pass from Wong at the left side of the Prince George goal and fired home a shot past a sprawling Cougars netminder Ty Young.

The Cougars started the second period on a two-minute power play, and after they were unable to score, momentum shifted more in the Blades favour.

At the 4:13 mark of the second, Wong had the puck at the right side of the Prince George goal and passed the puck across the front of the net to left-winger Tyler Parr. 

Parr quickly wired home his second of the season to push the Blades advantage out to 3-0.

Misha Volotovskii had the Blades second goal on Friday.

Just over two minutes later, the Blades increased their comfortable lead to 4-0, when left-winger Rowan Calvert drove into the Prince George zone and wired home his first of the campaign.

Calvert’s goal chased Young out of the Prince George net having stopped 8-of-12 shots to take the setback in net for the visitors. Joshua Ravensbergen turned away 10-of-11 shots sent his way playing the rest of the contest in relief.

With 4:04 remaining in the second, the Cougars cracked on the scoreboard with a power-play goal coming from import defenceman Viliam Kmec. Kmec fired home a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle to cut the Blades lead to 4-1. Heidt picked up an assist on Kmec’s tally.

Egor Sidorov netted his 10th goal of the season on Friday.

The Cougars looked like they might make the game have a dramatic finish, when right-winger Oren Shtrom batted home a gritty tally at the right side of the Saskatoon net to cut the Blades lead to 4-2 with 6:37 remaining in the third.

The Blades proceeded to kill the visitor’s attempt to grab momentum just 10 seconds later, when their top line broke into the Prince George zone. 

Wong had the puck at the left side of the Prince George goal and passed the puck across of the face of the net to star import right-winger Egor Sidorov. 

Sidorov promptly buried his 10^th of the season to give the Blades a 5-2 advantage.

Tyler Parr had a goal for the Blades on Friday.

Heidt tallied for the Cougars on the power play with 1:32 remaining in the third to trim the Blades edge to 5-3. The goal stood up after a video review.

The Blades proceeded to hold off the Cougars for the final 98 seconds to seal the win.

Elliott stopped 26 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades.

The Cougars return to action on Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades get back at it on Sunday when they host the Regina Pats (4 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Blades salute their faithful at the SaskTel Centre at game’s end.

Friday clash between the Blades and Cougars left one wishing both teams were in the same conference. With how much skill the two sides have, it seems unfortunate they only meet once in a campaign.

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