McNabb’s highlight reel goals delivers victory to Blades

Cyle McNabb, left, celebrates scoring a goal with linemate Zach Huber.

    REGINA, Sask. – For one night, Cyle McNabb looked like the second coming of Bernie Federko.

    The recently acquired 18-year-old left winger scored two highlight reel goals on Saturday to help deliver the visiting Saskatoon Blades to a 4-2 victory over the Pats in Regina before 5,444 spectators at the Brandt Centre. The outburst marked the first two-goal game McNabb has experienced in his WHL career.

    For a short moment, he mirror what Federko once did for this Blades suiting up at forward for the major junior squad from 1973 to 1976 in his legendary hockey career.

    McNabb, who is a sophomore from Winnipeg, Man., has appeared in 102 career regular season games with the Vancouver Giants, Kootenay Ice and Blades to date recording four goals and three assists.

Cyle McNabb had his first two-goal night in the WHL on Saturday.

    He now has three goals in his first four appearances with the Blades. The Blades acquired McNabb in a trade with the Ice on Jan. 7 in exchange for 18-year-old forward Brandon Machado and a fifth round selection in the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft.

    “Obviously, it was a good night,” said McNabb about the outburst. “Our line was going the whole night, and it paid off in the end.

    “In the end, we are happy to get two points, and we’re just going to try and keep it rolling.”

    The Pats, who are going through a major rebuild, gave the Blades everything they could handle with an extreme hardworking effort.

    Despite being outshot 16-13 in the first period, the Blades exited the frame holding a 1-0 lead, when veteran centre Eric Florchuk tucked home at power-play goal between the legs of Pats netminder Dean McNabb.

    Early in the second, McNabb, who was playing on a line centred by Tristen Robins and Zach Huber playing right wing, went to work. 

The Blades recently acquired Cyle McNabb from the Kootenay Ice.

    McNabb collected the puck at a bad angle at the right side of the Regina net and proceeded to snipe home a shot to the far side of the Pats goal.

    “Robby (Robins) got stepped up on, and he got a big hit,” said McNabb, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 191 pounds. “The puck was lying there.

    “Me and Hubs (Huber) had a two-on-one to the net, and I just saw the far side and I took it. It went in.”

    The Blades extended their lead to 3-0 with 70 seconds to play in the second, when Florchuk tucked home a backhand shot on a breakaway.

    The Pats proceeded to fight back early in the third. With the Blades working on the power play, Pats right-winger Duncan Pierce was hacked down while skating into the Saskatoon zone on a breakaway by a Blades player resulting in a penalty shot.

    Pierce scored on a shuffle move on the penalty shot to cut Saskatoon’s lead to 3-1 at the 2:30 mark of the third.

Eric Florchuk (#17) scored twice for the Blades on Saturday night.

    That set the stage for McNabb to step up again a little over three-and-a-half minutes later. With the Blades applying pressure in the Regina zone, McNabb got a hold of the puck, danced around Pats goalie in Davidson, Sask., product Dean McNabb and dumped the puck into an empty cage.

    Cyle McNabb gave credit again to his line for helping him out on his goal that gave the Blades a 4-1 edge.

    “That was nice too,” said McNabb. “Again, Robby (Tristen Robins) made a great play and banked it off the back wall.

    “I just put it in the net.”

    Pats 18-year-old rookie right-winger Riley Krane scored his 10^th goal of the season on a determined short-handed effort with 8:33 remaining in the third period to cut the Blades lead to 4-2. 

Duncan Pierce (#22) celebrates scoring on a penalty shot for the Pats.

    Krane was stopped initially on a breakaway, picked up the puck behind the Saskatoon net and came out in front to score.

    That tally wasn’t enough to spark a comeback for the host side.

    Nolan Maier turned away 32 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades (28-13-6). Dean McNabb stopped 28 shots to take the setback in goal for the Pats (12-33-1-1).

    Maier was pleased with how his teammates played in front of him on Saturday. He noted that helped him have a good night.

    “A lot of the shots our forwards and the D (defence) kept them to the perimeter,” said Maier. “I think it kind of helped me out getting settled into the game nicely.

Nolan Maier makes one of his 32 saves for the Blades.

    “We came out with two points, and that is all we could ask for.”

    Maier was happy to see Cyle McNabb have a great game for “The Bridge City Bunch.”

    “I think it is really good to see him producing here, and we are lucky to have him,” said Maier.

    Now having played four games with the Blades, McNabb believes he has settled in.

    “Ever since I got here, everyone has been very welcoming of me,” said McNabb. “All the guys are great. The coaches are great.

    “Everyone in Saskatoon is great. They made the transition really easy. I’m happy to be here.”

    He is looking forward to playing the rest of the campaign with the blue and gold.

    “It is exciting,” said McNabb. “They have a great group of guys here, a really good hockey team.

The Blades celebrate their victory over the Pats on Saturday night.

    “I’m just excited to be here, and I am going to do whatever I can to help the team get wins until the end of the year.”

    The Blades return to action when they travel to Swift Current this coming Friday to face the Broncos at 7 p.m. at the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex.

    The Pats return to action this coming Friday when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.

    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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Pats’ top line too much for Blades to handle

Pats captain Jake Leschyshyn tries to beat Blades goalie Dorrin Luding.

    REGINA, Sask. – Don’t tell the Regina Pats top line that this season is supposed to be a write off.

    Regina’s first line of captain Jake Leschyshyn, left-winger Nick Henry and right-winger Austin Pratt combined for five goals and three assists to help the Pats outgun the visiting Saskatoon Blades 6-5 in a WHL regular season tilt before 5,600 spectators at the Brandt Centre on Saturday night.

    That trio didn’t seem to care the Pats are stuck in a rebuilding campaign following a season where the club hosted the Memorial Cup and on the heels of the 2016-17 campaign that saw the team finished first overall in the WHL regular season standings and advanced to the league championship series falling to the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Captain Jake Leschyshyn had two goals and an assist for the Pats.

    The Pats are devoid of the stars that helped them through those two special seasons outside of Leschyshyn, who has signed a NHL entry-level contract with the Las Vegas Golden Knights, and Henry, who is an NHL Entry Draft selection of the Colorado Avalanche.

    Both have spent their entire WHL playing careers with the Pats. Leschyshyn became a full-time member of the world’s oldest major junior franchise in 2015-16 campaign and Henry came on board during the 2016-17 season. They each had a pair of goals and an assist in Saturday’s win.

    It was obvious to see both have a lot emotionally invested in the Regina team with the effort they gave in Saturday’s wild 1980s style high-scoring contest, which saw the starting goalies for both squads get chased from the game.

LW Nick Henry (#21) had two goals and an assist for the Pats.

    Pratt is known for his gritty work ethic, and he has no quit now in his second campaign with the Pats having come over in a trade with the Red Deer Rebels last season. The Lakeville, Minn., product had a goal and an assist to help the Regina cause on Saturday.

    As a unit, they give the Pats enough to potentially play the role of spoiler on any given night. They did just that helping the Pats improve to 5-12 while the Blades fell to 10-7-2.

    The Blades struck first at the 3:12 mark of the opening frame with a power-play goal coming from overage right-winger Max Gerlach, who would score twice on the night.

Austin Pratt had a goal and an assist for the Pats.

    The Pats proceeded to take leads of 3-1 and 4-2 before the Blades scored three straight to go into the second intermission up 5-4. Blades captain Chase Wouters supplied the go-ahead goal on the power play burying a nice set up pass from star 17-year-old centre Kirby Dach, who had three assists in the setback.

    That set the moment for the Pats top line to take centre stage with some third period heroics.

    At the 9:03 mark of the third, Pats overage defenceman Aaron Hyman, who had three assists in the win, hit Henry with a breakout pass into the Saskatoon zone. Blazing down the left wing, Henry slipped a pass across the face of the Saskatoon goal to Leschyshyn, who buried a marker that forced a 5-5 tie.

    With 4:12 remaining in the third, Henry labeled a shot to the top left corner of the Saskatoon goal on the power play to provide the winning tally for the Pats.

    The Blades were 3-for-6 on the power play, while the Pats scored on both their chances with the man advantage.

Kirby Dach backed the Blades offence with three assists.

    Tristen Robins and Seth Bafaro each had singles for the Blades. Duncan Pierce had the lone tally that didn’t come from the Pats top line.

    Nolan Maier turned away 5-of-8 shots starting in goal for the Blades before being pulled 31 seconds into the second after the Pats went ahead 3-1. Dorrin Luding stopped 14-of-17 shots in relief and took the loss in goal for Saskatoon.

    Max Paddock turned away 21-of-26 shots playing the first 40 minutes of Saturday’s affair in goal for the Pats. Dean McNabb took over at the start of the third period and turned away all six shots he faced to pick up the win in goal for Regina.

    The Pats return to action this coming Friday, when they host the Tri-City Americans at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre. The Blades next game is also this coming Friday, when they travel to Medicine Hat to face the Tigers.

    While the Pats are in a reloading stage, Leschyshyn, Henry and Pratt showed how much of a factor heart can play in the outcome of a WHL game and provided a tough lesson for the Blades to learn in the process.

The Pats celebrate their victory on Saturday night.

    The Blades are now 3-5-2 in their last 10 outings after starting hot out of the gate with a 7-2 mark in their first nine contests. Saskatoon has hit a lull where the newness of the WHL schedule ends and the 68-game regular season becomes more of a grind.

    Going forward, the players on the Blades need to try and match the level of emotional attachment to their team like Leschyshyn, Henry and Pratt have for the Pats.

    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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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.