Robins rescues Blades

Breakout centre nets OT winner to thwart Warriors comeback

Tristen Robins (#11) celebrates his overtime winner.

    Tristen Robins stopped the Moose Jaw Warriors from getting out of Saskatoon with a big steal.
    On Sunday afternoon at the SaskTel Centre, the host Saskatoon Blades took a 3-1 lead in a WHL regular season contest into the third period over the visiting Warriors. Despite the fact the host side controlled most of the contest, the Warriors potted two early third period goals to force a 3-3 tie and ultimately overtime.

    With 49.1 seconds remaining in overtime, Robins deflected home a shot from linemate Kyle Crnkovic to deliver the Blades to a 4-3 victory before 3,687 spectators. The goal capped a three-point night for Robins, who had a pair of assists in regulation.

Tristen Robins had a goal and two assists for the Blades on Sunday.

    He was pumped to come through with the winner in overtime.

    “It is a little more dramatic getting it in the last minute,” said Robins. “It was for sure quite a rush.”

    Robins is having a breakout sophomore season leading the Blades in scoring posting 26 goals and 30 assists for 56 points to go with a plus-10 rating in the plus-minus department.

    The 18-year-old centre had two goals, two assists and a plus-four rating on Saturday when the Blades hammered the Warriors 8-2 in Moose Jaw.

    Blades head coach Mitch Love was pleased with how Robins played in Sunday’s win.

Tristen Robins leads the Blades in scoring this season.

    “He was good,” said Love. “When you watch him play hockey, when he is really moving his feet and he is skating, you know he is dialed in.

    “The puck touches offensively when his legs are moving seem to have a little more pop off his stick. He plays a lot of minutes for us. He seems to never run out of gas.

    “I thought him and Crnkovic were good tonight. They had a lot of jam. They were both the two guys that were out on the ice there along with (overage defenceman Scott) Walford in overtime that got us the win.”

    The Blades came out with a lot of jump at the start of Sunday’s contest. Just 2:05 into the first period, Saskatoon centre Evan Patrician got in close on the Moose Jaw goal on a rush down the right wing and snapped a shot past Warriors netminder Brock Gould to put the host side up 1-0.

Nolan Kneen played in his 300th WHL regular season game on Sunday.

    Shortly after that tally, Blades overage defenceman Nolan Kneen nailed Warriors right-winger Kade Runke with a big hit. Kneen, who started his WHL career with the Kamloops Blazers, was playing in his 300^th career WHL regular season game on Sunday, and he admits there are times he feels like the elder statesman.

    “My body is feeling it for sure,” said Kneen, who finished with a plus-one rating on Sunday. “It is not every day someone hits 300.

    “It is pretty special, and I am honoured to have that.”

    The hit parade continued a couple of minutes later when Czech import defenceman Radek Kucerik nailed Warriors centre Kyle Crosbie.

    Just when it seemed the Blades had all the momentum, the Warriors evened the score at 1-1 at the 7:47 mark of the opening frame. 

Ryder Korczak scored the equalizer for the Warriors in the third period.

    Warriors centre Garrett Wright fired home the equalizer from the front of the Saskatoon goal after receiving a pass from linemate Martin Lang from behind the Blades net.

    The Blades went back out in front 2-1 at the 11:39 mark of the opening frame, when Slovakian import right-winger Martin Fasko-Rudas blew home a setup pass from Robins for a power-play goal.

Gould closed the opening frame making a couple of big glove saves off Blades wingers Colton Dach and Riley McKay.

    The Warriors puck stopper did his best to keep his squad in the game as the Blades dominated played in the second period outshooting the visitors 14-5 in the frame.

Brock Gould makes one of his 44 saves in goal for the Warriors.

    With 1:21 remaining in the second and the two teams playing four-on-four hockey, the Blades picked up an insurance marker to go up 3-1 when Walford blew home his 11^th of the season from the top of the left faceoff circle in the Moose Jaw zone.

    Early in the third, the Warriors changed the game’s momentum in a big way. At the 5:04 mark of the frame, 18-year-old right-winger Logan Doust scored for the Warriors to cut the Blades lead to 3-2.

    Just 80 seconds after that tally, Doust sprung linemate Ryder Korczak on a breakaway, and the 17-year-old centre beat Blades netminder Koen MacInnes on a backhander to even the score at 3-3.

Scott Walford had a goal for the Blades on Sunday.

    “We find a way to do it to ourselves a lot of nights,” said Love. “If you look at the goals, we got really puck focused any time when pucks were behind our net and exposed the middle part of the rink in our own end.

    “If you look at the Korczak situation, we win a clean draw in the offensive end, and we need to get a puck to the net. We don’t elevate, and he (Doust) picks it off and goes. He (Korczak) is a good player, and he puts it in the back of your net.

    “We make life a lot harder on ourselves than we need to sometimes, but that being said they had 22 shots on net. I didn’t think we gave up a tonne of chances to them.”

    Shortly after the Warriors evened the score, Korczak broke down the left wing into the Blades zone on another dangerous rush, but MacInnes came up with a glove stop.

Evan Patrician had the Blades first goal on Sunday.

    That set the stage for the contest to go to overtime, where Robins netted his winner.

    “We gave up a couple of tough goals there in the defensive zone,” said Robins. “We’re just fortunate to get the bounce in overtime.”

    MacInnes stopped 19 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades (27-20-2-3). Gould turned away 44 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Warriors (12-34-3).

    The Blades return to action on Wednesday when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings (27-19-3-2) at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

    The Warriors are back at it on Wednesday when they travel to Spokane to face the Chiefs.

    Love expects his squad will be in for a big battle against the Wheat Kings on Wednesday.

The Blades celebrate their overtime win on Sunday.

    “If you don’t have a good start against Brandon on home ice on Wednesday, we’re going to be in big trouble against that team,” said Love. “They play hard, they forecheck hard, they are physical, they have some skill and they are playing with some confidence and some swag right now themselves over the last month and a half.

    “We’re finding ourselves in a little bit of a fight here in the East Division. We are excited for that opportunity, and we’ll see what happens Wednesday.”

    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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Rebuilding Pats win third in a row, best Blades after shootout

Zack Smith reacts to scoring his shootout winner for the Pats.

    The rebuilding Regina Pats are playing like the games matter.

    The Pats are skating through just their second season since host the CHL championship tournament - Memorial Cup – in May of 2018. They went all in making a number of trades to make their roster an experience veteran one in the 2017-18 campaign.

    Due to going all in, they are still going through the stages of a major rebuild, but when they hit the ice, they are trying to play like a playoff berth is one the line. That approach is resulting in some wins.

    On Wednesday night before 2,850 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Pats downed the host Saskatoon Blades 3-2 after a tiebreaking shootout for a third straight victory. The visitors took the tiebreaking session 2-1.

Zack Smith helped the Pats win their third straight game.

    In the shootout, Carson Denomie scored in the first round for the Pats, and overage left-winger Riley McKay tallied in the second round for the Blades.

    With the teams even at 1-1 in the tiebreaking session, Pats rookie 18-year-old right-winger Zack Smith had the final shot in the third round. The Martensville, Sask., product put a backhand shot past Blades netminder Nolan Maier to give the Pats the win.

    “Strucher (Pats head coach Dave Struch) really stressed that we play the right way and play as a team and don’t play selfish,” said Smith. “I think we did that really well tonight.

    “That is the kind of team we are. We have to just chip pucks and go forecheck hard. That is what we did tonight.”

Riley Krane scored the Pats first goal on Wednesday.

    Due to the fact his hometown is just outside of Saskatoon’s northern border, Smith had his share of family and friends in attendance on Wednesday. He was proud of his shootout winner.

    “I just went in, gave the goalie a little fake, he bit a little bit and pulled to my backhand,” said Smith. “I pretty much had a lot of the net open, so I just put it there.

    “It felt good.”

    The win allowed the Pats to improve to 16-26-3-2. They started the campaign with a 1-10 record but have gone 15-16-3-2 over their last 36 games.

    While not mathematically eliminated from post-season contention, their chances of making playoffs are extremely slim.

Martin Fasko-Rudas scored the Blades first goal on Wednesday.

    They trail the Blades, who saw their record move to 25-20-2-3, by 18 points in the standings for the second wildcat position and the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

    With that noted, Struch believes his side is building a lot of character playing like a playoff position was on the line.

    “We want to get into the race,” said Struch. “We got off to a real difficult start this year for whatever reason.

    “We wanted to chase the race not that it was a playoff race. We wanted to try and get into it. Every night for us is a playoff game.

    “Every practice for us is a playoff game, so our guys have been doing this for five months already. It seems like it is easy for our guys to do it.”

Pats C Drew Englot screens Blades G Nolan Maier.

    The Pats struck 44 seconds into Wednesday’s contest when right-winger Riley Krane blew a shot past Blades netminder Nolan Maier.

    The Blades had a big chance to even the score at the 8:30 mark, when left-winger Alex Morozoff was hooked down on a break to the Regina goal by Pats defenceman Steven Zonneveld.

    With 52.5 seconds remaining in the first period, Blades overage defence Nolan Kneen engaged Krane in a good tilt.

    The Blades evened the score at 1-1 at the 13:04 mark of the second period on a power-play goal from import Slovakian right-winger Martin Fasko-Rudas. 

The Blades celebrate a third period goal from Jayden Wiens.

    Fasko-Rudas gathered the rebound of a point shot from overage defenceman Scott Walford and tucked the puck behind Pats netminder Donovan Buskey.

    Just 1:22 later, the Pats jumped back out in front 2-1. Pats import Czech winger Jan Cikhart got the puck in the right side of the Saskatoon goal on the forecheck and centred a pass to 17-year-old centre Drew Englot.

    Englot fired in a shot that Maier got a piece of, but the puck trickled into the goal to put the Blades ahead.

    The Blades evened the score at 2-2 at the 3:34 mark on the third on a positive bounce play. A shot from Blades left-winger Braden Plaschewsky deflected off linemate Jayden Wiens, who was hooked down by a Pats player, into the Regina goal.

    Overall, Struch was pleased with the effort of his players even when mistakes were made.

    “This is the way we play,” said Struch, whose Pats have won both their encounters with the Blades this season in extra time. “That is every single game.
    “Yeah, we make mistakes. Some nights we make more than others. Tonight, it is just a matter of our identity.

Riley McKay turns up ice for the Blades.

    “These guys play hard for each other.”

    Before the midway point of the third, the Pats had a good chance to go ahead on a power play, but defenceman Ryker Evans wired a point shot off the post.

    Late in the frame, Maier made a key left pad stop on Pats captain Austin Pratt to keep the two sides even on the scoreboard.

    In overtime, both sides had big chances to net the winner. Fasko-Rudas had the last big chance, but his shot right before the buzzer was turned away by Buskey.

    That set the stage for the Pats to win it in the tiebreaking shootout.
    Maier stopped 23 shots in goal for the Blades through 65 minutes and one of three shooters in the shootout. Buskey turned away 23 shots in goal for the Pats and two of three shooters in the shootout.

The Pats celebrate their win on Wednesday night.

    The Pats return to action on Friday, when they travel to Swift Current to take on the Broncos (7 p.m., Innovation Credit Union i-Plex).

    The Blades get back at it on Saturday, when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the Warriors (7 p.m., Mosaic Place).

    Smith said his club is feeling good going into the weekend.

    “I think we are all pretty confident right now,” said Smith. “We’ve won three in a row.

    “We’re just going to keep this confidence going into Swift Current and hopefully beat them a few times on the weekend and see where we can go from there.”

Wouters chipping in, challenges others to join in faceoff charity

Captain Chase Wouters (#44) gets set to take a draw for the Blades.

    Saskatoon Blades captain Chase Wouters is chipping and challenging others to join him in the Nutrien Faceoff for Hunger.

    Since the start of the season, Nutrien has said it will donate $10 to the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre for every faceoff Wouters wins this season. After Wednesday’s action, Wouters lead the WHL with the most faceoffs at 665.

    Last Thursday in a video posted on his Twitter account, Wouters said he would donate $1 out of his own pocket for every faceoff he won over the Blades final 21 regular season games for the Nutrien Faceoff for Hunger to go to the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre.

    Wouters challenged anyone who saw the video to join him in donating a dollar for every draw he won over the Blades final 21 regular season games. The fourth-year veteran had 625 faceoff wins when the Blades entered the final 21 regular season games.

    Over Twitter, Blades play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk, Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper and Saskatoon city councillor Troy Davies have said they have accepted Wouters’ challenge and will join in on the charitable endeavour.

Hey #BladeCity, I am challenging you to join me in the @NutrienLTD face-off for hunger! Jump on board https://t.co/bZnjMhZ2hV pic.twitter.com/YwrgrKJ636

— Chase Wouters (@wouters_44) January 31, 2020

    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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Blades stun Royals with comeback OT win

Fasko-Rudas gets natural Hatty, Wouters extra time winner

Chase Wouters, right, celebrates scoring the OT winner for the Blades.

    A newcomer and the captain put on their superhero capes to save the Saskatoon Blades.
    Training the visiting Victoria Royals 2-0 early in the third period of a WHL regular season game on Tuesday night, Blades received a natural hat trick from Slovakian import right-winger Martin Fasko-Rudas to jump ahead 3-2.

    Fasko-Rudas was acquired a short time ago by the Blades in a deal with the Swift Current Broncos right before the WHL trade deadline on Jan. 10.

    After the surge of goals from Fasko-Rudas, the Royals battled back to force overtime with former Blades right-winger Gary Haden netting the equalizer to force a 3-3 tie with 7:43 remaining in the third period.

Chase Wouters has three OT winners for the Blades this season.

    Just 36 seconds into overtime, Blades captain Chase Wouters received a pass from right-winger Kyle Crnkovic in front of the Victoria goal. Wouters roofed a shot to the top right corner of the Royals goal to give the Blades a 4-3 victory in front of 3,020 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

    The marker was Wouters third overtime winner and fifth game-winner of the campaign.

    “It was pretty cool,” said Wouters, who had an assist to go with his goal. “It was the first one I’ve gotten on home ice besides that playoff one there.

    “It was really a cool experience for sure.”

    Wouters’ playoff overtime winner came in March of last year, when the Blades downed the Moose Jaw Warriors 3-2 in Game 1 of a best-of-seven first round series at the SaskTel Centre. The Blades would go on to sweep that series 4-0.

    Since that post-season overtime winner, Wouters has made a habit of scoring goals in overtime.

Martin Fasko-Rudas had a natural hat trick for the Blades on Tuesday.

    Blades head coach Mitch Love was pleased to see Wouters get his latest overtime winner. While Wouters had goals in four of his last six games, he was held scoreless in the Blades previous two outings, and Love said his captain had strong efforts but wasn’t rewarded.

    The bench boss decided to start Wouters in overtime due to another attribute and hoped a goal would result.

    “Honestly when Chase (Wouters) gets out there in overtime, it is usually to win that first faceoff, because the puck possession is so important,” said Love. “He is usually pretty good at it.

    “For him to get rewarded there, I know he has been a little bit snakebitten of late offensively. That was a big goal for him. Hopefully, that will rally him up here to kind of stay hot.”

Gary Haden had the third period equalizer for the Royals.

    The teams played through a scoreless opening period, where the Royals held a slim 10-9 edge in shots on goal. Both teams did have their chances in the first 20 minutes.

    Early in the frame, Blades rookie right-winger Colton Dach had a golden chance to score from the left slot, but he fired a shot over top of the net.

    Late in the frame, Royals star centre Brayden Tracey tried to score on a wraparound, but he was denied by Blades rookie netminder Koen MacInnes.

    The visitors broke through at the 5:14 mark of the second period, when Royals captain Phillip Schultz scored gritty goal in front of the Saskatoon net to give his side a 1-0 lead.

    The Blades had a glorious chance to even things up late in the second, but rookie 16-year-old centre Jayden Wiens was stoned close in.

    The Royals expanded their edge to 2-0 with a power-play goal coming off the stick of import right-winger Keanu Derungs. 

Captain Phillip Schultz scored in the second period for the Royals.

    Derungs took a backdoor pass at the right side of the Blades goal from linemate Brandon Cutler.
    Just when things looked down, Fasko-Rudas gave the Blades a spark.

    The 19-year-old fired home a natural hat trick in a span of two minutes and 20 seconds with the finally tally of the surge coming at the 8:33 mark of the third. The surge helped the Blades jump ahead on the scoreboard 3-2.

    At the 6:13 mark of third, he sniped home an even-strength goal from the left slot. At the 7:45 mark, Fasko-Rudas tallied his second marker on a two-man advantage converting a backdoor pass at the left side of the Victoria goal that came from defenceman Scott Walford.

    At the 8:33 mark of the third, the Slovakian netted his third goal on the remaining one-man advantage to give the Blades a one-goal edge after taking a smart in close pass from Crnkovic.

Martin Fasko-Rudas (#17) fires home his hat trick goal.

    Fasko-Rudas said he couldn’t ever remember a moment when goals went into the net that fast for him.

    “It happened to me first time,” said Fasko-Rudas. “I have to thank my teammates for great passes and great help.

    “I’m really happy for those goals.”

    Wouters almost couldn’t believe how fast the goals went into the net for Fasko-Rudas.

    “It was really exciting,” said Wouters, who leads the WHL with 625 faceoff wins. “He turned it on there for us.

    “Those were some big goals in the game for sure. It was good.”

    After Fasko-Rudas put the Blades in the lead, that set the stage for Haden to score for the Royals and force overtime and for Wouters to win it in the extra session.
    Fasko-Rudas was pumped to see his club bounce back after the Royals tied the game.

Kyle Crnkovic had three assists in the Blades win on Tuesday.

    “It was a hell of a job from the team and from the guys,” said Fasko-Rudas. “It was great that we didn’t quit, and we came back.”

    MacInnes stopped 28 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades (24-19-2-2). Crnkovic finished with three assists in the win.
    Adam Evanoff turned away 28 shots to take the extra time setback goal for the Royals (25-17-4).

    Love said Tuesday’s game was a big character win for his club as the Blades elected to scratch their leading scorer in centre Tristen Robins moments before warm-ups due to illness.

    “It was pretty gutsy,” said Love. “We looked pretty fatigued through 40 minutes.
    “Our execution offensively wasn’t quite there. Credit to the guys, they really stuck with it. We knew we had to really press in the third to try and generate any sort of offence against a very good defensive team.

The Blades mob Chase Wouters after his OT winner on Tuesday.

    “We generated some power plays, and that was going well for us tonight. It is a gutsy win for us.”

    The Blades are back in action on Friday when they travel to Moose Jaw to face the Warriors (7 p.m., Mosaic Place). Love expects Robins will be ready to go for that contest.

    The Royals return to action on Wednesday when they venture to Prince Albert to face the Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser 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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Blades best Tigers 6-5 in 1980s style rivalry tilt

The Blades and Tigers scrum it up at the end of Friday’s game.

    It felt like old times at the Saskatoon Arena in the late 1980s.

    Back in that era of the WHL, the Saskatoon Blades and Medicine Hat Tigers had quite the heated rivalry. A lot of the heated tensions were due to the fact the two sides met in league semifinal playoff series in 1987 and 1988.

    Those series were ultimately won by the Tigers, who advanced on to win the WHL title and the Memorial Cup title as CHL champions in both of those years.
    Medicine Hat claimed the 1987 series in seven games, when the Blades still played in the Saskatoon Arena, and the Tigers swept the 1988 series, when “the Bridge City Bunch” made their first post-season run playing out of the SaskTel Centre.

    On Friday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Saskatoon Blades and Medicine Hat Tigers engaged in a WHL regular season clash that would have been worthy of the battles from that era.

    There were huge momentum swings, lots of goals, timely saves by goalies, one spirited fight and huge scrum at the end of the contest. It was a game that was all over the map.

Tigers C Ryan Chyzowski, left, fights Blades C Jayden Wiens.

    When the dust settled, the Blades skated away with a 6-5 victory before 3,156 spectators. The fans got their money’s worth and gave the Blades a fairly loud salute at night’s end.

    The unpredictability of the night started in the first period. The Blades carried the play in the opening frame outshooting the Tigers 17-7, but the Tigers came away holding a 1-0 lead.

    Tigers captain James Hamblin tucked home the game’s opening goal on a breakaway in the first.

    Medicine Hat escaped the first holding the end on the scoreboard thanks to the play of netminder Garin Bjorklund. He turned away Blades defenceman Nolan Kneen on a partial breakaway and robbed Saskatoon centre Tristen Robins with a glove stop in the opening 20 minutes.

The Blades and Tigers engaged in a few exchanges on Friday.

    Just 35 seconds into the second, Tigers defenceman Daniel Baker jetted in down the right wing and roofed home his 10^th goal of the season to put the visitors up 2-0.

    At the 11:37 mark of the second, centre Baxter Anderson scored to put the Tigers up 3-0, and it seemed that the visitors were going to cruise from there.

    From that moment, it was time to cue the comeback for the Blades thanks mainly from an offensive explosion coming from their forward line of left-winger Kyle Crnkovic, Robins, and right-winger Martin Fasko- Rudas. They combined for four goals and seven assists.

    Crnkovic posted a goal and four assists. Robins had his first career WHL hat trick. Fasko-Rudas had three helpers.

    Just 70 seconds after Anderson’s goal, Robins netted his first of the contest to cut the Tigers lead to 3-1. 

Tristen Robins had a hat trick for the Blades on Friday.

    Crnkovic potted his 12^th of the season just a little over three minutes later to further trim the Tigers advantage to 3-2.

    With 1:22 remaining in the second, the Blades benefited from a positive type bounce you would see in an old building like the now demolished Saskatoon Arena.

    The puck was in the Tigers zone with the Blades working the power play. The Tigers tried to clear the puck around the glass, but the puck hit a stanchion and deflected to the front of the Medicine Hat goal to Blades captain Chase Wouters.

    Wouters promptly fired the gift into the Medicine Hat net to even things up at 3-3. The tally was Wouters 20^th goal of the season marking the first time the 19-year-old hit that mark in his WHL career.

    The Blades kept rolling going up 5-3 at the 1:55 mark of the third with goals coming from feisty left-winger Riley McKay and Robins netting his second of the contest.

Kyle Crnkovic had a goal and four assists for the Blades on Friday.

    Bjorklund was pulled from the Medicine Hat goal at that point turning away 26-of-31 shots he faced. Mads Sogaard turned away four-of-five shots playing the rest of the way in relief.

    Shortly after the Blades went up by two goals, Saskatoon centre Jayden Wiens, who stands 5-foot-7 and weighs 139 pounds, engaged Tigers centre Ryan Chyzowski, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 170 pounds, in a spirited fight.

    Wiens ended getting the take down for the win in front of a huge ovation from the Saskatoon faithful.

    With the crowd still buzzing from the fight, the Tigers scored seven seconds after the resumption of play with left-winger Corson Hopwo getting his 10 goal of the season. That tally cut the Blades advantage to 5-4.

    Robins completed his hat trick a little over two minutes later to give the Blades a 6-4 advantage.

    Shortly after Robins third tally, the Tigers went on a power play, and Blades netminder Koen MacInnes had to turn away seven shots to ensure the hosts got the two-minute kill.

James Hamblin had the Tigers first goal on Friday.

    MacInnes made a huge sprawling kick save on the kill to rob Tigers star left-winger Cole Sillinger of a sure goal.

    Still the Blades weren’t out of the woods. Tigers left-winger Nick McCarry scored with 4:54 remaining in the third to cut the Blades lead to 6-5.

    With about a minute remaining in the third, Tigers defenceman Eric Van Impe wired a shot off the crossbar of the Blades goal.

    The host side held the fort the rest of the way to preserve their third straight victory. After the final seconds of the game expired, both teams engaged in a big scrum around the Saskatoon goal.

MacInnes made 28 saves to allow the Blades to improve to 23-18-1-2.

    The Tigers fell to 29-14-1-1 with a second straight loss.

The Blades enjoy their win on Friday night.

    The Blades are back at it on Saturday, when they host the Edmonton Oil Kings (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

    The Tigers return to action on Saturday, when they travel to Prince Albert to face the defending WHL champion Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

    If anyone forgot how fun the WHL can be, a reminder about how exciting and unpredictable major junior hockey can be was delivered on Friday night when the Blades slipped past the Tigers.

    Hopefully work of the encounter will attract a few more bodies to come sit in the stands.

    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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Miracle at the i-Plex – Estephan’s OT winner caps crazy Broncos comeback over Silvertips

Giorgio Estephan, centre, celebrates his overtime winner for the Broncos.

    SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. – It might not be enough to pound a stake through their heart or shoot them with a silver bullet to do in the Swift Current Broncos.

    On Saturday night in Game 2 of the WHL Championship series, the host Broncos fell behind 3-0 in the first period to the visiting Everett Silvertips.
    The Broncos scored once in the second to pull within 3-1 and dodged bullets at the end of that frame and early in the third to remain two goals back on the scoreboard.

    The Broncos scored twice in the third with star right-winger Tyler Steenbergen potting the equalizer to force a 3-3 tie with 1:37 to play in the frame and netminder Stuart Skinner pulled for an extra attacker.

Netminder Carter Hart got over anxious with the puck resulting in a loss.

    At the 9:27 mark of overtime, the Broncos charged into the Everett zone on a rush. Silvertips netminder Carter Hart stopped a shot from Broncos centre Matteo Gennaro, and during the frantic action, Hart quickly cleared the puck up ice only to put it on the stick of Broncos forward Giorgio Estephan.

    Before Hart could react to what he did, Estephan fired home his 12th goal of the post-season to give the Broncos an improbable 4-3 victory and send a sellout crowd of 2,890 spectators at the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex into a raucous frenzy.

    “I was just kind of lucky the puck rolled to me, and I got to put it home,” said Estephan. “It is definitely one that I would say we were pretty fortunate to be able to get that goal and this win.

Tyler Steenbergen (#17) celebrates his third period equalizer.

    “Skins (Skinner) kept us in the game, and that is all from him. I think we are just more of a team that is resilient. We definitely battled for that tough one tonight.

    “Everyone played a great part in that game.”

    Estephan’s goal helped the Broncos tie the best-of-seven series 1-1. Game 3 is set for 7 p.m. local time on Tuesday at the Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Wash.

    The win by the Broncos marked the first time the Silvertips had lost on the road in the 2018 post-season having won their previous eight road games.

    The Silvertips built their 3-0 lead in the first period with singles coming from the sticks of Matt Fonteyne, Martin Fasko-Rudas and Riley Sutter. Fasko-Rudas’s goal was a tough one for the Broncos side to take, because the Skinner got a piece of the puck with his glove only for it to go into his net.

    Everett had a 17-10 edge in shots on goal after the opening 20 minutes.

Matteo Gennaro had the first goal in the Broncos comeback.

    With the Silvertips hosting Games 3, 4 and 5 of the series, Steenbergen said his side did not want to go to Everett dropping the first two games of the best of seven set.

    “Going into the second and third, we just thought that there was no way that we were going to let this one slip,” said Steenbergen. “I think our mindset in the room we were all positive.

    “We weren’t getting on each other. Moving forward from the first period, I think that we just had the mindset that we weren’t going to lose this game, and we couldn’t lose this game.

    “It was one of those must-win feelings for us. It felt like a Game 7.”

    Matteo Gennaro scored for the Broncos at the 8:17 mark of the second period to cut the Silvertips lead to 3-1.

Captain Matt Fonteyne had the Silvertips first goal of the night.

    Inside of the final minute of the second, Skinner stoned Fonteyne on a tough screen shot, and after the Broncos went on a power play, Skinner turned away Silvertips left-winger Connor Dewar on a short-handed breakaway.

    Early in the third after the Broncos power play expired, the Silvertips had two big chances to score on a rush. Everett centre Riley Sutter was stop on drive to the Broncos goal and the rebound of his shot went to Dewar as a net scramble ensued.
    The product of The Pas, Man., was denied on a paddle stop by a diving Skinner.

    “Skinner is playing very well,” said Fonteyne. “He was the WHL goalie of the month (in April) for a reason.

    “He is going to make big saves. I think we just need to keep throwing the puck on net and keep going. We can’t get too hung up on a good player making good plays.”

Colby Sissons scored for the Broncos in the third period.

    At the 6:22 mark of the third, Broncos offensive defenceman Colby Sissons fired home a shot from the point to cut the Silvertips edge to 3-2.

    That set the stage for the dramatics with Steenbergen’s equalizer and Estephan’s winner.

    Before Estephan could score his winner, Skinner turned away Silvertips Centre Riley Sutter on a powerful rush to the net and stoned right-winger Garrett Pilon on a slot drive.

    When the dust settled, Skinner turned away 40 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Broncos. Hart stopped 34 shots to take the setback in net for the Silvertips.

    “We put ourselves in an opportunity to obviously win it in regulation,” said Silvertips head coach Dennis Williams, who club finished third overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 47-20-2-3 record. “Credit to Swift Current for playing the way they have all season, and they kept coming at us.

Connor Dewar (#43) was snakebitten around the net for the Silvertips.

    “When we went into overtime, it was as simple as it will take one shot. We’re in a good spot I told them. Obviously, we are trying to continue to stay positive throughout it.

    “It was a bit of a stinger there for our group, but again, it is something that we can definitely look at and learn from and comeback with a better effort on Tuesday.”

    Broncos head coach and director of player personnel Manny Viveiros was pleased to see the resilience of his club.

    “I thought Everett played very well again tonight,” said Viveiros, whose club finished second overall in the WHL regular season with a 48-17-5-2 mark. “They could have easily won that game.

    “There was no question we were fortunate, but we were also very happy with the way we responded and came back and battled. That is something we have been doing all season long and all playoff long.

Broncos fans cheer their team’s OT winning goal.

    “You have to be able to believe, and I am very proud of the kids.”

    Estephan’s goal on Saturday was his second overtime winner scored at home in the playoffs, and the overager from Edmonton, Alta., admits it feels special to be part of his team’s long post-season run.

    “I’m just thrilled to be a part of it and be in the city,” said Estephan. “Their energy the last few games towards our team and towards us winning, it has been great.

    “I think it makes any player love to come to the rink every day and any player love to play in front of their fans. That is kind of more where it comes from for me for sure.”

    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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