Cameron Hebig (#9) fires a shot on goal for the Blades. |
It is starting to feel like the Saskatoon Blades are a
two-person team relying on star overage forwards Cameron Hebig and Braylon
Shmyr.
During the early going of the 2017-18 WHL regular season,
Hebig and Shmyr have piled up the points, but it feels like their efforts have
been wasted a few too many times.
On Wednesday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades dropped
to 3-6, when they were double up 6-3 by the visiting Vancouver Giants. Hebig
scored twice for the Blades, and Shmyr picked up an assist on Saskatoon’s other
tally.
Hebig has seven goals and six assists in seven appearances
for Saskatoon, while Shmyr has seven goals and seven assists dressing for all
nine games the Blades have played in the current campaign.
Braylon Shmyr wheels into the offensive zone for the Blades. |
A sparse crowd of 2,578 watched the visiting Giants improve
to 4-4-1-1 by receiving contributions from a number of sources. Shifty
18-year-old centre James Malm, who stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 170 pounds, led
the way for the Giants recording a goal and two assists. At the moment, the
Langley, B.C., product is Vancouver’s leading scorer with two goals and nine
assists.
Brendan Semchuk, who is an 18-year-old Kamloops, B.C.,
product, potted a pair of goals playing right wing on Malm’s line. The Giants
scoring was rounded out with singles coming from Milos Roman, Tyler Popowich
and Owen Hardy.
James Malm had a goal and two assists for the Giants. |
Roman quickly blasted the gift past Blades netminder Ryan Kubic to give the Giants a 1-0 lead.
Saskatoon did show fight. Late in the first, Hebig wired
home a shot from the slot on a power play to tie things up at 1-1.
Just 21 seconds into the second period, the Blades went ahead 2-1, when Czech import defenceman Libor Hajek pinched low to the right side of the Giants net to pot his third of the season.
Just 21 seconds into the second period, the Blades went ahead 2-1, when Czech import defenceman Libor Hajek pinched low to the right side of the Giants net to pot his third of the season.
The lead lasted just 14 seconds as Semchuk tied things up at
2-2 with his first of the contest.
Popowich scored late in the second and Malm and Semchuk, with his second tally of the game, opened the scoring in the third to give the Giants a 5-2 lead.
Popowich scored late in the second and Malm and Semchuk, with his second tally of the game, opened the scoring in the third to give the Giants a 5-2 lead.
At the 12:14 mark of the third, Hebig netted his second of
the contest to cut the gap to 5-3. The Blades applied pressure after that
tally, but 17-year-old rookie netminder Todd Scott withstood the surge.
Brendan Semchuk scored twice for the Giants. |
Scott made 32 stops in goal for the Giants to pick up his first career WHL victory to build some personal momentum as his team travels to Brandon on Friday to face the Wheat Kings.
So far this season, the Blades have scored a total of 29
goals and Hebig and Shmyr have score a combined 14 of those tallies.
The Blades two regular goalies also don’t have the most flattering
of numbers.
Kubic has a 3-4 record, a 4.19 goals against average and a .862
save percentage.
Back up Joel Grzybowski has an 0-1 record, a 4.68 goals against average and a .825 save percentage in 90 minutes of work.
Some rough stuff goes down in front of the Vancouver net. |
Back up Joel Grzybowski has an 0-1 record, a 4.68 goals against average and a .825 save percentage in 90 minutes of work.
With that said, the play of the Blades defencemen and their netminders have to be better in their own zone.
The Blades, who have missed the playoffs in each of the past
four seasons, don’t have to wait long to try and get a better effort.
They travel to Prince Albert on Saturday to face the Raiders (3-4-3) at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.
They travel to Prince Albert on Saturday to face the Raiders (3-4-3) at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.
Blue and gold remember Downie
Gord Downie remembered on the SaskTel Centre big scoreboard screen. |
During warmups, the Blades played only songs from the iconic
Canadian rock band. Following warmups, the Blades played a video of Downie and
the Hip playing a song on the big screen on the scoreboard at the SaskTel
Centre.
When the song concluded, the scoreboard showed a picture of
Downie on it with a written inscription, “Gordon Downie 1964-2017.”
The Blades also played a number of songs from The Tragically
Hip during stoppages in play.
Downie passed away at age 53 after a battle with brain
cancer.
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