Blades knock off hot Warriors

Winning streak ends at six for short-handed Moose Jaw side

Evan Fiala (#47) celebrates his winning goal with his Blades teammates.

    Evan Fiala’s off-speed knuckleball shot sent the red hot Moose Jaw Warriors for a loop.

    On Wednesday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Saskatoon Blades captain directed an odd-ball shot that found its way past Warriors netminder Brody Willms with 72 seconds to play in the third period. Fiala’s goal, which was his first of the season, broke a 4-4 tie and delivered the Blades to a 5-4 victory.

    Saskatoon’s victory ended a six-game winning streak for the Warriors, who fell to 16-5 but still lead the WHL’s overall standings. Earlier in the day, the Warriors were rated second in the newly released CHL Top 10 rankings.

    Fiala already expects the Warriors to be looking forward to getting some payback on Saturday when the two clubs meet in Moose Jaw, but the overage defenceman was pleased with Wednesday’s outcome.

Evan Fiala’s goal helped the Blades earn their third home win this season.

    “It feels really good,” said Fiala, whose Blades improved to 8-10-1. “We know that they are missing some guys and Saturday is not going to be easy.

    “It definitely puts a feather in our cap.”

    The Warriors entered Wednesday’s clash with a lengthy injury list. Moose Jaw was without defencemen Josh Brook, Jett Woo, Dmitri Zaitsev and Matthew Benson due to upper body injuries. Brook and Woo are listed as out week-to-week, Zaitsev is day-to-day and Benson’s timetable to return is still to be determined.

    For the fourth straight game, the Warriors were without captain Brett Howden with an undisclosed injury. Howden was injured playing for the WHL team that took part in Game 1 of the CIBC Canada-Russia Series on Nov. 6 in Moose Jaw and came away with a 7-0 win.

Warriors goalie Brody Willms was unable to prevent this Blades goal.

    The Warriors also scratched associate player in defenceman Drae Gardiner, who was called up from the Calgary Buffaloes midget AAA program, and left-wingers Tyler Smithies and Brecon Wood.

    Besides the injuries, Moose Jaw entered Wednesday’s game having played the previous night in Swift Current and downing the host Broncos 7-4.

    Centre Logan Christensen was the Blades only scratch due to injury, and he is still expected to be out for about two-to-four weeks. Defenceman Seth Bafaro sat out the second game of a four-game league imposed suspension for taking a checking from behind major penalty and a game misconduct in a 6-4 home loss last Friday against the Swift Current Broncos.

Winger Caleb Fantillo celebrates his first period goal for the Blades.

    Forwards Tyler Lees and Dryden Michaud were Saskatoon’s other two scratches.

    Despite missing a number of key players, the Warriors held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the first period before Blades right-winger Caleb Fantillo deflected home a shot from linemate Cameron Hebig with 2:07 to play in the opening frame to force a 2-2 tie.

    The Blades jumped ahead 4-2 in the second, but the Warriors cut the gap to 4-3 heading into the second intermission.

    At the 8:39 mark of the third, Warriors 15-year-old defenceman Daemon Hunt converted a passing play from star forwards Noah Gregor and Jayden Halbgewachs to pot his first career WHL goal to force a 4-4 tie.

Justin Almeida (#8) breaks into the offensive zone for the Warriors.

    The Warriors selected Hunt in the first round and 15^th overall in the WHL Bantam Draft held last May and called him up from the Brandon Wheat Kings midget AAA team.

Hunt’s goal set the stage for Fiala’s dramatic winner late in the third.

    “I think we were a little fortunate that they played last night and looked a little sluggish,” said Blades head coach Dean Brockman. “We’ll definitely take the two points and run with it.

    “I think we took far too many chances still in the third. When you are doing that, you are playing with fire, especially with the guys they have up front.”

Alec Zawatsky scored his first WHL goal on Wednesday.

    Brockman was thankful Fiala scoring the winning goal for the hosts after Moose Jaw erased Saskatoon’s 4-2 edge.

    “It was a bit of a relief,” said Brockman. “The two-goal lead is the worst lead in hockey.

    “When you give that up, most of the time you lose those games. We found a way to get it done.”

    Alec Zawatsky, Braylon Shmyr and Gage Ramsay all had singles for Saskatoon. Zawatsky’s tally was his first career WHL goal. He had been with the Notre Dame Hounds in the junior A ranks of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League earlier this season before joining the Blades.

    Gregor, Justin Almeida and Tanner Jeannot all had singles for the Warriors.

    Ryan Kubic turned away 34 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Willms stopped 46 shots to take the setback in net for the Warriors.

    Seconds after Fiala scored, the Warriors thought they scored the equalizer, when a scrum of players bumped into Kubic and the puck did go into the Saskatoon net. The goal was disallowed as the officials had blown the play dead after losing sight of the puck.

The Blades begin celebrating their win over the Warriors.

    Wednesday’s game marked only the third time the Blades have won at home this season in nine tries. While the crowd was sparse at 2,745, Fiala was happy his side could deliver a victory for the team’s supporters.

    “It is huge, and it is not only for us,” said Fiala. “It is for our fans too that come out every night.

    “We really want to give them a good game.”

    The Blades return to action on Friday, when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings (12-6-1) at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. The Warriors return to Moose Jaw to host the Calgary Hitmen (6-12-3) on Friday.

Hilltops in the house with Canadian Bowl

The Hilltops are honoured before Wednesday’s Blades game.

    The Saskatoon Hilltops were on hand at the SaskTel Centre on Wednesday night, and they brought the Canadian Bowl with them.

    The Hilltops were honoured for winning their fourth straight Canadian Junior Football League championship on Saturday in Windsor, Ont., when they bombed the host AKO Fratmen 56-11. Captains Jack Sloboda, James Vause, Tom Schnitzler, Cameron Schnitzler and quarterback Jordan Walls marched to centre ice to show off the Canadian Bowl.

    The Hilltops, who finished the 2017 campaign with an 11-1 overall, arrived on an invite from the Blades. A large contingent from the team watched Wednesday game in the section of seats behind the net of the west side of the SaskTel Centre.

    The victory over the AKO Fratmen marked the 20^th time the Hilltops have won the CJFL title.

Vetter receives WHL Milestone Award

Referee Reagan Vetter was give the WHL Milestone Award.

    Saskatoon product and veteran WHL official Reagan Vetter was honoured during a pre-game ceremony before Wednesday’s game for his years of service to the league.

    The 40-year-old, who has been a school teacher for the last 11 years, was presented with the WHL Milestone Award by Kevin Muench, who is the WHL’s senior director of officiating.
    The WHL Milestone Award is given to WHL players, coaches, trainers, officials and WHL championship teams for their outstanding achievements.
    Vetter has worked 20 seasons in the WHL, which includes six campaigns as a linesman and 14 as a referee.

    He has skated in over 650 regular season games, 11 WHL conference championships and seven WHL Championship series. Vetter was part of the officiating crew that worked the 2013 Memorial Cup tournament that was held in Saskatoon.

    Vetter makes his home in Saskatoon with his wife, Kristine, and their daughters, Neven and Quinn.

Former Tigers captain Valk makes NHL debut

Curtis Valk in action for the Tigers in the 2013-14 season.

    Curtis Valk found his way to “the Show.”

    On Tuesday, the 24-year-old former captain of the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers made his NHL regular season debut with the Florida Panthers. He saw three minutes and 25 seconds of ice time as the host Panthers downed the Dallas Stars 4-3 after a tiebreaking shootout before 10,928 spectators at the BB&T Centre in Sunrise, Florida.

    The skilled centre played in 270 career regular season games for the Tigers from 2009 to 2014 piling up 125 goals and 130 assists. The Medicine Hat product picked up another 22 goals and 19 assists in 49 career WHL playoff games.

    All through his hockey career, Valk heard naysayers comment that he was too small to play hockey at an elite level and eventually make it to the NHL. He stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 170 pounds and has proved the naysayers wrong.

    After graduating from the Tigers, Valk played his first three professional hockey seasons in the farm system of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. He signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Panthers before the start of this season.

    Before skating in his NHL debut, Valk appeared in 16 regular season games with the Springfield Thunderbirds, who are the Panthers’ American Hockey League affiliate club. He collected six goals and nine assists in those 16 games with the Thunderbirds.

    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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