Blades’ Maier steals victory again in Prince Albert

Netminder makes 49 saves in 3-2 OT triumph

Blades G Nolan Maier keeps the hard charging Raiders at bay.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - You have to wonder when Nolan Maier will appear on the Prince Albert Police Service’s most wanted list, because he keeps robbing the Raiders at the Art Hauser Centre.

On Friday, the overage star netminder was in top form making 49 saves to keep his Saskatoon Blades in their WHL regular season clash with their archrivals in the host Prince Albert Raiders. In overtime with the two sides locked in a 2-2 draw, the Blades ensured Maier would get his 117^th career WHL regular season win.

After killing off a penalty to start the extra frame and the two sides playing four-versus-four hockey, Blades import right-winger Egor Sidorov wrapped home the winning goal with 2:20 remaining in the extra session to give the Blades a 3-2 victory. 

Blades G Nolan Maier covers the puck during a net scramble.

The results sent most of the 2,600 standing room crowd at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre home disappointed outside of the healthy contingent of Blades supporters who made their way up from “The Bridge City” for Friday’s contest.

Maier has won three out of his four starts at the Art Hauser Centre this season turning away 133-of-142 shots fired his way in those contests. He has traditionally played well in “Hockey Town North” throughout his WHL career.

Nolan Maier picked up his 117th career regular season victory.

The Yorkton, Sask., product said he has always gotten up for games in Prince Albert due everything that goes into the rivalry between the Raiders and the Blades, which includes getting a humourous kick out the Prince Albert fans that like to heckle him.

“I think it is just the rivalry,” said Maier, who stands 6-feet and weighs 172 pounds. “I think no matter who you are or how long you have been playing on either team you kind of get that feeling and that sense of the rivalry and that kind of hatred for each other.

“It is a really fun atmosphere to play in here. They (the Raiders fans) get intense and they get into it. You know it is going to be a fun game when you come down to P.A.

“It is always exciting.”

Nolan Maier makes one of his 49 saves on Friday night.

Maier, who is already the Blades franchise record holder for career regular season victories, became just the fifth goalie in the history of the WHL to reach 117 career regular season wins. He needs three more wins to equal the WHL record for career regular season victories of 120 held jointly by Corey Hirsch and Tyson Sexsmith.

Hirsch picked up his 120 victories playing four seasons with the Kamloops Blazers from 1988 to 1992. Sexsmith collected his 120 wins over five seasons with the Vancouver Giants from 2005 to 2009. He also had one non-decision relief appearance for the Medicine Hat Tigers late in the 2004-05 campaign.

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said Maier played a huge role on the penalty kill forcing the Raiders to go 0-for-6 on the power play including a 59-second stretch where they had a five-on-three advantage. In the Raiders five previous outings before Friday’s game, they had gone 6-for-21 on the power play for a 28.6 per cent success rate.

Egor Sidorov (#19) wraps home the OT winner for the Blades.

Sonne said Maier was the reason his club killed off six power-play chances and got the win.

“I think P.A.’s power play the last five games was 28 per cent or something like that,” said Sonne, whose squad improved to 32-18-3-1 with the win. “They are dialled in right now.

“When you give up a five-on-three, a bunch of five-on-fours and a four-on-three, if you don’t get great goaltending they are going to go in the net. That is just the way it is against a power play like that. If not for him (Maier), this is a different story.”

Egor Sidorov, centre, celebrates his OT winner for the Blades.

After the two sides started the contest feeling each other out, the Raiders got buzzing in the Saskatoon zone when they got on the power play with 7:08 remaining in the frame. Just seconds into the power play, Raiders captain Reece Vitelli had a big chance to net the first goal of the contest, but he flipped the puck over top an open Saskatoon net.

A short time later, Maier robbed Raiders star right-winger Ozzy Wiesblatt on a backdoor chance.

“He (Maier) has played well, but we’ve beat him too,” said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid. “We played OK tonight.

“We made some good plays and had some good chances and didn’t have a lot of puck luck around the net. All in all, I liked our game. We have nothing to complain about.”

A trio of Blades fans cheer their team’s OT winner.

In the midst of all the Raiders pressure, Saskatoon would be the first side to get on the scoreboard.

With 2:47 remaining in the first, Blades left-winger Vaughn Watterodt found a loose puck by the right side of the Prince Albert goal during a net scramble. He knocked the puck in the empty cage to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

Just 2:18 into the second, the Raiders evened things up at 1-1, when centre Hayden Pakkala wired home a shot from the front of the Saskatoon goal for the equalizer.

Tikhon Chaika turned away 30 shots in goal for the Raiders.

At the 11:23 mark of the second, Pakkala netted his second of the contest to put the Raiders up 2-1. During furious action around the Saskatoon net, Pakkala got the puck alone in front of the goal and slid home the go-ahead tally past Maier.

Late in the second, the Raiders ended up on two power plays, but weren’t able to pot an insurance marking including playing with a five-on-three advantage for 59 seconds. Left-winger Keaton Sorensen had the best chance to score after the two-man advantage expired, but his close in shot was turned away by Maier.

With the Raiders holding a 2-1 edge going into the second intermission, Pakkala said he and his teammates were feeling positive vibes.

“We were really confident,” said Pakkala. “We had good energy in the room and good energy on the bench.

Hayden Pakkala (#11) scores twice for the Raiders on Friday.

“We definitely felt the rink too.”

At the 7:49 mark of the third, the Blades proficient power play ranked second in the WHL going into action on Friday came through at an opportune time. Blades overage star centre Tristen Robins had the puck by the right boards in the Prince Albert zone, and he found linemate Brandon Lisowsky open in the left slot.

Lisowsky quick blasted home his 31^st goal of the season to put the Blades on even terms with the Raiders at 2-2.

The Raiders thought they went ahead with 4:51 remaining in the third on a goal from overage defenceman Remy Aquilon. The Blades challenged that the Raiders were offside on the play, and video review determined Raiders centre Evan Herman was indeed offside on the rush into the Saskatoon zone where Aquilon’s goal was scored.

Cale Sanders had two assists for the Raiders on Friday.

“Obviously, it sucks,” said Raiders right-winger Cale Sanders, who had two assists on Friday night. “Emotions are high, and then all of a sudden they are so low.

“We just have to figure out a way to get back up high again and work off that.”

With 2:50 remaining in the third period, Robins was given a double minor for boarding for a hit he threw on Sanders. Robins’ double minor infraction will be reviewed automatically by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

The Raiders weren’t able to cash in during the four minutes of power play game that included the first 70 seconds of overtime.

That set up the dramatics on Sidorov’s winner.

Remy Aquilon thought he had a go-ahead goal in the third.

Tikhon Chaika turned away 30 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Raiders (22-28-3-1).

Maier said it was big for his side to find a way to get the comeback win especially with the way the Raiders carried play for a lot of the contest

“We’re trying to move up in the standings, and we’re trying to get home ice for playoffs,” said Maier. “We’re kind of getting ready to get on that roll before playoffs start.

“I think it was really huge for our group to kind of comeback and kind of stick with it and get the two points at the end of the night.”

Pakkala gave props to Maier for his stellar performance on Friday night.

“He (Maier) is a really good goalie,” said Pakkala. “He is really good with his glove.

Brandon Lisowsky scored the equalizer in the third for the Blades.

“It is tough to score on him.”

On the season, the Blades have won four of the seven total head-to-head games with the Raiders. The two teams go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre to conclude a home-and-home series.

Habscheid said all his side could do now was quickly regroup, but he took consolation in the fact his club got a standings point on Friday night.

“It is just a quick turnover,” said Habscheid. “Even though it is a rivalry, we’re interested in points.

The Blades celebrate their OT win on Friday night.

“We got one tonight. It would have been nice to get the other one.”

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

-------

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.