Blades officially playoff bound with 3-1 win over Pats

Rivalry picks up heat as fans heckle Bedard

Rhett Rhinehart (#41) waves goodbye to Logan Nijhoff (#29).

Business is picking up in the dormant rivalry between the Saskatoon Blades and Regina Pats.

On Friday night, a season high 7,523 spectators turned out at the SaskTel Centre to see the Blades take on 16-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard and his Regina Pats in a WHL regular season clash. It was obvious the presence of Bedard helped bring the large turnout.

The contest itself was a spirited and feisty affair that included some physical play and more than usual chirping between the players on the ice.

Blades sophomore defenceman Marek Schneider, who turned 19-years-old in early February, was the hero on the night as his first career WHL goal in the second period stood up as the winner in a 3-1 victory by the home side. He engaged Pats rookie 17-year-old left-winger Zane Rowan in a short third period fight to gain more stature in the eyes of Saskatoon fans.

Connor Bedard (#98) received lots of attention on Friday.

Blades overage defenceman Rhett Rhinehart was engaged in frequent talking sessions and a few physical sessions with Bedard for much of the first two periods and then Pats overage captain Logan Nijhoff for a lot of the third period.

With Blades up 3-1, some of the spectators at the SaskTel Centre started the “overrated” chant for Bedard with 11:11 remaining in the third and again with 5:45 left in the frame.

The North Vancouver, B.C., product looked visibly frustrated by the end of the night as he was held pointless bringing an end to his streak of recording at least one point in 21 consecutive games, which was the longest consecutive games point streak in the WHL this season. During that run, Bedard put up 45 points coming on 23 goals and 22 assists.

Blades D Marek Schneider fights Pats LW Zane Rowan.

When the dust settled, the Blades not only claimed victory in the game but locked up a berth in the WHL playoffs. The playoff clinching scenario played out due to the fact the Prince Albert Raiders fell 5-3 to the Wheat Kings in Brandon on Friday night.

To added extra icing to the cake for Blades fans, their team has won all five head-to-head meetings with the Pats this season in overtime.

If freelance writer Darrell Utley, who was known as Barney from the bowling alley,” was still typing columns for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix like he did in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he would have likely typed out what it a joy it was to see the “snaky” Pats fans in attendance slither quietly out of the SaskTel Centre after their team lost.

Marek Schneider celebrates scoring his first career WHL goal.

As has been tradition for decades, the Pats had a fan bus and a healthy contingent of supporters on hand for Friday’s game.

During the history of the Blades franchise, there have been stretches of time where Saskatoon supporters have taken the team’s rivalry with the Pats more seriously than the rivalry with the Raiders. Part of that came from a long time overall hatred for Regina, which has been shown also towards the Regina Rams football team in both the CJFL and now the U Sports ranks as the University of Regina Rams during a lengthy stretch in the past.

For Saskatoon fans on Friday night, it was apparent the rivalry between Saskatoon and Regina was more in the spotlight as the Blades faced the Pats.

Marek Schneider was a Blades fan favourite on Friday night.

In the game itself, Bedard had a couple of big scoring chances in the first period. On a dangerous rush down the right wing, Bedard was turned away on a backhand shot by Blades netminder Ethan Chadwick.

A short time later, Bedard wired a laser shot off the post.

With 4:39 remaining in the opening frame, the Blades jumped ahead 1-0 on a goal from import right-winger Egor Sidorov. Blades centre Josh Pillar forced a turnover in the Regina zone and chipped the puck to Sidorov, who was alone in front of the left side of the Regina goal.

Sidorov immediate roofed home his 18^th tally of the season to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

Egor Sidorov scored the Blades first goal on Friday.

With 3:08 remaining in the first, the Pats tied things up a 1-1 on a power-play goal from Nijhoff. Pats left-winger Tanner Howe had the puck at the right side boards and passed it down to Nijhoff at the right side of the Regina goal.

Nijhoff went backhand to forehand and popped home the equalizer.

Play was fairly even in the first 20 minutes as the shots on goal were tied 13-13.

The Blades dominated the second period peppering Pats sophomore netminder Drew Sim with a 21 shots as the Pats only replied with four shots in the stanza.

The hosts were only able to cash in with one goal as sophomore Schneider blew home a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle to give the Blades a 2-1 lead. Defensive partner Charlie Wright made sure to collect Schneider’s goal puck for a souvenir of that first WHL tally.

Rhett Rhinehart (#41) tangles with Connor Bedard.

Late in the second, things got testy. Inside of the final 25 seconds of the second, Bedard made an open ice hit on Blades star overage centre Tristen Robins in the Saskatoon zone. The hit allowed Bedard to get the puck off Robins and create a scoring chance.

As the time on the clock hit zero, Bedard hit Robins again on the boards. Rhinehart proceeded to go after Bedard causing a massive scrum to ensue.

Ultimately, the Pats found themselves on a two-minute power play to start the third, but were unable to score with the man advantage.

Shortly after that kill at the 3:11 mark of the third, Robins came down the left wing on a rush, gathered a loose puck, cut across the front of the Pats net and put home his 32^nd goal of the season to push Saskatoon’s lead out to 3-1.

Logan Nijhoff scored the Pats lone goal on Friday.

The Blades closed out the game defensively the rest of the way to secure victory.

Chadwick stopped 23 shots in goal for the Blades, who improved to 34-22-3-1. Sim turned away 41 shots to take the setback in net for the Pats, who fell to 23-30-3-2 having lost three straight games.

Right-winger Kyren Gronick picked up a pair of assists for the Blades.

The Blades return to action on Saturday when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the Warriors (7 p.m., Mosaic Place). That clash could prove to be big when it comes to getting home ice advantage potentially for a first round playoff series as the Warriors, who have a 34-21-3-2 record, lead the Blades by one point for fourth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

Tristen Robins scored the Blades third goal on Friday.

The Pats also get back at it on Saturday when they return home to host the Brandon Wheat Kings (7 p.m., Brandt Centre). Regina trails the 24-30-5-2 Swift Current Broncos by four points for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, and the Pats have three games in hand on the Broncos.

When the final buzzer ended in Friday’s clash between the Blades and Pats, the teams engaged in one last scrum behind the Saskatoon goal. As the officials separated the players, Rhinehart waved goodbye to Nijhoff.

The Blades celebrate their victory on Friday night.

At the moment, the rivalry between the Blades and Pats has returned at a more intense level. The two sides meet one last time in the regular season this coming Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.

It is safe to suspect the drama will carry over to that next clash.

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