Blades trail WHL playoff series 2-0 heading
home to Saskatoon
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| Brayden Yager had three points for the Warriors on Saturday. |
On Saturday playing before 3,290 spectators at Mosaic Place, the host Warriors slipped past the visiting Blades 5-3 in Game 2 of a WHL first round playoff series between the two sides. The victory allows the Warriors to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven set.
During the regular season, the Blades won six out of the eight head-to-head meetings between the two sides. The Warriors gained home ice advantage for the first round playoff series collecting 81 points to finish fourth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 37-24-4-3 record.
The Blades finished fifth in the Eastern Conference one point back of Moose Jaw with a 38-26-3-1 mark.
In Saturday’s Game 2 encounter, the two sides skated through a scoreless opening frame with the Warriors holding a 15-8 edge in shots on goal.
Just 20 seconds into the second, Warriors star centre Brayden Yager, who turned 17-years-old in early January, entered the Saskatoon zone jetting down the right wing on a short-handed two-on-one rush. Yager fired a shot that rebounded off the right pad of Blades overage star netminder Nolan Maier and deflected into the Saskatoon net off Blades centre Trevor Wong to give the host side a 1-0 lead.
The positive bounce tally by the Warriors didn’t discourage the Blades. At the 14:20 mark of the second, Blades left-winger Brandon Lisowsky banged home his first marker of the post-season from the right side of the Moose Jaw goal during a mini net scramble to even the score at 1-1.
Just 1:53 after Lisowsky’s equalizer, Blades overage defenceman Rhett Rhinehart fired a point shot on the Moose Jaw net that was deflected home by Blades left-winger Vaughn Watterodt to give the visitors a 2-1 edge.
With 1:33 remaining in the second Yager shifted the momentum back on the Warriors side blowing home a point shot that got through Maier to even the score at 2-2.
Moose Jaw went ahead 3-2 with 4.7 seconds remaining in the second, when Warriors defenceman Lucas Brenton wired home a shot from just inside the left faceoff circle in the Saskatoon zone. A shot taken by Warriors star centre Ryder Korczak that got blocked by a Blades player came out to Brenton to be a perfect positive bounce setup for his goal.
In the third, Moose Jaw got a key insurance goal to go ahead 4-2 with 6:46 remaining in the frame, when Warriors left-winger Riley Niven popped home a loose puck in the crease of the Saskatoon goal.
Things proceeded to get really hectic inside the final 50 seconds of the third. With 45.6 seconds remaining in the third and Maier pulled for an extra attacker for Saskatoon, Lisowsky backhanded home his second goal of the contest to cut the Warriors lead to 4-3.
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| Brandon Lisowsky had a pair of goals for the Blades on Saturday. |
Anderson sealed the win for Moose Jaw potting a long range empty-net goal that rounded out the 5-3 final score with 21.9 seconds remaining in the third. The Blades player and coaches proceeded to protest what went on and the resulting protest saw the officials access Crnkovic a 10-minute misconduct penalty.
A short time later, there was a faceoff with 9.9 seconds remaining in the third, and the officials ruled that tensions got hot enough that they called for the final 9.9 seconds to be run off the clock with the Warriors holding a two-goal lead. WHL rules allow officials the digression to run out the final seconds of a game clock at the end of the third period, if they feel tensions had gotten too high and score dictated the contest was decided.
The Blades protested the run off of the final 9.9 seconds on the clock.
Star overage netminder Carl Tetachuk made 28 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Warriors. Maier turned away 33-of-37 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades.
Yager, who is a graduate of the Saskatoon Contacts under-18 AAA team, had an assist to go with his two goals for a three-point night. Warriors offensive-defenceman Denton Mateychuk had a pair of assists in the win.
Blades centre Jayden Wiens collected a pair of helpers in the setback.
The Warriors failed to score on six chances with the power play, while the Blades were unable to score on two chances with the man advantage.
The Warriors have been without star defenceman Daemon Hunt so far for the series, because he is out week-to-week with a lower body injury.
Blades star overage captain Tristen Robins missed both games of the series so far being listed day-to-day with a lower body injury. Robins did accompany the Blades to Moose Jaw.
The series now shifts to Saskatoon with Game 3 set for Tuesday and Game 4 following on Wednesday. Puck drop for each of those contests is set for 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.
Winnipeg counter surge puts Raiders on Ice
in Game 2
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| Nolan Orzeck scored the Ice’s first goal on Saturday. |
On Saturday playing Game 2 of a WHL first round playoff series against the Ice in Winnipeg, the Raiders fell behind 2-0 to the host before the contest was 12 minutes old.
With 1:29 remaining in the first, Raiders offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior scored to cut the Ice lead to 2-1. Raiders captain Reece Vitelli and left-winger Cale Sanders picked up assists on the play.
After the visitors gained the momentum, Raiders import left-winger Vladislav Shilo picked up a tripping minor with just under 13 seconds to play in the opening frame. The Ice would capitalize on that infraction before the period expired.
With 4.8 seconds remaining in the first, a point shot from Ice offensive-defenceman Benjamin Zloty was deflected home by Ice left-winger Owen Pederson from the front of the Prince Albert goal to give the host side a 3-1 lead.
The Ice scored twice inside of the first 3:20 of the second period to increase their advantage to 5-1 and cruised from there to a 5-2 victory before a standing room crowd of 1,983 spectators at the Wayne Fleming Arena.
The win allows the Ice to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. They took Game 1 on Friday by a 3-1 final thanks to a storyline that was similar to what happened at the end of the first period in Game 2.
In Saturday’s clash, the Ice opened the scoring at the 2:51 mark of the first period while working on a power play. Ice overage defenceman Nolan Orzeck slipped a midrange shot from right boards by the right faceoff circle in the Prince Albert zone through a screened Raiders import rookie netminder Tikhon Chaika to give the host side a 1-0 edge.
With 8:03 remaining the first, Ice overage right-winger Jakin Smallwood came on a rush down the right wing to slip home a midrange shot from the right boards by the right faceoff circle to put the Ice up 2-0.
That set the stage for the dramatics at the end of the frame that saw Kosior score to cut the gap on the scoreboard to one for the Raiders and Pederson tip home his power-play goal right before the end of the frame to restore Winnipeg’s two-goal edge.
Momentum continued to avalanche against the Raiders at that point. At the 2:10 mark of the second, Ice star 16-year-old centre Zachary Benson slipped home a bad angle shot from the right boards just above the icing line to increase Winnipeg’s advantage to 4-1.
The Raiders proceeded to pull Chaika at that point in the contest. He turned away 11-of-15 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders.
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| Reece Vitelli had a goal and an assist for the Raiders on Saturday. |
The Ice beat Hildebrand just 70 seconds after he entered the contest, when Ice star centre Conor Geekie made a mini toe-drag move and roofed home a shot to give the hosts a 5-1 lead.
Despite being down by four goals, the Raiders did attempt to push back. With 4:22 remaining in the third, Sanders was able to flip a pass out to Vitelli in front of the Winnipeg net, and Vitelli blasted home his second of the post-season to round out the 5-2 final score in the Ice’s favour.
Ice star netminder Daniel Hauser stopped 18 shots to pick up the win in goal. Winnipeg defenceman Carson Lambos had three assists in his team’s win on Saturday.
The Ice were 2-for-3 on the power play in Saturday’s contest, while the Raiders failed to score on three chances with the man advantage.
In Saturday’s win, Winnipeg was without star centre Matthew Savoie, who turned 18-year-old on Jan. 1. Savoie left the third period of his team’s Game 1 victory at home on Friday favouring his left leg after blocking a shot.
Following the Ice’s victory on Saturday, Winnipeg head coach James Patrick told Mike Sawatzky of the Winnipeg Free Press that Savoie is day-to-day with a lower body injury.
Patrick said Savoie will travel with the Ice to Prince Albert for Tuesday’s Game 3 and Wednesday’s Game 4, which will be both played at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drop for both of those contests is slated for 7 p.m.
The Ice, who posted a 53-10-3-2 regular season record, enter the series with the Raiders, who were 28-35-4-1 in the regular season, as big favourites. While the Ice’s record was way better than that of the Raiders, the Prince Albert side did give the Winnipeg side fits in eight head-to-head games in the regular season winning three of those contests.
Going into Game 3 in Prince Albert on Tuesday, the Raiders will be looking to get an emotional boost from their faithful as they try to get back in the series.
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