Roulette comes up OT lucky in big night for Blades

Saskatoon quietly improves to 20-5 with win over Wheat Kings

Conner Roulette had two goals and two assists for the Blades.

Conner Roulette had the luck of James Bond in a casino when it came getting goals on video review.

With his Saskatoon Blades locked in a 4-4 tie in overtime with the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings on Tuesday night at the SaskTel Centre, Roulette broke into the offensive zone on a two-on-one rush to support linemate and standout centre Trevor Wong, who was carrying the puck. Wong zipped down the left wing and slid a pass across the front of the Brandon net to Roulette.

Roulette quickly wired a shot to the top left corner of the Wheat Kings net but the puck hit a post and quickly deflected away, but the officials weren’t sure if the puck hit one of the posts inside the net holding off on calling a goal. Roulette was certain the puck went in for the winning tally and raised his arms to celebrate.

Trevor Wong picked up an assist on the Blades OT winner.

As the Wheat Kings got set to rush back up ice, Roulette got set to be in a defensive position, but kept yelling his shot went in along with voices from the Blades bench. The officials proceeded to blow the play dead to go to video review.

They didn’t look at the video for long as the video angle from the top of the Brandon net clearly showed the puck going into the goal. That video was played on the scoreboard at the SaskTel Centre and the victory celebration was on for the Blades who pulled out the 5-4 victory in the WHL regular season clash.

The host side received an appreciative salute from the 2,611 spectators in attendance, who braved the -35 C conditions outside to make it two the Blades home rink located in the north end of Saskatoon.

The Blades celebrate Conner Roulette’s OT winner.

Netting the overtime winner capped a big night for Roulette. The 19-year-old right-winger finished the night netting two goals, which both had to be confirmed by video review, and two assists to go with a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department.

The Blades increased their winning streak to five games improving to 20-5 on the campaign. Their .800 winning percentage in the overall WHL standings trails only the .852 winning percentage of the league leading Winnipeg Ice (23-4).

During their winning streak, the Blades have beaten the Ice and the Red Deer Rebels (18-5-1-3), who sit first in the Central Division. When the latest CHL Top 10 Rankings were released on Tuesday, the Blades moved from sixth up to the fifth overall ranking.

Justin Lies scored the Blades first goal on Tuesday.

While the Blades have jumped out to one of their best starts in team history, they’ve kind of come up under the radar. When the season started, the Blades were expected to be a playoff caliber team, but the Ice and Rebels were projected to be the class clubs of the WHL’s Eastern Conference to contend for the league championship.

After the Blades graduated star netminder Nolan Maier at the conclusion of last season, the Blades weren’t expected to be contender for a WHL title or even occupy a top five spot in the circuit’s overall standings. Maier graduated from the WHL holding the league’s career record for regular season goaltending wins at 122, and the Blades didn’t have any concerns in net during the five campaigns Maier was with the club.

Calder Anderson scored the Wheat Kings first goal on Tuesday.

Saskatoon looked towards a pair of 18-year-olds in their system to carry the load in net in sophomore Ethan Chadwick and rookie Austin Elliott. So far, the Blades have posted the WHL’s lowest team goals against average at 2.10, while Chadwick has recorded a .908 save percentage and Elliott has put up a .930 save percentage.

Against the Wheat Kings, the Blades showed they had the mental toughness to withstand the push backs of a pesky opponent that gained some confidence looking to build on two straight wins entering play on Tuesday.

The Blades opened the game’s scoring just 1:56 into the first period, where Roulette picked up his first assist of the contest. Roulette had control of the puck at the left side of the Brandon net and fed a pass across the face of the goal to linemate Justin Lies. Lies potted home the backdoor feed to give the Blades a 1-0 lead.

Tyler Parr scored on a second period breakaway for the Blades.

Just over 10 minutes later, Roulette proceeded to put the Blades up 2-0 on his first goal that was confirmed by video review. He had puck deep in the Brandon zone by the right boards at a bad angle, but he still managed to fire home a shot to the top left corner of the Wheat Kings net for his ninth tally of the season.

The officials didn’t at first rule Roulette scored, even though he started to celebrate. When play stopped, the officials went to a video review and confirmed that Roulette did score to put the Blades up by two.

With just over two minutes remaining in the first period, the Blades turned the puck over at the Brandon blue-line to Wheat Kings 20-year-old right-winger Calder Anderson. Anderson broke down the ice on a contested breakaway and fired home a shot to the left corner of the Saskatoon net to cut the Blades lead to 2-1 with 1:59 remaining in the frame.

Rylen Roersma scored the Wheat Kings second goal on Tuesday.

The Blades restored their two-goal edge at the 8:13 mark of the second. Wong sent a long flip pass to spring left-winger Tyler Parr on a breakaway. Parr broke into the Brandon zone and snapped home his fourth of the season to give the Blades a 3-1 advantage.

With 4:04 remaining in the second, the Wheat King cut the Blades lead to 3-2 when Brandon left-winger Rylen Roersma tipped home a shot from the point taken by defenceman Andrei Malyavin.

Saskatoon again went back up by two goals with 1:34 remaining in the second, when centre Jayden Wiens corralled a loose puck at the right side of the Brandon goal during a net scramble and popped home his 10^th of the season to put the hosts up 4-2. Roulette picked up his second assist of the game on Wiens’s tally.

Jayden Wiens scored his 10th goal of the season on Tuesday.

Just 69 seconds into the third, Wheat Kings left-winger Brett Hyland potted his 11^th of the season to cut the Blades lead to 4-3. The Blades challenged that the Wheat Kings were offside on the play, but the officials ruled the video replay was inconclusive allowing the Brandon tally to stand.

The teams traded scoring chances as the frame went on, but the Wheat Kings found some last second heroics to force overtime. With 10.1 seconds remaining in the third, Wheat Kings 20-year-old centre Nolan Ritchie had the puck at the right side of the Saskatoon net and fed a pass across the face of the goal to linemate Jake Chiasson.

Chiasson converted the backdoor feed popping the puck into an empty cage to create a 4-4 tie and force overtime.

Jake Chiasson celebrates his equalizer in the third period.

That set the stage for the dramatics of Roulette’s winner that had to be confirmed by video review.

Chadwick made 16 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Nicholas Jones turned away 25 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Wheat Kings (10-15-3).

The Wheat Kings return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the 10-15-2 Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades get back at it Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

As the Blades keep moving forward, they will be looking to keep building on the feel good story they’ve created so far in the current campaign. You can be sure there are doubters out there who are waiting for the wheels to fall off.

The Blades leave the ice happy with pulling out their OT victory.

On the other hand, what if the wheels don’t fall off for the Blades this season? What if this Blades team is special?

If this turns out to be a Blades team that can accomplish special things, it might be best to just soak and appreciate in the cool moments that happen in the present like Roulette’s memorable big Tuesday night.

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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