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| Egor Sidorov scored the OT winner for the Blades on Saturday. |
On Saturday, the Blades found themselves in overtime locked in a 2-2 draw taking on the host Calgary Hitmen at the Tsuut’ina Seven Chiefs Sportsplex in a WHL regular season contest. During the three-versus-three session, Sidorov collected the puck in his own zone, blew coast-to-coast down the left wing and roofed home a shot top corner to the short side of Hitmen netminder Ethan Buenaventura.
Sidorov’s tally delivered the visitors to a 3-2 victory before 1,232 spectators. That marker came at the 2:30 mark of the extra session.
The goal completed a two-point night for Sidorov, who picked up an assist on the Blades first goal of the contest. The 18-year-old Belarusian import right-winger, who is living in Canada full time, is continuing a strong sophomore season having posted 27 goals, 21 assists and a plus-17 rating in the plus-minus department in 33 games.
Last year as a 17-year-old rookie, Sidorov appeared in 58 regular season games for the Blades collecting 23 goals, 12 assists and a minus-two rating.
This season, Sidorov tops the Blades with six game-winning goals and two overtime tallies. The Saskatoon side needed the skilled winger to deliver in the clutch on Saturday.
The Blades entered play on Friday without centre Jayden Wiens and overage star right-winger Josh Pillar with lower body injuries. Both are listed as being out week to week. Saskatoon also entered play on Friday without the services of centre Tyler Parr, who is out indefinitely with an upper body injury.
During a 5-1 loss to the Rebels in Red Deer on Friday, the Blades lost centre Mikhail Volotovski and left-winger Justin Lies due to upper body injuries. Lies taken off the ice on a stretcher at the 5:29 mark of the second period after being on the receiving end of a hit from Rebels left-winger Carson Birnie. Birnie received an interference major and a game misconduct on the play.
The penalty triggered an automatic review by the WHL office for a possible suspension, but no suspension was issued to Birnie. During that same contest, Rebels 19-year-old centre Craig Armstrong was given a double minor for slew-footing near the end of the second period, and the WHL office gave him a one-game suspension in the automatic review for that infraction.
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| Austin Elliott stopped 24 shots in net for the Blades. |
The Hitmen got on the board first against the short-staffed Blades with 17-year-old defenceman Carter Yakemchuk scoring with 2:34 remaining in the opening frame.
Just 14 seconds into the second period, the Blades pulled even at 1-1 on a goal by star right-winger Brandon Lisowsky, who collected his 24th tally of the season. Lisowsky deflected home a point shot taken by star 17-year-old defenceman Tanner Molendyk to pull the Blades even on the scoreboard.
With 5:13 remaining in the third, Blades standout right-winger Jake Chiasson jetted across the front of the Calgary net and put home a backhand shot to give the Blades a 2-1 advantage. The tally was Chiasson’s first goal as a member of the Blades after being acquired in a trade with the Brandon Wheat Kings made before the WHL’s trade deadline on January 10.
The Blades looked like they were going to make Chiasson’s tally stand up as the winner. With 68 seconds remaining in the third, Yakemchuk netted his second goal of the contest to pull the Hitmen even with the visitors at 2-2. Yakemchuk’s equalizer came with the Hitmen having pulled Buenaventura to play with five skaters versus the Blades four skaters due to some staggered minor penalties that were called.
That set the stage for Sidorov to net the winner in overtime.
Austin Elliott made 24 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Blades (29-11-3-1). Buenaventura turned away 42 shots to take the extra time setback in net for the Hitmen (23-17-4-1).
Saskatoon is 5-6-3-1 since returning to action after the WHL’s Christmas break.
The Blades return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Brandon to face the 19-21-5 Wheat Kings (7 p.m. local time, Westoba Place).
The Hitmen return to action on Sunday when they host the WHL leading 34-6-1 Winnipeg Ice (4 p.m. local time, Scotiabank Saddledome).
Herman, Pakkala push Raiders past Cougars
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| Evan Herman scored twice for the Raiders on Saturday. |
Herman scored twice and Pakkala had a goal and an assist to push the Raiders past the host Cougars 4-1 in a WHL regular season game played Saturday before 5,101 spectators at the CN Centre. The win marked the beginning of a stretch of six straight road games for the Raiders that will see them take on all five clubs that make up the B.C. Division.
Just 61 seconds into the contest, the Cougars jumped ahead 1-0 as 18-year-old rookie Czech import right-winger Ondrej Becher put a backhander past Raiders netminder Max Hildebrand.
The Raiders evened the score at 1-1 working on the power play with 1:36 remaining in the first period when Pakkala, who turned 19-years-old on Saturday, put home a backhand shot through at crowd into the Prince George net.
Prince Albert jumped ahead 2-1 with 4:44 remaining in the second period thanks to a goal coming from 18-year-old left-winger Carter Anderson. After getting the puck from Pakkala, Anderson jetted down the left wing and wired home his eighth goal of the season to the top right corner of the Prince George goal.
With 2:29 remaining in the second Herman, who is an overager, netted his first to two goals on the night to increase the Raiders advantage to 3-1. Herman added his second of the contest on the power play at the 3:43 mark of the third to ultimately round out the 4-1 final in favour of the Raiders.
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| Max Hildebrand stopped 28 shots in goal for the Raiders. |
The two sides, who only play once a season, also engaged in three different fights. In the first period, Raiders centre Cole Peardon took on Cougars centre Carlin Dezainde.
The second frame saw Raiders defenceman Easton Kovacs take on Cougars rearguard Ross Stanley, and the third period featured bout between Raiders defenceman Seth Tansem taking on Cougars left-winger Fischer O’Brien.
The Raiders now travel to Victoria to take on the 14-28-4-1 Royals (7 p.m. local time, Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena).
The Cougars are off until Friday when they host the Royals (7 p.m. local time, CN Centre).
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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