Blades’ Chadwick puts WHL leading Ice on ice

Blades G Ethan Chadwick (#33) stops Ice C Zach Ostapchuk (#20).

After stealing 3-2 a victory against the visiting and WHL leading Winnipeg Ice, Saskatoon Blades hometown netminder Ethan Chadwick made certain to show the team’s mascot some love.

On Saturday at the SaskTel Centre, Chadwick stopped 34 shots including multiple quality scoring chances to allow the Blades to escape a WHL regular season clash against the Ice with a victory. After being mobbed by his teammates after the win, Chadwick came out of that celebration and immediately skated over to give Blades mascot Poke Check a big hug.

Chadwick’s superhuman performance came at a big time for the Blades, who were short staffed having been bitten hard by the injury bug. The Blades took the ice on Saturday with 17 skaters, which is one short of the full complement of 18.

Ethan Chadwick (#33) hugs Blades mascot Poke Check.

The injury list included netminder Austin Elliott and centres Jayden Wiens and Josh Pillar due to lower body injuries. Also out were wingers Tyler Parr, Conner Roulette and Justin Lies with upper body injuries, while overage defenceman Blake Gustafson was out due to illness.

The Blades dressed associate player call up Evan Gardner as the backup netminder. The 16-year-old Gardner has been playing with the Rink Hockey Academy’s under-18 team in Kelowna, B.C.

The 4,405 spectators in attendance at the SaskTel Centre seemed aware of the Blades manpower situation. When time expired in the third period, the fans gave the Blades a rousing and warm ovation.

Ethan Chadwick makes one of his 34 saves on Saturday.

Chadwick put the exclamation point on the win with his play specifically in the third period. The two sides entered the third period locked in a 2-2 draw as a prelude to the excitement to come.

At the 3:21 mark of the third, Blades standout left-winger Jake Chiasson fired home a shot from the left faceoff dot in the Winnipeg zone to give the host side a 3-2 lead. Chadwick ensured that score held up as the final outcome of the contest.

During the final three minutes of the third, Chadwick at times looked like Hockey Hall of Fame netminder Dominik Hasek with the way he was maneuvering in his net doing everything possible to keep the puck out of the Saskatoon goal.

Ethan Chadwick, left, covers the puck while getting a snow shower.

Overall, Chadwick’s play proved key throughout the contest in giving the Blades a chance to win.

The Ice drew first blood just 3:17 into Saturday’s game off a deflection tally from overage right-winger Connor McClennon. McClennon tipped home a point shot from 19-year-old veteran defenceman Graham Sward to allow the visitors to take a 1-0 lead.

Ice 17-year-old rookie defenceman Ashton Cumby picked up a secondary assist on the play for his first career point in the WHL.

The Blades skaters help Ethan Chadwick (#33) defend the team’s net.

The Ice brought a tonne of pressure in the opening 20 minutes holding a 14-5 edge in shots on goal, but they weren’t able to increase their 1-0 advantage as Chadwick slammed the door in front of the Saskatoon net.

The Blades battled back with some push back in the second. They were able to get the puck deep into the offensive zone on a frequent basis and were more aggressive on their forecheck causing the Ice to spend frequent periods pinned in their own zone.

Jake Chiasson scored the winner for the Blades on Saturday.

With 7:41 remaining in the frame, the Blades went on the power play with a two-man advantage for two minutes due to Ice defenceman Karter Prosofsky taking a hooking penalty and McClennon being assessed a boarding infraction.

The host side tallied 50 seconds into the two-man advantage evening the score at 1-1, when star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky one-timed home a shot from the right slot for his 26^th goal of the season. Blades star centre Trevor Wong fed a beauty pass to Lisowsky allowing the Toronto Maple Leafs NHL Entry Draft selection to score for Saskatoon.

Just 67 seconds later with the Blades still working on the power play, Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov broke in on the Winnipeg goal on a two-on-one break. He fired a shot that Ice netminder Daniel Hauser got a piece of but the puck trickled into the net to give the Blades a 2-1 advantage.

Connor McClennon, right, scored twice for the Ice on Saturday.

With 4:31 remaining in the second, the Ice found themselves having a two-man advantage after the Blades ran into some penalty trouble. Just 20 seconds after Blades 20-year-old captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere was given an interference minor, his standout defensive partner Tanner Molendyk, who turned 18-years-old on Friday, cleared the puck over the glass and was given a delay of game infraction.

Just 23 seconds into the five-on-three power play, McClennon one-timed a laser beam shot from the point for his second goal of the contest and 30^th tally of the season to even the score at 2-2. Star left-winger Zach Benson fed a great pass to McClennon for the one-timer. The Ice weren’t able to capitalize on their remaining power-play time.

Brandon Lisowsky scored the Blades first goal on Saturday.

That set the stage for Chiasson to score the winner early in the third and Chadwick to come through with heroics to allow the Blades to pull out victory.

With the win, the Blades improved to 31-12-3-1 to move one point ahead of the 31-16-0-3 Moose Jaw Warriors for third overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. Saskatoon has three games in hand on Moose Jaw.

Hauser turned away 21 shots to take the setback in net for the Ice, who are rated second in the CHL Top 10 rankings. The Ice fell to 37-7-1, but they still sit first in the WHL’s overall standings.

The Ice were also playing short-handed taking the ice with 17 skaters. Defenceman Wyatt Wilson was out with a lower body injury, right-winger Easton Armstrong was injured in the Ice’s 7-6 overtime victory over the Wheat Kings in Brandon on Friday and 20-year-old left-winger Owen Pederson was out due to illness.

The Blades celebrate their win on Saturday.

Pederson’s absence was a big one, because he is one of the star players on the Ice. He has 21 goals and 33 assists in 43 games with the Ice this season.

With that noted, the Ice still had numerous high end players to lean on in McClennon, Benson, Matthew Savoie, Conor Geekie, Zach Ostapchuk, Ben Zloty and captain Carson Lambos.

Outmatched on paper, the Blades were still able to gut out the win and claimed two of the six head-to-head regular season meetings with the Ice in the current campaign.

The Blades return to action on Sunday when they host the 19-21-7 Brandon Wheat Kings (4 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

Ethan Chadwick flips a souvenir stick to the fans.

The Ice get back at it on Wednesday when they return home to host the Calgary Hitmen (7 p.m. local time, Wayne Fleming Arena).

If Chadwick can keep repeating Saturday’s stellar performance, he will buy the Blades time to return players back to action from the injury to help the team’s depth for the stretch run leading to the post-season.

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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