Chiasson nets winner and two helpers for
Saskatoon
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| Jake Chiasson had a goal and two assists for the Blades on Sunday. |
On Sunday evening at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades found themselves in stuck quicksand trailing the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings 2-0 late into the second period of a WHL regular season contest.
With 1:53 remaining in the second, Blades steady
19-year-old defenceman Charlie Wright popped home a shot from the top of the
right faceoff circle in the offensive zone for his fourth goal of the season to
cut the Wheat Kings lead to 2-1.
The Blades built momentum after Wright’s tally and rolled off three goals in the third to pull out a 4-2 victory to the delight of most of the 4,038 spectators in attendance.
Sunday’s game marked the second time the Blades came back to win a
game after trailing on the scoreboard entering the third period. On the season,
the Blades entered the third period trailing on the scoreboard on 13 occasions.
The win
allowed the Blades to improve to 33-12-3-1 to remain one point ahead of the
Moose Jaw Warriors (32-16-0-3) for third overall in the WHL’s Eastern
Conference. The Warriors downed the Hitmen in Calgary 2-1 on Sunday to remain
one point back of the Blades. Saskatoon has three games in hand on Moose Jaw.
The Wheat
Kings opened the game’s scoring with just 2.5 seconds remaining in the opening
frame when 19-year-old left-winger Brett Hyland slid home a backhand shot for
his 23rd goal of the season. At the 6:34 mark of the second, the
Wheat Kings extended their lead to 2-0 when 20-year-old centre Nolan Ritchie
netted his 19th tally of the campaign.
At that point, Wright proceeded to score shortly before the end of the second to trigger the Blades rally.
Saskatoon pulled even at 2-2 at the 7:28 mark of the third on Jordan Keller’s first of two goals on the night. The 17-year-old rookie centre collected the rebound of a point shot taken by Wright at the right side of the Brandon goal popped home his eight of the season to erase the Brandon lead.
Blades
19-year-old left-winger Jake Chiasson, who came to the Saskatoon in a deal with
the Wheat Kings right before the WHL’s trade deadline on January 10, picked up
an assist on Keller’s equalizer.
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| Egor Sidorov had an assist for the Blades on Sunday. |
Chiasson
toe dragged the puck between his legs roofed home his 14th goal of
the season to the top right corner of the Brandon net to give the Blades a 3-2
advantage. Blades captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere also picked up an assist on
the go-ahead goal.
Just 1:43
later, Keller drove hard in close to the right side of the Brandon net and
powered home his second goal of the contest to round out the 4-2 final in the
Blades favour. Chiasson picked up an assist on the insurance tally to finish
the contest with one goal, two assists and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus
department.
Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov also had an assist on Keller’s second tally.
Frustration proceeded to set in for the Wheat Kings. With 5:19 remaining in the third, Wheat Kings tough guy left-winger Matthew Henry hit De La Gorgendiere from behind into the boards.
The officials gave Henry a charging minor and a 10-minute misconduct. In 45 games with the Wheat Kings this season, Henry, who is an 18-year-old rookie, leads the WHL with 115 penalty minutes, has no points and is a minus-six.
Ethan Chadwick made 26 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Nicholas Jones, who is an 18-year-old rookie, turned away 27 shots to take the setback in net for the Wheat Kings (19-22-7).
The Wheat Kings sit five points behind the 21-21-7-1 Medicine Hat Tigers for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. Brandon has two games in hand on Medicine Hat.
Saskatoon had 20-year-old defenceman Blake Gustafson back in action on Sunday after he missed the team’s 3-2 victory over the visiting Winnipeg Ice on Saturday due to illness. The Blades took the ice with a full complement of 18 skaters on Sunday, but they still have a lengthy injury list.
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| Jake Chiasson (#61) gives a souvenir hockey stick to a young fan. |
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 Blades return to action on Tuesday when they host the 8-37-3 Edmonton Oil Kings (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).
The Wheat Kings are off until Friday when they host the Oil Kings (7 p.m. local time, Westoba Place).
Coyotes return Guenther to WHL, other notes
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| Dylan Guenther in action for the Oil Kings in January of 2022. |
On Sunday,
the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes assigned 19-year-old right-winger Dylan Guenther to
the Thunderbirds. Guenther appeared in 33 games with the Coyotes posting six
goals, nine assists and a minus-seven rating in the plus-minus department. The
Coyotes selected Guenther in the first round and ninth overall in the 2021 NHL
Entry Draft.
Guenther’s
WHL rights were held by his hometown Edmonton Oil Kings. The Oil Kings dealt
Guenther’s WHL rights to the Thunderbirds in a deal right before the WHL’s
trade deadline on January 10.
In that
trade, the Oil Kings sent Guenther’s rights, the rights to prospect forward
Jordan Ramsay, who turned 16-years-old on January 24, and an eighth round
selection in the 2023 WHL Prospect Draft to the Thunderbirds. In exchange, the
Thunderbirds sent the rights of prospect forward Koji Gibson, who will turn
16-years-old on March 10, and a fourth round selection in the 2024 Prospect
Draft to the Oil Kings.
The
Thunderbirds also included six conditional Prospect Drafts selections in the
deal including a second round pick in 2023, a sixth round pick in 2024, a
fourth round pick in 2025 and first, fourth and fifth round picks in 2026. On Sunday, the Thunderbirds confirmed all six of those selections were transferred to the Oil Kings now that Guenther has been assigned back to the WHL.
Last season, Guenther had a memorable campaign with the Oil Kings, who selected him first overall in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft. Appearing in 59 regular season games, Guenther posted 45 goals, 46 assists and a plus-51 rating in the plus-minus department. In 16 games in the WHL playoffs, Guenther recorded 13 goals, eight assists and a plus-12 rating.
In 2021-22, the Oil Kings finished second overall in the WHL standings with a 50-14-3-1 record. In the WHL playoffs, the Oil Kings captured a league championship posting a 16-3 record. Guenther was unable to play for the Oil Kings in the Memorial Cup tournament that crowns a CHL champion due to sustaining a knee injury in Game 3 of the WHL final.
The Oil Kings eliminated the Thunderbirds in six games in the 2022 WHL final. This season, the Oil Kings sit last in the entire WHL with an 8-37-3 record.
The Thunderbirds sit first overall in the WHL’s Western Conference and second in the circuit’s overall standings with a 36-9-1-1 record after downing the visiting Spokane Chiefs 3-1 on Sunday. Seattle has a stacked roster that includes 10 players who have either been drafted or signed with an NHL team.
Guenther did play for Canada at this past world juniors. In the gold medal game played on January 5 in Halifax, Guenther had two goals including the overtime winner and an assist as Canada downed Czechia 3-2.
Playing in all of Canada’s seven games at that event, Guenther recorded seven goals and three assists for 10 points. He tallied six goals on the power play, which was record for most power play goals by a Canadian at one world juniors.
The Coyotes had loaned Guenther to Canada for world juniors.
Guenther could potentially debut for the Thunderbirds on Friday when they host the Red Deer Rebels (7 p.m. local time, accesso ShoWare Center).
- On Sunday, 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard scored his 45th goal of the season to give the visiting Regina Pats a 1-0 lead over the host Tigers in Medicine Hat. The Tigers responded with five straight goals to post a 5-1 victory. Pavel Bocharov, Kurtis Smythe, Rhett Parsons, Dallon Melin and Oasiz Wiesblatt all netted singles for the Tigers. The Tigers drew a season high 6,178 spectators to Co-op Place for the clash with Bedard and the Pats.
- Star offensive-defenceman Olen Zellweger scored with 22.4 seconds remaining in the third period to lift the host Kamloops Blazers to a 4-3 victory over the Victoria Royals. The Royals held a 3-1 lead early in the second period before the Blazers rallied with three straight goals to pull out the victory. The Blazers improved to 31-10-4-2 riding a four game winning streak to sit first in the B.C. Division. They officially clinched a berth in the WHL Playoffs with Sunday’s victory. The Memorial Cup hosting Blazers drew 4,920 spectators in their win Sunday over the Royals.
- The Prince Albert Raiders posted a 3-2 record on their five-game road trip through the B.C. Division that concluded with a 4-0 loss to the Rockets in Kelowna on Saturday. The Raiders outshot the Rockets 51-23 in the setback. With a 19-27-3 record, the Raiders sit nine points back of the 21-21-7-1 Medicine Hat Tigers for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. The Raiders have a game in hand on the Tigers.
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