Blades, Wong yank spotlight from Bedard, Pats

Trevor Wong had a hat trick and an assist for the Blades on Sunday.

Fans at the Brandt Centre were looking for a star performance on Sunday, but the Wong guy took centre stage.

Trevor Wong recorded a hat trick and assisted on the winning goal to power his visiting Saskatoon Blades to a 5-2 WHL regular season victory over Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats to disappointment of most of the 6,022 spectators in attendance. Wong, who is the Blades 19-year-old star centre and alternate captain, picked up just the second hat trick of his WHL career in the win, while posting a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department.

Bedard, who is the Pats 17-year-old phenom centre, was held pointless and had a minus-five rating. He was held without a point for just the third time this season.

The North Vancouver, B.C., product still lead the WHL in goals (59), assists (64) and points (123) to go with a plus-36 rating. In the 20 games Bedard has played with the Pats since rejoining them after helping Canada win gold at world juniors this past January 5 in Halifax, N.S., he had piled up 32 goals, and 27 assists for 59 points to go with a plus-22 rating.

Bedard’s brand took a big jump upward after he set numerous Canadian team records at this past world juniors held in Halifax, N.S., and Moncton, N.B.

Barring something unforeseen, Bedard will be the first overall selection in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft which will be held at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, from June 28 to 29. He is rated first among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting’s Mid-Term Rankings.

Since returning from world juniors, Bedard has been attracting season high crowds for the Pats opponents on the road as well as sellouts and near sellouts at the Pats home rink. The Pats went into Sunday’s clash with the Blades have won six straight and playing their third game in three nights.

Wong has been a quiet lead by example leader all season for the Blades, and he tops his team in scoring with 77 points coming off 23 goals and 54 assists, while posting a plus-16 rating appearing in all of the Blades 60 games this season. 

The Blades have about 10 or 11 players who get more press or recognition than Wong does, but the Vancouver product is happy to just produce and see teammates enjoy the spotlight.

Egor Sidorov scored twice on Sunday for the Blades.

On Sunday, Wong helped the Blades improve their winning streak to five games and get standings points in their last 10 outings coming off nine wins and one overtime setback. That run has allowed the Blades to vault to third in the WHL’s overall standings and second in the Eastern Conference standings with a 42-14-4-1 record.

The Blades were also playing their third game in three nights along with their four game in five nights and claimed victory in all four of those contests.

They sit 10 points back of the WHL leading Winnipeg Ice (49-9-1). The Blades sit six points ahead of the Central Division leading Red Deer Rebels (39-17-2-3), who sit third overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

In the first round of the WHL Playoffs, the division winners in each conference are awarded top seeds in their respective conference brackets. In the second round, the seeds in the conference brackets are determined by standings points.

At the moment, the Blades would have home ice advantage if they should meet the Rebels in a best-of-seven playoff series.

With the loss on Sunday, the Pats fell to 31-25-2-1 and continue to sit sixth overall in the Eastern Conference.

In Sunday’s clash between the Blades and Pats, the first period featured a fight between Blades right-winger Vaughn Watterodt and Pats rookie defenceman Carter Herman.

The Regina side opened the game’s scoring 1:36 remaining in the first period, when Pats import right-winger Alexander Suzdalev one-timed home a bad angle shot from the right side boards in the Saskatoon zone. Import defenceman Stanislav Svozil fed a perfect pass for Suzdalev to one-time home.

At the 8:23 mark of the second, Wong put the Blades on even terms at 1-1 scoring his first of the contest. He tapped home a puck at the left side of the Pats net after receiving a pass from star left-winger Jake Chiasson, who entered the Regina zone on a rush down the right wing and fed a pass across the face of the Pats net.

Jake Chiasson had a pair of assists for the Blades on Sunday.

Just over two minutes later, the Pats jumped in front 2-1, when left-winger Sam Oremba drove home a goal from the left slot in the Saskatoon zone. Oremba was placed in prime scoring position after receiving a setup pass from Svozil.

Just 82 seconds after that tally, Wong evened the score at 2-2 potting the rebound from his own shot in close on the left side of the Regina goal.

Early in the third, the Blades and Pats ended up playing four-versus-four hockey after a minor penalty by each side was taking 13 seconds apart from each other.

During that stretch of four-versus-four play, Bedard drove into the Saskatoon zone and wired a shot off the right post of the Blades net.

The puck came right out to Wong who broke down the other way down the right-winger on a two-on-one rush into the Regina zone. Wong sauced a perfect pass past a Pats defenceman across the front of the Regina goal to star import 18-year-old right-winger Egor Sidorov, who buried the game-winning tally to put the Blades up 3-2 at the 2:17 mark of the frame.

Just over four minutes later, Sidorov popped home his second of the contest and his 40^th goal of the season to push the Blades advantage out to 4-2. Sidorov finished the night with those two tallies and sits second in Blades team scoring with 74 points coming off his 40 goals and 34 assists to go with a plus-26 rating in 49 games.

Sidorov became the first Blades player to tally 40 or more goals in a season since right-winger Max Gerlach fired home 42 goals for the Saskatoon side in the 2018-19 campaign.

Wong completed his hat trick scoring into an empty net with 1:27 remaining in the third.

Austin Elliott, an 18-year-old rookie netminder, stopped 22 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Drew Sim turned away 32-of-36 shots to take the setback in goal for the Pats.

Chiasson finished the contest picking up a pair of assists for the Blades. The Blades have won three out of four head-to-head encounters with the Pats this season.

The Pats, who have nine games remaining on their regular season schedule, will look to regroup when they next hit the ice on Wednesday by hosting the Edmonton Oil Kings (7 p.m., Brandt Centre). The Oil Kings sit last in the entire WHL with an 8-48-3 record.

Austin Elliott stopped 22 shots for the Blades on Sunday.

The Blades, who have eight games remaining on their regular season schedule, will try to keep their roll going as they also get back at it on Wednesday returning home to host the 28-28-1-2 Swift Current Broncos (7 p.m., SaskTel 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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