Ice top guns freeze out Blades

Winnipeg takes 2-0 lead in Eastern Conference final

Connor McClennon had a hat trick and an assist on Saturday.

The Winnipeg Ice top line felt the need for speed and the need for goals.

The forward unit of right-winger Connor McClennon, centre Matthew Savoie and left-winger Zach Benson delivered an abundance of both in Game 2 of the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series on Saturday afternoon against visiting the Saskatoon Blades. The Ice trio combined for five goals and five assists to power their host squad to a 6-2 victory before an appreciative gathering of 1,720 spectators at the Wayne Fleming Arena.

McClennon had a hat trick and an assist, while both Savoie and Benson each had a goal and two assists.

With the win, the Ice take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven set. Games 3 and 4 are set for Tuesday and Wednesday respectively at 7 p.m. both nights at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

Before the Ice stars took flight, the Blades came with a good initial push at the start of the first period. The visitor’s early momentum was assisted by the face Ice standout centre Conor Geekie was given a minor penalty for tripping at the 4:07 mark of the opening frame.

On the ensuing power play, Ice star netminder Daniel Hauser turned away two dangerous chances coming from a midrange shot from the left slot by Blades star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky and a point blank shot from the front of the Winnipeg net by centre Jayden Wiens.

Matthew Savoie had a goal and two assists on Saturday.

Right as the power play expired, the Ice turned the game’s momentum around. First, Ice defenceman Karter Prosofsky dumped Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov with a big hit.

A short time after that hit, Ice star offensive-defenceman Carson Lambos had the puck in his own zone and hit McClennon with a stretch pass at centre ice. McClennon jetted into the Saskatoon zone down the right wing and snapped home a shot just above the right faceoff dot to give the hosts a 1-0 edge. The goal came on Winnipeg’s first shot of the contest.

After the Ice went ahead on the scoreboard, the Blades had a chance to pull even off a good rush by Lisowsky. On a rush down the left wing into the Winnipeg zone, Lisowsky made a toe drag move around an Ice defenceman and snipped a shot on goal that was turned away by Hauser.

With 2:29 remaining in the first, McClennon scored his second of the contest to put the Ice up 2-0 with the Winnipeg side working on the power play. Ice star offensive-defenceman Ben Zloty had the puck above the right faceoff circle and fed a pass down to McClennon, who was left all alone by the left post of the Saskatoon net. McClennon made no mistake potting his second of the contest into an open cage to give his squad a two-goal edge.

The Ice power-play goal ended a run for the Blades where they had killed 12 straight power-play chances by their opposition.

Zach Benson (#9) had a goal and two assists for the Ice.

When the opening 20 minutes came to a close, the Blades held a 10-9 edge in shots on goal, but the Ice held a 2-0 advantage on the scoreboard.

At the 3:25 mark of the second, the Ice’s topped line lived out the cliché that you have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good. McClennon put the puck into the right corner of the Saskatoon zone on what seemed like a harmless dump in.

Blades netminder Austin Elliott started to skate behind his net in anticipation of playing the puck. The puck took a wicked curl off the boards and shot out across the face of the Saskatoon goal straight to a forechecking Benson. Benson dumped the puck into an empty Blades net to push the hosts lead out to 3-0.

With 7:31 remaining in the second, the Ice received a goal from outside their top forward line. Geekie had the puck just inside his own blue-line and hit standout centre Owen Pederson, who turned 21-years-old in late March, with a stretch pass just before the Saskatoon blue-line.

The Blades were caught on a line change, which allowed Pederson to streak into the Saskatoon zone on a breakaway. Pederson snuck a nifty backhand shot between the legs of Elliott for his third goal of the post-season to give the Ice a 4-0 lead.

Justin Lies scored for the Blades.

Just 68 seconds into the third, McClennon completed his hat trick to put the Ice ahead 5-0 on a play that almost resembled his power-play goal earlier in the contest. Ice defenceman Graham Sward had the puck at the right point and he fed a smart pass down to McClennon, who was again alone at the left post of the Saskatoon goal.

McClennon calmly potted his hat trick goal into an empty cage to give the hosts a five-goal edge. The tally was also the 10^th of the post-season for McClennon.

The Blades broke through for the first time in the series on the scoreboard shortly after the midway point of the third period where gritty left-winger Justin Lies seemingly turned into Blades all-time great Bernie Federko for a rush. Lies got the puck in the centre ice zone, jetting down the right wing, deked out and zipped around Lambos to get in alone on the Winnipeg net and slipped home a shot between the legs of Hauser to cut the Ice lead to 5-1.

With 5:21 remaining in the third, the Blades struck on the power play to trim the Ice advantage to 5-2. Wiens knocked home a puck about a foot in the air off the ice surface at the right side of the Winnipeg net to pull the Blades to within three. The opportunity Wiens cashed in on came from a rebound off a shot taken by Blades star centre Trevor Wong.

The officials checked out the tally on a video review and confirmed the goal was a good one.

The Blades were hoping to build on the two-goal surge and pulled Elliott for an extra attacker with 4:38 remaining in the third.

Jayden Wiens scored for the Blades on Saturday.

The Ice sealed the final outcome with 3:33 remaining in the third with an empty-net goal from Savoie that rounded out the 6-2 final.

Hauser made 27 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Ice, who have won five straight post-season games. Elliott turned away 27-of-32 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades.

The Blades were without 20-year-old defenceman Blake Gustafson and 18-year-old rearguard Ben Saunderson on Saturday as they were both injured in the team’s second game Eastern Conference semifinal series win over the Red Deer Rebels. They have yet to suit up for the Blades in their series with the Ice.

Black ace Morgan Tastad, who turned 17-years-old in January, dressed for his second career WHL post-season contest on Saturday and second straight game to allow the Blades to have six defencemen.

Tastad played most of the 2022-23 campaign with the Saskatoon Contacts under-18 AAA team. In 41 regular season appearances with the Contacts, Tastad had three goals and 24 assists.

Saskatoon elected to dress left-winger Mikhail Volotovskii in place of centre Jordan Keller with the hopes of getting a spark offensively.

Trevor Wong had an assist for the Blades on Saturday.

The Ice’s biggest scratch was 19-year-old defenceman Wyatt Wilson. Winnipeg elected to dress 17-year-old rookie rearguard Ashton Cumby for his third career post-season contest.

The Ice topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and were rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The 57 wins and 115 standings points are new franchise records for the Ice. 

The Blades finished fourth in the overall WHL regular season standings with a 48-15-4-1 record and were rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Blades overcame a 2-0 deficit in a first round series against Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats and a 3-0 deficit in an Eastern Conference semifinal against the Rebels to win those sets in respective Game 7s.

The Ice are pleased to have a 2-0 series lead.

Looking ahead, the Blades can’t be counted out, but the Ice’s skill and depth in skill will be tough to overcome.

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