Blades take Game 2 overtime classic 3-2 over Warriors

WHL’s Eastern Conference final all even at 1-1

The celebration is on after Fraser Minten scores the OT winner.

Two nights, two overtime classics.

The WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series between the Saskatoon Blades and Moose Jaw Warriors is pure fire.

In Game 1 on Friday at the SaskTel Centre, star centre Brayden Yager scored at the 12:34 mark of overtime to deliver his Warriors to a 4-3 victory to open the best-of-seven series between the two sides.

In Game 2 played before 9,328 spectators at the SaskTel Centre on Saturday, star centre Fraser Minten played the role of overtime hero for the Blades. With the two sides locked in a 2-2 tie in the extra session, Minten broke into the Warriors zone on a two-on-one break with Lukas Hansen, who was in possession of the puck.

The Blades faithful cheers their team’s overtime winner.

Hansen entered the zone jetting down the right wing and made a backhand pass across the face the Moose Jaw goal to Minten, who was open for a backdoor feed at the left of the net. Minten made no mistake firing home his first game winning and overtime winning goal of the post-season to deliver the Blades to a 3-2 victory to the loudest cheers heard at the SaskTel Centre in the current WHL campaign. The tally came with 6:54 remaining in the extra session.

With the Blades win on Saturday, the Eastern Conference Championship Series is now tied 1-1.

The series now switches back to Moose Jaw for Games 3 and 4 set for Tuesday and Wednesday respectively at 7 p.m. on both nights at the Moose Jaw Events Centre. For the few tickets that remain for those contests, purchasers would be wise to pick them up as quickly as possible and get popcorn at the ready.

The Blades pile on top of Fraser Minten after he scored in OT.

With the way Games 1 and 2 played out in Saskatoon, it is highly likely the people attending Games 3 and 4 in Moose Jaw are in for a show. The skill on both sides has shown through, and the speed of how both teams get up and down the ice has been incredible.

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne and Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary were constantly juggling their forward lines through the contest trying to find the final push that would give their respective side the edge.

The unsung heroes of the first two games might be Blades breakout netminder Evan Gardner and Warriors star netminder Jackson Unger. Both have come through with some big time saves to date in this series.

Fraser Minten’s OT goal was his first extra time tally of the playoffs.

As for Saturday’s game, the Blades came out with some jump. On an early power play in the first period, Blades star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky was stopped in close by Unger.

After that big stop by Unger, the Warriors ensured they knocked the Blades fans into silence and gave reason for their fans to cheer like they were back in their team’s raucous old home rink the Moose Jaw Civic Centre, which was best known as “The Crushed Can.”

At the 12:33 mark of the opening frame, the Warriors broke into the Saskatoon zone on a two-on-one with two of their high-end skilled players. Centre Matthew Savoie came down the left wing and made a pass over to star 20-year-old right-winger Atley Calvert. Calvert blew home his fifth of the post-season to put the Warriors up 1-0.

Atley Calvert had the Warriors first goal on Saturday.

Just under five minutes later, Warriors offensive-defenceman Kalem Parker put home a smart midrange shot from the front of the Saskatoon net to give the visitors a 2-0 edge. Parker’s goal was one that would have made his older sister Mackenna, who starred for the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA team from 2014 to 2018, proud.

When first period came to a close, the Warriors held a 2-0 lead with the Blades holding an 8-6 edge in shots on goal.

The Blades rallied in the second. At the 11-minute mark of the frame, Blades star offensive-defenceman Tanner Molendyk slid home a power-play goal from the top of the right faceoff circle in the Moose Jaw zone to cut the Warriors lead to 2-1. Molendyk’s tally came off the rare four versus three power-play opportunity.

Kalem Parker scored to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.

With 2:31 remaining in the second, Lisowsky potted a rebound at the front of the Moose Jaw net from a shot taken by Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov to even the score at 2-2. Sidorov finished the contest with a pair of assists, and he has points in his last four consecutive games piling up eight goals and four assists over that time.

In the final seconds of the second, Warriors star centre Brayden Yager tried to bury a shot from the left side of the Saskatoon net, but he was denied by a right pad kick save Gardner.

The Warriors came out flying in the third holding a 5-1 edge in shots on goal over the first eight minutes of the frame. After that surge, Gardener made a big stop on Warriors captain and star offensive-defenceman Denton Mateychuk at the left side of the Saskatoon net.

Tanner Molendyk scored the Blades first goal on Saturday.

The Blades responded with a push back in the second half of the third. Unger stoned Sidorov on a one-time shot from the right wing and later followed up with a big glove save on Lisowsky. That set the stage for overtime.

Early in the extra session, Gardner stoned Yager on a shot from the left side of the Saskatoon net. One of the most challenging moments Gardner had to deal with was collecting a high in the air weird bounce shot at the right side of the Saskatoon net. The netminder has to secure the puck while Warriors left-winger Martin Rysavy was right in his face.

Those stops allowed the Blades to ultimately win the contest on Minten’s winning goal, which actually came about by veteran savvy hard work from Blades gritty right-winger Vaughn Watterodt. Watterodt is skilled at agitating players on the opposition.

Blades fans celebrate a goal from Tanner Molendyk.

Before Minten scored, the Warriors were pressing for the winning tally in the Saskatoon zone. Mateychuk attempted to fire a shot on goal from the point, but his drive was blocked by Watterodt.

The Warriors defenceman followed his shot and attempted to get the puck back from Watterodt. Watterodt used his right stick hand to make a backhanded pass to the right wing that sprung Hansen on the two-on-one with Minten that resulted in the overtime winner.

While making the backhanded pass to Hansen, Watterodt made a quick and slick sleight of hand tug with his left hand on Mateychuk’s stick. That tug caused Mateychuk to tumble on the ice and prevented him from getting back to defend the Blades offensive rush the other way.

Brandon Lisowsky celebrates scoring the equalizer for the Blades.

That sequence happened so fast that depending on what angle you watched it from, you might have thought Mateychuk lost his balance and fell while battling Watterodt for the puck.

Savoie talked to officials on the ice about that whole sequence following Minten’s goal, but his arguments didn’t have any effect on changing the game’s outcome.

Gardner stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Unger turned away 34 shots to take the setback in net for the Warriors.

Before the Eastern Conference final between the Blades and Warriors started, the series was expected to be a barnburner.

Brandon Lisowsky fires a shot on goal for the Blades.

During the regular season, the Blades topped the WHL’s overall standings with a 50-13-2-3 record and were rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Warriors finished fifth overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 44-21-0-3 mark.

The two sides split their six head-to-head encounters in the regular season without having to go to extra time.

After two games, the Eastern Conference final so far has managed to actually exceeded expectations of how good it could be.

Egor Sidorov had a pair of assists for the Blades.

Going into Game 3 on Tuesday in Moose Jaw, the Blades roster will get a boost as star overage left-winger Easton Armstrong returns after serving a four-game league imposed suspension. 

Armstrong was suspended for receiving a charging major and a game misconduct in the Blades 2-1 overtime win over the Red Deer Rebels at home on April 14.

Armstrong was given his infractions in Game 2 of that series with the Rebels after he bowled over Red Deer netminder Chase Wutzke.

In 62 regular season game split between the Wenatchee Wild and the Blades in 2023-24, Armstrong recorded 34 goals and 22 assists to go with a plus-24 rating in the plus-minus department. 

Vaughn Watterodt (#18) blocks a shot for the Blades.

In six post-season games with the Blades, Armstrong recorded five goals and three assists to go with a plus-four rating.

His return will give the Blades offence a boost.

Adding another good player is going to further increase the entertainment value of this series. Anyone involved with this series whether you are with the competing teams, game staffers or spectators should soak in the moment, because something special is going down.

Fraser Minten gives a stick to a young fan.

When the dust ultimately settles in this battle between the Blades and Warriors, it will likely be one of those things where you have to smile because it happened.

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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