Warriors’ Yager breaks Blades hearts with OT winner

Moose Jaw takes WHL’s Eastern Conference final opener 4-3

The Warriors mob Brayden Yager after their OT win on Friday.

Late great Saskatoon StarPhoenix sports editor Doug McConachie would shaken the hands of any Moose Jaw Warriors fans on Friday night and told them they are supporting a great team.

Game 1 of the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series between the visiting Warriors and the host Saskatoon Blades was a post-season classic on Friday night at the SaskTel Centre. McConachie would have enjoyed Friday’s contest between the Warriors and Blades even if the visitors skated away with the biggest highlight of the night that was provided by a Saskatoon area product.

With the two sides locked in a 3-3 tie in overtime, Warriors star centre Brayden Yager roofed a midrange shot from the front of the Saskatoon net to the top right corner of the goal at the 12:34 mark of the extra session to give Moose Jaw a 4-3 victory. 

Blades centre Lukas Hansen processes his team’s OT loss.

Big cheers went up from the sizable contingent of Warriors fans among the 8,973 spectators in attendance in an attempt to resurrect the spirit of team’s former rowdy home rink the Moose Jaw Civic Centre, which was also known as “The Crushed Can.”

Most of the spectators who were in attendance were cheering faithfully for the Blades. While they no doubt were disappointed by the end result on the scoreboard, they would have to admit Friday’s clash was an outstanding game.

The two sides engaged in a lot of back and forth play. The atmosphere in the building was great with fans often exchanging competing cheers.

Blades 19-year-old star import right-winger Egor Sidorov thrilled with a pair of goals. Warriors captain and offensive-defenceman Denton Mateychuk showed great presence controlling play on the ice recording a pair of assists and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department.

Brayden Yager scored the OT winner for the Warriors on Friday.

The host side would get the first good initial jump in the contest.

Just 3:05 into the first period, the Blades broke through on the scoreboard on a goal from 20-year-old defenceman Charlie Wright. Wright got the puck at the left point, showed great patience, crept down close to the top of the faceoff circle and wired an off-speed shot past Warriors star netminder Jackson Unger.

The Blades continued to pour on the pressure, but Unger stood his ground. Before the midway part of the frame, he made a couple of slick glove saves off Blades left-winger Misha Volotovskii and captain Trevor Wong.

Saskatoon held a 12-3 edge in shots on goal with 10:50 remaining in the opening frame.

Egor Sidorov had a pair of goals for the Blades on Friday.

Before the frame ended, the Warriors came with some push back. Star 20-year-old right-winger Atley Calvert had a close in chance on goal, but he put a shot over top of the Saskatoon goal.

With 3:01 remaining in the first, Blades breakout rookie netminder Evan Gardner had to come up big for the hosts. Warriors 19-year-old defenceman Kalem Parker had a couple of close in chances on the Saskatoon net, but Gardner came up with two big stops.

The rebound of the second shot went off to the left side of the Saskatoon net to Warriors veteran left-winger Brayden Schuurman. Schuurman tried to put the puck into the open side of the net, but he was denied by the right toe of Gardner.

In the second, Sidorov continued his hot play from the final two games of his club’s Eastern Conference semifinal series win over the Red Deer Rebels recording six goals and two assists in those outings. Just 1:59 into the second frame of Friday’s game, Sidorov circled in the Moose Jaw zone and fired a midrange shot from just above the top of the left faceoff circle home to put the Blades up 2-0.

Charlie Wright had the Blades first goal on Friday.

The game’s momentum suddenly swung just 14 seconds later when Schuurman scored for the Warriors to cut the Blades lead to 2-1. Warriors centre Lynden Lakovic had the puck in the left corner of the Saskatoon zone and made a drop pass to Schuurman in all alone in front of the Saskatoon net.

Schuurman tucked home his third of the post-season to trim the Blades lead to one goal. The line of Schuurman, Lakovic and right-winger Rilen Kovacevic might have been the forward unit that had the strongest game between the two sides on Friday.

Just under six minutes later, the Warriors evened the score at 2-2 when Calvert deflected home a shot in front of the Saskatoon net taken by Warriors star centre Matthew Savoie midrange from the left side of the goal.

Denton Mateychuk had a pair of assists for the Warriors.

Following Calvert’s tally, dueling chants of “let’s go Warriors” and “let’s go Blades” broke out between the two fan bases in attendance.

Late in the second, Blades star centre Fraser Minten was denied twice on a rush into the Moose Jaw zone, and Blades star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky was unable to tuck home the puck at the left of the Moose Jaw net with Unger sprawled out.

With just under a minute to play in the second, Warriors star right-winger Jagger Firkus wired a shot off the crossbar of the Saskatoon net as the visitors just missed a chance to take their first lead in the contest.

Just moments into the third, Kovacevic jetted into the Saskatoon zone on a breakaway. He tried to put a shot to the top right corner of the net, but he was robbed by a glove save from Gardner.

Fans at the SaskTel Centre cheer on the Blades.

With 4:02 remaining in the third, Warriors finally went ahead on the scoreboard when Savoie roofed a shot from the front of the Saskatoon net to the top left corner of the goal to put the visitors up 3-2. Savoie continued to live up to his reputation of being a clutch performer in the post-season building off of what he did in the WHL Playoffs the previous two years as a member of the Winnipeg Ice.

Despite falling behind on the scoreboard the Blades didn’t go away.

With 87 seconds remaining in the third and Gardner pulled for an extra attacker, it was vintage Sidorov as the star right-winger one-timed home a shot from the right wing to force a 3-3 tie and overtime. 

Brayden Schuurman scored the Warriors first goal on Friday.

The tally was Sidorov’s second goal of the contest as he continued to live up to his reputation as being a clutch performer in the post-season built in last year’s and this year’s WHL Playoffs.

Early in overtime, Blades defenceman Grayden Siepmann got stopped on an offensive rush, when his drive was swallowed up by Unger. 

That set the stage for Yager, who was having a fairly quiet night, to come through as the overtime hero for the visitors.

Gardner turned away 22 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades. Unger stopped 28 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Warriors.

Alexander Suzdalev, left, is checked by Matthew Savoie.

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. Saskatoon advanced through the first two rounds of the WHL Playoffs with an 8-1 mark.

The Warriors finished fifth overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 44-21-0-3 mark. Moose Jaw advanced through the first two rounds of the WHL Playoffs with an 8-1 mark.

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

The Warriors celebrate their OT victory on Friday.

The two sides go at it again in Game 2 on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. If Game 1 was any indication, fans should have their popcorn at the ready for Game 2 and be ready to be entertained.

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