Minten saves Blades in OT

Warriors now down 3-2 in WHL’s Eastern Conference final

Fraser Minten (#16) celebrates his overtime winner.

Fraser Minten saved the Saskatoon Blades.

On Friday night playing before 11,173 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades took a 4-0 lead over the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors in Game 5 of the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series. In a heroic rally, the Warriors scored four goals in the third period to force a 4-4 tie and overtime.

With 1:45 remaining in the extra session, Minten one-timed home a midrange shot from the front of the Moose Jaw net to give the Blades a 5-4 victory. Minten converted a nice setup pass from star offensive-defenceman Tanner Molendyk.

The Blades begin to swarm on top of Fraser Minten.

After scoring, Minten put on a celebration skating to centre ice on one knee and promptly being mobbed by his Blades teammates. The win allows the Blades to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The Blades will attempt to win the WHL’s Eastern Conference title for the first time since 1994 in Game 6 on Sunday, which is set for 2 p.m. back at the Moose Jaw Events Centre in Moose Jaw.

If the Warriors prevail in Game 6, a series deciding Game 7 would be held on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. The Warriors are trying to win the WHL’s Eastern Conference title for the first time since 2006.

The Blades mob Fraser Minten after he scores his OT winner.

The series between the Blades and Warriors has arguably been one of the greatest post-season series the WHL has ever seen with four of the five games going to overtime. Saskatoon has claimed three out of the overtime contests with Minten scoring two of the overtime winners.

These two clubs are one overtime game away from matching the total of five from the classic Western Conference Championship Series in 2008 played between the Spokane Chiefs and Tri-City Americans. That series featured five overtime contests and the Americans won three of those five extra time contest. The Chiefs won the series in seven games and went on to capture the WHL title and the Memorial Cup title to become CHL champions.

Fraser Minten had a pair of goals for the Blades on Friday.

In Friday’s clash, Minten prevented the Blades from having a negative energy pale fall over the club. After having control of the contest holding a 4-0 lead after 40 minutes, the Warriors looked poised to take the contest rally for four goals in the third to force a 4-4 tie.

Had the Warriors claimed Friday’s game, Game 5 would have gone down as “the Moose Jaw miracle in Saskatoon” for Warriors fans. In that scenario, Blades fans would have been throwing around the words “collapse” or “choke.”

With Minten scoring the winner, Game 5 can go down as the “Saskatoon classic.” While Blades fans can celebrate the win, it is still hard to get a real read on this series. It is far from over, and the Warriors are more than capable of winning Games 6 and 7 to claim the Eastern Conference title for their own.

Denton Mateychuk had a pair of goals for the Warriors.

As for Friday’s contest, the Blades broke open the game’s scoring just 2:56 into the opening frame. Import right-winger Alexander Suzdalev took a shot from the left boards in the Moose Jaw zone, and the puck rebounded out to Minten at the right side of the net.

Minten popped home his seventh of the post-season to put the hosts up 1-0. The tally came on the Blades third shot of the contest.

The Warriors came with a push back but Blades breakout rookie netminder Evan Gardner stood his ground.

That allowed the Blades to push their lead out to 2-0 at the 10:56 mark of the opening frame. Blades star overage left-winger Easton Armstrong entered the Moose Jaw zone on a rush and passed the puck across the ice to star import right-winger Egor Sidorov.

Egor Sidorov scored the Blades second goal on Friday.

Sidorov skated into the middle of the left faceoff circle and roofed a shot to the top right corner of the Moose Jaw goal for his 14^th goal of the post-season that gave the Blades their two-goal edge. At the time of Sidorov’s goal, the Warriors held a 12-8 edge in shots on goal.

The Warriors maintained pressure for the rest of the frame, but Gardner kept the buzzing visitors at bay. The Blades would hold their 2-0 edge going into the first intermission, while the Warriors held a 17-10 advantage in shots on goal.

The second period started with a long stoppage at the 2:30 mark of the frame as the officials went to video replay to see of Armstrong was high-sticked. Armstrong was stitched up in the forehead at the Blades bench as the review took place.

Jagger Firkus had the Warriors second goal on Friday.

The officials determined that Warriors star centre Matthew Savoie did commit a high-stick foul and gave him a double minor for high-sticking. That infraction will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

On the second half of the double minor, Blades 20-year-old defenceman Charlie Wright fired home a point shot for a power-play goal that pushed the host side’s advantage out to 3-0.

With 5:37 remaining in the second, Wright pinched up to the left faceoff circle with the puck and took a shot that rebounded out to the right side of the Moose Jaw net. Blades star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky was in the right place at the right time and popped home his seventh of the post-season to push the Blades lead out to 4-0.

Charlie Wright had a goal and an assist for the Blades.

Following Lisowsky’s goal, the Warriors pulled star starting netminder Jackson Unger. Unger stopped 13-of-17 shots fired his way. Dimitri Fortin played the rest of the way in relief turning away 24-of-25 shots sent his way to take the setback in goal.

The Blades held an 11-5 edge in shots on goal in the second period. The fact the Blades carried the play in the second period didn’t foreshadow the Moose Jaw surge that was to come.

The Warriors put a scare into the host side at the start of the third and almost turned that scare into “A Nightmare On Elm Street” horror show for the host side. Just 49 seconds into the third, Warriors veteran centre Brayden Schuurman popped home his first of the post-season to trim the Blades advantage to 4-1.

The Warriors celebrate their first goal on Friday.

At the 4:09 mark of the third, Armstrong was penalized for delay of game for clearing the puck over the glass from his own zone to put the Warriors on the power play. Just 32 seconds into the man advantage, Savoie put a perfect pass setting up Warriors star right-winger Jagger Firkus for a midrange one-timer from the front of the Saskatoon net.

Firkus made no mistake drilling a shot home to further cut the Blades lead to 4-2.

The frame got a little more crazy 50 seconds after Firkus’s tally as Lisowsky was sprung in on a breakaway into the Moose Jaw zone. Lisowsky tried to put a shot between the legs of Fortin, but the netminder swallowed the puck under his pads and a couple of Warriors defenders assisted in the cover with one putting his stick behind the puck stopper’s skates.

Brandon Lisowsky had the Blades fourth goal on Friday.

The officials went to a lengthy video review to determine if there was a goal. They ruled there was no goal.

The Warriors proceeded to continue their surge after that bump in the road. At the 7:38 mark of the third, Warriors captain and star offensive-defenceman Denton Mateychuk had the puck in the right corner of the Saskatoon zone. He banked a shot off the skates of a backchecking Sidorov into the Saskatoon net to slice the Blades advantage down to 4-3.

With 6:42 remaining in the third, Mateychuk slipped home an off-speed shot from the point for his second tally of the contest to even the score at 4-4. That tally ultimate forced the contest to go to overtime.

Atley Calvert was almost the OT hero for the Warriors.

In overtime, it appeared Moose Jaw hometown hero in star 20-year-old right-winger Atley Calvert was going to cap a fairytale ending for the Warriors. With 5:15 remaining in overtime, Warriors left-winger Lynden Lakovic burst into the Saskatoon zone down the left wing and put a backhand pass across the face the Blades net to Calvert, who was on the right side of the Saskatoon net.

Calvert had an empty cage to shoot at, but rang a shot off the right post. In an ensuing frantic scramble, the puck came to Savoie in front of the Blades net. He put a shot on goal that was blocked by Blades captain Trevor Wong, which ended the threat.

A short time later, the Warriors got stung with some back luck. During a board battle in the Saskatoon zone with 4:12 remaining in overtime, Firkus got high-sticked by Wright. 

A couple of Blades fans has sign beaks for the Warriors.

Firkus looked at the officials questioning if a penalty call was going to come, and no penalty call was made on that play.

That set the stage for Minten to come through with his overtime winner.

Gardner made 39 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Blades.

Suzdalev finished the contest with three assists for the Blades and Armstrong had a pair of helpers for the host side.

Calvert and Warriors import right-winger Martin Rysavy each had a pair of assists for Moose Jaw.

The Blades were without veteran defenceman John Babcock for a second straight game with an undisclosed injury.

Blades fans cheer on their team on Friday.

Going into the Eastern Conference Championship Series, it was expected the Blades and Warriors would put on a battle, and the series has greatly exceeded those expectations that were set at the outset.

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.

Fraser Minten gives a souvenir stick to a young fan.

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

Now, this series is down to potentially its final two chapters. It is safe to expect there will be a lot more moments that will thrill fans and some that are ultra-passionate will likely head out to get an EKG (electrocardiogram).

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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