Ugly Warriors OT goal deals Blades near fatal blow

Moose Jaw takes massive 3-0 lead in WHL first round series

The Warriors celebrate Cordel Larson’s OT winner.

Cordel Larson’s overtime winner on an unassuming play drove a dagger through the hearts of the Saskatoon Blades.

With Larson’s visiting Moose Jaw Warriors locked in a 2-2 tie with the host Blades in overtime, the overage right-winger ended being the beneficiary of a positive-bounce break. The Weyburn, Sask., product skated with the puck from behind the Blades net and circled out of the left corner along the boards of the Saskatoon zone.

After getting a stride length in front of the icing line, Larson threw the puck to the centre of the Saskatoon goal. The puck deflected in off a Blades player to deliver the Warriors to a 3-2 victory in Game 3 of a WHL first round playoff series at the 9:40 mark of the extra session.

The Warriors start embracing Cordel Larson (#34) after his winner.

Larson’s goal disappointed most of the 3,544 spectators at the SaskTel Centre outside of a sizable vocal contingent of Warriors fans, who made the trek up for the contest from Moose Jaw.

The Warriors also take a stranglehold 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. That has turned out to be the norm for the first round of this year’s WHL playoffs, because six teams hold 3-0 leads in the eight first round best-of-seven series that are being played.

Moose Jaw will have a first crack to close out its series with Saskatoon in Game 4 on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Needing a win to get back into the series, the Blades came storming out of the gate on Tuesday and scored the contest’s first goal at the 3:20 mark of the opening frame while working on the power play. Blades right-winger Noah Boyko took a shot from the right side boards that got tipped home by centre Jayden Wiens to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

Carl Tetachuk made 27 saves in goal for the Warriors.

Saskatoon kept storming after that tally and held a 10-1 edge in shots on goal 10 minutes into the contest. Warriors star overage netminder Carl Tetachuk came up with a number of big saves to prevent the Blades from assuming an even bigger lead.

The Warriors proceeded to find their legs as the opening frame drew to a close, and they gave their goaltender some offensive support.

With 1:45 remaining in the first period, Warriors right-winger Eric Alarie got the puck at the right point of the Saskatoon zone. Alarie deked around a Blades forward, got close on the Saskatoon goal and sniped home his first marker of the post-season to even the score at 1-1.

Moose Jaw proceeded to go ahead 2-1 at the 4:43 mark of the second on a goal from import left-winger Martin Rysavy. Rysavy one-timed home a shot from the front of the Saskatoon goal for his first tally of the post-season.

Nolan Maier made 34 saves for the Blades.

Warriors right-winger Jagger Firkus made a beauty pass from the left corner of the Blades zone to set up Rysavy’s goal.

The Warriors kept building the pressure after Blades left-winger Vaughn Watterodt was given a double minor for slew-footing. That infraction will automatically be reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

The Blades killed off the double minor thanks to some outstanding saves by Blades star overage netminder Nolan Maier.

During that kill, Maier robbed Warriors centre Ryder Korczak on a backdoor chance, made a sprawling pad save on Alarie and stoned Firkus on a dangerous midrange drive.

Jayden Wiens (#9) scored the Blades first goal on Tuesday.

The Warriors kept bringing the pressure for the rest of the frame but were unable to beat Maier. Moose Jaw held a 16-4 edge in shots on goal in the second period.

The Warriors appeared set to close out the contest in the third period doing a pretty strong job clamping things down defensively.

That all changed with 3:21 remaining in the frame. Rysavy received a double minor for boarding after ramming Blades defenceman Ben Saunderson into the boards.

With 44.5 seconds remaining in the third and Maier pulled for an extra attacker, Blades standout left-winger Brandon Lisowsky banged home the equalizer during a net scramble in front of the Moose Jaw goal to even the score at 2-2 and force overtime.

Eric Alarie scored the Warriors first goal on Tuesday.

In overtime, the Blades were sloppy with the puck when they had control of it. Maier stoned Firkus on a rush down the right wing after Firkus got the puck when the Blades weren’t strong in handling it.

The veteran puckstopper proceeded to turn away Warriors left-winger Robert Baco on a drive from the front of the Saskatoon goal after the Blades turned the puck over in their own zone.

That set the stage for the Warriors to take the contest on Larson’s greasy overtime winner.

Maier turned away 34 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades. Carl Tetachuk stopped 27 shots to pick up the win in net for the Warriors.

Blades star overage centre and captain Tristen Robins returned to his team’s lineup after missing the previous six games due to injury. He was listed as day-to-day in the Blades previous three contests with a lower body injury.

Brandon Lisowsky scored with 44.5 seconds in the third to force OT.

In Game 3 against the Warriors on Tuesday, Robins only took the ice for shifts on the power play, and he didn’t look effective. The Clear Lake, Man., product didn’t seem to be as speedy as he normally is and didn’t display much power when he tried to shoot the puck.

Robins still made see-eye passes in the offensive zone, but he wasn’t the same offensive threat that saw him finish second in Blades regular season scoring this season with 78 points coming off 33 goals and 45 assists in 62 games to go with a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department.

The Warriors have been without star defenceman Daemon Hunt so far for the series, because he is out week-to-week with a lower body injury.

The Blades fans cheer Brandon Lisowsky’s game tying goal.

Going forward in the series, the Blades face a long uphill battle. 

In the history of the WHL dating back to the circuit’s start in 1966-67, only two teams have rallied back to win a best-of-seven series having trailed the set 3-0.

The Spokane Chiefs, who were guided by Mike Babcock as head coach, trailed the Portland Winterhawks 3-0 before rallying to take a first round series 4-3 in 1996. 

The Kelowna Rockets fell behind the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-0 in 2013 before battling back to claim that first round series 4-3.

Tristen Robins returned from injury to only play on the power play.

Saskatoon trailed the Lethbridge Hurricanes 3-0 in a second round series in the 1990 WHL Playoffs before rallying back to tie the set at 3-3. In a series deciding Game 7 in Lethbridge, the Blades fell 4-3 in overtime with defenceman Neil Hawryluk netting the winning goal for the Hurricanes.

With the way the series between the Blades and Warriors has played out, Moose Jaw has to be given full marks for taking a 3-0 lead in the series, and it surprising considering the Blades won six out of eight head-to-head contests in the regular season between the two sides.

The Warriors 81 standings points and 37-24-4-3 record in the regular season just edged the Blades for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. The Blades finished fifth in the Eastern Conference with 80 standings points coming off a 38-26-3-1 record.

The Warriors celebrate their overtime win on Tuesday.

It feels almost certain that Saskatoon is stuck in a hole that it won’t be able to dig out of.

EDITOR’S NOTE - The original version of this column credited Atley Calvert with scoring the overtime winner for the Warriors. Calvert was originally listed as the overtime goal scorer on the WHL’s online game summary. That was an error, and it has been corrected on the WHL’s official summary. A big thanks goes out to Warriors play-by-play voice and director of hockey administration James Gallo for the hard work he put in to ensure the information on the overtime winner was corrected.

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Blades go Bananas, wipe out Warriors 4-1

Egor Sidorov sets to make a toe-drag move.

Head coach Brennan Sonne said his Saskatoon Blades put together a performance they need to duplicate.

On Friday night playing before 3,743 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the host Blades downed the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors 4-1 playing a fairly crisp WHL regular season contest. The win helped ease the sting of recent struggles for the Blades.

Entering Friday’s game, the Blades had won just one of their previous five outings. In their previous three contests, the Blades downed the visiting Regina Pats 3-1 on March 25, got drubbed 7-0 by the Warriors in Moose Jaw one night later and fell 3-2 to the Pats in Regina last Wednesday.

“Regina at home we played really well and really hard,” said Sonne. “We got too high after the win and weren’t ready to play the next night.

Tristen Robins had a goal and an assist on Friday.

“We stink in Moose Jaw and then in Regina we stink again. Tonight, the whole focus was about our competitive nature, our battle and our compete. Without question to a man, every guy in that room brought that tonight.

“I’m very proud of them. Now, we have to learn the lesson we learned last week, where we have to turn the page and be ready for a big one tomorrow.”

The Blades and Warriors are playing lots of big games down the stretch as they are battling for fourth place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and home ice advantage in a first round playoff series.

With the win, the Blades improved to 35-24-3-1 to sit one point behind the Warriors, who fell to 35-23-3-2, for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Saskatoon took the season series between the two sides winning six out of eight head-to-head encounters, if that tiebreaker comes into play.

Kyle Crnkovic scored a goal on Friday.

Both the Blades and Warriors have five games remaining on their respective regular season schedules.

The Blades continue their push for that fourth place spot on Saturday when they host the 31-25-3-2 Brandon Wheat Kings (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Warriors resume their quest to hold on to that fourth place position on Saturday when they return home to host the WHL leading Winnipeg Ice (7 p.m., Mosaic Place).

“It would be massive,” said Blades star overage captain Tristen Robins about what it would mean to get home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs. “That is what we are pushing for right now.

“That is really what is on our mind. To get the first two games at home with pretty much a sold out building would make a world of difference compared to a Tuesday or Wednesday game with half the stands full.”

There were some different sights at Friday’s Blades game.

As for Friday’s battle between the Blades and Warriors, the two clubs skated before an upbeat crowd. Since Friday was April Fool’s Day, the Blades made an announcement early in the morning they would have a new team nickname and play Friday’s contest as the Saskatoon Bananas.

The Blades switched out artwork on their team website and social media lines in the very early hours of Friday morning displaying a new Saskatoon Bananas logo. The team ran ads on local radio all day on Friday advertising the game as the Saskatoon Bananas taking on the Moose Jaw Warriors.

When fans arrived at the SaskTel Centre, they discovered the local WHL squad went the extra mile and was playing in special Saskatoon Bananas jerseys. The jerseys were nearly identical to the Blades popular alternate gold Pac-Man jerseys just with the logo changed.

The national anthem was sung by someone in a banana costume.

The team also sported game socks with banana logos on them and banana team decals on the helmets.

All sorts of Saskatoon Bananas merchandise was sold for the game as well as jerseys. During the contest itself, the scoreboard showed off graphics for Saskatoon Bananas cheers.

The young ladies that are part of the Blades Motion Fitness Blue Crew all wore banana costumes.

The changes had the adults in the crowd chuckling and smiling, and the children the age of 12 got excitedly right into everything comparable to a post-Halloween sugar rush with cheers of “Go Bananas Go.”

As for the game itself, the teams played through a tight checking opening frame where the Blades held an 8-5 edge in shots on goal.

The Blades Motion Fitness Blue Crew wore banana costumes.

The Blades had a good scoring chance near the end of the frame thanks to some strong work by left-winger Vaughn Watterodt. Watterodt took the puck off a Warriors defenceman in the right corner of the Moose Jaw zone.

After the steal, Watterodt passed the puck to rookie import right-winger Egor Sidorov, who was alone in front of the Moose Jaw net. Sidorov put a backhand shot wide of the net.

The Blades came out with all sorts of pressure in the second period. Early in the frame, overage captain Tristen Robins had a point chance to try on score on a hard rush to the net, but he was turned away by Warriors overage star netminder Carl Tetachuk.

At the 8:26 mark of the frame, Robins broke through on the scoreboard blasting home a power-play goal from the left slot to give the Blades a 1-0 lead.

Eric Alarie had the Warriors lone goal on Friday.

Just under four minutes later, Warriors veteran left-winger Eric Alarie got loose on a breakaway towards the Saskatoon net, and he snapped home the equalizer to tie things up at 1-1.

“We weren’t worried at all,” said Robins. “It was just a little miscommunication that happened there in that period to give them that goal.

“We tightened things up. We stuck to our game plan.”

Near the end of the second, the Blades ended up having a two-man advantage for 1:35, but they weren’t able to net a go-ahead tally.

The Blades held a 19-4 edge in shots on goal for the second period, but the two sides were tied on the scoreboard 1-1.

Warriors G Carl Tetachuk makes one of his 36 saves.

At the 8:04 mark of the third, the Blades jumped back in front 2-1 scoring on a three-on-one break. Blades sophomore defenceman Ben Saunderson had the puck in his own zone, saw the Warriors were making a line change and hit Sidorov on a stretch pass right before the Moose Jaw blue-line to start the three-on-one break.

Sidorov entered the Moose Jaw zone down the right wing, cut across the middle of the ice and sniped home his 20^th goal of the season.

On the scoring play, Warriors defenceman Lucas Brenton drove Watterodt into Tetachuk. A short scrum ensued afterwards.

The officials gave Watterodt a minor infraction for goaltender interference but still allowed Sidorov’s goal ruling Watterodt’s infraction happened after the tally.

Nolan Maier earned his 119th career regular season win.

With 5:24 remaining in the third, Sidorov wired home a shot from the left slot for his second tally of the contest to increase the Blades advantage to 3-1.

Just 22 seconds later, Robins set up star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic for his 37^th goal of the season to round out the 4-1 final in the Blades favour.

Sonne said it is key when players like Sidorov, who is still 17-years-old, can have big games, especially when the injury bug has taken a big bite out of the Blades.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere, who is the Blades regular captain, was lost for the rest of the current campaign due to season ending shoulder surgery. Centres Trevor Wong, Jayden Wiens, Lukas Hansen, right-winger Noah Boyko and defenceman Rhett Rhinehart were all out with upper body injuries. Utility player Spencer Shugrue was recently added to the injury list as being out day to day with a lower body injury.

The Blades celebrate Egor Sidorov’s second goal of the night.

“We are missing a lot of guys,” said Sonne. “Guys are getting more ice time in different roles or bigger expanded roles.

“For him (Sidorov) to step up and get a couple tonight was really important.”

Maier stopped 18 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Tetachuk turned away 36 shots to take the setback in net for the Warriors.

On a personal front, Maier earned his 119^th career regular season win with the Blades victory on Friday. The Yorkton, Sask., product equals Jordan Papirny for second on the WHL’s all-time regular season career wins list.

Papirny picked up his 119 career regular season wins playing five seasons in the WHL from 2012 to 2017 with the Brandon Wheat Kings and the Swift Current Broncos.

Young fans show off a sign to support Blades G Nolan Maier.

Maier needs one more win to equal the WHL record for career regular season victories of 120 held jointly by Corey Hirsch and Tyson Sexsmith.

Hirsch picked up his 120 victories playing four seasons with the Kamloops Blazers from 1988 to 1992. Sexsmith collected his 120 wins over five seasons with the Vancouver Giants from 2005 to 2009. He also had one non-decision relief appearance for the Medicine Hat Tigers late in the 2004-05 campaign.

Going forward, Sonne said his Blades are gunning for home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, and the next step in working towards that spot is having another good game on Saturday, when the Wheat Kings come to town.

“We want it bad,” said Sonne. “At the same time, we can’t get too focused on what this team is doing or that team is doing.

The Blades celebrate their win on Friday.

“We have to take care of what we are doing next, our next shift, which is Brandon tomorrow. We have to turn the page, and the chips will fall where they may so long as we bring what we need to bring.”

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“Captain Clutch” – Wouters pots OT winner in Blades return to WHL playoffs

Captain Chase Wouters (#44) is mobbed after scoring his OT winner.

    Welcome to the WHL playoffs Chase Wouters.

    With his Saskatoon Blades playing in their first post-season game since 2013, the club’s captain, who turned 19-years-old in February, put the capper on a storybook comeback night for his side.

    Backed by a crowd of 5,193 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades fell behind 2-0 to the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors before rallying for a 2-2 tie that forced overtime. At the 3:23 mark of overtime, Wouters blew down the left wing of the Moose Jaw zone and lifted a backhand shot past Warriors netminder Brodan Salmond to give the Blades a 3-2 victory.

Chase Wouters sets a screen in front of the Moose Jaw goal.

    Wouters’ goal sent what is normally a reserved gathering at the SaskTel Centre during the regular season into delirium.

    “It is a pretty crazy feeling,” said Wouters, who is a career member of the Blades and hadn’t skated in a WHL playoff game until Friday. “It is something I will never forget that is for sure.

    “It was kind of a lot of hard work all game and got some reward. It is a pretty special moment. It is not only like for me.

    “It is for our group. We’ve worked all hard to this point, and this is kind of something we’ve wanted since we started the year. We got it, so it was good.”

    The win allowed the Blades to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven first round series with the Warriors. Game 2 is set for Saturday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Chase Wouters wins a defensive zone faceoff.

    Blades head coach Mitch Love said his side would have been happy to see anyone on their roster get the overtime winner, but the bench boss admitted it was great to see Wouters come through in that moment.

    “That is Watty (Wouters),” said Love. “He works hard.

    “He plays key rolls. He plays in every situation for us. It is overtime hockey.

    “You just get pucks to the net and see what happens. That is what happened in overtime tonight.”

    The Warriors drew first blood at the 3:03 mark of the second, when winger Kaeden Taphorn fired home the rebound of a shot taken by linemate Luke Ormsby to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.

    Just 93 seconds after Taphorn’s goal, Warriors rookie centre Eric Alarie fired home a midrange shot from the front of the Saskatoon goal to put the visitors up 2-0.

A young fan show support for Blade C Kirby Dach.

    The goal from the associate player call up from the Rink Hockey Academy prep team in Winnipeg, Man., was the first of his WHL career.

    Alarie turned 16-years-old in late January, and he is eligible to play with the Warriors for the rest of the post-season.

    Wouters admitted the players on his team had some early nerves to start Friday’s game, and said it was great the crowd was engaged in supporting his team through the rough moments.

    “It was definitely a little different atmosphere for sure,” said Wouters. “There was a good crowd tonight supporting us, and we appreciate that. It was great.”

    The Blades cut the Moose Jaw lead to 2-1 at the 7:21 mark of the second while working on the power play on a snipe from overage right-winger Max Gerlach. Gerlach converted a beauty backdoor feed from defenceman Nolan Kneen to get the host side on the board.

    With 8:12 remaining in the third period, the Blades evened things up at 2-2 to force overtime, when left-winger Riley McKay popped home a goal close in from the right side of the Moose Jaw goal.

Eric Alarie (#15) celebrates his first career WHL goal.

    His equalizer came off a rebound on a shot taken by Blades defenceman Brandon Schuldhaus.

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

    Nolan Maier made 21 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. 
    Brodan Salmond turned away 35 shots to take the setback in goal for the Warriors.

    “It was a good bounce back from our group,” said Love. “That was playoff hockey.

    “It is those ebbs and flows of the game. We are just trying to stress to our guys just stay even keel, stay with the process, stay the course, all the stuff we talked about over a 68 game schedule. I thought our guys did a pretty good job of that.

Riley McKay had the third period equalizer for the Blades.

    “It took us awhile though. It took us probably a little longer that we would have liked.”
    Love said the Warriors came out with some good jump at the start of the contest.

    “They came out with a little bit of juice,” said Love. “I thought we were a little nervous and hesitant in our game. We found a way.”

    The Blades bench boss enjoyed how engaged his team’s fans were on Friday. Love said it was something his side noticed.

    “It was a great crowd tonight,” said Love. “We can’t thank the fans enough that showed up here tonight.

    “We need them again and again and again. That was awesome.”

    Love said Blades owner Mike Priestner was given the game puck, as Friday’s game marked the first time the Blades won a playoff contest since Priestner bought the team before the 2013-14 season. 
    The first year head coach said his side has to be prepared for a big push back by the Warriors on Saturday.

The SaskTel Centre crowd celebrates Chase Wouters OT winner.

    “We have to be ready for a huge response tomorrow night against that team,” said Love. “That team is going to come and battle hard.
    “I think they will be better. We’ve got to be even better.”

    Going forward, Wouters expects it to be easier for his side to take off at the start of future playoffs games now that the nerves of the first post-season contest have passed.

    “There won’t be quite as many nerves, but we still have to play our game like it is our last and get out there and put some work in,” said Wouters. “I think we just kind of got to do the same thing we did today.

Chase Wouters gives a young fan a stick after getting first star honours.

    “We outshot them by quite a bit there. We just have to continue to work and get a good rest tonight and comeback ready to work tomorrow.”

    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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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.