Ice, Oil Kings - Recipe for classic WHL conference final

The Ice celebrate scoring a goal on March 23.

The seemingly inevitable clash of WHL titans in 2021-22 is going to happen, and it could deliver a classic post-season series.

Throughout the 2021-22 campaign, the Winnipeg Ice and Edmonton Oil Kings seemed destined to be on a collision course to meet in the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship series. The two squads pretty much sat either first or second in the overall league standing throughout the 2021-22 regular season.

When the regular season came to a close, the Ice finished first overall with a 53-10-3-2 record, while the Oil Kings were second overall with a 50-14-3-1 mark. The final CHL Top 10 rankings released on April 20 saw the Ice rated second overall, while the Oil Kings were listed third overall.

The Eastern Conference Championship between the Ice and Oil Kings was finalized on Friday night. That occurred when the Ice downed the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors 6-3 in Game 5 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series at the Wayne Fleming Arena.

The victory allowed the Ice to take the best-of-seven series with the Warriors 4-1.

Game 1 of the series between the Ice and Warriors is set for this coming Friday at 7 p.m. local time at the Wayne Fleming Arena. Game 2 follows one night later on Saturday, May 21 at 7 p.m. local time.

Dylan Guenther led the Oil Kings in regular season scoring.

The schedule for the rest of the series is still to be announced. The series will be played in a two-three-two format thanks to the lengthy travel distance between the two cities with the Ice holding home ice advantage.

As the 2021-22 campaign motored along, it was easy for opinion to swing back and forth on which club was the best team.

The Ice were an impressive 18-1-1-1 in their final 21 regular season contests leading into the post-season. The Oil Kings were 6-3-1 in their last 10 games heading into the playoffs.

At that point, it appeared the Ice would be the favourites, if the two sides met in the playoffs.

In the WHL Playoffs, the Ice took out the Prince Albert Raiders 4-1 in a best-of-seven first round series and proceeded to eliminate the Warriors in one Eastern Conference semifinal.

The Oil Kings swept the Lethbridge Hurricanes 4-0 in a first round series and got the brooms out again for an impressive 4-0 of the Red Deer Rebels, who had a 45-19-2-2 regular season record. Including play in the regular season, the Oil Kings have won their last 12 straight games.

The two sides met four times in the regular season with the Oil Kings claiming three of those encounters. With that said, it would be hard to forecast a winner off those results.

Out of those four encounters, three of them occurred before Dec. 31, 2021. The last clash came on Feb. 21, where the Oil Kings posted a 6-3 victory on home ice at Rogers Place. That contest was also a lengthy time ago.

Zachary Benson had a big season for the Ice.

At this point, determining a favourite in a series between the two sides might be a tossup.

Both clubs have exciting rosters to watch.

For the Ice, the strength in their roster might be in their youth. Centre Matthew Savoie, right-winger Conor Geekie and netminder Daniel Hauser are eligible to play three more full campaigns each in the WHL. Centre Zachary Benson could potentially suit up for four more seasons of eligibility in the WHL.

Jonas Woo, who is a 15-year-old defenceman, plays regular minutes on the Ice’s back end through all the club’s 10 games to date in the 2022 post-season. He joined the Ice on a full-time basis after his Winnipeg Bruins under-18 AAA team was eliminated from their provincial playoffs.

Savoie led the Ice in regular season scoring with 90 points coming off 35 goals and 55 assists to go with a plus-54 rating in the plus-minus department. Geekie had 70 points in the regular season coming off 24 goals and 46 assists to go with a plus-49 rating.

Hauser appeared in 40 regular season games for the post recording a 34-3-1 record, a 2.00 goals against average, a .914 save percentage and eight shutouts.

Benson skated in 58 regular season games with the Ice posting 63 points coming off 25 goals and 38 assists to go with a plus-40 rating. He leads the Ice in post-season scoring with 18 points coming off eight goals and 10 assists to go with a plus-12 rating.

Kaiden Guhle was a huge addition to the roster of the Oil Kings.

Woo as a 15-year-old regular on defence has one goal, one assist and a plus-five rating skating in all of the Ice’s 10 post-season games to date. He appeared in 15 regular season games with the Ice recording one goal, two assists and a plus-18 rating.

The Ice have a number of star and standout veterans too in Connor McClennon, Mikey Milne, Jakin Smallwood, Benjamin Zloty, Jack Finley, Carson Lambos and seemingly the rest of the roster has made big contributions at some point during the campaign.

Zloty, who could return next season as an overager, led the Ice in defenceman scoring in the regular season posting 64 points coming off eight goals and 56 assists skating in 62 regular season games. He also had a plus-38 rating in the plus-minus department.

Ice head coach James Patrick and has staff have done an outstanding job ensuring the Winnipeg side place consistent on a nightly basis.

The Oil Kings head into the series with the Ice with an older roster. Edmonton is carrying 10 players who are skating through their 19-year-old campaign along with the allowed three overagers each WHL club can have.

The Oil Kings roster has eight players who have been a selection in the NHL Entry Draft. Edmonton’s notable acquisitions going all-in on the trade front for this season include centre and Florida Panthers draft selection Justin Sourdif, defenceman and Montreal Canadiens draft selection Kaiden Guhle and rearguard and Nashville Predators draft selection Luke Prokop.

Benjamin Zloty had 64 points in 62 games for the Ice.

Management for the Edmonton side made the aggressive moves with the team having lost two potential long post-season runs in 2020 and 2021 due to the WHL Playoffs and the CHL Championship Tournament – the Memorial Cup – being cancelled in each of those years due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

Right-winger Dylan Guenther, who can potentially return for two more WHL campaigns, led the Oil Kings in regular season scoring with 91 points coming off 45 goals and 46 assists to go with a plus-51 rating. Guenther tops the Oil Kings in post-season scoring with 12 points coming off nine goals and three assists to go with a plus-eight rating.

Overage import defenceman Simon Kubicek led all Oil Kings blue-liners in regular season scoring with 41 points coming off 14 goals and 27 assists to go with a plus-29 rating.

Star 19-year-old netminder Sebastian Cossa, had an outstanding regular season posting a 33-9-3 record, a 2.28 goals against average, a .913 save percentage and six shutouts in 46 appearances.

 The Oil Kings have plenty of other stars and standouts like captain Jake Neighbours, Josh Williams, Carter Souch, Jalen Luypen and Jakub Demek. Neighbours only appeared in 30 regular season games, but he posted 45 points coming off 17 goals and 28 assists to go with a plus-24 rating.

Head coach Brad Lauer guided the Oil Kings to the Eastern Conference final in 2019 when they fell to the eventual WHL champion Prince Albert Raiders. Lauer and his staff will do their best to ensure their club gets past the conference championship round this season.

The Oil Kings celebrate a goal on Jan. 1.

The Ice and Oil Kings potentially have a series that would be great to showcase the WHL on a national television sports network.

For ticket buyers in Winnipeg and Edmonton, they will be in for treat with what they see in the rink.

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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Blades’ power play drills Oil Kings in romp

Saskatoon rolls to 6-1 win over CHL’s second ranked team

The Blades enjoy an Aidan De La Gorgendiere power-play goal.

The Saskatoon Blades highly rated power-play unit took the Edmonton Oil Kings highly rated penalty killing unit out to the woodshed.

Entering play Friday, the Blades power play was rated second in the WHL, while the Oil Kings had the second best penalty killing unit on the circuit. Unfortunately for the Oil Kings, the Blades power-play unit proved to be too much to handle.

The Blades cashed in on 3-of-7 power-play chances as they rolled to a 6-1 victory over the Oil Kings in a WHL regular season clash that sent the 2,407 spectators at the SaskTel Centre home happy.

Rhett Rhinehart had the Blades first goal on Friday.

The Oil Kings are rated second in the CHL’s Top 10 rankings, but the Blades have split their four head-to-head meetings with the Edmonton side this season.

Saskatoon has an overtime win against Edmonton to go with Friday’s regulation romp, while the Oil Kings have prevailed in two regulation encounters.

The Blades opened the game’s scoring at the 10:11 mark of the opening frame on an unassuming situation. Saskatoon veteran defenceman Charlie Wright entered the offensive zone on a rush down the left wing.

Wright’s defensive partner in 20-year-old Rhett Rhinehart jumped up in the play to create a two-on-one rush. Wright passed the puck across the front of the Edmonton goal to Rhinehart, who buried his fifth goal of the season on a perfectly executed play.

Kyle Crnkovic leads the WHL in scoring with 63 points.

Before the opening frame ended, the Blade extended their lead to 2-0 scoring their first of three power-play goals on the night. On a rush into the offensive zone, centre Jayden Wiens came down the right wing with the puck and hit left-winger Kyle Crnkovic with a centering pass.

Crnkovic took a couple of strides with the puck and passed it back to Wiens at the right side of the Edmonton goal. Wiens popped his 15^th of the season into an empty cage to give the Blades their two-goal edge.

The Oil Kings held a 16-6 edge in shots on goal over the opening 20 minutes, but they were held at bay by Blades overage star netminder Nolan Maier.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere had a goal and two assists on Friday.

The Oil Kings got some traction at the 6:24 mark of the second when captain Jake Neighbours snapped home a point shot to cut Saskatoon’s lead to 2-1.

Near the end of the second, the wheels fell off the wagon for the Oil Kings as the Blades scored three times – including twice on the power play - in the final 3:24 of the frame to surge their advantage out to 5-1.

The surge started with Crnkovic firing home a power-play goal from the slot through a screen shortly after an offensive zone faceoff to put the Blades up 3-1.

With 72 seconds remaining in the second, the Blades scored on an even-strength rush. Blades left-winger Vaughn Watterodt zipped down the right wing and delivered a backhanded pass across the front of the Edmonton goal to linemate Kyren Gronick at the left side of the Oil Kings net.

Tristen Robins had three assists for the Blades on Friday.

Gronick popped his sixth of the season to push the Blades lead out to 4-1.

The surge concluded with 29.2 seconds remaining in the second when captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere slipped home a power-play goal from the point to give the Blades a 5-1 advantage. De La Gorgendiere’s tally was the Blades third power-play goal of the contest.

Edmonton pulled starting star netminder Sebastian Cossa following the conclusion of the second period. He turned away 10-of-15 shots sent his way to take the loss in goal for the Oil Kings, who fell to 30-11-2-1.

The Blades celebrate a goal from Tyler Parr (#20).

Kolby Hay played the third in relief for the Oil Kings allowing a goal on the one shot he faced in the frame.

Blades rookie right-winger Tyler Parr beat Hay with a long rage on ice shot from the front of the Edmonton goal at the 11:32 mark of the third.

Down 6-1, the Oil Kings showed their frustration. With 5:15 remaining in the third, Neighbours went after Wiens following a neutral zone faceoff. That action started a scrum, but the scrum was de-escalated quickly as the officials swiftly and smartly jumped in.

Watterodt got the only penalty for the Blades in a scrum with a roughing minor. Neighbours made an early trip to the showers after getting roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct minors and a 10-minute misconduct.

Blades C Jayden Wiens tangles with Oil Kings LW Jake Neighbours. 

While the Oil Kings are near the top of the standings in the WHL, they are the second most penalized team on the circuit piling up 607 minutes in the sin bin. Going forward, the Oil Kings have to do a better job of finding a way to stay out of the penalty box, because that is their Achilles heel.

The Blades have come out of Friday’s game having great confidence on their power play. On the season, the Blades have scored 50 goals on 172 power plays for a 29.1 per cent success rate.

Saskatoon’s power play was so good on Friday it knocked the Oil Kings penalty kill from second to fourth best in the league. The Oil Kings have killed of 169-of-206 opposition power plays for an 82 per cent success rate on the season.

Nolan Maier earned his 110th career regular season win on Friday.

Maier stopped 38 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who improved to 23-15-1-1 having won six of their last seven games. The Yorkton, Sask., product now has 110 career regular season victories in his WHL career, and he became the ninth netminder in league history to hit that milestone.

Maier is now 10 wins away from equaling the WHL’s all-time career regular season wins record of 120 victories 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.

Crnkovic and De La Gorgendiere each had a pair of assists to go with the single goals they each picked up for respective three-point nights. Crnkovic continues to lead the WHL in scoring having piled up 26 goals and 37 assists for 63 points appearing in all of the Blades 40 games.

The Blades celebrate their win on Friday night.

Blades 20-year-old star centre Tristen Robins picked up three assists in the win. He sits fifth in the WHL scoring race with 20 goals and 36 assists for 56 points in 38 appearances this season.

The Oil Kings are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades also get back it on Saturday when they host the Red Deer Rebels (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

With the success that the Blades have had on the power play this season, they continue to show they can be a handful for any team in the WHL including clubs that sit near or at the top of the standings.

“Bridge City Bunch” honours Lazaruk for 2,000^th call

The Blades present Les Lazaruk a framed jersey for his 2,000th call.

The Saskatoon Blades saluted veteran play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk for joining the 2,000 club.

On Wednesday, Lazaruk call his 2,000^th game as the Blades play-by-play voice when they downed the Pats in Regina 5-4 at the Brandt Centre.

Before the Blades dumped the powerhouse Edmonton Oil Kings 6-1 on Friday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades honoured Lazaruk in a pre-game ceremony. Lazaruk was given a loud round of cheers when he was made his way to centre ice and was introduced to the 2,407 spectators in attendance.

Following Lazaruk’s introduction, the Blades played a video just over six minutes in length of former Blades players, former Blades coaches and broadcasters from around the WHL and in the professional ranks congratulating him on his 2,000^th call. The video can be found on the Blades social media channels.

Former players that wished him well included Chase Wouters, Nelson Nogier and Nick Zajac. Former coaches that passed upbeat on messages to Lazaruk included Lorne Molleken and Mitch Love.

Les Lazaruk, second from right, is pictured with his framed jersey.

The broadcasters that gave their congratulations included Claire Hanna of TSN, Peter Loubardias, of TheFan 960 in Calgary and iconic Medicine Hat Tigers play-by-play voice Bob Ridley, who has called 4,021 Tigers games.

After the video was played, the Blades presented Lazaruk with a large framed team jersey with Lazaruk’s name bar and the number 2,000 stitched on the back.

During the win over the Oil Kings, the Blades would play one of Lazaruk’s trademark energetic goal calls before playing the team’s goal song.

Lazaruk began calling Blades games at the start of the 1994-95 season after spending over a decade working in Winnipeg, which included 10-and-a-half years hosting the hour long pre-game and post-game shows of the original Winnipeg Jets NHL broadcast for CJOB radio.

During his time calling games in the WHL, Lazaruk has built a reputation for being one of the best in the business. He also brings a great professionalism and class to his trade.

Lazaruk has become so closely branded with Blades broadcasts you almost couldn’t imagine another person making those calls.

For you, Les, three words.

Simply the best. pic.twitter.com/iqqGOrq5rK

— Saskatoon Blades (@BladesHockey) February 3, 2022

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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Oil Kings down Blades 4-1 in strange feeling game

The Oil Kings celebrate a second period power-play goal.

It was an odd night at the rink when you realized the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings had three players on the ice who should have been elsewhere.

On Saturday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Oil Kings hit the ice for a WHL regular season clash with netminder Sebastian Cossa, centre Dylan Guenther and left-winger Jake Neighbours in the lineup as they faced the host Saskatoon Blades.

All three were suiting up for the Oil Kings for the first time since the remainder of IIHF’s world juniors were cancelled on Wednesday. Cossa, Guenther and Neighbours were all playing for Canada at world juniors, which were held jointly in Edmonton and Red Deer.

Dylan Guenther had two assists on Saturday for the Oil Kings.

With those three in the fold, the Oil Kings downed the Blades 4-1 holding a 40-16 advantage in shots on goal in a contest played before 2,827 spectators.  

Due to the fact world juniors were supposed to run thru to this coming Wednesday, the Oil Kings are in the middle of a seven-game road trip, which started when the club resumed action following the WHL Christmas break. Saturday’s contest against the Blades was the fourth game of that trip.

On Thursday, the Oil Kings downed the Wheat Kings in Brandon 3-2 after a tiebreaking shootout in a contest that was played without fans in attendance at Westoba Place. Following the win over the Wheat Kings, the Oil Kings made the jaunt to Saskatoon and Cossa, Guenther and Neighbours joined up with the Edmonton club there.

Jake Neighbours was back in the Oil Kings fold on Saturday.

All of those events occurred because the world is still stuck in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which took root in North America in a big way in March of 2020. The emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is causing a rapid rise in new cases in North America.

Dealing with the Omicron variant has been challenging, because while it is supposed to be a variant that is milder than other strains of COVID-19, it is more transmissible than other variants.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of the remainder of world juniors after three days of games were held.

A WHL game was played in Brandon without fans on Thursday in order to best comply with the public health orders that current exist in the province of Manitoba.

Sebastian Cossa made 15 saves earning a win for the Oil Kings.

The Blades were holding their traditional New Year’s Day game on Saturday, which they weren’t able to do in 2021 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the Blades were able to hold that traditional New Year’s Day contest, the COVID-19 specter was there.

It was seen in the fact that that Cossa, Guenther and Neighbours were playing with the Oil Kings and not for Canada at world juniors.

The Oil Kings had two other players attend world juniors who were not in the lineup in defenceman Kaiden Guhle and centre Jakub Demek. The Edmonton club has both listed as not yet having rejoined the team.

The Blades can’t stop a Jalen Luypen (#23) Oil Kings power-play goal.

Guhle was the captain of Canada’s team, while Demek was skating for Slovakia.

It is possible both could be getting their respective Christmas breaks right now. Most major junior teams that have players take part in world juniors will find a spot to give those players a Christmas break.

With that said, the COVID-19 pandemic is the elephant in the room, so it makes you wonder.

On the Saskatoon side, the Blades were without star 20-year-old centre Tristen Robins and 19-year-old right-winger Noah Boyko, who was acquired on Tuesday in a trade with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, for undisclosed reasons.

Jalen Luypen had a goal and an assist for the Oil Kings.

Both suited up for the Blades on Thursday, when they downed the Prince Albert Raiders 6-4 at the SaskTel Centre. Robins and Boyko finished that contest, so the COVID-19 elephant is there in that instance.

Earlier in the day on Saturday, Boyko’s former team in the Hurricanes had 14 players placed on the WHL COVID-19 Protocol List. The Hurricanes road game on Saturday in Calgary against the Hitmen and home game on Sunday against the Swift Current Broncos were both postponed.

The absence of Robins and Boyko saw the Blades add 15-year-old associate player call up Zachary Moore to their roster. Moore made his WHL debut for his hometown team at forward.

Nolan Maier made 36 saves in goal for the Blades.

Belarusian import left-winger Egor Sidorov found his way back into the lineup since rejoining the Blades following the WHL Christmas break.

Once the game between the Oil Kings and Blades got started, it quickly felt like what a normal WHL regular season contest should feel like. When the action on the ice was going on, the focus for most in the building was on hockey.

The Oil Kings took a 1-0 lead at the 3:54 mark of the opening frame when import offensive-defenceman Simon Kubicek took a pass from centre Jalen Luypen at the point, skated down to the right slot and wired a shot to the top left corner of the Saskatoon goal.

The Blades evened things up at 1-1 scoring on the power play at the 7:37 mark of the first. Sidorov positioned himself at the right side of the Edmonton goal and one-timed a setup pass that came across the front of the Oil Kings net from star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic to even the score.

Egor Sidorov scored for the Blades on Saturday.

Saskatoon hit a bump with 3:39 remaining in the first period when 16-year-old rookie centre Lukas Hansen took a double minor for high sticking. The double minor will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for as possible suspension.

The Oil Kings were able to go back in front on the second half of that penalty.

With exactly 59 seconds remaining in the first, Oil Kings 19-year-old defenceman Luke Prokop put an off-speed point shot on goal that found its way thru a maze of bodies into the Saskatoon net for a power-play marker that gave the visitors a 2-1 edge.

The Blades ran into more troubles in the penalty department when 18-year-old centre Jayden Wiens took a major penalty for boarding at the 2:22 mark of the second period. Wiens was penalized after making an awkward hard hit into the boards on Oil Kings 19-year-old defenceman Carson Golder.

Zachary Moore made his WHL debut on Saturday.

Golder had to be attended to on the ice by the Oil Kings training staff. He left the contest and didn’t return.

Wiens’ infraction also triggers an automatic review by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

The Oil Kings managed to score once on the five-minute power-play to go ahead 3-1 at the 3:33 mark of the second.

The scoring play saw Oil Kings 20-year-old right-winger Josh Williams hold the puck at the left side of the Saskatoon goal, and slide a pass across the face of the Blades net to Luypen. Luypen popped the puck into net just out of the reach of a sprawling Blades 20-year-old star netminder in Nolan Maier to give the visitors their two-goal edge.

The goal helped Luypen complete a two-point night.

A scrum takes place by the Saskatoon net in the second period.

A big scrum around the Saskatoon net occurred with 6:46 remaining in the second that amused the spectators. There were some wrestling and holding matches in the scrum, but no actual fights resulted from it.

The Oil King proceeded to seal victory scoring a big dagger goal just before the midway part of the third period to round out the 4-1 final thank to a nice setup play by Guenther.

Guenther passed the puck from the left back boards behind the Saskatoon goal to the front of the net to linemate Jaxsen Wiebe, who popped home his fourth tally of the season. Guenther finished the contest with two assists, while Wiebe had a helper to go along with his goal.

Jaxsen Wiebe had a goal and an assist for the Oil Kings.

Maier played heroically turning away 36 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades (17-14-1-1). Cossa stopped 15 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Oil Kings (24-8-2-1).

The Oil Kings return to action on Sunday, when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders (6 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades return to action this coming Friday when they host the Regina Pats (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

A total of seven games got played in the WHL on Saturday night. At the moment, the majority of the circuit’s contests are still happening.

The COVID-19 pandemic specter is still there going forward with the Omicron variant seemingly taking centre stage. It is the back in everyone’s mind that more game postponements due to the pandemic will still happen.

Oil Kings C Jalen Luypen and Blades LW Kyle Crnkovic face off.

No one knows when the next postponements will be.

The teams are trying to do their best to prevent players and staff from contracting COVID-19, while still having reasonable but limited contact with the world outside the team environment.

That includes trying to do more media interviews via telephone and Zoom calls. Before the Christmas break, most WHL teams were still doing media interviews in person.

At the moment, most games are going ahead, but that potentially might not always be the case in the future even with everyone’s best efforts.

The Oil Kings celebrate their win on Saturday night.

Every time a game gets in, that in itself is a good little victory.

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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Spark out of nowhere results in Blades 4-3 OT comeback win

Tristen Robins (#11) scores the Blades OT winner.

The Saskatoon Blades proved you don’t always need to be great to pull out a game in the WHL regular season.

On Tuesday night at the SaskTel Centre, “The Bridge City” bunch showed all you need is a spark out of nowhere to find a great finishing kick to skate to a miraculous comeback.

With six minutes remaining in the third, the Blades trailed the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings 3-1, and it looked like Edmonton was a lock for a victory.

The Oil Kings had controlled play from the start of the second period up to that point in the third period. It seemed like the Blades were skating in quick sand.

Tristen Robins, right, celebrates his OT winner.

Just when it appeared the Blades were out of it, they seemingly got back into the contest out of nowhere. With 5:12 remaining in the third, the Oil Kings coughed the puck up in their own zone to Blades star overage centre Tristen Robins, who was alone beside the Edmonton goal along with linemate Brandon Lisowsky.

Robins had the puck by the right side of Edmonton net and passed it across the face of the goal to Lisowsky. Lisowsky buried a shot into an open cage to cut the Oil Kings lead to 3-2.

From that point, momentum turned full force on the side of the Blades.

Just 52 second later, Lisowsky potted his second of the contest to tie things up at 3-3, when he blew down the left wing and wired home a shot past Oil Kings netminder Sebastian Cossa.

Tristen Robins had a goal and an assist for the Blades on Tuesday.

Inside of the final minute of the third, the Blades had the Oil Kings net under siege, and Cossa had to first rob Robins and then Lisowsky on close in chances to allow the contest to go to overtime.

Just 50 seconds into overtime, Robins took a pass at the right side of the Edmonton goal and faced Cossa one-on-one. The Clear Lake, Man., product proceeded to pop home the winning goal to deliver the Blades to a 4-3 victory to the delightful surprise of the 2,380 spectators in attendance.

The win allowed the Blades, who are rated eight in the CHL Top 10 rankings, to improve to 10-4-1. The Oil Kings, who are rated third in the CHL Top 10 rankings, saw their record move to 9-3-2-1.

Brandon Lisowsky (#8) had a pair of goals for the Blades.

During the course of a 68-game regular season, teams have to find ways to win games, when they are not at their best.

The Blades did that at an opportune time on Tuesday. Having lost their previous two straight games to their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders by a combined score of 10-3, the Blades were looking at going into a stretch of playing nine straight games on the road on a three-game skid.

The Blades are vacating their home rink as the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials will take place at the SaskTel Centre from November 20 to 28.

They hit the road for nine straight games beginning on Friday, when they stop in Brandon to face the Wheat Kings (6 p.m. Saskatchewan time, 600 CJWW).

The Blades celebrate an equalizer from Brandon Lisowsky (#8).

The next game at the SaskTel Centre for the Blades is on Friday, December 10 at 7 p.m. against the Calgary Hitmen.

Thanks to Tuesday’s miraculous comeback win, the Blades will head on the road with optimism and not have work against getting overly caught up in trying to get off a down stretch.

With that said, the Blades looked like they were going to have a good outing as they got out to a strong start Tuesday keeping the Oil Kings pinned in their own zone for most of the first seven minutes of the contest.

Despite that pressure by Saskatoon, the Oil Kings got the first best scoring chance of the contest, when right-winger Dylan Guenther was denied on a wraparound counting as his team’s first shot coming at the 7:09 mark of the frame.

Jakub Demek had a goal for the Oil Kings.

The Blades proceeded to apply pressure after that chance, and Robins got robbed close in by Cossa near the end of the opening frame, which saw the Blades hold an 8-5 edge in shots on goal.

The Oil Kings found another gear in the second period keeping the Blades pinned in their own zone for most of the frame.

The visitors broke through on the scoreboard at the 10:54 mark of the second period. On a rush into the Saskatoon zone, Oil Kings left-winger Jalen Luypen broke down the left wing and found right-winger Josh Williams with a smart pass at the right side of the Blades net.

Williams received the pass with a little breathing room and the 20-year-old tucked home his seventh of the season to give the Oil Kings a 1-0 edge.

Dylan Guenther scored the Oil Kings second goal.

Just under two minutes later, the Oil Kings struck on the power play as Guenther slipped home a shot off the post and in to increase the advantage of the visitors to 2-0.

Edmonton held a 17-5 edge in shots on goal in the second period.

When it seemed everything was going the Oil Kings way, the Blades appeared to get a traction moment at the 2:34 mark of the third. With the Oil Kings on the power play, Blades 18-year-old centre Jayden Wiens collected a loose puck on the Edmonton blue-line by the left wing boards.

Blades G Nolan Maier makes one of his 29 saves.

Wiens burst up ice, cut across the front of the Edmonton goal and slipped home a backhand shot for a short-handed tally that cut the Oil Kings edge to 2-1.

That traction moment evaporated quickly. 

Just over four minutes later, Oil Kings import centre Jakub Demek snuck in a shot from a bad angle at the left side of the Blades net short side to give the visitors a 3-1 edge.

At that point, Edmonton seemed in complete control. It only set the scene for the Blades to pull out victory with their dramatics at the end.

Jayden Wiens (#9) jets win a puck battle.

Nolan Maier made29 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, which was his 99^th career victory in regular season play. Maier is trying to become the first Blades netminder to even record 100 career regular season wins.

Sebastian Cossa turned away 20 shots in net for the Oil Kings.

Following the Blades dramatic comeback, all the Oil Kings could do was look to get back on track when they return to action on Wednesday, when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

Tristen Robins (#11) is all smiles after the Blades OT victory.

As for the Blades, they likely can’t wait to get back on the ice to keep building on the momentum they’ve gained.

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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