Heslop paces Silvertips to win in team’s Memorial Cup debut

Everett slips past Chicoutimi in classic encounter 5-3

Jesse Heslop is getting rewarded again for his hard work.

On Saturday, the standout right-winger with the Everett Silvertips had one goal, one assist and was a plus-one in the plus-minus department in pacing his club to a 5-3 victory over the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in a preliminary round contest at the Memorial Cup tournament in Kelowna, B.C. The game was the tournament opener for both squads at the event that will crown a CHL champion.

During the WHL regular season, Heslop had 56 points coming off 15 goal and 41 assists to go with a plus-34 rating in 62 games. He skated in all 18 games Everett played in the WHL Playoffs, but his offensive production slowed a little as he recorded 10 points off four goals and six assists to go with a plus-10 rating.

The Silvertips, who began play in the 2003-04 campaign, are making their first trip to the Memorial Cup after winning their first WHL title. The Sagueneens, who are the champions of the QMJHL, are making their first appearance at the Memorial Cup since 1997, when they advanced to that year’s event in Hull, Quebec as the QMJHL finalist.

Playing before a sellout crowd of 6,007 spectators at Prospera Place on Saturday, Heslop, who turned 20 in April, made history for his squad just 74 seconds into the contest. He got the puck at the right side of the Chicoutimi net and put home a backhand shot to give his Silvertips a 1-0 lead. Heslop goes down as the person who scored the Silvertips first goal in the history of the Memorial Cup tournament.

Actually, the Silvertips came out of the gates on fire recording the first nine shots on goal in the contest, while keeping the Sagueneens pinned in their own zone for much of that stretch.

Chicoutimi got a traction moment at the 9:13 mark of the opening frame, when the puck came to veteran left-winger Christophe Berthelot in front of the Everett net. Berthelot fired home his team’s first shot on goal from point-blank range to even the score at 1-1.

That tally gave the Sagueneens jump for the rest of the opening frame. Everett held a 10-6 edge in shots on goal heading into the first intermission.

The Sagueneens proceeded to jump in front 2-1 at the 5:39 mark of the second, when star defenceman Alex Huang wired home a shot from the right side of the right faceoff dot in the Everett zone. That lead wouldn’t last.

Just 33 seconds later, Silvertips 18-year-old centre Lukas Kaplan drilled home a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle in the Chicoutimi zone to even the score at 2-2. Kalpan’s tally sparked Everett’s offence in the stanza.

With 6:05 remaining in the second, Heslop had the puck behind the Chicoutimi net and he made a slick backhanded pass to the left side of the goal to standout 20-year-old centre Zackary Shantz. Shantz had an empty cage to shoot at, and he made no mistake firing home the go-ahead goal that put the Silvertips up 3-2.

Jesse Heslop had one goal and one assist for the Silvertips.

Everett would strike again just 50 seconds later. Silvertips star 16-year-old sophomore defenceman Landon Dupont had the puck at the right side of the Chicoutimi net and a backdoor pass across the front of the goal to Silvertips star right-winger Carter Bear at the left side of the net. Bear popped the puck home to make Everett’s lead sit at 4-2 heading into the second intermission.

The Silvertips started the third applying all sorts of pressure on the Sagueneens. Sagueneens star netminder Lucas Beckman, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Ottawa Senators, made all sorts of big saves to keep the Sagueneens in the contest.

The Sagueneens responded with a huge push back inside the final four minutes of the third. Sagueneens star left-winger Emile Guite had a breakaway with 3:30 remaining in the frame, but he missed the Everett net on a backhand shot.

A short time later, Sagueneens star centre Mavrick Lachance wired a shot off the post of the Everett net. On the heels of that opportunity, Sagueneens import rookie right-winger Anton Linde had a prime scoring chance at the right side of the Everett net, but he was denied by a shot block from Dupont.

Chicoutimi caught a break with 65 seconds remaining in the third, when Bear was given a minor penalty for closing his hand on the puck. With Beckman pulled for an extra skater, Sagueneens star right-winger Maxim Masse one-timed home a shot from the top of the left faceoff dot in the Everett zone for a power-play goal that trimmed the Silvertips lead to 4-3 with 28.1 seconds remaining in the frame.

The Sagueneens kept Beckman pulled for an extra skater for the ensuing faceoff. They proceeded to win the ensuing faceoff back into their own zone to star centre Nathan Lecompte.

Lecompte attempted a cross-ice pass that was picked off by Silvertips rookie star import left-winger Matias Vanhanen. Vanhanen, who had an assist earlier in the contest, made no mistake scoring into an empty net with 20.9 seconds remaining in the frame to seal the 5-3 victory for the Everett side.

Anders Miller stopped 22 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Silvertips. Beckman turned away 32-of-36 shots to take the setback in net for the Sagueneens.

The Silvertips topped the WHL regular season standings, the Western Conference and the U.S. Division with a 57-8-2-1 record and were rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Everett’s 57 wins and 117 standings points are team records. The Silvertips motored through the WHL Playoffs posting an impressive 16-2 mark to capture their first league title in team history.

The Sagueneens finished second overall in the QMJHL’s Eastern Conference and second overall in the QMJHL regular season standings with a 49-10-3-2 mark. They advanced through the QMJHL Playoffs posting a stellar 16-4 mark to win their first league title since the 1993-94 campaign.

Chicoutimi doesn’t have too long to mull over Saturday’s loss. The Sagueneens return to action in the preliminary round on Sunday when they take on the host Kelowna Rockets (7 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN). Both the Sagueneens and Rockets are 0-1 at the tourney.

Landon DuPont had an assist and a key late third period shot block.

The Silvertips get back at it on Monday taking on the OHL champion Kitchener Rangers (7 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN). Both the Silvertips and Rangers are 1-0 at this year’s event.

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Bedard lifts Pats to Seventh Heaven with Game 6 win

Blades host series deciding Game 7 on Monday

Connor Bedard had a goal and three assists for the Pats on Saturday.

REGINA, Sask. - Connor Bedard is a miracle worker.

So far in a best-of-seven WHL first round playoff series, the Saskatoon Blades have to be wondering if the Regina Pats 17-year-old phenom centre is human. It might be accurate to say Bedard is not a god, but he appears to be somewhere in between.

On Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 6,499 spectators at the Brandt Centre with the host Pats facing elimination from the WHL Playoffs, Bedard set up the Pats first three goals and scored the winner in a 5-3 over the Blades in Game 6 of the best-of-seven series. With the win, they even the set 3-3 and force a series deciding Game 7.

Connor Bedard does a fly by after scoring for the Pats.

The Blades, who had won three straight before falling in Game 6, will host Game 7 on Monday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

During the six games so far in the series, Bedard has 10 goals, nine assists and a plus-10 rating in the plus-minus department. The North Vancouver, B.C., product has been in on 19 of the Pats 25 goals of the series.

“I think that might have been our best game of the series overall probably that and Game 1,” said Bedard referring to the Pats 6-1 victory to open the set on March 31. “It feels good to have that, but obviously, we know the job is not done here.

“We have to go in their barn Monday and get a win.”

The Brandt Centre faithful cheer a Pats goal.

The Blades entered the series as favourites having finished fourth overall in the WHL standings with a 48-15-4-1 record and were rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Pats finished sixth overall in the Eastern Conference with a 34-30-3-1 mark.

In Game 6 on Monday, the Pats took a 3-2 lead into the third period. Just 64 seconds into the third, the Blades evened the score at 3-3, when star centre Trevor Wong tipped home a point shot from 19-year-old veteran defenceman Charlie Wright. The tally was Wong’s second goal of the contest.

Connor Bedard has 19 points in six post-season games.

That set the stage for Bedard to have another heroic moment. Just 55 seconds after Wong tied the contest, Pats star import defenceman Stanislav Svozil hit Bedard with a stretch pass to spring him on a break into the Saskatoon zone.

Bedard snapped home a shot glove side in Blades netminder Ethan Chadwick to put the Pats up 4-3, and the Regina side never trailed in the contest again.

“I liked our game basically from start to finish,” said Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock. “That doesn’t mean it was easy or we were far superior, because it is two teams that are obviously going to Game 7.

“That says a lot about the series. I liked our game from the start.”

Zackary Shantz scored a goal that caused controversy.

While Bedard had another sensational game, the other biggest memory from Saturday’s contest came after the Pats scored a controversial insurance goal with 8:36 remaining in the third. Pats left-winger Riley Ginnell had the puck deep in the left side of the Saskatoon zone and passed the puck across the face of the net to linemate Zackary Shantz.

Ginnell’s pass deflected off Shantz’s skate into the Saskatoon net to put the hosts up 5-3. The officials went to a view reviewed and waved off the goal saying it was kicked in.

Following that ruling, the officials elected to look at the video again, and after the second review, the officials ruled that Shantz’s tally was indeed a good goal.

Jayden Wiens scored to give the Blades a 1-0 lead.

“The refs told me that they called back down because there was a new angle, and then they couldn’t determine from that angle whether it was a distinct kicking motion,” said Blades head coach Brennan Sonne. “That is what I was told.”

Access Communications was showing the game to their provincial network on television on their own channel. Michael Ball was doing the play-by-play work for the Access Communications broadcast, and he wrote on Twitter someone with the WHL asked to look at the replay angles that the broadcast crew had. According to Ball, after the officials saw the video Access Communications had the no goal ruling was reversed to a ruling of a goal.

Trevor Wong scored twice for the Blades on Saturday.

Sonne found it challenging to talk about the situation around Shantz’s goal.

“You’re asking me to comment about or have an opinion about things that absolutely really nothing to do with me aside from the fact that why did it even get into that situation to begin with,” said Sonne. “The rest of it that is for the league to decide whether that is the look they want or if that is the process they want to go through.

“It is up to management to have those discussions. Me, I’m in charge of why it even got there in the first place. I don’t really have a comment about it.

“I want to just focus on what I do.”

Alexander Suzdalev sets to snap home a goal for the Pats.

Paddock said he wasn’t sure what had happened during the reviews of Shantz’s goal.

“I’m just sort of guessing, but that speaks to not the inadequacy but of the video replay in this building or in the league,” said Paddock. “They are all supposed to be up to a standard.

“Obviously, something else happened. He (the referee) wasn’t going to listen to me. Something else happened, so somebody upstairs reviewed it whatever five or eight minutes again for the 14^th time, and they changed it.

“I don’t have an explanation. You would have to ask them, but no, that was strange.”

Pats mascot K9 works his way through the Brandt Centre faithful.

Ultimately, Shantz’s goal stood and the 5-3 score held up as the game’s final outcome.

The Blades actually opening the game’s scoring on a goal from hardworking centre Jayden Wiens at the 9:42 mark of the first. The Pats evened the score at 1-1 just over five minutes later when star import right-winger Alexander Suzdalev one-timed home a Bedard set up pass from a bad angle at the right side of the Saskatoon goal.

At the 5:04 mark of the second, the Pats jumped ahead 2-1, when Suzdalev received another pass from Bedard and snapped home a midrange shot for a power-play goal.

A couple of fans show signs supporting Connor Bedard.

Bedard proceeded to follow up with what might have been his best assist of the contest at the 12:45 mark of the second. Holding the puck along the left board deep in the Saskatoon zone, Bedard made a seeing-eye pass from that spot across the front of the Blades net to linemate Tanner Howe, who one-timed home a shot to increase the Pats advantage to 3-1.

“I can’t really put it into words anymore,” said Paddock about the magic that Bedard can make on the ice. “The assists were because he sees the ice so well.

“The play he made to Howie (Tanner Howe) for the goal there was no way to describe it. It was major league.”

Connor Bedard quarterbacks the Pats offence.

Bedard said his teammates did an outstanding job of burying goals on Saturday.

“When guys are open, I obviously try to find them,” said Bedard. “There were a lot of nice finishes from our guys tonight, so they make it easy when they can put the puck into the net like that.”

The Blades didn’t go away. With 2:26 remaining in the third, Wong wired home a setup pass from Blades star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky from a bad angle at the right side of the Regina net to cut the Pats lead to 3-2.

That set the dramatics in the third, where Wong tied the game only for Bedard and Shantz to score for the Pats to pull out victory.

Tanner Howe had a goal for the Pats on Saturday.

“I think today we were a lot more physical and played our style of game,” said Howe. “We didn’t let them get set up, and I thought that was huge.

“We played hard.”

Drew Sim stopped 27 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pats. Ethan Chadwick turned away 15 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades.

Stozil finished the contest with three assists.

Sonne didn’t like the start his Blades had to Saturday’s game, and he is looking for his team to have a big response in Game 7 as they face elimination from the post-season for the first time.

“It (Saturday’s game) was not to our standard,” said Sonne. “I think the players agree on that.

The Pats celebrate their win on Saturday.

“Then about halfway through the second we started playing. You can’t play half a game. For us, that is our focus.

“Now, our family is on the line. Our season is on the line. It should be a level of competitiveness, passion (and) desperation that shows that.”

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Pats’ Bedard, ex-factor Shantz too much for Blades

Regina takes Game 1 of first round series 6-1

Connor Bedard (#98) celebrates his first of two goals on Friday.

Connor Bedard showed he has the heart of Adam Brooks, Sam Steel, Austin Wagner, Josh Mahura, Connor Hobbs and Tyler Brown.

The Regina Pats 17-year-old phenom centre recorded a pair of goals, one assist and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus category to a power his squad to a 6-1 victory over the Saskatoon Blades in Game 1 of a best-of-seven first round WHL Playoff series. The result came to the disappointment to most of the 10,265 spectators at the SaskTel Centre outside of the sizable contingent of Pats fans who showered their team with cheers and salutes at game’s end.

When the dust settled on Game 1, Pats all-time great head coach and general manager John Paddock reflected on Bedard’s play in comparison to the crew of Brooks, Steel, Wagner, Mahura, Hobbs and Brown that helped the Pats top the WHL regular season standings in 2016-17 with a 52-12-7-1 record and advance to the WHL Championship series falling in six games to the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Blades C Jayden Wiens, left, battles Pats C Connor Bedard for the puck.

This season, the Pats finished sixth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 34-30-3-1 record well back of the Blades, who finished fourth overall in the WHL with a 48-15-4-1 mark and are rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

“His (Bedard’s) individual play,” said Paddock. “We’re a young team.

“Him and (Tanner) Howe, those guys are 17-years-old. When Sam (Steel) was 17 Brooksy (Adam Brooks) was 19, and they threw a scare in Red Deer (in the second round of the 2016 WHL Playoffs) when they were hosting (the Memorial Cup). Our team was building.

Connor Bedard works with the puck deep in the offensive zone.

“This is a different situation, but on an individual player basis, there is nobody close to Connor (Bedard). Those guys were great players, but on an individual basis, it isn’t even close.”

Bedard was humbled to hear about Paddock’s kind words at the end of Friday’s game in comparison to the Pats star players that powered the franchise to the 2017 WHL Championships Series. The North Vancouver, B.C., product added he just made his post-season debut and that group accomplished some special things in the post-season.

“It is great, but I’ve only played one game in the playoffs,” said Bedard, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 185 pounds. “They, obviously, helped take their team to the final.

Stanislav Svozil had a goal and assist for the Pats.

“I don’t want to compare myself to anyone or look at that. Obviously, we have a rich history, and they are a big part of it so I don’t want to compare myself to anyone. It is nice that I am hearing my name with those guys that are great players and great Pats obviously.

“Like I said, I’m not here to compare myself to anyone. We have a goal here, and we want to kind of do something like they did.”

The Pats held a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes, when the Blades held the edge in territorial play holding a 23-12 edge in shots on goal. The wheels then fell off for the host side in the third.

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne thought his side wasn’t desperate enough on Friday and needed to find another level of play. He was asked about how Blades all-time great head coach and general manager Lorne Molleken, who guided Saskatoon WHL Championship appearances in 1992 and 1994, used to say it takes a special will to win in the playoffs, and Sonne said that was where he was going.

Zackary Shantz scored the Pats first goal on Friday.

“That is exactly what he (Molleken) was talking about in my opinion what was missing,” said Sonne. “How were our rebound battles at their net?

“Did we dig in on those second opportunities? We’re all three guys buzzing in the offensive zone, or was one guy kind of by himself way too much. Were we all three guys working across the rink to recover pucks in the offensive zone?

“When we use the word desperate like Lorne (Molleken) is and like I am right now, that is what that means. That is when I say we have another level that is what I mean.”

The teams came out and played a feeling out type opening 20 minutes, where the Blades held a 10-8 edge in shots on goal.

Alexander Suzdalev had an assist for the Pats.

In the first, the Blades got a great scoring chance early, but left-winger Jake Chiasson and robbed close in at the right side of the Regina net by Pats netminder Drew Sim. Late in the opening frame, Sim stoned Blades star centre Trevor Wong close in at the right side of the Regina net.

The Pats best chance to score in the first came about seven minutes into the frame. Bedard fed a pass to the front of the Saskatoon goal to left-winger Riley Ginnell. Ginnell fired a shot from close in and was stoned by Blades netminder Austin Elliott.

At the 4:11 mark of the second, the Pats jumped ahead 1-0 from an unlikely source. Pats star import defenceman Stanislav Svozil sprung rookie centre Zackary Shantz in alone on the Saskatoon goal.

Riley Ginnell scored nine seconds into the third period.

Shantz roofed home a shot to the top right corner of the Blades net to give the visitors a 1-0 edge. The tally was Shantz’s first career WHL goal in either the regular season or the post-season. The Pats fourth line forward unit of Shantz, left-winger Brayden Barnett and right-winger Jaxsin Vaughan had a strong outing on Friday.

“He (Shantz) has a fair amount of skill, but he got hurt early and he got a really bad collarbone break,” said Paddock. “He was out for like 15 weeks with it.

“It (Shantz’s goal) was nice in that way, and it was big. Sometimes that is what happens in playoffs or any time. Some sort of unsung hero comes up big, but I thought Barnett and Vaughan played strong games on the walls and finished checks.”

Drew Sim made 27 saves for the Pats on Friday.

With 6:48 remaining in the second, Bedard went to work. Entering the Blades zone on a rush down the right wing, Bedard was being hooked down by Blades defenceman Ben Saunderson, but the Pats centre still fired a shot home to the top left corner of the Saskatoon net to give the visitors a 2-0 edge.

As short time later, Bedard had two good scoring chances on the same shift. He was stopped on a rush down the right wing, but he collected the puck in the left corner of the Saskatoon zone behind the icing line. Bedard tried to bank the puck in off Elliott, but the Blades managed to keep the puck out of their net.

Just nine seconds into the third, Ginnell netted the Pats third goal to extend their advantage to 3-0 banking home a long shoot in off a stanchion into the net.

Lukas Hansen had the Blades lone goal on Friday.

The Blades responded 22 seconds later when left-winger Lukas Hansen, who turned 18-years-old in February, tallied on a spin-around shot from the left slot to cut the Pats lead to 3-1.

Right before the 10-minute mark of the third, Svozil put a dagger in the Blades comeback hopes. Holding the puck deep in the left side of the Blades zone, Svozil fired home a bad angle shot to the top right corner of the Saskatoon goal to give the Pats a 4-1 lead. Bedard and star import right-winger Alexander Suzdalev picked up assists on Svozil’s tally.

Following Svozil’s tally, Bedard proceeded to add another highlight with 6:33 remaining in the third. He broke down the left wing in the Saskatoon zone, cut in between two Blades defencemen, crossed the front of the Saskatoon goal and roofed home a shot to the top right corner of the net to increase the visitor’s advantage to 5-1.

The Pats celebrate an empty-net goal from Tye Spencer, right.

Tye Spencer rounded out the game’s scoring with an empty-net goal with 2:31 remaining in the third.

Austin Elliott turned away 19-of-24 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades. Kelton Pyne stopped 27 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pats.

Game 2 of the series is set for Sunday at 4 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Bedard said he is aware of the historical sports rivalry between Regina and Saskatoon including how it extends to football with the University of Regina Rams taking on the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in U Sports and the Regina Thunder tangling with the Saskatoon Hilltops in the CJFL. He knows the Pats and Blades have had their battles in the past, and with the two sides now having played each other four times since the start of March, Bedard thinks the intensity in the series is going to pick up.

Blades RW Egor Sidorov, left, and Pats C Tanner Howe trade words.

“It has been fun to play in these games,” said Bedard, who led the WHL in regular season scoring with 143 points coming off 71 goals and 72 assists to go with a plus-39 rating. “Obviously, they are a really good hockey team.

“We feel we are that too. I think just getting to play them so much, and obviously, seeing them in the first round, it is kind of cool how the schedule played out with that. You learn how to play against each other, and obviously that kind of hatred grows.

“It is going to be an intense series, and it is going to be tight.”

Before the Blades get into the rivalry aspect with the Pats, Sonne wants his team to focus on playing at a playoff intensity and energy level in Game 2.

The Pats celebrate their win on Friday night.

“You have to make it happen too,” said Sonne. “I thought we were clinical.

“I thought we structured and all that stuff. We have to get to that next gear, which is a playoff gear. I just didn’t think we were there enough.

“It is one game of a seven game series. Just like in the regular season, we learn and adjust and come at them for Game 2.”

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