The Saskatoon Blades didn’t just end their season-long streak of 10 straight games decided by one goal, they roasted it on the way to devouring the Calgary Hitmen 9-3 on a Thanksgiving Day Monday matinee at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Eric Florchuk turned a 1-0 Bridge City Bunch lead into a 4-0 advantage in the first period with a natural hat-trick, the first three-goal game for the 19-year-old Washington Capitals’ draft pick in his 196th career W-H-L contest. The victory was the fourth straight for the 7-3-1 Blue and Gold and extended their streak of games with points gained in the standings to seven (6-0-1).
“It was refreshing, being able to sit on the bench in the third period and be in a comfortable spot and not a nail-biter situation,” explained Blades assistant coach Ryan Keller as Saskatoon rolled up leads of 4-1 and 5-1 going into the intermissions. “I think it’s big for us, too, going into back-to-back games here on the road and allows us to make sure we can play everybody throughout the game and not have to over-extend anybody.”
Thirteen of the 18 Bridge City Bunch skaters found their way onto the score sheet, including rookie Czech defenceman Radek Kucerik with his first W-H-L point, an assist as his point shot was deflected in by Cyle McNabb for the game’s final goal. Five other Blades had multi-point games besides Florchuk…Tristen Robins with two goals, his first-ever W-H-L multi-goal game, and an assist; Chase Wouters, Jayden Wiens and Majid Kaddoura all had a goal and a helper…the first W-H-L two-point contests for Wiens and Kaddoura; and Riley McKay had two assists.
Despite the lop-sided score, the Blue and Gold were out-shot 41-32 by 4-2-1 Calgary…the fifth ranked team in last week’s C-H-L Top 10…meaning Nolan Maier had to be solid in goal. The victory moved Saskatoon one point back of East Division-leading Prince Albert with a chance to move ahead of the idle, U-S Division-bound Raiders if the Bridge City Bunch can win Tuesday night in Medicine Hat. Game time is 7 p.m. with the Sardinia Family Restaurant pre-game show at 6 on 98-COOL. Following is the official game summary from the W-H-L…
Saskatoon Blades 9 at Calgary Hitmen 3 – Status: Final
Monday, October 14, 2019 – Scotiabank Saddledome – Calgary, AB
Saskatoon 4 1 4 – 9
Calgary 1 0 2 – 3
1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Robins 3 1:18. 2, Saskatoon, Florchuk 2 (McKay, Zabransky), 3:59 (PP). 3, Saskatoon, Florchuk 3 9:04. 4, Saskatoon, Florchuk 4 (Dach, Kaddoura), 18:43. 5, Calgary, Kastelic 2 (Peterek, Stotts), 19:18. Penalties-served by Funk Cgy (too many men), 2:02; Kastelic Cgy (holding), 9:38; De La Gorgendiere Sas (slashing), 10:38; McNabb Sas (tripping), 12:53; Stotts Cgy (hooking), 13:11; Klassen Cgy (high sticking), 15:43.
2nd Period-6, Saskatoon, Kaddoura 1 (Wiens, Huber), 1:37. Penalties-Kucerik Sas (holding), 6:29; Wouters Sas (cross checking), 14:39; Focht Cgy (10-minute misconduct), 19:41; Prokop Cgy (tripping), 19:41.
3rd Period-7, Saskatoon, Robins 4 (Wouters, Walford), 1:31 (PP). 8, Saskatoon, Wouters 4 (Kneen, Robins), 4:05 (PP). 9, Calgary, Wiesblatt 2 (Prokop), 14:04. 10, Calgary, Kastelic 3 (Fiddler-Schultz, Zamula), 14:45. 11, Saskatoon, Wiens 2 16:21. 12, Saskatoon, McNabb 1 (Kucerik, McKay), 18:34. Penalties-Kastelic Cgy (high sticking), 2:21; Plaschewsky Sas (high sticking), 4:57.
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 11-10-11-32. Calgary 11-16-14-41.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 3 / 6; Calgary 0 / 5.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Maier 5-3-0-1 (41 shots-38 saves). Calgary, Stankowski 1-1-1-0 (14 shots-9 saves); McNaughton 3-1-0-0 (18 shots-14 saves).
A-4,963
Referees-Tyler Adair (58), Austin Weisgerber (131).
Linesmen-Jared Mackey (52), Jason Nedinis (33).
