Enough was enough…as far as the Saskatoon Blades were concerned, as evidenced by Friday’s 8-3 victory over the visiting Winnipeg ICE.
The Bridge City Bunch ended three streaks and extended a fourth in front of 3,605 fans at SaskTel Centre, thanks in large part to the first career W-H-L hat-trick for Blue and Gold captain Chase Wouters (pictured).
The 8-6-1 Blades put the brakes to a three-game losing skid overall, three straight head-to-head losses to 6-5-1 Winnipeg and ended the ICE’s winning run at three games. At the same time, Saskatoon extended their home-ice winning streak to three games.
“Going into their barn, there wasn’t the outcome that we wanted,” said Blades’ forward Tristen Robins of their motivation after being swept at the Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg last weekend. “We strayed away from our game. We had a week off to re-set and re-prepare and I think we did a good job and played a full 60 (minutes Friday) night and it really paid off.”
Wouters opened the scoring, but Winnipeg led 2-1 after the first period. After that, it was pretty much all Bridge City Bunch as they scored seven straight goals before allowing a late 5-on-3 tally by the ICE. Eric Florchuk…in his 200th career W-H-L game…Zach Huber, Jayden Wiens, Libor Zabransky and Robins all scored for the Blue and Gold. Robins added an assist, Majid Kaddoura had three helpers while fellow defenceman Radek Kucerik chipped in with two assists, as did rookie forward Colton Dach. The Blades out-shot Winnipeg 29-23 and both teams scored twice on the power play.
Saskatoon returns to action Sunday when they host Moose Jaw in a 2 o’clock matinee. The broadcast starts at 1 on 98-COOL with the Sardinia Family Restaurant pre-game show. Following is the official game summary from the W-H-L…
Winnipeg ICE 3 at Saskatoon Blades 8 – Status: Final
Friday, October 25, 2019 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Winnipeg 2 0 1 – 3
Saskatoon 1 5 2 – 8
1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Wouters 6 (Walford, Crnkovic), 12:07 (PP). 2, Winnipeg, McClennon 4 (Harsch, Lambos), 14:21. 3, Winnipeg, Leppard 3 (Zloty, Ladyman), 19:47 (PP). Penalties-Johnson Wpg (interference), 1:46; Johnson Wpg (holding), 7:15; McKay Sas (inter. on goaltender), 7:15; Leppard Wpg (hooking), 11:02; McKay Sas (holding), 18:11.
2nd Period-4, Saskatoon, Florchuk 5 8:05. 5, Saskatoon, Huber 4 (Dach, Kaddoura), 9:15. 6, Saskatoon, Wiens 3 (Kucerik, Kaddoura), 9:50. 7, Saskatoon, Zabransky 1 (Kucerik), 12:55. 8, Saskatoon, Robins 5 19:42. Penalties-Leppard Wpg (cross checking), 0:51; Kaddoura Sas (checking to the head), 4:18; Zabransky Sas (holding), 10:25.
3rd Period-9, Saskatoon, Wouters 7 (Kneen, Robins), 6:49 (PP). 10, Saskatoon, Wouters 8 (Dach, Kaddoura), 11:32. 11, Winnipeg, Ginnell 5 (McClennon), 18:58 (PP). Penalties-served by Danis Wpg (too many men), 3:10; Leppard Wpg (high sticking, high sticking), 6:22; Kjemhus Sas (slashing), 17:49; Maier Sas (delay of game), 18:23.
Shots on Goal-Winnipeg 7-9-7-23. Saskatoon 10-10-9-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Winnipeg 2 / 5; Saskatoon 2 / 6.
Goalies-Winnipeg, Makaj 3-2-0-0 (20 shots-14 saves); Alexander 0-1-1-0 (9 shots-7 saves). Saskatoon, Maier 6-5-0-1 (23 shots-20 saves).
A-3,605
Referees-Aydon Brown, Allan Scott (38).
Linesmen-Riley Carriere (72), Andrew Sawatsky (123).
