There was more drama and excitement than there needed to be, but the Saskatoon Blades completed a sweep of three consecutive games from the Prince Albert Raiders…finishing off the 2019 calendar year with a 6-3 triumph Saturday.
Overage defenceman Scott Walford (pictured) scored twice and added an assist on the Bridge City Bunch’s third, fourth and fifth goals. At the time, those looked to be icing on the cake as the Blue and Gold, now 17-15-3 for the season, built up a 5-0 lead on their Central Saskatchewan arch-rivals before the five-minute mark of the second period in front of 3,868 fans at SaskTel Centre. However, P.A. scored three times before the middle frame expired and forced Saskatoon to lock down their defensive game while relying on Nolan Maier’s goaltending to preserve the victory in the third period.
The Blades scored on three of their first four shots on goal, forcing Raiders’ head coach Marc Habscheid to replace 17-year-old rookie Carter Serhyenko with Boston Bilous in goal. Serhyenko is a Saskatoon product playing for the first time in the W-H-L in his home-town. Matt Sanders, with his first career W-H-L goal, Chase Wouters, Colton Dach and Kyle Crnkovic also scored for the Bridge City Bunch who are on a three-game winning streak…all against Prince Albert…heading into 2020. The Blue and Gold have won four straight head-to-head meetings with the Raiders and five out of six overall this season.
Ilya Usau notched two goals for P.A., now 20-11-4 for the season, while Aliaksei Protas had the other goal as they out-shot Saskatoon 38-21. The Raiders are on a four-game losing streak and sit just one point ahead of Winnipeg atop the East Division. Prince Albert hosts the ICE Monday before Winnipeg moves into SaskTel Centre for a New Year’s Day 2 o’clock matinee on Wednesday. Following is the official game summary from the W-H-L…
Prince Albert Raiders 3 at Saskatoon Blades 6 – Status: Final
Saturday, December 28, 2019 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Prince Albert 0 3 0 – 3
Saskatoon 3 2 1 – 6
1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Sanders 1 (Schmidt), 1:50. 2, Saskatoon, Wouters 14 (Crnkovic, Kneen), 6:00 (PP). 3, Saskatoon, Walford 6 (Robins, Florchuk), 7:13 (PP). Penalties-Brook Pa (major-check/behind, game misconduct), 2:41; Hayes Pa (roughing), 2:41; McKay Sas (roughing), 2:41; Walford Sas (roughing), 2:41; Nachbaur Pa (roughing), 8:20; Wiens Sas (roughing), 8:20; Guhle Pa (holding), 17:37.
2nd Period-4, Saskatoon, Walford 7 (Kneen), 0:35. 5, Saskatoon, Dach 3 (Florchuk, Walford), 4:32. 6, Prince Albert, Usau 8 (Protas, Aquilon), 10:34. 7, Prince Albert, Usau 9 (Protas, Horon), 18:37. 8, Prince Albert, Protas 20 (Wiesblatt, Usau), 19:10. Penalties-Morozoff Sas (slashing), 5:18.
3rd Period-9, Saskatoon, Crnkovic 8 (Robins), 18:16 (EN). Penalties-Kaddoura Sas (holding), 12:21.
Shots on Goal-Prince Albert 9-12-17-38. Saskatoon 7-9-5-21.
Power Play Opportunities-Prince Albert 0 / 2; Saskatoon 2 / 2.
Goalies-Prince Albert, Serhyenko 5-4-0-0 (4 shots-1 saves); Bilous 15-7-3-1 (16 shots-14 saves). Saskatoon, Maier 14-12-1-2 (38 shots-35 saves).
A-3,868
Referees-Karlin Krieger (27), Troy Murray (34).
Linesmen-Tanner McGregor (55), Aiden Penner (109).
