Fans at the south end of Westoba Place saw all of the goals in Friday’s game go into the net nearest them. Since the home-standing Brandon Wheat Kings shot at that cage two out of the three periods, they were able to double up the Saskatoon Blades 4-2.
Once again, the Bridge City Bunch allowed the game’s opening goal, for the 34th time in 54 games, and fell behind 3-0 after 20 minutes. The Blue and Gold have been out-scored 62-36 in first periods this season. The Blades battled back to score into the south end twice, then pushed hard to reverse the trend in the third frame…but couldn’t beat Wheaties’ goaltender Jiri Patera. As a result, Brandon improved to 29-19-5 for 63 points…four ahead of fourth place Saskatoon…now 27-22-5 for the season.
“Certainly pleased with the resiliency in the second period,” explained Bridge City Bunch associate coach Ryan Marsh. “Even in the first, obviously not the start we wanted, but I thought we did a lot of good things, too. There was some lucky bounces on a couple of those goals early. It’s obviously tough to start a game down three, but we stayed with it and had a real good second period and I thought a really good third. We just weren’t able to find the equalizer.”
Kyle Crnkovic and Zach Huber scored as the Blue and Gold out-shot the Wheat Kings 38-30…26-16 over the final 40 minutes. The Blades are back in action Saturday in Swift Current. The broadcast on 98-COOL starts at 6 p.m. with the Sardinia Family Restaurant pre-game show and the play-by-play at 7. Following is the official game summary from the W-H-L…
Saskatoon Blades 2 at Brandon Wheat Kings 4 – Status: Final
Friday, February 14, 2020 – Westoba Place – Brandon, MB
Saskatoon 0 2 0 – 2
Brandon 3 0 1 – 4
1st Period-1, Brandon, Reinhardt 27 (Lambos, Schmiemann), 4:29. 2, Brandon, Burzan 31 (Nychuk, McCartney), 7:29. 3, Brandon, Pierce 7 (Sekundiak, Lambos), 14:09. Penalties-Reinhardt Bdn (hooking), 4:54; Rhinehart Sas (high sticking), 11:25; Salame Bdn (slashing), 15:05; Wouters Sas (roughing), 16:17; Sekundiak Bdn (checking from behind), 16:17.
2nd Period-4, Saskatoon, Crnkovic 15 5:05. 5, Saskatoon, Huber 13 (Walford, Rhinehart), 15:22. Penalties-Perepeluk Bdn (interference), 2:37; Crnkovic Sas (hooking), 11:26; McKay Sas (embellishment), 18:40; Sekundiak Bdn (slashing), 18:40.
3rd Period-6, Brandon, Pierce 8 (Thorpe, Sekundiak), 19:41 (EN). Penalties-Crnkovic Sas (holding opp. stick), 3:46; Schneider Bdn (hooking), 3:46.
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 12-14-12-38. Brandon 14-9-7-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 0 / 3; Brandon 0 / 2.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Maier 16-17-1-3 (29 shots-26 saves). Brandon, Patera 20-9-2-2 (38 shots-36 saves).
A-3,666
Referees-Troy Murray (34), Bryce Sebastian (64).
Linesmen-Layne Richardson (158), Darrell Surminski (37).
