Evan Patrician (pictured) buried a rebound of an Aidan De La Gorgendiere point shot, on a 5-on-3 power play with 6:45 remaining in the third period, breaking a 3-3 tie and giving the Saskatoon Blades a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings in W-H-L pre-season action Friday night.
It was the Bridge City Bunch’s first game at SaskTel Centre since March 9, 2020 and the Blue and Gold’s ability to rally from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits made Brennan Sonne a winner in his first game as Blades’ head coach. As could be expected, the game was raggedly played at times on both sides. The Oil Kings held the territorial edge for most of the first two periods, out-shooting Saskatoon 13-6 in a scoreless opening period and 22-14 through 40 minutes. Rookie goaltending hopeful Austin Elliott made 27 saves for the Bridge City Bunch as he battles Saskatoon product Ethan Chadwick for the back-up spot on the Blue and Gold behind 20-year-old Nolan Maier. Brandon Lee scored the first Blades’ goal of the pre-season in his first game since being acquired from Everett in the off-season while Brandon Lisowsky and Josh Paulhus also dented the Oil Kings’ twine. Edmonton out-shot Saskatoon 30-24. The same two meets again Saturday at SaskTel Centre with a slightly earlier opening face-off of 4 p.m.
Following are post-game interviews Les Lazaruk had with head coach Brennan Sonne, goaltender Austin Elliott, winning goal-scorer Evan Patrician and Brendan Lee…plus the game summary is included, courtesy the W-H-L…..
Edmonton Oil Kings 3 at Saskatoon Blades 4 – Status: Final
Friday, September 17, 2021 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Edmonton 0 2 1 – 3
Saskatoon 0 1 3 – 4
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Keagan Slaney Edm (kneeing), 5:15; Schneider Sas (tripping), 14:57; Keagan Slaney Edm (tripping), 18:15.
2nd Period-1, Edmonton, Boucher 3 (Keagan Slaney), 8:12. 2, Saskatoon, Lee 1 (Crnkovic, Saunderson), 10:19. 3, Edmonton, Kobe Verbicky 1 14:59. Penalties-Dawson Seitz Edm (kneeing), 2:38; Shea Van Olm Edm (kneeing), 12:23; Kowalyk Edm (holding), 17:16.
3rd Period-4, Saskatoon, Lisowsky 1 (Lee), 3:33. 5, Saskatoon, Paulhus 1 (Streek, Wiens), 5:19. 6, Edmonton, Brendan Kuny 2 (Keagan Slaney), 8:18 (PP). 7, Saskatoon, Patrician 1 (De La Gorgendiere, Stevenson), 13:15 (PP). Penalties-Lee Sas (hooking), 6:45; Streek Sas (roughing), 10:39; Dawson Seitz Edm (tripping), 11:16; Boucher Edm (high sticking), 12:31; De La Gorgendiere Sas (high sticking, high sticking), 19:20.
Shots on Goal-Edmonton 13-9-8-30. Saskatoon 6-8-10-24.
Power Play Opportunities-Edmonton 1 / 5; Saskatoon 1 / 7.
Goalies-Edmonton, Knight 0-1-0-0 (24 shots-20 saves). Saskatoon, Elliott 1-0-0-0 (30 shots-27 saves).
A-
Referees-Troy Murray (34), Levi Schutz (110).
Linesmen-Tanner McGregor (55), Devan Thiessen (94).
