In a span of 24 hours, the Saskatoon Blades went from a heady, emotional victory over a very good team to having the tables turned on them by a different very good team.
After spotting the Bridge City Bunch the opening goal, the Red Deer Rebels scored six straight times, five in the second period, on the way to bouncing the Blue and Gold 6-1 Saturday in front of 2,895 fans at SaskTel Centre. That was the final score Friday as the Blades upended the Central Division-leading and C-H-L’s second ranked team, the Edmonton Oil Kings. Brandon Lisowsky had the lone offensive highlight for Saskatoon on Saturday, scoring on a first period breakaway. But, Shaunovan product and former Saskatoon Contacts Under-18 AAA star Kalan Lind responded before the end of the opening frame with a power play tally that required a video review. After that the Rebels’ high-scoring duo of Arshdeep Bains and Ben King took over. Bains ended up with a hat-trick and two assists to re-take the W-H-L scoring lead from Kyle Crnkovic of the Bridge City Bunch while King had three assists. Red Deer scored on their first three power play chances as they improved their record to 29-13-3 while the Blue and Gold were out-shot 36-19 and saw their season log drop to 23-16-2. The Blades play three more times at home next week, starting with a Wednesday contest against the Calgary Hitmen. Following is the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L and Les Lazaruk’s post-game interviews with Brennan Sonne and Trevor Wong…
Red Deer Rebels 6 at Saskatoon Blades 1 – Status: Final
Saturday, February 5, 2022 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Red Deer 1 5 0 – 6
Saskatoon 1 0 0 – 1
1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Lisowsky 23 (Wong), 15:52. 2, Red Deer, Lind 9 (Bains, King), 17:48 (PP). Penalties-Weir Rd (interference), 1:28; Robins Sas (hooking), 16:19.
2nd Period-3, Red Deer, Bains 21 (King, Sedoff), 3:16 (PP). 4, Red Deer, Bains 22 (King), 4:50. 5, Red Deer, Isley 9 7:11. 6, Red Deer, Bains 23 (Larson), 10:08. 7, Red Deer, Liam Keeler 21 (Bains, Sedoff), 12:19 (PP). Penalties-Pillar Sas (cross checking), 2:57; Nolan Sas (roughing), 11:53; served by Lind Rd (too many men), 17:44.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Anderson Rd (hooking), 5:50; Wong Sas (cross checking, cross checking), 18:47.
Shots on Goal-Red Deer 15-14-7-36. Saskatoon 6-8-5-19.
Power Play Opportunities-Red Deer 3 / 5; Saskatoon 0 / 3.
Goalies-Red Deer, Ungar 15-6-1-0 (19 shots-18 saves). Saskatoon, Chadwick 3-3-0-0 (25 shots-19 saves); Maier 19-13-1-1 (11 shots-11 saves).
A-2,895
Referees-Adam Forbes (62), Troy Murray (34).
Linesmen-Riley Carriere (72), Aiden Penner (109).
