It was a sweep, following a blip to start, but the Saskatoon Blades are through to the second round of the W-H-L Playoffs, eliminating the arch-rival Prince Albert Raiders Friday with a 6-2 triumph to win the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final 4-1.
The Bridge City Bunch scored four times in a span of just over nine minutes before Game 5 was 13 minutes old – more than enough for a fourth straight victory, in front of 9,869 fans at SaskTel Centre, after losing the opening game of the set by a 4-3 score to the plucky Raiders eight days earlier. The line of Brandon Lisowsky, Fraser Minten (pictured) and Alexander Suzdalev paced the early offensive explosion for the Blue and Gold, each registering a goal and an assist. Ben Saunderson also tallied in the first period while Trevor Wong and Charlie Wright scored into an empty net in the third period after P-A battled back to within two goals, thanks to tallies from Niall Crocker and Harrison Lodewyk. In all five games, the Blades opened the scoring and led 2-0 – extending those advantages to 4-0 in three of the five contests. Saskatoon also out-shot the Raiders in four of the five games, including 41-25 on Friday. There was a downside as goaltender Evan Gardner and series scoring leader Easton Armstrong didn’t return to the game after the first period due to injury. Austin Elliott stopped 15 of 16 shots in relief of Gardner. The reward for ousting Prince Albert from the post-season is a second straight second round playoff meeting with Red Deer, beginning Friday, April 12 at SaskTel Centre. Last year, the Blue and Gold rallied from a 3-0 series deficit to quell the Rebels in seven games. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Post-Game Show comments from head coach Brennan Sonne, Minten and Lisowsky plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..
Prince Albert Raiders 2 at Saskatoon Blades 6 – Status: Final
Friday, April 5, 2024 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Prince Albert 1 0 1 – 2
Saskatoon 4 0 2 – 6
1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Lisowsky 1 (Saunderson), 3:24. 2, Saskatoon, Saunderson 1 (Wong, Armstrong), 5:57. 3, Saskatoon, Suzdalev 2 (Lisowsky, Minten), 7:10. 4, Saskatoon, Minten 1 (Suzdalev, Wright), 12:36. 5, Prince Albert, Crocker 3 (Kovacs, Ritchie), 14:13. Penalties-Martin Pa (interference), 10:16; Volotovskii Sas (high sticking), 19:05; Christensen Pa (inter. on goaltender), 19:41.
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Johnston Pa (boarding), 5:38; Macias Pa (major – checking to the head, game misconduct), 13:54; Hansen Sas (interference), 17:20; Goldsmith Pa (high sticking), 17:27.
3rd Period-6, Prince Albert, Lodewyk 1 (Hoffrogge), 15:06. 7, Saskatoon, Wong 2 (Watterodt), 16:00 (EN). 8, Saskatoon, Wright 1 17:49 (SH EN). Penalties-Hansen Sas (high sticking), 6:03; Dube Pa (cross checking), 7:57; Crocker Pa (tripping), 11:49; Hansen Sas (high sticking), 17:23.
Shots on Goal-Prince Albert 9-8-8-25. Saskatoon 13-14-14-41.
Power Play Opportunities-Prince Albert 0 / 3; Saskatoon 0 / 7.
Goalies-Prince Albert, Hildebrand (39 shots-35 saves). Saskatoon, Gardner (9 shots-8 saves); Elliott (16 shots-15 saves).
A-9,869
Referees-Adam Forbes (62), Jeff Ingram (82).
Linesmen-Tanner McGregor (55), Levi Schutz (110).
