The Saskatoon Blades “held serve,” but it took over 17 minutes of overtime before they accomplished the feat, thanks to defenceman Ben Saunderson’s (pictured) tally, giving the Bridge City Bunch a 2-1 triumph over the Red Deer Rebels on Sunday.
The 19-year-old veteran defenceman sent the large majority of the crowd of 8,051 fans at SaskTel Centre home happy when he wired a 20-foot wrist shot past Chase Wutzke’s stick side at 17:01 of the fourth period. Following a Red Deer turnover in neutral ice, Blue and Gold captain Trevor Wong raced into the Rebels’ zone, stopped up and spotted Saunderson coming in late and fed him the puck, leading to the game-winning shot. It was the 49th shot on goal for the game for the Blades as Wutzke, a Debden, Saskatchewan, product and former Saskatoon Contacts’ Male Under-18 AAA performer nearly stole a split of the first two games for Red Deer. Saskatoon leads the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-final 2-0 after they out-shot the Rebels 49-25, with 18 of those shots coming on six unsuccessful power play chances. However, the Bridge City Bunch penalty kill also shone in the third period, killing off Easton Armstrong’s five-minute major and game misconduct for charging into Wutzke in the third period with the game tied 1-1. Fraser Minten, for the Blue and Gold in the second period, and Kalan Lind, on a third period man advantage for Red Deer, accounted for the scoring in regulation time. The Blades are 2-0 in overtime in the playoffs while the Rebels are 2-1 in extra time in the post-season. Games 3 and 4 of the set are to be played Tuesday and Wednesday in Red Deer. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Post-Game Show comments from head coach Brennan Sonne, Saunderson and fellow Saskatoon defenceman Charlie Wright plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..
Red Deer Rebels 1 at Saskatoon Blades 2 (OT) – Status: Final OT
Sunday, April 14, 2024 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Red Deer 0 0 1 0 – 1
Saskatoon 0 1 0 1 – 2
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Sidorov Sas (tripping), 1:49; Sidorov Sas (cross checking), 13:44; Larson Rd (boarding), 18:54.
2nd Period-1, Saskatoon, Minten 4 (Saunderson), 11:10. Penalties-Mayo Rd (hooking), 5:13; Carson Latimer Rd (delay of game), 5:52; Jean Jr. Rd (high sticking, high sticking), 16:28.
3rd Period-2, Red Deer, Lind 3 (Mayo, Carson Latimer), 4:10 (PP). Penalties-Babcock Sas (hooking), 3:00; Armstrong Sas (major-charging, game misconduct), 5:59; Thurston Rd (hooking), 14:36.
OT Period-3, Saskatoon, Saunderson 2 (Wong), 17:01. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Red Deer 2-8-10-5-25. Saskatoon 7-21-11-10-49.
Power Play Opportunities-Red Deer 1 / 4; Saskatoon 0 / 6.
Goalies-Red Deer, Wutzke (49 shots-47 saves). Saskatoon, Gardner (25 shots-24 saves).
A-8,051
Referees-Mike Campbell (89), Troy Murray (34).
Linesmen-Sean Dufour (50), Tarrington Wyonzek (137).
