For the eighth time in franchise history, the Saskatoon Blades have opened a season with three straight wins, thanks to Saturday’s 4-3 victory over the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings.
While both teams had their moments in the opening 55 minutes of the evenly-matched contest, the result boiled down to the final five minutes. The Bridge City Bunch killed off the first 1:48 of a Wheaties’ power play, then broke a 3-3 tie on a man advantage of their own when Rowan Calvert (pictured) cleaned up a rebound off a goal-post with 3:03 remaining in the third period as the Blue and Gold improved to 3-0-0 and dropped Brandon to 3-1-0. The 19-year-old Calvert added a second goal as the Blades spotted the Wheat Kings the opening goal by defenceman Luke Shipley in the second period. Ben Riche and Kohen Lodge also tallied for Saskatoon, who out-shot the Wheaties 38-36 in front of 3,749 fans. However, a Roger McQueen power play goal and Marcus Nguyen tallied for Brandon to set the stage for the late-game dramatics. Evan Gardner made 33 saves in his first appearance of the season following his return earlier in the week from the Columbus Blue Jackets’ N-H-L training camp. The Bridge City Bunch put their unblemished record on the line Wednesday in Calgary. Following is the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L, plus audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast and Post-Game Show interviews with head coach Dan Da Silva, Calvert and Lodge…..
Brandon Wheat Kings 3 at Saskatoon Blades 4 – Status: Final
Saturday, September 28, 2024 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Brandon 0 2 1 – 3
Saskatoon 0 3 1 – 4
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Michels Bdn (hooking), 17:45.
2nd Period-1, Brandon, Shipley 1 (Flamand, Klippenstein), 1:49. 2, Saskatoon, Riche 4 (James, Parr), 6:28. 3, Saskatoon, Kohen Lodge 2 (Tastad, Tetarenko), 7:44. 4, Saskatoon, Calvert 2 (Williams, Saunderson), 13:46. 5, Brandon, McQueen 6 (Nguyen, Petr), 18:35 (PP). Penalties-Jacobson Bdn (slashing), 15:14; Riche Sas (slashing), 15:14; Worthington Sas (high sticking), 17:48.
3rd Period-6, Brandon, Nguyen 3 (Mantei, Flamand), 7:45. 7, Saskatoon, Calvert 3 (Siepmann, Parr), 16:57 (PP). Penalties-Pantelas Bdn (checking to the head), 4:05; James Sas (holding), 14:34; Turko Bdn (high sticking, high sticking), 16:22.
Shots on Goal-Brandon 5-15-16-36. Saskatoon 11-13-14-38.
Power Play Opportunities-Brandon 1 / 2; Saskatoon 1 / 4.
Goalies-Brandon, Bjarnason 0-1-0-0 (38 shots-34 saves). Saskatoon, Gardner 1-0-0-0 (36 shots-33 saves).
A-3,749
Referees-Brayden Glynn (96), Ty Skene (19).
Linesmen-Riley Carriere (72), Justin Primeau (112).
