The Saskatoon Blades and most of the 3,172 fans at SaskTel Centre were unwitting witnesses of Maddox Schultz’s W-H-L “coming out party” Wednesday as the Regina Pats out-scored the Bridge City Bunch 7-6 in overtime.

The 15-year-old Regina product, who was the first overall pick in the 2025 Prospects Draft, registered his first W-H-L hat trick – including the tying goal with 18 seconds remaining in the third period and winning tally at 1:03 of the O-T period. Schultz’s flair for the dramatic over-shadowed the night that 20-year-old forward Caden Brown had with a hat-trick of his own, plus three assists. The two players helped Regina get an important second point from the game, moving them within one points of Red Deer for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Blue and Gold appeared to have broken a three-game home-ice losing streak when captain Tyler Parr scored with 7:45 remaining in the third period and took that 6-5 lead into the final minute. However, a rarely called delay of game penalty to the Blades with 59 seconds remaining, for not lining up for a face-off in a timely fashion before the Pats called a time out, led to Schultz’s tying goal. For Saskatoon, on a night where their offence broke out and scored six times, the usually-reliable defence had an off night. The Bridge City Bunch scored more than four goals in a game for the first time in 13 games since January 3rd and more than five goals in a game for the first time in 20 games since December 12th. Rookie centre Ben Bowtell posted his first multi-goal and multi-point game for the Blue and Gold with two goals and an assist. Parr and Zach Olsen each had a goal and an assist, Tristen Doyle chipped in a pair of helpers while Brayden Klimpke and David Lewandowski also scored for the Blades, now 26-22-5 for the season. The single point in the standings pulled Saskatoon within two points of fifth place Brandon and eight points of fourth place Calgary. The Hitmen lost 3-1 to visiting Swift Current Wednesday. The last place Broncos pay a visit to SaskTel Centre on Friday at 7 o’clock. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Post-Game interviews with head coach Dan Da Silva and Bowtell plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..

REGINA Goals REGINA PLAYERS (plus) SASKATOON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 11:03  37-27-4 4 25 27 37 44 4 19 25 41 88 2nd 1:50  19-10 6 10 19 23 57 11 13 16 26 27 2nd 9:07 SH  27 4 27 37 38 11 16 23 27 47 2nd 13:56 PP  27-25-6 3rd 3:03  27-37 25 27 37 38 55 20 26 41 47 77 3rd 19:42 PP  19-6-27 OT 1:03  19-55-27 19 27 55 4 9 16

SASKATOON Goals SASKATOON PLAYERS (plus) REGINA PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 13:25  4-20 4 20 47 77 6 25 27 55 1st 17:36  71-9-43 9 23 37 43 71 4 18 24 38 49 2nd 13:24  11-27-47 11 16 27 43 47 4 18 24 44 49 3rd 1:28  9-71 9 23 37 41 71 10 19 23 38 57 3rd 4:16  71-37-47 9 23 37 47 71 4 18 24 44 49 3rd 12:15  20-77 13 20 26 47 77 4 24 25 44 49