They knew before the game started that they were going to be in the franchise record book again, regardless of Friday’s result, but that didn’t stop the Saskatoon Blades from starting strong and finishing boldly.
For the second straight game, six different Bridge City Bunch skaters had multi-point games as the Blue and Gold overwhelmed the Pats 7-3 in the W-H-L’s East Division “Dubble.”
Prior to the contest, it was discovered that a transcribing error in the Blades’ original history book when it came to the game-by-game scores for the 1985-86 season meant that the 2021 Saskatoon edition, indeed, held sole possession of the best seven-game record to start a season. With that team, as well as the 1975-76 Bridge City Bunch both losing their eighth games, the Blue and Gold could’ve absorbed their first regulation loss and still had the entry for best record through eight games to start the season!
But, the Blades didn’t rest on their laurels as Blake Stevenson scored 92 seconds into the game and Saskatoon raced out to leads of 3-0 and 4-1 in the first period. When Regina (now 2-4-2 for the “Dubble”) battled back to within 4-3 in the first seven minutes of the second period, the Bridge City Bunch settled down and used their depth to ward off the Pats’ comeback attempt.
Defenceman Aidan De La Gorgendiere (pictured) registered four assists while captain Chase Wouters and Colton Dach each scored twice with singles off the sticks of Stevenson, Brandon Lisowsky and Caiden Daley. Wouters added his 100th career assist, the 65th skater in Blue and Gold history to reach the milestone. Stevenson and Daley each had a helper for two-point outings and Kyle Crnkovic pitched in with two assists. The Blades out-shot the Pats 47-27 while improving their “Dubble”-leading record to 7-0-1 for 15 points…four ahead of second place Brandon. The seven goals and 47 shots were single-game highs for Saskatoon in the “Dubble.”
The Bridge City Bunch are idle until Monday at 4 o’clock when they take on the arch-rival Prince Albert Raiders. Following is the game summary from the W-H-L…
Saskatoon Blades 7 at Regina Pats 3 – Status: Final
Friday, March 26, 2021 – Brandt Centre – Regina, SK
Saskatoon 4 1 2 – 7
Regina 1 2 0 – 3
1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Stevenson 5 (Wyatt McLeod), 1:32. 2, Saskatoon, Lisowsky 3 (Daley, Wright), 6:11. 3, Saskatoon, Dach 3 (Wouters, Crnkovic), 11:31 (PP). 4, Regina, Bedard 6 (Berge), 15:03. 5, Saskatoon, Daley 4 (De La Gorgendiere, Molendyk), 18:36. Penalties-Carrier Reg (boarding), 10:43; Evans Reg (cross checking), 12:51.
2nd Period-6, Regina, Nijhoff 3 (Smith, Denomie), 0:59. 7, Regina, Chorney 2 (Nijhoff, Feist), 6:30. 8, Saskatoon, Dach 4 (Crnkovic, De La Gorgendiere), 11:15. Penalties-No Penalties
3rd Period-9, Saskatoon, Wouters 3 (De La Gorgendiere, Stevenson), 6:34. 10, Saskatoon, Wouters 4 (Robins, De La Gorgendiere), 14:05 (PP). Penalties-Morozoff Sas (major-fighting), 3:02; Dubinsky Reg (high sticking, major-fighting), 3:02; Paulhus Sas (major-fighting), 7:45; Nijhoff Reg (major-fighting), 7:45; Wouters Sas (kneeing), 9:48; Berge Reg (holding), 12:43; MacInnes Sas (delay of game), 13:14; Denomie Reg (tripping), 13:37; De La Gorgendiere Sas (cross checking), 17:43; Dubinsky Reg (checking to the head), 17:54; Saunderson Sas (high sticking), 19:05.
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 14-16-17-47. Regina 7-12-8-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 2 / 5; Regina 0 / 3.
Goalies-Saskatoon, MacInnes 2-0-1-0 (27 shots-24 saves). Regina, Welke 0-1-0-0 (47 shots-40 saves).
A-
Referees-Adam Bloski (16), Aydon Brown (85).
Linesmen-Levi Schutz (110), Brent Vandermeulen (100).
