A fourth straight season-opening win, all coming on the road no less, seemed to be in the cards for the Saskatoon Blades Friday night…for one period!
However, the final 40 minutes belonged to the Warriors as Saskatoon Brayden Yager opened the scoring and finished with a hat-trick as Moose Jaw walloped the Bridge City Bunch 7-1. As he did in the Regina “Dubble,” Brandon Lisowsky opened the scoring for the season for the Blue and Gold, off-setting an early opposition score. But, Lisowsky’s power play tally was all the Blades could manage, despite out-shooting the Tribe 9-6 in the first period and 33-27 overall. After Saskatoon came close to scoring another man advantage marker early in the second period, the turning point came a few seconds later when Warriors’ captain Daemon Hunt scored short-handed and the flood gates opened on the Bridge City Bunch, spoiling the W-H-L and Blades’ head coaching debut of Brennan Sonne. Nolan Maier was pulled at 7:02 of the third period in favour of Ethan Chadwick after Yager notched his third goal to make it 6-1. The good news for the Blue and Gold, they get to play Saturday night against Moose Jaw…this time at SaskTel Centre in the Blades’ home opener. Game time is 7 p.m. with the broadcast on CJWW at 6:30. Following is Les Lazaruk’s post-game show interview with Saskatoon head coach Brennan Sonne, as well as the game summary…..
Saskatoon Blades 1 at Moose Jaw Warriors 7 – Status: Final
Friday, October 1, 2021 – Mosaic Place – Moose Jaw, SK
Saskatoon 1 0 0 – 1
Moose Jaw 1 3 3 – 7
1st Period-1, Moose Jaw, Yager 1 1:32. 2, Saskatoon, Lisowsky 1 (Crnkovic, Molendyk), 7:50 (PP). Penalties-Brenton Mj (delay of game), 2:27; Baco Mj (hooking), 6:48; Volotovskii Sas (tripping), 14:03; Yager Mj (hooking), 19:52.
2nd Period-3, Moose Jaw, Hunt 1 (Doust, Wanner), 0:30 (SH). 4, Moose Jaw, Baco 1 (Brenton, Korczak), 13:05. 5, Moose Jaw, Calvert 1 (Wanner, Alarie), 18:04. Penalties-Sidorov Sas (misconduct – mouthguard), 2:54; Doust Mj (delay of game), 4:07; Rhinehart Sas (major-fighting), 4:39; Wanner Mj (major-fighting), 4:39; Lee Sas (roughing), 6:02; Niven Mj (cross checking), 6:02; Baco Mj (tripping), 10:52; Lisowsky Sas (hooking), 16:24.
3rd Period-6, Moose Jaw, Yager 2 (Korczak, Firkus), 3:43 (PP). 7, Moose Jaw, Yager 3 (Firkus), 7:02. 8, Moose Jaw, Niven 1 (Hoekstra), 14:13. Penalties-Smith Sas (hooking), 3:09; Niven Mj (holding), 14:33.
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 10-14-9-33. Moose Jaw 6-11-10-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 1 / 6; Moose Jaw 1 / 3.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Maier 0-1-0-0 (23 shots-17 saves); Chadwick 0-0-0-0 (4 shots-3 saves). Moose Jaw, Tetachuk 1-0-0-0 (33 shots-32 saves).
A-2,521
Referees-Bryce Sebastian (64), Tarrington Wyonzek (137).
Linesmen-Alex Clarke (134), Ryan Lundquist (106).
