It’s an old saying, but it fits what happened Saturday to the Saskatoon Blades in a 4-1 loss to the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings.
If it wasn’t for bad luck, the Bridge City Bunch would have no luck at all! A week ago, the New Year’s Day contest between the Blue and Gold and the O-Ks meant the Blades would be playing an Edmonton team minus several of their star players, with ties to N-H-L teams, as they were supposed to play for their country at the World Junior Hockey Championship. Instead, COVID-19 concerns scuttled the tournament, allowing the Oil Kings to welcome three of their five World Junior competitors back to their line-up Saturday in Saskatoon in goaltender Sebastian Cossa along with forwards Jake Neighbours and Dylan Guenther. In addition, between positive COVID cases and illness, the Bridge City Bunch were minus six regular players…including three of their four usual centres…and had two affiliates called up to fill the line-up. That allowed the O-Ks to overpower the Blue and Gold, with goaltender Nolan Maier heroically keeping the Blades close throughout the contest. One more stroke of bad luck turned the momentum Edmonton’s way when the only regular centre remaining to start the game, Jayden Wiens, was assessed a five minute major penalty for charging with accompanying game misconduct early in the second period. Saskatoon was minus second-leading scorer Tristen Robins, fellow centres Trevor Wong and Misha Volotovskii, new forward Noah Boyko plus rookie winger Tyler Parr and defenceman Marek Schneider. Rowan Calvert played his fourth W-H-L game while Saskatoon product Zach Moore made his W-H-L debut less than a month after being the Bridge City Bunch’s first selection in the 2021 W-H-L Prospects Draft in the second round. The Oil Kings out-shot the Blue and Gold 40-16 as they improved their record to 24-8-3. Egor Sidorov scored in the first period in his return to the Blades line-up as Saskatoon fell to 17-14-2 for the season. The Bridge City Bunch are off until Friday when they open a home-and-home series with Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats at SaskTel Centre. Following is the game summary courtesy the W-H-L, plus Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game Show interviews with head coach Brennan Sonne and veteran forward Kyle Crnkovic…
Edmonton Oil Kings 4 at Saskatoon Blades 1 – Status: Final
Saturday, January 1, 2022 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Edmonton 2 1 1 – 4
Saskatoon 1 0 0 – 1
1st Period-1, Edmonton, Kubicek 11 (Jalen Luypen, Carter Souch), 3:54. 2, Saskatoon, Sidorov 8 (Crnkovic, Lisowsky), 7:37 (PP). 3, Edmonton, Prokop 8 (Dylan Guenther, Wiebe), 19:01 (PP). Penalties-Brendan Kuny Edm (tripping), 6:42; Rhinehart Sas (cross checking), 11:05; Watterodt Sas (hooking), 15:26; Hansen Sas (high sticking, high sticking), 16:21.
2nd Period-4, Edmonton, Jalen Luypen 15 (Josh Williams, Logan Dowhaniuk), 3:33 (PP). Penalties-Wiens Sas (major-boarding, game misconduct), 2:22; Jake Neighbours Edm (slashing, roughing), 13:14; Wiebe Edm (10-minute misconduct), 13:14; Rhinehart Sas (10-minute misconduct), 13:14; Watterodt Sas (roughing), 13:14; Gotaas Edm (cross checking), 18:41; Lisowsky Sas (hooking), 19:35.
3rd Period-5, Edmonton, Wiebe 4 (Dylan Guenther, Logan Dowhaniuk), 9:57. Penalties-Shea Van Olm Edm (checking to the head), 5:17.
Shots on Goal-Edmonton 12-18-10-40. Saskatoon 8-2-6-16.
Power Play Opportunities-Edmonton 2 / 6; Saskatoon 1 / 4.
Goalies-Edmonton, Cossa 16-3-2-1 (16 shots-15 saves). Saskatoon, Maier 14-12-1-1 (40 shots-36 saves).
A-2,827
Referees-Ben Croker, Karlin Krieger (27).
Linesmen-Riley Carriere (72), Brayden Glynn (96).
