While it may have been their first game in 13 days, the Saskatoon Blades’ first 30 minutes in their return from a COVID pause was as solid and crisp as they’ve been all season, building a 4-1 lead on the way to a 6-4 triumph over the Broncos Friday night in Swift Current.

Tristen Robins (pictured) notched his second hat-trick of the season, and third of his W-H-L career to pace the 18-14-2 Bridge City Bunch. He scored twice on the power play, one of those into an empty net for insurance, plus tallied on an early second period penalty shot that snapped a 1-1 tie and gave the Blue and Gold a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Not the that the 13-16-5 Broncos were an easy win for the Blades. They kept on battling in the third period, scoring short-handed with just over a minute to play to pare Saskatoon’s lead to 5-4 before Robins salted the two points away. Rookie Belarus forward Egor Sidorov scored twice for the Bridge City Bunch while defenceman Charlie Wright notched what turned out to be the game-winner. The Blades made it four straight games scoring on the power play, tallying twice with the man advantage on four chances, as Saskatoon continued their run of alternating results over the last 12 games, now with a 6-5-1 record. The Bridge City Bunch can notch their first set of back-to-back victories since the second week of November when they host Speedy Creek Saturday night at 7 at SaskTel Centre. The broadcast on CJWW begins at 6:30. Following is Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game Show interview with head coach Brennan Sonne and the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..

Saskatoon Blades 6 at Swift Current Broncos 4 – Status: Final
Friday, January 14, 2022 – Innovation Credit Union i-plex – Swift Current, SK

Saskatoon 1 3 2 – 6
Swift Current 1 1 2 – 4

1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Robins 15 (Lisowsky, Crnkovic), 8:58 (PP). 2, Swift Current, Raphael Pelletier 11   12:32. Penalties-Davies Sc (checking from behind), 2:13; Hurley Sc (high sticking), 8:39; Robins Sas (roughing), 11:09; Wyrostok Sc (kneeing), 11:09.

2nd Period-3, Saskatoon, Robins 16   0:33 (PS). 4, Saskatoon, Sidorov 9 (Watterodt), 1:38. 5, Saskatoon, Sidorov 10 (Wong, Lisowsky), 7:13. 6, Swift Current, Birnie 6 (Pickering, Davies), 11:33. Penalties-No Penalties

3rd Period-7, Saskatoon, Wright 2 (Crnkovic, Nolan), 4:56. 8, Swift Current, Davies 10 (Birnie, Van Impe), 13:07. 9, Swift Current, Nagy 8 (Stebbings), 19:00 (SH). 10, Saskatoon, Robins 17 (Boyko, Crnkovic), 19:32 (PP EN). Penalties-Birnie Sc (cross checking), 9:53; Nolan Sas (cross checking), 16:16; Filmon Sc (high sticking), 18:47.

Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 10-8-6-24. Swift Current 7-9-15-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 2 / 4; Swift Current 0 / 1.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Maier 15-12-1-1 (31 shots-27 saves). Swift Current, Dyck 2-7-1-0 (23 shots-18 saves).
A-1,266
Referees-Mike Langin (67), Troy Murray (34).
Linesmen- , Aiden Penner (109).