There are nights when the goaltender is the difference or steals a game and that was what Dante Gianuzzi did for the Portland Winterhawks Wednesday night at SaskTel Centre.
The 20-year-old Winnipeg product stopped 28 of 29 shots, including the final 26 drives he faced, as the Hawks downed the Saskatoon Blades 3-1 before 2,979 fans at SaskTel Centre. To make things even sweeter for the members of the Portland Winterhawks Booster Club and family members of the five Saskatchewan-born players on the Hawks’ roster in attendance, Saskatoon native Braeden Jockims snapped a 1-1 tie with his first career W-H-L goal in just his second game in the latter stages of the second period. That stood up as the game winner for 28-6-3 Portland.
Vaughn Watterodt was the only member of the Bridge City Bunch to solve Gianuzzi, scoring on a first period power play. The loss dropped the Blue and Gold to 26-7-3 for the season. T
he Blades return to action Friday when they visit Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L and CJWW Post-Game Show interviews with head coach Brennan Sonne and the newest Saskatoon player in forward Jake Chiasson.
Portland Winterhawks 3 at Saskatoon Blades 1 – Status: Final
Wednesday, January 11, 2023 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Portland 1 1 1 – 3
Saskatoon 1 0 0 – 1
1st Period-1, Portland, Fromm-Delorme 20 (Klassen, McCleary), 3:46. 2, Saskatoon, Watterodt 17 (Wright, Chiasson), 10:46 (PP). Penalties-Buttazzoni Por (high sticking), 5:54; O’Brien Por (roughing), 10:11; Shugrue Sas (slashing), 12:28.
2nd Period-3, Portland, Jockims 1 14:25. Penalties-Moore Sas (high sticking), 3:12; Alscher Por (tripping), 16:46.
3rd Period-4, Portland, Stefan 12 (Litke), 19:49 (EN). Penalties-Lies Sas (roughing), 5:42; Mori Por (tripping), 8:26; Nguyen Por (high sticking), 13:30.
Shots on Goal-Portland 4-8-8-20. Saskatoon 6-23-0-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Portland 0 / 3; Saskatoon 1 / 5.
Goalies-Portland, Giannuzzi 17-4-2-0 (29 shots-28 saves). Saskatoon, Elliott 14-3-2-0 (19 shots-17 saves).
A-2,979
Referees-Adam Bloski (16), Adam Forbes (62).
Linesmen-Ridge Brooks (161), Aiden Penner (109).
