For almost 30 minutes Tuesday, the Saskatoon Blades were listless and appeared ready to be beaten. But, the second half of the contest saw a 180-degree turnabout and the Bridge City Bunch upended the home-standing Prince George Cougars 5-2.
Just before the mid-point of the second period, the Cats were leading 1-0 and were out-shooting the Blue and Gold 18-6. But, going into the second intermission, the score was tied 1-1 as goaltender Austin Elliott (pictured) stopped 19 of 20 shots and helped set up Jordan Keller for his first of two goals on the night. In the third period, the Blades scored four times in a 5:46 span before the frame was half done to improve their B-C Division road trip record to 2-1-0 and their overall log to 35-13-4. The shot clock ended up even at 26-26 as Saskatoon won the first meeting between the two franchises since January 11, 2020 and the first contest between the two in Prince George since November 24, 2018. Besides Keller’s two goal, the 17-year-old rookie had an assists for his first career three-point game in the W-H-L. Egor Sidorov added a goal and two helpers while Spencer Shugrue and Charlie Wright also lit the red light behind Cougars’ goaltender Tyler Brennan. For Shugrue, it was his first goal after 71 games without and it turned out to be the game-winning tally. The result reduced the Bridge City Bunch’s Magic Number for clinching an Eastern Conference playoff spot to 10 points over Medicine Hat. The Blue and Gold will try and shrink that even more when they visit the Victoria Royals on Friday and the Vancouver Giants on Saturday. Following is the official game summary, courtesy the W-H-L, plus the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast and Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game interview with head coach Brennan Sonne…..
Saskatoon Blades 5 at Prince George Cougars 2 – Status: Final
Tuesday, February 14, 2023 – CN Centre – Prince George, BC
Saskatoon 0 1 4 – 5
Prince George 0 1 1 – 2
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Sidorov Sas (holding), 12:08.
2nd Period-1, Prince George, Funk 18 (Heidt, Ziemmer), 1:58. 2, Saskatoon, Keller 12 (Sidorov, Elliott), 17:23 (PP). Penalties-Saunderson Sas (high sticking), 2:18; Watterodt Sas (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 6:13; Wiebe Pg (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 6:13; Watterodt Sas (major-fighting), 8:29; Wiebe Pg (major-fighting), 8:29; McNutt Pg (tripping), 11:18; Funk Pg (hooking), 16:04; De La Gorgendiere Sas (interference), 18:14.
3rd Period-3, Saskatoon, Keller 13 (Sidorov, Roulette), 2:26. 4, Saskatoon, Shugrue 1 2:51. 5, Saskatoon, Wright 5 (Saunderson, Keller), 4:35. 6, Saskatoon, Sidorov 31 (Wong, De La Gorgendiere), 8:12 (PP). 7, Prince George, Wiebe 12 (Wheatcroft, Samson), 18:09. Penalties-Rebman Sas (slashing), 4:48; Samson Pg (slashing), 6:29; Shugrue Sas (delay of game), 12:25.
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 3-10-13-26. Prince George 9-11-6-26.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 2 / 3; Prince George 0 / 5.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Elliott 19-5-2-0 (26 shots-24 saves). Prince George, Brennan 12-9-2-0 (26 shots-21 saves).
A-2,162
Referees-Derek Bandstra (86), Trevor Nolan (51).
Linesmen-Caden Fanshaw (164), Blair Scott (174).
