The franchise, whose future in its current city is up in the air, ended the most successful season for the W-H-L’s only charter franchise in the same city now as when it started in almost three decades on Wednesday. The Winnipeg ICE completed a four-game sweep of the Saskatoon Blades with a 3-2 triumph on front of 5,638 fans at SaskTel Centre.

True to their words, the Bridge City Bunch didn’t quit and didn’t panic and fought to the last second before succumbing to the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy winners as the best team in the W-H-L’s regular-season. Late season call-up Briley Wood re-directed Carson Latimer’s goal-mouth pass up and over Blue and Gold netminder Austin Elliott for the winning goal at 6:19 of the third period. Elliott stopped 33 shots in a heroic effort in goal for the Blades, who were out-shot 36-18. Captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere (pictured) opened the scoring, giving Saskatoon their first and only lead of the series, which lasted for 3:32 before Winnipeg 20-year-old forward Connor McClennon scored his two goals. Trevor Wong had the other goal for the Bridge City Bunch. Wong finished as the Blue and Gold’s leading playoff scorer with 21 points, including 15 assists. That’s the most points by a Blades’ player in a playoff year since 1992 when Jeff Buchanan (24), Dave Struch (23) and Ryan Fujita (22) paced Saskatoon offensively on the team’s way to reaching the league final. As for De La Gorgendiere, his W-H-L career came to an end. He played 248 regular-season and 28 post-season games on defence, all with the Bridge City Bunch who drafted him fifth overall in the 2017 W-H-L Prospects Draft. He, along with fellow blueliner Blake Gustafson and centre Josh Pillar, have all aged out of the league. The Blue and Gold can return three of seven 2003-born players for next season along with the other 15 regulars that finished the season, meaning the Blades should be very competitive again in 2023-24 following a regular-season of 48-15-5 for 101 points, one of the best in the 59-year history of the franchise plus two seven-game playoff series victories, including becoming just the third team in W-H-L history to rally from a 3-0 deficit to win a set 4-3 over Red Deer in the second round. As for the ICE, shrouded in rumours regarding their lack of a new arena and possibly being forced to be sold/moved, they move on to the 2023 W-H-L Ed Chynoweth Cup final against either the Kamloops Blazers or Seattle Thunderbirds. The T-Birds lead the best-of-seven Western Conference final 2-1 going into Game 4 Thursday in Kamloops. The Blazers are the host team for the 2023 Memorial Cup. If they prevail over Seattle, Winnipeg automatically qualifies for the Memorial Cup. Following is the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L plus audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast and Post-Game Show interviews with Saskatoon head coach Brennan Sonne, named Wednesday as the 2022-23 W-H-L Coach-of-the-Year, and De La Gorgendiere…..

Winnipeg ICE 3 at Saskatoon Blades 2 – Status: Final
Wednesday, May 3, 2023 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK

Winnipeg 1 1 1 – 3
Saskatoon 1 0 1 – 2

1st Period-1, Saskatoon, De La Gorgendiere 3 (Roulette, Lisowsky), 15:08. 2, Winnipeg, McClennon 12 (Savoie, Zloty), 18:40 (PP). Penalties-Roulette Sas (tripping), 6:09; Wright Sas (cross checking), 17:32.

2nd Period-3, Winnipeg, McClennon 13 (Sward, Savoie), 13:30. Penalties-De La Gorgendiere Sas (tripping), 5:10.

3rd Period-4, Saskatoon, Wong 6 (Shugrue), 2:45. 5, Winnipeg, Wood 3 (Carson Latimer, Armstrong), 6:19. Penalties-Watterodt Sas (charging), 0:15.

Shots on Goal-Winnipeg 11-16-9-36. Saskatoon 8-4-6-18.
Power Play Opportunities-Winnipeg 1 / 4; Saskatoon 0 / 0.
Goalies-Winnipeg, Hauser (18 shots-16 saves). Saskatoon, Elliott (36 shots-33 saves).
A-5,638
Referees-Brayden Arcand (71), Adam Bloski (16).
Linesmen-Devin Kohlhauser (92), Chad Huseby (59).