As it turned out, the best the Saskatoon Blades could do was equal a franchise record for longest streak of games in which they gained points in the standings. But, that didn’t happen either as the Bridge City Bunch dropped a 5-4 decision in Red Deer Wednesday night.

The loss ended the Blue and Gold’s run of gaining points in the standings at 18 games (14-0-4) and was the team’s first regulation setback since November 22 in Everett. The franchise record is 19 games (18-0-1) set in 2013. The Blades’ offence started strong with Rowan Calvert (pictured) scoring 39 seconds into the contest. But, the Blades were leaky on defence with the game tied 3-3 after the first period and the 23-13-5 Rebels leading by the 5-4 final count after 40 minutes. Saskatoon out-shot Red Deer 13-4 in the third period, but couldn’t solve rookie, 17-year-old goaltender Chase Wutzke. Calvert scored twice with singles from Fraser Minten and Brandon Lisowsky as the Bridge City Bunch’s record fell to 29-9-4, despite out-shooting the Rebels 35-27. The Blue and Gold resume their three-game Alberta road trip with the middle contest Friday night in Calgary. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast plus Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game Show conversation with head coach Brennan Sonne and the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..

Saskatoon Blades 4 at Red Deer Rebels 5 – Status: Final
Wednesday, January 17, 2024 – Peavey Mart Centrium – Red Deer, AB

Saskatoon 3 1 0 – 4
Red Deer 3 2 0 – 5

1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Calvert 6 (Parr, Andrusiak), 0:39. 2, Red Deer, Brigley 12 (Ollie Josephson, Lind), 3:56. 3, Red Deer, Formanek 10 (Uchacz, Mayo), 6:27. 4, Saskatoon, Minten 7 (Watterodt), 11:15. 5, Red Deer, Mayo 5 (Brigley), 14:06. 6, Saskatoon, Lisowsky 24 (Minten, Saunderson), 17:02. Penalties-Uchacz Rd (hooking), 9:01.

2nd Period-7, Saskatoon, Calvert 7 (Sidorov, Siepmann), 4:26 (PP). 8, Red Deer, Mayo 6 (Uchacz, Lind), 14:28 (PP). 9, Red Deer, Mayo 7 (Quentin Bourne, Larson), 15:49. Penalties-Formanek Rd (high sticking), 4:04; Andrusiak Sas (tripping), 13:43; Wong Sas (elbowing), 16:32; Brigley Rd (roughing), 16:32.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Zane Saab Rd (hooking), 2:15.

Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 10-12-13-35. Red Deer 12-11-4-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 1 / 3; Red Deer 1 / 1.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Elliott 19-4-2-1 (11 shots-8 saves); Gardner 10-5-0-1 (16 shots-14 saves). Red Deer, Wutzke 11-2-1-2 (35 shots-31 saves).
A-3,005
Referees-Brody McGrath (73), Taylor Burzminski (83).
Linesmen-Jacob Hicks (85), Cody Huseby (88).