A rookie fourth line got the Saskatoon Blades started in the right direction Friday, then 20-year-old goaltender Austin Elliott and the Bridge City Bunch’s team defence locked it down in the third period of a 4-1, regular-season-opening victory in Swift Current.

Kohen Lodge (pictured), a 16-year-old left winger, scored his first W-H-L goal on just his second W-H-L shift to open the game’ scoring in the first period. His freshmen linemates, 16-year-old centre Cooper Williams and 17-year-old right winger Lochlan Tetarenko, added assists for their first W-H-L points in their first games. From there, the Blue and Gold looked like the team that won 136 games over the previous three seasons, playing tight defensively and getting opportunistic scoring, making a winner out of head coach Dan Da Silva in his first game running the bench. Misha Volotovskii, Ben Riche and Rowan Calvert – the latter scoring into an empty net – added the other goals for the Blades, who held a 36-25 advantage on the shot clock. Calvert added an assist while Tyler Parr chipped in a pair of helpers. Elliott stopped 24 shots for his 56th career W-H-L win in goal, the only blemish against him being a second period power play goal by Rylan Gould. Saskatoon will attempt to replicate Saturday, what they did in 2018, sweep the Broncos in a season-opening home-and-home series, by being victorious over Swift Current again at SaskTel Centre. Game time is 7 o’clock with CJWW’s broadcast starting at 6:45 p.m. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, plus Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game interviews with Da Silva and Lodge – as well as Broncos’ General Manager Chad Leslie in the second intermission – and the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..

Saskatoon Blades 4 at Swift Current Broncos 1 – Status: Final
Friday, September 20, 2024 – InnovationPlex – Swift Current, SK

Saskatoon 1 1 2 – 4
Swift Current 0 1 0 – 1

1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Kohen Lodge 1 (Tetarenko, Williams), 8:04. Penalties-Eger Sc (tripping), 3:59; Tetarenko Sas (holding), 12:05.

2nd Period-2, Saskatoon, Volotovskii 1 (Tastad, Calvert), 6:36. 3, Swift Current, Gould 1 (Birnie, Burzynski), 15:37 (PP). Penalties-Tastad Sas (roughing), 10:37; Rookes Sc (roughing), 10:37; Volotovskii Sas (slashing), 15:17; Parr Sas (roughing), 17:29; Coupland Sc (roughing double minor, roughing), 17:29.

3rd Period-4, Saskatoon, Riche 1 (Saunderson, Parr), 16:42. 5, Saskatoon, Calvert 1 (Parr), 18:39 (EN). Penalties-Poll Sas (boarding), 1:56.

Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 12-16-8-36. Swift Current 8-7-10-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 0 / 1; Swift Current 1 / 3.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Elliott 1-0-0-0 (25 shots-24 saves). Swift Current, Dyck 0-1-0-0 (35 shots-32 saves).
A-2,747
Referees-Josh Grimm (76), Bryce Sebastian (64).
Linesmen-Logan Tisdale (98), brendan hale (105).