By Les Lazaruk
Before Saturday night, one thing the Saskatoon Blades had done reasonably well was stay out of the penalty box.
Along came the first period and the Regina Pats made the Bridge City Bunch pay, big-time, for being undisciplined.
Rookie Finnish forward Emil Oksanen had a hand in all four Regina goals in the opening frame…three of them coming on four power play chances…as the Pats cruised to a 7-3 victory.
“We (knew) what we were up against,” explained Blades assistant coach Ryan Keller. “We (knew) they have a high-powered offence over there. When you give them three or four power plays in the first period alone, it’s tough to get everyone going. Obviously, there’s guys sitting on the bench for most of the period because they don’t kill penalties.
“It comes down to we probably weren’t ready to compete at the level they were at the start of the game. We were a step behind and we were taking lazy penalties.”
In total, the Pats…now 3-3-1 to start the season…were 4-for-10 with the man advantage. Before Saturday, Saskatoon had only been short-handed 13 times in their first four games. Oksanen, a 19-year-old who is leading WHL rookies in scoring by a large margin, had two goals and two assists…all in the first period. His first tally, which opened the scoring, came with the teams playing 5-on-5.
It was a rough introduction to WHL regular-season play for 16-year-old Nolan Maier. The Yorkton product stopped eight of 12 shots in the opening frame as Regina roared out to a 4-0 lead.
To their credit, the Bridge City Bunch didn’t roll over and get waxed by the Pats. The 20-year-old forwards…Braylon Shmyr and Cam Hebig…had a hand in all of the Blue and Gold scoring. Shmyr tallied twice, including the first power play goal of the campaign for the Blades, and assisted on Hebig’s short-handed marker. A Saskatoon product, Hebig had helpers on both of Shmyr’s goals. Their work allowed the Blades to get to within two goals at 5-3 mid-way through the third period…before more penalties allowed Regina to score with the man-advantage and during a 4-on-4 situation.
“Give the guys in the room credit,” explained Keller. “They rebounded. They came out and played harder and they competed. That’s what it comes down to. That’s all we ask is that they stick together and play for each other. You saw more of that in the second and third (periods) and the results started to take care of themselves on the ice.”
The lessons will need to be learned quickly by the Bridge City Bunch as 1-4-0 Saskatoon returns to Regina for their next game Wednesday.
Pacman Points – Shmyr’s power play goal ended an 0-for-15 start to the season with the man-power advantage for the Blue and Gold. It also came while the Pats were two men short.
Hebig’s short-handed goal was the first of the season for the Blades and the second allowed by Regina.
In being out-scored 28-14 overall through five games, the first two periods have been troublesome for Saskatoon as they have been out-tallied 10-4 in first frames and 11-4 in second stanzas.
Bridge City Bunch defenceman Evan Fiala played in his 200th career WHL game Saturday…the last 43 with the Blue and Gold. The hard-nosed, take no nonsense native of Clavet, Sk…the first town east of Saskatoon on the Yellowhead highway…didn’t see the final whistle as he received a double minor with under four minutes to play. Earlier in the game, Fiala fought Pats’ forward Bryce Platt as the Saskatoon captain picked up where he left off last season being a player Regina disliked.
Bridge City Bunch prized rookie Kirby Dach also didn’t finish the game. The 16-year-old suffered an upper body injury when he was checked from behind into the side boards by Regina defenceman Liam Schioler in the first period. His status is unknown as of this writing.
Maier ended up stopping 34 of 41 shots while Max Paddock, the nephew of Pats general manager and head coach John Paddock, blocked 18 of 21 Blades drives.
As was the case for Friday’s 6-2 home loss to Swift Current, Saskatoon scratches were goaltender Ryan Kubic, left winger Tyler Lees and right winger Matt Mosher (all sidelined by upper body injuries) while defenceman Jantzen Leslie plus forwards Arjun Atwal and Dryden Michaud were healthy scratches.
Pats healthy scratches were defencemen Owen Williams and Marco Creta along with forwards George King and Duncan Pierce. Regina is minus veteran wingers Nick Henry and Austin Wagner…both with upper body injuries…while centre Riley Krane is sidelined by a lower body ailment.
