By Les Lazaruk
Maybe it should’ve been expected!
After a listless-looking return home Saturday in a 4-1 setback to Kamloops, the Saskatoon Blades started a Sunday game less than 17 hours after coming off the ice against the Blazers…and captured a “must win” by a 3-2 count over the visiting Prince Albert Raiders.
“There’s not too many teams where it goes this way where the next (day), when your backs are against the wall and you should even be a bit more fatigued, you come out and bear down and play with a better effort,” said Bridge City Bunch assistant coach Ryan Keller.
The victory allowed the Blades, now 12-16-3 for the season, to pull within four points of 12-12-7 Prince Albert for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
It was the 12th consecutive victory for Saskatoon over the Raiders at SaskTel Centre with 16-year-old goaltender Nolan Maier the hero, stopping 34 drives as Prince Albert out-shot the Blue and Gold 36-25…including three shots during a 1:28 chance for the Raiders with a two-man advantage and trailing 3-2.
Cam Hebig touched off the Blades’ “Teddy Bear Toss” re-directing Braylon Shmyr’s doorstep feed past P.A. netminder Ian Scott at 4:58 of the first period.
“It’s pretty cool,” explained Hebig when asked on the ice after scoring the goal what it was like to bring on the avalanche of stuffed animals from a crowd of 4,023 at SaskTel Centre. “Definitely nice to see and nice to get that one out of the way.”
That was the only goal of the first period. Jordy Stallard answered in the second period with a power play goal, only to have Bradly Goethals give Saskatoon the lead again by slipping his own rebound past Scott. Curtis Miske knotted the score again before the end of the second period…setting the stage for Alec Zawatsky’s game-winner in the third period.
The Bridge City Bunch get Monday off before hosting Lethbridge Tuesday.
Pacman Points – The last time the Blades lost at home to the Raiders was Saskatoon’s home opener on September 20, 2014…a 3-1 Prince Albert triumph.
The loss to Kamloops and victory over P.A….on back-to-back days…was the 11th set of games on consecutive days this season for Saskatoon. They are 2-8-1 to start back-to-back series…6-4-1 in the second contest.
In making his 10th consecutive start in goal, Maier improved his overall record to 4-6-1 with a 3.78 goals against-average and an .894 save percentage. Not bad considering the Yorkton product surrendered seven goals in his first start and 11 in total for his first two outings in the WHL.
The Bridge City Bunch continue to be without a trio of 19-year-old veterans due to lower body injuries…goaltender Ryan Kubic, left winger Gage Ramsay and right winger Caleb Fantillo. Another 19-year-old, forward Dryden Michaud, was scratched as a coaches decision.
The Raiders were without Belarus import defenceman Sergei Sapego (upper body) and 17-year-old forward Carson Miller (banged up).
The Blades won 43 of 66 faceoffs with Hebig leading the way by capturing possession for his team on 18 of 24 draws. Parker Kelly was tops for P.A., winning 12 of 20 trips to the dot.
The busiest individual shooters overall were Shmyr for Saskatoon with four shots on goal while Prince Albert had Stallard, defenceman Max Martin and forward Brett Leason each collect five shots on goal.
