By Les Lazaruk
It was another Friday of watching a badly-wanted WHL playoff spot become even less likely for the Saskatoon Blades.
Tristen Nielsen scored the winning goal on a breakaway in overtime – the third of the game for the 18-year-old product of Fort St. John, B.C., giving the Calgary Hitmen a 5-4 victory over the Bridge City Bunch.
Meanwhile, the blue and gold could only watch on the out-of-town scoreboard as the top teams in the East Division, Eastern Conference and overall league standings both lost to the teams the Blades are trying to catch. The Raiders won their eighth straight game, out-scoring first place Moose Jaw 6-4 in Prince Albert while the Wheat Kings rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 to double Swift Current 6-3 in Brandon.
As a result, Saskatoon’s 32-31-4 record gives them 68 points, five back of P.A. and nine behind the Wheaties, each of whom hold the two wild-card post-season berths in the Eastern Conference. All three teams have just five games remaining.
“Coach Thoms (Blades assistant coach Bryce Thoma) said it really well…we can’t be worried about what P.A. is doing,” said defenceman Dawson Davidson. “I don’t think we have a single guy on our team who can control what happens in P.A. All we can control is getting two points every single night. We can’t do anything about P.A. getting two points…that’s up to them.
“We’ve got to come get two points (Saturday),” continued Davidson. “If P.A. beats Calgary (Saturday), we can’t control it.”
Friday’s game started well for the bridge city bunch. They opened the scoring and held a 3-1 lead by the 14-minute mark of the first period on goals from Gage Ramsay, Josh Paterson and Mark Rubinchik while Nielsen scored his first. When they were presented with a power play shortly thereafter, it was a chance to blow the game open.
Instead, it was a total 180-degree change of momentum. Mark Kastelic and Nielsen scored short-handed goals 71 seconds apart on the same blue and gold man advantage.
However, after six total goals on just 18 shots on goal in the first period, the second was scoreless, but the Hitmen held the territorial advantage, but couldn’t beat Nolan Maier. Braylon Shmyr gave the Blades another lead just 41 seconds into the third period, but Carson Focht forced overtime before the mid-point of the frame, setting the stage for Nielsen’s game winner.
Pacman Points – About an hour after the excitement of winning, Calgary found out that their playoff hopes had been snuffed out when Red Deer won 4-1 in Lethbridge.
Nielsen added an assist to his first-ever hat-trick for his first-ever four-point game. He extended his points streak to five games, during which he has five goals and three helpers.
Two other Hitmen players had points runs stopped. Overage forward Jakob Stukel’s 10-game points streak was ended while 19-year-old forward Jake Kryski was held off the scoresheet for the second time in 10 games.
Paterson recorded his 30th goal and 50th point of the season with his first period tally. The 19-year-old Edmonton native was playing in his 200th career game…the last 140 of which have been played without sitting out.
Shmyr added an assist to his goal, giving him eight markers and three assists in the four-game season series against his home-town Calgary team. His goal was the 36th of the season…eclipsing his previous career high of 35 from last year.
Rubinchik’s tally was his third of the season and first since December 15 in Regina…29 games without a goal.
The five goals against was the sixth straight game in which the Bridge City Bunch surrendered five…winning just once.
The Hitmen out-shot Saskatoon 35-24. Nolan Maier stopped 30 shots in his eighth straight start. Overage Calgary netminder Nick Schneider made 20 saves. Nielsen paced all players with seven shots on goal with team-mates Kastelic and Luke Coleman adding six and five shots on goal, respectively. Shmyr and Ramsay topped the Bridge City Bunch with four shots on goal each.
For a second straight game, Blue and Gold head coach Dean Brockman chose to sit defenceman Randen Schmidt plus left wingers Tyler Lees and Alec Zawatsky. The Hitmen were without goaltender Nick Sanders and defenceman Jackson van de Leest, both sidelined by lower-body injuries, while blueliner Andrew Viggars and left winger Justyn Gurney were coaches decisions.
Referees Jason Bourdon and Mike Langin only whistled down three minor penalties, two of them to the Blades. Neither team scored on the power play, but the two short-handed goals by the Hitmen gave them 14 as a team while Saskatoon has allowed 14 short-handed goals this season…four in the last four games.
In the faceoff circle, the Bridge City Bunch won 33 of 60 draws, led by Chase Wouters who captured possession on 14 of 22 faceoffs. Zach Huber won four of six trips to the dot to be Calgary’s top man in the circle.
