From the time the puck dropped at approximately 4 P.M. Central time until the final seconds of the game, every moment was a tale of defense and solid goaltending.
The Saskatoon Blades (2-0) were looking to remain undefeated on the young season, met the Winnipeg ICE, who were looking for their second consecutive victory, coming off of a 6-4 win over the Swift Current Broncos on Monday.
Both goalies in this contest were up to the task, as the Blades Koen MacInnes steered aside 27-of-29 shots and the Ice’ Gage Alexander stopped 23-of-24 attempts.
Vegas Golden Knights prospect Peyton Krebs potted the eventual overtime winner for the ICE.
The Blades outplayed and outhustled the ICE in the first period, but it was the team from Winnipeg striking first. With 8:47 left in the first and the ICE on the powerplay, Owen Pederson poked the puck through the wickets of Koen MacInnes.
The Blades had an answer of their own in short order. Just over a minute later, a great theft of the puck by the Blades’ Kyle Crnkovic behind the ICE net led to an easy point-blank goal by Colton Dach to tie the score at one.
The Blades continued to outpace their opposition during the remainder of the period and had a flurry of great scoring chances, but were unable to solve the ICE netminder.
Saskatoon outshot the ICE to the tune of 15-7 in the first period.
The ICE prevailed as the better team in the game’s middle frame.
The ICE’s Owen Pederson had a quality chance shorthanded at the 8:30 mark of the period but it was swallowed up by MacInnes.
There was a bit of a scary scene at with 6:37 to go in the period.
Anderson MacDonald of the ICE was bumped into the side of the net by the Blades’ Caiden Daley and proceeded to crash into the boards hard. MacDonald immediately grabbed for his knee and had to be helped off the ice.
The ICE outshot the Blades 11-2 in the middle 20 minutes of play.
Five minutes into the third period, Blake Stevenson had a golden opportunity to put the Blades ahead but was unable to get a complete handle on the puck as he skated right to left through the crease and had ICE goalie Gage Alexander sprawling.
Midway through the period, the Ice gifted the Blades with a four-minute powerplay for a high-stick on Evan Patrician. Saskatoon could only muster one shot on the double-minor though, as the ICE penalty kill stifled them.
60 minutes of play could not decide a winner so the teams were off to overtime.
It wouldn’t take long for the deadlock to be broken, 36 seconds to be exact. Sprinting up the ice on an odd-man rush, Payton Krebs took a picture-perfect feed from Connor McClennon, went forehand to backhand to back of the net, past a helpless MacInnes.
The ICE improves their record on the season to 2-1-0 while the Blades fall to 2-0-1.
The ICE will next be in action at 4 P.M. central, Thursday, March 18th against the Moose Jaw Warriors.
The Blades are back on the ice at 8 P.M. central, Friday, March 19th against the Prince Albert Raiders.
