By Les Lazaruk
REGINA – In 2016-17, the Saskatoon Blades received a grand total of 15 goals from defencemen over 72 games.
On Friday, in Game 33 of the 2017-18 campaign, Bridge City Bunch blueliners scored three times, giving them 17 in total.
More importantly, captain Evan Fiala potted the winning goal at 3:44 of overtime as the Blue and Gold out-lasted the Regina Pats 4-3.
It was Fiala’s second goal of the night, giving him three for the season. Russian Mark Rubinchik notched his second of the campaign. Like the first one in Lethbridge, it came with the Blades enjoying a 5-on-3 power play.
“Well, it’s nice. I only scored three (goals) in five years of junior,” chuckled veteran Saskatoon assistant coach Jerome Engele. “Scoring goals (as a defenceman) isn’t a big thing in my book. It’s what you do away from the puck and how you keep the puck out of your zone, what your +/- is. To me, that’s what the biggest thing is for a defenceman. I could care less how many points they get. They’ve got to do a good job stopping the opposition.”
Forward Josh Paterson scored the other goal for Saskatoon as they won their third straight game, coming back from a 2-0 deficit late in the second period. By improving their record to 14-16-3, the Bridge City Bunch has 31 points, two back of Prince Albert for the second wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and four back of Regina, now 16-15-3, for the first wild-card berth.
“Today was pretty evident that we followed the game plan,” said Engele. “We stuck with it. We got down a goal and we just stayed with it. We got down two goals…still stayed with it, and we kept working, doing what we’re supposed to do.”
Former Blue and Gold forward Wyatt Sloboshan opened the scoring with Bryce Platt and Saskatoon product Jake Leschyshyn also sniping for the Queen City Kids, who held a 33-26 shots on goal advantage before 6,201 fans at the Brandt Centre. Both teams connected on the power play, the Blades on six chances…the Pats on five man-advantages.
The Blades return home to take on Kelowna as the Rockets finish up their biennial tour through the East Division on Saturday. Saskatoon hosts the Pats Sunday in their last game before the Christmas break.
Pacman Points – The Blue and Gold are on their second, three-game winning streak of the season. The first one It was only the third time this season that the Bridge City Bunch have won back-to-back games. The first time came October 27-November 1…the third victory on that streak was a 2-1 overtime triumph at Lethbridge. Centre Chase Wouters recorded the winner that night.
The Blades are 2-2 when games end in the five-minute overtime period. Regina is 2-3 in O-T.
The Bridge City Bunch won for the third time this season when trailing after two periods…Regina led 2-1 after 40 minutes. Saskatoon is 3-14-2 when down after 40 minutes while the Pats are now 12-0-2 when leading after two frames.
Nolan Maier made his 12th straight start in goal for the Blue and Gold. The 16-year-old Yorkton product made 30 saves in upping his record to 6-6-1 overall, 6-4-1 during his run of consecutive starts.
The Blades will go into the Christmas break with an 8-8-3 road record. They are 6-8-0 at home.
All 20 players remaining either healthy and/or in Saskatoon suited up Friday. Defenceman Libor Hajek missed his first game while at the Czech Republic’s selection camp for the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championship in Buffalo. Left winger Gage Ramsay and right winger Caleb Fantillo continue to be sidelined by Lower Body injuries.
Regina was without centre Sam Steel and defenceman Josh Mahura who were attending Team Canada’s World Junior selection camp. Steel made the team while Mahura was among the final round of cuts. In addition, 19-year-old centre Brayden Buziak was a healthy scratch.
Each team won 32 faceoffs for the night. Overage centres Cam Hebig of the Bridge City Bunch and Matt Bradley of the Pats led their respective teams. Hebig captured possession on 16 of 29 draws. Bradley won 11 of 21 trips to the dot.
The busiest individual shooters overall were Hebig for the Blue and Gold with four shots on goal while Bradley and right winger Nick Henry each had five shots on goal to pace the Pats.
