Blades fall flat in return home

By Les Lazaruk

 

Unacceptable!

Dean Brockman agreed with that adjective used to describe the effort of the Saskatoon Blades in Wednesday’s 6-3, home-ice loss to the Vancouver Giants.

“Very much so,” confirmed the Bridge City Bunch head coach when asked about the use of ‘unacceptable.’ “I didn’t like (the effort) from start to finish. Really, our guys, for whatever reason, it was a total team effort. Yeah, not acceptable and they’ll pay the price (Thursday)!”

Brockman’s disappointment comes following the Blue and Gold’s best effort of the season, so far, a 4-1 triumph in Red Deer back on Saturday. The Blades returned to SaskTel Centre for their first home game in 12 days and were flatter than the stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway between Regina and Moose Jaw.

An early turnover gifted the Giants (now 4-4-2 for the season) the opening goal by Slovakian forward Milos Roman.

Saskatoon did battle back to tie the score on Cam Hebig’s power play goal, the first by the Bridge City Bunch in 14 opportunities on home ice, before the opening 20 minutes was over. The Blue and Gold appeared ready to grab the game by the throat when they took a 2-1 lead 21 seconds into the second period on a tally from Czech defenceman Libor Hajek.

But, the lead lasted 14 seconds before Brendan Semchuk beat former Giants’ netminder Ryan Kubic between the pads and the visitors got a needed jolt of energy.

“The frustrating part is after the first period, we went in (the dressing room) and told them (by question), ‘what is the most important important shift after a goal? It’s that (next) shift,” said Brockman. “For whatever reason, we were on cruise mode and it didn’t matter what we said or what we did, we just couldn’t shake them out of it.”

The loss drops the Blades to 3-6-0…1-4-0 at home. The announced attendance was only 2,578 and many of those folks left after the 50-50 number was drawn.

“It wasn’t great,” said centre Cam Hebig, who added Saskatoon’s final goal in the third period, giving him two for the night. “It’s disappointing not getting the win. I think we needed that game. I think preparation leading into the game is something we’ve got to work on. The practices before, it leads into games, so we’ve got to figure that out and out-work teams. That’s the bottom line.”

The Bridge City Bunch are idle until Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert for their first meeting of the season against the Raiders.

Pacman Points – Eighteen-year-old Giants’ forward James Malm was credited with the game-winning goal. The Langley, B.C. product added two assists for a three-point night and first star honours. Semchuk added a second goal while Tyler Popowich and Owen Hardy, the latter into an empty net, added the other markers for Vancouver.

Rookie Todd Scott stopped 32 shots in recording his first WHL goaltending victory. His toe save led to Malm’s winner when the Blades were pressing in the third period while only trailing 3-2.

Kubic stopped 26 shots in his first game against his former squad.

Both teams scored power play goals…the first of the season on home ice for Saskatoon and the initial man advantage score on the road for the Giants.

The win was the 11th in 18 all-time, head-to-head meetings between the inter-conference rivals for Vancouver.

Saskatoon won 48 of 76 faceoffs with Chase Wouters leading the way individually, claiming possession for the Bridge City Bunch on 20 of 22 draws. Popowich was tops at the dot for the Giants at 50 per cent, winning six of 12 faceoffs.

Hebig and Braylon Shmyr for the Bridge City Bunch, along with Owen Hardy and Brad Morrison for Vancouver, paced all players in the game with five shots on goal each.

After being one of 66 players named to represent Canada, on one of three different teams at next month’s World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, Kirby Dach returned to the Blue and Gold lineup after missing three games with an Upper Body injury. Forwards Matt Mosher and Dryden Michaud plus defenceman Jantzen Leslie were “coaches decisions” for the Blades while forwards Logan Christensen and Tyler Lees are still sidelined by upper body injuries.

The Giants are still without 19-year-old left winger Tyler Benson. However, there is hope the Edmonton Oilers’ prospect will be in unform next week upon Vancouver’s return home from their East Division swing. That resumes Friday in Brandon and Saturday at Regina. Defenceman Marcus Kichton plus forwards Hunor Torszok, Aidan Barfoot and Tyler Ho were healthy scratches.