By Les Lazaruk
They’re “darned” if they do…and they’re “darned” if they don’t!
The Saskatoon Blades started the 2018 calendar year on a winning note, doubling the Swift Current Broncos 4-2 in a Monday, New Year’s Day matinee in front of 3,760 fans at SaskTel Centre.
Josh Paterson flicked in the winning goal on the rebound of a Cam Hebig shot off the rush that Swifty goaltender Logan Flodell couldn’t control. It was the fifth consecutive victory for the Bridge City Bunch, and their seventh win in their last eight games, upping the Blue and Gold’s record to 19-17-3.
“Let’s be honest they’re missing their key guys (Monday),” said Blades head coach Dean Brockman…referring to Swift Current being without captain Glenn Gawdin (ill), linemates Tyler Steenbergen and Aleksi Heponiemi plus defenceman Artyom Minulin…all at the World Junior Hockey Championship (playing for Canada, Finland and Russia, respectively).
“Those are games you have to win, though, because there’s times where we’re not going to have all our guys, either.”
Saskatoon has taken advantage of their recent schedule…beating teams in their vicinity in the Eastern Conference standings like Prince Albert (three times) and Lethbridge (once) while taking two games each from the Broncos and Regina, both of whom were minus players from their lineup at the World Juniors in Buffalo.
Even though they were without four of their top five point producers, Swifty hung in with the Bridge City Bunch as Ethan Regnier tallied after Dryden Michaud opened the scoring in the first period. In the second frame, Kole Gable responded just 39 seconds after Evan Fiala countered for the Blue and Gold. Former Blade Logan Flodell was steady-to-spectacular in goal for the Broncos…eventually finishing with 38 saves as Saskatoon out-shot Swift Current 42-22. Braylon Shmyr finished the scoring into an empty net.
At the other end, Nolan Maier made 20 saves for the eighth straight win in goal for the 16-year-old Bridge City Bunch rookie.
After playing four games-in-six nights coming out of the Christmas break, the Blue and Gold are idle until Friday when they host the Red Deer Rebels.
Pacman Points – Paterson stretched his goal-scoring streak to five games, during which he has eight goals. He was also named the first star for the third straight contest. He has 10 goals amongst 13 points in the last nine Blades’ games.
Saskatoon linemate Braylon Shmyr also extended his points streak to five games (five goals, 10 assists for 15 points). He has 18 points, including 13 helpers, in the last nine outings.
Michaud’s goal ended a run of 20 games without a score and an 18-game pointless streak.
The victory reversed the result of last season’s New Year’s Day matinee with Minulin scored the winning goal in overtime as the Broncos out-lasted the Bridge City Bunch 5-4. In the last eight years worth of New Year’s Day home games, the Blue and Gold are 6-1-1.
Swift Current also scratched affiliate player, 15-year-old right winger Ben King. For the Blades, Ryan Kubic returned to the lineup as the backup goalie to Maier. That meant Saskatoon scratched defenceman Libor Hajek (Team Czech, World Juniors), right wingers Kirby Dach (upper-body) and Caleb Fantillo (lower-body) plus goaltender Koen MacInnes, left winger Kyle Crnkovic and defenceman Majid Kaddoura (coaches decisions).
The Bridge City Bunch were one-for-four on the power play…meaning they’ve tallied on the man advantage in each game of their current five-game winning streak. Swift Current was 0-for-3 on the power play.
The busiest individual shooters were Hebig for the Blue and Gold with seven shots on goal. Paterson added five shots while Gable paced the Broncos with four shots on goal.
The Blades won 29 of 54 faceoffs with Logan Christensen winning seven of nine trips to the faceoff dot. Matteo Genarro captured possession on 16 of 23 draws for Swift Current.
