Doug Wyrostok

Former friend bites Blades

By Les Lazaruk

 

A former friend did to the Saskatoon Blades Friday what he had done many times on their behalf last season.

Logan Flodell stopped 43 of 46 shots to backstop the Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 5-3 victory over the Bridge City Bunch.

While 20-year-old Regina product Flodell stymied the Blades, he got third period offensive help from veteran forward Jake Elmer. The 19-year-old snapped a 3-3 tie with 5:49 remaining in the third period, tallied into an empty net and added an insurance on a Jordy Bellerive short-handed goal. Taylor Ross had the other two goals for the Canes, now 32-25-6 for 70 points, two back of idle Medicine Hat for first place in the Central Division, with a game in hand on the Tigers.

Braylon Shmyr, Brad Goethals and Eric Florchuk replied for Saskatoon, who out-shot Lethbridge 46-32, but saw their record fall to 31-30-3 for 65 points with their third consecutive loss. Shortly after the final buzzer, the blue and gold found themselves outside of a WHL playoff spot when Prince Albert rallied and outlasted the Broncos 5-4 in a shootout in Swift Current. The Raiders victory moved them two points ahead of the bridge city bunch for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, a berth the blue and gold had held for 76 days. For a little more salt in the Blades wounds, Brandon doubled visiting Moose Jaw 4-2, allowing the Wheat Kings to stay six points ahead of P.A. and eight ahead of Saskatoon for the first wild-card playoff spot.

“(Flodell) was pretty good, certainly he played well and we did see it a lot last year,” acknowledged Blades’ head coach Dean Brockman. “(If) we bear down a little bit more, stop in front of the net, just couldn’t quite find the handle a couple of times when it was loose around (the Hurricanes net). We just have to be a little more determined to do that.”

Flodell was the goaltender of record in 22 of the 28 bridge city bunch victories last season, but was dealt before the season started to Swift Current. He was subsequently traded to Lethbridge at the Trade Deadline. Between the Broncos and the Canes, Flodell has won 37 games…the most of any WHL goalie.

The Blades get a chance to bounce-back Saturday when they travel to Moose Jaw. The Warriors will play their fourth game in five nights…in four different provinces.

Pacman Points – Add in a 5-4 triumph at home on February 16 and the Hurricanes rallied to win the season series over Saskatoon five points to four. The bridge city bunch needed overtime in Lethbridge to win the first of four meetings.

The blue and gold were 0-for-6 on the power play and surrendered their 11th short-handed goal against. Included in their in ability to score on the man advantage was 42 seconds of 5-on-3 power play in the third period with the Canes ahead 4-3. The Hurricanes were 1-for-3 on the man advantage.

Aside from 19-year-old forward Ryan Vandervlis being sidelined for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery, neither team scratched an injured player Friday. In addition to Vandervlis, Lethbridge head coach Brent Kisio chose to sit out defenceman Nolan Jones and forward Zachary Cox. The Blades had defenceman Dawson Davidson return from a three-game absence because of an upper-body injury while left wingers Tyler Lees and Alec Zawatsky were “coaches decisions.”

In addition to holding a wide margin in shots on goal, Saskatoon also won 40 of 63 faceoffs, led by Kirby Dach who captured possession on 17 of 21 draws. Ross won four of six trips to the dot to be the Hurricanes’ top man in the circle.

Five players had five shots on goal for the most by an individual player from the two teams…Goethals and Florchuk for the Bridge City Bunch; Elmer, Bellerive and defenceman Ty Prefontaine for Lethbridge.