The Calgary Hitmen hung around, leaning on goaltender Ethan Buenaventura, and almost rallied late to force overtime – but fell short as the Saskatoon Blades recorded a 2-1 victory Sunday.
The Bridge City Bunch started strong and led 2-0 after the first period on goals by Rowan Calvert and Egor Sidorov while out-shooting Calgary 14-4. But, through the next 37 minutes of play, Buenaventura shut the door, keeping the Blue and Gold at bay. When the Hitmen pulled Buenaventura for an extra attacker, they posted the final 10 shots on goal of the game with Oliver Tulk scoring with 63 seconds remaining to break Austin Elliott’s (pictured) shutout bid – but that was as close as Calgary would come as their record fell to 11-15-3 with their fourth straight loss. On the other side, the Blades improved to a W-H-L-best 22-8-1 with their sixth consecutive triumph, completing a three games-in-three days run of games without a blemish. The Bridge City Bunch played without defenceman Tanner Molendyk and centre Fraser Minten as they traveled Sunday to Oakville, Ontario, for the start of Canada’s National Junior Team Selection Camp while the Hitmen played without a pair of 20-year-old veterans, leaving them with a 20-man roster with an average age of 17.5 years old. Saskatoon will try to improve on their current run, tied for its longest winning streak of the season, when they welcome the Kamloops Blazers to SaskTel Centre on Wednesday at 7 o’clock. CJWW’s broadcast begins with the Palliser Rooms E-Q-3 Cutting Edge Pre-Game Show at 6:45 p.m. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s Sunday broadcast, Post-Game Show interviews from head coach Brennan Sonne, Sidorov and Elliott plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..
Calgary Hitmen 1 at Saskatoon Blades 2 – Status: Final
Sunday, December 10, 2023 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Calgary 0 0 1 – 1
Saskatoon 2 0 0 – 2
1st Period-1, Saskatoon, Calvert 4 (James), 15:43. 2, Saskatoon, Sidorov 29 (Wong), 19:55. Penalties-Pisarczyk Cgy (tripping), 2:03; Pisarczyk Cgy (tripping), 16:20.
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Bear Cgy (hooking), 12:39; Tastad Sas (tripping), 16:42.
3rd Period-3, Calgary, Tulk 19 (Yakemchuk, Kindel), 18:57. Penalties-Barcik Sas (hooking), 0:50; Sidorov Sas (hooking), 7:55.
Shots on Goal-Calgary 4-12-16-32. Saskatoon 14-11-10-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Calgary 0 / 3; Saskatoon 0 / 3.
Goalies-Calgary, Buenaventura 8-10-3-0 (35 shots-33 saves). Saskatoon, Elliott 15-4-1-0 (32 shots-31 saves).
A-4,388
Referees-Austin Weisgerber (131), Mike Langin (67).
Linesmen-Brayden Glynn (96), Ridge Brooks (161).