Defence Scores, Not Rests, as Blades Disarm Hitmen

In court, the defence may rest. But on Friday night at SaskTel Centre, defencemen with the Saskatoon Blades not only defended effectively, but led the offence as the Bridge City Bunch doubled the Calgary Hitmen 6-3.

Four different Blue and Gold blueliners scored goals, including three straight that turned a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead in front of 4,071 fans. Former Calgary defenceman Grayden Siepmann (pictured) paced the Blades with a goal and two assists. However, Jack Kachkowski, Isaac Poll and Jordan Martin – all 17-year-olds – were the ones that turned Saskatoon from being behind in the game to a very good Hitmen team to solidly in the lead. Cooper Williams and Rowan Calvert also connected for the Bridge City Bunch with both forwards adding an assist for two-point nights. As for the Blue and Gold defence defending effectively, they held the W-H-L’s fourth-leading point scorer, Ben Kindel, to one assist and kept Oliver Tulk, the third-leading point getter in the league off the scoresheet. Tulk came in on an 11-game points streak. When the Blades’ defence broke down, Ethan McCallum was superb in goal again, stopping 39 of 42 shots as Calgary held a 42-29 advantage on the shot clock. The win improved Saskatoon’s record to 28-17-6 for 62 points and kept them tied with Prince Albert for first place in the East Division after the Raiders bounced Swift Current 6-1 Friday. The loss ended the Hitmen winning streak at three games and left them with a 33-14-5 record for 71 points, tied for third place in the Eastern Conference with Lethbridge, who out-lasted visiting Regina 6-5 in overtime on Friday. The Bridge City Bunch are back in action Saturday, going to Swift Current for a 7 o’clock first faceoff. CJWW’s broadcast starts at 6:45 with the Pre-Game Show. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast plus Post-Game Show conversations with head coach Dan Da Silva, Siepmann and Poll plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..

CALGARY Goals CALGARY PLAYERS (plus) SASKATOON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 3:33  21-26-38 21 24 26 34 38 3 9 17 18 52 2nd 10:40  8-11-9 2 8 9 11 37 2 20 23 26 52 2nd 10:51  16-21-12 6 12 16 21 38 21 25 27 52 86

SASKATOON Goals SASKATOON PLAYERS (plus) CALGARY PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 8:36 PP  21-20-26 2nd 7:34  25-2-23 2 20 21 23 25 4 18 24 26 34 2nd 16:37  37-25-86 13 25 27 37 86 2 4 8 18 34 2nd 18:28  13-21-72 9 13 21 29 72 2 15 17 26 39 3rd 10:54  3 3 25 27 52 86 2 12 15 17 37 3rd 15:35 PP  23-29-21