Blades Bounce Back With “Wild Ride” Win in Moose Jaw

It was a game reminiscent of those from the 1970s and 80s in the Western Hockey League – lots of goals, all goaltenders dressed being used and wild swings of momentum – as the Saskatoon Blades out-scored the Warriors 8-5 Saturday night in Moose Jaw.

The Bridge City Bunch scored the first three goals and never trailed, but the Warriors kept on battling back – cutting the deficit to one goal on two different occasions. Thirteen of the 18 Blue and Gold skaters recorded at least one point while 10 of 18 Moose Jaw skaters found the scoresheet. Centre Kazden Mathies (pictured) paced the Blades, now 8-3-0 for the season, with two goals and an assist. Defenceman Brayden Klimpke also posted three points with a tally and two helpers. Blueliner Jordan Martin, right winger Zach Olsen and centre Dominik Petr all had two assists while the other Saskatoon goal-scorers were Moose Jaw product and left winger Rowan Calvert, defenceman Jack Kachkowski, centre Triston Mitchell-McElhone, left winger Hayden Harsanyi and centre Cooper Williams. Williams’ goal was of the highlight-reel variety. Early in the third period, with the Bridge City Bunch clinging to a 6-5 lead, the Warriors turned over the puck in their zone and it was sent through to Williams right in front of the Moose Jaw net. He faked a back-hand shot and put the puck and his stick between his legs and forehanded it into the net past a startled Warriors’ goaltender Matthew Hutchison. It was a tough night for three of the four goaltenders in the game. Evan Gardner came on in the third period for the Blue and Gold and stopped all 10 shots he faced. Ethan McCallum started the game and stopped 17 of 22 shots before being relieved by Gardner. On the Moose Jaw side, after being the second star with 31 saves in Friday’s 6-2 victory in Saskatoon, Kyle Jones was pulled early in the second period, stopping just four of nine shots. Hutchison was tagged with the loss, stopping 11 of 14 shots as the Warriors’ record dropped to 5-5-1 for the season. Despite splitting the home-and-home series with Moose Jaw with road wins, the Blades’ weekend schedule isn’t over. For the first time since December, 2023, the Bridge City Bunch will play a third game in three days as they host the 9-2-0 Edmonton Oil Kings Sunday at 4 o’clock at SaskTel Centre. CJWW’s broadcast starts at 3:45 p.m. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game Show interviews with head coach Dan Da Silva, Mathies and Williams plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L website…..

SASKATOON Goals SASKATOON PLAYERS (plus) MOOSE JAW PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 5:36  77-9 9 26 37 47 77 10 20 21 22 55 1st 7:15  23-4-82 3 4 20 23 82 4 7 12 16 37 1st 10:13  77-3 3 17 18 37 77 2 8 20 38 45 2nd 1:15  37 11 16 27 37 47 2 8 17 37 45 2nd 3:29  4-82-3 3 4 20 23 82 2 7 8 36 38 2nd 16:51  25-17-4 3 4 17 18 25 12 17 21 22 55 3rd 4:12  16-27-11 3 4 11 16 27 2 8 16 17 19 3rd 11:14  26-77-9 3 4 9 26 77 10 17 19 21 38

MOOSE JAW Goals MOOSE JAW PLAYERS (plus) SASKATOON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 18:13  36-43-10 4 10 36 43 45 3 4 11 16 27 2nd 1:55  17-10 10 17 19 21 43 9 26 41 56 77 2nd 11:22  45-22 4 8 22 45 55 9 26 37 47 77 2nd 13:02 PP  20-8-21 2nd 19:31  45-12-22 4 12 16 22 45 3 4 11 16 27