Post-Christmas Blades, Back-Stopped by Gardner, Too Sharp for Wheat Kings

New Year’s Day was role reversal day for the Saskatoon Blades.

The first game of 2026 was Evan Gardner’s (pictured) turn to give the Bridge City Bunch a critical two points in the standings against an East Division rival as the Columbus second round pick in the 2024 N-H-L Draft stopped 34 of 36 shots, back-stopping the Blue and Gold to a 3-2 victory over the Wheat Kings in Brandon. The Blades extended their winning streak to three games – all coming out of the Christmas break – despite being out-shot 36-21. The loss ended the Wheaties’ four-game winning streak and a personal seven-game winning streak for Brandon goaltender Filip Ruzicka. In two previous Wheat Kings’ wins over Saskatoon, Ruzicka stopped 62 of 65 shots overall. The Bridge City Bunch got goals from Zach Olsen, Hunter Laing and Kazden Mathies while Cooper Williams chipped in with two assists. Laing and Mathies scored 1:51 apart after the Wheaties took their first lead almost eight minutes into the third period. The 20-14-3 Blue and Gold moved within two points of 22-13-1 Brandon for second place in the East Division and fourth place in the Eastern Conference, with a return match slated for Saturday at 7 o’clock at SaskTel Centre. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game Show interviews head coach Dan Da DaSilva and Mathies, plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L website…..

SASKATOON Goals SASKATOON PLAYERS (plus) BRANDON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 8:48  9-16 9 13 16 47 71 13 14 17 19 84 3rd 9:23 PP  27-16-4 3rd 11:14  77-23 20 23 27 47 77 6 12 13 17 19

BRANDON Goals BRANDON PLAYERS (plus) SASKATOON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 15:07  10-26-9 9 10 14 26 84 13 19 26 27 47 3rd 7:42  19-13 6 12 13 17 19 13 19 26 27 47