Blades prevail over rebels in playoff-type preview

It was a playoff-style game against a desperate opponent and the Saskatoon Blades prevailed in both instances Wednesday, edging the visiting red Deer rebels 3-2.

David Lewandowski (pictured) scored the winning goal on a seeing-eye shot on a power play with 5:07 remaining in the third period. The Bridge City Bunch improved to 31-25-6 for the season and pulled within three points of Brandon for second place in the W-H-L’s East Division and fifth spot in the Eastern Conference as the Wheat Kings dropped a 6-3 decision at home to Medicine Hat. For the 23-33-4 rebels, the loss kept them in sole possession of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, just one point ahead of idle Moose Jaw. The Warriors travel to Saskatoon Friday. In advance of a best-of-seven playoff series, the Blue and Gold were victorious in the first of their final seven regular-season outings in front of 3,307 fans at SaskTel Centre. Rowan Calvert and Elias Pul also scored for the Blades, who out-shot red Deer 36-35. The victory meant that the Bridge City Bunch swept the four-game season series against the rebels and upped their head-to-head winning streak over red Deer to seven straight, dating back to December, 2024. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Post-Game Show interviews with head coach Dan Da Silva, goaltender Evan Gardner and centre Kazden Mathies plus the official game summary from the W-H-L website…..

Game Report 1022814

Western Hockey League

PLAYED AT: SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Date: Mar 4, 2026

Visiting Team: Red Deer Rebels
Manager:

Home Team: Saskatoon Blades
Manager:

RED DEER LINEUP
Pos	No.	Name
G	31	Shore, Peyton
G	35	Kondro, Matthew
A	2	Chichkin, Aleksey (OA)
	3	Missura, Jake
	4	Dillard, Cameron
	5	Kamas, Jiri
	6	Chadi, Noah
	7	Yellowaga, Nate
	8	Temple, Cole
	9	Kuzma, Cameron
	11	Andersen, Poul
	14	Varga, Kalder
	15	DeWitt, Owen
	17	Lisy, Matus
	18	Lodge, Kohen
	20	Sopiarz, Patrick
A	21	Hamilton, Beckett
	24	MacSwain, Landon
C	26	Brigley, Talon (OA)
	27	Mikes, Matej

RED DEER PENALTIES
Per.	No.	Min	Offence	Off	PP	PS	Start	On
2nd		2:00	Too Many Men	1:33	1		1:33	3:33
2nd	2	2:00	Roughing	7:02			7:02	9:02
2nd	26	2:00	Hooking	9:35	1		9:35	11:35
2nd	26	2:00	Tripping	11:59	1		11:59	13:59
3rd	2	2:00	Hooking	9:03	1		9:03	11:03
3rd	9	2:00	Hooking	13:53	1		13:53	14:53
3rd	20	10:00	10-Minute Misconduct	13:53			13:53	20:00

SASKATOON LINEUP
Pos	No.	Name
G	30	Budd, Ryley
G	35	Gardner, Evan
A	4	Klimpke, Brayden
	11	Lewandowski, David
	13	Poll, Isaac
	16	Williams, Cooper
	17	Willhöft, Dustin
	19	Clark, Gavin
C	20	Parr, Tyler (OA)
A	23	Calvert, Rowan (OA)
	25	Mitchell-McElhone, Triston
A	27	Laing, Hunter
	36	Lewko, Cohen (AP)
	37	Kachkowski, Jack
	41	Lavallee, Jack
	46	Allan, Kaden
	47	Doyle, Tristen
	71	Bowtell, Ben
	77	Mathies, Kazden
	88	Pul, Elias

SASKATOON PENALTIES
Per.	No.	Min	Offence	Off	PP	PS	Start	On
1st	16	2:00	Delay of Game	0:35	1		0:35	1:55
1st	13	2:00	Tripping	18:29	1		18:29	0:29
2nd	4	2:00	Roughing	7:02			7:02	9:02
3rd	47	2:00	Hooking	4:39	1		4:39	6:39

RED DEER Goals				RED DEER PLAYERS (plus)					SASKATOON PLAYERS (minus)
Per.	Time		G-As1-As2
1st	1:55	PP	9-5-7
3rd	1:17		11-8-21	6	8	11	17	21	4	13	20	77	88

SASKATOON Goals				SASKATOON PLAYERS (plus)					RED DEER PLAYERS (minus)
Per.	Time		G-As1-As2
2nd	8:39		23-77	23	46	47	77		3	6	9	14
2nd	15:14		88-16	4	16	27	37	88	6	9	14	17	26
3rd	14:53	PP	11-47

POWER PLAY OPPORTUNITIES
RED DEER	1 / 3
SASKATOON	1 / 5

PENALTY SUMMARY
RED DEER	22 min / 7 inf
SASKATOON	8 min / 4 inf

POINT SUMMARY
RED DEER	2 G + 4 A = 6 Pts
SASKATOON	3 G + 3 A = 6 Pts

SCORING	1	2	3	Total
RED DEER	1	0	1	2
SASKATOON	0	2	1	3

GOALTENDER/SAVES (Time)	1	2	3	Tot.	On	Off
RD – Kondro (58:12) (L)	12	13	8	33	/0:00	3rd/18:12
SAS – Gardner (60:00) (W)	16	7	10	33	/0:00	3rd/20:00

Stars of the Game	TIME OF GAME:
SAS – 35 Gardner	Start:	7:03 PM
SAS – 11 Lewandowski	End:	9:23 PM
RD – 35 Kondro	Attendance:	3307

OFFICIALS

Referee: Bob Millette (61)

Referee: Troy Murray (34)

Linesmen: Justin Primeau (112)

Linesmen: Andrew Sawatsky (123)

CERTIFIED CORRECT

This report has been checked and verified against the Official Western Hockey League Game Report.