Blades, Fans Left Seething After Controversial Double O-T Loss to Oil Kings Forces a Game 7

There will be a Game 7 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final between Edmonton and Saskatoon after the Oil Kings out-lasted the Blades 3-2 in double overtime Sunday.

Miroslav Holinka scored his seventh goal of the series at 14:05 of the fifth period on a power play. The hooking penalty to David Lewandowski at 12:53 of the 2nd O-T was the first infraction whistled down by referees Corey Koop and Mark Pearce in 70:01 of game time. The Bridge City Bunch fell behind 2-0 in the first period before an Easter Sunday crowd of 5,104 fans at SaskTel Centre. But, the Blue and Gold battled back on goals by Brayden Klimpke – just 18 seconds after E-O-K scored to go up 2-0 – and Cooper Williams – with only seven seconds remaining in the 3^rd period to force extra time. There must be something about Game 6 and overtime in the playoffs that doesn’t agree with the Blue and Gold. The Blades are 0-4 in Game 6 at home with a 3-2 series lead and a chance to advance in franchise history. In addition, Saskatoon has lost the last 4 times they’ve gone to overtime in the playoffs – dating back to a Game 5 win over visiting Moose Jaw in the 2024 Eastern Conference final – including twice now in this series with Edmonton. The Oil Kings out-shot the Bridge City Bunch 44-39. Game 7 goes Monday back in Edmonton. CJWW’s broadcast starts at 6:45 with play-by-play at 7 o’clock. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Post-Game Show interviews with head coach Dan Da Silva and Williams, plus the official game summary courtesy the WHL website…..

EDMONTON Goals EDMONTON PLAYERS (plus) SASKATOON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 7:28  34-17 5 17 24 34 43 4 9 11 26 47 1st 16:34 PP  14-95-92 2nd OT 14:05 PP  92-24

SASKATOON Goals SASKATOON PLAYERS (plus) EDMONTON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 16:52  4-9 3 4 9 11 26 5 17 24 34 43 3rd 19:53  16-27-23 9 16 23 26 27 47 23 24 43 47 95