Olsen’s Special Night Paces Blades’ Offensive Explosion Over Warriors

The Saskatoon Blades snapped a lengthy losing streak while snapping out of their collective goal-scoring funk in a big way Tuesday. Zach Olsen (pictured) scored four times to pace the Bridge City Bunch to a 9-3 victory over the Warriors in Moose Jaw – ending a five-game losing streak.

During the skid, the Blue and Gold had only scored 11 goals and came into the game on a 100:42 goal-less run. They snapped that 7:30 into the contest on a tally from rookie German winger Dustin Willhoft. The Blades then got a huge break 14 seconds later when a Moose Jaw goal was disallowed because Ethan Semeniuk ran into Saskatoon goaltender Evan Gardner before putting the puck in the net. The nine goals was the most scored by the Bridge City Bunch this season and the first time they had scored that many since a 9-3 victory over the visiting Swift Current Broncos on September 21st of last year. Three of the goals came on the Blue and Gold’s first three power play chances as the Blades snapped an oh-for-13 run on the man advantage. Olsen’s four -goal outing was the first by a member of the Bridge City Bunch since Gary Haden scored four goals on January 25, 2019 – a 5-2 Saskatoon victory in Swift Current. It was, also, the Calgary product’s second multi-goal game of his W-H-L career. All of the 17-year-old sophomore’s tallies came in the second period as the Blue and Gold scored five times and led 8-2 after 40 minutes. Moose Jaw product Rowan Calvert scored a pair of power play goals for the Blades while Willhoft, Gavin Clark – with his first career W-H-L goal – and Kazden Mathies – while Saskatoon was shorthanded – also tallied for the Bridge City Bunch. Willhoft added an assist, German countryman David Lewandowski posted four helpers while Cooper Williams, Jack Kachkowski and Tristen Doyle all chipped in two assists. The Blue and Gold improved to 15-13-2 for the season with their first win since November 21. They’ll open a three games-in-three days weekend on Friday when they entertain the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, my Post-Game Show interview with head coach Dan Da Silva, a separate chat with Olsen and my first intermission conversation with Moose Jaw General Manager Jason Ripplinger, 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 7:30  17-27-37 17 26 27 37 41 7 8 10 14 15 1st 15:45  19-37 11 19 25 37 47 10 19 21 43 55 1st 18:46 PP  23-47-11 2nd 9:04  9-11-16 9 11 16 37 41 8 10 20 22 38 2nd 10:18 PP  23-47-11 2nd 17:49  9 9 16 47 56 71 2 3 14 19 43 2nd 19:05 PP  9-17-26 2nd 19:48  9-11-16 9 11 16 37 56 8 10 20 22 38 3rd 18:54 SH  77-20 3 20 41 77 10 19 22 38 55

MOOSE JAW Goals MOOSE JAW PLAYERS (plus) SASKATOON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 2nd 6:22  10-7-43 7 8 10 14 43 9 11 16 37 41 2nd 19:21  38-20-8 8 10 20 22 38 3 23 27 41 77 3rd 17:02  16-45-43 2 16 26 43 45 19 25 37 56 71