Gardner’s Goaltending, Again, Propels Blades Into Sole Possession of First Place in the W-H-L’s East Division

The Saskatoon Blades are going into the final weekend of the W-H-L regular-season in first place in the East Division after downing the Wheat Kings 3-1 Wednesday night in Brandon.

For a third straight game, Evan Gardner’s (pictured) goaltending played a starring role in the win, with goal posts and cross bars helping out in a supporting role. On the day after the 18-year-old Fort St. John, B-C product signed a three-year N-H-L entry level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Gardner stopped 33 shots for his sixth straight win. Brandon also nailed the iron at least four times. Gardner has only allowed eight goals in those six wins and has stopped 85 of 86 shots with two shutouts during the Bridge City Bunch’s current three-game winning streak. A third straight shutout was denied by a Luke Shipley goal in the third period with the Blue and Gold leading 2-0, ending a run of 178:06 without allowing a goal. David Lewandowski tallied twice with Rowan Calvert adding, what turned out to be the game winner as the Blades improved to 37-22-7 for 81 points – one ahead of Prince Albert and two clear of the Wheaties. Saskatoon and the Raiders hook up for a home-and-home series this weekend – Friday at SaskTel Centre and Saturday in P-A – while Brandon is home to the Pats Friday and visits Regina Saturday to close out the season. The Bridge City Bunch need at least three of a possible four points from the two games with the Raiders to ensure a second consecutive first place finish in the East Division. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game Show interviews with head coach Dan Da Silva and Lewandowski plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..

SASKATOON Goals SASKATOON PLAYERS (plus) BRANDON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 2nd 8:15  86-27-2 2 3 25 27 86 8 62 72 84 91 3rd 7:19  23 2 3 9 23 25 8 11 13 14 88 3rd 19:00 EN  86 2 21 25 27 86 8 11 13 27 72 91

BRANDON Goals BRANDON PLAYERS (plus) SASKATOON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 3rd 11:47  27-11-9 8 9 11 27 88 9 11 21 23 52