They didn’t blank Connor Bedard, but the Saskatoon Blades did the next best thing as the Bridge City Bunch downed the Regina Pats 4-1 Monday in Game 7 of their W-H-L Eastern Conference quarter-final series.
Between a stifling defensive effort, and stellar goaltending from Austin Elliott (pictured), the Blue and Gold limited the best hockey player world, not currently playing in the N-H-L, to just an assist on Stanislav Svozil’s goal in the late stages of the third period. By then, the Blades found a way to solve Drew Sim in the Regina goal as Spencer Shugrue broke a scoreless tie with 13.3 seconds remaining in the second period, followed by a Jake Chiasson goal, that turned out to be the eventual game-winner, eight minutes into the third frame. Vaughn Watterodt restored Saskatoon’s two-goal lead and Trevor Wong added extra insurance 21 seconds later.
The Bridge City Bunch out-shot the Pats in all seven games, yet were out-scored 26-25. Of the 26 Regina goals, Bedard was involved in 20 of them with 10 goals and 10 assists. But, the Blue and Gold found a way to advance to the Eastern Conference semi-final round with a pair of overtime wins at the Brandt Centre and a pair of home-ice victories.
Monday night was the Blades’ third Game 7 win in franchise history and the first since 2000 when Saskatoon defeated the Pats in the same building. The big difference this time from 2000 was the crowd as a sell-out of 14,768 at SaskTel Centre. The Blades open Round 2 on Friday at home against the Red Deer Rebels. Following is the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L, plus the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast and Post-Game Show interviews with head coach Brennan Sonne, Chiasson and Elliott…..
Regina Pats 1 at Saskatoon Blades 4 – Status: Final
Monday, April 10, 2023 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Regina 0 0 1 – 1
Saskatoon 0 1 3 – 4
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Bedard Reg (high sticking), 7:55; Ginnell Reg (roughing), 14:17; Watterodt Sas (roughing), 14:17; Brown Reg (holding), 18:23.
2nd Period-1, Saskatoon, Shugrue 1 (Lisowsky, Sidorov), 19:46. Penalties-No Penalties
3rd Period-2, Saskatoon, Chiasson 2 (Shugrue), 7:56. 3, Regina, Svozil 4 (Bedard, Brown), 13:10. 4, Saskatoon, Watterodt 3 (Hansen), 17:50. 5, Saskatoon, Wong 3 18:11 (EN). Penalties-Svozil Reg (10-minute misconduct), 17:50; Svozil Reg (game misconduct), 20:00.
Shots on Goal-Regina 9-6-11-26. Saskatoon 15-15-10-40.
Power Play Opportunities-Regina 0 / 0; Saskatoon 0 / 2.
Goalies-Regina, Sim (39 shots-36 saves). Saskatoon, Elliott (26 shots-25 saves).
A-14,768
Referees-Adam Bloski (16), Jeff Ingram (82).
Linesmen-Tarrington Wyonzek (137), Tanner McGregor (55).
