SASKATOON — With two victories last week, the Saskatoon Blades extended their winning streak to seven games before seeing it come to an end.
The Western Hockey League squad, which has already secured a playoff spot, earned victories over the Swift Current Broncos, 5-3, and the Prince Albert Raiders, 6-2. At home on Sunday, the Raiders ended the streak with am 8-1 win. With a 44-14-4-1 record, the Saskatoon team was third in the WHL Eastern Conference, as of Sunday.
The Blades have five games remaining this season. This week the team plays in Swift Current on Wednesday before hosting the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday and the Regina Pats on Sunday.
At home on March 8, the Blades beat the Swift Current Broncos, 5-3. Saskatoon led 1-0 after the first period with Josh Pillar scoring. In the second session, the Blades stretched their lead to 3-0 on goals by Jayden Wiens, on the powerplay, and Tanner Molendyk. The Broncos responded with Clarke Caswell and Josh Filmon scoring to pull within one, 3-2. Pillar increased the Blades’ lead to 4-2 with his second of the night. In the third, Filmon scored on the powerplay for Swift Current and Brandon Lisowsky added an empty net goal for Saskatoon.
Blades goalie Ethan Chadwick stopped 36 of the 39 shots he faced. Reid Dyck had 23 saves for Saskatoon.
In Prince Albert on March 10, the Blades scored three goals in both the first and second periods en route to a 6-2 victory. Conner Roulette powered the Blades with a hattrick. Jake Chiasson, Charlie Wright, and Misha Volotovskii also scored.
Sloan Stanick and Ryder Ritchie scored for the Raiders. Austin Elliott made 24 saves for the Blades. Max Hildebrand started and made nine saves on 15 shots for Prince Albert. Tikhon Chaika replaced him for the third period and stopped all nine shots he faced.
The winning streak came to an end in Saskatoon on Sunday. The contest was knotted at 1-1 at the 11:07 mark in the first period thanks to a Lisowsky goal. Prince Albert then scored seven unanswered goals. Chadwick started and made five saves on nine shots. Elliott came on about halfway through the second session and stopped 12 of the 16 shots he saw.
