Blades strike it Riche in overtime

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This article was published 25/10/2024 (574 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ben Riche scored his second goal in overtime as the Saskatoon Blades beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 4-3 in Western Hockey League action at Westoba Place on Friday.

Saskatoon (10-2-1-0) received its other goals from Tyler Parr and Brandon Lisowsky, with Jaxon Jacobson sniping twice and Dylan Ronald also replying for Brandon (6-4-1-1) in front of a crowd of 2,519.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it was an up and down night for his club.

“The first was just OK but I thought we had a really good second,” Murray said. “It was unfortunate to lose the period 3-2. We gave up one late in the second that hurt a little bit and it was a big play by Jacobson to tie it up.

“You’re disappointed right now because you want to get the two points. We got caught standing around in overtime and they made a play.”

Neither team gave up much for chances early on, with the Wheat Kings needing more than five minutes to get their first shot on net.

Brandon’s first great chance came during a four-minute power play after Saskatoon’s Hudson Kibblewihite took a double minor for slew footing. Jacobson set up Nolan Flamand on the backdoor but the Saskatoon product hit the post with the deflection behind Saskatoon goalie Evan Gardner.

By the end of a scoreless first period, the Blades led 14-8 on the shot clock and had generated far more chances with the teams playing five on five.

After a quiet opening frame, the shootout at O.K. Corral erupted in the second period.

Saskatoon finally opened the scoring one minute 49 seconds into the middle frame on a nondescript play.

Parr gained possession of the puck near centre-ice, skated in alone and wristed a shot off the inside of the post from the top of the faceoff circle that beat Brandon goalie Carson Bjarnason on the stick side. It was Saskatoon’s first shot of the period and the only one in the first six minutes.

The big goalie stood tall 7:35 into the period when he denied Lisowsky during a two-on-one with Riche, and at the other end, Gardner stopped Carter Klippenstein when he came in all alone less than a minute later.

Brandon tied the game at the 11:17 mark just after a power play ended. The Wheat Kings entered the zone, moved the puck around and Flamand found Jacobson in front for his second goal of the year.

That sparked a wild couple of minutes that saw goals at both ends that the two outstanding netminders might want back.

It took just 64 seconds after the Wheat Kings tied it for the Blades to restore the lead. Brandon once again turned the puck over in the neutral zone and Saskatoon came up the ice on a three-on-one, with Riche squeezing a shot under Bjarnason’s arm.

“They’re an opportunistic team,” Murray said. “Their transition game is exceptional and we got cute. As good as the second period was, we get cute a couple of times and they’re gone the other way. Against a good team you can’t do that, and we need to learn.”

The game was tied up 59 seconds later when Ronald’s unscreened shot from the point inexplicably trickled through Gardner’s legs. It was the rookie defenceman’s first career WHL goal, and included an assist for Raiden Zacharias, giving the newest Wheat King his first point with the club.

“I remember the puck coming back to me,” Ronald said. “I picked it up on my backhand, went forehand and saw some sticks so I decided to shoot it. At first I wasn’t sure if it went in, but I guess it did.”

“It’s pretty special but it would have been nice if the boys could come out with a win tonight,” he added.

The Blades took the lead again with just 19.6 seconds remaining in the period. Lisowsky picked up the puck high in the Brandon zone, spun and fired from just inside the blue-line, with the shot hitting the far post and bouncing in.

Bjarnason made a terrific save 5:02 into the period on a deflected pass by David Lewansowski was left all alone in the middle to keep his team within a goal, and Brandon tied the game for a third time 9:16 into the final frame just after a Saskatoon man advantage ended.

The rookie Jacobson stripped Blades captain Ben Saunderson of Carberry of the puck deep in the zone, walked in and roofed the puck to make it 3-3.

“It was pretty fun because Ben and I are pretty close buddies,” Jacobson said. “I saw him cut back and thought I could take it from him and everything went good from there.”

Saskatoon nearly took another lead with 5:30 remaining on another three-on-one after a bad pinch by a Brandon defender, but Cooper Williams’ shot hit the post, and this time, stayed out.

Both goalies had to be good in the final few minutes to send the game to overtime, with multiple chances at both ends.

In overtime, Brandon won the opening draw and held the puck for nearly a minute but didn’t create much. Saskatoon won the second draw and never gave up control, with Tanner Molendyk finding Riche and the forward beating Bjarnason with a deke.

“It sucks to lose,” Jacobson said. “Next time we play these guys we have to bring it and set the tone a little bit. I felt like I played a pretty solid game and I thought our team played a pretty solid game, but I think we still have another step.”

Ronald said there is a lesson in the loss.

“You can’t take one shift off,” Ronald said. “Simple mistakes, teams are going to score, especially the team that is on top of the division.”

Bjarnason made 37 saves for the Wheat Kings, with Gardner stopping 34 shots for the Blades.

Brandon went 0-for-3 on the power play, with Saskatoon unsuccessful in two chances.

Saskatoon head coach Dan DaSilva said other than some miscues, it was a pretty nice outing for his club.

“It was a good effort,” DaSilva said. “I thought that we made some costly mistakes and were careless with the puck at times but I think the effort was there and we had some timely goals as well. I thought we were resilient, as we usually are.”

ICINGS: Brandon skated without injured forwards Roger McQueen, Nick Johnson, Dominik Petr and Easton Odut. As a result, the Wheat Kings dressed 10 forwards and eight defencemen again … Parr left the game 10:37 into the second period shortly after his leg was stepped on while he was penalty killing in front of the Blades net. He returned later in the period … Jacobson and Matteo Michels led the Wheat Kings with six shots each on net … The hosts outshot the visitors 21-10 in the period … The game took two hours, 21 minutes to play … In the faceoff circle, Brandon won 35-22 … The Wheat Kings face the visiting Calgary Hitmen this evening at 7 o’clock … Brandon fell to 1-4-1-0 when trailing after 40 minutes … Former Wheat Kings fan favourite Baron Thompson successfully proposed to his partner at centre ice during the second intermission. The trick was that she was supposedly blindfolded and looking for the team mascot Willie.

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Blades 4, Wheat Kings 3 (OT)
First Period
No Scoring.
Penalties — Kibblewhite Sas (slew footing, double minor) 6:59, Nguyen Bdn (hooking) 15:30.
Second Period
1. Saskatoon, Parr 4 (unassisted) 1:49.
2. Brandon, Jacobson 2 (Flamand, Shipley) 11:17.
3. Saskatoon, Riche 8 (Lisowsky) 12:21.
4. Brandon, Ronald 1 (Baumuller, Zacharias) 13:20.
5. Saskatoon, Lisowsky 4 (Riche, Siepmann) 19:40.
Penalties — Bench minor Sas (Too many men, served by Riche) 9:00.
Third Period
6. Brandon, Jacobson 3 (unassisted) 9:16.
Penalties — Elick Bdn (delay of game) 7:13.
Overtime
7. Saskatoon, Riche 9 (Molendyk, Lisowsky) 1:37.
No Scoring.
Penalties — None.
Shots on goal by
Brandon     8     21     7 2     —     40
Saskatoon     14     10     14 1     —     37
Goal — Brandon: Bjarnason (OTL, 3-3-1-0). Saskatoon: Gardner (OTW, 4-1-0-1).
Power plays (goals-chances) — Brandon: 0-3; Saskatoon: 0-2.
Referees — Brody Sutter, Taylor Friesen.
Linesmen — Nick Grenier, Matthew Granger.
Attendance — 2,519 in Brandon.