U of R Rams season ends in Mitchell Bowl to Laval
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The Rams last appeared in the Vanier Cup in 2000.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Saskatoon Blades are officially off to the playoffs after a 2-1 overtime win over the Regina Pats Friday at SaskTel Centre.
“Credit to our guys,” Blades head coach Mitch Love said after the win. “We had a couple cracks at it here over the last week or so to get in there. It should be a good accomplishment for the guys and the organization, but we still have lots of hockey left here in the regular season to make sure we’re playing the right way.”
It’s the second consecutive year the Blades will play in the WHL playoffs after a six-year absence.
Goaltender Nolan Maier started his WHL career in 2017 when the Blades were still trying to recover from trading a bevy of draft picks before hosting the 2013 Memorial Cup.
He’s pleased to see the team turn the page and begin of trend of qualifying for the playoffs year after year.
“It always feels good,” Maier said after stopping 32 of 33 shots.
“There’s certain guys that knows what it’s like,” Maier added, mentioning longtime players Chase Wouters, Randen Schmidt and himself. “For being here the longest out of all the guys, that was a special moment last year and it’s not any different this year.”
Colton Dach looked to score the only goal in a game filled with partial scoring chances that produced few dramatic moments until the final minutes of regulation.
The Pats would knot the game at 1-1 on a controversial goal with 44 seconds remaining.
A goal review deemed Riley Crane did not to interfere with Blades goaltender Nolan Maier after a Rykker Evans shot rebounded high in the air and onto the stick of Logan Nijhoff as Maier tangled with Crane in the crease.
“My glove was caught in (Crane’s) skate, and someone was on me and I couldn’t’ really move,” Maier said of the goal.
Maier did his part to punch his team’s ticket to the post season as Regina’s intensity increased near the end of the third period.
He stood tall for an initial shot and then slid across his net just in time to rob Evans of a sure goal with 2:15 remaining in the third period.
The Nijoff goal would keep the 4,478 people inside SaskTel Centre a little longer with the teams tied 1-1 after 60 minutes of play.
Nolan Kneen would make a move in the opening minute of overtime before he was hauled down in front of the net. Kyle Crnkovic wasted little time finishing the game on the power play by sneaking in a short-side shot for the 2-1 win.
Pats affiliated player call up Spencer Welke made 37 saves in his second career start to keep the Pats within striking distance all night.
The Pats and Blades will meet again Saturday in Regina. Love is keen to have his players composed and ready Saturday in the Queen City after getting thumped by the Prince Albert Raiders 3-0 in the second half of a home-and-home series a week ago.
“We learned our lesson that way last weekend,” Love said. “That was mentioned to our group. We need to remember what that was like, and I think our start will be important in their building.”