Saskatoon Blades win tough battle in Regina against Pats

It went all the way to a shootout as the Saskatoon Blades were able to down the rival Regina Pats 2-1 on Wednesday.

“I thought it was a hard-fought game by both teams,” said Blades acting head coach Dan DaSilva. “I thought both goalies played really well and it just came down to that, in a shootout, anything can happen.

“Speaking on our behalf, I don’t know if we played as good as we can, but it was one of those nights that pucks were bouncing. But we found a way.”

DaSilva has been the team’s bench boss with head coach Brennan Sonne away as an assistant coach for Team Canada White at the 2023 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

Saskatoon has now won four WHL games in a row, including a 6-2 win over their Highway 11 rivals on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Regina has dropped six of its past eight games as it deals with a slump to begin November.

The Pats and Blades had split the first four games of their eight-game season series, with both teams winning twice at home.

The Blades got out to an early lead at the Brandt Centre with forward Egor Sidorov scoring 12:18 into the first period on a power-play opportunity. Saskatoon had six power-play chances in the game, something Pats head coach Brad Herauf said contributed to the loss.

“I think we compete really hard and we had a heck of a goalie performance but we took way too many penalties,” Herauf said. “The penalties we are taking are not preventing goals, they are 200 feet away from the net.

“We’re trying to stick up for each other and their heart is in the right place, but situationally, they are just undisciplined penalties that are killing momentum in our offence and in our team.”

As the first-year Pats head coach pointed out, a great goaltending performance was one of the bright spots for the Regina club.

Ewan Huet, an 18-year-old WHL rookie, stopped 38 of the 39 shots he faced in four periods of action on Saturday, including a couple highlight-reel saves in the final frame to get the Pats one point in the contest.

“I think we should be satisfied with it. It’s one point and Saskatoon is a great team,” Huet said. “Even though we could have gotten the win, one point is not bad. We battled hard and that’s what we will take from the game.”

Pats forward Jaxsin Vaughan scored his second goal of the season when his shot got past Blades goaltender Austin Elliott, who faced 27 shots in the game.

In the shootout, Sidorov was the lone scorer for both teams as Elliott shut the door on Tye Spencer, Tanner Howe and Borya Valis. Trevor Wong took Saskatoon’s only other chance in the shootout, with Huet making the stop.

The Pats (9-8-1-1) will next face the Brandon Wheat Kings (7-7-3-1) in a home-and-home series, with their first game in Manitoba on Saturday.

Saskatoon (12-5-0-0) will play in Swift Current against the Broncos (9-8-1-0) on Friday.