Riders beat Lions to punch ticket to CFL West final
Nov 03, 2024
The Riders are back in the West final for the first time since 2021.
Nolan Maier made WHL history Friday — and then was rewarded in a memorable way.
The Saskatoon Blades’ veteran netminder set a league record with his 121st career regular-season victory, stopping 20 shots in Saskatoon’s 2-0 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders at SaskTel Centre.
After the game, Maier was named the game’s first star … and its second star … and its third star.
No goaltender has ever surpassed 120 wins in the WHL.
Until tonight.
Congratulations, Nolan 👏 pic.twitter.com/CyQWwwmDg1
— x – Saskatoon Blades (@BladesHockey) April 9, 2022
The 21-year-old product of Yorkton entered the game tied with former Vancouver Giants goalie Tyler Sexsmith and ex-Kamloops Blazers goaltender Corey Hirsch with 120 career regular-season wins. Maier’s third shutout of the 2021-22 season gave him sole possession of the record.
Maier had 23 wins as a WHL rookie in the 2017-18 campaign and followed that with seasons of 36, 20 and 12 wins. The victory Friday was his 30th of the ’21-22 season.
Egor Sidorov opened the scoring for Saskatoon at 12:17 of the third period and Trevor Wong sealed the deal with a goal at 18:01 of the final frame.
Tikhon Chaika stopped 22 shots in the Raiders’ net.
♦ In Swift Current, Connor Bedard also had a record-setting night for the Regina Pats.
Bedard scored twice in the Pats’ 4-2 victory over the Broncos, giving him 47 goals on the season.
That broke Regina’s franchise record for goals in a season by a 16-year-old. Jeff Friesen set the team record of 45 during the 1992-93 season and Bedard tied the mark last Saturday against P.A.
🚨 NEW FRANCHISE RECORD 🚨
An odd goal has launched Connor Bedard into the record books with his 46th goal of the season, a new Pats franchise record for goals by a 16-year-old.
We are tied 1-1 late in the 2nd. pic.twitter.com/CVzGl4O9EU
— Regina Pats (@WHLPats) April 9, 2022
As well, his two points gave him 89 on the season, breaking the Pats’ single-season record for points by a 16-year-old. Doug Wickenheiser had 88 points for Regina during the 1977-78 campaign.
Bedard has four more games to extend both records.
Borya Valis and Logan Nijhoff also scored as Regina kept its playoff hopes alive. Cole Nagy and Raphael Pelletier had goals for the Broncos.
The Pats improved to 25-34-3-2 and pulled to within four points of the Broncos (26-34-5-2) in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Regina has three games in hand on Swift Current.
But the Pats also trail the Calgary Hitmen (25-31-6-2, 58 points) and Prince Albert (26-34-4-1, 57 points) in the standings — and two of Regina’s final four regular-season games are against the league-leading Winnipeg Ice (49-10-3-2 after Friday’s action).
The Pats are to entertain the Raiders on Saturday before travelling to Winnipeg for games Thursday and Friday. Regina is to wrap up the regular season April 17 against the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors (36-23-3-2 after Friday’s games).