Based on Saturday’s effort, you couldn’t accuse either the Saskatoon Blades or Brandon Wheat Kings of looking ahead to the Christmas break before it arrived.
Stelio Mattheos’ hat-trick goal, off Luka Burzan’s fourth assist at 2:25 of overtime, gave the Wheaties a 6-5 victory over the Bridge City Bunch. Brandon looked to be on their way to a regulation time triumph when they went to the second intermission with a 5-3 lead. But, Max Gerlach (pictured) and Brandon product Tristen Robins scored 1:25 apart mid-way through the third period to force extra time.
Gerlach scored twice for the Blades with captain Chase Wouters and defenceman Dawson Davidson adding singles as Saskatoon out-shot the Wheat Kings 40-31. Connor Gutenberg touched off the Wheaties’ Teddy Bear Toss, opening the game scoring off a short-handed breakaway at 11:39 of the first period.
The result ended a three-game losing streak and leaves the Wheaties at 15-10-6 going into the Christmas break, good for fourth place in the East Division while the Bridge City Bunch had a third, four-game winning run ended. The Blue and Gold are 21-10-4 for 46 points, good for second place in the East Division and third spot in the Eastern Conference.
“It is really nice,” responded assistant coach Jerome Engele to the Blades’ record and standing going into the 11-day break. “We’ve done very well I would think. The team has slowly progressed under an entirely new system from what some of the guys have been used to playing before. I think we’re getting better every game. Shift by shift, I think you see some players improving immensely. Our young players are getting better. Our depth is a lot better than what we’ve had in the past. Overall, when you go from our goaltender to our defence to our forwards, there is a good improvement from all of our personnel.”
Saskatoon returns from the break on Thursday, December 27 when they host the Prince Albert Raiders at SaskTel Centre. Following is the official summary from the W-H-L…
Saskatoon Blades 5 at Brandon Wheat Kings 6 (OT) – Status: Final OT
Saturday, December 15, 2018 – Westoba Place – Brandon, MB
Saskatoon 2 1 2 0 – 5
Brandon 1 4 0 1 – 6
1st Period-1, Brandon, Gutenberg 9 (Daley), 11:39 (SH). 2, Saskatoon, Wouters 5 (Paterson, Crnkovic), 15:04. 3, Saskatoon, Gerlach 18 19:09. Penalties-Salame Bdn (slashing), 11:30; McCartney Bdn (tripping), 12:45.
2nd Period-4, Brandon, Reinhardt 5 (Mattheos, Burzan), 0:37. 5, Brandon, McCartney 8 (Greig), 3:43 (PP). 6, Saskatoon, Davidson 7 (Paterson, Kneen), 11:34. 7, Brandon, Mattheos 24 (Burzan), 12:15. 8, Brandon, Mattheos 25 (Burzan, Greig), 16:32. Penalties-Florchuk Sas (tripping), 1:45; Wouters Sas (major-fighting), 5:15; Gutenberg Bdn (major-fighting), 5:15; Kneen Sas (tripping), 5:51; Schuldhaus Sas (high sticking), 5:51; Davidson Sas (roughing), 6:16; Mattheos Bdn (slashing), 6:16; Florchuk Sas (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 8:26; Schuldhaus Sas (10-minute misconduct), 8:26; Greig Bdn (roughing), 8:26; served by Gerlach Sas (too many men), 14:27; McKay Sas (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 17:34; Thompson Bdn (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 17:34.
3rd Period-9, Saskatoon, Gerlach 19 (Schuldhaus), 10:05. 10, Saskatoon, Robins 6 (Kneen), 11:30. Penalties-No Penalties
OT Period-11, Brandon, Mattheos 26 (Burzan), 2:25. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 14-10-13-3-40. Brandon 5-17-7-2-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 0 / 2; Brandon 1 / 3.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Maier 17-8-3-0 (31 shots-25 saves). Brandon, Kruger 4-2-1-1 (40 shots-35 saves).
A-4,455
Referees-Mike Campbell (89), Karlin Krieger (27).
Linesmen-Bob Millette (61), Darrell Surminski (37).
