Another overtime game, another Brandon Lisowsky (pictured) game-winning goal!
The 19-year-old left winger notched his third O-T tally and 40th goal overall this season 65 seconds into the fourth period Wednesday night, giving the Saskatoon Blades a 4-3 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. It was Lisowsky’s second goal of the game and allowed the Bridge City Bunch to equal their win and standings points totals from last season at 48 and 101, respectively. The Blue and Gold have two games remaining in the 2023-24 regular-season to eclipse last season, but more importantly, one more win gives them a first place overall finish in the Western Hockey League, meaning home-ice advantage for as long as they last in the upcoming playoffs. Easton Armstrong and Trevor Wong also scored for the 48-13-5 Blades in front of 4,271 fans at SaskTel Centre – all of whom got a free ticket to attend Saturday’s last regular-season game against Prince Albert. Saskatoon won all six “Winning Wednesday” promotions during the campaign. For the Hitmen, Ethan Buenaventura was heroic in goal as the 19-year-old veteran stopped 43 shots with the Bridge City Bunch out-shooting Calgary 47-25. Connor Dale’s goal with 1:04 left in the third period forced overtime and kept the 27-30-9 Hitmen’s hopes of catching an Eastern Conference playoff spot alive, albeit barely. Calgary can force a single-game playoff in Prince Albert on Tuesday if they sweep a home-and-home series this weekend with Swift Current and the Blue and Gold win both games with the Raiders this weekend in regulation time. The Blades visit P-A Friday, then host the Raiders Saturday at SaskTel Centre. Game time both nights is 7 o’clock with CJWW’s broadcast beginning at 6:45 p.m. with the Palliser Rooms E-Q-3 Cutting Edge Pre-Game Show. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s Wednesday broadcast, along with Post-Game Show comments from head coach Brennan Sonne, Armstrong and Lisowsky plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..
Calgary Hitmen 3 at Saskatoon Blades 4 (OT) – Status: Final OT
Wednesday, March 20, 2024 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Calgary 1 0 2 0 – 3
Saskatoon 0 1 2 1 – 4
1st Period-1, Calgary, Muranov 22 (Dale, Mayes), 2:29. Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period-2, Saskatoon, Armstrong 33 (Wong, Molendyk), 16:49 (PP). Penalties-Chichkin Cgy (cross checking), 5:24; Fawcett Cgy (roughing), 9:29; Volotovskii Sas (roughing), 9:29; Yakemchuk Cgy (closing hand on puck), 16:09.
3rd Period-3, Calgary, Yakemchuk 28 (Greenway), 0:51. 4, Saskatoon, Wong 14 4:32. 5, Saskatoon, Lisowsky 39 (Molendyk, Sidorov), 14:20 (PP). 6, Calgary, Dale 4 (Pisarczyk, Hamilton), 18:56. Penalties-Wetsch Cgy (boarding), 14:05.
OT Period-7, Saskatoon, Lisowsky 40 (Minten), 1:05. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Calgary 13-7-5-0-25. Saskatoon 11-14-21-1-47.
Power Play Opportunities-Calgary 0 / 0; Saskatoon 2 / 3.
Goalies-Calgary, Buenaventura 21-22-6-1 (47 shots-43 saves). Saskatoon, Gardner 20-5-0-2 (25 shots-22 saves).
A-4,271
Referees-Brian McDonald, Mike Langin (67).
Linesmen-Brayden Glynn (96), Levi Schutz (110).
