A sold-out crowd at the Art Hauser Centre had reasons to cheer early Friday night, but the Saskatoon Blades quieted the throng of 3,049 after that with a 5-1 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders.

Both teams ended up getting what they wanted from Friday. The Bridge City Bunch captured their fifth, first place overall finish in the W-H-L and the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy that goes with it and P-A earned the final spot into the playoffs when Calgary lost 7-6 in Swift Current. The Blue and Gold will meet the Raiders in the opening round of the post-season with Games 1 and 2 on Thursday and Friday, March 28 and 29 at SaskTel Centre. Game 67 of the regular-season saw Aiden Oiring give Prince Albert the opening goal just 95 seconds in, but the Blades led 3-1 after the opening period on goals from Rhett Melnyk, Tanner Molendyk (pictured) and Misha Volotovskii. Brandon Lisowsky notched the last two goals for 49-13-5 Saskatoon, who out-shot the Raiders 37-20. It was the 36th consecutive game in which the Bridge City Bunch out-shot the opposition. The same teams finish the regular-season Saturday in front of an expected sold-out crowd at SaskTel Centre. The doors open at 5:30 for Fan Appreciation Night. Game time is 7 o’clock with CJWW’s broadcast starting at 6:45 p.m. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game Show comments from head coach Brennan Sonne and forward Rhett Melnyk plus the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..

Saskatoon Blades 5 at Prince Albert Raiders 1 – Status: Final
Friday, March 22, 2024 – Art Hauser Centre – Prince Albert, SK

Saskatoon 3 1 1 – 5
Prince Albert 1 0 0 – 1

1st Period-1, Prince Albert, Oiring 21 (Stanick), 1:35. 2, Saskatoon, Melnyk 5 (Babcock, Watterodt), 7:25. 3, Saskatoon, Molendyk 10 (Sidorov, Wong), 9:17. 4, Saskatoon, Volotovskii 9 (Calvert), 11:35. Penalties-Minten Sas (roughing), 8:14; Christensen Pa (roughing), 8:14; Minten Sas (major-fighting), 12:41; Johnston Pa (major-fighting), 12:41.

2nd Period-5, Saskatoon, Lisowsky 41 (Wright, Sidorov), 17:32 (PP). Penalties-Babcock Sas (roughing), 10:04; Lodewyk Pa (roughing), 10:04; Pederson Pa (slew-footing), 13:29; Lisowsky Sas (roughing), 14:26; Goldsmith Pa (hooking), 15:44; Sidorov Sas (roughing), 19:47; Christensen Pa (roughing, roughing), 19:47.

3rd Period-6, Saskatoon, Lisowsky 42 (Suzdalev), 12:07. Penalties-Molendyk Sas (interference), 5:26; Melnyk Sas (10-minute misconduct), 17:35; Wright Sas (roughing, roughing), 17:35; Kovacs Pa (10-minute misconduct), 17:35; Martin Pa (roughing), 17:35.

Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 12-20-5-37. Prince Albert 5-7-8-20.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 1 / 2; Prince Albert 0 / 2.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Elliott 29-8-2-1 (20 shots-19 saves). Prince Albert, Hildebrand 25-20-2-2 (37 shots-32 saves).
A-3,049
Referees-Adam Forbes (62), Mike Langin (67).
Linesmen-Riley Carriere (72), Troy Semenchuk (65).