WHL Saskatoon Blades

Blades Fall Down Early Again against Calgary

Published on November 22, 2015 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Saskatoon Blades News Release


CALGARY, AB - The Calgary Hitmen jumped out to a 3-0 lead which the Blades could not come back from tonight in front of 10,430 fans in Calgary. Jake Bean opened the scoring for the Hitmen on a delayed penalty as he roofed one on Blades goaltender Brock Hamm who was making his 13th start of the season. Jakob Stukel deflected a point shot on the powerplay later in the frame to double the Hitmen lead.

Just as in last night's game against Lethbridge, the Blades surrenedered another goal to fall behind 3-0, this time off the stick of Michael Zipp who jumped on a puck in the high slot and put it high past Hamm. Another tough situation the Blades know they can't keep putting themselves into.

"It's tough," said Head Coach and GM Bob Woods. "Anytime you're playing your third game in three nights with travel, you can't dig yourselves holes - it's too hard to play out of it."

The Blades did once again claw back in this game, showing tenacity to fight back. Libor Hajek got the Blades on the board early in the second with a point shot that found it's way past Hitmen goaltender Kyle Dumba.

Connor Gay brought Saskatoon within one just over a minute later on nice play from the corner to work out front and slip one past the 17 year old Dumba.

"We're showing resiliency," said Blades defenceman Mitch Wheaton on the team's ability to rebound after being down 3-0. "We're getting the next quick two goals and we're going from there. We're working hard right now, we're just not getting the bounces and that big next goal that would tie it up." Wheaton added.

That's as close as the team would get however, as Layne Bensmiller restored the 2-goal lead for the Hitmen later in the frame. Despite some strong work from the Blades, they couldn't seem to gain the momentum needed to complete the comeback.

Michael Zipp would add another in the third, his second of the game, to put the game out of reach for the Blades. As the buzzer sounded, Saskatoon was looking at a 5-2 loss, their third straight.

Tonight was a near carbon copy of the game Saturday night in Lethbridge, a quick deficit followed by a strong response, only to come up short in the end. There are certainly positives to be found tonight for the Blades, ones they'll have to show and improve on come for Wednesday's rematch versus the Hitmen at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

Captain Nick Zajac knows they're a hard working team and will be another tough test on Wednesday night. "They don't stop and they're pretty good at scoring goals. They're a good team and we just have to battle hard."

Puck drop is at 7PM from the SaskTel Centre, the first home game in 18 days for the Blades. Stay tuned to www.saskatoonblades.com for all your Blades coverage. Also download the new Blades app and follow us on Twitter @bladeshockey.

Check out the Saskatoon Blades Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Western Hockey League Stories from November 22, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central