WHL Saskatoon Blades

Blades Run Down by Giants

Published on February 19, 2010 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Saskatoon Blades News Release


The Saskatoon Blades opened the weekend with a 5-2 loss to the B.C. Division leading Vancouver Giants on Friday night at home.

Walker Wintoneak (Flin Flon, MB) and Stefan Elliott (North Vancouver, BC) scored for the home squad, who has now lost three out of their last four games.

Saskatoon - 1st - Wintoneak 6:36 Wintoneak gave the Blades a 1-0 lead on a great individual effort. The 20-year-old intercepted a pass just inside the Giants' blue line, moved to the slot, and fired home his 23rd on the campaign.

Vancouver - 1st - Neil Manning (Brendan Gallagher, Kevin Connauton) 11:18 pp The Giants evened the score on the power play on Manning's 14th of the year. The defenseman Connauton fired a one-timer from the blue line that was stopped by Steven Stanford (Calgary, AB). The Giants hammered away at two rebounds in tight before Manning was successful on the third attempt by putting it over the blocker of the Blades goaltender.

Vancouver - 1st - Milan Kytnar (James Wright, Tomas Vincour) 16:43 pp Kytnar put the Giants out in front 2-1 on his 10th of the season. The former Blade redirected a centering pass from Wright in front to give the Giants their second goal of the game with the man advantage.

Vancouver - 3rd - Gallagher (James Henry) 5:59 Gallagher made it 3-1 for the Giants on his first of two on the night. The 17-year-old pulled the puck out from behind the net and slid it between the pads of Stanford for his 33rd on the year.

Saskatoon - 3rd - Elliott (Darian Dziurzynski, Walker Wintoneak) 16:56 Elliott pulled the Blades within one on his 22nd of the season. The 18-year-old defenseman jumped on a puck off the right half boards and beat goaltender Mark Segal low to make it 3-2.

Vancouver - 3rd - Craig Cunningham 19:06 en The Giants went up 4-2 on an empty netter by Cunningham. The veteran forward slid the puck the length of the ice from just inside his own blue line for his 36th of the year.

Vancouver - 3rd - Gallagher 19:51 en Gallagher made it 5-2 for the Giants with just inside of 10 seconds to go in the third period. The sophomore potted his second of the night after a wrist shot from the neutral zone found the empty net.

Stanford stopped 18 of 21 shots in goal in a losing cause for the Blades. The victorious Segal turned aside 30 of 32 shots in the Giants net.

Final score Vancouver Giants 5, Saskatoon Blades 2.

The Blades see their season record drop to 40-14-3-3 for 86 points and now sit two points back of the Brandon Wheat Kings for first in the Eastern Conference. The Giants improve to 37-20-1-3 for 78 points and remain in second place in the Western Conference.

The Blades return to Credit Union Centre ice tomorrow for "First Nations & Métis Night" as the division rival Wheat Kings are in town. The evening will be a celebration of the First Nations & Métis culture and will feature a group of cultural dancers and drummers during the intermissions. Puck drop is 7:05 pm.

Tickets can be purchased online at ticketmaster.ca, by calling 938-7800, or by visiting any Ticketmaster outlet.

Check out the Saskatoon Blades Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 19, 2010


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