WHL Saskatoon Blades

Blades Run out of Gas in Seattle

Published on January 20, 2016 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Saskatoon Blades News Release


KENT, WA - After 9 days, and over 2300 km travelled, the Saskatoon Blades eventually ran out of gas. The Blades fought hard, but fell to the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-0 in Kent on Tuesday night.

"With our travel and a lot of game in a short period of time, I just don't think we had enough in the tank." said Head Coach and GM Bob Woods. "Our guys, I give them credit, they battled right to the end."

The Blades came out strong, pressuring the Thunderbirds, putting them on their heels for the first half of the period.

Past the halfway point of the 1st, Seattle settled into their groove, eventually finding the game's opening goal at 16:56 of the 1st. Donovan Neuls sliced down the middle of the offensive zone, before snapping a Barzal centring pass past Smith.

The 2nd period was one dominated by the Thunderbirds, who broke the game open with three goals, two of which were with the man advantage. Keegan Kolesar snapped one past Smith at 3:12 of the 2nd, followed by a blast from the point by Allbee 1:37 later.

Matt Barzal capped off the scoring for the period on the PP at 6:16, finding the loose puck behind Smith and tucking it into the open cage.

"It's a tough trip, but we can't use that as an excuse," said defenceman Colton Waltz. "These are big points on the table and we let two slip away tonight."

At 18:24 of the 2nd period, Nick Zajac had seen enough. The captain surrendered 6 inches as he dropped the mitts with former teammate Turner Ottenbreit. The spirited bout was the culmination of a hard hitting, and frustrating game for the Blades who were outshot 30-9 through 40 minutes.

Saskatoon mustered what they could in the 3rd but could not keep up with the faster, fresher Thunderbirds.

Seattle outshot the Blades 42-17 overall in the game. Landon Bow made some key saves late to preserve his shutout.

Overall, the Blades went 2-3-1-0 over their 6-game road trip and will make the long trek back to Saskatoon following the game tonight.

"We played hard, and we played a lot of hockey," said centre Cameron Hebig who was playing in his 2nd game back from injury. "I thought we could have did better tonight but we learnt from it."

Saskatoon will be back in action on Saturday, the 23rd when they take on the Brandon Wheat Kings on Vegas Night at SaskTel Centre!

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Western Hockey League Stories from January 20, 2016


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