WHL Saskatoon Blades

Blades win thriller

Published on February 1, 2008 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Saskatoon Blades News Release


The Saskatoon Blades defeated the Regina Pats handily on Friday night by a margin of 6-2 in a game that had everything, including a goaltender fight between Braden Holtby and Linden Rowat.

The Blades opened the game with 3 goals in the 1st period and then went up 4-0 before the Pats pulled to within three. The two teams would swap the next 3 goals to make the final 6-2.

Chris Durand scored twice, once on the power play and once even strength while rookie Darian Dziurzynski scored his 2nd and 3rd goals of the year in the game, both on the power play. Derek Hulak and Colton Gillies (PP) added the Blades other two goals. Josh Elder and Logan Pyett scored the Pats only goals, both of which were also on the power play.

Chris Langkow, Derek Hulak, and Colton Gillies all had 2 assists in the game.

The penalty filled affair eventually saw the Blades finish the game 4 for 10 on the power play while their penalty kill allowed 2 goals on 7 opportunities.

A total of 253 penalty minutes were dished out during the contest through 51 penalties. A staggering 14 fighting majors took place including a tilt between goaltenders Braden Holtby and Linden Rowat. Three Blades players finished with over 20 penalty minutes in the game: Travis Toomey (29), Mike Reich (25), and Garrett Klotz (24).

Holtby, prior to being ejected from the game at the 18:56 mark of the 3rd period, recorded 18 saves on all 20 Regina shots, picking up his 15th win of the season. For the Pats, Linden Rowat and Jeff Bosch split the duties in goal for the Pats. Rowat made 16 saves on 19 shots while Bosch recorded 9 saves on 12 Saskatoon shots.

The Saskatoon Blades will now return home tomorrow night for a battle with the Swift Current Broncos, the third time the two teams have met this week.

In other news, the Saskatoon Blades had two plays in this week's WHL Plays of the Week. Ondrej Fiala's shootout goal in Moose Jaw was the 3rd ranked play of the week while Jyri Niemi's 97 mile per hour slap shot at the CHL Home Hardware Top Prospects game was ranked 2nd. To view this week's plays of the week visit whl.ca.

Check out the Saskatoon Blades Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 1, 2008


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