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WHL Saskatoon Blades

Duke's Hat Trick The Headline On Vegas Night

January 24, 2016 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Saskatoon Blades News Release


SASKATOON, SK - After a nine day road trip, the Blades were back in familiar territory and looked to try and use Lady Luck to an advantage tonight as Vegas Night was happening all throughout SaskTel Centre. In the end it was a night of bad luck for the Blades as they couldn't handle the East Division leaders, the Brandon Wheat Kings.

"We didn't play the way we wanted to play against them," says Bob Woods on the teams loss to Brandon. "You have to play intelligently, get pucks deep, do the little things right, make them come through five guys. They have so much skill and if you give them odd man situations they're going to score goals."

A lot of physical play by both squads ensued early on as a hit parade was being showcased in the first period as a lot of bodies were being thrown around.

Saskatoon opened the scoring as Cameron Hebig scored on the wrap around on a nice shot that got past Logan Thompson 6:20 in the first

Thirty five seconds after the Blades made it 1-0, Brandon responded with a goal of their own. John Quenneville to Reid Duke in the slot went low glove on Hamm to tie the game at one.

A turnover by the Blades who couldn't clear the zone and some nice passing by the Wheat Kings and eventually Hawryluk sniped his 19th of the year high glove on Hamm that made it 2-1 Brandon.

Fifty one seconds into the second period, the Wheat kings scored on the power play courtesy of Reid Duke again for his second of the game from the side of the net on a feed from Quenneville as both combined for a total of six points.

Tim McGauley's stretch pass sent John Quennville as he danced his way through the middle of the ice and scored on Hamm on his glove side as he got a piece of it but not enough which gave Brandon a 4-1 lead 3:20 in the second.

Cameron Hebig continued his offensive prowl taking it from the half wall to walk in and picked the corners clean as it goes off the posts and in for his second of the game to cut the Wheat Kings lead to two goals.

"Well Zajac battled away and I picked out of his feet and just turned and fired. Second one, Zaj (Zajac) was battling hard in the corner and I just took it out and fired it on net and it went in," says Hebig on both of his goals tonight against Brandon.

With 1:36 left in the second period, Jayce Hawrlyuk netted his second goal with a power move to the net on initial shot by Erkamps and got the rebound on a back hander to make it 5-2 Brandon.

Twenty five seconds into the third, Brandon with a 5 on 3 power-play, Ivan Provorov's shot is stopped but kicked right to Reid Duke who completed the hat trick giving the Wheat Kings a 6-2 lead.

The Blades gave up 31 shots while giving up two power-play goals on the night against a power house Brandon team. "It's a measuring stick for our young guys to see how far their away. We can't rush it, it's going to take time to get to where their at but they're a good hockey team. They move the puck around and play smart and it's tough to play against that if you're not playing that way," says Woods on the difference between both teams.

The Blades next game will be a home and home series against the Regina Pats on January 29th and 30th.

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Western Hockey League Stories from January 24, 2016


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