WHL Saskatoon Blades

Fantastic Five

Published on February 27, 2016 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Saskatoon Blades News Release


SASKATOON, SK - There's now real hope in the dressing room as the quest for a playoff spot continues as they rallied to win their fifth game in a row tonight against Regina. The Blades opened strong with four goals in the first period in which three of those goals were scored by going and standing in front of the net.

"We got puck to the open guy and they have to go to the net and cause havoc and good things always happen as well it's paying the price. It's not an easy place to stand and you got to be brave to do it and they did it tonight and you get rewarded for doing the right things. We played with a lead the way you should play," adds Woods on the teams start to the hockey game as well as the effort.

Saskatoon opened things up with a Ryan Graham shot off the glove of Tyler Brown but couldn't handle the puck which goes in front of the net and the Blades took charge as went to Cameron Hausinger who spun around and got his sixth of the year for a 1-0 game for Saskatoon.

Just over a minute after Hausinger scored, Ryan Graham forced a turnover at the blue line and bursted down the middle with great speed and handled the bouncing puck and put the nice moves on Tyler Brown for a 2-0 lead for the Blades.

Wyatt Sloboshan in his first game back threw a weak back hander on net from the circles and somehow the shot got past Brown for a 3-0 lead.

1:01 after Sloboshan made it 3-0, Ryan Graham continued his strong play in the first by scoring a very similar goal to Sloboshan's backhander by getting his second of the game the same way for a 4-0 Blades lead.

Regina would answer with a 2 on 1 as Rykr Cole shot is stopped and kicked right to Chase Harrison who got the rebound putting the Pats on the board at 4-1.

There were lots of Regina chances in the second with 17 shots in the second period. The Blades made some turnovers in the second but Brock Hamm kept making the saves that they needed including a game breaking breakaway save with four seconds left in the period to keep the Blades three goal lead.

"Hamm kept us in it in the second period. We got out a little flat and got away from doing the things that got us the 4-1 lead and Hamm made those big saves when we had to," commented Woods on Hamm who made 43 saves on the night.

On a Ryan Graham delay of game penalty, the Pats pull their goalie creating a 6 on 4 opportunity for the Pats. League leader Adam Brooks let the shot go from the point to cut the Blades lead in half making it a 4-2 hockey game.

In the last 1:26 of the game, Cameron Hebig made an unselfish play and dished it to Graham who got the hat trick for his second hat trick of the season giving the Blades some insurance with a 5-2 score and ultimately handing the Blades their fifth straight win.

With the hat-trick, Graham now has 8 goals in 6 games and 13 points in that total span. "It's just starting to come together and getting some luck. My line mates have been making some great passes to me and i'm just trying to get open for them because they're good at moving the puck and it's mostly confidence. We're rolling right now and those things are what I credit my success to." says Ryan Graham on his recent play in the last few games.

When asked about whether or not Hebig was going to give him the pass for the open net he laughed and still wasn't sure what was going to happen. "He's such a nice guy though and it was a really unselfish play by him. I definitely owe him one there and I appreciated it for sure."

Saskatoon has a quick turn around as they face off the Moose Jaw Warriors tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 P.M.

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 27, 2016


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