WHL Saskatoon Blades

Yager, Warriors Topple Blades 7-1 to Open Season

Published on October 2, 2021 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Saskatoon Blades News Release


MOOSE JAW, SK - Saskatoon-born forward Brayden Yager notched his first career hat-trick, leading the Moose Jaw Warriors to a 7-1 victory over the Saskatoon Blades to open the 2021-22 regular season.

Daemon Hunt, Robert Baco, Atley Calvert and Riley Niven also scored for the Warriors, and Carl Tetachuk stopped 32 shots in the team's home opener victory.

Brandon Lisowsky scored the lone marker for Saskatoon, who will head back home with a 0-1-0-0 record. Kyle Crnkovic and Tanner Molendyk collected assists on Lisowsky's goal.

These two squads will close out their home-and-home series to begin the season on Saturday at SaskTel Centre in the Blades home opener.

Nolan Maier was relieved of duties after allowing six goals on 23 shots, giving backup Ethan Chadwick his first official taste of WHL action. The Saskatoon-born netminder made three saves on four shots.

Brandon Lisowsky earns credit for the Blades' first goal of the season, which came 7:50 into the game on the powerplay. Kyle Crnkovic found last year's top rookie with a seeing-eye pass from the point. Lisowsky gobbled the puck to his forehand and roofed his first of the year from a tough angle. It's the second straight year the Blades former first-round pick has scored the team's first goal.

The Port Coquitlam, BC product's tally tied the game 1-1 after Yager opened the scoring 92 seconds in.

Saskatoon outshot the Warriors 9-6 in the opening frame and capitalized on 1-of-2 powerplay opportunities.

Moose Jaw struck three times in the second period, coupled with strong netminding from veteran 'tender Tetachuk.

Minnesota Wild prospect Daemon Hunt regained the Warriors lead with a shorthanded marker 30 seconds into the frame. 12:35 later, Slovakian forward Robert Baco notched his first career goal to make it 3-1, followed by a nifty deflection from Atley Calvert that fooled Maier with 1:56 left.

Tetachuk, the former netminder for the Lethbridge Hurricanes, withstood numerous scoring chances from the boys in Blue & Gold. Crnkovic was stopped several times point-blank, including a glorious chance late in the second period from in tight that bobbled off Tetachuk's shoulder.

Yager, who was selected by the Warriors 3rd overall in 2020, notched his second and third of the night within the first eight minutes of the third. Riley Niven rounded out the Warriors scoring at 14:13 of the period.

Saskatoon went 1-for-6 on the powerplay and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.

The Blades will now turn their attention to home ice and look for a better result on Saturday against the Warriors.

NOTE: Four members of the Blades made their WHL debuts to begin the game - import forwards Egor Sidorov and Moritz Elias, along with 2005-born forwards Misha Volotovskii and Lukas Hansen. Chadwick was the fifth Blade to see WHL regular-season action for the first time tonight. Forwards Trevor Wong and Brendan Lee made their Blades debuts after being traded from Kelowna and Everett respectively. Blades head coach Brennan Sonne joined assistant coach Dan DaSilva in making their WHL debuts in their respective roles.

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