Blazers to face Contacts in first round
When asked a week ago, Saskatoon Blazers assistant coach Tim Cheveldae and winger Connor Gay said they’d relish the inevitable intensity increase that would come with playing their cross-town rivals in the post-season.
They’ll now get their wish.
With the Blazers having already secured the seventh seed in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League, the Saskatoon Contacts defeated the Beardy’s Blackhawks 7-3 at Schroh Arena on Sunday.
The victory tied the Contacts ( 32- 9- 3- 0) with the Prince Albert Mintos (32-92-1), both finishing with 67 points. However, the Mintos finished the season with a better goals-for/goalsagainst differential — plus98 to plus-81 — and were awarded first place.
The better ratio — coupled by 11 straight victories by the Mintos — dropped the Contacts to second, creating a playoff date with the Blazers starting Friday at Schroh Arena.
“I anticipate a very good series against those guys,” said Contacts coach Marc Chartier. “They’ve got all their guys back and they’re playing with a lot of confidence right now. It could go right to the distance.
“All these kids know each other and there’s bragging rights here.”
“The fans and how heated it’s going to get,” said forward Dawson Leedahl about what he’s expecting to see in the upcoming series.
Even though the Mintos clinched first place with 4-1 win over the Yorkton Harvest earlier in the day, the Contacts came out looking like they had something on the line against Beardy’s.
They stormed out to a 4-0 lead in the first period on goals by Kolten Olynek, Josh Uhrich, Carter Coben and Vukie Mpofu.
That upped the temperature of the contest as Blackhawks forward Cameron Preymack hit Contacts defenceman Jeremy Leclerc from behind late in the first.
Leclerc got to his feet and came up swinging. It would be one of four fights in the game, all of which carried automatic ejections.
“The previous games got pretty rough so it just went from there,” said Leedahl.
Leedahl scored twice in the second to put the home team up 6-0 heading into the intermission.
But the Blackhawks netted three goals in the first 5:21 of the third — two of them on breakaways — as Brett Boehm found that back of the net twice and Adam Santoro did so once.
Boehm led the league with 40 goals and 46 assists in 44 games.
“You can’t let them go,” said Chartier. “If complacency sets in, that’s what happens. It’s a little lesson for the guys for later on.”
Olynek scored his second of the game with 3:28 remaining as Beardy’s lost five of its eight February games to fall to third place. The Blackhawks will play the Notre Dame Argos in the first round.
“We got the last goal, so that’s one good thing,” said Chartier, with a laugh.
The Contacts have secured home-ice advantage for the first two rounds of the post-season. They’ve only lost twice in regulation at Schroh Arena all year.
But Chartier insists his team won’t take anything for granted — especially against the Blazers.
“Playoffs are a whole new season — anything can happen,” said Chartier. “You’ve got to be ready to go from the get-go.
“It’s motivation itself to play Saskatoon but, at the same time, it’s playoffs so the guys should be excited.”