Blades took their best shot, all for naught

Nolan Maier — who got his first start at SaskTel Centre — waited nearly half a period to face his first shot on net Friday.

At the other end, his Saskatoon Blades teammates peppered Brandon Wheat Kings goalie Logan Thompson with the first 10 shots. It didn’t matter.

The Blades, who at one point held a 30-10 edge in shots, ended up outshooting the visiting Wheaties 43-25 but had great difficulty scoring. They came up short on the scoresheet by a 4-1 margin in Western Hockey League action before a crowd of 6,242.

The Blades, who were looking for their first backto-back wins on home ice, fell to 8-11-1-0, while Brandon improves to 12-6-0-1.

Maier returned to the Blades after a stint at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, where he posted a .915 save percentage.

The 16-year-old rookie spent training camp with the Blades before being reassigned to the Yorkton Terriers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, where he faced an average of 49.7 shots per game through seven starts.

This week, the Blades added Maier and sent Joel Grzybowski to the SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars.

THE GOAL-SCORING

Saskatoon trailed midway through the second frame, despite a 25-9 edge in shots, when Baron Thompson, with his backhand, deflected a centring pass over an outstretched Maier.

After Cam Hebig was stopped by Logan Thompson on a breakaway, Cole Reinhardt scored on the power play at 17:55 to make it 2-0. Linden McCorrister scored only 12 seconds later to up Brandon’s lead to 3-0.

Only 10 seconds after that goal, Hebig scored for Saskatoon but the play was offside and goal waived off.

Hebig got one that counted, on the power play, at 7:58 of the third to make it 3-1.

The Wheaties went up 4-1 on a power-play marker by Stelio Matheos, with a twoman advantage, with 7:16 remaining.

HAMM PLAYING IN BCHL

Brock Hamm has taken his glove and blocker west. The former Blades goalie recently joined the Coquitlam Express of the British Columbia Hockey League.

The Humboldt Broncos traded his rights to Coquitlam for Mitch Newsome.

Hamm is 0-2 after allowing eight goals in two games. He has a respectable .902 save percentage after stopping 74 of 82 shots.

BLADE BITS

Saskatoon is still without forward Logan Christensen, sidelined with an upper-body injury.

Seth Bafaro, serving a four-game suspension, is eligible to return Tuesday. Randen Schmidt, a 17-yearold D -man from Regina, has been filling in for Bafaro.

The other scratches from Friday’s game were Dryden Michaud and 17-year-old rookie Tyler Lees.