Blades' season ends in heartbreak
Saskatoon outshoots Moose Jaw 39-25, but loses Game 7 in OT on `one bad bounce'
Seven games, 27 periods of hockey; in the end, it all comes down to one bounce.
A lucky bounce for the Moose Jaw Warriors.
A bad bounce for the Saskatoon Blades.
Just like that, a classic Western Hockey League Eastern Conference final series is over.
Warriors win and the Blades bow out in Game 7, in — fittingly — overtime.
After six out of seven games were decided in OT, Moose Jaw prevailed as the 2024 WHL Eastern Conference champions thanks to a 3-2 OT victory Tuesday night over the Blades before 13,240 fans at Sasktel Centre.
“I think, as a team, we're very proud of ourselves,” said Blades captain Trevor Wong, one of three graduating overagers on the team.
“Six game in overtime; a seven-game series. It could have gone either way. One bad bounce and our season's over, just like that. We're very proud of the way we pushed back, played the whole game. We're very proud of what we accomplished this season and no heads are hanging because we're proud of ourselves.”
The Blades finished the regular season as the No. 1 seed in the league with a 50-13-2-3 record and 105 points. Moose Jaw placed fifth overall with a 44-21-0-3 record and 91 points.
“I'm just really sad,” said Blades head coach Brennan Sonne. “We had a staff, a group and team of players that just worked so hard to be in this position, completely dedicated and all in. I'm just really sad that the result didn't go our way.”
With Warriors teammate Atley Calvert crashing the net, Lynden Lakovic threw a puck on net that went off a body and eluded Blades goalie Evan Gardner just 36 seconds into extra time for the series-ending goal.
“Our coach (Mark O'leary) is always saying `Throw it on net and something good might happen,' and I had seen Atley driving (to the net) and he was kind of tied up, so I thought I would just try and throw it there and maybe a greasy rebound would happen and I was lucky enough to get a bounce off one of the guys' skates,” offered Lakovic, who also scored the OT game-winner for the Warriors in Game 6.
“We talked about it,” said O'leary. “It doesn't have to be pretty. It just needs to get there. When you're playing with Atley Calvert and he goes to the net like he does, you can't go wrong putting it there.”
What went right for the Warriors went wrong for the Blades.
Twice, Saskatoon had a chance to eliminate Moose Jaw in their Eastern final after leading the series 3-2. The Warriors staved off elimination both times.
Moose Jaw now meets the Portland Winterhawks in the WHL championship final as the Warriors return to the league final for the first time since 2006.
In Tuesday's Game 7, Ethan Semeniuk gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead at 13:35, deflecting a shot from defenceman Kalem Parker.
Easton Armstrong knotted the score for Saskatoon at 12:22 of the second period with a backhander that beat Warriors goalie Jackson Unger.
Moose Jaw regained the lead in the third period on a goal by Jagger Firkus at 10:13 after Brayden Yager forced a turnover while battling Blades D -man Ben Saunderson behind the net. Yager threw the puck out to Firkus, who made no mistake.
Lakovic had a chance to make it 3-1 with a breakaway with 3:30 remaining but got denied by Blades goalie Gardner.
A short time later, Vaughn Watterodt — who had his strongest game of the series — tied things up with 3:07 remaining to send the game into OT.
“I thought we played really hard,” said Sonne, whose team outshot Moose Jaw 39-25 and carried the play and got stronger as the game went on.
“I thought we played really, really hard. I thought we put ourselves in a good position. We left it all out there.”
Unger stopped 37 shots as the Blades were really pressing for the second half of the game.
“I thought he played his best game of the series,” said O'leary.
Meanwhile, Gardner stopped 22 shots in the loss, making some big stops of his own.
With six of the seven games going to OT, this series will be remembered as a classic.
“I haven't been around anything like it,” said O'leary. “It'll be something we'll reflect on in the summer time, for sure. I think it's got to be up there. It feels like it was a heck of a series.”
For the Blades, it will be remembered as the big one that got away.
BREAKAWAYS: The Blades' three graduating overagers —Wong, alternate captain Charlie Wright and Easton Armstrong — played their final WHL game.
We're very proud of what we accomplished this season and no heads are hanging because we're proud of ourselves.