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After a disappointing loss in Regina less than 24 hours prior, the Saskatoon Blades got back to playing the hockey that was expected for a team hoping to compete for a WHL championship this season.
The Blades beat the Prince Albert Raiders 4-2 in their home opener on Sunday afternoon in front of 6,493 fans at the SaskTel Centre – the largest crowd in the WHL this weekend.
The Blades didn’t need long to get their offense rolling as Vaughn Watterodt opened the scoring just 28 seconds off a broken play between Raiders goaltender Chase Coward and defenceman Easton Kovacs.
Watterodt only needed 28 seconds to open the scoring pic.twitter.com/hXjZpvdne9
— Saskatoon Blades (@BladesHockey) September 24, 2023
The blades didn’t look back from there.
Ben Saunderson and Lukas Hansen would add two more in the period to give the Blades a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes. Saskatoon also held a 13-3 lead in the shot category.
In the second the Raiders would come out with some fight, hemming the Blades in their end for the first 10 minutes, but would find themselves in some penalty trouble after.
That penalty trouble led to captain Trevor Wong snipping his first goal of the season on an extended power play to make it 4-0.
The Raiders Matej Kubiesa would score his first WHL goal just before the end of the second period to make it 4-1 after 40 minutes.
In the third, Owen Boucher would net his first of the season for the Raiders, but in the end it wouldn’t be enough as the Blades would secure the win 4-2 win.
Blades head coach Brennan Sonne felt his team took a step closer to playing Blades hockey, but didn’t think it was quite the leap to the level they played at for parts of last year.
“I thought (tonight’s performance) was a step closer to Blades hockey, maybe not a leap closer, but a small step closer to what we want to be,” he said. “But again, a work in progress.”
“First period was a lot of really good habits. The second period is not what we want to be – we aren’t a sit back and hope nothing happens team. The third period I liked our start, there was some good forechecks and then we kind of went back into that shell,” Sonne added. “Like I said last night (Saturday), we just have to improve every day and get closer to what we want to be, we’re a work in progress, but like I said we’re a step closer.”
Blades goalie Evan Gardner stopped 30 of 32 shots in the victory. It was his first win in the WHL.
Coach Sonne was happy to see Gardner get the victory after what was a tough game in Regina on Saturday.
“He had a big bounce back. I know he wasn’t happy with last night and he did a great job,” Sonne said.
Charlie Wright along with Tyler Parr both had two point nights for the Blades in the victory.
Wright was happy with how his group bounced back.
“I thought we came out flying in the first, we popped three early and that set the tone for the rest of the game,” Wright stated. “There’s still some things to work on in this upcoming week, but I was really happy with the guys.”
The Blades are now 1-1-0-0 on the season. They will shift their attention to Medicine Hat on Saturday when they face the Tigers. They’ll also play the Calgary Hitmen the following afternoon on Sunday.
