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Returning from the holiday break, the Saskatoon Blades picked up their first December wins, defeating the the Regina Pats and Moose Jaw Warriors in weekend Western Hockey League action.
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On the road Saturday night, the Blades were in Regina and posted a 5-2 victory.
Saskatoon’s Brandon Lisowsky scored the lone goal of the first period to give his team the slight lead, while, in the second period, teammate Hudson Kibbelwhite’s goal was sandwiched by a pair from the Pats, leaving the teams tied 2-2 after 40 minutes.
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In the final period, the Blades went on a scoring streak, as Ben Riche netted a goal 34 seconds into the frame and was followed by a goal from Misha Volotovskii at 13:57 and an empty-netter by Colton Worthington at 16:31.
Blades’ goaltender Ethan McCallum made 32 saves on 34 shots to earn the win, while his Regina counterpart Kelton Pyne stopped 20 of 24.
The night before in Saskatoon, the Blades sent the Warriors packing with another 5-2 win.
That game didn’t start off strong for the hometown team as they were down 2-0 after two periods, but things turned around in the third period, as the Blades scored five in a row.
All five of those goals happened within roughly a ten-minute span, starting at 6:18 into the period with back-to-back scores from Lisowsky, who was followed with goals from Morgan Tastad and Rowan Calvert before Riche wrapped up scoring at 16:37 with an empty netter.
Evan Gardner was between the goal posts for the Blades in the game, stopping 24 of 26 shots, while across the ice, Josh Banini made 22 saves on 26 shots for Moose Jaw.
Friday’s victory was the first win the Blades have posted since Nov. 30 when they defeated the Swift Current Broncos. Since then, they had been on a six-game losing streak which ran from Dec. 4 to Dec. 15, when they entered the holiday break.
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The wins have improved Saskatoon’s record to 19-10-2-2, putting the Blades atop the WHL’s Eastern Conference standings, but placing them fourth overall in the WHL with 42 points.
The Blades will finish off the 2024 calendar year against the Prince Albert Raiders on Dec. 30 and will then begin 2025 hosting the Raiders on Jan. 1, at 4 p.m., at SaskTel Centre.
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