Blades outworked by Spokane in return from road trip

By looking at the box score it would seem like a rivalry game and not the lone battle between two teams 1,200 km. apart. The Spokane Chiefs scored a chippy 6-2 win over the Saskatoon Blades Wednesday night.

The two sides combined for 52 penalty minutes including a fight and several coincidental roughing minors.

And it was those penalties that cost the Blades. Saskatoon was unable to score on nine power-play opportunities, while Spokane found the net once on just two chances.

“You have to make passes to have a power play and we weren’t able to do that,” said Blades head coach Dean Brockman. “We looked a little sluggish from the bus trip and certainly we didn’t have a good effort.”

Gage Ramsay and Kolten Olynek scored the goals for the Blades while Brock Hamm stopped 24 of 30 shots in the loss. 

MacKenzie tries to spark the boys and drops em with Jeff Faith pic.twitter.com/n6EibAol1n

— Saskatoon Blades (@BladesHockey) October 27, 2016

While it goes down for a loss, it was tough not to smile for Blades forward Gage Ramsay. The newcomer was recently traded to his hometown Blades, and found a way to score in his first home game in Saskatoon.

“I kinda just got a piece of it,” Ramsay said, describing himself willing the slow rolling redirect into the net. “It felt really good and always watching Blades games growing up it was cool to play.”

The loss comes in the Blades first home game after a two-week five-game road trip across B.C.

Saskatoon heads back on the road Friday to visit Moose Jaw, followed by Prince Albert on Saturday.