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They’re the most exciting two words in sports: Game 7.
The excitement was there Monday night as the Saskatoon Blades earned the series victory over the Regina Pats after a 4-1 win.
It was another sold-out crowd of 14,768 at SaskTel Centre to watch the two teams battle it out for the final time this season.
“It was a crazy series. It was the craziest series I’ve ever been a part of,” Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said.
“That’s as entertaining and crazy as it gets.”
Even though the first period ended scoreless Monday, there were a number of chances from both sides, although both Austin Elliott for the Blades – who saw his first action in net since Game 2 – and the Pats’ Drew Sim kept everything knotted at zero.
The chances were aplenty in the second for both sides, and the Blades thought they had scored six minutes into the period when Trevor Wong’s shot hit both posts but stayed out.
Wong and the rest of the arena were convinced it was a goal. The goal horn went off and everyone on the ice almost stopped playing, but the ref waved off the goal and it remained scoreless after the puck hit the posts.
Then, at the halfway point of the second, a loose puck in front of Elliott scrambled around and almost snuck in. Every Blades player was trying to get the puck out while the Pats had everyone diving in front to knock it in. But yet again, even after a review, it remained locked at zero.
Just when the game was on the verge of going 40 minutes without a goal, Saskatoon broke out of their own zone and Spencer Shugrue finished a passing play from Egor Sidorov and Brandon Lisowsky for the game’s first goal with 13 seconds left in the period.
“It was really important that we got something out of all that work. But that’s how we’re built,” Sonne said about Shugrue’s goal.
Jake Chiasson doubled the lead for Saskatoon eight minutes into the third period after a shot from the wing which ended up being the game winner.
“It’s an instant wave of roaring coming over top of you. It’s obviously 14,000 people in a building that gets so loud,” Chiasson said of what it was like after scoring the goal.
Jake Chiasson doubles the Blades lead in the third. 2-0. #WHLPlayoffs
— steve seto (@steveseto) April 11, 2023
That gave the Blades a two-goal lead, but the Pats cut that lead in half after the Blades couldn’t clear the zone and Stanislav Svozil got his fourth of the playoffs after the puck ricocheted off of Elliott’s head and into the net.
But the Blades were determined to hold onto that lead as Vaughn Watterodt fired his third of the playoffs past Sim to restore a two-goal lead.
Trevor Wong scored an empty netter and Aidan De La Gorgendiere held the puck behind the Blades net for the final 30 seconds of the game to secure the 4-1 victory and series.
It now marks the end of the Pats’ season and likely the WHL career of Connor Bedard – who finished with one assist in Game 7.
Pats Head Coach John Paddock said it was a fun series, even though his team fell a game short.
“I thought the games were very competitive, but everybody had good composure all the time. I thought it was one of the best seven-game series that I’ve been involved in,” Paddock said.
Now that the Blades no longer have to plan against Bedard, they’re saying it was special to play against him.
“I have a lot of respect for Connor,” Chiasson said.
“I heard a lot of guys talking to him, just really grateful to be able to play against him, to go head-to-head with him, I’m sure he’s going to have a long good career coming up here.”
Sonne was relieved that he doesn’t have to face Bedard any longer, for now.
“He’s done a lot of people proud in the province of British Columbia. I’ll be continuing to cheer for him the rest of his career, unless we’re playing against him. Then I’ll try and shut him down.
“He’s the real deal. I’m a huge fan,” Sonne added.
The Blades said they will enjoy the win tonight and get back to work on Tuesday to prepare for their next opponent, the Red Deer Rebels.
Game 1 of the second round goes Friday in Saskatoon.