Victoria at Prince Albert Raiders 20 Jan and Saskatoon Blades 21 Jan

[pontcanna]

Royals lose a wild one to Blades

BY CLEVE DHEENSAW, TIMES COLONIST JANUARY 21, 2012 10:25 PM


The mode of transport in and out of Saskatoon was by bus, not in a DeLorean DMC-12, but it was back to the future Saturday for Victoria Royals GM and head coach Marc Habscheid.

Habscheid, one of the greatest stars in Saskatoon Blades history, returned to his former playing town as the Blades scored four unanswered goals in the third period to down the Royals in a 9-6 Western Hockey League scorefest in front of 7,178 fans at the Credit Union Centre.

“It was nice being back, but it’s a different building and a lot of years have passed,” said Habscheid, who played two full seasons with the Blades and part of another from 1979-80 to 1981-82 before a pro career that saw him play 345 games in the NHL with stints in the AHL, Europe and as part of Canada’s national team program.

Following the game, the team started the long trek back to the West Coast through the frigid Prairie night.

The Royals (15-28-5) left behind a 2-4 record on their six-game road trip through the Eastern Division of the Eastern Conference that began when that bus rolled out of the parking lot of Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on Jan. 9.

Forward Jamie Crooks’ 25th goal of the season early in the third period gave Victoria a 6-5 lead in Saskatoon.

But the Blades replied four times in the final 11 minutes of the game, with two of those goals coming in the final minute on short-handed empty-net goals with defenceman Darren Dietz serving a boarding penalty.

“I thought we played a good game,” said Habscheid.

Saskatoon pounded 42 shots on Victoria goaltender Keith Hamilton while the Royals managed 28 on Alex Moodie.

“It was one of our better games, to be honest, and in front of a big road crowd [due in part to a promotion night]. We created quite a [few] chances out there.”

But to no avail in terms of points in the standings.

Luke Harrison, Robin Soudek, game second-star Austin Carroll, Nelson Logan, Brandon Magee and Crooks scored for Victoria.

Defenceman Dalton Thrower, who grew up a Canucks fan in B.C., had three goals and two assists for Saskatoon.

Although the Blades (29-18-1) were not kind on Saturday, Victoria received a helping hand from another Eastern Conference club as the Red Deer Rebels defeated the visiting Prince George Cougars 5-1.

The latter result left the ninth-place Cougars trailing the Royals, who hold down the eighth and final playoff slot in the Western Conference, by three points although Prince George holds two games in hand.

The result wasn’t as fortunate in Everett, Washington where the host Silvertips defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 5-4 in overtime. The single point allowed Seattle to move a point ahead of Victoria into seventh place in the Western Conference with four games in hand.

The Royals return home to meet the Kamloops Blazers on Friday and next Saturday at the Memorial Centre.

[CdnSailor]

Blades lay down Royal beating
Saskatoon off until Friday
By Daniel Nugent-Bowman, The StarPhoenix January 23, 2012


BLADES 9, ROYALS 6

There wasn't a single scrap and there weren't many penalties called, but those who visited the Credit Union Centre on Saturday probably thought they'd witnessed a night at the fights.

The Saskatoon Blades and Victoria Royals each took their turn dishing out offensive blows over the final two periods of the game. And then the knockout punches finally came for the Blades courtesy of two of their heavyweights.

Defenceman Dalton Thrower scored twice in the third, while Michael Burns had three points to defeat the pesky underdogs 9-6.

Burns scored the game's first goal, extending his point streak to eight games, while Thrower had another big scoring effort with a hat trick and a five-point night.

"It's huge for us," Thrower said. "You've got to score goals to win games and we've been doing that. Obviously we need to do the opposite and not let goals in against us, but it was a great win for us."

Although the Blades carried a 2-1 lead into the first intermission, it was the Royals who came out swinging in the second.

Logan Nelson, Brandon Magee and Austin Carroll all knocked redirections past goaltender Alex Moodie and, within 4: 21, the Blades were against the ropes.

Coming off a very emotional 3-2 win over the archrival Brandon Wheat Kings the night before, Saskatoon was sluggish early on.

"You have to give Victoria a lot of credit," Blades head coach and general manager Lorne Molleken said. "They upped the pace of the game here tonight. I thought they worked extremely hard in our end and we were a little soft in our coverage."

The teams would exchange goals before Thrower netted a power-play marker and Lukas Sutter tipped in a point shot from Duncan Siemens. The tallies would even the scorecard at five heading into the third.

"I just thought we kind of let off the gas a bit," Royals head coach and general manager Marc Habscheid said. "That penalty was a marginal call to say the least. It got the momentum back in their hands."

For all the production of the Blades' big offensive boppers, the critical jab came from an unlikely source.

Blue-liner Kyle Schmidt rocketed a shot by Royals netminder Keith Hamilton 10: 26 into the final frame. It was Schmidt's second goal of the season and second winner in as many nights.

Thrower and Burns would then each add short-handed empty-netters in the final minute.

"It's a new me it seems like," Schmidt said. "I've actually come on really strong since the end of Christmas and playing up to my standards more."

Both Schmidt and Molleken believe the defenceman's improvements can be linked to the acquisition of Matthew Pufahl from Red Deer on Dec. 29.

The pair played together for a while during their minor hockey days and have solidified depth on the blueline for the Blades.

"His role - he's played sparingly," Molleken said. "But ever since the arrival of Pufahl, those two guys have partnered up and done a real good job for us."

Robin Soudek, Luke Harrison and Jamie Crooks netted the other goals for the Royals (15-28-2-3).

Darren Dietz and Ryan Olsen rounded out the scoring for the Blades (29-18-0-1), helping Molleken surpass Ernie McLean for second place on the WHL's all-time coaching wins list in the process.

The Blades bench boss now has 549 career victories.

"I've been fortunate enough to be around for a long, long time," he said. "I know Punch McLean and certainly to be in that company is a real honour."

The Blades are now off until Friday, when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the Warriors. They host the Regina Pats the next night.

BLADE BITS: The shots favoured Saskatoon 42-28. The Blades were 1 for 5 on the power play and the Royals were 0 for 2 . Burns now has five goals in 10 helpers over his eight-game stretch . Several Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame inductees were honoured in a pre-game ceremony. Those honoured will be enshrined in the hall's inaugural class July 28 in Swift Current . Attendance at the game was 7,128.

SP'S 3 STARS

1. Saskatoon Blades D Dalton Thrower - Recorded two key goals in the third period, rounding out his hat trick, while adding two assists.

2. Saskatoon Blades RW Michael Burns - Four-point night extended his scoring streak to eight games. He was also plus-6.

3. Victoria Royals RW Robin Soudek - Only scored once, but was the most effective member of the visiting team.



Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/sports...#ixzz1kJLFBdLC