Loss bumps Blades into tiebreaker
Saskatoon has to beat OHL champions
SASKATOON — The Saskatoon Blades must now take the long and winding road if they hope to capture their first MasterCard Memorial Cup in franchise history.
Needing a win over the Portland Winterhawks to punch their ticket directly to Sunday’s tournament final, the Blades surrendered three quick goals in the third period as they fell 4-2 in front of 9,239 spectators at Credit Union Centre.
The Blades now must play in Thursday’s tiebreaker game against the OHL champion London Knights, who also finished the round robin with a 1-2 record, while the Winterhawks move on to Friday’s semifinal.
“I’ve seen a team do it before,” said Blades centre Shane McColgan. “Windsor did it when I went to the Memorial Cup in Rimouski,” in 2009 with the Kelowna Rockets.
“Anything’s possible in this tournament. We just have to come out tomorrow hard.”
Meanwhile, Wednesday’s result left the Winterhawks and Halifax Mooseheads with 2-1 records. Based on a head-to-head victory earlier in the tournament, the QMJHL champion Moose heads advance directly to Sunday’s Memorial Cup final.
With the game tied 1-1 heading into the third, the Winterhawks’ offence broke the pivotal game wide open.
Chase De Leo stuffed a rebound past Blades goalie Andrey Makarov, who was missing his stick, for the goahead marker at 4:08.
Brendan Leipsic and Ty Rattie both then beat Makarov off the rush and the Blades were suddenly down 4-1 by the midway point of the period.
“We just stopped playing,” said McColgan, who scored Saskatoon’s first goal. “They scored to make it 2-1 and you could just tell that we got deflated. That can’t happen at this time of the year.”
The start of the game was ferocious with so much on the line.
First, Blades overage winger Michael Ferland dumped Hawks rookie Keegan Iverson into the bench.
Then there was the controversial check.
Blades defenceman Dalton Thrower hit Saskatoon product Taylor Leier as he was cutting into the middle just inside the blue line. Leier’s head whacked against the ice twice before he laid face down and motionless.
Leier needed help getting to the Winterhawks’ bench and dressing room, his legs nearly giving out under him. He did not return.
No penalty was called on the play, but the hit is under review by tournament officials.
“I didn’t mean to hurt him as badly as he was,” Thrower said. “It’s hockey. The game is fast. I was angling him off and he was cutting to the middle and I finished my check.”
Thrower was suspended for two games in October for a similar hit on Lethbridge Hurricanes’ Axel Blomqvist for a head hit. He maintains that he caught Leier in the chest.
Molleken agreed with Thrower’s assessment that he hit him in the chest. He called the play “an unfortunate situation.”
Winterhawks interim head coach and general manager Travis Green believes otherwise.
“It’s pretty obvious where the shot comes,” said Green, who had no update on Leier’s condition. “It hits him in the head. And there is a jump to it as well. The video’s pretty obvious.
“We lost one of our better players to a hit that I thought should have been a major.”
Winterhawks defenceman Derrick Pouliot opened the scoring 6:44 into the second.
Josh Nicholls netted the Blades’ second goal with 3:33 remaining. It was his fourth of the tournament.