Chase Wutzke made an impressive effort to help the Red Deer Rebels tie with the Saskatoon Blades in their best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference Semifinal series. Regrettably, his outstanding 47-save performance fell just short as Ben Saunderson scored at 17:01 of the first overtime period, granting the Blades a 2-1 victory in front of 8,051 spectators at SaskTel Centre on Sunday. The Blades now lead the series 2-0 and will head to Red Deer for game three on Tuesday and game four on Wednesday.
Shots on goal in the first period were 7-2 for the Blades
Fraser Minten scored for the Blades at 11:10 of the second period with the assist going to Carberry, Manitoba native Ben Saunderson.–Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Fraser Minten scored his third goal of the series and fourth of the postseason on the breakaway to open the scoring at 11:10 of the second period, beating Wutzke through the five-hole.
Shots on goal in the second period were 21-8 for the Blades.
Kalan Lind ties the game up for the Rebels on the Power Play at 4:10 of the final frame. The assists on the goal went to Hunter Mayo and Carson Latimer.–Lind tied the game at on the power play at 4:10 of the third period, tipping in a Hunter Mayo point shot.
Shots on goal in the third period were 11-10 for the Blades
Ben Saunderson scored the overtime winner at 17:01 of overtime with the assist going to captain Trevor Wong.–Trevor Wong set up the game winner, grabbing a loose puck and dropping it to Saunderson in the slot where he went high under the bar.
Shots on goal in the overtime were 10-5 for the Blades. The Blades ended up outshooting the Rebels 49-25 in the game.
Evan Gardner made 24 saves on the 25 shots that he faced. While Chase Wutzke was amazing stopping 47 of 49 shots in the game. I am going to be really surprised is Chase Wutzke’s name is not called at the 2024 draft in June in Vegas. Wutzke also had the WHL save of the night. Then I realized that that was the only game that night. But in all reality that save would of made save of the night if all the other teams were playing too.
Three Stars of the game were 1) Ben Saunderson 2) Chase Wutzke 3) Evan Gardner
Attendance in Saskatoon 8,051
Rebels next game is Tuesday April 16th against of course the Saskatoon Blades for Game #3.
