Blades shut down Connor Bedard to take game seven against Pats

The Saskatoon Blades are headed to the second round of the WHL Playoffs after shutting down Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats in game seven of their first round series.

The blue and yellow successfully limited the young phenom, holding Bedard to one assist and three shots en route to a 4-1 series clinching win in front of a sellout crowd at SaskTel Centre.

The series came down to a seventh and final game, with three games going into overtime, and packed houses in both arenas that saw each team win both on the road and at home. In the final game, like most of this series, the Blades continued to pepper Pats goalie Drew Sim with shots from all angles, at one point out-shooting the pats 2-1 in the second period. The Blades would eventually find the back of the net when Spencer Shugrue tipped the puck in off a shot from Brandon Lisowsky to make it 1-0 for the home side.

By the second intermission, the Blades had outshot the Pats 30-15. Regina came out firing in the third, in a rare 20-minute set that saw the Pats out-shoot Saskatoon 11-10. Austin Elliott made a number of exceptional saves for Saskatoon, stopping 25 of 26 shots. The young netminder stepped up when the Blades needed him most, in a series where the Pats were scoring on nearly 20% of their shots heading into game seven. 

The Blades made it 2-0 in the third when Jake Chaisson knocked in his is fourth of the playoffs. Elliott appeared to be on his way to a playoff shutout, until Stanislav Svosil got his fourth of the post-season for Regina to cut the lead in half.

The Pats continued to try and put pucks on net, but late in the third, Connor Bedard would get knocked off the puck in the neutral zone, leading to the game winner from Vaughn Watterodt. An empty net goal from Trevor Wong sealed the game for the Blades.

The series appeared to rejuvenate a rivalry between two teams who had not met in the playoffs since the 2005-06 season.Both teams saw their buildings either sold out or nearly sold out, as many wanted to catch a glimpse of Connor Bedard during his final games in junior hockey.

While they came in to the series as the sixth seed, the Pats proved to be a worthy opponent for Saskatoon, and were at one point in complete control of the series after winning the first two games. The Blades would slowly chip away, clawing back to victories in overtime at the Brandt Centre in Regina.

With the game seven win, the Blades will now have a few days off before facing off against Red Deer Friday night at Sasktel Centre for round two of the playoffs.