A recap of this week's THN's WHL Game of the Week featuring the Saskatoon Blades and the Prince Albert Raiders.
Welcome to this week's edition of THN's WHL Game of the Week. In this weekly column, we break down one of the most exciting games from the weekend that was. This week, we examine a tight-checking affair between the Saskatoon Blades and the Prince Albert Raiders.
After 18 minutes of goalless hockey, Prince Albert finally found the back of the net, opening the scoring at 18:24 thanks to Turner McMillen's third of the season. Saskatoon would eventually answer 5:40 into the second off of Tyler Parr's seventh of the season, but that was all either team could muster as the game was headed to a shootout tied at one. Both Max Hildebrand and Evan Gardner were spectacular, combining for 59 saves, but were just getting warmed up for what turned out to be an epic shootout.
Just like regulation, the shootout featured big saves with neither team able to bury the game-winner. After the first 13 shooters were stopped, Oli Chenier stepped up and beat Gardner to win the game for the Raiders. It was a massive moment for the 16-year-old and arguably the biggest goal he has scored in the WHL up until this point. With the victory, Prince Albert moved to 18-18-0-2, while Saskatoon dropped to 26-8-2-2 on the season.
