Sports Briefs: Saskatoon Blades improve to 3-0 with win over Brandon

With the win, the Blades are now 3-0 on the season. They’ll look to continue the streak when they travel to Calgary for a meeting with the Hitmen on Wednesday.

The Saskatoon Blades handed the Brandon Wheat Kings their first loss of 2024-25 Western Hockey League season on Saturday night, defeating the Wheaties 4-3.

With 3:03 left in the game, Saskatoon’s Rowan Calvert scored his second goal of the game, broke the 3-3 tie between the two teams and secured the victory for the Blades.

Calvert scored this first goal of the game at 13:46 into the second period, capping off a three-goal streak from the Blades and giving them the 3-2 lead heading into the final period.

The other two goals for the Blades were scored by Ben Riche at 6:28 in the second period and then shortly after by Kohen Lodge at 7:44.

Luke Shipley, Roger McQueen and Marcus Nguyen put points on the board for the Wheat Kings.

In net, Evan Gardner earned the win for Saskatoon, making 33 saves on 36 shots, while at the opposite end of the ice, Carson Bjarnason made 34 saves on 38 shots for Brandon.

With the win, the Blades are now 3-0 on the season. They’ll look to continue the streak when they travel to Calgary for a meeting with the Hitmen on Wednesday.

Huskie teams in regular season and exhibition action

CROSS COUNTRY

The University of Saskatchewan claimed first place overall in the men’s and women’s divisions at the Dakota Classic, held at Dakota Dunes on Saturday.

Huskie Kaitlyn Harrison finished with a time of 30:52.4 in the women’s race to claim gold and was followed by top-five finishes from teammates Jenica Swartz in second place with a time of 31:35.8 and Jaira Cross Child in fourth with a time of 33:04.3.

While on the men’s side Saskatchewan didn’t top the podium, they claimed second, third and fourth place. Alexander Webster led the trio of finishers with a time of 26:20.7 — finishing less than a second behind the winner — followed by Anthony Antaya at 26:23.2 and Quintan Fast at 26:28.5.

SOCCER

Both the men’s and women’s teams were on a road trip to Alberta on the weekend for back-to-back games.

On Saturday, the men picked up a 1-0 victory over the MacEwan Griffins thanks to Malcolm Rektor’s scoring his first goal of the Canada West season in the 27th minute.

Meanwhile, the women’s team made a stop at the University of Alberta and played the Pandas to a 0-0 tie. Saskatchewan goalkeeper Kalin Roberts and Alberta’s Autumn Wynn both made five saves in the game.

The men’s victory improves their record to 3-7 and the women are now 4-1-2.

The Huskie teams swapped opponents on Sunday, but scores were not available at deadline.

BASKETBALL

The Saskatchewan men hosted the annual Ron & Jane Graham Shootout from Thursday to Saturday, finishing with a 1-2 record.

The Dogs opened the exhibition tournament on Thursday with a 73-67 loss to the Carleton Ravens. Saskatchewan’s Owen Murphy Wiebe had a game-high 17 points and was followed closely by teammate Emmanuel Bonsu with 16 points.

On Friday, Griffin Sharkey led both teams with 28 points as he and the Huskies defeated the MacEwan Griffins 77-61.

In their final game on Saturday, Saskatchewan fell 75-59 to the UBC Thunderbirds, with Dillyn Morin scoring a team-high 17 points for the Huskies.

HOCKEY

Canada West regular season action will begin this coming weekend for both Huskies teams, but this weekend was one last set of exhibition games.

The men’s team travelled to Cold Lake for a pair of games against the Alberta Golden Bears. The team won their Friday game 3-1 and 5-2 on Saturday.

It was also a road game for the women’s team as they travelled to Kindersley to take on the Calgary Dinos on Friday, falling 4-2.

VOLLEYBALL

On the men’s side, the Brandon Bobcats hosted several teams for a preseason tournament on the weekend, including the Huskies.

In their opening games, Saskatchewan fell 3-0 (25-21, 25-23 and 25-19) to the Queen’s Gaels on Thursday, as well as lost 3-0 (25-23, 28-26 and 25-22) to the Manitoba Bisons on Friday. Results from Saturday and Sunday were not available.

The women’s team also took part in an exhibition game on Friday, falling 3-1 to the Lakeland Rustlers while playing in Turtleford.

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