You want sports drama? The Rockets delivered

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Bluesky
• Share on X
• Copy Link

The final hurdle for the team to overcome, before the Eggnog could be poured, was a tilt against the top team in the Western Hockey League – the Saskatoon Blades.

Rockets await start of Memorial Cup

Chances were there. Goals weren't

Apr 20, 2026

Enough talk. Time for action

As they say in Everett, 'Let's play hockey!

Apr 10, 2026

Rockets face road test in games 3 and 4

Goaltending, discipline and depth driving 2-0 series lead over Blazers

Mar 30, 2026

A tough task indeed.

Oh, did we mention the Blades were riding a seven-game home-ice winning streak? Did we happen to suggest that the Blades allowed a league-low 2.5 goals per-game and surrendered a WHL-best 80 goals against?

Sure, the Blades had two players not dressed, with Fraser Minten and Tanner Molendyk playing for Canada at the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championships in Sweden. The Rockets had two 19-year-olds who couldn’t play either, with Max Graham, a top-six forward suspended for a hit in Prince Albert the night prior, and Ty Hurley, who was hurt during a practice session in Strathmore, Alberta just two days into the trip.

This is where it gets good.

The Blades opened the scoring. Typical, considering they’ve done it 23 times this season. Saskatoon scored on its first shot on goal when Egor Sidorov fired home his 31^st goal of the season and the home team was off to the races.

Or were they?

The Rockets, who had 17 fewer points in the standings than the Blades heading into the game, fired back with a goal from newly acquired Luke Schelter and it was even. Caden Price, playing like his life depended on it, scored exactly one minute later, and the visitors, with three wins in four games on the road trip over Regina, Moose Jaw, and Prince Albert showed some life.

But the officiating was heavily tilted in the Blades’ favour, getting the benefit of being one of the least penalized teams in the league. That didn’t stop the team with 14 wins on the season from playing with determination. They caught Saskatoon’s seventh-ranked power play napping, scoring a shorthanded goal, and suddenly it was a 3-1 lead.

Was it an upset in the making? Surely not, for the Blades were 11-1-0-0 on home ice, and no team with four road victories could come into their house and turn the tables?

More drama.

The Rockets kept marching to the penalty box, taking six consecutive penalties, yet were able to kill all – but one – of them off with a four-man unit that has allowed a league-high 39 goals.

The Blades would eventually tie the game. The lead was then surrendered when the Rockets were granted their only power play of the game, with 5 minutes and 14 seconds left on the clock. Here was a chance, in a 3-3 game for the visitors to regain the lead. Seventy-five seconds later, the puck was in the back of the net, behind Jari Kykkanen.

Oh boy!

The Blades led 4-3.

Making matters worse, Rockets forward Trae Johnson took a penalty late in the game, a goal down, with the Blades having a chance to put the game on ice by taking a 5-3 lead.

More drama.

The Rockets dug deep and killed it off, but they needed another goal just to tie it. With so little time on the clock, and the Blades having the horses to lock it down, the odds of sending the game into overtime were extremely low.

More drama.

An end board scramble to the right of the Blades’s net saw the puck come out of the pile and land on the stick of Rockets d-man Marek Rocak. The 18-year-old fired the puck home from the lower part of the right circle with 17.9 seconds left on the clock and the game was tied.

More drama.

Playing with an ever increasing confidence, the Rockets and Blades entered overtime. With the Blades able to ice their top-scoring line of Trevor Wong, Sidorov, and Brandon Lisowsky, the inevitable result was expected.

More drama.

Possessing the puck from the opening face-off in extra time, the Rockets wouldn’t surrender. Captain Gabriel Sztruc’s second attempt at a shot from the left face-off circle found its way past the glove-side of Saskatoon goalie Austin Elliott, and the game was over.

One shot in overtime. The game winning goal.

The Rockets earned their 15^th victory of the season, ending the road trip with 8 out of a possible 10 points, and did what few teams have been able to do, by walking out of SaskTel Centre victorious.

It was a night when sports delivered the type of drama that Hollywood moviemakers could only dream of.