SASKATOON — Connor Bedard's dream season with the Regina Pats is over.
Jake Chiasson's goal at 7:56 of the third period made it 2-0 and stoop up as the winner as the Saskatoon Blades beat the Pats 4-1 in Western Hockey League playoff action on Monday, to take their first-round, best-of-seven series in seven games.
Bedard, who compiled 71 goals and 72 assists in 57 regular-season games with the Pats, is expected to be the No. 1 pick in this summer's NHL entry draft. He had 11 goals and eight assists in the first six games of the series against the Blades, and added an assist on Stanislav Svozil's late third-period goal that cut the deficit to 2-1.
Spencer Shugrue, Vaughn Watterodt and Trevor Wong, with an empty-netter, also scored for the Blades, who outshot the Pats 41-16.
The teams were scoreless after the first period and the Blades took a 1-0 lead into the third.
The Blades now face the Red Deer Rebels in the Easter Conference semifinal. The Rebels eliminated the Calgary Hitmen in five games. In the other East semifinal, the Winnipeg ICE play the Moose Jaw Warriors.
In the Western Conference, the top-seeded Seattle Thunderbirds play the Prince George Cougars in one semifinal, while the Kamloops Blazers tangle with the Portland Winterhawks in the other semifinal. The Blazers will host, and play in, the 2023 Memorial Cup from May 25 to June 4 at the Sandman Centre.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 10, 2023.
The Canadian Press
