Hockey people have mused that a two-goal lead or even a three-goal lead early in a game are the toughest to defend. Unfortunately for the Saskatoon Blades, a 1-0 lead in the third period was a problem in the last three games of their U-S Division road trip. That included a 3-2 overtime setback in Wenatchee to the Wild on Saturday night.

Hunter Laing scored in the first period to give the Bridge City Bunch, now 10-6-2 for the season, a 1-0 lead. That score held into the third period. However, the Blue and Gold grabbed the lead again, at 2-1, later in the third frame, as defenceman Derek Thurston scored his first goal – and point – in his fifth game with the Blades since being acquired from Red Deer. But, the Wild tied the score and forced extra time with Maddix McCagherty notching the winner at 2:46 of O-T. The result finished Saskatoon’s American swing with a 1-3-2 record. On Wednesday, the Bridge City Bunch entered the third period in a scoreless tie with Spokane, took a 1-0 lead but ended up losing 2-1 in overtime to the Chiefs. And, on Friday in Seattle, the Blue and Gold scored in the first period and took the 1-0 lead into the third period, only to surrender five unanswered goals in a 5-1 setback to the Thunderbirds. The Blades return home to host Moose Jaw Friday and Calgary Saturday at SaskTel Centre. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast plus the official game summary from the W-H-L website…..

SASKATOON Goals SASKATOON PLAYERS (plus) WENATCHEE PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 17:07  27-3-11 3 11 16 27 56 12 14 21 23 29 3rd 9:05  8-27-16 3 8 11 16 27 12 14 23 26 29

WENATCHEE Goals WENATCHEE PLAYERS (plus) SASKATOON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 3rd 5:52 PP  14-29-18 3rd 14:37  23-14-12 12 14 21 23 29 4 11 16 27 37 OT 2:46  10-23-3 3 10 23 3 20 23