Blades clinch playoffs berth

The Steele County Blades punched their ticket to the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) playoffs last weekend after taking down the Minnesota Squatch 4-3 at home.

Steele County had found itself on the bubble of clinching a playoff berth after dropping two games to the Minnesota Blue Ox and Hudson Havoc, but ultimately broke through after winning in a shootout against the Squatch.

The Blades broke through first against the opposition with a two-goal first period to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

Scoring first for the Blades was defenseman Andrei Moskvitin on a play assisted by wingers Arturas Laurynavichus and Noah LaFleur at the 8:41 mark.

Following Moskvitin’s tally was a goal by center Brody Ward just 2:04 later, on a play assisted by Laurynavichus and LaFleur.

With a 2-0 lead, the Blades looked prime to take command of the game, but the momentum would swing as the second period progressed.

In the second, the Squatch came out firing with three goals in a 10-minute stretch during the second half of the period.

Minnesota notched all three goals at even strength and put itself ahead 3-2 after outshooting the Blades 18-12 in the period.

In the third, both teams battled fiercely for possession, but ultimately the Blades scored an equalizer with just under five minutes remaining, when winger Adam Knebl scored on a play assisted by defenseman Anders Thorager and winger Joey Bunton.

Knebl’s goal was enough to keep Steele County in the game and send the game to overtime, where both teams held one another to a stalemate and forced a shootout.

In the shootout, the sides mirrored one another with scores on their first and third attempts and misses on their second, fourth and fifth shots.

The breakthrough for Steele County came in the sixth round, when Blades’ goaltender Levi Preugschas denied Minnesota’s Dylan Thompson to set up a winning shot for Steven Pribula.

With the game on his stick, Pribula cashed in on a penalty to propel the Blades into the playoffs via a 4-3 win.

Preugschas was credited with the win after making 45 saves on 48 shots through the overtime period and added four saves on six shots in the shootout.

The day prior, Steele County found itself in another close game, this time falling 4-2 to the Hudson Havoc.

The Blades fell behind 1-0 after the first and found themselves in need of an equalizer after both sides finished the second period with two goals apiece to move the score to 3-2 in favor of the Havoc.

Steele County managed to outshoot the Havoc seven-to-five in the third period but could not find the equalizer.

Instead, a dagger goal by Hudson with just under 9:44 remaining gave the Havoc their 4-2 lead.

Steele County will look to improve its seeding by earning a win at home in its next game against the Isanti Outlaws on Friday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m.