Spencer Shugrue, Jake Chiasson and Vaughn Watterodt threaded the needle, and the Saskatoon Blades held on to knock out Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats with a 4-1 win Monday night.
This means that Bedard, the next first overall pick in the NHL Draft, sees his stay with the juniors come to an end.
Trailing 2-0 midway through the third period, the Pats showed signs of life when Stanislav Svozil put his club on the scoreboard at 1:10.
But the Blades were able to fight back, just over four minutes later, as Watterodt intercepted a breakout before scoring.
Trevor Wong added an empty-netter insurance goal for Saskatoon at 18:11.
In seven playoff games – his first in three seasons with the Pats – Bedard had 10 goals and the same number of assists for a total of 20 points.
On Saturday, Regina won at home by a score of 5 to 3 to provoke the holding of a seventh and decisive meeting, at the SaskTel Centre.
Bedard, who won’t be 18 until next July, scored the game-winning goal at 1:59 of the third period.
Despite the presence of the prodigy, the Saskatonians were the logical favorites to win the series, following a season of 101 points punctuated by 48 wins in 68 games.
The Pats entered the playoffs finishing sixth with a 34-30-4 record.
In the second round of playoffs, Saskatoon will face the Red Deer Rebels, who eclipsed the Calgary Hitmen in five games.
That series will kick off Friday night at the home of the Blades.
