Photo: Regina Pats
Going into Game 6 on Saturday night, Washington Capitals prospect Alexander Suzdalev and the Regina Pats trailed 3-2 in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series with the Saskatoon Blades. It was win or go home for Suzdalev and the Pats.
Suzdalev and the Pats answered the bell, taking down the Blades 5-3 on home ice and forcing a decisive game 7 Monday night in Saskatoon. Suzdalev recorded the first two goals for the Pats, giving them an important early lead in game 6.
Suzdalev’s first goal of the game came at 14:53 of the first period, tying the game 1-1. Suzdalev clapped a bomb from a sharp angle low on the right side, beating Saskatoon netminder Ethan Chadwick high-glove side.
SUZZZYYYY 🚨
Alexander Suzdalev ties the game 1-1 late in the 1st period on a one-timer from the bottom of the circle!
There are no tough angles for 91 😏#StandWithUs | #WHLPlayoffs | #FeedingTheFuture | @Capitals pic.twitter.com/G3Dm2ecyck
— Regina Pats (@WHLPats) April 9, 2023
Suzdalev’s scored the next goal of the game as well, coming at 5:04 of the second period, giving the Pats a 2-1 lead. This time Suzdalev would deke and fire a wrister from inside the slot for the tally.
Alexander Two-z-dalev! Alexander Suzdalev with his second goal of the night. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/n94Iaw5cvh
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) April 9, 2023
Suzdalev was named the third star of the game. The rookie now has three goals and 8 assists in his first six WHL postseason games for a 1.83 points per game average.
Suzdalev led all WHL rookies in goals (38), assists (48), points (86), power play goals (17), and power play assists (19), and tied for first in points per-game (1.30) during the regular season. He is a lock for WHL Rookie of the year, which has yet to be announced.
The Regina Pats named Suzdalev their Nick Pappas Rookie of the Year on Monday. (More here)
By Jon Sorensen
It sure would be a pity to break up that Suzdalev-Bedard bromance…
Co-sign.
Sudzy is a world-class hockey talent. A candidate for “Please don’t Stephenson” our Suzdalev when he heads towards the Caps
His offensive talent is pretty obvious. Needs to work on much of his game though. He dropped to the 3rd round, for a reason. Probably not NHL ready, for a good two years.
Do you mean that top-6 forwards are actually supposed to play some defense? In the CHL? Is that even allowed?
Sarcasm? I don’t want to start lecturing you, and look like I have a rod up my butt, unless I know whether you’re kidding, or not.
But anyhoo, at least most kids in the ECHL look like they’re paying some attention to defense, but Suzdalev, at times, looks like he thinks defense is a 4 letter word.
Sorry, that was definitely sarcasm (when in doubt on any of my comments, assume sarcasm, or some other lame attempt at humor).
One of the reasons I actually favor US college kids or Swedish leaguers vs. Canadian Juniors is that most college/Swedish coaches make their forwards play D… Most coaches in Canadian juniors do not if you can score. Scoring totals in the CHL (WHL, OHL and especially QMJHL) are thus usually massively inflated vs. other developmental leagues. It turns out it is slightly easier to score against 16-yr-olds who don’t play defense than it is to do so against. older kids or men who do (more sarcasm).
What you’re saying is true, but the WHL, which Suzdalev is playing in, of course, is the most NHL-like of the CHL leagues. They’re not as wide open as the OHL and QMJHL. So there’s that.
I’d still love to see him develop in Hershey or even North Charleston. Both have done a lot in developing new talent.
Yep Bedard will move on. So should Sudz. He has skill for AHL, but needs to smooth out some rough edges.
Suzdalev has NHL skill level, the question is how good is he gonna be at everything other than shooting and passing. He has some things to work on.
Good to see Suzdalev elevate his game in big games.
I’ve been saying all along that people shouldn’t hand the Memorial Cup to Regina, just because of Batman and Robin, aka Bedard and Suzdalev. I don’t care how talented those two are, they can’t carry that whole team. Regina was barely above 500 for the regular season, and there’s a lot of really strong teams in the WHL, like Seattle, Red Deer and Ryan Hofer’s Kamloops. If Regina wins that series, it’ll be a big upset.
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Man it would be so sweet to have both Bedard and Suzdalev!!
Please Hockey gods let this happen