Wednesday 5 February 2020

Rebuilding Pats win third in a row, best Blades after shootout

Zack Smith reacts to scoring his shootout winner for the Pats.
    The rebuilding Regina Pats are playing like the games matter.
    The Pats are skating through just their second season since host the CHL championship tournament - Memorial Cup – in May of 2018. They went all in making a number of trades to make their roster an experience veteran one in the 2017-18 campaign.
    Due to going all in, they are still going through the stages of a major rebuild, but when they hit the ice, they are trying to play like a playoff berth is one the line. That approach is resulting in some wins.
    On Wednesday night before 2,850 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Pats downed the host Saskatoon Blades 3-2 after a tiebreaking shootout for a third straight victory. The visitors took the tiebreaking session 2-1.
Zack Smith helped the Pats win their third straight game.
    In the shootout, Carson Denomie scored in the first round for the Pats, and overage left-winger Riley McKay tallied in the second round for the Blades.
    With the teams even at 1-1 in the tiebreaking session, Pats rookie 18-year-old right-winger Zack Smith had the final shot in the third round. The Martensville, Sask., product put a backhand shot past Blades netminder Nolan Maier to give the Pats the win.
    “Strucher (Pats head coach Dave Struch) really stressed that we play the right way and play as a team and don’t play selfish,” said Smith. “I think we did that really well tonight.
    “That is the kind of team we are. We have to just chip pucks and go forecheck hard. That is what we did tonight.”
Riley Krane scored the Pats first goal on Wednesday.
    Due to the fact his hometown is just outside of Saskatoon’s northern border, Smith had his share of family and friends in attendance on Wednesday. He was proud of his shootout winner.
    “I just went in, gave the goalie a little fake, he bit a little bit and pulled to my backhand,” said Smith. “I pretty much had a lot of the net open, so I just put it there.
    “It felt good.”
    The win allowed the Pats to improve to 16-26-3-2. They started the campaign with a 1-10 record but have gone 15-16-3-2 over their last 36 games.
    While not mathematically eliminated from post-season contention, their chances of making playoffs are extremely slim.
Martin Fasko-Rudas scored the Blades first goal on Wednesday.
    They trail the Blades, who saw their record move to 25-20-2-3, by 18 points in the standings for the second wildcat position and the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.
    With that noted, Struch believes his side is building a lot of character playing like a playoff position was on the line.
    “We want to get into the race,” said Struch. “We got off to a real difficult start this year for whatever reason.
    “We wanted to chase the race not that it was a playoff race. We wanted to try and get into it. Every night for us is a playoff game.
    “Every practice for us is a playoff game, so our guys have been doing this for five months already. It seems like it is easy for our guys to do it.”
Pats C Drew Englot screens Blades G Nolan Maier.
    The Pats struck 44 seconds into Wednesday’s contest when right-winger Riley Krane blew a shot past Blades netminder Nolan Maier.
    The Blades had a big chance to even the score at the 8:30 mark, when left-winger Alex Morozoff was hooked down on a break to the Regina goal by Pats defenceman Steven Zonneveld.
    With 52.5 seconds remaining in the first period, Blades overage defence Nolan Kneen engaged Krane in a good tilt.
    The Blades evened the score at 1-1 at the 13:04 mark of the second period on a power-play goal from import Slovakian right-winger Martin Fasko-Rudas. 
The Blades celebrate a third period goal from Jayden Wiens.
    Fasko-Rudas gathered the rebound of a point shot from overage defenceman Scott Walford and tucked the puck behind Pats netminder Donovan Buskey.
    Just 1:22 later, the Pats jumped back out in front 2-1. Pats import Czech winger Jan Cikhart got the puck in the right side of the Saskatoon goal on the forecheck and centred a pass to 17-year-old centre Drew Englot.
    Englot fired in a shot that Maier got a piece of, but the puck trickled into the goal to put the Blades ahead.
    The Blades evened the score at 2-2 at the 3:34 mark on the third on a positive bounce play. A shot from Blades left-winger Braden Plaschewsky deflected off linemate Jayden Wiens, who was hooked down by a Pats player, into the Regina goal.
    Overall, Struch was pleased with the effort of his players even when mistakes were made.
    “This is the way we play,” said Struch, whose Pats have won both their encounters with the Blades this season in extra time. “That is every single game.
    “Yeah, we make mistakes. Some nights we make more than others. Tonight, it is just a matter of our identity.
Riley McKay turns up ice for the Blades.
    “These guys play hard for each other.”
    Before the midway point of the third, the Pats had a good chance to go ahead on a power play, but defenceman Ryker Evans wired a point shot off the post.
    Late in the frame, Maier made a key left pad stop on Pats captain Austin Pratt to keep the two sides even on the scoreboard.
    In overtime, both sides had big chances to net the winner. Fasko-Rudas had the last big chance, but his shot right before the buzzer was turned away by Buskey.
    That set the stage for the Pats to win it in the tiebreaking shootout.
    Maier stopped 23 shots in goal for the Blades through 65 minutes and one of three shooters in the shootout. Buskey turned away 23 shots in goal for the Pats and two of three shooters in the shootout.
The Pats celebrate their win on Wednesday night.
    The Pats return to action on Friday, when they travel to Swift Current to take on the Broncos (7 p.m., Innovation Credit Union i-Plex).
    The Blades get back at it on Saturday, when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the Warriors (7 p.m., Mosaic Place).
    Smith said his club is feeling good going into the weekend.
    “I think we are all pretty confident right now,” said Smith. “We’ve won three in a row.
    “We’re just going to keep this confidence going into Swift Current and hopefully beat them a few times on the weekend and see where we can go from there.”

Wouters chipping in, challenges others to join in faceoff charity

Captain Chase Wouters (#44) gets set to take a draw for the Blades.
    Saskatoon Blades captain Chase Wouters is chipping and challenging others to join him in the Nutrien Faceoff for Hunger.
    Since the start of the season, Nutrien has said it will donate $10 to the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre for every faceoff Wouters wins this season. After Wednesday’s action, Wouters lead the WHL with the most faceoffs at 665.
    Last Thursday in a video posted on his Twitter account, Wouters said he would donate $1 out of his own pocket for every faceoff he won over the Blades final 21 regular season games for the Nutrien Faceoff for Hunger to go to the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre.
    Wouters challenged anyone who saw the video to join him in donating a dollar for every draw he won over the Blades final 21 regular season games. The fourth-year veteran had 625 faceoff wins when the Blades entered the final 21 regular season games.
    Over Twitter, Blades play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk, Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper and Saskatoon city councillor Troy Davies have said they have accepted Wouters’ challenge and will join in on the charitable endeavour.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.
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