Nagy sparks Royals to 7-2 romp over Blades

The Royals celebrate their first of seven goals on Tuesday.

    Regan Nagy was pumped he could supply a highlight night for his followers on his second last Saskatchewan road trip with the Victoria Royals.

    The 20-year-old right-winger from Ogema, Sask., had a stellar Tuesday night at the SaskTel Centre netting a hat trick, one assist and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department in the Royals 7-2 romp over the host Saskatoon Blades. While most of the 2,732 spectators headed home disappointed, Nagy had a small group of about five to six family members and friends he was able to make happy.

    “It is always nice to come out here and play in front of your friends and family no matter how old you are,” said Nagy, who stands 6-feet and weighs 195 pounds. “This last year it is nice to get out here and play in front of everyone again one more time.

Regan Nagy had a hat trick for the Royals.

    “I had a lot of fun. Another game tomorrow, so I am going to be ready for that one.”

    Nagy’s contingent will follow him to Prince Albert on Wednesday, when the Royals face the host Raiders at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre. That contest will conclude a stretch of seven straight road games for the Royals.

    Just 87 seconds into Tuesday’s win over the Blades, the Royals jumped out to a 1-0 lead, when Nagy and linemate Yan Khomenko teamed up to set up centre Dante Hannoun for his ninth goal of the season. Khomenko put a pass across the face of the Blades goal, and Hannoun knocked the puck past sprawling Blades netminder Ryan Kubic.

    A little over five minutes later, Hannoun slipped a smart pass into Nagy to give him a one-on-one chance against Kubic. Nagy made no mistake tucking home his first of the contest. He added his second of the contest before the period ended to give the Royals a 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

    “It is a lot of fun, when the puck is going in for you,” said Nagy, whose Royals improved their B.C. Division leading record to 10-3-1 with their win. “It is a lot of fun for the team too.

    “It makes the guys enjoy the game a little more and take a little stress off everyone, so it is always fun to do that.”

Some of Regan Nagy’s supporters watch Tuesday’s game.

    The Royals kept rolling in the second. At the 4:43 mark, right-winger Jared Legien, who is from Pilot Butte, Sask., beat Kubic with a deke on a breakaway to give the visitors a 4-0 edge.

Victoria’s lead grew to 5-0 at the 11:53 mark, when Nagy was sprung on a breakaway and fired a laser shot past Kubic for the hat trick. The three-goal night was the second for Nagy in his WHL career.

    Kubic was pulled after that tally turning away nine of 14 shots fired his way taking the loss in goal for the Blades (3-7-1). Rookie Joel Grzybowski played the rest of the way in relief turning away 10 of 12 shots sent in his direction.

Yan Khomenko had three assists for the Royals on Tuesday.

    Nagy’s line with Hannoun and Khomenko combined for four goals and five assists in Victoria’s runaway win. Khomenko had three assists, while Hannoun had an assist to go with his goal.
    When the Royals lost 4-2 in their last outing against the Wheat Kings in Brandon last Saturday, Nagy was on a line with Legien and Tyler Soy. The Royals coaches switched the line combinations up for Tuesday’s game putting Nagy with Hannoun and Khomenko.

    “I had some pretty good chemistry with those two before tonight,” said Nagy, whose team ended a two-game losing skid. “Things are just clicking for us, and it is a lot of fun.”

    Soy scored on a partial breakaway to give the Royals a 6-0 lead at the 15:09 mark of the second.

    Left-winger Dryden Michaud got the Blades on the board with his first of the season with 3:40 to play in the second to cut Victoria’s lead to 6-1.

Dante Hannoun (#19) had a goal and an assist for the Royals.

    With 43.9 seconds to play in the second, Royals star captain Matthew Phillips scored a short-handed goal on a breakaway to give the visitors a 7-1 edge. The officials turned to a video review to confirm the goal from Phillips.

    Nagy said his team has been successful this season, when the burn opponents with speed.

    “We have just been playing fast, and we have playing our game,” said Nagy, whose Royals were rated third in the Canadian Hockey League’s top 10 rankings. “If we keep doing that, we will keep being successful.

    “We just have to work hard each and every night and that is kind of our game. We have to stick through it throughout the whole 60 minutes.”

    Right-winger Josh Paterson scored for the Blades in the third to round out the scoring in the contest.

Jared Legien (#23) celebrates scoring a goal for the Royals.

    Griffen Outhouse started the game for the Royals, and the 19-year-old veteran stopped 28-of-29 shots over the first two periods.
    With the Royals entering the third holding a 7-1 edge, the Victoria coaches elected to insert rookie 17-year-old backup Dean McNabb in net for the third, and he turned away 10-of-11 shots in mop up action.

    Nagy is playing out his fourth full season in the WHL and has been with the Royals his entire major junior career.
    He hopes the good times keep coming as the season progresses.
    He will also get to make one more road trip back to Saskatchewan in late November, when the Royals visit the Moose Jaw Warriors on Nov. 28 and the Swift Current Broncos on Nov. 29.

    He said he couldn’t believe how quickly his time in the league is passing.

The Royals enjoy their road win in Saskatoon on Tuesday.

    “It goes by fast,” said Nagy. “I remember just being in my first year in the league thinking that it (his final season) is so far away.

    “Now thinking back, it goes by a lot faster than you think. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, and I’m excited for the rest of the season.

    “Hopefully, we can just keep things rolling and keep playing good like that. If we do that, we should have a good year, and it will be a lot of fun. We’ll enjoy it a lot.”

    The Blades are back in action Friday, when they travel to Swift Current to take on the Broncos. One night later, Saskatoon hosts the Brandon Wheat Kings at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Back in the Express with Hebig, other notes

Cameron Hebig has been on fire this season for the Blades.

    I was back in the pages of the Saskatoon Express this week with a feature story on Saskatoon Blades star centre Cameron Hebig.

    Hebig missed the entire 2016-17 campaign with his hometown WHL team with an upper body injury, which was originally thought to be a concussion. It was never diagnosed definitively.

During the time he was out, he received a lot of support from those in “The Bridge City.”

    When he returned, one wondered if he could build off the breakout campaign he had in 2015-16, when he netted 26 goals and 43 assists in 59 regular season games. He has jetted to a great start in his overage season piling up seven goals and seven assists in nine games.

    The Express story on Hebig can be found right here.

• The Blades traded 17-year-old forward Matt Mosher to the Prince George Cougars on Tuesday in exchange for a ninth round selection in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft. Mosher appeared in four career regular season games with the Blades and didn’t record any points. The Blades selected Mosher, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 190 pounds, in the third round and 44^th overall in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft.
• The University of Saskatchewan Huskies (2-5) football team will control their own playoff destiny heading into their final U Sports regular season game, when they host the U of Manitoba Bisons (1-6) on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Griffiths Stadium. If the Huskies lose, they will be unable to finish fourth in the Canada West Conference and will miss the post-season for the first time since 2000. If the Huskies, Bisons and U of Alberta Golden Bears (2-5) all finish at 2-6, the Golden Bears would advance to the post-season due to having the best winning percentage in head-to-head games between the three teams. If the Huskies beat the Bisons, they would likely make the post-season unless the Golden Bears can beat the U of Calgary Dinos (7-0) earlier in the day by a blowout margin. At the moment, the Huskies hold the head-to-head standings tiebreaker with the Golden Bears due to a better point differential for the whole campaign. The Huskies are -37, while the Golden Bears are -51.
• Singer Michele Dubois continues to be a good luck charm for the three-time defending Canadian Junior Football League champion Saskatoon Hilltops. When Dubois has sung the national anthem at Hilltops home games, it is believed the Toppers have never lost. She sang the national anthem for last Sunday’s PFC final at Saskatoon Minor Football Field, and the Hilltops downed the Regina Thunder 36-24. The Hilltops host a CJFL national semifinal this coming Sunday at 1 p.m. against the Vancouver Island Raiders, who are based out of Nanaimo, B.C. We wait to see of Dubois will sing the national anthem for that contest.
• Kieran Block, who is a former utility play for the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers, wrote an autobiography about his life entitled, “The Ups and Downs of Almost Dying.” After concluding his WHL career an overager with the Tigers following the 2005-06 campaign, Block was severely injured in a cliff jumping accident. Block spoke with Oilersnation.com about his book, and that story can be found here.
• The University of Regina Rams football team made a video for the “Man Up Against Violence” initiative at that institution. The initiative strives to inspire men to accept their role as advocates in the movement to prevent violence in our communities related to gender, race, socio-economic status, ability level and beyond. The video the Rams produced was on locker room talk featuring former Rams and CFL star with the British Columbia Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders Jason Clermont. The video can be found here.

    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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Pats capture WHL regular season title, Blades wonder what might have been

Caleb Fantillo (#39) looks out to the ice after the Blades loss.

    REGINA - The Saskatoon Blades did their best to try and spoil the party for the Regina Pats.

    They stormed out to a 3-1 lead after the first period in a WHL clash on Tuesday night at the Brandt Centre. From there, the Pats staged a classic comeback to skate away with a 5-4 victory and lock up first place overall in the WHL regular season standings for the first time since they last won the Memorial Cup in 1974.

    While the Pats, who improved to 49-12-7-1, celebrated winning the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy to the delight of 4,695 spectators, the Blades were left to ponder how much closer they are getting to the end of their campaign.

    Saskatoon dropped to 27-34-7-2 to fall perilously close to being eliminated from playoff contention.

    Entering the night, the Blades could potentially catch either the Red Deer Rebels or the Calgary Hitmen to move into a playoff spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. The Rebels (29-28-8-4) clinched a playoff berth with an 8-3 romp over the Tigers in Medicine Hat.

The Pats salute their fans after Tuesday’s game.

    The Hitmen (28-31-8-2) led the Blades by three points in the standing for eighth place overall in the Eastern Conference and the conference’s final wildcard berth. Calgary just needs to earn two more points in the standings to clinch the conference’s final playoff berth and can do just that in a road clash against the Rebels in Red Deer on Wednesday. The Rebels sit four points ahead of the Hitmen in the standings.

    “It (the Blades dressing room) is pretty deflated right now,” said Blades overage centre Jesse Shynkaruk. “Not too many words were said after that one especially giving up a two-goal lead.

    “We are not out of it yet technically, but it seems like the odds are pretty well stacked against us. We need pretty much a miracle to get into playoffs. We are not out of yet.

    “We will see what Calgary does and go from there.”

    In the opening 20 minutes, Caleb Fantillo, Dryden Michaud and Josh Paterson all netted singles for the Blades, while Nick Henry replied for the Pats.

Jesse Shynkaruk weaves into the offensive zone for the Blades.

    The tallies from Michaud – the first of his WHL career - and Paterson came 28 seconds apart from each other near the end of the first period and broke a 1-1 tie.

    The Pats regrouped and came at the Blades in waves in the second. Jeff de Wit started the rally for the hosts, and star centre Sam Steel buried his 49^th of the season off a giveaway from Blades import defenceman Libor Hajek to tie things up at 3-3.

    With 1:44 to play in the second, Steel sent a beauty pass to pinching defenceman Josh Mahura on a two-on-one break to put the Pats up 4-3.

    “A team like that, you can’t give them any momentum,” said Shynkaruk. “They ran with it and got a couple of quick ones. We were kind back on our heels, and it kind of went from there.”

    In the third, Pats star offensive defenceman Connor Hobbs blasted home his 29^th of the season from the point while working the power play to extend Regina’s advantage to 5-3 with 4:38 to play.

Blades rookie Dryden Michaud, centre, celebrates his first WHL goal.

    Still, the Blades didn’t go away and had a chance to rally back, when the Pats encountered penalty troubles. Working on a two-man advantage with the goalie pulled, Blades winger Michael Farren converted a passing play from Shynkaruk and Braylon Shmyr to cut Regina’s lead to 5-4 with 1:17 to play.

    Saskatoon continued to work on the power play through to the end of the frame but couldn’t find the equalizer.

    Logan Flodell turned away 30 shots to take the loss in goal for the Blades. Tyler Brown turned away 22 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pats.
    Regina captain Adam Brooks picked up three assists in the win.

    Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock was pleased to see his club lock up first overall and home ice advantage through the entire WHL playoffs.

    “I think any time that happens everybody is obviously extremely happy,” said Paddock. “You think about it after you achieved it.

Sam Steel netted his 49th goal of the season and two assists for the Pats.

    “There is lots more we obviously want to do. As (assistant coach) Dave (Struch) just said in there, it is really hard thing to be the best team after 72 games.

    “It doesn’t mean a lot. You get some sort of trophy, but it is not what you are ultimately playing for.”

    Paddock of course was hinting at winning the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions and capturing the Memorial Cup for major junior supremacy.

    Last season with the Rebels, de Wit was part of team that advanced to the WHL’s Eastern Conference championship series and played in the Memorial Cup tournament as the host squad.

    On WHL trade deadline day back on Jan. 10, de Wit was dealt along with Mahura from the Rebels to the Pats to help Regina make a long post-season run, and the gritty forward, who celebrated his 19^th birthday on Tuesday, was happy to help the Pats lock up first overall in the WHL.

Josh Mahura works the point on the power play for the Pats.

    “I knew how deep this team was and the type of skill they had,” said de Wit. “Coming here, I just wanted to contribute and play my best hockey.

    “I’ve done that for the most part, and it is pretty exciting to clinch league.”

    For the Blades, they are forced to mull over three straight losses against two very tough teams. Before falling to the Pats on Tuesday, the Blades dropped both games of a home-and-home series with the Swift Current Broncos, who are 38-21-4-6, this past weekend. Saskatoon played good enough to win one or even all of its last three games.

    “It is frustrating for sure,” said Blades head coach Dean Brockman. “It is disappointing. It is frustrating.

    “You can use a lot of different words to describe it. Really, it is all about lessons. For some of the younger guys that get into this position where you need wins and you need to win games at this time of the year it is a great experience for them.”

Pats captain Adam Brooks works magic in the offensive zone.

    Brockman said the Pats have a team that is at a more advanced stage than his side.

    “They’ve got how many wins for a reason, and they won the league for a reason,” said Brockman. “Certainly, they should have that ability to get to that level.

    “We are close to being out of the playoffs, so I mean certainly it is the tale of two different teams for sure.”

    The Pats return to action Wednesday, when they host the Broncos at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.

    The Blades return home to host the Prince Albert Raiders (20-43-5-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

    “Whatever happens, we have to play hard in front of our home fans – give them something to come out to,” said Shynkaruk. “(We need to) finish the season hard.”

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