Pats’ Bedard sinks Raiders

Phenom 16-year-old centre nets winner 24 seconds into OT

Connor Bedard, left, enjoys scoring the Pats OT winner.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Connor Bedard might have become public enemy number one in “Hockey Town North.”

On Friday night, the 16-year-old phenom centre netted the winning goal 24 seconds into overtime to deliver his Regina Pats to a 5-4 WHL regular season victory over the host Prince Albert Raiders. Following the goal, Bedard gave off a bit of a swagger like celebration to the dislike of the standing room crowd of 2,962 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre.

Following the contest, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid wasn’t happy his squad lost track of Bedard in the extra session along with committing a number of other errors in the contest.

The Raiders won the faceoff to start overtime and got the puck deep into the offensive zone. At that point, the puck was turned over on a bad pass and Bedard streaked coast-to-coast down the right wing with the puck on a two-on-one rush.

Connor Bedard speeds down the ice on his winning goal rush.

Bedard skated in close to the Prince Albert net and roofed the winner and his 30^th tally of the season to the top left corner of the goal.

“It was disappointing,” said Habscheid. “We got caught on the wrong side of the puck.

“We talked about when he is out there. You have to be careful. You have to be on the right side of the puck, and we got caught on the wrong side to create a two-on-one with a 16-year-old who is a pretty good player.

“It ended up in our net not surprising, but it didn’t start there. It started in their end. We got a little bit greedy, and we paid for it.”

Connor Bedard picked up an assist on the Pats third period goal.

The Raiders entered the third period holding a 4-3 advantage but weren’t able to close out the contest defensively. With 4:31 remaining in the third, Bedard rushed down the right wing and took a shot on goal from a bad angle.

The shot rebounded to the front of the Prince Albert goal to Pats centre Cole Carrier. Carrier popped home his 14^th of the season for the equalizer to make the score 4-4.

The fact that Pats evened the score on a juicy rebound goal on top of losing track of Bedard in overtime made the setback that much more frustrating for the Raiders.

“I thought we played hard for most of the game,” said Raiders captain Reece Vitelli. “It was tough to let that one slip.”

Cole Carrier scored in the third period to force overtime.

The Raiders got out to a strong start scoring 69 seconds into the first period. Raiders left-winger Sloan Stanick jetted into the offensive zone down the right wing and slipped a pass across the front of the Regina goal to linemate Cale Sanders, who popped home his 11^th of the season.

The Pats evened things up at 1-1 just under five minutes later when defenceman Layton Feist rushed with the puck coast-to-coast down the right wing and wired home a shot to the top left corner of the Prince Albert goal. Feist’s tally was off Regina’s first shot on goal of the contest.

With 5:46 remaining in the opening frame, the Raiders jumped back in front 2-1, when right-winger Carson Latimer scored off a net scramble.

Landon Kosior scored twice on the power play for the Raiders.

The Pats came out with all sorts of fire to start the second period and jumped ahead 3-2 at the 7:02 mark of the frame with goals from Borya Valis and Tanner Howe. Valis tallied with the teams playing four-versus-four hockey, while Howe, who is 16-year-old left-winger from Prince Albert, scored with a point shot with the teams playing at even strength.

Before the second period ended, the Raiders jumped back in front 4-3 with a pair of power-play goals coming off the stick of offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior. Kosior drove home both his goals from the left slot while playing left wing.

He converted tick-tack-toe passing plays on both tallies with the first marker coming off a five-on-three situation and the second goal on a five-on-four advantage.

Tikhon Chaika made 31 saves in goal for the Raiders.

The five-on-three situation was created when Bedard received a minor penalty for checking from behind with a Pats player already in the penalty box.

Kosior said his Raiders felt they were in a good spot after he netted his power-play goals.

“I think after those we knew we were up, so we all kind of thought we’d play defence and we had a good chance of winning,” said Kosior. “It was just unfortunate that we weren’t able to pull through with it.”

Near the start of the third period, Raiders right-winger Carson Latimer had a golden chance to net and insurance goal for the host side, but he was turned away by Pats netminder Drew Sim.

Carson Latimer had a goal for the Raiders on Friday.

That set the stage for the Pats to rally for the overtime victory.

Tikhon Chaika turned away 31 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Raiders (17-25-2-1). Sim stopped 22 shots to pick up the win in net for the Pats (18-23-1-1).

The Pats were without head coach and general manager John Paddock for a second straight game for undisclosed reasons. Assistant coach Brad Herauf ran the Pats bench as head coach.

The Raiders return to action on Saturday when they host the Moose Jaw Warriors (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Pats are back at it on Monday when they host the Swift Current Broncos (2 p.m., Brandt Centre).

The Pats celebrate their overtime victory on Friday.

When the Raiders get back at it against the Warriors, Kosior said the focus will be to keep the play in Moose Jaw’s end of the rink.

“I think the biggest thing is just playing some time in their zone,” said Kosior. “I thought in the third period the Pats kind of were in our zone more than we were in theirs.

“We just have to generate momentum by being in their zone.”

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Opportunistic Bedard pushes Pats past Raiders

The Pats celebrate a third period goal from Connor Bedard.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - Prince Albert Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said the most effective way to neutralize Regina Pats phenom centre Connor Bedard is to hide his sticks and skates.

Habscheid, who is one of the WHL’s all-time coaching greats, was making a joke of course with that statement in a post-game scrum after his Raiders fell to the Pats 3-1 on Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre. The contest opened the WHL regular season for both teams.

Bedard netted Regina’s first and third goals on the night.

Still, Habscheid, who got play with the Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers for a short time in the 1980s, had to give props and marvel at what Bedard could do.

Connor Bedard (#98) fires home his first period goal on Friday.

The bench boss thought his club did a good job in containing Bedard, but the 16-year-old North Vancouver, B.C., product cashed in on his limited chances when they came to disappoint most of the 2,578 spectators in attendance at the 2,580 seat rink.

“He (Bedard) is a good player, but I thought we did a good job,” said Habscheid, whose team still has four key players away attending NHL training camps. “He was opportunistic tonight.

“I thought we did a good job with him. He had the one chance, and it was a good shot on the first one. On the second one, it was in tight, and he just makes some good plays.

Carter Serhyenko made 36 saves Friday for the Raiders.

“Our penalty kill was good against him. Five on five for the most part I thought we did a good job. When he gets a chance, he can score.”

Bedard capitalized on his first good chance to score in the contest at the 5:37 mark of the first period. He took a zone entry pass from linemate Zack Smith, skated into the Prince Albert zone and wired a shot to the top left corner of the Raiders goal.

Bedard, who stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 181 pounds, thought that quick start set a good tone for his side as the Pats would outshoot the Raiders 39-22 in the contest.

“I thought we came our really hard,” said Bedard. “Obviously, we wanted that first one.

Raiders RW Zachary Wilson, left, and Pats C Drew Englot battle it out.

“That is a really good team, and I thought we were able to outplay them.”

The Pats extended their edge to 2-0 with 1:36 remaining in the opening frame when veteran centre Drew Englot, who turns 19-years-old later this month, slid home an on-ice shot past Raiders netminder Carter Serhyenko, who faced 13 shots in the first 20 minutes.

The Raiders came out with a lot more fire in the second. Just before midway point of the frame, the Raiders were awarded a penalty shot when left-winger Evan Herman had a clear break to the Regina goal and was hauled down by Pats defenceman Layton Feist from behind.

Raiders LW Evan Herman got stopped on a penalty shot chance.

On the penalty shot, Herman performed a few stickhandling moves before snapping a shot that was turned away by Pats netminder Matthew Kieper.

The Raiders broke through on the scoreboard at the 11:33 mark of the second when right-winger Cale Sanders sprung left-winger Keaton Sorensen with a smart pass in alone on the Regina goal. Sorensen slid a backhander past Kieper to cut the Pats lead to 2-1.

The 19-year-old veteran forward was pumped to help turn the momentum in favour of the host side with his goal.

“We had a good shift there,” said Sorensen. “We took care of the defensive zone, and we got rewarded.

Keaton Sorensen sets to slide home a backhander for the Raiders.

“I got a nice pass by Sandy (Sanders) there, and I was lucky enough to finish her.”

Just moments after that tally, Raiders left-winger Ethan Ironside had a golden chance to even things up, but he rang a shot from the left wing boards off the post of the Regina goal.

Sorensen said it would have helped his squad to finished a couple of other chances in the second.

“You can’t really win games without shots, so I think we just had to get some more pucks to the net,” said Sorensen. “I would have been nice to pop a couple of more and finish some other chances.”

Ethan Ironside rang a shot off the post in the second period.

The Pats dominated the contest territorially in the third period.  With 8:44 remaining in the frame, Bedard fired home a key insurance goal through a screen midrange from the front of the Prince Albert goal to put the Pats up 3-1.

The Raiders got on the power play with the 2:04 remaining in the third and applied intense pressure during that time in the Regina zone. Prince Albert created a couple of net scramble scoring opportunities but wasn’t able to put the puck in the back of the Regina net.

Kieper stopped 21 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pats. Carter Serhyenko turned away36 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders.

Pats defenceman Ryker Evans picked up two assists in the win.

Ryker Evans had two assists for the Pats on Friday.

The Pats weren’t able to score on any of their four power-play chances, while the Raiders failed to score on their one opportunity with the man advantage.

Bedard was pleased his squad was able to start their regular season with a win.

“It is definitely nice,” said Bedard. “I think we just have to carry it over with such a short turnaround too.

“Obviously, you know there are 67 more games. We have lots of hockey left obviously, but it was definitely nice to get that first one.”

The two sides go at it again on Saturday at 1 p.m. Saskatchewan time at the Brandt Centre in Regina in a contest that will be shown live on CBC.

A mad scramble occurs around the Pats net late in the third period.

Bedard said the short turnaround will be challenging, but it both sides are going through that turnaround together.

“I think it is going to be not easy for everyone, but everyone is in the same boat,” said Bedard. “Obviously, we get home and get to bed and then obviously do what we can to prepare ourselves as well as we can.”

Looking to Saturday’s encounter, Habscheid doesn’t think his side will have a problem getting up for that clash noting it is on national TV.

“The bus leaves at 6:15 tomorrow morning, so it is an unusual game,” said Habscheid. “These kids get a chance to play on CBC.

The Pats celebrate their win on Friday night.

“For some of these guys, that is maybe a once in a lifetime thing, so I don’t think they will have a problem loading the bus or being on the bus at 6:15 to travel four hours to play on CBC from coast to coast.”

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