Mahura pulls out huge comeback win for Pats

Regina ties WHL title series with Thunderbirds 1-1

The Regina Pats pile on top of Josh Mahura after he scores his OT winner.

    REGINA – Josh Mahura’s playoff savvy showed through for the Regina Pats.

    The third-year rearguard showed why the Pats decide to acquire him in a WHL trade deadline deal with the Red Deer Rebels back on Jan. 10. The 18-year-old St. Albert product missed all but two games of last year’s regular season with the Rebels due to a serious knee injury.

    He returned to be a key contributor to the Rebels run to the WHL Eastern Conference championship series and a semifinal appearance as the host squad in the Memorial Cup tournament.

    On Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 6,484 spectators at the Brandt Centre, Mahura was the key figure in powering the Regina Pats to a 4-3 comeback victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds in Game 2 of the WHL Championship series. With the win, the Pats tie the best-of-seven set 1-1.

Josh Mahura scored twice for the Pats on Saturday night.

    The Thunderbirds built a 3-1 lead early in the second period scoring three times in a span of 56 seconds.
    To make matters worse for the host side, the Pats were without captain Adam Brooks with an undisclosed injury after he received a crunching open ice hit from Thunderbirds defenceman Turner Ottenbreit in Seattle’s 2-1 overtime victory in Game 1 on Friday.

    After going ahead 3-1 on Saturday, the visitors were controlling the game at that point, but they gave the Pats a chance to get back into the contest taking three successive penalties in the second half of the second frame.

    Working on the power play with 1:25 to play in the second, Mahura tapped home a loose puck at the right side of the Seattle goal during a net scramble to cut the Thunderbirds lead to 3-2. That effort turned out to the cue the comeback.

Pats D Josh Mahura (#5) defends against Thunderbirds C Mathew Barzal.

    At the 5:20 mark of the third, Pats import left-winger Filip Ahl stole the puck from a Thunderbirds defenceman and scored on a turnaround shot to tie things up a 3-3.

    When the contest proceeded to go to overtime, the Pats caught another break, when Thunderbirds right-winger Keegan Kolesar took a minor kneeing penalty behind the play on Pats defenceman Connor Hobbs.

    On the ensuing power play, Mahura blasted home the winner at the 5:22 mark of the extra session to deliver the Pats to victory.

    “We knew we needed to win tonight, and that was the bottom line,” said Mahara. “When it went in, it was like a sigh of relief for not just me but the whole team.

    “We needed to tie the series up here at home.”

Keegan Kolesar took a costly penalty in overtime.

    Last year, Mahura, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 185 pounds, ate up huge minutes playing the back end for the Rebels in the post-season. When he arrived in Regina via trade, he instantly gave the Pats more depth on their backend with his ability to play both ends of the ice.

    In 73 games this past regular season with both the Rebels and Pats, the third round 2016 NHL Entry Draft selection of the Anaheim Ducks piled up 17 goals, 36 assists and a plus-17 rating in the plus-minus department.

    “We made a big trade for a reason,” said Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock. “He is one of the top defencemen in the league.

    “He is part of our first four defenceman which I think is big for our team. We got him for this year, and we got him for next year.”

    The Pats gained a rearguard who has loads of playoff experience, which is key to helping counter the experience contained in the Thunderbirds, who returned 14 skaters from last year’s squad that appeared in the WHL championship series loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

    Coming from the Rebels, the Pats also gained a player in Mahura who has a team-first mentality. That showed when he was asked how good it was to come through in big moments for the Pats in the post-game media conference.

Alexander True (#16) was pumped after putting Seattle up 3-1.

    “You are not thinking about yourself or getting goal for yourself,” said Mahara. “You are thinking about getting that win for the guys that have been battling all year for you.”

    The Pats got out to a quick jump in Saturday’s game, when WHL MVP Sam Steel scored 50 seconds into the contest after being on the receiving end of a turnover by a Thunderbirds defenceman. Steel later drew an assist on Mahura’s first goal.

    While the Pats took a 1-0 lead on Steel’s tally, the Thunderbirds experience showed through as they started to carry play in the contest. Early in the second, the Thunderbirds broke through on the scoreboard as Austin Strand, Turner Ottenbreit and Alexander True all netted singles to go ahead 3-1.

    From that point, Pats netminder Tyler Brown slammed the door making 27 saves to pick up the win in goal as Regina battled back. Thunderbirds netminder Carl Stankowski, who is in his 16-year-old rookie season, turned away 22 shots to take the loss in goal for Seattle.

WHL MVP Sam Steel had a goal and an assist in the Pats win.

    With the comeback win, the Pats head into Tuesday’s Game 3 at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash., with momentum. The Thunderbirds, who host Games 3 to 5 of the WHL title series, are already beginning to reset.

    Part of the reset comes from Thunderbirds head coach Steve Konowalchuk having faith in Kolesar, who took the overtime penalty that ultimately cost his side the game. Kolesar missed his team’s series opening win over the Pats on Friday serving a one-game suspension.
    Kolesar was suspended for taking a checking from behind major in Seattle’s Western Conference championship series clinching 3-1 Game 6 victory over the Rockets in Kelowna on April 30.

    As for Kolesar’s penalty in Saturday’s loss, Konowalchuk spoke about the importance of going forward.

The Regiment at the Brandt Centre celebrate the Pats OT victory.

    “You don’t want your player or any player to be in that situation and get a penalty,” said Konowalchuk. “Mistakes happen. We’ll go to battle with Keegan at any time.

    “He’s disappointed for our team. He is an emotional kid. They are kids and that’s part of it.

    “That is part of the process the highs and lows of playoffs. He has to move on, and we have to move on.”

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

Thunderbirds gut out series opening 2-1 overtime win

Pats face an uphill battle losing third straight Game 1

Thunderbirds winger Donovan Neuls celebrates his OT winner.

    REGINA – The Regina Pats seem to like doing things the hard way in the post-season.

    For the third straight series, the Pats, who topped the WHL standings with a 52-12-7-1 mark, dropped an opening Game 1, and this time they face a different obstacle.
    On Friday night in the opening contest in the best-of-seven WHL Championship series, the Pats fell 2-1 in overtime to the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds.

    Just 14 seconds into the extra session, Thunderbirds winger Donovan Neuls knocked home a loose puck in front of the Regina net to send most of a sellout crowd of 6,484 home disappointed.

    Thanks the setback, the Pats will have to fight another uphill battle to pull out a series victory, but this time the challenge is different for the club the was rated first in the final CHL top 10 rankings released on March 22.

Donovan Neuls breaks up ice for the Thunderbirds.

    In the second round of the playoffs, the Pats dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the Swift Current Broncos at home. The Broncos eventually took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven set before the Regina battled back with three straight wins to take the series 4-3 to advance to the WHL Eastern Conference championship series.

    In the opener of the Eastern Conference title series, the Pats again fell on home ice this time by a 3-1 decision to the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Lethbridge took a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven set before the Pats rallied back with three straight wins to claim the series 4-2.

    The Broncos, who posted a 39-23-4-6 mark in the regular season, and the Hurricanes, who had a 44-21-4-3 record in the regular season, were both strong clubs, but both also hadn’t made far ventures in the post-season for some time.
    The Broncos were looking to advance to the conference finals for the first time since 2001 when they fell to the Pats. The Hurricanes were making their first conference final appearance since 2008 when they fell to the Pats.

    Regina is also making its first long run in the playoffs in some time. When the Pats won the conference final, it marked the first time they appeared in the league championship series since 1984.

Ethan Bear had a goal in his return from injury.

    Between 1984 and the current campaign, they only had one other conference final appearance coming back in 1993, when they were swept by the Broncos.

    In the Thunderbirds, the Pats are facing an experienced opponent when it comes to the post-season.

    Seattle made it to last year’s league title series dropping the best-of-seven set 4-1 to the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Thunderbirds dropped three straight overtime games to make things really hard to try and win that set.

    This season, the Thunderbirds returned 14 skaters and posted the league’s fourth best record at 46-20-4-2. You have to think they were heading into the playoffs looking to take care of unfinished business.

    Still, Seattle entered the playoffs with some adversity. They haven’t had the services of star overage goaltender Rylan Toth, who missed the entire post-season with a lower body injury. Carl Stankowski, who in his 16-year-old rookie season, has been spectacular in Toth’s place posting impressive stats in the post-season with a 13-2 record, a 2.39 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.

    He was solid on Friday making 31 stops, which included turning away Pats captain Adam Brooks on a first-period wraparound and stopping speedy Pats winger Austin Wagner on a short-handed breakaway in the third period.

Thunderbirds goalie Carl Stankowski stones Pats centre Braydon Buziak.

    The Pats finally beat Stankowski on a spectacular power-play goal from star offensive-defenceman Connor Hobbs with 7:49 to play. Hobbs snuck in the point and potted a backdoor feed from winger Dawson Leedahl which tied the contest up at 1-1 and eventually forced overtime.

    The Thunderbirds also started the playoffs without spectacular star captain Mathew Barzal with what the team said was an illness. The Thunderbirds said Barzal was being tested for mumps in early March. Barzal missed the Thunderbirds first round series swept of the Tri-City Americans and returned for the start of the Thunderbirds second round series with the Everett Silvertips.

    In 11 post-season games, Barzal has been on fire piling up five goals and 14 assists. He had helpers on both his team’s goals in Game 1 against the Pats.

Connor Hobbs, left, celebrates his game-tying goal for the Pats.

    The Thunderbirds also had questions going into the series opener with Regina as right-winger Keegan Kolesar was sitting out a one-game suspension for receiving a major for checking from behind in Seattle’s Western Conference series clinching 3-1 Game 6 victory over the Rockets in Kelowna on Sunday.

    Ethan Bear, who was named the WHL’s top defenceman, was returning to action after missing three games with a hand injury. The Ochapowace product blew home a power play goal from the top of the faceoff circle at the 4:55 mark of the second period to give Seattle a 1-0 edge and answer questions about his effectiveness.

    On top of all of those obstacles, the Thunderbirds got rid of some demons with regards to losing overtime games in the league title series from a year ago.

    To make matters worse for the Pats, they lost Brooks who was nailed in the open ice after cross the Seattle blue-line by Thunderbirds rugged defenceman Turner Ottenbreit early in the second period when the game was still scoreless. Brooks was held off the ice, had a cut on his head, looked groggy and didn’t return.

Pats captain Adam Brooks is tended to by trainer Greg Mayer.

    In a post-game press conference, Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock compared Ottenbreit’s hit to one thrown by former NHL Hall of Fame defenceman Scott Stevens. Paddock also didn’t give an update on Brooks’s future status.

    On replays, Ottenbreit’s hit appeared clean, and Brooks was at a size disadvantage in the collision, which helped cause the injury. Ottenbreit stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 200 pounds, while Brooks stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 177 pounds.

    The Pats won their second round series against the Broncos with Brooks missing the last five games of that set with a knee injury. He dressed for the last three outings of the series but stayed on the bench.

    Regina netminder Tyler Brown did his best to give the Pats a chance to win on Friday making 24 saves to take the loss in goal.

The Thunderbirds celebrate their overtime victory.

    The Pats now have their backs to the wall against an experienced opponent. They claimed Game 2 at home in both of their series wins against the Broncos and Hurricanes to put themselves in the fight in those sets.

    The pressure is on Regina to repeat recent history in Game 2 against the Thunderbirds on Saturday at 7 p.m. local time at the Brandt Centre before going back for three straight games at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash.

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