Pats’ Bedard, ex-factor Shantz too much for Blades

Regina takes Game 1 of first round series 6-1

Connor Bedard (#98) celebrates his first of two goals on Friday.

Connor Bedard showed he has the heart of Adam Brooks, Sam Steel, Austin Wagner, Josh Mahura, Connor Hobbs and Tyler Brown.

The Regina Pats 17-year-old phenom centre recorded a pair of goals, one assist and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus category to a power his squad to a 6-1 victory over the Saskatoon Blades in Game 1 of a best-of-seven first round WHL Playoff series. The result came to the disappointment to most of the 10,265 spectators at the SaskTel Centre outside of the sizable contingent of Pats fans who showered their team with cheers and salutes at game’s end.

When the dust settled on Game 1, Pats all-time great head coach and general manager John Paddock reflected on Bedard’s play in comparison to the crew of Brooks, Steel, Wagner, Mahura, Hobbs and Brown that helped the Pats top the WHL regular season standings in 2016-17 with a 52-12-7-1 record and advance to the WHL Championship series falling in six games to the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Blades C Jayden Wiens, left, battles Pats C Connor Bedard for the puck.

This season, the Pats finished sixth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 34-30-3-1 record well back of the Blades, who finished fourth overall in the WHL with a 48-15-4-1 mark and are rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

“His (Bedard’s) individual play,” said Paddock. “We’re a young team.

“Him and (Tanner) Howe, those guys are 17-years-old. When Sam (Steel) was 17 Brooksy (Adam Brooks) was 19, and they threw a scare in Red Deer (in the second round of the 2016 WHL Playoffs) when they were hosting (the Memorial Cup). Our team was building.

Connor Bedard works with the puck deep in the offensive zone.

“This is a different situation, but on an individual player basis, there is nobody close to Connor (Bedard). Those guys were great players, but on an individual basis, it isn’t even close.”

Bedard was humbled to hear about Paddock’s kind words at the end of Friday’s game in comparison to the Pats star players that powered the franchise to the 2017 WHL Championships Series. The North Vancouver, B.C., product added he just made his post-season debut and that group accomplished some special things in the post-season.

“It is great, but I’ve only played one game in the playoffs,” said Bedard, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 185 pounds. “They, obviously, helped take their team to the final.

Stanislav Svozil had a goal and assist for the Pats.

“I don’t want to compare myself to anyone or look at that. Obviously, we have a rich history, and they are a big part of it so I don’t want to compare myself to anyone. It is nice that I am hearing my name with those guys that are great players and great Pats obviously.

“Like I said, I’m not here to compare myself to anyone. We have a goal here, and we want to kind of do something like they did.”

The Pats held a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes, when the Blades held the edge in territorial play holding a 23-12 edge in shots on goal. The wheels then fell off for the host side in the third.

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne thought his side wasn’t desperate enough on Friday and needed to find another level of play. He was asked about how Blades all-time great head coach and general manager Lorne Molleken, who guided Saskatoon WHL Championship appearances in 1992 and 1994, used to say it takes a special will to win in the playoffs, and Sonne said that was where he was going.

Zackary Shantz scored the Pats first goal on Friday.

“That is exactly what he (Molleken) was talking about in my opinion what was missing,” said Sonne. “How were our rebound battles at their net?

“Did we dig in on those second opportunities? We’re all three guys buzzing in the offensive zone, or was one guy kind of by himself way too much. Were we all three guys working across the rink to recover pucks in the offensive zone?

“When we use the word desperate like Lorne (Molleken) is and like I am right now, that is what that means. That is when I say we have another level that is what I mean.”

The teams came out and played a feeling out type opening 20 minutes, where the Blades held a 10-8 edge in shots on goal.

Alexander Suzdalev had an assist for the Pats.

In the first, the Blades got a great scoring chance early, but left-winger Jake Chiasson and robbed close in at the right side of the Regina net by Pats netminder Drew Sim. Late in the opening frame, Sim stoned Blades star centre Trevor Wong close in at the right side of the Regina net.

The Pats best chance to score in the first came about seven minutes into the frame. Bedard fed a pass to the front of the Saskatoon goal to left-winger Riley Ginnell. Ginnell fired a shot from close in and was stoned by Blades netminder Austin Elliott.

At the 4:11 mark of the second, the Pats jumped ahead 1-0 from an unlikely source. Pats star import defenceman Stanislav Svozil sprung rookie centre Zackary Shantz in alone on the Saskatoon goal.

Riley Ginnell scored nine seconds into the third period.

Shantz roofed home a shot to the top right corner of the Blades net to give the visitors a 1-0 edge. The tally was Shantz’s first career WHL goal in either the regular season or the post-season. The Pats fourth line forward unit of Shantz, left-winger Brayden Barnett and right-winger Jaxsin Vaughan had a strong outing on Friday.

“He (Shantz) has a fair amount of skill, but he got hurt early and he got a really bad collarbone break,” said Paddock. “He was out for like 15 weeks with it.

“It (Shantz’s goal) was nice in that way, and it was big. Sometimes that is what happens in playoffs or any time. Some sort of unsung hero comes up big, but I thought Barnett and Vaughan played strong games on the walls and finished checks.”

Drew Sim made 27 saves for the Pats on Friday.

With 6:48 remaining in the second, Bedard went to work. Entering the Blades zone on a rush down the right wing, Bedard was being hooked down by Blades defenceman Ben Saunderson, but the Pats centre still fired a shot home to the top left corner of the Saskatoon net to give the visitors a 2-0 edge.

As short time later, Bedard had two good scoring chances on the same shift. He was stopped on a rush down the right wing, but he collected the puck in the left corner of the Saskatoon zone behind the icing line. Bedard tried to bank the puck in off Elliott, but the Blades managed to keep the puck out of their net.

Just nine seconds into the third, Ginnell netted the Pats third goal to extend their advantage to 3-0 banking home a long shoot in off a stanchion into the net.

Lukas Hansen had the Blades lone goal on Friday.

The Blades responded 22 seconds later when left-winger Lukas Hansen, who turned 18-years-old in February, tallied on a spin-around shot from the left slot to cut the Pats lead to 3-1.

Right before the 10-minute mark of the third, Svozil put a dagger in the Blades comeback hopes. Holding the puck deep in the left side of the Blades zone, Svozil fired home a bad angle shot to the top right corner of the Saskatoon goal to give the Pats a 4-1 lead. Bedard and star import right-winger Alexander Suzdalev picked up assists on Svozil’s tally.

Following Svozil’s tally, Bedard proceeded to add another highlight with 6:33 remaining in the third. He broke down the left wing in the Saskatoon zone, cut in between two Blades defencemen, crossed the front of the Saskatoon goal and roofed home a shot to the top right corner of the net to increase the visitor’s advantage to 5-1.

The Pats celebrate an empty-net goal from Tye Spencer, right.

Tye Spencer rounded out the game’s scoring with an empty-net goal with 2:31 remaining in the third.

Austin Elliott turned away 19-of-24 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades. Kelton Pyne stopped 27 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pats.

Game 2 of the series is set for Sunday at 4 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Bedard said he is aware of the historical sports rivalry between Regina and Saskatoon including how it extends to football with the University of Regina Rams taking on the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in U Sports and the Regina Thunder tangling with the Saskatoon Hilltops in the CJFL. He knows the Pats and Blades have had their battles in the past, and with the two sides now having played each other four times since the start of March, Bedard thinks the intensity in the series is going to pick up.

Blades RW Egor Sidorov, left, and Pats C Tanner Howe trade words.

“It has been fun to play in these games,” said Bedard, who led the WHL in regular season scoring with 143 points coming off 71 goals and 72 assists to go with a plus-39 rating. “Obviously, they are a really good hockey team.

“We feel we are that too. I think just getting to play them so much, and obviously, seeing them in the first round, it is kind of cool how the schedule played out with that. You learn how to play against each other, and obviously that kind of hatred grows.

“It is going to be an intense series, and it is going to be tight.”

Before the Blades get into the rivalry aspect with the Pats, Sonne wants his team to focus on playing at a playoff intensity and energy level in Game 2.

The Pats celebrate their win on Friday night.

“You have to make it happen too,” said Sonne. “I thought we were clinical.

“I thought we structured and all that stuff. We have to get to that next gear, which is a playoff gear. I just didn’t think we were there enough.

“It is one game of a seven game series. Just like in the regular season, we learn and adjust and come at them for Game 2.”

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