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.

Pats paste Broncos in Game 7

Regina gets rolling early and cruises to 5-1 victory

Goalie Tyler Brown and Austin Wagner embrace after the Pats Game 7 win.

    REGINA – The Regina Pats proved to be too much for the Swift Current Broncos to handle, when it became a winner take all situation.

    On Monday night at the Brandt Centre, the Pats hit stride scoring two goals before Game 7 of their best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Broncos was even five minutes old.  
    With a raucous sellout crowd of 6,484 fans behind them, the Pats steamrolled to a 5-1 victory.

    The win allowed the Pats, who were playing their first Game 7 at home in 45 years, to erase a 3-1 series deficit to win the set 4-3. Regina also advanced to the Eastern Conference championship series for the first time since 1993.

Sam Steel had two big goal for the Pats in Game 7.

    Finishing first overall in the WHL with a 52-12-7-1 record and being rated first in the final Canadian Hockey League top 10 rankings that came out on March 22, the Pats were big favourites to beat the Broncos.

    Swift Current posted a solid 39-23-4-6 record during the regular season and gave the Pats all they could handle.

    When the dust settled, Pats star centre Sam Steel, who paced his side with a pair of goals, was pumped his club pulled off the comeback in the series.

    “We showed a lot of character,” said Steel, who was a first round NHL Entry Draft selection of the Anaheim Ducks last year. “I am really proud of the guys.

    “I don’t think we have a lot of doubt in there. We’re really happy to come out on the right side of this series. You learn that you are never out of it,”

Import winger Filip Ahl (#61) wins a battle in the corner for the Pats.

    Steel struck for his first of the night popping home a rebound from a shot taken by linemate Nick Henry to give the Pats a 1-0 lead just 2:19 into the game. Pats import winger Filip Ahl followed that up with a breakaway goal at the 4:57 mark of the first period to send the Regina faithful into a frenzy and force the Broncos to call a timeout.

    Swift Current did have an opportunity to get back into the contest closing out the final nine minutes of the opening frame with three power-play chances. Pats netminder Tyler Brown stoned Broncos star winger Tyler Steenbergen on a golden opportunity in close and robbed Broncos import rearguard Artyom Minulin with a huge glove save on a rocket shot through a screen from the point.

Rearguard Connor Hobbs had three assists in the Pats win.

    Broncos head coach and director of player personnel Manny Viveiros said his side needed to pick up some traction at that juncture of the contest.

    “I thought if we could have capitalized on a couple of power plays that we had in the first period we could have changed things,” said Viveiros. “We simply just didn’t have it tonight for whatever reason.

    “We just didn’t have the game that we normally have throughout this whole series. Against a team like that which is going like that, you have to be at your best. If you are not at your best, you are not going to win.

    “The momentum was just going, and we just couldn’t get out of it. We dug ourselves out of holes throughout these playoffs, but today, we just couldn’t do it.”

    Shortly before the midway point of the second period, Steel bagged his second marker of the contest swatting home a loose puck in the crease of the Swift Current goal during a net scramble to put the hosts up 3-0. Before the second period ended, Pats speedy winger Austin Wagner tipped home a point shot from star offensive defenceman Connor Hobbs to increase Regina’s edge to 4-0.

Jordan Papirny makes one of his 38 saves in goal for the Broncos.

    With 5:27 remaining in the third period, Broncos centre Conner Chaulk scored on the power play to cut Regina’s lead to 4-1. Swift Current pulled star netminder Jordan Papirny for that power play chance to give the visitors six skaters to go against the Pats four skaters.

    Swift Current had another power-play chance with under five minutes to play and again pulled Papirny, but Wagner ended all hopes of a miracle comeback scoring a short-handed marker into an empty net for his second tally of the night.

    Brown made 23 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Pats. Papirny turned away 38-of-42 shots to take the setback in goal for the Broncos.

Nick Henry picked up an assist for the Pats.

    Hobbs had three assists and was a plus-four in the plus-minus department for the home side.

    Last year, the Pats fell in Game 7 of a WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series 2-1 to the Rebels in Red Deer.

    This year, Brown was proud his team could rally from a 3-1 series deficit and advance to the conference championship series.

    “We knew we weren’t ready to go home yet,” said Brown. “We knew we could do it.

    “We persevered as best we can. It was a real fun series.

    “There was a lot of energy in the building, and that does maybe play a factor in the game. It was real good out there.”

    The Pats will host Game 1 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference championships series on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre. They will face the winner of Game 7 of the other Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Medicine Hat Tigers and Lethbridge Hurricanes.
    The Tigers and Hurricanes go at it in that Game 7 on Tuesday at 7 p.m. local time at the Canalta Centre in Medicine Hat.

    Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock said his team will face a tough opponent in the conference final.

The Pats faithful celebrate during the final seconds of a Game 7 win.

    Looking at what his team accomplished, Paddock did admit it was significant for the Pats to finally go back to the conference championship series for the first time in 24 years.

    “I think for the organization it is important to go for it and have a run when you have an opportunity to,” said Paddock. “The organization probably understands you can’t do this every year, but you don’t fall very far.

    “I think a goal would be for it to be a habit within every three or four years, (or) two or three years to advance and have the seats full.”

Brooks the good luck charm

Injured Pats captain Adam Brooks mans the door on his team’s bench.

    Injured captain Adam Brooks proved to be a good-luck charm for the Pats.

    The overage Winnipeg product suffered a knee injury in the Pats win in Game 2 over the Broncos. With Regina trailing Swift Current 3-1 in the best-of-seven set, Brooks dressed for the final three games of the series, but he didn’t see any on ice action.

    With Brooks as a cheerleader and door bench opener, the Pats won three straight with him on the bench. Due to the fact Brooks is in his final season of major junior eligibility, Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock felt Brooks deserved to be in uniform, if the Pats were eliminated.

    The gesture was a classy one by Paddock towards one of the team’s heart-and-soul members for the past five seasons. In five complete WHL campaigns, Brooks appeared in 317 regular season games collecting 119 goals, 216 assists and a plus-89 rating in the plus-minus department.

    Brooks has 14 goals, 26 assists and a plus-11 rating in 34 post-season games. The playoff games played total includes the three outing Brooks dressed, but didn’t see the ice.

    With the Pats and Broncos often cutting down to three forward lines during their series, it didn’t hurt to have Brooks just hanging out on the bench with what is basically a spare parts fourth line.

    On the superstition side, the Pats are winning when Brooks is on the bench, so they might as well keep doing it.

    Now that Regina has advanced, it is possible Brooks might return at some point in the Eastern Conference championship series.

Regina should be blue, white and red

It would be cool if Regina was painted more in Pats colours.

    With the Pats creating a lot of excitement with their post-season runs over the last three years, you would think the team’s colours would be all over the place in Regina.

    Outside of a sprinkling of signs, that isn’t the case. Actually, you don’t see a lot of people out and about wearing Pats merchandise like you do the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders.

    Pretty much the only place you can purchase Pats merchandise or clothing is at the Pats store at the Brandt Centre.
    The team, which has sold out 20 games between the regular season and playoffs, has a lot of good gear at its store.

    Due to business hang ups, I can see the problem with red tape in getting Pats gear out to local stores.
    Still with how popular the Pats are in Saskatchewan’s capital city, it would be nice if the town was painted blue, white and red.

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

Pats lunch pail effort forces Game 7 with Broncos

Pats winger Dawson Leedahl (#71) muscles his way out of a crowd.

    SWIFT CURRENT – The Regina Pats became the lunch pail crew to stay alive in the post-season.

    Having finished first overall in the WHL regular season 52-12-7-1 mark and being rated first in the final CHL top ten rankings released on March 22, the Pats are commonly pictured as a team that wins on finesse. On Saturday night at the Credit Union i-Plex in Swift Current against the host Broncos, the Pats didn’t abandon their skill.

    With that said, their greasy goals of just diving to the net proved to be the difference in a 5-3 victory in Game 6 of a WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Pats, who trailed the best-of-seven set 3-1 at one time, evened the series up at 3-3. A winner take all Game 7 is set for Monday at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.

Austin Wagner had two goals and an assist for the Pats.

    The Pats hit the scoreboard first at the 7:24 mark of the first period, when standout winger Austin Wagner scored on a shift where his club buzzed around the Broncos net. The Broncos evened things up at 1-1 heading into the first intermission on a goal from Russian defenceman Artyom Minulin.

    The host side proceeded to jump ahead 3-1 with two early goals to open the second period. Just 29 seconds into the frame, winger Arthur Miller knocked home the rebound of a shot from Broncos captain Glenn Gawdin to put Swift Current up 2-1.

    At the 2:27 mark, Gawdin converted a nifty setup pass from winger Tyler Steenbergen to put the Broncos up 3-1 and the sellout crowd of 2,890 almost blew the roof off the team’s home rink.

    For the longest time, it appeared the Broncos were going to advance to the WHL’s Eastern Conference championship series for the first time since 2001. They were sent reeling after the Pats scored twice inside of the final 90 seconds of the second to force a 3-3 tie.

Winger Filip Ahl zips into the offensive zone for the Pats.

    With 1:24 to play in the frame, Pats star centre Sam Steel fed a setup pass across the face of the Broncos goal to pinching rearguard Josh Mahura, who popped home the puck to cut the Broncos lead to 3-2. Regina tied the score up at 3-3 with 25 seconds to play in the second, when centre Wyatt Sloboshan tipped home a point shot from Mahura.

    The Pats continued to jump on the Broncos early in the third. Just 75 seconds into the frame, Wagner scored his second goal of the night by just driving hard to the net. At the 5:48 mark, Swedish winger Filip Ahl added a greasy insurance goal to put the Pats up 5-3.

    In between those Regina tallies, the Broncos had a chance to get the momentum back in their favour, but Swift Current centre Kaden Elder ended up ripping a shot off the crossbar of the Pats goal.

Pats centre Wyatt Sloboshan (#13) forechecks Broncos rearguard Max Lajoie.

    After the Pats vaulted ahead by two goals, they proceeded to sit back defensively and were successful in closing out the contest. Netminder Tyler Brown was steady in the Regina net making 34 stops to pick up the win.

    Jordan Papirny turned away 23 shots to take the loss in goal for the Broncos.

    The Pats needed to resort to a more greasy effort as captain Adam Brooks dressed but was limited to cheering on his teammates and opening the door on the bench for a second straight game. Brooks hasn’t seen a shift since being on the receiving end of a knee-on-knee hit in his team’s victory in Game 2 of their series with the Broncos.

The Pats celebrate Austin Wagner’s goal in the first period.

    Regina’s on ice chemistry seemed to have taken a step up when Ahl returned for their victory in Game 5 after missing three contests to undergo tests for the mumps.

    For the second straight contest, Sloboshan took Brooks’ regular spot centring a line that contains Ahl on left wing and Wagner on right wing. Everyone on that unit was a plus-four in the plus-minus department.

    Sloboshan, who is a former captain of the Saskatoon Blades, has mainly played a defensive forward role with the Pats, but he arguably had his best outing wearing Regina’s colours on Saturday night. Besides collecting a couple of assists to go along with his goal, Sloboshan was tough in the faceoff circle and came in hard on the forecheck.

Glenn Gawdin had a goal and two assists for the Broncos.

    Wagner had an assist to go along with his two goals, while Ahl had a pair of helpers.

    The Broncos, who were 39-23-4-6 in the regular season, were without star winger Lane Pederson, who left the first period of his team’s loss in Game 5 due to injury. His status for Game 7 is likely uncertain.

    Heading into Game 7, the Pats now look poised to make their first appearance in the WHL’s Eastern Conference championship series since 1993. In order to succeed in playoffs, teams will have to find gutty ways to win at times, and the Pats have done that for two straight games.

    If the Pats put on a gritty effort for a third straight contest, they will increase their chances of advancing. On the other side, the Broncos aren’t going away, so there are no guarantees on how Game 7 will play out. 

    The drama in how that contest unfolds should be fun to watch.

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

Pats pound Broncos 6-2 in Game 2 of second round series

Victory comes with uncertainty on the injury front

The Regina Pats celebrate Austin Wagner’s second period goal.

    REGINA – The Regina Pats potted the greasy goals to get back on even terms with the Swift Current Broncos.

    On Friday night in Game 2 of a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Pats trailed the Broncos 2-1 after the first period, surged for three goals in the second and cruised to a 6-2 victory. The win before a mostly ecstatic sellout crowd of 6,484 spectators at the Brandt Centre evened the series up at 1-1.

    The Broncos took Game 1 of the series with a 2-1 overtime victory in Regina on Thursday night. Game 3 is set for Monday at 7 p.m. at the Credit Union i-Plex in Swift Current.

    The Game 2 victory was potentially a costly one for the Pats, who finished first overall in the WHL’s regular season standings. Pats captain Adam Brooks left the game in the first period due to injury, and import left-winger Filip Ahl didn’t play in Friday’s contest after originally being listed as good to go in the lineups handed out to scouts and media.

Adam Brooks left Friday’s game due to injury.

    Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock didn’t have a status update on either player after the game.

    As for the game itself, Paddock was pleased his team battled through momentum swings to come out on top.

    “I thought more so than the regular season that was playoff hockey,” said Paddock. “There were ebbs and flows. There is momentum, and then somebody gets it back or somebody loses it.

    “I think that is just going to happen, because you are not out there by yourselves. The opposition has a say in it.

    “We got good performances from every guy. Guys stepped up and played good.”

    Brooks was actually lost on the Pats first goal. The Winnipeg product took a hit from behind, but managed to spring defenceman Dawson Davidson and left-winger Jonathan Smart into the offensive zone on a break. Smart potted his first goal of the playoffs to give the Pats a 1-0 edge just before the midway point of the first period.

    After getting up from being hit from behind, Brooks immediately skated off to the Pats dressing room.

    The Broncos replied with a pair of power-play goals to go into the first intermission holding a 2-1 lead. Defenceman Max Lajoie scored on a point blast, and star winger Tyler Steenbergen slipped home the go-ahead goal from the side of the Regina net to give the visitors the lead.

Left-winger Tyler Steenbergen gave the Broncos a short-lived lead

    The Pats came out flying in the second, when star offensive defenceman Connor Hobbs blasted home a point shot to even the score at 2-2 just 43 seconds into the frame. At the 6:08 mark of the second, the Pats went ahead 3-2 scoring another power-play goal, but this tally came on a net scramble that ended when right-winger Adam Henry banged home a loose puck in the crease of the Swift Current goal.

    Regina’s lead expanded to 4-2 before the second period ended, when right-winger Austin Wagner potted a tally after receiving the puck on a giveaway by a Broncos defenceman.

    Hobbs said his side never lost confidence despite being down on the scoreboard after the first period.

    “You just look around the room, and you see the determination in the boys’ eyes and it kind of sparks you,” said Hobbs. “I thought we built off a great power play to start the second.

    “Things just went well for us. It was exactly what we wanted to do tonight.”

Connor Hobbs paced the Pats with a goal and an assist.

    Rookie left-winger Robbie Holmes scored 90 seconds into the third period to put the Pats up 5-2. Wagner rounded out the game’s scoring potting his second of the contest into an empty net with 5:15 to play in the frame. The Calgary product took a high stick to the month from Lajoie on the play, but came away unscathed.

    Broncos head coach and general manager Manny Viveiros said the Pats were better team on Friday night.

    “We just weren’t there at the same level as we were (Thursday) night in the second and third period and overtime,” said Viveiros, whose Broncos were playing their ninth playoff game in 15 days. “We made a lot of mistakes today that were uncharacteristic of us during the playoffs so far.

    “We took way too many penalties against Regina. We turned a lot of pucks over also too and gave then a lot of momentum as far as scoring opportunities and goals.

    “Regina just flat out beat us tonight. We weren’t like our normal selves here.”

Star centre Sam Steel (#23) muscles out of the corner for the Pats.

  Jordan Papirny, who made 53 saves for the Broncos in their Game 1 overtime win on Thursday, turned away 34-of-39 shots to take the loss in goal for the Broncos on Friday night.

    Tyler Brown turned away 15 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pats. Pats star centre Sam Steel picked up a pair of assists on Friday’s win.

    While the Pats are known for scoring in a finesse fashion, Wagner was pumped to get on even terms with the Broncos due to the fact his side piled up greasy tallies.

    “The goals, they weren’t the nicest, but they were in our favour,” said Wagner. “It was a good team win.”

    “He (Papirny) is a good goalie, but there were a lot of rebounds sitting in the slot there. We capitalized on our chances.

    “We know that we can score goals when we need to. Guys that don’t usually score goals scored goals tonight, and that is what you need in playoffs. It was good to see some of those guys scoring.”

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

Pats pound Prince Albert

“Queen City Kids” light up Raiders 12-2

Sergey Zborovskiy (#2) and Rykr Cole (#22) celebrate a Pats goal.

    REGINA – Mini-slump. What mini-slump?

    The Regina Pats were hitting on all cylinders on Saturday night, and it spelled doom for the visiting Prince Albert Raiders. Overage Pats captain Adam Brooks roofed a goal home to the top left corner of the Prince Albert net just 63 seconds in, and the hosts poured it on from there.

    When the dust settled, the Pats came away with a 12-2 blowout victory, where they held a dominant 47-16 edge in shots on goal before 5,749 spectators at the Brandt Centre.

    Entering Saturday’s game, the Pats had lost three of their last five games, which included a 3-2 overtime setback in their last outing on Nov. 26 to the Rockets in Kelowna.

    Those struggles were left in the dust against the Raiders as the Pats improved to 18-2-4 and showed they are deserving of being the current top rated team in the Canadian Hockey League’s top 10 rankings. The Raiders, who seemed to be trapped in their own end for much of the contest, fell to 6-21-1 with the loss.

    “I think we played a complete game,” said Pats 17-year-old centre Jake Leschyshyn. “I think (playing) 60 minutes was our goal. We achieved that.

Pats captain Adam Brooks had a big night with two goals and three assists.

    “They are obviously kind of lower in the standings, and I think our challenge was to not take them too lightly. I think we did a good job of that.”

    Leschyshyn continued what has been a stellar sophomore campaign collecting a pair of assists in Saturday’s win to give him 10 goals, 16 assists and a plus-nine rating in the plus-minus category in 24 games.

    His contributions in the romp over Prince Albert seemed to be average on Saturday, when they were compared with some of his teammates.

    Russian defenceman Sergey Zborovskiy had a career night recording two goals, five assists and a plus-eight rating. His offensive outburst allowed the 19-year-old, who is in his third year in the league, to set a new career high for assists in a season at 18.

    He also came up with the game’s key play, when there still might have been doubt about the final outcome.

The Pats storm the Raiders goal.

    After the Pats took a 3-0 lead, Raiders Czech import left-winger Simon Stransky potted his 11^th of the season to cut the host’s edge to 3-1 with 2:23 to play in the first.

    The Raiders followed that goal with a trio of energetic shifts.

    The short momentum burst for the visitors came to an end when Zborovskiy converted a beauty setup pass from Brooks to give the Pats a 4-1 edge with 1.3 seconds to play in the opening frame.

    Brooks, who was last season’s WHL scoring champion, finished the night piling up two goals and three assists. Left-winger Austin Wagner, who is heading to the main training camp for Canada’s world junior team that runs from Dec. 10-14 in Boisbriand, Quebec, had a pair of goals and an assist.

    Filip Ahl, who is a 19-year-old rookie winger from Sweden, added three helpers to the Pats cause. Rykr Cole netted a pair of goals for the Pats, who received singles from Dawson Leedahl, Riley Woods, Nick Henry and Connor Hobbs.

Pats winger Dawson Leedahl (#71) leads an offensive zone rush.

    Tyler Brown made 14 saves to pick up the win in goal for Regina.

    Austin Glover had the Raiders other tally. Nicholas Sanders started in the Raiders net, was pulled after Regina’s third goal but returned early in the third after the Pats went ahead 10-1. He stopped 15 of 20 shots sent his way.

    Ian Scott played the middle portion of the contest for the Raiders, and he turned away 20 of 27 shots sent in his direction.

    Leschyshyn said his Pats have done a number of things right in building their strong record so far this season.

    “First and foremost, we are a pretty deep team,” said Leschyshyn. “I think we have four solid lines that can be put out there in pretty much any situation.

    “I think we have a good shutdown (defence), and to compliment that, our forwards are fast. I think our team speed is a biggest asset out there.”

The Pats are all smiles after their romp over the Raiders.

    The only downer for the Pats on Saturday was the fact they lost overage defenceman Chase Harrison to injury after he received a head hit from Raiders left-winger Kolby Johnson just over five minutes into the second period. Johnson was giving a major penalty for checking to the head and a game misconduct for that infraction, and it will be up for automatic review by the league office for a possible suspension.

    The Pats return to action Sunday, when they travel to Swift Current to face the Broncos.
    The Raiders return to Prince Albert and will host the Calgary Hitmen on Tuesday.

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