Riot versus Valkyries – the title showdown the WWCFL was waiting for

Amy Kowalski (#12) calls out signals for the Riot against the Valkyries.

    It seems only fitting there will finally be a Western Women’s Canadian Football League championship game between the Regina Riot and the Saskatoon Valkyries.

    Since the WWCFL played its inaugural season in 2011, the Riot and Valkyries have the powerhouse clubs on the circuit combining to win all seven WWCFL titles that have been handed out to date. The Valkyries won the first four titles from 2011 to 2014 and a fifth championship in 2016. The Riot won it all in 2015 and last year.

    In last year’s championship final held at Saskatoon Minor Football Field, the Riot bombed the Calgary Rage 53-0 to capture the WWCFL crown.

    On Sunday, the Riots host the Valkyries in this year’s WWCFL championship game set for 3 p.m. at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. Pre-game festivities begin with a party at Confederation Park outside the stadium at 1 p.m.

    This year’s WWCFL title game meeting between the defending champion Riot and the Valkyries was made possible by a change in the playoff format. Normally, teams played through their conference to get to the league’s championship game, but the semifinal was played in a cross conference format this year.

    The change was made to create the possibility of having a final that featured a match between the Riot and Valkyries assuming they would be the league’s two best clubs once again. The two clubs have battled in a number of competitive and tight games, and there are hopes that history will repeat itself on Sunday.

    In the seven previous WWCFL championship games, the closest game occurred in 2013 in Regina, when the Valkyries downed the Lethbridge Steel 27-13. The other six title clashes were lopsided blowouts.

    The greatest battle that occurred between the Riot and Valkyries occurred on June 28, 2015 in the Prairie Conference title game in Regina at Taylor Field. The Riot slowly built a 28-7 lead in the fourth quarter only for the Valkyries to storm back and go ahead 29-28.

Valkyries QB Alex Eyolfson (#15) fires a pass behind Shelby Payne’s block.

    With 15 seconds to play in the contest, Riot kicker Morgan Turner booted a 12 yard field goal into a strong wind to give Regina a 31-29 victory.

    In last year’s Prairie Conference final, the Riot downed the Valkyries 34-24 in an entertaining clash in what would be the final competitive tackle football game ever played at Taylor Field before it was demolished.

    The Riot enter this year’s contest sporting a 6-0 overall record, while the Valkyries are 4-2 overall. Regina claimed both head-to-head encounters with Saskatoon this year.

    On May 12 at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon, the Riot downed the Valkyries 28-7. On June 3 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, the Riot slipped past the Valkyries 21-16.

    Both teams had their share of adversity. For head coach Olivier Eddie and his Riot, they had to at first try and avoid some rust. They had an unexpected bye week during the regular season when the Winnipeg Wolfpack elected to suspend operations for the 2018 campaign and won that encounter via forfeit.

    With the Wolfpack out of the playoff picture, the Riot received a bye through the first round of the post-season.

    Before they were to host the Edmonton Storm in a league semifinal, a Riot team van was stolen that contained the club’s game day informs.

    The Riot wore the uniforms the Canadian Junior Football League’s Regina Thunder for the WWCFL semifinal clash with the Storm last Sunday. The Riot romped to a 45-9 victory.

    The stolen van and the club’s uniforms were recovered earlier this week, and the Riot are expected to wear their regular gear in the WWCFL title game.

    For head coach Pat Barry and his Valkyries, they had to play through a number of injuries this season and overcome some key departures from last season. As a result, some younger players gained a pile of experience, while some veterans were moved to new positions to fill holes and gained new experience as a result.

    The Valkyries received a big scare in their WWCFL quarter-final match, when they just slipped past the much improved Manitoba Fearless 16-13. Following the win over the Fearless, the Valkyries traveled to Calgary on June 16 and downed the Rage 30-6 in a WWCFL semifinal contest.

The Valkyries D tracks down Riot RB Mallory Starkey (#7).

    Both sides have numerous talented players to rely on. The Riot offence is guided by star quarterback Aimee Kowalski, while veteran linebacker Adrienne Zuck helps steady the defence.

    Defensive back and kick returner Payton Kuster stepped into the spotlight in last year’s WWCFL title game returning two punts for touchdowns in the Riot’s win over the Rage.

    The Valkyries offence has been guided by quarterback Alex Eyolfson and received a big season from running back Sarah Wright. Veteran linebacker Denise Kolosky has been a key leader on defence.

    Saskatoon received a huge boost when Carly Dyck returned from injury to resume her duties in the kicking game in the semifinal win over the Rage.

    The elements are there to help make this year’s WWCFL championship game a classic.

Hurricanes fire incident unfortunate accident

Hurricanes captain Jordy Bellerive (#15) was hurt in a campfire mishap.

    Two current members and one alumnus of the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes are still dealing with the after effects of a pretty big scare.

    On June 15, Hurricanes captain Jordy Bellerive, centre Ryan Vandervlis and former team member Matt Alfaro, who currently plays for the University of Calgary Dinos, were all involved in a mishap at the family home of former Hurricanes captain Tyler Wong just west of Calgary. Wong was hosting nine of his friends at the family residence, and they were planning to go golfing and camping the next day.

    There was an explosion from the campfire that was started that night at the Wong residence. Bellerive, 19, and Alfaro, 21, sustained burns to their upper bodies and Vandervlis, 20, sustained burns to the front of his body and was placed in a medically induced coma. Vandervlis was taken off dialysis on Monday.

    A release from the Cochrane RCMP on June 17 stated a substance was placed in the fire pit that caused an explosion.

    Alcohol was ruled out as a contributing factor and there wasn’t any evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

    Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt held a press conference on Tuesday in Lethbridge to provide an update on the situation. Anholt said there had been inquiries about aiding the Vandervlis family, and he added the Hurricanes will help and aid the Vandervlis family to make that process clearer in the near future.

Dinos F Matt Alfaro was hurt in a campfire mishap.

    On Tuesday, Bellerive released a statement through his Twitter account thanking the public for their support. Alfaro, who spent a lengthy stretch in the WHL with the Kootenay Ice, released a statement through the Dinos Twitter account offering those same thoughts. 
    Anholt also said on Tuesday everyone involved with the Hurricanes was shaken up by what happened including Wong’s parents Julie and Will. Those that have dealt with Anholt over the years know he cares about the players under his watch like they were his own sons.

    The Hurricanes wanted to clarify that the gathering was not a stag or bachelor party.

    What happened with Bellerive, Vandervlis and Alfaro is one of those situations were accidents will happen.

    It is common during the off-season where members of major junior teams will have social gatherings at somebody’s place. The odd time there will be an innocent mishap, and that is just life.

    In most cases, the gathers go off without a hitch.

    By the sounds of things coming out of Lethbridge, Bellerive, Vandervlis and Alfaro will all make full recoveries, and at the end of the day, that is the best news that could be passed along.

Thumbs up to StarPhoenix for following Broncos to Vegas

    A thumbs up has to go to the Saskatoon StarPhoenix this week for sending staff down to Las Vegas to cover the journey of 10 surviving members of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash to Las Vegas.

    Veteran sportswriter Kevin Mitchell and photographer Liam Richards followed the junior A Broncos down to Las Vegas as they attended the NHL Awards on Wednesday night along with taking part in other festivities put on by the NHL

    Darcy Haugen, the Broncos head coach and general manager who died in the April 6 crash, was named the posthumous winner of the NHL’s Willie O’Ree Community Hero award.

    Darcy’s wife, Christina Haugan, accepted the award and gave a rousing acceptance speech.

    The coverage by Mitchell and Richards in following the SJHL Broncos has been outstanding, and it has been something I believe has gone over well in the local community.

    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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Hurricanes prove they are for real in battle with Broncos

Hurricanes LW Taylor Ross speeds by Broncos C Giorgio Estephan.

    The Lethbridge Hurricanes didn’t remain in the purgatory of reloading for long.

    After two games in the WHL Eastern Conference championship series, the underdog Hurricanes have given the favoured Swift Current Broncos all they can handle. The Broncos lead the best-of-seven series 2-0 on the strength of two wins in Swift Current. They took Game 1 on Friday 3-2 and Game 2 on Saturday 4-3 in overtime.

    Those two games could have easily gone the other way. Actually, had an early overtime shot by sophomore defenceman Calen Addison been an inch to the left on Saturday night at the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex, the Hurricanes would be heading home to play Game 3 at the Enmax Centre on Tuesday at 7 p.m. local time with the series even at 1-1.

    With how the first two games have played out, it could be argued that would have been a just result. The Hurricanes host Game 4 at 7 p.m. local time on Wednesday at the Enmax Centre.

    The Broncos finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 48-17-5-2 record. They made it to the conference final eliminating the Memorial Cup hosting Regina Pats, who finished seventh overall in the regular season with a 40-25-6-1 mark, in a tough seven game series in the first round and taking out the Moose Jaw Warriors, who topped the WHL regular season standings with a 52-15-2-3 record, in a difficult seven game series in the second round.

Hurricanes RW Dylan Cozens poke checks Broncos RW Tyler Steenbergen.

    The Hurricanes finished 16^th overall in the regular season standings with a 33-33-6 mark, and with the WHL utilizing a hybrid format of playing through the division in playoffs, they had an easier bracket to navigate through.

    Lethbridge took out the Red Deer Rebels, who finished 17^th overall in the regular season with a 27-32-10-3 mark, in five games in the first round, and disposed of a tougher Brandon Wheat Kings side, who finished eighth overall in the regular season with a 40-27-3-2 record, in five games in the second round.

    These teams are familiar with each other thanks to the fact Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt and Broncos head coach and director of player personnel Manny Viveiros, who are both good friends, made a blockbuster deal on Jan. 9 - one day before the WHL’s trade deadline.

    In that trade, the Hurricanes sent overage captain and star centre Giorgio Estephan, star 19-year-old netminder Stuart Skinner and winger Tanner Nagel, who turned 20 in late January, to the Broncos.

Jordy Bellerive has developed into a star for the Hurricanes.

    In exchange, the Broncos sent overage star netminder Logan Flodell, rookie centre Logan Barlage, who turned 17 in early January, sophomore centre Owen Blocker, who turned 18 in late March, sophomore defenceman Matthew Stanley, who turned 20 in early February, a first round selection and a third round selection in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft and a future conditional second round pick in the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft to the Hurricanes.

    Following the Broncos overtime win on Saturday, Viveiros stated his side expected the Hurricanes to be far from a pushover.

    “We’re not surprised with how good Lethbridge is,” said Viveiros. “We knew they are a good hockey team.

    “They have good goaltending, and they are well coached. They are going to give us everything they have to give. If we don’t play well, they can beat us. We have to play as well as we can.”

    When the Hurricanes and Broncos made their trade on Jan. 9, it appeared the Hurricanes had decided to look to the future acquiring younger players and draft picks, while the Broncos were strengthening their roster for a long playoff run this season. As it has turned out, both teams have made a long post-season foray.

    In 2016-17, the Hurricanes had an older roster and posted a 44-21-4-3 record to finish seventh overall in the WHL. They advanced to the Eastern Conference championship series falling in six games to the Regina Pats, who topped the league regular season standings in that campaign with a 52-12-7-1 mark.

Logan Flodell has been stellar in goal for the Hurricanes.

    That Hurricanes team was powered by the exploits of star captain Tyler Wong and star offensive defenceman Brennan Menell, who now plays for Iowa Wild of the AHL. The Iowa Wild are the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild.

    At the moment, the Hurricanes only have six hold overs from their team at this time last year in centres Jordy Bellerive and Jadon Joseph, right-winger Dylan Cozens, and defencemen Addison, Ty Prefontaine and Igor Merezhko.

    In advancing to the conference final this season, the Hurricanes have built an obvious togetherness. They are playing for each other and are intent on doing everything they can to ensure the 2017-18 campaign continues into the WHL Championship series.

    On Friday night, the Hurricanes outshot the Broncos 41-30 in Game 1, and a stellar 39 save performance from Skinner allowed the Broncos to pull out victory. On Saturday night, the Hurricanes outshot the Broncos 39-33 and led 3-2 after the second period. The Broncos scored to force overtime, and Addison rang a shot off the post of the Swift Current goal early in the extra session to almost deliver victory to the Hurricanes.

    Estephan recorded a hat trick that night including the overtime winner to give the Broncos the win.

The Hurricanes plan to celebrate a few more goals in the post-season.

    As far as playing style goes, the Hurricanes appear to be a younger version of the Broncos. Both squads like to get up and down the ice, play with skill and make some big hits.

    The similarities have made the series entertaining to watch.

    The rapid improvement of the Hurricanes, while surprising, doesn’t come as a total shock. Anholt has one of the smartest hockey minds you will find anywhere, and third-year head coach Brent Kisio is one of the circuit’s elite bench bosses.

    If the Hurricanes can win Game 3, this series could still be a long way from being over. Even if the series ends up being a short one, the Hurricanes are poised to go down fighting.

    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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Heponiemi delivers WHL Eastern Conference championship series opener to host Broncos

Finnish product’s first playoff goal downs Hurricanes 3-2

The Broncos celebrate Aleksi Heponiemi’s game-winning goal.

    SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. - Aleksi Heponiemi will never be mistaken for an “all about me guy.”

    On Friday night at the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex, the left-winger from Tampere, Finland, scored his first career WHL playoff goal, and it delivered his Swift Current Broncos to a 3-2 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes in Game 1 of the WHL Eastern Conference championship series. Game 2 of the best-of-seven set goes Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex.

    During Friday’s encounter, the Broncos and Hurricanes were locked in a 2-2 tie, when Heponiemi blasted home the winning goal from the right slot with 8:49 to play in the third period to the delight of most of the sellout crowd of 2,980 spectators.

Aleksi Heponiemi had a goal and an assist on Friday.

    The star sophomore import forward now has one goal and 27 assists in 29 career WHL playoff games.

    After the contest, you wouldn’t have known Heponiemi scored his first career WHL playoff goal or that his tally was a game winner with the way he talked about it during the post-game media scrum.

    “Obviously, it feels good,” said Heponiemi. “It always good to get it at some point.

    “Obviously, I am going to shoot the puck a bit more. It is going to come, if it comes.

    “It doesn’t matter who scores the goal in playoffs. It is a team sport, and that is what it is all about is winning.”

    Heponiemi seemed more concerned about the fact his squad was outplayed by the Hurricanes over lengthy stretches of the contest. Lethbridge held a 41-30 edge in shots on goal, and the Broncos pulled out victory thanks to a 39 save performance from 19-year-old star netminder Stuart Skinner.

    “Obviously, the first game was huge to win,” said Heponiemi. “The way we won today wasn’t our best game. We have to be way better.”

Captain Jordy Bellerive (#15) drives to the goal for the Hurricanes.

    The Broncos thought they scored 65 seconds into Friday’s game, but the officials immediately called off the tally ruling one of the Swift Current players made incidental contact with Hurricanes overage netminder Logan Flodell.

    The Hurricanes controlled the majority of the play in the opening frame outshooting the Broncos 18-10. Skinner had to make a number of key stops including turning away Hurricanes left-winger Egor Zudilov on a turnaround shot near the end of the stanza.

    The Broncos capitalized on a break at the 6:15 mark of the second period to go ahead 1-0. Flodell accidentally slipped to the ice in his goal, and Broncos left-winger Cole Gable centred the puck to linemate Max Patterson, who lifted the game’s first tally over the fallen goalie.

Stuart Skinner makes one of his 39 saves in goal for the Broncos.

    The hosts increased their advantage to 2-0 at the 13:05 mark of the second on the power play, when Heponiemi fed a pass across the front of the Lethbridge net to linemate Giorgio Estephan, who popped home his fifth marker of the post season.

    The Hurricanes thought they scored with 8.3 seconds to play in the second, but the officials immediately ruled off that tally saying the puck was knocked to the ice by a Lethbridge player with a high stick.

    “Obviously the second period, I thought we didn’t play the way we needed to play,” said Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio. “I thought our first and third period were much more of our team game. We fought back into the game.”

    Early in the third period, the Hurricanes capitalized on a break that went their way.

Calen Addison scored the equalizer for the Hurricanes in the third period.

    On a rush into the Swift Current zone, Hurricanes left-winger Taylor Ross had the puck poked off his stick by Broncos defenceman Noah King. The puck landed on the stick of Hurricanes defenceman Matthew Stanley, who quickly blasted home his second of the post-season to cut the Broncos edge to 2-1.

    With 10:04 to play in the third, Hurricanes sophomore rearguard Calen Addison, who turned 18 earlier this month, fired home a power-play goal from the point to force a 2-2 tie.

    After Heponiemi put the Broncos up 3-2, the Hurricanes didn’t go away. Working down low in the Swift Current zone, Hurricanes captain Jordy Bellerive had a beauty chance to score in close, but he slid the puck wide of the Broncos net.

The fans at the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex cheer a Broncos goal.

    Hurricanes overage left-winger Brad Morrison, who leads the WHL in post-season scoring, was stoned in close by Skinner a short time later.

    Broncos head coach and director of player personnel Manny Viveiros said Friday’s game could have easily had a different outcome.

    “We didn’t expect the game to be over after the second period,” said Viveiros. “We’ve been pretty resilient this year, when we have given up leads or been behind to get back in games.

    “I thought Lethbridge was really good tonight. They put us on our heels. They made us make mistakes.

    “We were fortunate tonight. Stuart Skinner played very well for us. A little bit more puck luck for Lethbridge, and I think they could have easily won the game tonight.”

The Broncos and Hurricanes did engage in some scrums.

    Flodell turned away 27 shots putting on a solid performance in goal for the Hurricanes. He arguably made the save of the night shortly after the third period started. The Regina product had slipped to the ice in his net but reached up to make a glove save on a point drive from Broncos standout defenceman Colby Sissons. That stop prevented the hosts from expanding the 2-0 lead they had at the time.

    The Broncos came into this series as favourites finishing second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 48-17-5-2 record, while the Hurricanes were 16^th overall with a 33-33-6 mark.

Stuart Skinner, left, and Colby Sissons celebrate the Broncos victory.

    The Hurricanes are a younger team that is in a reloading campaign, but they showed they are ready to play with the Broncos. Bellerive said his side wasn’t disheartened with Friday’s outcome.

    “We knew it was going to be a tough game obviously in their barn the first night,” said Bellerive, who had assists on both Hurricanes goals. “I think we have a lot of positives to look at. I think it puts us in a good spot moving forward.

    “We’re pretty positive. Obviously, we’re disappointed with the loss. We played a great game and a lot of positives to look on to moving forward.”

    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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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Heart of the Hurricanes

Lethbridge stuns Pats in Eastern Conference finals opener

Jordy Bellerive, left, celebrates his goal with his Hurricanes teammates.

    REGINA – These Lethbridge Hurricanes will never say die.

    If there is any team out of the four remaining in the WHL playoffs that could fold tent with every excuse in the book, it is the Hurricanes. During the post-season, Lethbridge has been riddled with injuries causing star players like captain Tyler Wong and Giorgio Estephan to log a huge amount of minutes per game. There are times it seems like netminder Stuart Skinner is seeing more rubber than a dead skunk on the Trans-Canada Highway.

    In the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Hurricanes won back-to-back seven game series over the Red Deer Rebels and Medicine Hat Tigers respectively overcoming four elimination games. When the Hurricanes hit the ice for Game 1 of the WHL Eastern Conference championship series on Friday night in Regina, they were playing their 15^th game in 28 days.

Pats W Dawson Leedahl knocks Canes captain Tyler Wong off the puck.

    To make things more challenging, the host Regina Pats finished first overall in the WHL with a 52-12-7-1 record, and they topped the final Canadian Hockey League top ten rankings released back on March 22.

    When the dust settled on Friday, the Hurricanes players left the Brandt Centre ice surface happily saluting their small contingent of fans in the northeast corner of the building that were able to get tickets in the sellout crowd of 6,484. The visitors came away with a 3-1 victory to lead the best-of-seven series 1-0.

    Forget the pre-series barbs that were traded between Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock and Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt. Paddock claimed Wong jumped a foot in the air when he hit people. Anholt countered the Pats players took run at their opponents.

Goalie Stuart Skinner dives to cover a loose puck for the Hurricanes.

    All that talk is traditional playoff smoke, where each side tries to plant a seed in the heads of the officials and media to gain an advantage. When the puck drops, you still have to play the game.

    In Friday’s win, the Hurricanes did use smart tactics to defend against the Pats keeping them to the outside and clogging up lanes through the centre ice zone, but they won mainly because of heart. Anholt loves his teams that have heart, and he has to have that trademark proud grin going, when his club hits the ice.

    Regina’s biggest downfall was the fact they didn’t score a lot more early, when they blasted out of the gates to start the contest. Just 70 seconds in, speedy winger Austin Wagner scored on a breakaway to give the hosts a 1-0 edge.

    From there, the Pats controlled the first period outshooting the Hurricanes 14-8. However, that is also the problem when you play the Hurricanes. You might have them down, but they will take advantage of the slightest breaks to turn things around.

Hurricanes D Igor Merezhko checks Pats C Wyatt Sloboshan.

    Signs of that started to happen late in the first, when the visitors fired three shots in close during a short time span, but the Pats stayed ahead thanks to netminder Tyler Brown making a stop each time.

    At the start of the second period, the Pats still appeared to have control but things changed at the 13:23 mark of the frame that sent a shock through the 21^st sellout crowd between the regular season and playoffs at the Brandt Centre. A Pats defensive zone turnover resulted in Estephan wiring home a shot from the slot to tie things up at 1-1.

    Early in the third, the Hurricanes gained only their second power-play chance of the contest. During the man advantage, a net scramble ensued in front of the Pats net, and Hurricanes forward Jordy Bellerive knocked home a loose puck to put the visitors up 2-1.

Pats captain Adam Brooks darts up ice on a third period rush.

    Shortly before the midway point of the frame, Wagner appeared to have netted the equalizer for the Pats when he went into the Hurricanes zone battling Hurricanes defenceman Brennan Riddle on a rush. The pair went crashing into the goal along with the puck.
    On replays, Wagner gave Skinner a bump going into the goal before the puck crossed the line, which would negate the tally due to contact with the netminder. The goal was officially waved off due to the net being dislodged before the puck crossed the goal-line.

    Still, the Hurricanes did whatever they needed to do to protect their slim lead. Wong would take a shot deep in the offensive zone and race back to deflect a Pats chance away in the defensive zone.

Hurricanes D Brennan Riddle takes Pats W Nick Henry into the boards.

    Pats captain Adam Brooks played for the first time after missing five games with a knee injury, which included dressing and not playing in the last three contests in that stint. He saw limited ice time through the first two periods. With the Pats down in the third, he saw increased ice time with regular linemates Wagner and Filip Ahl.

    Late in the third, Brooks had a beauty chance to score from in front of the Lethbridge goal, but he was turned away by Skinner.

    Skinner used all of his 6-foot-4 frame to play big in the Hurricanes goal, and he made the acrobatic diving stop when he needed to. In total, he made 36 saves on the night.

    The Hurricanes iced the win with an effort play. With 1:22 to play in the third and Brown pulled for an extra attacker for the Pats, Estephan stole the puck from Pats forward Nick Henry deep in the left corner of the Regina zone and popped in an empty-net goal to round out the 3-1 final.

The Hurricanes celebrate their Game 1 win over the Pats.

    Brown stopped 22-of-24 shots fired his way taking the loss in goal for the Pats.

    The Hurricanes came out with the win on Friday, because they made more effort plays than the Pats did. You keep wondering when the Lethbridge players will run out of gas, but they just don’t. Even with returning forwards Zak Zborosky and Zane Franklin from injury, the Hurricanes still dressed associate players Dylan Cozens and Shawn Harke.

    The line of Wong, Estephan and Egor Babenko still played a lot, but their efforts never diminished as the game went on.

    When the Hurricanes and Pats meet in Game 2 on Saturday in Regina (7 p.m. local time, Brandt Centre), it will be the Hurricanes 16^th game in 29 days.

    Will this be the game they hit the wall, or will they just keep going like the Energizer Bunny?

    The Pats learned one thing on Friday that the slightest little letdown against Lethbridge can be costly.

Regina sports media a good group

    During my travels through various WHL centres, I have often renewed ties with old friends and acquaintances that work for mainstream media outlets, which has been fun.

    At all my stops, everyone has been good. Due to the Pats doing so well this season, I have made a number of trips to Regina, and I am impressed with how well everyone from the Regina sports media scene seems to get along. You could tell there is a good vibe between all the reporters.

    It is also cool to see a large number of them out at Pats games. Due to cuts in mainstream media outlets throughout Canada, you don’t normally see this. Regina is an exception mainly due to the fact the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders call that centre home, but regardless, it is still nice to see larger numbers of media members from mainstream outlets out at Pats games.

    Anyways on trips to Regina, it has been cool to interact with Rob Vanstone and Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post, Bianca Millions from CTV and Arielle Zerr from CJME, who are all the mainstays. I also get to see Rod Pedersen of CKRM and Warren Woods of CJME on a somewhat regular basis too.

    I hope the upbeat vibe that is there can continue well into the future.

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