REGINA — Playing four games in five days, the Regina Pats went 2-2 last week.
The squad opened the week with a 7-4 home victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings last Wednesday. After a day off on Thursday, the Pats fell 5-4 in overtime to Swift Current on the road Friday, beat Red Deer at home Saturday 6-2, and lost to the Blades in Saskatoon, 5-2, on Sunday.
The Pats are 3-5-1-1 in their last 10. On the season, the team has a 9-9-1-1 record. They are seventh in the WHL Eastern Conference. This week the Pats play in the Winnipeg Ice on the road on Thursday and Saturday.
Connor Bedard continues to be a force in the WHL this season. As of Sunday, the forward led the league with 43 points in 20 games. He had WHL bests of 18 goals and 25 assists. Bedard was tied for the league lead with five game-winning goals. As of Sunday, he had a 19-game points streak.
Last week Borya Valis scored a hat trick while Bedard recorded five points en route to a 7-4 home win over Edmonton. The Pats led 2-1 and 3-1 at the intermissions. They outscored the visiting Oil Kings, 4-2, in the final frame.
Two of Valis’ goals came on the powerplay. In addition to his goals, he earned an assist. Bedard scored a goal and recorded four assists. Also scoring for Regina were Braxton Whitehead, Layton Feist and Alexander Suzdalev. Jakob Brook and Sam Oremba each had two assists. Regina goalie Drew Sim stopped 18 shots.
Robin Geraghty made 24 saves on 31 shots for Edmonton. Scoring for the Oil Kings were Carson Golder, Masrhall Finnie, Luca Hauf, and Rhett Melnyk.
The Pats fought back from a 4-2 second period deficit on Friday to tie the contest at 4-4 but fell 5-4 in overtime. Owen Pickering scored the game winner for Swift Current.
Regina took a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Easton Armstrong and Suzdalev. In the second session, the Broncos surged past the Pats on goals by Mathew Ward, Josh Davis, Connor Hvidston, and Josh Filmon to take a 4-2 lead. In the third session, Bedard lit the lamp twice to send the contest to OT, 4-4, and secure the Pats a point in the standings.
Sim had 37 stops for Regina. For the Broncos, Gage Alexader turned away 33 shots. Suzdalev finished with four points on the night.
On Saturday, the Pats and Broncos were knotted at 1-1 at the 13:27 mark in the first period. Then the Regina squad got rolling. It scored five unanswered goal. Tanner Howe’s powerplay marker put the Pats up 2-1 at the first intermission. Second period goals by Oremba, Armstrong, Howe (on a powerplay) and Bedard (with the man advantage) put Regina up 6-1. Swift Current’s Mats Lindgren had the lone goal in the third.
In the first period, Valis scored for Regina. Hunter Mayo answered for the Broncos. Matthew Kieper made 36 saves on 38 shots for the win. The Broncos’ Kyle Kelsey had 14 saves.
