Pats keep racking up points
The Regina Pats are back on top of the Western Hockey League standings.
The Pats took seven out of a possible eight points, while the Medicine Hat Tigers lost four straight games after riding a 10-game win streak to the top of the table.
The Pats (20-2-5-0) continue to be the top-ranked team in the CHL top-10. 
Regina returned home from their six-game road trip and dismantled the Prince Albert Raiders by a 12-2 count.
They beat Swift Current 6-3 and then beat Kootenay 5-4 in overtime, before losing in Lethbridge in overtime 5-4 to close out a three-game road trip.
The Pats next eight games are against East Division foes as they look to solidify their spot in the division standings heading into 2017.
With goalie Jordan Hollett out for an expected 6-8 weeks, the Pats have recalled Max Paddock, 16, from the Brandon midget AAA to back-up Tyler Brown.
Warriors lose in PA and blow late lead at home
Moose Jaw Warriors (16-6-4-1) head coach Tim Hunter has left to begin his role as an assistant coach for the Canadian team for the world junior hockey championships. Hunter wouldn’t have been pleased with what he watched in his last game behind the bench for a month as the Saskatoon Blades scored twice in the final three minutes to erase a 3-1 deficit before prevailing 4-3 in a shootout.
The Warriors opened their week by losing 5-3 in Prince Albert before defeating the Calgary Hitmen 7-5 in a wild game that featured eight goals in the third period.
The Warriors were without defenceman Matt Sozanski for a pair of games with an upper-body injury and Jett Woo missed the Saskatoon game with a lower-body injury. That led to 16-year-old defenceman Matthew Benson from the Delta Hockey Academy making his WHL debut.
Jayden Halbgewachs scored his 22nd goal of the season against the Blades and extended his goal-scoring streak to six games.
Elder and Pederson enjoy big weeks
The Swift Current Broncos (15-9-2-4) split a pair of home games as the downed Calgary 5-1 before losing 6-3 to the Pats. 
Kaden Elder had two goals and three assists over the two games as he a multi-point night in each. Lane Pederson had five assists in the two games and Ryan Graham had a pair of goals against the Hitmen.
Rookie Riley Stotts returned after missing 16 games due to injury.
The Broncos are still expecting to miss Glenn Gawdin for another week or two with an upper-body injury.
Wheat Kings aren’t kings of the road
B.C. Division opposition has not been hospitable to the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Wheat Kings (13-12-4-0) have now lost six of their last seven after losing 2-1 in Vancouver in overtime and then dropping three straight games in regulation: 3-1 in Kelowna, 4-0 in Kamloops and 5-1 in Prince George.
The Wheat Kings have three goals in their past four games as Tanner Kaspick missed the last two games with an injury. Captain Nolan Patrick remains sidelined and was not medically cleared to attend Canada’s world junior camp which begins later this week.
McCarty out for Blades
Speaking of injuries, it remains to be one step forward, one step back for the Saskatoon Blades who seem to lose key players to injury any time another veteran returns to the ice.
The Blades have lost leading scorer Mason McCarty for 5-7 weeks with a lower body injury after defenceman Jake Kusta returned this week. Mark Rubinski has missed eight straight games, but is nearing a return.
On the ice, the Blades (11-18-2-0) Brock Hamm made 33 saves in their 4-3 shootout win in Moose Jaw, but the Blades also lost 4-1 in Edmonton and 4-3 at home to Calgary.
Raiders snap losing skid
The Prince Albert Raiders (6-22-1-0) were in danger of setting a franchise record with a 10-game losing streak. Instead they beat Moose Jaw 5-3 to earn their first win since Nov. 4.
The shine came off the victory pretty quickly as Regina beat them 12-2. They closed out their week with a 3-2 loss to Calgary.
Simon Stransky and Vojtech Budik from the Raiders were called up by the Czech Republic for their camp ahead of the world juniors.
