The WHL’s top-ranked Winnipeg ICE traveled to Regina and skated their way to a 4-2 victory. 3,245 braved the cold temperatures to witness the ICE open a 3-0 lead through the first period. The Pats made it close in the second, pulling to within a single tally, but Winnipeg sealed the win early in the third period.
“Tonight’s game, again, I think we started slow and got behind early 3-0,” Pats assistant coach Ken Schneider said of the game. “We showed some resilience, and I really thought our goaltender [Drew Sim] was pretty good tonight. We found a way to battle back, it was good to get Logan back in our lineup and get that leadership going.”
“Defending the rush [is] definitely a step up from what I’m used to,” Corbin Vaughan said of the Winnipeg ICE. “The speed they move the puck, they always know where everyone’s going to be so it’s pretty tough.”
First Period
After a fairly even opening half of the first period, Winnipeg broke the ice. Jack Finley let a shot fly from the top of the circle that beat Drew Sim. His 11th goal of the season made it 1-0 ICE at the 12:09 mark.
The Pats must have thought the play was offside and they challenged. After a quick review, it was declared a good goal and the Pats were handed a delay of game minor.
Winnipeg made the Pats pay. Just 49 seconds into the minor Matthew Savoie received a pass just inside the circle and fired home his 18th of the season to make it 2-0 ICE at 12:58.
Just under five minutes later Sim made a nice stop on a two-on-one break for the ICE. Unfortunately for him and the Pats, he was turned around beside the net. Winnipeg grabbed the loose puck, and it was fed in front to Mikey Milne who netted his 22nd of the season into a wide-open Pat cage. Winnipeg was up 3-0 at 17:50 of the first period.
Heading into the first period break the ICE were up 3-0 and 14-7 on the shot clock.
Second Period
Welcome back Zack Smith. The Pats worked the puck deep into the ICE zone where Alex Geci picked up the loose puck, he was able to work it back to the front of the net. The 20-year-old Smith stayed with the play, got a piece of the puck to deposit his second of the season at 5:06 cutting the ICE lead to a pair. Logan Nijhoff picked up the second assist on the 3-1 goal.
He was drafted from Rink Hockey Academy Kelowna, you know he loves an 🍎 now and then.
Corbin Vaughan collects his first WHL point as Logan Nijhoff scores for the @WHLPats! pic.twitter.com/qaXbSN0TaB
— The WHL (@TheWHL) December 30, 2021
Nijhoff cut the ICE lead to just a single marker at 13:36 of the period. He was fed a pass from Corbin Vaughan and broke in on a 2-on-1, Nijhoff wired the puck glove side past Gage Alexander to score his 12th of the season to get the Pats closer at 3-2. Vaughan picked up his first career point.
The Pats outshot the ICE 14-10 in the period (24-21 ICE in the game) but trailed on the score clock 3-2 after 40 minutes.
Third Period
Just 19 seconds into the third period Milne scored his second of the game and 23rd of the season. The ICE broke in on an odd-man rush and Milne made no mistake on a one-timer to give his club a 4-2 lead.
The Pats had trouble mustering up any offense in the third-period recording just a trio of shots to the ICE’s eight.
“It’s awesome,” Vaughan said of his experience so far with the Pats. “Great group of guys, great coaching staff. Practice is awesome, great atmosphere, it’s awesome.”
Patterings… Nijhoff returned to the lineup after missing the past game and skated in his 200th contest with the Pats… Smith returned from injury and played in his first contest since November 3… Tanner Howe’s 15-game point streak came to an end… The Pats’ next action was to be Friday, December 31 at Swift Current but the game has been postponed until a later date. Instead (as of now) the next Pats game will be Saturday, January 1, at 4:00 PM versus the Moose Jaw
