The Regina Pats hosted the Red Deer Rebels Wednesday night for the first time since December 7, 2019. Ty Kolle scored the winner as the Pats took that one 3-2.
The Pats came into the contest with a 6-7-0-0 record and rode a four-game winning streak into the game. The Rebels came in tied with the Edmonton Oil Kings for first place in the Central Division with 21 points. They handed the Moose Jaw Warriors a 5-2 loss on Tuesday and were riding a one-game winning streak.
Due to injuries and illness, the Pats played the contest with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
The Pats’ line combinations were Pats captain Logan Nijhoff centering Cole Dubinsky and Connor Bedard. Drew Englot centered the second line between Tanner Howe and Braxton Whitehead. Cole Carrier found himself playing on a line with Zane Rowan and Borya Valis. Matteo Michels and Easton Armstrong rounded out the forwards. The defensive pairings were Ryker Evans and Luke Bateman on the top unit. Stanislav Svozil and Tom Cadieux were the second pairing with Layton Feist and Adam McNutt on the third pairing. Parker Berge drew in as the seventh defenseman for the game. Matthew Kieper got the call between the pipes for the Pats. His 13th start in fourteen contests.
The veteran Rebels team upended the Pats and their four-game winning streak in a 3-2 win before 5,692 at the Brandt Centre.
“Hard to generate offense against a big, veteran team,” Pat assistant coach Ken Schneider said of the game. “Their game is really structured, so it takes a lot of effort to make a play and get to the net. I thought we battled really hard.”
First Period
🚨PATS OPEN THE SCORING!!!🚨
When you're hot, you're hot.@TannerHowe43 scores AGAIN!
REG 1 | RD 0
1st Period | 16:24#MarchOn | #REGvsRD pic.twitter.com/C4gTGuPNyb— Regina Pats (@WHLPats) November 11, 2021
Howe opened the scoring for the Pats just 3:36 into the contest. The yet-to-turn sixteen (birthday is Novemberr 28) Prince Albert, SK product picked up a loose puck between the Red Deer defenders and fired home his fifth of the season. Englot drew the assist on Howe’s fifth goal of the campaign gave the Pats a 1-0 lead.
“Tanner to be honest with you has been a great surprise,” Schneider said of Howe. “He’s played every aspect really well, he sees the ice so well, he’s physical… he’s good defensively… he’s playing like a veteran player, and we need him to play like that right now.”
Red Deer replied at 15:01 of the first. After the Pat defender fell Kai Uchacz was able to one-time a pass from Talon Brigley past Kieper to tie the game at 1-1-. For Uchacz, it was his fourth of the season.
Just under three minutes later, Shaunavon, SK product Kalan Lind had the puck deep in the Pats zone and beat Kieper with a wrister. Uchacz picked up the lone assist (and second point of the game) on the 2-1 goal at 17:59 of the opening twenty minutes.
Despite Red Deer leading 2-1 after the first, the shots after the first period were 9-9.
Second Period
🚨1st WHL GOAL ALERT!!!🚨@BlueJacketsNHL prospect Stanislav Svozil gets his 1st WHL goal with this one-time bomb on the PP!
REG 2 | RD 2
2nd Period | 14:10#MarchOn | #REGvsRD pic.twitter.com/7dGEU7sNDN— Regina Pats (@WHLPats) November 11, 2021
The Pats tied things up at 5:50 of the second period when a Svozil one-timed a pass from Evans from the point that beat Chase Coward to tie the game up at 2-2. The powerplay marker was the Columbus Blue Jackets third-round choice’s first career goal in the WHL.
“It was a really good feeling for me, to score the first goal in this league,” said Svozil of his goal. “But we lost, so that’s worse.”
With just under five minutes left in the middle frame, Brigley scored his first career goal for the Rebels. While killing a penalty, he stole the puck from the Pat point men and raced in on Kieper and beat the Pat goalie top shelf. The unassisted goal at 15:21 gave the Rebels a 3-2 lead that carried over into the second intermission.
Despite being down 3-2 the Pats outshot the Rebels 12-11 in the second and held a 21-20 advantage after forty minutes of play.
Third Period
Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the third period and the Rebels skated away with a 3-2 victory.
“We’ve got some pretty good skill and speed,” said Schneider. “So we need to use our speed to create opportunities for ourselves and we weren’t great off the face-offs, in particular in their end of the rink. When we were losing those face-offs, we weren’t creating any pressure on their puck carriers and when you’re in their zone, that’s when you really need to get the forecheck on. Get on them hard and create a turnover.”
The Pats did have some opportunities, but the Rebels held their ground. The final shots were 34-26 for the Pats (13-6 in the third period).
“As many shots as we did get,” Schneider added. “We didn’t get a ton of quality shots, to be quite honest.”
Patterings… Zack Smith (injured), Jake Johnson (injured), Zack Stringer (injured) and Jakob Brook (illness) were the Pats scratches… Bedard received his 2021 IIHF Under-18 Championship ring… The 5,692 is a season-high at the Brandt Centre… The Pats went 1-for-2 on the powerplay and went 2-for-2 killing penalties… Kieper stopped 23 of 26 Rebels shots while his counterpart Coward stopped 32 of 34 Pats shots… The Pats’ next action is Friday against the Edmonton Oil Kings (10-3-2-1) and Saturday against the Lethbridge Hurricanes (5-8-0-0).
