Keith Hershmiller
Eastern Division, Game Recap

Pyne and Bedard with career nights as Pats beat Hitmen

Written by Chris Clark on

 

Kelton Pyne with his first career win and shutout and Connor Bedard with the natural hat-trick while adding two assists, for a career-high five-point night as the Pats easily beat the Hitmen 5-0 on Saturday night.

“It’s the greatest experience ever. Getting the first win in the Brandt Centre, pretty incredible.”

Kelton Pyne, the White City native, on his first win for the Pats

Luke Bateman celebrates Kelton Pyne’s first shut out
(Photo – Keith Hershmiller)

 

“What [the players were] saying on the bench in the third period, those guys really wanted it for him and I think anytime you get a shutout, its a reflection of team. Obviously Kelton was outstanding tonight, but the guys in front of him, it was important to them to do it the right way to finish the game for him.”

Assistant Coach Brad Herauf

The Pats coming into the game were on a six-game losing streak, the Hitmen a two-game losing streak, last winning against Regina in overtime on February 6th in Calgary.

Goaltender Ethan Buenaventura got his second start in a row with an injury to starter Brayden Peters. Kelton Pyne made his WHL debut last game in Edmonton, made his second career start in net tonight.

It was a fairly quiet night for Pyne, he stopped all 24 shots sent his way. Some of his biggest saves were on the Pats power-plays. Regina only took two penalties on the evening, but a late one by Bedard may have let some doubt creep into the minds of the fans in regards to the shutout, Calgary had a push, but the team was able to keep the puck out for the 16-year-old’s first win.

“I think the PK played really good. They boxed out really well and they didn’t make me work too hard for that one.”

Pyne on Calgary’s late push

It was a quick first period, good back and forth play, not many whistles. Calgary came out hot, but Pyne and the Pats held them at bay while they got their legs under them. The Pats had the better scoring chances after the early Hitmen push, Bedard, Braxton Whitehead, Borya Valis and Logan Nijhoff all had great chances to open the scoring. Nijhoff finally got the first goal on the power-play, his 15th of the season. He tipped a Ryker Evans pass past Buenaventura at the 14:42 mark of the opening period.

Easton Armstrong and Blake Allan engaged in fisticuffs in the first period, other than that, the rough stuff and penalties were at a minimum on the night.

Bedard added to the lead late in the period. After a Hitmen icing, Bedard was able to take advantage of the tired legs as circled high and drove into the slot and unleashed that lethal shot for his 26th of the season, with 22 seconds remaining in the opening period.

First-period shots 14-6 Pats

In the second Bedard picked up his second of the game, he picked off a pass in the neutral zone went wide and deep into the zone, but that didn’t matter. An impressive shot over Buenaventura’s left shoulder, from a tight angle, was no problem for Bedard.

“It’s kind of a tougher angle, I saw a little bit of room and I’ve missed that shot 100 times, so just kind of fortunate that this time it went and it’s nice to see that.”

Bedard on his second goal.

The second-period shots favored the Hitmen 10-6.

In the third Bedard completed the hat-trick on the power-play, a similar goal as his first, and made no mistake top corner.

“Connor’s gonna score his goals, [it’s] just what he does. [It’s] important for him [to] make sure he’s playing the right way because he’s playing against the best players every night now, and the best players are defending him every night. So it’s important the way he manages the puck and his growth over the last month. He’s elevated his game and he’s becoming a way more dangerous 200 foot player.”

Herauf on Bedard’s hot play of late

Evans added to the lead late on the power-play, his 11th, a shot from the point found the back of the net. Bedard picked up the lone assist, his fifth point of the game on the goal.

“It could definitely be huge for us, [the] last six games, four of them one goal, three of them kind of last second heart breakers. It’s been been been a bit of a tough stretch, I think we thought we were playing pretty well, we’re doing a lot of good things and we just weren’t winning. So tonight, kind of have more of a blowout was definitely nice. Hopefully we can kind of carry that momentum on to the rest of the season.”

Bedard post-game

Third period shots were 13-8 for the Pats, with a game total of 33-24 for the Pats

Pats Stats

Three stars of the game; Pyne, Bedard, and Evans

The Regina power-play was 3-for-4 on the night, while Calgary’s was 0-for-2.

Evans now has 4 multi-point games in his last 5. He is tied for first in defencemen scoring

Bedard has points in 14 of his last 15 games, with 18 goals and 19 assists over that span. He is tied for fifth in the league in goals scored. Bedard has 40 goals scored in 50 career games.

Pyne has two career shutouts at the junior level in three games played. His other game and shut-out came with the Melville Millionaires in the SJHL.

The Pats’ next game is Saturday night in Saskatoon, the next home game is on the Family Day holiday, a 2 pm start against the Swift Current Broncos.