Keith Hershmiller
2021-22 WHL Season, East Division, Eastern Division

Undisciplined play costly as Pats fall 5-4 to Broncos

Written by Kevin Shaw on

 

The streaky Regina Pats continued to be streaky on Saturday night when they dropped their fourth straight contest, this time 5-4 to the visiting Swift Current Broncos.

With injuries and suspensions, the Pats dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Drew Sim got the call between the pipes for the Pats. The Broncos were playing one forward down and Isaac Poulter drew into the Bronco crease.

The Pats came in with two wins against the Broncos this season, a 4-1 win on October 29 and a 7-3 win here the next night at the Brandt Centre on October 30.

Undisciplined play late in the contest proved costly in the Pats’ loss. The Pats held a 4-3 lead midway through the third when the Broncos tied it. A late sequence of minor penalties led to the Broncos scoring a late powerplay goal to seal the 5-4 victory.

“With the injuries we had tonight, we had a lot of guys step up and kind of advance their game,” Pats assistant coach Brad Herauf noted after the contest. “But in the end, too many fixable mistakes happened [where] we were giving up too many grade-A chances against.”

First Period

Swift Current opened the scoring early in this one. At 2:11 of the first period, Brady Birnie found himself all alone in front of the Pats net. He neatly tucked home his fourth of the season through Sim’s five-hole. Rayan Bettahar picked up the lone helper on the 1-0 goal.

Exactly 12 minutes later the Broncos added to their lead after Mathew Ward tipped home his tenth of the season. Owen Pickering took the shot from a weird angle that deflected off Ward and past Sim to give the Broncos a 2-0 lead.

Easton Armstrong cut the Bronco lead in half when he scored his second of the campaign. The Pats entered the Bronco zone and Connor Bedard got by the defender and chipped the puck to Armstrong who fired a shot past Poulter to make the score 2-1 at 15:46 of the opening frame.

Less than two minutes later Borya Valis converted on his fourth of the season to tie the contest. Tanner Howe passed the puck to Bedard in the neutral zone. Bedard quickly entered the Bronco zone, faked to the middle, and then cut outside which gave him the chance to fire a pass to Valis who made no mistake one-timing the puck past Poulter. The 2-2 goal came at 17:40 of the first period.

The game went into the first intermission tied 2-2 with the Broncos having a slight edge on the shot clock at 11-10.

Second Period

Just like the first period, the Broncos capitalized early in the middle twenty minutes, this time on the powerplay. Bettahar’s point shot was initially stopped but Caleb Wyrostok scored his fifth of the season when he was in close and cashed in on a rebound. Raphael Pelletier picked up the second assist on the 3-2 Bronco goal at 2:09.

Bedard tied the game on a nice individual effort. He waited for the Pats to get onside, he dangled around the Bronco forward before ripping home his 12th of the season past Poulter’s blocker side. Luke Bateman assisted on the tying goal at 10:54 of the middle period.

Each team added a single marker in the second and both teams had 10 shots. The Broncos had a slight advantage 21-20 after forty minutes of play.

Third Period

Jakob Brook gave the Pats their first lead of the contest when he sniped his first of the season. While working in the defensive zone Brook helped force a turnover and picked up the puck and raced toward the Bronco zone which led to a 2-on-1. Brook fired a hard shot past Poulter’s blocker side to give the Pats a 4-3 lead at 8:39.

Wyrostok notched his second of the game and sixth of the season when he got wide open in front of the Pats net. Connor Hvidston fed him a pass and he made no mistake as his shot beat Sim on the blocker side. The 4-on-4 goal tied the game at 4-4 at 14:33 of the third period.

The Pats took three straight minor penalties in just under three minutes which led to a couple of short 5-on-3’s. Shortly after the Pats killed off the second one the Broncos were just too much as they cashed in. Ward scored his second of the game when he one-timed home a shot from the right circle which gave the Broncos a 5-4 lead at 16:53 of the third period.

The Pats got Sim to the bench late in the game but were unable to convert with the extra attacker. The Broncos won 5-4 and outshot the Pats 29-26 (8-6 in the third period).

Regina Pats vs. Swift Current Broncos, December 4, 2021 (Keith Hershmiller)

“Drew [Sim] played really well tonight,” Herauf noted. ”Too many brain farts that happened and ended up in the back of our net.”

“Twenty feet In front of our net we need to be more intense. We need to be more connected, and we need to block shots and box out the other team and that’s the biggest keys.” Pats forward Valis said after the loss.

“It’s definitely a learning example for everybody to get better on,” Herauf said. “But right now, it’s just unacceptable for us. As a team, we need to be able to stop those guys from scoring in those situations. The biggest thing is they shouldn’t be in those positions to have those chances to score.”

Our puck management could be better, that includes myself, I think.” Bedard said after the loss. “There’s obviously times to make plays and there’s times to get it deep and kind of grind it down low. If we can do that and stick to our game, then we’re going to be a tough team to beat.

Patterings… The Pats were without four key forwards Zack Stringer, Cole Dubinsky, Zack Smith, and Logan Nijhoff for this one… Swift Current went 2-for-7 on the powerplay while Regina converted on 1-of-5 chances… Ward (2G), Bedard (1G, 2A), and Wyrostock (2G) were the games’ three-star selections… The Pats’ next action is Wednesday, December 8 when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers.