Randy Feere

Kemp, Sillinger and the Tigers maul the Pats

It was the Brett Kemp and Cole Sillinger show on Friday night at the Brandt Centre. Kemp had four goals, Sillinger assisted on the first two and he scored the third goal which ended up being the game-winner. The Tigers won handily 8-2 in front of 4489 fans.

Brett Kemp
(Photo – Ryan McCracken)

Penalties let the Pats down early as Kemp scored the first two goals for the Tigers on the man advantage. His fourth also came on the power play late in the third. The Tigers were 3-for-6 on the man advantage Friday.

Pats head coach Dave Struch was not happy with the effort Friday night, one of the few times this season he’s placed the blame directly on the players. After the game he said “They started yesterday with a bad practice and carried over into the game today. They did it all to themselves.”

With the quick turn around for the back half of the home and home, tomorrow night in Medicine Hat, Struch said “If you don’t look yourself in a mirror and find some character and some heart. It’s going to be twice as bad tomorrow night. (It’s a) gut check, see where we’re at, see what we’re made of.”

Cole Sillinger
(Photo – Ryan McCracken)

Cole Sillinger last played January 28, he had been out with an upper-body injury. Sillinger has feasted on the Pats, in two games this season he has three goals and three assists. Last season, as a 15-year-old affiliated player, Sillinger collected his first WHL point on December 2, 2019, in a 3-2 Tigers win in Regina. Sillinger made his WHL debut in Regina on October 26, his only pointless game versus the Pats.

Sillinger now sits fourth in WHL rookie scoring with 49 points, despite playing quite a few games less than the rest of the top eight scorers. He is first in rookie assists on the power play with 19.

Post game Pats captain Austin Pratt couldn’t pinpoint the struggles the team has with the Tigers. Saying “we just have to play the way we have against the top teams in the league. We’ve beaten really good teams in this league, but some for some reason we don’t play the same way against them. We’ve been embarrassed by them three times in a row. So hopefully it sinks in that we have to do something different tomorrow night. They’re a really fast team, they’re good. I think they’re probably one of the best in the league from what I’ve seen. That doesn’t excuse the way we play every time. We don’t do what we have to do, and they just capitalize on every chance.”

Scoring Summary

First Period

1. MH Brett Kemp 26 (Elijah Brown, Cole Sillinger) Power Play 17:58

Second Period

2. REG Zack Smith 11 (Austin Pratt, Cole Dubinsky) Power Play 1:16

3. MH Brett Kemp 27 (James Hamblin, Cole Sillinger) Power Play 3:30

4. MH Cole Sillinger 19 (Lukas Svejkovsky, Ryan Chyzowski) 11:27

5. MH Parker Gavlas 4 (Nick McCarry, Cyle McNabb) 19:16

Third Period

6. MH  Lukas Svejkovsky 17 (Unassisted) 0:47

7. REG Logan Nijhoff 14 (Unassisted) 1:44

8. MH Brett Kemp 28 (James Hamblin, Dylan Plouffe) 14:40

9. MH Brett Kemp 29 (Dylan Plouffe, Parker Gavlas) Power Play 15:52

10 MH Baxter Anderson 5 (Jonathan Brinkman) 19:55

Pats Stats

Tigers netminder Mads Søgaard stopped 18-of-20 shots.

Pats goalie Donovan Buskey stopped 32-of-40 shots.

Regina was 1-for-3 on the power play. It was their first power-play goal of the season versus the Tigers.

Medicine Hat is 7-for-18 on the power play versus Regina this season.

Medicine Hat’s James Hamblin sits third in league scoring with 86 points.

Austin Pratt currently has a six-game point streak. His three-game goal-scoring streak came to an end on Friday. He leads the team with 52 points.

The Tigers’ Ryan Chyzowski has seven goals and seven assists in 14 career games against Regina.

Regina’s Robbie Holmes sat out the second and final game of his suspension.

Spencer Welke dressed for his first game as a Pat. The recently turned 18-year-old backed up Donovan Buskey as Danton Belluk remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Welke was returned to the Prince Albert Mintos of the SMHL immediately following the game. The Mintos are playing game three of their first-round best-of-five series against the Saskatoon Contacts Saturday afternoon in Saskatoon. Prince Albert is down in the series 2-0.

The Pats will be using 17-year-old goaltender Ethan Hein, a prospect of the Calgary Hitmen as an emergency back up Saturday night in Medicine Hat.

After the Saturday night game in Medicine Hat, the Pats are back home on Tuesday to host Moose Jaw.