The Winnipeg ICE played “host” the Regina Pats in the lone game on Tuesday in the “Subway Hub.”
After losing their first game in the Regina Hub, the ICE came into the game riding a four-game win streak. The Pats on the other hand came into the game with just a lone victory to go along with a pair of overtime losses.
The ICE all but sealed the Pats’ fate with three goals in four minutes, late in the second period. Winnipeg continued to pour it on and came out of the game with a convincing 8-3 victory.
When trying to find any positives from Tuesday night’s 8-3 loss Pats head coach Dave Struch said, “Really, really hard, especially when we talked about what could have been a really simple game plan against a really good team.”
The ICE proved that they were good as they flexed their scoring muscle with eight goals on just 33 shots.
“To beat a good team,” said Struch “we have to keep it simple (and) we didn’t at all tonight.”
Winnipeg’s Mike Ladyman and Jakin Smallwood gave the ICE a 2-0 lead before the halfway mark of the first period. Carter Massier gave the Pats some life with a highlight-reel goal bringing the Pats to within one with five minutes left is the first.
? WHL Highlight of the Night ?
March 23, 2021@WHLPats forward Carter Massier puts 'em in a blender!#WHLHoN pic.twitter.com/cgAXvun5ga— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 24, 2021
“Their forwards are highly skilled. They’re high-end draft picks,” Struch said, “So the winning formula, the winning plan was to keep the puck out of their hands and the only way to do that is to get the puck deep and behind their defensemen and make them turn all night and we didn’t do that at all. Right from the beginning, we started turning pucks over. Everybody turned it over tonight and we definitely needed to get more pucks behind them for sure.”
Trailing 2-1 heading into the second period, the Pats played well for the first part of the period, but the wheels would fall off. Owen Pederson, Smallwood (second), and Connor McClennon scored for the ICE late in the period. All three goals came in a span of under four minutes and gave the ICE a 5-1 lead after forty minutes.
“We’ve played well, we’ve had lots of momentum,” in previous games, Pats head coach Dave Struch explained. “Tonight, we didn’t have (that). We had ten minutes (with momentum) at the start of the second because we got the puck in deep, and we thought we were too good from there.”
Five goals on 19 shots spelled the end of the night for Roddy Ross in the Regina goal. Matthew Kieper was called upon to face the ICE for the third period.
The ICE continued to dominate the Pats and added two more to their total. Chase Bertholet (with his first career) and Zachary Benson scored before the third period was 10 minutes old. Winnipeg started to lay back somewhat and the Pats capitalized twice. Carter Chorney scored his first of the season. Logan Nijhoff then scored his second of the year to make the score somewhat more respectable at 7-3. Two and a half minutes later McClennon scored his second of the game. Any thoughts of a Pats comeback were squashed by the ICE.
With Tom Cadieux and Makai Mitchell out with injuries, the Pats dressed a more youthful defensive and it showed. “For sure there was some exposure there most definitely,” Struch said, “but it’s a good experience for them to play against the high-end skill that Winnipeg has. But we could have made it so much easier if we would have just stuck to the plan that we put out there, and it wouldn’t have been as bad for us.”
Patterings
One positive for the Pats was that Connor Bedard kept his point streak alive with an assist on Nijhoff’s goal. The Pats went o-for-4 on the powerplay while killing just two of five ICE opportunities. The Pats would actually lead on the shot clock when the final buzzer sounded by a 35-33 count. The ICE swept the three-star selections. McClennon (2G, 1A), Peyton Krebs (3A), and Benson (1G, 2A). Rookie ICE goalie Daniel Hauser picked up his second win in as many starts this season.
The Pats’ next action is Thursday. They will try to get things together when they play the Prince Albert Raiders at 4:00 pm local time. The ICE also plays their next game Thursday at 8:00 pm against their Manitoba rival Brandon Wheat Kings.
