PATS’ PATH TO WHL FINAL INCLUDES GRITTY ROAD WINS
The Regina Pats found the “choker” label difficult to digest.
After the WHL’s regularseason champions lost three of their first four games against the Swift Current Broncos in Round 2 of the playoffs, Pats players heard that dreaded word and were repulsed by the notion of it ultimately applying to them.
But it wasn’t looking promising. In Game 6 of a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal, Swift Current was enjoying a
3-1 second-period lead and was apparently in control of what could have been the series’ last game.
In the top row of Section N at the Credit Union iPlex, armed with lethal weapons such as a pen and a notepad, a disbelieving scribe was beginning to jot down topics to belabour in what seemed to be an inevitable Pats post-mortem.
So much for the “what went wrong?” thumb-sucker. Instead of folding on that April 15 evening in Swift Current, the Pats scored twice late in the second period — igniting a four-goal roll that gave Regina a 5-3 victory, and another life.
The Pats proceeded to win Game 7 against Swift Current, only to face a 2-1 series deficit against the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the conference final. Yet again, the Pats rallied — posting three consecutive victories to advance to the league final. Regina is to play host to the Seattle Thunderbirds in Game 1 on Friday.
“It hasn’t been easy for us in the playoffs, being down 3-1 in the second series and everyone is saying we’re choking and everything,” Pats centre Wyatt Sloboshan said Wednesday.
“I think that kind of really hit us and I think it really helped us, because that’s really where we changed our game because we knew that we had to play a different way if we wanted to win.”
In that April 15 game, the Broncos were rolling until Josh Mahura scored at 18:36 of the second period to reduce the home team’s lead to 4-3. Sloboshan tied the game 59 seconds later. Austin Wagner put Regina ahead to stay at 1:15 of the third period.
A comparable scenario unfolded April 26 in Lethbridge. The game was tied 2-2 before Adam Brooks triggered a four-goal flurry at 18:06 of the second period. Seventy seconds later, Dawson Leedahl put the Pats ahead 4-2. Regina ended up winning 6-2 to create a 2-2 deadlock in the series.
Four days later, the Pats returned to Lethbridge for Game 6. The Hurricanes exploded out of the gate by scoring the game’s first three goals. They also enjoyed a 4-2 lead before, true to form, Regina sniped twice toward the end of the second period.
Filip Ahl scored at 15:47 to reduce Lethbridge’s lead to 4-3. Nick Henry tied the game 93 seconds later. Jeff de Wit snapped the 4-4 tie at 8:41 of the third period, which ended with Regina winning the game (7-4) and the series (4-2).
So what happens to the Pats when the end of the second period looms?
“I think we kind of get desperate,’’ said Sloboshan, who has registered one point in each of the two-goal late-second-period eruptions. “We know our season can be on the line any game when we’re behind like that.
“We’re behind two goals in lots of those games. We get one and, once we get one, we get real excited and we want to get the next one. I think once we get the next one, the other team kind of steps back and they kind of get scared.”
And the Pats get even scarier.