Tough loss for Pats
The Regina Pats liked almost everything about their performance on Friday.
Everything except the result.
Despite playing what they believed was a near-perfect road game, the Pats were forced to swallow a 1-0 loss to the host Kootenay Ice in front of 2,223 WHL fans at Western Financial Place in Cranbrook, B.C.
“I thought it was one of our best games of the year,” said Pats assistant coach Dave Struch, whose team outshot Kootenay 3416. “Obviously the outcome isn’t what you want, but right from our goaltender out it was a great effort. We definitely deserved a lot more. It’s frustrating when you put that kind of effort in and you don’t get a point out of it, but our guys have to be proud (of their performance) and we’ll just keep building off it.”
The game’s only goal came off the stick of White City product Troy Murray, who notched his first WHL marker. It came on the power play 33 seconds into the second period with the assist going to Regina product Zak Zborosky.
Goaltender Wyatt Hoflin handled the rest with his first career shutout, stopping 34 shots. Hoflin was also a standout nine days earlier when he made 42 saves in his team’s 5-4 loss at the Brandt Centre.
“You give their goalie a lot of credit,” said Struch. “Hoflin played great for them. He played really good in our barn as well. But there were a lot of opportunities for us to capitalize (in Friday’s game) and we didn’t do it. We don’t have a lot of finishers. That’s OK because the effort makes up for it, but at some point those things should come together for us and the guys will start to grow some confidence when they start going in for us.”
It was the second home game of the season for Kootenay (3-6-0), which snapped a four-game losing streak.
Daniel Wapple took the loss for the Pats (4-4-1), who continue their mini road swing Saturday against the Lethbridge Hurricanes. That’s followed by their third game in three nights on Sunday versus the Calgary Hitmen.
Despite Friday’s loss, Struch believes the Pats have plenty to build upon heading into the rest of the weekend.
“There’s no question this is the kind of game you want to play consistently,” he added. “Don’t worry about the outcome. Those things are going to happen. You just build on it because there were a lot of real good things that happened in the game tonight. Obviously the scoreboard wasn’t one of them, but everything else was.”
EXTRAS: The Pats scratches were LW Morgan Klimchuk (wrist) and G Tyler Fuhr (personal), along with D/F Carter Hansen and F Rylee Zimmer … Kootenay F Tim Bozon, who was reassigned to the WHL club earlier this week by the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, sat out with an undisclosed injury. Ice D Bryan Allbee, D Dylan Overdyk and F Jared Legien were suspended for Friday’s game after “violating team rules,” the club announced. As a result, Kootenay was two players short of a full lineup, dressing 16 skaters … Regina went 0-for-3 on the power play. Kootenay was 1-for-3 … The Pats are back on home ice Tuesday against the Portland Winterhawks.