Pats set for first Game 7 at Brandt Centre

Tickets to event sold out almost immediately

The Regina Pats are preparing for their first Game 7 on home ice since 1972. And it will be epic.

Regina’s WHL playoff series against the Swift Current Broncos has been compelling for various reasons. There have been three overtime games (all won by Swift Current), stirring goaltenders’ duels, jarring hits, and spirited displays by supporters of both sides during a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal.

Swift Current assumed a 3-1 series lead, pushing the CHL’s top-ranked team to the brink of elimination, before Regina registered back-to-back victories — including Saturday’s 5-3 triumph at the Credit Union iplex — to force Monday’s deciding game (7 p.m., Brandt Centre).

Pats’ statistical maven Kevin Shaw kindly passed along the information that Regina will play host to a seventh game for the first time since April 16, 1972, when Dennis Sobchuk and associates won 8-2 at Exhibition Stadium to eliminate the Flin Flon Bombers. Regina finished the series with three wins, two losses and two ties. (Yes, ties. An inspired format, that.)

Well into Saturday’s game, the Pats’ chances were looking grim. Swift Current scored two rapid-fire goals early in the second period to go ahead 3-1.

The Broncos followed up with more quality scoring chances, only to be repelled by Pats goaltender Tyler Brown.

Broncos fans began chanting Brown’s name in mocking fashion, but his actions ultimately spoke the loudest. He held Swift Current off the scoreboard for the final 37 minutes 33 seconds.

Regina, meanwhile, staged the kind of offensive outburst for which it has been noted this season. Beginning at 18:36 of the third period, the Pats scored four times in a span of 7:12 and necessitated what should be a splendid sporting spectacle — the franchise’s first Game 7 at the Brandt Centre.

On Sunday, all tickets were sold within a few hours. Neither team is inclined to disappear as quickly.