Pats playing for pride after playoff elimination
After falling out of the playoff race, the Regina Pats are looking to wrap up the season on a positive note.
During Regina's recent road trip through the United States, the Pats failed to pick up a victory in six games, which officially eliminated them from post-season contention in the WHL'S Eastern Conference.
Following the U.S. trip, Regina wrapped up the seven-game road swing last weekend in Moose Jaw, losing 6-3 to the Warriors, which swelled the Pats' losing streak to seven games.
Now for the first time since Feb. 19, the Pats are set to play at home this weekend, hosting the Prince Albert Raiders on Friday at 7 p.m. before entertaining the Warriors on Sunday at 4 p.m.
“Obviously we haven't had the wins that we've wanted lately and our record is a lot better at home,” said Pats head coach Brad Herauf. “So, it's good to be back here.”
While Regina has a 21-36-6 record this season, their home record is much better at 16-12-3. On the road, they are just 5-24-3.
The lack of performance on the road has dropped the team to last in the Eastern Conference standings and third last in the WHL.
And while they're playing for pride with five games left in the season, Herauf's expectations for the team haven't changed.
“This year we always talked about a standard and playing to our identity,” said Herauf. “We expect a certain type of effort to be given out every night.
“Keep on playing for pride and keep on playing to a standard which I think we've built a good reputation of being a hard team to play against.”
Despite the string of losses, some of that effort was evident during a few of games on the road trip as the Pats held leads in three of the six contests.
However, they couldn't close any of them out for victories.
“It was a learning experience for all of us,” said Herauf. “We were playing the end of 16 games in 32 nights so it's a mental grind and you're obviously physically not feeling your best at all, but you've still got to grind it out.
“I think it was a really good learning experience for our young group.”
In a year that saw general manager Alan Millar put his stamp on the team with 10 trades and several other transactions, this season was viewed as a rebuilding year for the club after hiring Millar and promoting Herauf to head coach in the off-season following the retirement of John Paddock.
Plus, with Connor Bedard heading to the NHL, the Pats were bound to take a step back after making the playoffs last season.
Looking ahead to next season, expectations will be higher considering the amount of talent eligible to come back next year.
“We're returning almost 90 per cent of our roster,” said Herauf. “We're going to have some bigger expectations next year. I think we've built in some winning habits and we definitely expect to be winning more than we won this year.”
The Pats will visit Prince Albert on March 20 before their final home game on March 22 against the Brandon Wheat Kings. Regina will then conclude the season the following night in Moose Jaw.