‘It’s our turn’: Pats seek redemption against Broncos
Do you believe in fate?
The Regina Pats probably should, based upon the rare opportunity that has been presented to them at the 100th edition of the Memorial Cup.
The tournament’s host team can guarantee itself a berth in Friday ’s semifinal with a win on Wednesday night against … wait for it … the Swift Current Broncos.
Not only do the Pats (1-1) have a chance to continue their quest for a CHL championship, they can do so at the expense of their old friends the Broncos (0-2), who would be knocked out of the competition with a loss on Wednesday (8 p.m., Brandt Centre).
In case you’ve forgotten, Swift Current eliminated the Pats in the first round of the WHL playoffs, depriving them of another shot at the WHL title after they fell just two wins short in 2017.
“(The Broncos) are a great team and we were happy for them that they won the league, but that should have been us,” said Pats centre Matt Bradley. “We are the better team so now is the time to prove it. They have their championship and now it’s our turn to win one.
“It’s kind of our redemption game and a second chance for us. We’re going to make it count.”
If the Pats have their way, Wednesday’s contest will end the latest chapter in a bitter feud that dates back to the 2017 playoffs.
Regina — the WHL’s regular-season champion at the time — was taken to the limit in a secondround series against the underdog Broncos, who couldn’t quite finish the job despite a 3-1 series lead.
The memory of that loss fuelled Swift Current during one of the most memorable seasons in franchise history, winning 48 regularseason games en route to the club’s first WHL title since 1993.
Swift Current’s toughest test en route to the league championship might have come from the Pats. They extended the back-and-forth series right to the final seconds of Game 7 — a heartbreaking 3-2 loss — despite the absence of top-flight defender Libor Hajek and No. 1 goaltender Max Paddock.
When the dust settled, the Pats had over six weeks to heal their injuries and ensure that the loss to Swift Current was seared into their memories.
It also helped keep them motivated on those long days before the Memorial Cup — a gruelling schedule of workouts, practices and scrimmages designed to have them in peak form heading into the tournament.
“We feel great; even better, honestly,” said defenceman Brady Pouteau, one of eight new additions prior to the trade deadline. “We were kind of beat up in the playoffs. That month and a bit off really helped us get healthy, helped us get stronger. Everyone knows each other way more. I feel like we have that chemistry now that we might have struggled a little bit with and I feel like we have all the pieces to make that push. Now I think it’s our turn.”
With tensions running high, the team that best controls its emotion could have a decided edge.
Not only do the Pats understand the stakes, they ’ve weighed the importance of putting certain aspects of their rivalry with Swift Current on the back burner.
“Grudges or whatever you’ve got against certain players, you can’t think about those,” said Pouteau. “But for sure, we’re going to be thinking about how they kicked us out of playoffs. They kicked us out and potentially we have a chance to do the same to them now.”
Unlike the other teams in the Memorial Cup, Regina and Swift Current know each other extremely well after meeting six times in the regular season and seven more times in the playoffs.
Wednesday’s game is all about effort and execution.
Pats head coach and GM John Paddock has been quick to dismiss any talk of revenge being a factor, pointing out that his team has much bigger priorities.
That said, he’s not going to discourage the players from using recent history as a catalyst — assuming it’s channelled the right way.
“Anything that burns in you to accomplish something, “I think that’s good stuff.”