THE THRILLER … WITH PHIL ANDREWS

Voice of the Pats Phil Andrews

– The Regina Pats dropped a 4-1 decision at home to the league leading Brandon Wheat Kings Tuesday night. The Pats skated with the Wheat Kings for two periods and were tied 1-1 after 2 but Brandon scored twice, 36 seconds apart in the third to go up 3-1 and then added an empty netter late. Tyler Brown was fantastic in the loss in the Pats goal. He stopped 27 shots, giving up three goals. In his last three starts Brown has a .936 save percentage with two wins.

– The Blue and White STILL do not know who their first round opponent will be in the playoffs. Moose Jaw kept their playoff hopes alive Tuesday with a 6-2 win over the Swift Current Broncos at Mosaic Place. The Warriors are now just two points back of the Broncos with two games left. Swift finishes with a home and home against Lethbridge and Moose takes on Brandon. The matchup certainly favors Swift Current but stranger things have happened. If the two clubs are tied after the weekend a tie breaker will be played in Swift on Tuesday next week.

– Brandon won their 52nd game of the year and are now four points clear of the Kelowna Rockets for the Scotty Monroe Memorial Trophy for the regular season champions. Kelowna does have a game in hand. Brandon finishes the season with a home and home against Moose Jaw while Kelowna plays Seattle tonight and then has Vancouver twice on the weekend.

– The Pats announced on Wednesday that rookie forward Sam Steel is out indefinitely with a severe ankle sprain.  It’s a loss the Pats can deal with. The way Patrick D’Amico, Adam Brooks, Jake Leschyshyn and Colton Kroeker are playing really speaks to the depth the Pats have at the center position.

– The Pats penalty kill since the Christmas break has gone unbelievable 135 for 146 in 37 games. That’s an astounding 92.5 percent. This stretch has brought the Pats up to 9th in the league at 80.6 percent for the year and plus they’ve scored a league high 19 short handed goals. Pretty incredible considering the PK was hovering just over 70 percent in the first half and right at the bottom of the WHL.

– Adam Berg has been called up by the Pats after his Calgary Mustangs of the AJHL were swept out of the playoffs by the Brooks Bandits. Berg has a goal and 2 assists in his time with the Pats earlier in the season. He is a welcome addition for the playoffs no doubt.

– The Pats play a home and home with Prince Albert to close things out. The first game will go at the Brandt Centre on Friday night at 7 o’clock. It’s awards night during the pre-game show, any predictions on MVP, rookie of the year, top defenceman?

– Big congrats to the Regina Pat Canadians on sweeping the Notre Dam Hounds to punch their ticket to the SMAAAHL championship series. The Pat C’s await the winner of the Battlefords Stars and the Tisdale Trojans. The two teams are tied 2-2 in the best of 5 series, game 5 is tomorrow night in Tisdale.

– A lot has been made in the last week about Joe Thorntons comments to his General Manager Doug Wilson. The Shark forward was a little perturbed about Wilsons comments about why he no longer is the teams captain. The Winnipeg Jets hosted the Sharks last night and the fans had a little fun with the whole situation. Have a look below, made me laugh.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/gotta-see-jets-fans-mock-thornton-sharks/

– Nazem Kadri has been suspended four games for his hit on the Edmonton Oilers Matt Fraser. I wonder if this will get the same converage as when he was suspended last week for three games for missing a team meeting. I certainly hope we don’t see panels of three analysts breaking down what this means for the Leafs. Who cares, they are a losing team, focus on something that matters.

– Get your March Madness bracket done yet? I know undefeated Kentucky is the favorite to win it all but I went with a Arizona, Gonzaga final with Zona taking it all. We will see.

That’s it from me today, have a great week.


Phil
@PhilTheThrill18