THE WEDNESDAY THRILLER … WITH PHIL ANDREWS

Voice of the Pats Phil Andrews

They just keep on rolling…

The Regina Pats exercised some demons over the last week with two wins over the Brandon Wheat Kings. Prior to last week the Wheat Kings had won 8 in a row over the Pats going back to last season. On top of it all, the Pats won in Brandon for the first time since February of 2013.  In my fourth season now calling games it is just the second win on the road against the Wheat Kings. In the last 5 years the Pats are 3 and 15 on the road in Brandon. This team looks to be for real, hard to argue with winning 13 of their last 15 games.

– Tonight they visit the Swift Current Broncos at 7 pm on 620 CKRM (Press Box Sports Bar Pregame Show at 6:35 pm).

– The impressive thing about it is that it hasn’t been the lower tiered teams in the league that the club has beaten. 4 of those wins against top 10 ranked teams in the entire country. These players are buying what the coaches are saying and it’s working. Almost unbelievably so.

– 5 on 5 the Pats are at the top of the league in goals for and against.  Their speed causes a ton of problems for opposing teams and they have the hottest goaltender in the league in Daniel Wapple. 4 lines are going and everyone is contributing, this team doesn’t rely on one or two lines to score. It’s truly a team effort and it’s fun to watch.

– Last week on Wednesday Pavel Padakin scored his third teddy bear toss goal in three years. I can’t even begin to fathom the odds of that happening for one player in a career. To score the first goal of that special game three straight years… it’s infinitesimal odds. Sure is cool though.

– Morgan Klimchuk, Kyle Burroughs, Pavel Padakin and Sergey Zborovskiy were at the Regina General Hospital on Tuesday handing out some of the 1000 plus bears that went onto the ice last week. Here’s a photo of the guys giving back to sick kids in the city.

 Slap Shots

1.) Klimchuk will be playing his final game with the Pats Wednesday night at Swift Current before heading to Toronto for selection camp for the World Juniors.

2.) Colby Williams is still day to day with that undisclosed injury.

3.) Adam Brooks in his first two seasons with the Pats scored 8 goals in 115 games played. In 29 games this year he has scored 12 times. A 495 percent improvement. Thanks to @WHLFacts for that tidbit.

4.) Sam Steel leads all rookies at plus 16. He leads all 16 year old’s in the WHL in scoring with 23 points. That’s second in rookies overall behind 17 year old Wheat King defenceman Ivan Provorov.

5.) Canadian Interuniversity Sport and the Canada West Universities Athletic Association announced Tuesday the team that will defend Canada’s gold medal in men’s hockey at the upcoming 2015 Winter Universiade in Granada, Spain. Among those named to the roster is Regina Pats alumni Matt Delahey.  Playing in 232 games for the Blue and White, Delahey tallied 66 points from the blue line. During his time with the Pats, the Moose Jaw, SK product was drafted in the fourth round by the New Jersey Devils in 2008 before moving on to attend the University of Saskatchewan and suit up with the Huskies.The 27th biennial Games will run from Feb. 3-14, with the men’s hockey gold-medal match set for the final day of competition.

6.) Former Pat Jordan Weal is tied for 7th in AHL scoring with 22 points. 4 points off the league lead. I wonder if he, like Linden Vey, who was a Kings draft pick, will get traded and get a chance to play in the NHL soon. Seems like he’s ready and would be on the big stage with a different organization than Los Angeles.

7.) Aaron Rodgers tied Brett Favres record through his first 100 starts in the NFL on Monday with his 68th win. A darn good winning percentage no doubt. However whn you look further into the numbers it would seem Rodgers has been the better QB in that stretch. Favre threw less touchdowns and more than double the interceptions. Rodgers has just 54 picks in 100 games… almost unbelievable. Both won a SuperBowl in that stretch however Favre has 3 MVP’s to Rodgers 1. Regardless, Packer fans have been spoiled with two Hall of Fame quarterbacks in the last 2 decades plus.

8.) The Seattle Seahawks are looking more and more like the 2013 Superbowl Champions. They beat up on the Philadelphia Eagles 24-14. The score doesn’t show it but the defense was lights out allowing just 7 points. They and Green Bay are the class of the NFC.

9.) The non-class of the NFC is the South Division. A team with a losing record will win the division and host a playoff game. The Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints lead the division at 5 and 8. In every other division in the NFL, the worst record of the 1st place team is 8-4-1. Same thing happened a few years back when Seattle won the NFC West at 7 and 9 or something and then beat New Orleans. A screwy system sometimes.

10.) Drake Berehowsky is done as the head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes. He was let go yesterday. Not a good situation over there in Lethbridge with the Canes again at the bottom of the standings with just 16 points. They need a savior over there.

That’s it from me today, have a great week, talk to you from Swift Current Wednesday night.

Phil
@PhilThethrill18