BEDARD POTS TWO IN WHL DEBUT

REGINA – It wasn’t the outcome the Regina Pats wanted on opening night of the WHL East Division season, but the WHL debut of Exceptional Player Connor Bedard was as-advertised.

The 15-year old phenom from North Vancouver buried his first two career goals in a 47 second span of the second period in an eventual 6-3 Pats loss to the Prince Albert Raiders in the East Division Hub Centre.

The Raiders jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Ozzie Weisblatt and Tyson Laventure. They upped the lead to 3-0 early in the second courtesy Matthew Culling but then Bedard went to work with back-to-back tallies at 5:01 and 5:48 of the middle frame. It was 3-2 P.A. going to the third.

The Raiders’ Reece Vitelli and Logan Danis put the visitors up 5-3 early in the third, and despite Pats captain Logan Nijhoff’s first of the season at 8:39, that’s as close as Regina would get. Evan Herman iced the game for P.A. with an empty-netter with 23 seconds remaining.

“It was really special. It’s been a long year I think for everyone, just waiting to get started and it was definitely good to get that one going and out of the way. It’s a special feeling getting on that ice and finally being able to play for Regina,” Bedard told reporters after the game.

“You could tell with my emotion I was pretty pumped, but it’s definitely good to get that first one out of the way, because then you can just play. Like I said, I was super excited to get those. I thought our whole team tonight played a good game.”

The Pats outshot the Raiders 30-17 with goaltender Roddy Ross taking the loss in his Pats debut. 20-year old P.A. netminder Max Paddock collected the win with 14 saves in his first return to the Brandt Centre since last year’s trade deadline deal which sent him from Regina to P.A.

Regina went 1/10 on the power play and 1/2 killing penalties.

Earlier in the day in Regina, the Moose Jaw Warriors downed Brandon 4-3 in overtime.

Regina returns to action Sunday at 4:00 pm versus the Saskatoon Blades. Our next Pats TV broadcast on AccessNow is Tuesday when Regina faces the Moose Jaw Warriors at 8:00 pm.

RP
@rodpedersen