PATS FALL TO ICE, ELIMINATED FROM PLAYOFF RACE

Regina, Sask. — The Regina Pats were eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday night, following a 6-4 loss to the Winnipeg ICE, coupled with a Prince Albert Raiders win over Brandon.

The Pats really brought forth a strong effort compared to the previous night, playing a more physical brand of hockey and sticking with the Western Hockey League’s top team for most of the game.

“The boys knew what was at stake today and last night was not our best effort: the last 40 minutes we played really well, but tonight we want to make sure we played a 60-minute effort,” Pats assistant coach Brad Herauf said. “We did it the right way. We knew we had to play a certain type of game [to] hang in there with these guys. They’re a really good hockey club. They’re one of the top teams in the country for a reason, but I really liked our effort today — that we were able to commit to a style of hockey that maybe [is] a little bit outside of the kind of players we have, but we played playoff style hockey, the whole 60 minutes.”

Logan Nijhoff led the way up front for Regina, potting a pair of power play goals, while Braxton Whitehead and Easton Armstrong also scored for the Regiment.

The game was 1-1 after the opening period, before Winnipeg scored two goals early in the second to take a 3-1 lead. Nijhoff’s second of the game made it a one-goal deficit, but Winnipeg would score another pair in quick succession, making it 5-2 with under seven minutes remaining in the middle period.

The Pats wouldn’t crumble despite the deficit, with Whitehead’s goal making it a 5-3 game before the second intermission.

Armstrong scored midway through the third period to give the Pats some renewed life, but Matthew Savoie hit the empty with under a minute to go to make it a 6-4 final score.

“All year we didn’t really give [the ICE] a good run, and I thought we did tonight,” Nijhoff said. “We battled and competed in every area. I thought yesterday we didn’t even really do that at all. They’ve got such skilled forwards that they capitalize on every chance they get, so [tonight was] a huge improvement from the whole team.”

While the Pats have been eliminated from the playoffs, they still have one final regular season game, tomorrow at 4 p.m. against their biggest rival: the Moose Jaw Warriors. It will be the final WHL games for Nijhoff, Neithan Salame and Ryker Evans, if he’s able to play, as he has missed the last few games with an injury.

(ReginaPats.com)