SATURDAY SPORTS PAGE: BEDARD’S HATTY CAN’T SAVE PATS

Regina, Sask. — Connor Bedard scored his 10th career hat-trick as well as five points but that wasn’t enough as the Regina Pats lost 9-5 to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday inside the Brandt Centre.

The Pats opened the scoring in the opening period but allowed six unanswered Warriors goals, with three of them coming in the first period.

Bedard tallied his 64th, 65th and 66th goals of the season as well as two assists for 134 points on the season. Riley Ginnell scored for a second straight game and Alexander Suzdalev snapped a four game pointless and goalless drought with his 37th of the season, finishing the night with three points (1G-2A). Drew Sim got the start in net but was pulled in the second period after allowing six goals on 14 shots. Kelton Pyne replaced Sim and made 22 saves.

Jagger Firkus led the way for Moose Jaw with four points (3G-1A), while Brayden Yager (3A), Atley Calvert (1G-2A) and Ryder Korczak (1G-2A) finished with multi-point games. Jackson Unger helped the Warriors to their fourth straight win, making 21 saves.

Elsewhere in the WHL:

RAIDERS 4 WHEAT KINGS 3

BRANDON, Man. – Sloan Stanick scored twice, including the game-winner at 17:37 of the third period. for the Raiders.

Carter Anderson and Ryder Ritchie also scored for Prince Albert (27-34-3-0) with goaltender Tikhon Chaika stopping 36 shots.

Nolan Ritchie, Andrei Malyavin and Nate Danielson replied for Brandon (26-31-8-0) with Carson Bjarnason turning away 17 shots in a losing cause.

HURRICANES 6 HITMEN 4

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – Tyson Laventure paced the Hurricanes with a goal and two assists.

Brayden Edwards, Trae Wilke, Jett Jones, Logan McCutcheon and Cole Shepard were the other goal scorers for Lethbridge (34-24-3-3).

Hurricanes goaltender Bryan Thomson had 26 saves.

Riley Fiddler-Schultz, Matteo Danis, London Hoilett and Maxim Muranov scored for Calgary (27-28-5-3).

Hitmen goalie Brayden Peters had 26 saves in the loss.

REBELS 2 BRONCOS 0

RED DEER, Alta. – Kyle Kelsey posted a 34-save shutout for the host Rebels (42-17-3-3).

Jayden Grubbe and Jace Isley scored once for Red Deer.

Broncos netminder Reid Dyck stopped 29 shots.

TIGERS 7 OIL KINGS 2

EDMONTON – Dru Krebs’ hat trick paced the visiting Tigers to victory.

Cayden Lindstrom, Dallon Melin, Brendan Lee and Hunter St. Martin each scored singles for Medicine Hat (28-26-8-1).

Evan May stopped 20 shots in the Tigers’ net while his Oil Kings counter part Kolby Hay turned away 22.

Ethan MacKenzie and Cole Miller were goal scorers for Edmonton (9-50-4-0) at the bottom of the league.

BLAZERS 5 ROCKETS 2

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Rockets goaltender Talyn Boyko’s 55 saves weren’t enough to stop Kamloops, who got goals from five different Blazers.

Emmitt Finnie, Shea Van Olm, Logan Stankoven, Connor Levis and Dylan Sydor all scored for Kamloops (46-11-4-2) atop the B.C. Division.

Blazers goaltender Dylan Ernst had a 24-save night.

Grady Lenton and Dylan Wightman replied for Kelowna (26-36-3-0).

THUNDERBIRDS 5 WINTERHAWKS 2

SEATTLE, Wash. – Dylan Guenther led the host Thunderbirds with a goal and two assists.

Mekai Sanders, Luke Prokop, Kevin Korchinski and Brad Lambert also chipped in goals for Seattle (51-9-1-2) atop the U.S. Division.

T-Birds goalie Scott Ratzlaff stopped 19 of 21 shots.

Josh Zakreski and Jack O’Brien each scored for Portland (39-18-4-3).

Dante Giannuzzi stopped 18 of 23 shots and Jan ?punar all seven he faced in Portland’s net.

COUGARS 7 ROYALS 1

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. – Seven different Cougars scored for the hosts with Hudson Thornton’s goal and two assists leading the way.

Cayden Glover, Riley Heidt, Koehn Ziemmer, Chase Wheatcroft, Arjun Bawa and Zac Funk also scored for Prince George (34-24-6-0).

Cougars goaltender Tyler Brennan stopped 20 shots in the win while Royals goalie Braden Holt repelled 31 shots by the Cougars.

Matthew Hodson scored for Victoria (15-42-6-1).

AMERICANS 3 CHIEFS 1

SPOKANE, Wash. – Jordan Gavin, Tyson Greenway and Jalen Luypen all scored in a winning cause for Tri-City (30-26-5-3).

Americans goaltender Tomas Suchanek stopped all but one of the 24 shots he faced.

Tommaso De Luca scored the only goal for Spokane (14-41-4-5) with goaltender Dawson Cowan making 21 saves in the loss.

GIANTS 3 SILVERTIPS 0

LANGLEY, B.C. – Jesper Vikman’s 32-save shutout led the Giants to victory.

Captain Ty Thorpe had a goal and an assist, with Colton Roberts and Jaden Lipinski also scoring for Vancouver (26-29-5-3).

Tyler Palmer had 19 saves in the loss for Everett (31-30-2-1).

NLL

CALGARY – Tyler Pace returned from injury to record an 8-point game and lead the Calgary Roughnecks to a spirited 11-6 win over the Saskatchewan Rush before a soldout crowd of 17,444 in the Saddledome. The Roughnecks and Rush annually clash on St. Patrick’s Day in Calgary. The home team lead 4-1 after the first quarter and 6-2 at halftime. At 5-7, Saskatchewan is in danger of missing the playoffs for a second straight year.

NHL

The Toronto Maple Leafs were the lone Canadian N-H-L club in action tonight and they downed the visiting Carolina Hurricanes 5-2. Zach Aston-Reese scored twice and Morgan Rielly notched his second goal in as many games for Toronto. In other games, St. Louis down Washington 5-2, Philadelphia upset Buffalo 5-2 and Anaheim topped Columbus 7-4.

SJHL

On the opening night of SJHL Playoffs, Weyburn upset Battlefords 3-2, La Ronge got past Melfort 3-1, Humboldt dumped Nipawin 5-1 and Flin Flon defeated Estevan 4-1.

MARCH MADNESS

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Pulling off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history, the undersized, underdog Fairleigh Dickinson stunned top-seeded Purdue 63-58, becoming the second No. 16 seed ever to win a game in March Madness.

The shortest of the 363 Division I teams in the country, the Knights (21-15) showed no fear in swarming 7-foot-4 All-America center Zach Edey (from Toronto, ON) from the start and simply outplayed the Big Ten champion Boilermakers (29-6).

Sean Moore scored 19 points to lead FDU and a relentless defensive charge – the Knights pressed most of the game – by a team that now has everyone’s attention.

Five years ago, UMBC showed the way for the little guys by overwhelming Virginia in the first 16-over-1 victory after numerous close calls over the years. Still, No. 16s had a 1-150 record against No. 1s and were 1-151 overall before FDU’s shocker.

The Knights will meet FAU – a 66-65 winner over Memphis – on Sunday for a Sweet 16 berth and a trip next week to play at Madison Square Garden in New York.

USPORTS HOCKEY

Drama in the Canadian university hockey men’s championship in Charlottetown. Host Prince Edward Island upsets top-seeded Calgary 4-2 in the quarterfinals. The Calgary Dinos set a Canada West record with 23 straight wins to end their regular season. PEI faces Alberta, and New Brunswick and Trois-Rivieres square off in tomorrow’s semifinals.

In the women’s U Sports hockey championship, the defending champion Concordia Stingers kept their chances of a repeat alive with a 5-1 win over Nipissing. The University of British Columbia edged St. Francis Xavier 3-2 in overtime. Concordia and U-B-C will clash in the semifinal tomorrow. Mount Royal and host Montreal meet in the other semifinal.

(ReginaPats.com, Canadian Press)