SATURDAY SPORTS: PATS HONOUR 1974 TEAM, FALL 3-2 TO BRANDON

Regina, Sask. – On a night where the 1974 Memorial Cup champion Regina Pats were honoured before a hometown crowd, the current edition of the Pats wrapped up their home schedule with a 3-2 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings in front of a season-high crowd of 5514 on Friday.

The game was held scoreless in the late portions of the second period when Nolan Flamand opened the scoring. The Wheat Kings lead would not last too long as Sam Oremba tied the contest at one going into the third.

In the final stanza, after the Pats took a 2-1 lead, the Wheat Kings tied the game seconds after and later took the 3-2 lead with under seven minutes to play. Oremba finished the game with two goals, picking up his fifth multi-goal game of the season. Ewan Huet got the start, allowing three goals on 28 shots.

For Brandon, Ethan Eskit was the difference, stopping countless Pats grade-A chances as he finished the night with 30 saves for his ninth victory of the season. Flamand, Nicolas Johnson and Joby Beaumuller (GWG) scored the Wheat Kings goals as they closed out their regular season with a three game winning-streak and a 33-28-6-1 record with 73 points.

(With files from ReginaPats.com)

Elsewhere in the WHL on Friday:

BLADES 5 RAIDERS 1

Brandon Lisowsky scored twice, Egor Sidorov chipped in with two assists, and the visiting Saskatoon Blades rolled over the Prince Albert Raiders 5-1 in Western Hockey League action on Friday at the Art Hauser Centre.

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AMERICANS 4 WINTERHAWKS 3 (OT)

KENNEWICK, Wash. — Jordan Gavin scored at 2:23 of overtime to give the Tri-City Americans a 4-3 win over the visiting Portland Winterhawks.

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TIGERS 3 HURRICANES 2 (OT)

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — Oasiz Wiesblatt scored at 4:11 of overtime as the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers edged the Lethbridge Hurricanes 3-2.

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BRONCO 7 HITMEN 6

SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. — Rylan Gould scored twice, Brady Birnie had three assists and the Swift Current Broncos edged the visiting Calgary Hitmen 7-6.

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ROCKETS 6 GIANTS 2

LANGLEY, B.C. — Gabriel Szturc scored twice, Max Graham and Andrew Cristall each had a goal and three assists, and the visiting Kelowna Rockets knocked off the Vancouver Giants 6-2.

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THUNDERBIRDS 3 CHIEFS 1

SEATTLE, Wash. — Sawyer Mynio, Simon Lovsin and Jordan Gustafson each scored as the Seattle Thunderbirds knocked off the visiting Spokane Chiefs 3-1.

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WILD 4 ROYALS 2

VICTORIA, B.C. — Karter Prosofsky scored three goals, including the winner, as the visiting Wenatchee Wild defeated the Victoria Royals 4-2.

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COUGARS 9 BLAZERS 2

KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Ondrej Becher had three goals and an assist as the visiting Prince George Cougars crushed the Kamloops Blazers 9-2.

Borya Valis had two goals and an assist for the B.C. Division-leading Cougars (48-15-1-3), while Oren Shtrom, Aiden Foster, Carlin Dezainde and Jett Lajoie netted singles. Bauer Dumanski chipped in with three assists.

Emmitt Finnie and Jordan Keller scored for the Blazers (20-41-3-3), who were outshot 43-36.

The Cougars led 4-0 after the first period and 9-1 heading into the third.

SJHL PLAYOFFS ROUND 1

Flin Flon 4 Kindersley 0 (Bombers lead series 1-0)
Melfort 5 Estevan 1 (Mustands lead series 1-0)
Humboldt 6 Weyburn 1 (Broncos lease series 1-0)
Battlefords 4 Melville 1 (North Stars lead series 1-0)

NHL

CURLING

• Rachael Homan clinched the top spot in Friday’s afternoon draw, then in the evening lost her only game of the round-robin portion of the world women’s curling championship in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Homan defeated Scotland’s Rebecca Morrison 8-2 to secure first place and a berth in the semifinal. She lost a meaningless 6-5 round-robin decision to South Korea’s Eunji Gim. The loss to Gim ended Homan’s overall win streak at 27 games.
• Kadriana and Colton Lott defeated Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres7-5 on Friday to capture the gold medal at the Canadian mixed doubles curling championship.

MLB

• Isiah Kiner-Falefa belted his first homer with Toronto as the Blue Jays defeated the Boston Red Sox 5-1 in spring training action today. Kiner-Falefa’s two-run shot anchored a three-run second. Addison Barger also doubled twice and drove in two runs for the Jays.
• Major League Baseball has opened an investigation into illegal gambling and theft allegations involving LA Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter. The interpreter was let go from the team Wednesday following reports of alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker. Ohtani and the Dodgers were in Seoul, South Korea, to open the season against the San Diego Padres when the reports surfaced.

MARCH MADNESS

Another year without a perfect NCAA Tournament bracket. Three people picked the first 28 games correctly in ESPN’s contest but all three got knocked out of the competition when James Madison beat Wisconsin on Friday night. Long shots Yale, Oakland and Duquesne also did some damage on the tournament’s second day. Only 1,825 perfect brackets survived Thursday’s games in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge. The odds of picking a perfect bracket at random are 1 in 9.2 quintillion. A record 22 million brackets were entered in ESPN’s contest. One person had the distinction of predicting every single winner incorrectly until Colorado squeaked past Florida 102-100.