THE WEDNESDAY THRILLER … WITH PHIL ANDREWS

Voice of the Pats Phil Andrews

Some thoughts on the week that was…

1.) The Regina Pats took on the Portland Winterhawks Tuesday night at the Brandt Centre and fell 3-1 despite outshooting the visitors 35-30. Doing my game prep it was almost hard to believe the Hawks had just 2 wins on the season coming into the game. The Pats played a solid game and it was nothing short of excitement for 60 minutes. Brenden Burke and then Bolton Pouliot were fantastic in the Winterhawks goal. Tyler Brown was also impressive in just his second start in the league stopping 27 of 30 shots faced. Dryden Hunt scored the lone goal for the Pats and it was a beauty, a spinning back hand shot into the top corner. Yes it’s a loss but this team is fun to watch.  I’ll take it.

2.) As for the weekend for the Pats, Friday the team played really well but could not beat Wyatt Hoflin and fell 1-0 in Kootenay. It was as complete a game as the team had played all year but could not get the bounces. Pavel Padakin was the closest to scoring in the first period when he hit the post. Saturday Regina manhandled the Lethbridge Hurricanes in a 6-1 win. Tyler Brown was great in goal making 29 saves while Dryden Hunt and Connor Gay each had three point nights. Morgan Klimchuk made his season debut and scored his first goal of the year. Klimchuk was the lone goal scorer on Sunday in Calgary where the Pats lost 5-1 to the Hitmen. Regina could very well have been up 3 or 4 nothing in the game but missed some wide open nets and then the Hitmen found their game and took over in the second period. Overall it was a 1-2-0 weekend but very well could have gone the other way.

3.) I don’t know what’s more impressive, the fact that Sam Steel is a plus-8 or that he has 9 points on the season.

4.) Daniel Wapple’s numbers don’t tell the whole story in my opinion.  His goals against is over 3 and his save percentage under 900 but he has been good. With the chances teams have had against him, most goalies wouldn’t have fared much better.

5.) Many of you have seen the story on the 180 million dollar lawsuit against the CHL for violating minimum wage laws. This really grinds my gears. Yes the players don’t make minimum wage, no one disputes that, HOWEVER: Take into account housing, food, travel, equipment and education. What is the dollar value of all of that? If a judge rules the CHL needs to pay minimum wage, then teams would automatically fold. Yes there are clubs like the London Knights in the OHL that are making money but think of Swift Current, Prince Albert and Lethbridge… Throw any team that isn’t in a major market on that list, they would be done. Maybe it could work if they make players pay to travel, eat and for their equipment and accommodations in terms of the teams bottom line but minimum wage wouldn’t allow the players to afford it. This has the potential to kill junior hockey and frankly it’s maddening. All this lawyer sees is dollar signs and the player he is using as the name behind the lawsuit is Sam Berg. The kid played 8 games in the OHL, yes 8 games. Absolute stupidity. Let’s take it one step further, if the CHL is required to pay minimum wage, then shouldn’t Junior A? the SJHL can BARELY stay afloat as it is. Again, if by some unbelievable sequence of events this goes through and teams are forced to pay, say good bye to junior hockey as we know it.

6.) Tough to see the Regina Thunder season come to an end on Saturday in a 20-17 loss to the Calgary Colts. I was unable to attend the game but from the sounds of things when running back Nick Brown went down, the offense struggled. The Colts are riding high and are in Saskatoon for the PFC final against the Hilltops on Sunday.

7.) Didn’t see the Rider game on Sunday as we were on the air in Calgary with the Pats. Four straight losses is tough but not that surprising. Unless Darian Durant does come back I don’t think the team will win against Calgary or Edmonton to finish the year. Fingers crossed he comes back.

8.) The Riders released Will Ford, Eron Riley and DeNarius McGhee on Tuesday. The moves don’t make me scratch my head. Anthony Allen and Jerome Messam are more than capable of handling the running back duties.

9.) The World Series has started, two words: GO ROYALS. Yes the took one on the chin last night, 7-1 to San Francisco but I hope they bounce back. I also hope the time off after the ALCS didn’t hurt them.

10.) Back to the Pats road trip, On Sunday in Calgary I got on the elevator to head down for breakfast. The elevator stopped and this guy who looked really familiar jumped on. A random girl who was riding with me immediately went crazy and got a picture with him. I stood there like an idiot trying to figure out where this guy was from. It bothered me all day. Then we get on the bus to leave for the rink in the afternoon and Pavel Padakin is showing off this picture he just got taken with Thoe Rossi (Juice Ortiz), who was in the elevator with me and Kim Coates (Tig Trager) from the show Sons of Anarchy. Just happens to be my favorite show… Can’t believe I couldn’t figure out who the guy was. Here is that picture, Rossi is on the left, the girl I don’t know, Padakin is the third from the left followed by Kim Coates. Coates was born in Saskatoon. Pretty Cool!

Pats TV has been moved to Wednesdays at 7 o’clock on Access 7. Tonight my guests are Sam Steel, Jared McAmmond, Luc Smith, Colton Kroeker and Dave Struch.

That’s it from me today, have a good week.

Phil 
@PhilTheThrill18