WHL playoff series shifts to Regina, as Pats and Blades battle on
“We don’t go into games expecting to lose. So I don’t know why we wouldn’t be expecting that (first two wins)." — Connor Bedard
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The Saskatoon Blades find themselves in a hole and the Regina Pats are happily digging it.
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Even so, if you ask the Blades, they are not hitting the panic button.
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“If we can out-shoot a team 47-19, with that kind of work and compete, why would we panic?” Blades coach Brennan Sonne said after a heartbreaking 6-5 loss in overtime Sunday as he watched the Pats take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Western Hockey League Eastern Conference quarter-final playoff series.
“That’s how I feel.”
Sonne is asking his players to keep playing desperate, competitive, gritty hockey like they did Sunday, despite the loss.
“Let’s do ‘that’ — that’s what we need to do and we’ll be okay,” offered Sonne.
“We’re just saying ‘that’ — do that.”
An announced crowd of 10,598 fans were on hand Sunday to watch Connor Bedard — the consensus No. 1 pick in the 2023 National Hockey League Entry Draft — put on a show with a hat-trick and two assists. He was also on the ice for the game-winning goal in OT, by Zack Stringer, on the power play.
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The series now shifts to Regina for Games 3 and 4 Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, at the Brandt Centre.
“It’ll be loud and good,” said Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock. “It’s an older arena that basically needs to be replaced, but the seating capacity, and how it’s built, is as good as it is in junior hockey. To get 6,400 people in there, in a tight area, it’s a great building to play in. It’s a great building for the fans to be in when it’s a full house, for sure.”
While Paddock admits that the Pats were merely looking for a split in Saskatoon, they’ll take the two wins and move on.
“For sure, we didn’t expect to be up like this,” said Paddock. “If you can win the first one, you know you have a chance to, but there’s lots of hockey to play yet. They didn’t finish with 100-plus points for no reason. They’re a real good, well-coached team. We’ve just got to play it period by period in the next game, and the next game.”
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If there’s one player bursting with confidence, it’s Bedard.
The junior hockey phenom has five goals and three assists for eight points in his first two WHL playoff games.
“We don’t go into games expecting to lose,” said Bedard. “So I don’t know why we wouldn’t be expecting that (first two wins). They (Blades) expected that for themselves too, I’m sure. For us, there’s still lots of work to do. You’ve got to win four games, not two, and we know the last two will be the hardest to win. We’ve got to be happy about (Sunday’s win), and the weekend, but really shift our focus to Tuesday.
“To see the energy, it’s going to be my first playoff game playing at the Brandt, I’m pretty excited for that but we’re focused on just what we’ve got to do and how we’ve got to play. Obviously, the fans are going to be an extra kick when you’re playing at home, for sure.”
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As the series goes on, you can expect the intensity to ramp up even more.
“There’s more intensity than there was in the regular-season games, but I think it’s to the real credit to players on both teams to maintain that composure and not lose it,” said Paddock. “They had some playoff experience last year; most of our players hadn’t. I’m pleased that they’ve been able to play in the moment.”
Sonne said he continues to believe in the process even though he doesn’t have the results yet to show for it.
“We out-chanced them and we scored five goals (Sunday), so offensively, things are happening,” said Sonne, whose Blades dropped the series-opener 6-1 on Friday night. “It’s a fun series so far. We don’t have the results yet, but we need to be competitive and gritty like we were (Sunday) and we’ll be good.
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“We’re just going to go in there and try and be as gritty and competitive as we can, just like we were (Sunday).”
The Blades are “just focused” on that, he added.
“There’s a whole bunch of different words can you use. A lot of synonyms. Grit, desperate, playoff mode, competitive — whatever one you want to use, that’s our focus. That’s the main thing we have to bring now. There are adjustments we need to make, obviously, specialty-team wise and here and there. The main thing is us being gritty like we were (Sunday).”
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