The Broncos got out to a 3-0 lead on singles from Derek Claffey, Justin Dowling, and Keegan Dansereau who scored in the opening minute of the 3rd period on the PP.
Give Regina credit, they fought back and tied it 3-3 thanks to back-to-back powerplay goals. It was a night of firsts for the Pats as Andrew Rieder and Dominic Favreau scored their first ever WHL goals.
The Pats fought back only to have Brad Hoban score just 16 seconds later to give the Broncos a 4-3 lead... then the inevitable happened. The Pats lost their cool and subsequently paid for it.
With the Pats playing shorthanded almost the rest of the way, the Broncos added two more on the powerplay from Michael Stickland and Geordie Wudrick. Wudrick's 35th of the season extended his point scoring streak to 13 games.
It was a lumberjack fest from that point on. Lots of whacks, cross checks and slashes laid out. The Broncos put the bumpers up and had their head on a swivel for the last 4 or 5 minutes to get through it unscathed.
G Morgan Clark was solid in goal make 31 saves for the win. Morgan was on his game and did an admirable job. Travis Yonkman wasn't even dressed for this one as rookie 17 year-old call-up Alex Sirard dressed as the back-up. Sirard played "AAA" midget for the UFA Bisons this season.
The two teams do it all again tomorrow night in Regina to wrap up the regular season. That one could get interesting.
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Extras:
- Pats Head Coach Dale Derkatch sounded like a defeated man in our pre-game coaches show interview. He came across as someone who was let-down. He didn't mince words when it came to his veteran players saying "I'm not sure what we're going to get from our older guys tonight, I really don't know." Derkatch even said they are a team not deserving of a playoff spot.
Over the year he's always been really positive in his approach. But on this night it was clear that with no post-season in the cards and sitting on game 71 of a long season, it was tough to take the high road. I appreciated his honesty.
- Speaking of the Pats, we had Jordan Eberle on our pre-game show. He's quite the kid. Was it his last game at the i-plex? We will see what next year brings for the 18 year-old sniper who is as much of a treat off the ice than on.
- D Joel Rogers took a major penalty for checking from behind and a game misconduct for his hit of Matt Strueby in the 3rd period. Strueby was down for a couple minutes but saw action on the Pats 2nd powerplay unit later in the powerplay. It isn't expected that Joel will see any sort of suspension for the hit although stranger things have happened.
- The Broncos know they can play either Medicine Hat or Lethbridge in the opening round of playoffs. Playing Kootenay in the first round is no longer an option after their loss to Lethbridge on the night. The Broncos will play Medicine Hat unless Lethbridge wins their last two remaining games over Kootenay and Calgary....and Medicine Hat loses it's last game against Calgary. Got it?
- Tim Tisdale will be making the trip to Regina for our final regular season broadcast on the year. We will be on the air at 6:30pm with the pre-game show and the play-by-play just after 7pm
Jon
1 comment:
Good Summary Jon.
Especially the part about the last five minutes. I don't think the Pats touched the puck in the last five minutes. Not because of the Broncos play... but because they weren't concerned about any puck on the ice. They were two busy swinging lumber at anyone skating by.
What an embarassing hockey team. Pathetic.
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