Pats @ Oil Kings Game Night!

For Immediate Release
January 8th, 2011
Game Night!
Regina Pats (14-20-5-1) @ Edmonton Oil Kings (19-18-0-2)
Tonight 8:00pm Rexall Place
7:35 Pre-Game Show 620 CKRM
WHL WebTV

The Lowdown
This is the 3rd of 4 meetings between the Pats and the Oil Kings this season. The Pats are winners of 4 in a row for the first time this season and are coming off a 2-1 shootout win over the Red Deer Rebels last night. The Oil Kings are losers of their last 2 games but have won the first two match-ups with the Pats this season by a combined score of 16-6.

Oil Spills:
December was one of the best months in the young history of the Oil Kings. They finished 8-4 and it has helped them climbed into 6th spot in the Eastern Conference. The Oil Kings are great at home with a 12-7 record at Rexall Place. Despite their surge up the standings, their specialty teams rank in the bottom five in both power play and penalty kill.

Who’s who:
Edmonton
C – Michael St. Croix – The 17 year old forward is one of the top ranked players for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft and is in the 10 in WHL scoring.
D – Mark Pysyk – The 18 year old defenceman is a 1st round pick of the Buffalo Sabres. He is second in scoring among Oil King defencemen
C – Jordan Hickmott– The 20 year old forward is second on the Oil Kings in scoring.

Regina
RW – Garrett Mitchell – The Captain of the Pats has points in each of the last two games and has surpassed the 400 career penalty minute mark
G – Matt Hewitt – The 18 year old rookie goaltender won his 6th game last night in Red Deer and has raised his save percentage to .904
C – Tanner Olstad – The 18 year old forward has 3 goals and 5 points in his first 9 games as a Pat including the lone goal in last night’s win.

Number 600 for Hunt:
Regina Pats head coach, Curtis Hunt picked up a win in his 600th game as a WHL head coach last night. He is now in the top 20 in the all-time WHL games coach list.

Skills Competition:
Next Sunday, the Regina Pats will hit the ice at the Co-operators Centre for the first ever Prairie Mobile Pats Skills Competition. The Pats will be split into two teams, and will be joined by a Hockey Regina pee wee team and members of the media and compete in all of the same events done at the NHL skills competition. The event starts at 1pm and entry is a donation to the Regina and area Food Bank.

Next Action:
The Pats will return home on Wednesday night to host the Stefan Elliot and the WHL’s top team, the Saskatoon Blades. Puck drops at 7pm at the Brandt Centre. For ticket information, head to www.reginapats.com.