Pats & Hitmen: GAME NIGHT!

Notes from ReginaPats.com:

Head to Head
This is the second of 4 meetings between the defending WHL champion Calgary Hitmen and the Regina Pats. In their first meeting back on December 10th that saw the Calgary Hitmen come from 3-0 down, to defeat the Pats in overtime 4-3. Lane Scheidl picked up a couple of assists in the loss while Thomas Frazee, Garrett Mitchell and Dyson Stevenson scored for the blue and white. It was a defensive struggle as the Hitmen outshot the Pats 16-13 over the 3 periods and overtime

The final meeting of the season between these two clubs will be a historical one. It will be the first ever junior outdoor game played in Canada. On Monday, February 21st, the Pats and the Hitmen will take to the McMahon Stadium ice in the culmination of a fantastic weekend of hockey.

2010-11 Schedule

Dec. 10 Regina 3 at Calgary 4 OT
Jan. 2 Calgary 3 at Regina 4 s/o
Feb. 18 Calgary at Regina 7:00 pm CST
Feb. 21 Regina at Calgary 1:00 pm MST

Last Action:
In a huge battle for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, it was the Prince Albert Raiders escaping the Brandt Centre with a 4-3 victory. The Pats had separate 1-0 and 3-2 leads only to see the Raiders come back to win. Brandon Davidson and Myles Bell each had a pair of assists in the loss while Garrett Mitchell ended up in a goal and 2 assists.

Injury Report:
Andrew Rieder (Knee) – Day to Day
Tyler Pavkovich (Head) - Indefinite
Games lost due to injury – 77

News and Notes
1st Canadian Outdoor Junior Game:
On Monday, the Regina Pats will take on the Calgary Hitmen at McMahon Stadium in Calgary for the first ever outdoor junior game. Tickets will be $12 and $15 apiece and ticket packages are available at the Pats office by calling 522-PATS. The Pats will be wearing a jersey much like they wore during the 1950’s when they were the junior affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens.

Canada Winter Games:
The top 15 year old players from each province will be participating in the Canada Winter Games from February 11th to 27th. Men’s hockey will be played during the first week of the games. 5 players from the Pats 2010 WHL Bantam Draft will represent their province:
B.C. – (D) Kyle Burroughs (3rd/47th), (C) Brett Harris (5th/107th)
Alberta – (C) Morgan Klimchuk (1st/5th)
Saskatchewan – (D) Colby Williams (4th/67th) inj. , (LW) Ty McLean (5th/91st)
Assistant Trainer, Leigh Fitzpatrick will be a part of Team Sask’s hockey staff.
B.C. will play Quebec in the final tonight, while Alberta faced Ontario in the bronze medal game.

Power Play:
After a rough start to the second half of the season, the Pats power play has started to come round. They have scored man-advantage goals in 9 of their last 11 games.

Shootout Kings:
This past Saturday night was a battle of the top two shootout teams in the WHL. The Medicine Hat Tigers were 5-0 heading into the game, but with the win, the Pats handed the Tigers their first shootout loss, and at the same time, upped their record to a sparkling 9-1.

Streaking
*Jordan Weal has 22 (10g 112a) points in his last 14 games and is in the WHL’s top ten scorers.
*Brandon Davidson has points in 8 of his last 10 games (2g 10a) end last night and has career highs in goals and points
Milestones
*Jordan Weal is 4 points away from 250 points in his WHL career. He is also 6 points away from cracking the top 20 on the all-time Pats point list (currently tied with Mark Janssens with 245) and passed Clark Gillies for 12th on the Pats all-time assist list (167 assists). He is also the only Pat to play in all 57 games this season.
*Garrett Mitchell is 1 point away from 100 in his career. He passed Kevin Clemens (83-88) for 18th on the Pats all-time games played list.
*Brandon Davidson is 2 points away from 80 for his WHL career

*Colin Reddin is 4 points away from 100 in his WHL career. He has also reached a career high in assists for a season.
*Mark Schneider is 10 games away from 200 in his WHL career
Team Make-up:
16 Year Olds (94) – 1 (Stephenson)
17 Year Olds (93) – 7 (Bell, Pavkovich, Stevenson, Ouellette, Borstmayer, Moser, Martell)
18 Year Olds (92) – 7 (Blidstrand, Jung, Rieder, Weal, Hewitt, Scheidl, Olstad)
19 Year Olds (91) – 4 (Bidlevskii, Davidson, Mitchell, Ketlo)
20 Year Olds (90) – 3 (Reddin, Neigum, Schneider)
7 (Saskatchewan), 6 (Alberta), 1 (Manitoba), 6 (British Columbia), 1 (Sweden), 1 (United States),

Drafted Players:
Garrett Mitchell (WSH 6th ’09), Brandon Davidson (EDM 6th ’10), Jordan Weal (LA 3rd ’10), Ricard Blidstrand (PHI 7th ’10)

Divisional Records:
East (14-13-0-0) Central (5-12-3-1) B.C. (1-2-2-0) U.S. (0-4-1-0) Home (13-15-3-1) Away (7-16-3-0)

Notes from Greg Harder's Slap Shots blog:



CALGARY (18-36-2-2)
at REGINA (20-31-6-1)
Today, 7 p.m., Brandt Centre
Radio: 620 CKRM
Key injuries: REGINA — RW Andrew Rieder (knee, day-to-day), D Tyler Pavkovich (concussion, indefinite). CALGARY — F Tyler Fiddler (ankle, day-to-day).
Overview: Regina’s playoff hopes took a huge hit with Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to the Prince Albert Raiders. As a result, the Pats fell six points behind Prince Albert in the race for the final post-season berth in the Eastern Conference. Regina has just 14 games left — only four of which are at home — with one game in hand on Prince Albert . . . The Hitmen own the worst record in the WHL but they’re no pushover, as evidenced by a 3-1 upset win over the host Moose Jaw Warriors on Wednesday . . . Following tonight’s contest, Regina plays its next six games on the road, beginning Saturday against the Medicine Hat Tigers. On Monday, the Pats and Hitmen are slated to participate in an outdoor game at McMahon Stadium as part of the NHL’s Heritage Classic . . . The Pats will be wearing the special jerseys tonight that were designed for the Heritage Classic. They’ll be available for purchase via silent auction tonight in the first and second periods . . . Calgary’s top scorers are overager Kris Foucault (19-21—40, 52 GP) and breakout sniper Justin Kirsch (22-15—37, 54 GP) . . . The Pats are led by C Jordan Weal (29-45—74, 58 GP) and D Brandon Davidson (8-35—43, 58 GP). Weal is eighth in the WHL scoring race while Davidson sits ninth among defencemen . . . The Hitmen have an 8-18-2-1 road record. Regina is 13-15-3-1 at the Brandt Centre . . . Calgary is ranked 17th on the power play (16.7%) and 18th on the penalty kill (78%). The Pats are 19th on the PP (16.4%) and 19th on the PK (76.1%) . . . The Pats and Hitmen are both running a two-man goalie rotation. Calgary splits its starts between Mike Snider (3.65 GAA) and Brandon Glover (3.46 GAA). Regina does the same with Matt Hewitt (3.59 GAA) and Damien Ketlo (4.24 GAA). Hewitt started Regina’s past two games . . . The Hitmen, defending WHL champions, are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1996-97.