The Regina Pats have a home-and-home series with the Winnipeg ICE this weekend, starting with a Friday night game at the Brandt Centre.
The Pats started the young 2021-22 season off strong with back-to-back wins against Prince Albert, but have since lost their last three contests.
Meanwhile, the ICE have won four in a row to start the year, and are poised to be one of the WHL’s two best teams to come from the eastern conference this season. One of their wins came against the Pats on Oct. 6 in a 5-2 win at home.
Pats’ Captain Logan Nijhoff says after losing to them last time, they know what they’re up against.
“They’re a fast team in the neutral zone. I think we were a little too light on them last time, we didn’t really have any hits on them or anything and that’s how we’re going to beat a team like that,” Nijhoff said. “I think just preaching habits and hard play, and then obviously we’ve got to be ready to go for the first period.”
Pats’ defenceman Ryker Evans says it’s important for the team to stick to the game plan.
“That’s what’s had us success in the years passed, and obviously in those first two games we stuck to our game plan and that allowed us to get those two wins,” Evans said. “If we just stick to what we know and how we play, that should give us success.”
Despite their slow start, the power play has been scorching hot for the Pats, operating at over 30 percent.
Head Coach Dave Struch describes what’s working.
“We trust our players that are on it, we’re getting pucks to the net, and most importantly, we’re recovering any opportunities that we miss,” Struch said. “Getting the puck back is just as important as making a play, so lots of different power play score goals off of the retrievals, and we’re getting good opportunities and capitalizing on it.”
Puck drop is at 7:00 PM on Friday. 620 CKRM will have the game live starting with the pregame show at 6:35.
