The Regina Pats (7-3-1) will try and extend their winning streak to five games tonight, when they head to Prince Albert to meet the Raiders (6-3-0-1)
On Wednesday, the Pats picked up a 4-2 win in Moose Jaw, kicking off a three-game stretch of road games against provincial rivals. Regina will travel to Swift Current on Sunday afternoon to meet the Broncos.
In terms of points, the Pats currently sit on top of the Eastern Conference (15).
Assistant Coach Ken Schneider joined Michael Ball on the Sportscage on Thursday and said the Regiment’s fast start has been a pleasant surprise.
“Probably not anything we would’ve predicted or probably the majority of people out there in the hockey world wouldn’t expect us to be in this situation.”
Schneider credits the Pats change of style on the ice as one of the reasons for their early season wins.
“With the prolific goal scoring sort of thing that we had going on, our game was probably a lot more wide open.”
He added the squad has focused more on defence.
“We have to be pretty structured, in order to win we know we have to do that.”
Braxton Whitehead has been one of the leaders for the Pats on offence, second in the team in goals (7) and points (12).
Schneider says it’s gratifying to see Whitehead become a complete player.
“We’ve always liked his game, he’s a real intelligent player, he works really hard.”
The Pats Assistant Coach also noted. “He’s (Whitehead) in where things aren’t all that much fun, he’s not the biggest guy, but he’s willing to go there, now he’s starting to show his offensive talents has he’s gotten older in the league.”
Prince Albert head into tonight’s game on a five-game point streak. They had their four-game winning streak snapped on Sunday with a shootout loss to the Saskatoon Blades.
Tonight is the second meeting between the two clubs, with the Raiders picking up a home-ice win on September 29. The teams will meet in Regina next month before the final three meetings taking place in the new year.
Coverage on 620 CKRM for tonight’s game begins at 6:35, Dante De Caria will have the play-by-play from the Art Hauser Centre at 7:00.
