The Regina Pats know exactly what many people think of their first-round WHL playoff matchup.
They’re the eighth seed. Across from them stands the defending champion, second-seeded Medicine Hat Tigers.
For many outside the room, the series was expected to be short.
Inside the Pats dressing room, that perception has become fuel.
After dropping Game 1 by a 6-2 score, Regina answered emphatically with a 4-2 win in Game 2 at Co-op Place, silencing a loud Medicine Hat crowd and sending a clear message that this series is far from a foregone conclusion.
Now, with the series tied 1-1 heading back to Regina, the Pats are leaning fully into the belief that they have something to prove.
“Yeah, I think every night there’s something to prove,” said defenceman Matt Paranych. “Whether it’s proving it to yourself, proving it to others, I think there’s always something on the line to prove.”
For Paranych, that mindset perfectly fits the identity the Pats want to carry into the postseason.
“We want to be the underdog. We want to come out on top, and we want to work as hard as we can. We want to upset the Tigers. They’re a great team over there, the defending champs, and we want to upset them.”
That hunger was impossible to miss in Game 2.
Head coach Brad Herauf made the decision to turn back to veteran goaltender Marek Schlenker after rookie Taylor Tabashniuk got the Game 1 start.
Schlenker responded with a first-star, 21-save performance that stabilized the Pats and helped even the series.
After the win, Herauf didn’t hide his admiration for the response.
“I think Marek was huge. Obviously, we didn’t start him in Game 1. He didn’t blink an eye. I told him to go shove it up my — today, and that’s exactly what he did.”
That quote may have been directed at Schlenker, but it could just as easily describe the entire team’s mentality.
The Pats have spent much of the season hearing about the Tigers’ firepower, depth and championship pedigree. Rather than shy away from it, Regina has embraced the challenge.
Forward Zach Lansard said the group understands that whatever happened in the regular season no longer matters.
“At the end of the day, the regular season doesn’t matter. It’s about how you play in the playoffs, and that’s where the games really matter.”
The Pats are also quickly learning just how different playoff hockey feels.
“Our group doesn’t have a lot of playoff experience,” Lansard said. “Going into Med Hat has been a big jump for a lot of us, but it’s faster, it’s bigger, it’s stronger. Everything matters from the little details.”
Those details, a cleared blue line, a blocked shot, a smart chip, a short shift, have become the foundation of Regina’s game plan.
“It’s the little things that really matter in the playoffs,” Lansard added.
Veteran captain Ephram McNutt, one of the leaders in the room, believes the split in Medicine Hat has given the Pats exactly what they needed most, belief.
“It gives us a ton. They’re a really good squad over there, and especially playing in Med Hat, it’s tough to win.”
For a young Regina team, escaping the Tigers’ building with a split may be the biggest early sign that they belong in this series.
“If we could say we were going to be one-and-one after the first two, we would have taken that for sure,” McNutt said.
Perhaps the biggest compliment came from the opposition.
Following Game 2, Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins said the Pats were the hungrier team.
For McNutt, that recognition only reinforces the identity Regina must continue to play with.
“We’re really hungry. We have to be. We don’t really have any other choice.”
Against a team as skilled as Medicine Hat, the Pats understand they won’t win a talent contest. Instead, the formula is simple.
“We can’t out-skill a team like that,” McNutt said. “So relying on work ethic and system play, and again just being hungry, is what we need to do. We don’t really have another option.”
That may be exactly why this series suddenly feels very different. The Tigers still have the higher seed, the pedigree and the expectations. But the Pats now have proof that they can push back. And as this series shifts to Regina, the underdogs have made one thing clear: They’re not here just for the experience. They’re here to prove something.
You can hear Game 3 on 620 CKRMhttp://ckrm.streamon.fm starting with pregame coverage at 6:30 p.m.
