The Regina Pats started the weekend by picking up a point in a 3-2 overtime loss at the hands of the Winnipeg Ice on Friday night at the Wayne Fleming Arena.
After falling 2-0 with goals in the first two periods from Winnipeg’s Michal Teply and Brad Ginnell, the Pats stormed back in the last minutes of regulation.
With an empty cage on Regina’s side of the ice, Riley Krane scored his sixth of the season to make it 2-1. Still on a 6-on-5, Krane found the back of the net again with 25 seconds left on the clock to force overtime.
However a hooking call against forward Logan Nijhoff put the Pats in a tough situation a minute into the extra period.
On the 4-on-3 man advantage, Peyton Krebs fired a shot past Regina’s Max Paddock to win it 3-2 for the Ice (16-11-1-0).
During his post-game interview on 620 CKRM, head coach and assistant general manager Dave Struch made it clear that he was not a fan of the call that went against his team in overtime.
Despite picking up a point, Struch said it was “by far the worst officiating I’ve seen in my 14 years of coaching” when referring to referees Tyler Adair and Fraser Lawrence.
“There’s definitely no excuse for it with two guys that have been in the league this long – it cost us the game,” suggested Struch. “To get a call against us, the same call they missed 15 seconds previous, is unacceptable.”
Struch gave credit to Max Paddock for his 40-save performance and commended the Ice for their play in the first two periods and overtime.
The Pats (6-17-3-0) play their first home game in two and a half weeks on Saturday night when they host the Red Deer Rebels for Teddy Bear Toss Night.
Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. from the Brandt Centre. Catch the game live on 620 CKRM starting with pre-game at 6:35 p.m.
