The Regina Pats final two games in February will have a playoff feel.
They begin a home and home set with the Brandon Wheat Kings tonight. They will meet in Brandon this evening before facing off at the Brandt Centre tomorrow night.
Regina is heading into this weekend’s matchup fresh off a pair of wins on home ice against a pair of Alberta teams. On Monday, they defeated the Lethbridge Hurricanes and on Wednesday night they picked up an emotional win over the Medicine Hat Tigers. The Pats are now in sixth position and are the leaders of a group of teams battling for the final three playoff spots in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference. Regina has 57 points followed by Calgary and Medicine Hat with 55 points. Swift Current is on the outside looking in with 53 points and Brandon has 52 points.
There were plenty of milestones for the Pats in their win over Medicine Hat. Connor Bedard matched a career high six points in the win (1G-5A). Tanner Howe scored his 28th goal of the season, which established a new career high and defenceman Stanislav Svozil collected his 100th career point.
Head Coach John Paddock is on the verge of a milestone of his own. He currently has 202 career wins with the team which is tied third on the all-time list. Paddock is five wins away from moving into second place on the franchise’s all-time list.
Brandon does hold the edge in the season series between the two teams with a 2-1 advantage. But both of the Wheat King victories over the Pats came during the World Juniors when Regina was without the services of Bedard and Svozil. Following this weekend the two teams will meet one final time at the Brandt Centre on March 15.
Over their last four games, Brandon is 1-2-1 but since the team named Marty Murray has their head coach on November 28 they are 14-9-6.
Coverage for tonight’s game on 620 CKRM begins with the pre-game show at 6:35, Dante De Caria will have the play-by-play beginning at 7:00.
