CALGARY — The Regina Pat Canadians are into the quarter-final at the Circle K Classic.
The Pat Cs found themselves in another battle on Saturday night at the ultra-prestigous U18 AAA tournament in Calgary, eventually emerging with a 3-0 victory over OHA Edmonton.
The win sees Regina improve to 2-0 in their round robin pool with one game remaining, that against the also-unbeaten Phoenix Jr. Coyotes. As a result, the Pat Canadians will finish in the top two and advance to the quarter-final on Monday, with their opponent to be determined following Sunday’s games.
Things were exceptionally close in the early going between Regina and Edmonton, with the teams coming out of the first period scoreless and OHA leading 10-8 on the shot clock.
It took only 32 seconds of the second period for the Pat Canadians to find the winning goal, with Maddox Schultz picking up the marker on assists from Boston Tait and Ryan Ulmer.
There things stood until the third when Regina completely pulled away, outshooting Edmonton 19-2 in the period and scoring twice.
Chase Surkan made it 2-0 at 4:11 with his third goal of the tournament, and Ulmer would add further insurance at the 7:53 mark.
That would be more than enough support for Regina goaltender Adam Muntain, who stopped all 19 shots he faced to earn the shutout. The Pat Canadians had 34 shots on Edmonton’s Parker Snell.
Regina scored once on six power play opportunities, OHA was unable to score on any of their seven chances.
Regina and Phoenix close out the preliminary round at 1:45 p.m. Saskatchewan time on Sunday.
Be sure to keep an eye on www.circlekclassic.ca for regular updates.
