While they’ve played just four games in the first two weeks of the WHL season, the Regina Pats will make up for it over the next five days as they play four games in that stretch.
That run will begin Friday night as they host the Medicine Hat Tigers. The Pats should have the services of Max Paddock, who missed two games with a procedure to fix a non-hockey related injury.
Paddock said both he and Danton Belluk will both be ready to go for this weekend’s action.
“Four games in five nights is a lot, I’m not too sure what the plan is for the weekend, who’s going to play wise, but I know we’ll both be ready to go and the team will be ready to go.”
After Friday night’s contest, the team will travel to Prince Albert to face the Raiders for Saturday night. The Pats will then head to Moose Jaw for a Sunday game against the Warriors. After a day off on Monday, the Pats will host the Edmonton Oil Kings at the Brandt Centre.
Pats Captain Austin Pratt said players need to do the little things off the ice to prepare themselves for stretches like this.
“You got to do the right things off the ice to prepare for it, to try to get your body ready for this because it’s a lot of Hockey, it’s a lot of wear and tear on your body in a short while,” Pratt said. “It’s tough, but it is what it is, every team goes through it, so hopefully everyone does the right things leading up to this to give us the best chance every night.”
Head Coach Dave Struch said despite the 1-3 start to the season, he’s liked the way his team has played.
“Overall the start has been what we expected in our preparation,” Struch said. “Obviously not in the win-loss column, but the things we’re doing good are things we want to build on.”
Tickets to Friday’s game are still available at the Brandt Centre Box office and reginapats.com. You can also tune into the game on 620 CKRM, with the pregame show beginning at 6:35.
