EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oil Kings called it the biggest game in franchise history. For the Regina Pats it was .... not. But it was still their biggest game of the year as they went into Saturday night two points up on Edmonton for the final playoff spot in the WHL East.
A franchise record crowd of 13,765 fans turned out for the contest at Rexall Place, and it was the biggest crowd the Regina Pats have ever played in front of. Unfortunately, it started out as quite a snooze-fest, and it stayed that way throughout.
Really, it was a muck-and-grind plodfest up and down the ice from faceoff dot to faceoff dot, with not a lot of shots either way in the early going. The Oil Kings struck first at 18:37 of the opening period on a powerplay goal from Robin Soudek, set up by Jeff Lee and Brendan Dowd. The locals were outshooting Regina 8-5 after the opening frame.
Regina turned it around in the middle period, outshooting the Oil Kings 16-12, but that's when it became the Torrie Jung Show. The Edmonton goalie repelled the Pats time after time, and it remained 1-0 Oil Kings going into the third.
The Pats poured it on over the final 20 minutes, outshooting their opponents 11-7, but still couldn't penetrate Jung. They had a chance late, but forward Neal Prokop was tackled in front of the Edmonton net with Jung down and out and the puck right there. Seconds later, Prokop found himself in the box for high-sticking. It was a game-changing turn-of-events.
Despite a late rally with goalie Linden Rowat pulled, the Pats couldn't break the goose egg.
Final score: Edmonton 1 Regina 0.
From this broadcaster's perspective, the Pats didn't stink in this one. They generated 30-plus shots on goal and once they figured out they had to crash the net to score, they went there. But on this night, they ran into a hot goalie. And their own goalie didn't perform too badly either. All in all, it was a good effort. They just didn't get a break all night. They worked very hard.
The victory pulled the Oil Kings even with the Pats and P.A. Raiders for the final playoff spot with 52 points each, and it concludes this Pats' road trip at 1-3-0. They'll play a fifth straight on the road Tuesday night in Saskatoon (7:00pm on 620 CKRM, 6:35pm Press Box Sports Bar Pats Pregame Show).
STATS: The Pats outshot the Oil Kings 32-27 and went 0/3 on the powerplay and 5/6 killing penalties.
Molson 3-Stars: 1) Jung 2) Rowat 3) Pysyk. Hardest Working Pat: Brett Leffler.
The Pats bussed home to Regina right after the game with an 8:00am scheduled arrival.
More photos for Oiler fans and radio geeks like me. Here's the booth of Hall of Famer Oilers broadcaster Rod Phillips.. We were a couple of doors down..
This blogger's taking Sunday off...
Enjoy Super Bowl XLIII! We'll catch up with you Monday..
Rod P.
3 comments:
All that can be said and SHOULD be said is that its very disappointing to not see the results that these kids deserve... and right now, its a frustrating time to be a pats fan. I cant imagine how the players must feel.
I might even say that it goes double for Derkatch. He must be a wreck.
Hopefully we can get back on the horse, and come out PISSED OFF against Saskatoon next game.
What's that funny-looking thing hanging at centre ice with what looks like television screens on it? If it's a score clock, that's a heck of a good idea. Maybe we should try that here.
Nice to meet you last night Rod. Anything you need from this neck of the woods, feel free to call on Millard or myself.
Guy Flaming
The Pipeline Show
TEAM 1260
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