PREVIEW: Pats Play Broncos For Final Time This Season

Regina, Sask. – The Regina Pats (24-34-3-2) wrap up their three game road swing against the Swift Current Broncos (26-33-5-2) on Friday at 7:00 p.m., inside the Innovation Credit Union i-plex.

The Pats are coming off a 5-4 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings on Tuesday for their third straight loss. The Pats have now lost seven of their last eight games heading into tonight’s action.

Logan Nijhoff scored his first career hat-trick in the loss to Brandon, doing so in game #226 of his WHL career. Jacob Brook also scored for the Pats, while Drew Sim made 24 saves on 29 shots. The final shots were 32-39 for the Pats, going 1-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-4 on the penalty kill.

On the other side, the Swift Current Broncos are coming off back-to-back 5-2 losses to the Calgary Hitmen, and have now lost their last two games, with just two games remaining on their schedule. Prior to their last two contests, the Broncos had won six of their last seven games, including a four game winning-streak.

The Broncos are currently sitting in eighth in the Eastern Conference standings with 59 points, one point up on the Calgary Hitmen (9th) and two points ahead of the Prince Albert Raiders (10th). They are six points ahead of the Pats, who sit in 11th.

Swift Current is battling for the eighth seed, while Regina is looking to keep their playoff hopes alive. Here are the full East Standings heading in.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

CLICK HERE FOR GAME NOTES

Match Up

	Regina	Swift Current
Team Record	24-34-3-2 — 53 points	26-33-5-2 — 59 points
Division Ranking	6th East	4th Central
Conference Ranking	11th Eastern	8th Eastern
League Ranking	17th	14th
Past 10 Games	2-7-0-1	6-4-0-0
Streak	0-3-0-0	0-2-0-0
Last Game	5-4 L @ Brandon (Apr 5 2022) Final	5-2 L @ Calgary (Apr 3 2022) Final
Home Record	16-14-1-1	15-15-1-1
Away Record	8-20-2-1	11-18-4-1
GF	219	178
GA	256	238
PP (Overall)	(62/243) 25.5%	(45/279) 16.1%
PP (Home)	(37/125) 29.6%	(19/129) 14.7%
PP (Away)	(25/118) 21.2%	(26/150) 17.3%
PK (Overall)	(76/266) 71.4%	(60/281) 78.6%
PK (Home)	(35/122) 71.3%	(24/125) 80.8%
PK (Away)	(41/144) 71.5%	(36/156) 76.9%
PP vs. Opp.	(7/19) 36.8%	(7/27) 25.9%
PK vs. Opp.	(7/27) 74.1%	(7/19) 63.2%
Leading Rookie	Howe (25-37-62)	Ward (22-34-56)
Most PIM	Evans – 96	Davies – 115
Team PIM/GM	13.2/Game	13.2/Game
Leading Scorers	Bedard (45-42-87)	Ward (22-34-56)
	Howe (25-37-62)	Pelletier (19-27-46)
	Evans (14-45-59)	Filmon (23-22-45)
	Dubinsky (18-27-45)	Davies (16-20-36)
	Nijhoff (20-23-43)	Pickering (9-24-33)
Last 5 Games	5-4 L @ Brandon (Apr 5 2022) Final	5-2 L @ Calgary (Apr 3 2022) Final
	6-1 L @ Prince Albert (Apr 2 2022) Final	5-2 L vs Calgary (Apr 1 2022) Final
	7-0 L vs Winnipeg (Apr 1 2022) Final	6-4 W @ Lethbridge (Mar 30 2022) Final
	3-2 W vs Saskatoon (Mar 30 2022) Final	3-0 W @ Calgary (Mar 27 2022) Final
	5-2 L vs Brandon (Mar 26 2022) Final	6-2 L @ Red Deer (Mar 26 2022) Final
Leading After 1st	14-3-2-0	15-4-2-0
Leading After 2nd	21-1-1-1	23-0-2-2
Tied After 1st	8-10-0-0	9-9-2-1
Tied After 2nd	2-6-1-0	2-5-2-0
Trailing After 1st	2-21-1-2	2-20-1-1
Trailing After 2nd	1-27-1-1	1-28-1-0
Out Shooting Opponents	16-15-2-2	6-6-0-0
Out Shot by Opponents	8-16-1-0	20-27-5-2
1 Goal Games	9-9-3-2	9-3-5-2
2 Goal Games	5-9-0-0	7-7-0-0
3 Goal Games	4-10-0-0	6-11-0-0

WHERE TO WATCH/LISTEN

• Radio: 620ckrm.com
• Stream: WHL Live

HEAD TO HEAD (2-3-0)

The Pats are 175-152-19-7-6 vs. the Broncos, all-time.

Date	Away	Home	Time	Result
October 29th	Regina	Swift Current	7:00 p.m. MDT	W, 4-1
October 30th	Swift Current	Regina	7:00 p.m. MDT	W, 7-3
December 4th	Swift Current	Regina	7:00 p.m. CST	L, 5-4
February 21st	Swift Current	Regina	2:00 p.m. CST	L, 4-3
March 22nd	Regina	Swift Current	7:00 p.m. CST	L, 5-3
April 8	Regina	Swift Current	7:00 p.m. CDT

It’s the sixth of six meetings between the Pats and Broncos. The Pats last faced the Broncos in Swift Current on March 22nd, losing 5-3. Swift Current has won their last three meetings against Regina, outscoring the Pats 14-to-10 over that span. The last time the Pats beat the Broncos was on October 29th and 30th, winning 4-1 and 7-3. The Pats are 8-6-1 over the last 15 meetings against the Broncos.

REG VS. SC – INDIVIDUAL STATS

Swift Current Broncos # Name GP G A PTS PIM +/- 17 Josh Davies 5 3 3 6 11 -1 15 Raphael Pelletier 5 3 3 6 2 -5 10 Mathew Ward 5 2 4 6 2 -7 27 Owen Pickering 4 1 4 5 0 -3 2 Rayan Bettahar 5 0 5 5 6 2 21 Connor Hvidston 5 0 5 5 0 4 18 Karson King 3 3 0 3 0 5   # Name GP W L OTL SL Mins GA GAA SV% 30 Reid Dyck 1 0 1 0 0 59:07 3 3.04 0.936 1 Isaac Poulter 4 3 1 0 0 240:00 17 4.25 0.872

Regina Pats # Name GP G A PTS PIM +/- 98 Connor Bedard 5 6 6 12 2 3 18 Cole Dubinsky 4 3 3 6 2 0 43 Tanner Howe 5 3 3 6 0 1 41 Ryker Evans 5 1 5 6 12 0 29 Logan Nijhoff 4 2 1 3 4 2 13 Zack Stringer 2 2 0 2 4 3 11 Stanislav Svozil 5 1 1 2 2 0   # Name GP W L OTL SL Mins GA GAA SV% 30 Matthew Kieper 3 2 0 0 0 140:00 6 2.57 0.898 33 Drew Sim 3 0 3 0 0 155:52 11 4.23 0.833

HEADLINES

• Connor Bedard is one goal shy of passing Jeff Friesen’s (1992-93, 45G) Pats 16-year-old goal record , while two points away from breaking Doug Wickenheiser’s (1977-78, 88PTS) Pats 16-year-old points record…he tied Friesen’s record on Saturday, April 2 at Prince Albert.
• Captain Logan Nijhoff signed a two-year American Hockey League contract with the San Diego Gulls, the affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, April 7. He was invited to the Ducks rookie camp this past September, and has produced career highs in goals (20), assists (23) and points (43) in 52 games this season.
• The Pats have called up 2005-born defenceman Carter Herman from the Swift Current Legionnaires U18 program. This season, the 6-foot-3, 176 lb. Swift Current, Sask., native had produced 20 points (8G-12A) in 37 games in the SMAAAHL. He will make his debut tonight in his hometown.

BY THE NUMBERS

301: Shots on goal for Connor Bedard leads the WHL, as he is averaging 5.28 shots per game this season…the last Pats player to record 300+ shots in a season were Matt Bradley (305) and Cameron Hebig (303) during the 2017-18 season…no 16-year-old has recorded more than 300 shots in a season since the WHL had began tracking the stat prior to the 2017-18 season.

72: Points (34G-38A) over Connor Bedard’s last 37 games since Nov. 28, with points in 34 of those 37 contests, after he had 15 points (10G-5A) in his first 20 games this season…the North Vancouver, B.C., native is T-2nd in goals (45), 5th in points (87) while 2nd in OTW goals (3).

20: Number of goals this season for Pats captain Logan Nijhoff ranks third on the Pats…on Tuesday in Brandon, the Comox, B.C., native scored his first career hat-trick to reach the 20-goal mark…his 58.3 faceoff win percentage is the fifth highest in the WHL.

8: Even strength goals over the Pats last eight games, where the club has scored eight on the power play (8-for-22, 36.3%) and one short handed…overall, the Pats have been outscored 44-to-17 over during that stretch in which they have gone 1-7.

219: Goals for this season ranks 10th in the WHL and fifth in the Eastern Conference, averaging 3.48 goals per game which is also 10th…the Pats are the only team in the WHL that has scored 200+ goals this season and is not in a playoff spot or clinched a berth in the playoffs.

256: Total goals against this season is the fifth highest in the WHL, behind Tri-City (18-41-5), Medicine Hat (11-49-4), Spokane (23-37-5) & Victoria (22-36-6), averaging 4.06 goals against per-game which is the fifth highest…on the other hand, they’ve scored 219 goals, which is 10th.

COMING UP

• 7:00 p.m., Saturday, April 9th – Prince Albert Raiders (26-33-5) at Regina Pats (24-34-5)
• 7:00 p.m., Thursday, April 14th – Regina Pats (24-34-5) at Winnipeg ICE (49-10-5)
• 7:00 p.m., Friday, April 15th – Regina Pats (24-34-5) at Winnipeg ICE (49-10-5)
• 4:00 p.m., Sunday, April 17th – Moose Jaw Warriors (36-23-5) at Regina Pats (24-34-5)