By Greg Harder – Leader Post

The Regina Pats closed the book on the 2010-11 WHL campaign Sunday, gathering at the Brandt Centre for year-end meetings and to say a few goodbyes.

It has become a painfully familiar ritual for the Pats, who missed the playoffs for the third straight year but refused to accept defeat, insisting their fate will serve as motivation during the slow climb back to respectability.

“It’s the old saying, ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,’ ” offered defenceman Brandon Davidson, whose team (23-39-7-3) wrapped up its schedule Saturday with a 4-2 loss to the host Saskatoon Blades. “We battled and we clawed and we fought for points, trying to get into the post-season. It didn’t happen. That’s just more (incentive) to push that much harder. I think it’s going to be a different story next year.”

Although Sunday’s farewell was a sombre occasion, the mood was decidedly more optimistic than the previous two seasons when Regina collapsed under the weight of great expectations. There was no such external pressure this time around, at least not at the same level following the departure of star players like Jordan Eberle, Colten Teubert and Carter Ashton.

“We were counted out from the very beginning,” Davidson said of Year 1 in the team’s rebuilding plan. “When you have big-name guys like Eberle and Teubert, you’re always expected to do well. This year we didn’t have the big-name players. We just had hard workers.”

The Pats were all-but written off when they entered the mid-way point of the season with a 10-20-5-1 record, good for second-last in the 22-team WHL. However, the team returned from the Christmas break with a renewed focus, choosing to view the second half of the campaign as a new season.

It worked, at least initially, as Regina climbed back into the playoff race, only to stumble at crunch time.

“If we would have told you at Christmas time we were going to be right in the playoff mix, it was a pretty long shot,” admitted captain Garrett Mitchell. “We made some trades (for the future). You look around the room and there’s a lot of young guys but those guys stepped up and played some pretty big roles. It’s obviously a positive for this team moving forward. You look at guys coming in like (prospects Morgan) Klimchuk and (Kyle) Burroughs and (Jack) Rodewald . it looks pretty good for the future.”

As for this season .

“There was a lot of good and a lot of bad,” said Jordan Weal, who finished fifth in the league with 43 goals and 96 points in 72 games. “When you look at the bad, we had a lot of games where we had leads and kind of let them slip. If we would have been able to shut (teams) down defensively, we would have had a lot more wins and been in a lot better situation. That could come with inexperience. But we had a lot of good. We played with the best teams in the league, we battled every night, we were a hard-working team and pretty much our whole squad is coming back so there’s a lot to look forward to.”

Time will tell, but the players expressed their belief in the foundation being built -on the ice and in the dressing room.

“It was never about a rebuilding process for us,” said defenceman Artem Bidlevskii. “It was always, ‘Put in the work and make the best of it.’ The outside perspective didn’t really matter.

“We were in (the playoff race) right until the end almost. No one ever gave up. Sometimes it didn’t work out but it was good to build on. There’s something in that room that could be something special. The expectation is that next year we can do something with it.”

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