Pats - Blades Game Day Preview

The Regina Pats (15-14-2-2) kick off their final weekend ahead of the Christmas break tonight at the Brandt Centre against the Saskatoon Blades (11-17-3-0). Tonight is the 3rd of 8 meetings between the two clubs with both teams winning once so far this year. Puck drop is at 7:00 with the pre-game at 6:35 on 620 CKRM. 

Team Comparison	Regina	Saskatoon
Record	15-14-2-2	11-17-3-0
Goals For/Against	100/111 (-11)	91/131 (-40)
Powerplay	14.6% (22/151)	14.5 % (19/131)
Penalty Kill	77.0% (114/148)	84.0% (121/144)
Team Save Percentage	0.910	0.878
Leading Scorer	Adam Brooks (16-28-44)	Cameron Hebig (15-20-35)
Leading Scorer (Defence)	Connor Hobbs (10-9-19)	Libor Hajek (3-11-14)
Scoring by Period (1st-2nd-3rd-OT)	33-33-29-5	23-28-35-4
Average Age	17.79 yrs	17.60 yrs

The Lead Up
The Pats battled hard in the 3rd period on Tuesday but their comeback attempt fell short in a 4-3 loss to the Kamloops Blazers at the Brandt Centre. The Pats trailed 4-1 after 2 but got goals from Chase Harrison and Adam Brooks to get within 1. The Blazers held on from there to pick up the 2 points.

The Blades lost 7-4 at home to the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Wednesday night. Andrew Nielsen, Egor Babenko, Justin Gutierrez and Ryley Lindgren each had three point nights for the Canes in the win. Connor Gay and Cameron Hebig led the way for Saskatoon with a goal and 2 assists each. Evan Smith made his first start in the Blades uniform and was pulled early in the 3rd after allowing 3 goals on 19 shots.

Brown Strong against Saskatoon

Pats goaltender Tyler Brown has found considerable success against the Saskatoon Blades in two starts this season. The Winnipeg product has a 1-0-0-1 record with a miniscule 0.48 GAA and a .986 save percentage. Brown shut out the Blades in their first meeting and allowed just one goal on Sunday in a shootout loss.

Brooks Streaking

The Pats leading scorer Adam Brooks continues his torrid pace in his 19-year-old season. Brooks put up a goal and 2 assists on Tuesday to extend his point streak to 4 games with 2 goals and 4 assists over that stretch. Brooks leads all Pats scorers against Saskatoon this season with 3 goals and an assist in two games.

Blades Snap Streak

The Blades put an end to the Pats 15 game winning streak on Sunday night with a 2-1 shootout victory on Sunday. The Pats had swept the two previous season series and won the first meeting of this year. Connor Gay scored in the 6th round of the shootout to give the Blades the extra point.  

Upcoming Schedule

Pats Vs Moose Jaw – December 19, 7:00 PM – Brandt Centre (CKRM)

Pats @ Brandon – December 27, 4:00 PM – Westman Place (CKRM)

Pats Vs Saskatoon – December 29, 7:00 PM – Brandt Centre (CKRM)