The Regina Pats scored early and often in a 9-4 win over the Swift Current Broncos in Western Hockey League (WHL) action Monday night.
Rookie phenome Connor Bedard led the way with four points extending his point’s streak to nine games to start the season. The 15-year-old had a goal and three assists.
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He now has seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points and is tied for third in league scoring.
Bedard’s line mates Zack Smith and Carson Denomie were just as good Monday, both scoring twice. Smith also added an assist.
“I’m loving every minute of playing with them. They’re both really good players,” Smith said of Bedard and Denomie.
“They can both put the puck in the net and they see the ice really well. So, it’s been awesome playing with them the last few games.”
Carter Massier, Sloan Stanick, Logan Nijhoff and Easton Armstrong rounded out the Pats’ scoring. For Armstrong, it was his first WHL career goal.
“It’s great to see Army (Armstrong) score his first goal, he’s a good kid,” Smith said. “He’s always been positive coming to the rink every day so good to see him have some success.”
Show that puck with pride! Easton Armstrong’s first in @TheWHL #JoinTheRegiment pic.twitter.com/ny2S9pbylP
— Regina Pats (@WHLPats) March 30, 2021
But more than the individual successes of Monday night, the Pats’ win was much needed. It was just the third win of the season, bringing their overall record to 3-4-2.
“We’ve been struggling to get in the win column to start the season, so it’s great to get a win like that and try and carry that momentum into tomorrow (Tuesday),” Smith said.
“We played a really good game for the whole game (Monday), which is something we’ve struggled with.”
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Roddy Ross was in net and got his first win as a Pat in six games played. He was acquired from the Seattle Thunderbirds prior to the season and had high expectations within the organization.
“We expected to have more success with him, and it’s not because of lack of work ethic and stuff like that,” said Dave Struch, Pats’ head coach.
“Sometimes, you come to a new team, and yeah, he wanted to have a bigger impact early on.”
Struch gave Ross last week off to give him some to work on his game. His performance against the Broncos was encouraging, said the coach. Struch stopped 25 of 29 shots.
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“We got some big saves for sure. That was the start right there. That gave us a lot of energy,” Struch said.
“We always talk about being connected and when we don’t have the puck, we have to do the right things to get the puck back. We came back and we had five guys helping out that backend.
“We did the right things and it helped us create some offence off our rush. We got paid for doing a lot of things right and I hope we can build off it for [Tuesday] night.”
Eric Houk, Mathew Ward, Bode Hagan and Owen Williams all scored for the Broncos.
Broncos’ goalie Reid Dyck allowed nine goals on 41 shots.
Pats are right back at it Tuesday against the Moose Jaw Warriors. Game time is 8 p.m. and can be streamed on WHL Live.
