Blades 0 at Pats 5 (Mar. 4/07)

[nivek_wahs]

Second game of a home-and-home between the Pats and Blades. Pretty solid game all the way around for the Pats... Blades seemed to have nothing going for them on this night.

Starters:
Regina: Tartaglione - Deck - Pyett - Jagow - K. Ross - Leffler
Saskatoon: Holtby - Cole - Logan - Cameron - Gillies - Menei

Scratches:
Regina: Teubert, Snellman, Reich (took warm-up but was scratched), Eberle
Saskatoon: Zahn (took warm-up but was scratched), Funk, Konecny, McCrae

Shots:
Regina: 16 - 15 - 6 -- 37
Saskatoon: 6 - 9 - 7 -- 22

Powerplays:
Regina: 1/6
Saskatoon: 0/7

Scoring:
1. REG MacAngus, (21) (Ross, Hill), 7:34
Hill passes the puck to K. Ross and the puck is tipped up in the air to McAngus who deposits the puck for a 1-0 lead.

1. REG Ross, (19) (MacAngus, Deck), 8:34 (PP)
Pats on the powerplay and have the puck deep in the Blade zone, K. Ross is able to break free and score a pp goal 5-hole past an unexpecting Holtby, 2-0.

2. REG Stoesz, (7) (Delahey, Elder), 10:56
Hard work pays off for the Pats who are playing like they have the powerplay (but they don't) when Delehay rips a shot that hits the post and Stoesz is able to beat Holtby to give the Pats a 3-0 lead.

2. REG Saulietis, (14) (Ofukany, Lind), 13:41Yet again the Pats have the puck deep in the Blade zone where both Ofukany and Lind are digging behind the net when the puck is fed out front where Saulietis is able to put home his 14th of the season to give the Pats a 4-0 lead.

3. REG MacAngus, (22) (Ross, Schira), 13:31
Pats have the puck and enter the Blade zone on an odd man rush where N. Ross has the puck along the right wall and feeds a beauty of a pass to McAngus who was going hard to the net and is able to deflect the puck past Holtby to finish off the scoring, 5-0 Pats.

Scraps:
Kinda one... Dulle bumps Tartaglione behind the Pats' goal and one of the most unlikely guys jumps him... Deck jumps Dulle and takes him down with 1 or 2 punches. Deck gets the fighting major and Game while Dulle gets the Goalie interference.

Stripes:
Thiessen and Vetter... Hoe-hum... Not a great job... not a bad job... missed calls and made calls... Average WHL reffed game.

3 Stars:
1. MacAngus
2. K. Ross
3. Tartaglione

Thoughts:
I am not sure what happened to the Pats on this night but seemed to have jump right from the get-go (Ofukany said on the post game lol), and took it to the Blades who just didn't seem prepared to be in a battle tonight.

It seemed to me that the Pats were pretty much rolling their "4 lines" of forwards on this night and that seemed to keep them fresh and ready to attack. Players that impressed tonight... hmmm... no one really looked bad. Everyone played their roles and kept the Blades at bay.

The Blades looked like a defeated team just playing out the string. I don't know if Saturday's game took the emotion out of them, but they looked pretty bland. I was disappointed with a few Blades on the night... Gillies looked less than average. Menei played a lot and just didn't have the jump he normally does... Holtby looked rather ordinary on many occasions but he did make a lot of good saves that did keep the Blades in it in the first only to have the team collapse around him.

I don't know what the whole story is with Klotz but for most of his shifts when he opposed Stoesz... he seemed to follow Myles around begging and pleading with him to fight only to be turned down time after time. I even noticed that Stoesz had a huge smile on his face while Garrett was beaking at him on one shift. Klotz looked to even call on Leffler during one shift in the 2nd only to be turned down... Hilarious.

Attendance:
4605

[Bran]

Another good game from the Pats! Saulietis scored! He's so great with the puck, I'm glad he's finally able to score some goals. Everyone was on tonight, nobody looked bad at all. And Deck...haha that surprised me just a little! He's a guy who will get in there and help his teammates out, but I didn't quite expect him to take Dulle down like that! Looked like his hand was a little sore after that, lol.

I wonder if Klotz realizes how ridiculous he looks following Stoesz around, pleading with him like that? I'm not sure what he yelled after Stoesz scored (can't read lips, ya know) but it didn't look pleasant. He was none too thrilled. I think the whole situation is pretty funny.

A couple of people in my section got a shower courtesy of (I think it was) Dulle. I didn't see what happened, so I don't know if he did it on purpose, but I thought it was kinda funny. Of course I would have been mad if I'd gotten wet, but meh.

[patsrock83]

and whats with that guy that hit the post during the 2nd intermission i definatly think he should of gotten another chance.....halarious

[nivek_wahs]

At least you... I mean he hit the net haha. So close but yet so far!

[nivek_wahs]

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/sports/story.html?id=7579ae4c-bce7-421f-8437-a0b13f6ccc98


Home, sweet home for Pats

Greg Harder, The Leader-Post
Published: Monday, March 05, 2007

The latest string of dominant home-ice performances by the Regina Pats begs an obvious question:

Why can't they do it on the road?

The Pats manhandled the Saskatoon Blades 5-0 on Sunday night before 4,605 fans at the Brandt Centre, improving their home-ice record to 22-8-1-2. One night earlier, Regina suffered a 2-1 shootout loss in Saskatoon, falling to 10-19-1-3 on the road.

"It's just one of those things in hockey that can't be explained," offered goaltender Tommy Tartaglione, who stopped 22 shots Sunday for his third shutout of the season. "People ask me all the time, 'Why do you guys have trouble on the road?' If I could tell you, it would be fixed by now."

The Pats have won three straight on home ice by a combined score of 18-3. Friday's contest was the latest command performance, with Regina outshooting the visitors 37-22.

Ex-Blade Michael MacAngus torched his former team with two goals and one assist. The 18-year-old winger now has 12 goals and 13 assists for 25 points in 24 games since he was acquired by Regina on Jan. 10 in exchange for Derek Hulak.

"It's always a little different (facing the Blades) considering I played for them for a year-and-a-half," he said with a grin. "It kind of gets you going a bit. You want to go out there and play your best game and try to produce against them."

Kyle Ross, Myles Stoesz and Kaspars Saulietis had the other goals for the Pats (32-27-2-5). Tartaglione barely broke a sweat while improving his record to 8-1 at the Brandt Centre.

"The team plays amazing at home," said Regina's No. 2 goalie. "We're ready to play every night. We play a full 60 and if we want to win in the playoffs it's going to come down to getting that full 60 on the road."

Braden Holtby made 32 saves for the cellar-dwelling Blades (24-37-2-2), who desperately needed a home-and-home sweep of the Pats to remain in postseason contention. Saskatoon is six points out of a playoff spot with only seven games remaining.

"Time is running out quickly," said Blades head coach/GM Lorne Molleken. "It's frustrating because we didn't have the type of will (Sunday) that we had (in Saturday's win). Give Regina credit. They outworked us right off the get-go. Right from the first shift we weren't in the hockey game."

MacAngus wore the hero's cape on Sunday, but it was a complete role reversal the night before when Hulak came back to bite his former team by potting the shootout winner.

Niko Snellman opened the scoring for Regina at 8:27 of the first period. Ryan Menei tied it up with 2:43 left in the second, ending Saskatoon's scoreless drought at 177 minutes, 47 seconds.

Blades No. 2 goalie Garrett Zemlak made 31 saves in regulation and overtime, then stopped two of four attempts in the shootout. Ross and Troy Ofukany scored the goals while MacAngus and Garrett Festerling failed in their attempts.

Linden Rowat made 23 saves through 65 minutes before allowing three goals on four tries in the shootout.

With Sunday's win, the Pats have all but clinched second place in the East Division -- plus home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Regina has a 10-point lead on the third-place Swift Current Broncos, who come to town on Wednesday.

Regina concludes the regular season with three games at home and three on the road.

"We're not really focused on that; we're just focused on our game," Pats head coach Curtis Hunt said of his team's record away from the Brandt Centre. "We'll take care of Swift Current first and then we'll focus on those (road games) as they come."

EXTRAS: The Pats edged Saskatoon in the season series with a record of 4-3-0-1 ... D Colten Teubert and LW Jordan Eberle, just back from the Canada Winter Games, were healthy scratches. Snellman suffered an undisclosed injury on Saturday which Hunt would only call an "upper-body injury." Let the playoff paranoia begin ... LW Mike Reich was also scratched. Hunt said he had been complaining of a sore back, but simply missed the game as part of a normal roster rotation ... C Colton Gillies skated on the blueline for the injury-riddled Blades, who were forced to go with just five D-men.

© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2007