nivek_wahs
02-22-2008, 06:47 AM
http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/sports/story.html?id=4a99b7ee-e643-48e3-91eb-0147c120d4d7
First hurdle cleared
Greg Harder, The Leader-Post
Published: Friday, February 22, 2008
The Regina Pats faced their demons, but it's a little early to declare the exorcism complete.
Some lingering questions remain as the WHL club prepares to wrap up a six-game road swing versus two non-playoff teams: The Prince Albert Raiders (tonight) and Saskatoon Blades (Saturday).
Regina's glaring fallibility this season against lower-echelon clubs -- adding up to nine losses -- has been debated and dissected ad nauseam. The trend was finally interrupted Wednesday with a convincing 5-1 win over the Red Deer Rebels, who own the worst record in the Eastern Conference.
Red Deer had won all three previous meetings with the Pats.
"Some lessons seem to be a little harder to learn than others," offered head coach Curtis Hunt. "We still have a couple hurdles in front of us in a similar scenario where we've not respected our opponent enough and not come with the right mindset. Those teams work hard, they work structured and they work together. You have to be prepared to work (to beat them)."
That's what happened Wednesday in Red Deer.
"We just kept our game simple," explained Hunt, whose team led 4-0 after the first period. "We got on the scoreboard early and right through the game we did a lot of what I refer to as 'Playing the right way.' The kids did a real good job in a game where you can easily lose focus because of the score. The nice thing about that is we took care of business early versus thinking it would be easy from the get-go. I was proud of the way we responded."
The Pats, who are leading a tight East Division race, were under tremendous pressure to bounce back after being stopped in their tracks by the two top clubs in the Central Division. On Saturday against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Regina was down 4-0 after the first period and eventually lost 5-2. On Tuesday in Calgary, the Pats were blown out 7-1 by the top-ranked Hitmen.
"You have to give those teams credit as well," noted Hunt. "They're both numerically ahead of us in the (Eastern Conference) standings. But we've beaten Calgary twice (out of three meetings) and that was the first time Lethbridge beat us outright in regulation. We got five of the eight points. There are some positives. Yeah, we didn't get the results we wanted, but Lethbridge was a more disappointing game just because I didn't feel our guys were prepared to play that team."
And against the Hitmen?
"We were down 2-0 in the first but we played well and it was setting up to be a great game," said Hunt. "We scored early in the second but the short-handed goal (by Paul Postma) just killed us. They scored again right after that and then we got into penalty trouble. It wasn't that we were bad. I don't know if the score indicates how we played. It certainly didn't reflect on (goalie Linden Rowat's) performance."
After rebounding the next night in Red Deer, the Pats returned home Thursday with a 2-2 record on the first portion of the road swing. Now, following a day off to regroup, Regina has an opportunity to change the entire tone of the trip -- and vanquish some old ghosts in the process.
"Our mandate is to win both games," added Hunt, "while understanding we have to work to do it."
- Go online to leaderpost.com to read Greg Harder's views on hockey, and the Regina Pats in particular, at the Slap Shots blog.
© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2008
First hurdle cleared
Greg Harder, The Leader-Post
Published: Friday, February 22, 2008
The Regina Pats faced their demons, but it's a little early to declare the exorcism complete.
Some lingering questions remain as the WHL club prepares to wrap up a six-game road swing versus two non-playoff teams: The Prince Albert Raiders (tonight) and Saskatoon Blades (Saturday).
Regina's glaring fallibility this season against lower-echelon clubs -- adding up to nine losses -- has been debated and dissected ad nauseam. The trend was finally interrupted Wednesday with a convincing 5-1 win over the Red Deer Rebels, who own the worst record in the Eastern Conference.
Red Deer had won all three previous meetings with the Pats.
"Some lessons seem to be a little harder to learn than others," offered head coach Curtis Hunt. "We still have a couple hurdles in front of us in a similar scenario where we've not respected our opponent enough and not come with the right mindset. Those teams work hard, they work structured and they work together. You have to be prepared to work (to beat them)."
That's what happened Wednesday in Red Deer.
"We just kept our game simple," explained Hunt, whose team led 4-0 after the first period. "We got on the scoreboard early and right through the game we did a lot of what I refer to as 'Playing the right way.' The kids did a real good job in a game where you can easily lose focus because of the score. The nice thing about that is we took care of business early versus thinking it would be easy from the get-go. I was proud of the way we responded."
The Pats, who are leading a tight East Division race, were under tremendous pressure to bounce back after being stopped in their tracks by the two top clubs in the Central Division. On Saturday against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Regina was down 4-0 after the first period and eventually lost 5-2. On Tuesday in Calgary, the Pats were blown out 7-1 by the top-ranked Hitmen.
"You have to give those teams credit as well," noted Hunt. "They're both numerically ahead of us in the (Eastern Conference) standings. But we've beaten Calgary twice (out of three meetings) and that was the first time Lethbridge beat us outright in regulation. We got five of the eight points. There are some positives. Yeah, we didn't get the results we wanted, but Lethbridge was a more disappointing game just because I didn't feel our guys were prepared to play that team."
And against the Hitmen?
"We were down 2-0 in the first but we played well and it was setting up to be a great game," said Hunt. "We scored early in the second but the short-handed goal (by Paul Postma) just killed us. They scored again right after that and then we got into penalty trouble. It wasn't that we were bad. I don't know if the score indicates how we played. It certainly didn't reflect on (goalie Linden Rowat's) performance."
After rebounding the next night in Red Deer, the Pats returned home Thursday with a 2-2 record on the first portion of the road swing. Now, following a day off to regroup, Regina has an opportunity to change the entire tone of the trip -- and vanquish some old ghosts in the process.
"Our mandate is to win both games," added Hunt, "while understanding we have to work to do it."
- Go online to leaderpost.com to read Greg Harder's views on hockey, and the Regina Pats in particular, at the Slap Shots blog.
© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2008