Pats vs Tigers

[patsdude114]

Tonight is a huge game for our beloved Regina Pats a win tonight pulls us in a tie with the Tigers at 61pts & depending what SC does up in PA it could leap us into 2nd in the conference (1wst in our division). The last time the Pats had a chance to do this we fell flat on our faces & lost 6-1 to KOO. Let's hope the team has learned something from that game & doesnlet this chance slip away again.

I still don't understand how McVeigh is playing 4th line minutes, he has been playing fantastic & generating chances everytime he has been on the ice. Our top 6 forwards can't be that much in stone that he can't be getting that chance to play with more skilled players. I mean come on at least make him the center on the #2 PP unit as great as Hansen has been playing as of late he doesn't need PP minutes like he was getting last game with Gay & Hunt

[chopper]

Tonight is a huge game for our beloved Regina Pats a win tonight pulls us in a tie with the Tigers at 61pts & depending what SC does up in PA it could leap us into 2nd in the conference (1wst in our division). The last time the Pats had a chance to do this we fell flat on our faces & lost 6-1 to KOO. Let's hope the team has learned something from that game & doesnlet this chance slip away again.

I still don't understand how McVeigh is playing 4th line minutes, he has been playing fantastic & generating chances everytime he has been on the ice. Our top 6 forwards can't be that much in stone that he can't be getting that chance to play with more skilled players. I mean come on at least make him the center on the #2 PP unit as great as Hansen has been playing as of late he doesn't need PP minutes like he was getting last game with Gay & Hunt

I agree with with everything said. I am also wondering about this BS of not using McVeigh in the top six. He skates better than Gay, who often shows up on the top two lines. McVeigh and Leier wanted to play together but that never happened. I'm not liking the fact you trade for and bring in a quality 19 year old,and then put him on 3rd/4th line combos.

In two of the three games with the Tigers we've played them well, so I am hopeful. The thing is we have to start beating teams above us if we are going to make any noise down the stretch. We are 6-4-0-0 in our last 10 games but we have only beaten one team above us over that stretch (Calgary 3-2) Beating Med Hat, Kootenay, Brandon, Swift is absolutely crucial if we want to move up to the top of our division. With PA starting to stumble and having to go on their Western swing, I am optimistic we should be well positioned to compete for a playoff spot for sure. Beyond that it will be how we play against the top teams what will tell the rest of the story.

[Bighat]

Freshly back from Mexico, why break up line combos when they are working? We are scoring why tinker, mcveigh is making his line better thus giving us another threat. The second pp I'll give you guys.

[chopper]

You can tell from the LP article that McVeigh thinks he should be higher than a 4th line player. I can't imagine he's happy. And they think this guy will be back as a happy 20 year old? He wasn't 4th line in Medicine Hat. When you trade for a talented 19 year old, you don't play him on the 4th line. I don't think he expected that when he came here. Most of our goals and wins in the last 10 games have come against lower level teams. We haven't been filing the net against top level teams. The verdict on how the lines are working is still out.

[patsdude114]

I agree with the comments above on McVeigh, the Pats gotta tread water carefully as they piss off McVeigh too much this year he won't want to report back as a 20yr old & we need him as a 20yr old badly. Moving Gay down to the 3rd line & Hansen down to the 4th line will not cripple this team by any means. I fully get though that McVeigh has given us 4 fairly strong lines but we didn't trade for him to be a 4th line player.

Maybe some 2nd line PP time may make him abit happier, I being a fan am haappier with 4 line success rather then only 2 lines but keep in mind there are player egos that need to stay in check as well.

[Bighat]

There's no reason to hurt Hansen or gay they will be key parts of this team for 2 more years.

[patsdude114]

Don't think its hurting either player, I like both players games but let's face it Gay doesn't do things quick enough & at times hurts the top players he plays with (stephenson, klimchuk, leier) I remember a few games back when he was still on a line with stephenson & klimchuk you could hear klimchuk crystal clear yell to gay saying 'quicker' its a sign that even though he haas offensive upside he still needs to work on things especially at top speed. But let's face it he hasn't even played 100 games in the WHL yet & he will eventually learn to do things quicker when playing with elite talent like those 2 players.

I must say what a piss poor crowd its looking like 10mins before game time & there is maybe 1500 people in the building. A plaayoff type game & the crap regina people can't even get out & support the team in a big game.

[patsdude114]

Tonights game was a crowd sleeper (not that there were many there to begin with) when Brooks throws the games biggest hit you know this gaame lacked intensity. There wasn't 1 wow moment in that game, maybe the Christoffer play where he ran over Langhammer but that was it.

I thought Stephenson was very lazy tonight, Leier was up to his same over handling pucks & Stevenson was completely invisable. Our best players tonight were our entire 3rd line along with Brooks & McVeigh. Klimchuk had some jump in the 1st but after that faded off, sure we put up 40+ shots but where was the 2nd & 3rd chances tonight? Pretty easy night for Langhammer imo, when is this team going to come & play when we play teams within our grasp in the conference?

[chopper]

Pretty much agree with everything said..shabby effort, shabby crowd, shabby result. Stevenson played like he just came off a three day binge, and the rest of the line was just about as bad. When McVeigh went up on the line it had some jump and speed. 3rd line was our best. McVeigh has to move up to top six.

Gay isn't now and never will be a top six player, at least not on any good club. He can't skate and make plays at high speed. You don't learn it - you either got it or you don't. I don't see Medicine Hat trading for him anytime soon. He is a marginal player who will have to play 3rd or 4th line. Hanson will have to be a penalty kill specialist and defensive forward during his career. Neither are great skaters, neither can fight or grit it out like Stevenson usually does, so they have limited value to the team. They are the kind of players that teams who are perpetual .500 teams have no choice but to keep.

In the last five games against Central Division teams we are 0-5 and outscored 24-5. We appear to only be able to beat bottom feeder teams. Some people get all excited over building stats on nobodies. If it wasn't for the fact we've amassed 34 points over Moose jaw and Saskatoon, we would be in contention for the 1st overall draft pick. Forget 1st place, it's going to be a struggle to make the playoffs.

[patsdude114]

I don't think anyone ever expects Hansen to be a top 6 forward for us, he plays his role better then most do on our team & he doesnhurt us by any means. Gay has offensive skills just lacks foot speed he does a lot of things but but nothing great.

A lot of our players are finding things don't come so easy in the second half of the year, teams get tighter defensively as they start to get into playoff races. Leier is a prime example of this, he was scoring at will almost in the 1st half but the 2nd half hasn't done a whole heck of a lot. Only guy who really is still excelling in the 2nd half is Stephenson & that's cause he has elite skill, speed & doesn't shy away from the physical play. Klimchuk still has a lot to learn there's no way in hell he will make the Flames next season, like I've said before he doesn't dominate much at this level, I'm sure he will next season as a 19yr old but guys who go onto the NHL at age 19 dominate at age 18 in the CHL & he just doesn't do that.

I would still like to see Sinitsyn lead some rushes more, as soon as he makes a play to create some space for himself he just passes it off right away instead of going with it. He has the skill level to go end to end but maybe just lacks the drive or doesn't have the green light from the coaches I don't know but if he'd take off with it like Williams does I'm sure we'd score abit more off the rush from it.

[chopper]

I see Hanson evolving into a good defensive forward and penalty killer. He will be a third liner but is definitely not a top six guy. There are some out there who seem to think otherwise. If he had Stevenson fighting ability and grit that could have made a difference. It wouldn't surprise me to see Gay moved by the time the next trade deadline rolls along.

One of the lingering problems we've had is that fact we haven't been able to appreciably improve our team speed over the past several years. We are getting a little better but it's been slow. In Cameron's style of game speed and good skating are essential, as opposed to Conacher's style which was more chips-n-chase with an emphasis of cycling the puck. Consequently better speed is necessary, and you can see the team starting to evolve towards that but we still fall short.

Sinitsyn's overall play suggests to me that he may be sent back to junior for more game action. That creates a problem being a 20 year old and an import. Our d-men tend to shoot the puck high, but it would be nice to have someone try to get in some shots that can be deflected or create rebounds. It really shows on our PP where Leier shoots high regularly with many going over the net.

Now is the time where some guys are going to fish or cut bait. Everything is in the balance, the homestand is soon over, games are dwindling, and absolutely nothing has been determined.

[RWAH]

Welcome home big hat hope you enjoyed your time in the sun
Here is my 2 cents
We started with some jump but our team is so fragile if we are not rewarded right away we soon become passive and let the opposition take over. We do have trouble playing teams with speed.
The number of rebounds from Wapple as from Langhammer were double and it resulted in 2 goals. We out shoot them but I did not think we out chanced them Im not saying Wapplelost the game for it was a team loss no urgency.
I think that was the 4th time we played a game that a win would have put the team in first place and we lay an egg