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nivek_wahs
02-18-2006, 05:20 PM
Good news on Deck

Greg Harder, The Leader-Post
Published: Saturday, February 18, 2006

The Regina Pats are facing a best-case scenario with injured captain Kyle Deck.

The WHL club received some good news on Thursday when Deck underwent successful surgery to repair his damaged left knee. The prognosis calls for just two weeks of recovery time, which is a far cry from the 4-6 weeks he could have missed had the procedure revealed a more severe injury.

"Of all the scenarios it was probably the best," said Pats head coach Curtis Hunt, whose team plays host to the Moose Jaw Warriors tonight. "If you could choose, you would choose no injury. But I think we're going to be a beneficiary out of this. We'd rather get it done now and have him healthy when we get to the postseason."

If all goes well, Deck will return for Regina's final 10 regular-season games, giving him ample time to prepare for the team's first playoff appearance since the 2003-04 season.

In the meantime, the Pats will have to find a way to make due without the services of their No. 1 defenceman.

"That's the tough part," noted Hunt. "You don't just replace him this time of year. It'll hurt our power play and our penalty kill but people have to step up. We expect players in our lineup on the back end to fill that void, not necessarily play like Kyle can play, but (to contribute) with responsible minutes."

Although Deck's situation looks promising, of greater concern is the fact it's the second surgery in less than a year on his left knee. He was in and out of the lineup in the second half of last season, missing a total of 11 games before going under the knife in the offseason to repair a partially torn meniscus.

This time, the damage wasn't as serious. He underwent an exploratory scope on Thursday which revealed that the knee only required some minor "cleaning up."

Although he didn't advertise the problem, Deck has been playing through pain since early November. The situation worsened two weeks ago when he took a knee-on-knee hit in a game against the Swift Current Broncos.

He took three days off and returned to play Regina's next two games before suffering another setback on Tuesday night against the Prince George Cougars.

The 6-foot-1, 200 pounder sat out the next night against Moose Jaw, the first time he has missed a game this season.

"That knee has been on-again off-again," explained Hunt. "He doesn't talk a lot about it to us. We force him into days off. It was a situation that as long as it wasn't going to get worse, it was just a pain thing for him. Now it was at a point where we knew it had to be taken care of."

Deck is enjoying the best season of his WHL career, posting four goals and a team-high 31 assists. His 37 points in 56 games are ranked ninth among WHL blueliners.

The Sedley product has been just as impressive in his own end, providing a consistent, reliable presence who can go head-to-head with the other team's best forwards.

Hunt thinks it's a credit to his captain that he has been performing at such a high level in spite of his sore knee.

"What tremendous heart and character for Kyle to play as long as he has with the pain he has been in," the head coach said.


"I mentioned his character and his leadership. He doesn't want to let his teammates down. He comes to play every night."

- - -

SCOUTING REPORT

Moose Jaw (36-15-3-3) at Regina (30-23-0-4)

Today, 7 p.m., Brandt Centre

Radio: 620 CKRM

(Statistics do not include Friday's results.)

Key injuries: Regina -- D Kyle Deck (knee, two weeks); Moose Jaw -- RW Ian McKenzie (ankle, 1-2 weeks).

Overview: The Warriors are running away with the East Division pennant race, leaving the Pats to battle Saskatoon for second place . . . Moose Jaw leads the season series 4-3 against Regina with three games remaining. Both teams have posted 5-0 wins on home ice. The other five meetings have been decided by a single goal, including one in a shootout . . . Warriors captain Troy Brouwer, the WHL's leading scorer with 42 goals and 86 points, has been held off the scoresheet in his past two games against Regina . . . Moose Jaw G Joey Perricone has a 4-2 record against the Pats this season . . . Pats leading scorer Matt Robinson (29-18--47) had his four-game goal-scoring streak come to an end in Wednesday's 5-0 loss at the Civic Centre . . . Moose Jaw, the highest-scoring team in the WHL, has four players among the league's top 10: Brouwer, Dustin Boyd (35-37--72), Blair Jones (28-36--84) and Kenndal McArdle (27-31--58). Regina native Riley Holzapfel (17-33--50) is in the top 20.

patsdude114
02-19-2006, 12:44 AM
I personally think thats bad news the pats defence looks way less confused out on the ice without Deck, our PP looks alot better also without Deck also we were actually setting up one-timers on our PP with 3 different D (Pyett, Schira, and N.Ross)

The team as a whole came out very flat tonight against the warriors 2:11 into the game 2-0 warriors Hunt put the veterns out there after the 2nd goal to calm things down and have a quick talk to the young guys after that everyone was on the same page and got the job done..


But wow do the Pats ever miss that 1 big tough guy Brouwer tonight had his way with the Pats, there is know 1 on the Pats that can match Brouwer's strength, sure Reinhart gave him a piece of his own medicine but Reinhart tackled him in the crease then started to throw punches


All in all the Pats played a great 60+ min game

patsfan33
02-19-2006, 01:31 AM
What a game...

got to admit, after those first couple shots on Reeks, I thought we were gonna be in for a very long night, but props to the boys who came out and proved me wrong...it was an intense battle and I was on the edge if my seat the entire time...that victory was oh so sweet... :thumb: