REGINA 2 - VICTORIA 1 (OT)
No Connor Bedard, no problem for the Regina Pats. At least not on Saturday night in a 2-1 Western Hockey League overtime victory against the visiting Victoria Royals in a battle of provincial capitals.
The Pats (14-18-6) are in rebuild mode in the post-Bedard era following the graduation from junior of the 2023 NHL first overall draft pick, yet they still managed the victory before 3,143 fans at the Brandt Centre against a Victoria team that had won nine of its last 11 games.
It is the first Royals meeting with the Pats since last season when the presence of Bedard packed Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, with fans anxious to see the player who eventually went first overall in the 2023 NHL draft. It was also Victoria’s first visit to Regina since January 2020, when COVID-19 was just a whisper.
Zackary Shantz won it for Regina at 2:55 of overtime after Tye Spencer had tied the game with 2:39 left in regulation time. It was a reversal of fortune for Victoria (23-13-3), which has won a series of comeback games in overtime this season, including its previous two.
Royals goaltender and game second star Brayden Holt was looking at a shutout bid late in the third period before the whiplash turn of events.
“Braden in goal was fantastic. He’s been playing great hockey all year,” said Royals assistant coach Morgan Klimchuk, who took over the bench in the absence of head coach James Patrick, who was attending to a personal matter.
“Braden has a very calm presence with good rebounding control. He is a guy that has been relied upon all year and the group is very confident in front of him.”
Escalus Burlock had given Victoria the lead on the power play at 3:11 of the second period. But that’s as good as it got for the Royals’ odd-man unit in a 1-7 performance. The Pats’ penalty woes should have buried the hosts.
“The power play generated looks,” said Klimchuk.
“There were a couple of posts we needed to bear down on. As always, there’s stuff to be cleaned up on special teams.”
Just before the game, the Royals announced a trade for six-foot-two defenceman Jaren Brinson from the Pats for a pair of late-round WHL prospects draft picks. Even though he didn’t dress Saturday for his new team, it must have been odd for Brinson to head to the other dressing room in the building. But it happens.
“It’s not that uncommon that a player gets traded to a team they are playing that day and he just kind of moves across the hall,” said Klimchuk, a former first-round NHL draft pick. “But it’s still definitely a unique situation yet I’ve seen it before. It would have been different if [Binson] had dressed tonight.”
The Royals continue their nearly 5,000-kilometre road trip through the East Division in Brandon on Tuesday night to play the Wheat Kings (19-14-5), in Moose Jaw on Wednesday to meet NHL first-round draft pick and Canada world junior tournament player Matthew Savoie and the Warriors (21-15-2), in Prince Albert on Friday to play the Raiders (17-17-3) and in Saskatoon next Saturday to meet the WHL-leading Blades (25-8-4).
