Sam Steel lifts Pats to rare win over Prince Albert

For the first time this year, the Regina Pats handed the Prince Albert Raiders a loss.

Playing their first game at the Brandt Centre in 20 days, the Pats downed the Raiders 4-2 on Saturday night, thanks to two third-period goals from Sam Steel. The win was the first for the Pats this season against the Raiders.

“We’ve had a lot of great games with them. A lot of overtime, shootout games. It’s nice to get a win. I didn’t think we played our top game but at the end of the day it’s the two points that matters,” said Steel.

While the Pats and Raiders have played some memorable games this season, they’ve also had some pretty poor efforts against their rivals from Northern Saskatchewan as well

Despite the win, head coach and general manager John Paddock wasn’t overly pleased with his team’s effort after the game.

“Last game was so bad against them. This game was probably just as bad but we found a way to win,” he said.

In Paddock’s mind, this game might have been the hockey gods working in mysterious ways.

“We deserved to win the game in Koonetay. The goaltender stopped 50 shots. Tonight we got paid back for that.”

The Pats opened the scoring in this one. Over halfway through the first period, Cole Sanford stole the puck in the neutral zone and went straight for the Raiders net followed by a slick deek to beat goalie Ian Scott.

In the second, the Pats though they had taken a 2-0 lead thanks to Steel. However, upon further review, the puck hit both posts and bounced back out. Seconds after that, Parker Kelly scored for the Raiders tying the game at one.

Simon Stransky broke the deadlock a few minutes into the third with a power-play marker as the Raiders took a 2-1 lead. Adam Berg would eventually tie the game for the Pats.

On top of the hitting the post, Steel also missed a wide open next earlier in the game. Steel’s third big chance he didn’t miss as the puck found it’s way through a maze of players onto the Sherwood Park native’s stick and past Scott.

“After those glorious opportunities that I missed, it came after a while. I’m glad I got the bounces,” he said.

Steel added an empty netter late to seal the win for the Pats

The Pats are back in action on Sunday afternoon as they host the Brandon Wheat Kings. Puck drop is after 4 p.m.

THREE STARS

1. Sam Steel – the Pats forward scored two goals and had a number of opportunities throughout the night.
2. Tyler Brown – If not for Steel’s late game heroics, Brown would have been the first star of this game for sure. Brown was busy most of the night making 31 saves.
3. Jesse Lees – the Raiders defenceman picked up an assist and was active in the offensive zone most of the night for Prince Albert.

Attendance: 4,713