Riders beat Lions to punch ticket to CFL West final
Nov 03, 2024
The Riders are back in the West final for the first time since 2021.
The Swift Current Broncos may have shocked the Regina Pats with a 2-1 win on Thursday night, but the Pats fired right back on Friday to tie the series up at one game apiece.
The division rivals are in the middle of a best of seven series to move on to the eastern conference finals.
The Broncos got by the Pats 2-1 in overtime in game one, but the Pats displayed their offensive dominance on Friday night, getting past the Broncos 6-2, mostly without captain Adam Brooks who left the game due to injury.
Brooks was the team’s second highest scorer in the regular season behind Sam Steel, so far in the playoffs he’s scored three goals and has six assists.
The team declined to comment on his status Sunday, but his loss would be a major blow to the team.
“We’re not giving out too much information on injuries on this time of year, but something we’ve (prided) ourselves on all year long is our depth,” said assistant coach Brad Herauf on CJME’s Hockey Talk.
With the absence of Brooks, the lines had to be shaken up a bit with Wyatt Sloboshan coming up from the third line to play in Brooks’ place, something Head Coach John Paddock said he did well.
Going forward, if Brooks is out long term, Paddock said it’s important the team stays focused and trusts each other.
“Just go out and play, do your own job, you can’t do anyone else’s job,” Paddock said. “You know that you can trust them … so that’s what the focus was.”
As for game three, Paddock expects it to be just like games one and two.
“I think we can expect another really hard fought game between the two teams,” he said, adding he didn’t feel the 6-2 score was reflective of how hard fought game two was for the Pats.
“It was our turn (Friday) and now we got to make sure it (stays) our turn.”