Warriors score 3 in 43 seconds, beat Pats 6-3

About 43 seconds was all it took for the Moose Jaw Warriors to sink the Regina Pats.

It was actually looking good for Regina in the first period when the club went toe-to-two with the WHL’s best team and came out of it tied at one.

Brandon Schuldhaus opened the scoring for Moose Jaw nearly seven minutes in, but Cameron Hebig came storming back for the Pats on the breakaway to tie things up six minutes later.

The Pats continued to look strong after the second intermission with Sam Steel getting on the board on the powerplay less than two minutes in.

But as the Pats capitalized on their man-advantage so, too, did the Warriors and it opened a floodgate of goals that Regina wasn’t able to recover from.

In just 43 seconds Tanner Jeannot, Schuldhaus and Jayden Halbgewachs all found the back of the net to put them up 4-2.

“We felt good after the first period but it’s like we lost our mojo halfway through the second when they scored (those goals),” head coach John Paddock said after the game. “Everybody has to just not let that happen … not let it take you out of the game for the rest of that period.”

Jeannot came back with a second goal in the third period and the Pats Josh Mahura knocked one in on the powerplay but it wasn’t enough to swing the momentum in their favour.

Halbgewachs punched in an empty netter for good measure and secured the 6-3 win.

“It’s kind of a mixed bag of feelings about it because we did a lot of things that we wanted to do against them, Paddock said. “So that’s the good part but then to get scored on three like that … there are lots of reasons why it shouldn’t happen.”

Wednesday was just the first game in a three-game set against the Warriors. The Pats will travel to Moose Jaw Friday night before returning for a matinee game on Sunday afternoon.