Pats anxious to begin Memorial Cup tournament

John Paddock has had to deal with a lot of things during his hockey career but this year he’s facing a first — a 46-day break between games.

“Never been associated with it,” Paddock said when asked how the long break could affect the Regina Pats when they take the ice as hosts of the Memorial Cup.

“It’ll be made however it reads out after the first game, if it was really good, if it wasn’t good, I know we’ve worked really, really hard.”

The team has been focusing on their conditioning for a majority of the practices but they are now incorporating more game situations into their drills.

Paddock said out of all of their practices, there has only been one scrimmage where he felt the team wasn’t sharp.

“We have bad practices during the season, you have guys, for whatever reasons, they’re not sharp.”

And with the ultimate goal of raising the 2018 Memorial Cup, captain Sam Steel said the team has been in the right mindset.

“We know what we’re working towards so it makes things a lot easier and all the guys have really bought in so it’s been great.”

In order to get ready for the upcoming tournament, the Pats will be competing in a mock game on Thursday.

While the game will give the Pats the opportunity to try some things in a higher-paced setting, Paddock doesn’t anticipate the intensity being much more than what the team has already been showing in practice.

“That ratchet up might only be five per cent in this case, I hope that we’ve been in a high level from the start.”

But defenceman Josh Mahura said the game will give the team a chance to play later in the evening and get back into a gameday routine.

“Stuff like that helps bring intensity back into practices and help us prepare for the cup.”

The locker room is also getting excited to begin playing meaningful hockey again this season.

“It’s been a pretty long stretch here and stuff but we feel we’ve worked hard and we’re ready for next week.”

The team is also feeling confident about their chances at the cup after the Windsor Spitfires went through a similar situation last year on their way to the championship.

“Everyone in that room going into next week, we want to win and that’s going to be our goal throughout the week and a bit there,” Mahura said.

The Pats will meet the OHL champion in the first game of the 2018 Memorial Cup on May 18.