PATS ARE HEADING INTO A BLIZZARD OF GAMES

By: Greg Harder, Regina Leader-Post Sports

January 26, 2010

Regina Pats heading into a blizzard of games

REGINA, Saskatchewan — The Regina Pats weathered a major storm on the weekend, but there’s another one on the horizon.

Having enjoyed a relatively light schedule as of late, the WHL club is about to begin a hectic stretch of 10 games in 16 days. It begins Friday when the Moose Jaw Warriors visit Regina for the first half of a key home-and-home series which concludes Saturday night at the Crushed Can.

The Pats have played some of their best hockey in the New Year, but there's still little room for error as they sit six points out of an Eastern Conference playoff spot with only 22 games remaining.

“We have this big mountain to climb — and we’re still climbing,” offered Pats head coach Curtis Hunt. “But it’s the same as before. It’s one game at a time. We try not to think too far ahead and try to keep the kids in the present.”

That approach has worked pretty well so far, helping Regina post a 6-1-0-1 record so far in 2010. The WHL club has also picked up at least a point in six straight games (5-0-0-1), its longest streak of the campaign. That includes back-to-back victories over the Swift Current Broncos on the weekend.

Following a 5-2 win on Saturday, the Pats were forced to spend the night in Swift Current due to blizzard conditions which had also caused a power outage that delayed the game for more than an hour.

Despite difficult travel conditions, the team eventually made it home on Sunday afternoon, only to learn that its third game in three nights had been postponed because the Kootenay Ice couldn’t make it into Regina due to road closures.

As a result, the Pats gained a day off in the short term but will endure a tougher schedule in the long term. Faced with few viable options for a make-up date, the game against Kootenay was rescheduled for Feb. 1, even though Mondays are typically off limits. With that addition to the schedule, the Pats and Ice will both be in the midst of a six-game, nine-day stretch.

“We’ll communicate with our training staff in terms of fatigue,” said Hunt. “I try to be real open. I talked to some of my veterans (Tuesday) about how they’re feeling and the schedule and where they’re at mentally. They all feel very positive about the energy and their mindset. As we play, we’ll assess (the situation) and make decisions as they need to be made.”

One advantage for Regina is the fact that the team's injured list has dwindled to zero. It’s the first time since early November that Hunt has had the entire roster at his disposal.

“We are healthy — knock on wood,” he said. “We had a tough weekend. I thought Swift Current really ran at us, especially in Swift Current, and came at us hard. We got through that game, responded well and came out of it as healthy as we went into it.

“I don’t want to talk about it too much because you know how that goes (with injury superstitions),” he added with a laugh. “But, yeah, considering some of the schedules that our guys have had (due to injuries and international assignments) and how much we were forced to use some other guys throughout a tough December, the fact that we’re healthy is important. It’s part of the whole big (picture). You need to be healthy — that’s everybody, but especially your key players — to have success.”