The star attraction for most of the 14,768 fans in attendance at SaskTel Centre was Pats’ superstar Connor Bedard, but he took second billing Sunday to Regina goaltender Kelton Pyne as the Pats’ doubled the Saskatoon Blades 4-2.
Pyne stopped 42 of 44 Bridge City Bunch shots, finally surrendering third goals to Brandon Lisowsky (pictured) on the Blue and Gold’s 32nd and 40th shots on goal. By that point, Bedard and his mates had provided Pyne with enough goals to end the Blades’ five-game, head-to-head, winning streak over Regina in Saskatoon. Bedard collected his 70th goal of the season, the first W-H-L player to reach that plateau since Moose Jaw’s Jayden Halbgewachs in the 2017-18 season. The 17-year-old consensus first overall N-H-L Draft pick in June added an assist to give him a league-leading 142 points. The result all but assures that the 46-15-5 Bridge City Bunch will meet the 34-28-4 Pats in the first round of the W-H-L’s Eastern Conference playoffs. The same teams will meet in another playoff preview Friday before another 14,000-plus crowd at SaskTel Centre. Following is the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L, the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast plus Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game Show interviews with head coach Brennan Sonne and Lisowsky…..
Regina Pats 4 at Saskatoon Blades 2 – Status: Final
Sunday, March 19, 2023 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Regina 0 2 2 – 4
Saskatoon 0 0 2 – 2
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Barnett Reg (tripping), 15:46.
2nd Period-1, Regina, Suzdalev 38 (Bedard, Ginnell), 4:13. 2, Regina, Howe 34 15:07. Penalties-Vaughan Reg (kneeing), 10:33.
3rd Period-3, Saskatoon, Lisowsky 34 (Wong, De La Gorgendiere), 7:46 (PP). 4, Regina, Barnett 3 (Berge, Oremba), 10:48. 5, Regina, Bedard 70 (Suzdalev), 14:47. 6, Saskatoon, Lisowsky 35 (Molendyk, Roulette), 18:01. Penalties-Molendyk Sas (hooking), 0:46; Howe Reg (hooking), 6:54; Herman Reg (roughing), 18:01; Wiens Sas (roughing), 18:01.
Shots on Goal-Regina 6-5-11-22. Saskatoon 11-13-20-44.
Power Play Opportunities-Regina 0 / 1; Saskatoon 1 / 4.
Goalies-Regina, Pyne 3-5-1-0 (44 shots-42 saves). Saskatoon, Elliott 24-6-3-0 (22 shots-18 saves).
A-14,768
Referees-Adam Forbes (62), Bob Millette (61).
Linesmen-Brayden Glynn (96), Tanner McGregor (55).
