Regina Drops Tight New Year's Day Contest, 4-3
January 1, 2025 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Regina Pats News Release
Regina, Sask. - The Regina Pats outshot their opponent for a fourth straight game but came up short in a 4-3 loss to the Moose Jaw Warriors on New Year's Day.
Just as the Warriors power play expired, Rilen Kovacevic (1G-1A) blasted home his team-leading 21st of the season to put Moose Jaw ahead with 37 seconds left in regulation.
After getting off to a tough start, the Pats had an impressive back-half of the contest. Down 3-0 late in the second period, the Pats scored three straight goals to tie the game going into the third period. Caden Brown's power play got Regina some life, followed by goals 20 seconds apart from Zach Pantelakis and Anthony Wilson.
Madden Mulawka made his season debut with 19 saves, as he was called up in Ewan Huet's absence. Aleksey Chichkin (2A) and Zach Pantelakis (1G-1A) led the way for Regina with multi-point games.
Meanwhile, Brady Smith helped steal two points away from the Pats, stopping 33 of 36. His biggest save came when he robbed Braxton Whitehead of his fifth of the season late in period three.
The Warriors picked up their 10th victory this season and fourth in their last six games. Landen McFadden (1G-1A), Brayden Schuurman (1G-1A), and Ethan Semeniuk rounded out the scoring for the Warriors.
FINAL SCORE: Warriors 4, Pats 3
THE GOALS
First Period
1-0: Warriors at 7:27 - Landen McFadden (3), assisted by Riley Thorpe // The Warriors won a battle for the puck along the right boards with Thorpe coming away with the puck. He then sent a pass to McFadden who snuck it past Mulawka to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead.
Second Period
2-0: Warriors at 35 seconds - Brayden Schuurman (5), assisted by Aiden Ziprick & Rilen Kovacevic (PP) // Ziprick's point shot was stopped by Mulawka but the rebound ended up on Schuurman's stick and he put it past the Pats' netminder to extend the Warriors lead to 2-0.
3-0: Warriors at 6:04 - Ethan Semeniuk (6), assisted by Landen McFadden // McFadden caused a turnover in the Pats zone and got the puck to Semeniuk who got a shot that was stopped, but he tucked it behind Mulawka to make it 3-0.
3-1: Pats at 0:00 - Caden Brown (12), assisted by Zach Pantelakis & Zackary Shantz (PP) // Shantz kept the puck in at the Pats point, got the puck to Pantelakis at the right boards and he sent a cross ice pass to Brown who buried the one-timer to get the Pats on the board at 3-1.
3-2: Pats at 16:34 - Zach Pantelakis (5), assisted by John Babcock & Aleksey Chichkin // The Pats worked the puck around the point and Babcock sent a feed to Pantelakis who ripped a one-timer from the right circle past Smith to pull the Pats to within one at 3-2.
3-3: Pats at 16:54 - Anthony Wilson (7), assisted by Braxton Whitehead & Aleksey Chichkin // Chichkin's point shot bounced out to a streaking Wilson who chipped it over Smith to even things up at 3-3.
Third Period
4-3: Warriors at 19:22 - Rilen Kovacevic (21), assisted by Aiden Ziprick & Brayden Schuurman // Just as the Pats penalty expired, Kovacevic fired a one-timer past a sprawling Mulawka to give the Warriors a 4-3 lead.
THE STATISTICS
SOG : Regina - 10-18-8-36 | Moose Jaw - 8-12-3-23
PP : Regina - 1/3 | Moose Jaw - 1/5
THE GOALTENDING BATTLE
Regina: Madden Mulawka (19 saves / 23 shots)
Moose Jaw: Brady Smith (33 saves / 36 shots)
THE 3 STARS
First: Zach Pantelakis (1G-1A) - Pats
Second: Caden Brown (1G) - Pats
Third: Ethan Semeniuk (1G) - Warriors
JUST NOTES
Caden Brown scored his 12th goal of the season, giving him eight goals in the 15 games with the Pats. All of those eight goals have come in his last nine games. Zach Pantelakis picked up an a pair of points (1G-1A) and is now on a five game point streak (4G-2A). He also has seven points (4G-3A) in his last eight games. Braxton Whitehead had an assist and has four points (1G-3A) in his last six games. Zackary Shantz had an assist to give him 11 points (3G-8A) in his last 10 games. Aleksey Chichkin tied his career best with two assists in the game (1-26-24 at EDM with Calgary). Anthony Wilson scored his seventh of the season and first in eight games. He has points in two of his last three games (1G-1A).
COMING UP
The Pats play their next three games on the road starting with a contest with the Red Deer Rebels on Saturday, January 4th before traveling to Calgary to play the Hitmen on Sunday, December 5th. They will then have the next few days off before heading down the Trans Canada to Moose Jaw as they face the Warriors on Friday, January 10th. The Regiment's next home game is Saturday January 11th when they face the Portland Winterhawks. Get your tickets at reginapats.com.
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