Pats earn a franchise record 50th win against Swift Current

The Pats may have clinched first place in Tuesday night’s game but that doesn’t mean they planned on letting off the gas, after all, there were records left to break.

An impressive team performance gave the team their 50th win of the season – a new franchise record.

“Incredible, the boys worked so hard, it feels amazing,” defenceman Connor Hobbs said of the 50th win. “You could tell in the room just how excited guys were tonight.”

“It’s pretty special feeling for everybody,” added head coach John Paddock. “It’s quite an accomplishment, the organization is, and the players should be, very proud of themselves for doing it.”

Six different Pats contributed goals to secure the 6-2 win.

The Broncos were dominated throughout the game by the Pats, but especially in the first period. Regina put three goals up on the board during the opening frame.

It started early with Brooks scoring his 40th goal of the season less than a minute into the period, but when asked about it after the game, the captain preferred to focus on what the team has accomplished.

“I think obviously the 50 wins is more important. The personal accolades aren’t that big of a deal when you’re having a season like this. We’re all thrilled with the way we’re playing individually, everyone seems to be hitting new highs and getting new records but I think ultimately the team records are what count,” Brooks said.

Even so, the personal milestones continued to happen with Dawson Leedahl hitting his 35th goal of the season and adding to the Pats tally.

Then, in the dying minutes of the period, Sergey Zborovskiy got the Pats third of the game.

The Pats took the 3-0 lead into the first period.

It was the Broncos that got on the board first in the second. Lane Pederson notched his 25th of the season about three minutes into the first.

Buoyed by a strong save by Jordan Hollett during the Pats powerplay the Pats brought the puck back to the Broncos end and Henry buried his 35th behind Taz Burman to bring Regina’s lead back up to three.

A skirmish between the Braydon Buziak and Swift Current’s Glenn Gawdin and Riley Stotts put the Pats back on the powerplay late in the period. This time it was Connor Hobbs who took advantage, scoring his 30th goal of the season, tying a franchise record for Pats defencemen.

At the end of the second, the Pats were up 5-1.

The Pats continued to control the play in the third, leading to the sixth goal of the game. This time a beautiful wrist shot by forward Filip Ahl at the 6:24 mark of the final frame that sealed the Pats’ impressive performance.

The Broncos added one more powerplay goal with a minute left in the game, leaving the final score 6-2.

The Pats play one more home game and one more away game before the end of the season, both against the Brandon Wheat Kings.

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