Could there possibly be a more frustrated fan these days than a Regina Pats supporter?
Confident that his team, already blessed with forwards Jordan Eberle and Jordan Weal and rearguard Colten Teubert, could be a bona fide contender with the addition of a few bodies, Pats general manager Brent Parker swung a series of deals during the season.
Parker brought in the likes of forwards Carter Ashton, Cass Mappin and Craig Orfino, among others, at the same time moving out a handful of younger players and assorted bantam draft picks, including a second-rounder this year and a first-round selection in 2011.
For whatever reason — perhaps Parker over-rated his squad or the players didn’t perform to their true potential, or both — the Pats never enjoyed the success that the front office envisioned, and it was somewhat evident when the trade deadline rolled around in early January that the team would be hard-pressed just to qualify for the playoffs. Still, Parker hung onto Eberle and Teubert — two very attractive commodities to potential trade partners — feeling that better times were just around the corner.
Parker is big-time competitive and he can’t be blamed for harbouring that emotion. Dealing Teubert and Eberle at the deadline, with both quoted as saying they wanted to stay in Regina, would have gone against the GM’s earlier plans and robbed Pats fans of the opportunity to witness the sensational Eberle concluding his WHL career with their team.
The bottom line — the Pats are now major-league longshots in relation to earning a post-season berth, sitting seven points back of the eighth-place Swift Current Broncos in the Eastern Conference. Both clubs have eight games remaining, and the Pats aren’t throwing in the towel, preferring instead to look forward to the two head-to-head contests, tonight and Tuesday, both in Swift Current.
“We’re going to have to get those points,” Weal told Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post.
“The season is on the line and we’re going to have to play like that for a full 60 minutes. We’ve been playing well lately. If we just clean up a few things, I think we can hit a little hot streak. We have the capability in the dressing room. We have the guys to do it. We’re this close. We just have to get over that little hump and we’ll be there.”
Pats head coach Curtis Hunt might be aware that the late push will be an exercise in futility, but he won’t allow his club to simply surrender.
“We won’t quit, I know that; we won’t let them quit,” Hunt told the Leader-Post. “It’s still alive. Until they lock the door on us, we have a chance.”
The Pats probably hit the skids for good when they dropped successive 4-3 decisions to the Moose Jaw Warriors and Vancouver Giants this week. Two victories would have placed the team just three points back of the Broncos, and now it appears that they’ll fall short.
“There’s certainly some frustration,” Hunt said. “We get caught in the middle between being aggressive consistently . . . and being passive and trying to prevent and you get nothing accomplished when that happens. You see signs throughout the game where we are very aggressive and we turn pucks over and we get chances. That’s tough when you get chances and you continually struggle to hit the back of the net.
“The biggest thing is how you feel about yourself. We have to find a way to feel good ourselves and find a way to get on that bus (today) and have some real good positive self-talk with a belief that we can get the job done, because we can.”
But do their long-suffering fans still believe? Considering the Pats have won one playoff series since 1998, the logical answer would be no.
l Brandon Wheat Kings play-by-play guy Bruce Luebke recently compiled his annual Eastern Conference Best of the Best list after polling the general managers, coaches and players, and Eberle tops the categories of best player, the player most valuable to his team and the best pro prospect.
Martin Jones of the Calgary Hitmen is the best goaltender and Medicine Hat Tigers forward Emerson Etem the top rookie, with the Rebels’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Brandon forward Toni Rajala next in line. Nugent-Hopkins is also the top 16-year-old player.
Kootenay Ice bench boss Mark Holick is the best coach and Swift Current’s Cody Eakin is the best skater. Randy McNaught of the Saskatoon Blades is the toughest player in the conference and the Blades’ Curt Gogol is the most irritating player.
The best referee? Andy Thiessen.
• The Prince Albert Raiders, currently occupying ninth spot in the Eastern Conference with a tough homestretch remaining, knocked off the visiting Vancouver Giants 3-2 in overtime last Saturday and goaltender Jamie Tucker called the feat his ‘greatest win ever’.
Not because the victory propped up the Raiders’ playoff hopes, but because he’s a former Giant who couldn’t help but rub it in a bit following the game.
“This is my greatest win ever — in my life,” the 18-year-old told John MacNeil of the Prince Albert Herald. “My first game in the WHL, I got a shutout last year, and I thought that was good. But this is unreal.”
Following Ryan Button’s overtime winner, an animated Tucker celebrated while skating past the Vancouver bench.
“I don’t have a lot of friends there anymore,” said Tucker, who was dealt to the Raiders in January. “They were all my enemies tonight.
“I just skated by them as hard as I could to let them know that I beat ’em tonight. It’s the greatest feeling. Thanks to my teammates, because I couldn’t have done it without them. Everyone knew I wanted this one so bad.”
“He was chirping right in front of our bench, and I don’t really know if that’s the right thing to do,” said Brendan Gallagher, who scored both Vancouver goals. “But whatever he thought was right, he did.
“Tucker, obviously, wanted to play good against us. He was strong. He was emotional. He got the job done. He was happy.”
• Travis Rolheiser, who played two games for the Rebels in 2007-08 and picked up extra WHL scholarship dollars by attending three Rebels camps and appearing in preseason games, will put those funds to work next fall when he enrols at York University.
The Edmonton native, who this week was honored as the top goaltender in the AJHL for his work with the powerhouse Spruce Grove Saints, will suit up with the Lions of the Ontario University division of the CIS next season.
• Kamloops Blazers goaltender Kurtis Mucha set a Canadian Hockey League record for career games played last Saturday, but he couldn’t deliver a victory.
Mucha made 25 saves in a 4-1 loss to the visiting Calgary Hitmen while appearing in his 240th major junior contest. The record was formerly held by Ryan Mior, who played with the QMJHL’s P.E.I. Rocket and Gatineau Olympiques from 2003 to ‘08.
gmeachem@www.reddeeradvocate.com