REGINA -- The Regina Pat Canadians used a pair of power play goals to take a victory over the Moose Jaw WINMAR Warriors in Game 1 of the Sask Male AAA Hockey League championship final series on Sunday afternoon.
Maddox Schultz scored the eventual game winner with 6:39 remaining in the third, and Regina would go on to a 2-1 victory at the Co-Operators Arena in Regina.
Game 2 of the championship final is set for Tuesday at Southland Co-Op Centre in Assiniboia, with Game 3 back in Regina on Thursday.
Regina had the two best scoring chances in the first 10 minutes of the game, first when Schultz came out of the penalty box and burst down his wing to create a partial breakaway, but Warriors goaltender Luke McKechnie would come up with the big save.
Not long after, Jonah Sivertson had a chance at the side of the net after a scoring attempt went off the top of the net, but McKechnie would dive across his crease to make the stop.
The Warriors would get on the board with 5:53 to play in the first, and it was the hero of the second round who would get the job done. Team captain Brennan Brown found the puck during a goalmouth scramble and would jam it home, with his seventh goal of the playoffs giving his crew the early lead.
The Pat Canadians took control of things early in the second period and generated a ton of chances as the frame progressed, and they’d be rewarded late in the frame.
Sivertson took advantage of Regina’s third power play to secure the puck at the side of the net in traffic, and a quick backhand later made it a 1-1 game with 6:50 to play in the period.
Moose Jaw was able to flip the script and get off a couple solid chances of their own in the final five minutes of the second, but Regina goaltender Taylor Tabashniuk would come up with the big saves when his team needed them.
The third period was back and forth much of the way, but an interference penalty to the Warriors’ Gage Nagel with 8:31 to play would lead to Regina’s second goal.
Schultz corralled the puck at the side of the net and got off a shot in close that snuck in short side for his ninth goal of the playoffs with 6:39 remaining in regulation.
Moose Jaw pulled McKechnie for the extra attacker with just over two minutes to play and went six-on-four when Eli Johnson was hit with a boarding minor with 1:32 remaining, but despite a couple great chances, Tabashniuk would stand firm, and Regina would have their Game 1 win.
Tabashniuk finished with 18 saves, McKechnie stopped 30.
Game 2 now takes place in Assiniboia on Tuesday and will be a home game for the Warriors as the Temple Gardens Centre prepares for the World Men’s Curling Championship. Puck drop is 7 p.m. at the Southland Co-Op Centre.
