Patriots earn shootout victory over Chiefs

The Regina Pats scored late and won 3-2 in a shootout following a scoreless overtime against the Spokane Chiefs. Tied at two through the end of regulation, both teams failed to score even though Regina had a power play in overtime. In the shootout, Mitch Holmberg lost the puck as he was trying to shoot. Keanu Yamamoto and Adam Helewka, who scored an earlier goal, failed to get the puck in the net to answer a shootout goal by Regina’s Boston Leier and the game ended with a 3-2 loss. “We played brutally,” Chiefs coach Don Nachbaur said. “We weren’t sharp mentally and it showed the way we played.” The game started with Regina looking overmatched. The Chiefs were crisp, didn’t turn over the puck and looked polished. But they couldn’t find the net early. Then the Pats turned it on in a game that saw several scrapes between players. The Pats pressured Chiefs goalie Garret Hughson and the puck squirted into the net as the first-period buzzer sounded. But the refs waived it off. The Pats kept the pressure on in the second period and Regina’s Dryden Hunt was in the right place as the puck deflected off a Chiefs defensive player. Hunt got the puck past Hughson for the first goal of the game at 12:26 left in the second period. The Chiefs responded with a beautiful pass from Spokane’s Reid Gow who set up Adam Helewka who scored a power-play goal with 5:04 left in the second. The Chiefs got a power play to end the period, but Regina goalie Dawson MacAuley turned back five shots as the period ended with the score tied 1-1. “We had a five minute power play … and we did nothing,” Nachbaur said. “Our best scorers got tired and our supporting cast didn’t contribute anything.” After ending the regular time tied, both teams again failed to score in the extra period even though Regina had a power play. The Chiefs were 0 for 3 in the shootout.