Pats high flying offence pushes past Lethbridge 6-1

Filip Ahl and Sam Steel each scored twice and the Regina Pats routed the Lethbridge Hurricanes 6-1 Tuesday night.

After tonight’s offensive showcase Sam Steele is now second in the WHL in goals and first in points. Ahl, meanwhile, is the league’s leading rookie scorer – at 19 years old.

Despite his “rookie” status Ahl comes with a plethora of experience, having played in his home country of Sweden. He was also drafted by the Ottawa Senators, who encouraged him to get experience on the North American ice surface by playing minor hockey.  

It took some adjusting, but he seems to have hit his stride.

“I think I am just getting better all the time I think,” Ahl said post-game. “I practice (well) with our coaches and they help me a lot and (I’m) on the way now and it feels really good so far.”

“He’s really come on lately,” head coach John Paddock said of Ahl. “And he’s really taking advantage of having the puck in their zone and creating offence.” 

Four of the Pats goals came in the first period including the two from Ahl, one from Steel and one from Rykr Cole.

Lethbridge’s only goal – put in by Giorgio Estephan came late in the first as well.

The Pats offence slowed a little bit after the explosive start, but Nick Henry notched one in the second – assisted by Ahl (and Chase Harrison) that caught his coach’s eye.

“(Ahl) has good hands, he sees the ice. I mean the pass he made to Henry is a big league play and a big league shot,” John Paddock said.

Sam Steel put his second goal of the night in the back of the net a little more than halfway through the third period sealing a deal on a game that Lethbridge was probably hoping ended a whole lot sooner.

“I think our best (four) games of the season have been Red Deer, Brandon and Lethbridge back-to-back,” Paddock said about the team’s current 7-0-3 record, but adding a little bit of rivalry from past playoff matchups has helped.

“Those are, without saying much coming from me, they’re rival games and they’re ready to play in them.” 

Up next the Pats will play the Spokane Chiefs on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.