Pats nearing end of seven-game road trip

It has been a long, winding road for the Regina Pats recently.

The team has travelled from Manitoba to Alberta and back again during its current stretch of games. The Pats haven’t played at the Brandt Centre since a 4-2 loss to the Calgary Hitmen on Nov. 20.

Since then, the Pats have travelled to Swift Current, Brandon, Lethbridge, Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton. The team’s final road game of the stretch is Friday night in Winnipeg against the Ice. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.

“Fatigue definitely comes into play,” Regina head coach Dave Struch said this week.

But he said that wasn’t an excuse for how the team played in a 7-1 loss to the host Edmonton Oil Kings on Sunday.

“I know we’re tired. We’re playing against a top-end team but some of the mistakes were mistakes that we would never make the way we play (and) as hard as we work,” Struch said.

The Pats did find some success on their road trip, winning three of the first six games.

“You could say it’s confidence but I think it’s more showing what the process does for you,” Struch said. “You want to execute every day to the high standard that we put on the board for them and our guys have done that — but there is more.

“We need to win more. There’s something there that we want to push our players (to achieve) and, in the end, they have to push each other and push themselves.”

The Pats now have a 6-17-2-0 record after beginning the season 1-10-0-0.

“We see where we are in the standings. We’ve closed a lot (of ground) after a 1-and-10 start and the guys should feel good about themselves but they also have to be prepared to work that much more so we can continue to climb,” Struch said.

The Pats will finally get to play in front of a home crowd Saturday against the Red Deer Rebels for the annual teddy bear toss night.

“It feels like it has been a while (since we played in Regina) and it’s exciting to be back at home,” forward Robbie Holmes said. “It’s also nice to stay in your own bed.”

Holmes said the team can take away some positives from its lengthy time on the road.

“For the first few games we hung in with two pretty good teams (the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday and the Hitmen on Saturday) and we played pretty well, but I think fatigue was a factor in Edmonton,” Holmes said. “But that shouldn’t be an excuse.”

Struch said it will be good for the Pats to get back to playing at home.

“For us to come back home here in front of our home crowd, (there’s) a little bit of added incentive,” Struch said, “and hopefully we can do it coming off a win in Winnipeg.”