Layton Fiest scored his second of the game with 27 seconds left in overtime to give the Pats the win, capping off a back-and-forth contest between the two arch-rivals that featured tons of hard work from both clubs.
“I thought it was just a really good hockey game,” said Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary. “I tell the guys our number one standard is effort and compete to win races and win battles. I thought we did that tonight and it didn’t waver. I know it’s frustrating when the puck isn’t going in, but credit to the guys, they stuck with the plan.”
The result might not have been what they wanted, but with a team battling injuries to elite players and fighting to find offence, throwing things to overtime was a positive result.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted obviously, but we put ourselves in position at the end of the game that we’re in the game and have a chance to win it,” O’Leary said. “We certainly had the puck on our stick in good spots to win, so the process is there and we just have to trust we’ll get the result we’re looking for.”
The contest was another impressive showing for 17-year-old rookie netminder Brett Mirwald, who would finish the night with 38 saves and continues to impress through the early part of the campaign with a 2.76 goals against average and .920 save percentage.
“I think as a team we’re confident in Brett for sure, he’s done a real good job,” O’Leary said. “He’s come into the net a couple times not starting a game, but he just jumps right in and does his job. Even early on in the game when we haven’t had the best of starts and had to kill penalties, he was our best player. Talking about sticking with the game plan until the offence comes, well, that’s where you need a goaltender to step up and Brett certainly did that tonight for us.”
Regina got on the board 10:29 into the second period, and it was the absolute wrong player to make a mistake against: Connor Bedard took advantage of a turnover in the Warriors zone to go in alone on Mirwald and put a shot blocker side for the 1-0 lead.
Bedard -- the WHL’s first 15-year-old to receive exceptional player status -- also drew an assist on the overtime winner and moved into a tie for the league scoring lead with eight goals and 19 points in 10 games.
Mirwald’s solid play continued in the second as he stopped two shorthanded breaks for the Pats, including a breakaway for Carter Massier with four minutes remaining in the frame.
The Warriors finally broke through in the third, capping off a sustained run of hard work in the offensive zone when Brayden Yager took a feed from behind the net into the slot from Eric Alarie and ripped a shot home past Roddy Ross 1:59 into the frame.
“It was a good play by Kraner (forward Riley Krane) to start it and cycle it down low, and I saw Larry going around the net and he was calling it the whole way ‘I’m passing, I’m passing’,” Yager said. “I found some open ice, he put it on the tape and I was able to put it in.”
The 15-year-old rookie was one of several Warriors to have chances to break things open, but the offensive woes that have bothered the squad as of late continued. They now have the fewest goals scored in the East Division with 26, tied with Prince Albert.
“It’s obviously frustrating because we’re a little bit snakebit right now,” Yager said. “We just have to keep working and the chances will come and the bounces will come, but right now we’re getting the opportunities and just not finishing. I think as we go along that will come.”
Alarie would strike himself and give the Warriors a 2-1 lead with 9:28 to play, lifting a backhand from the top of the faceoff circle past Ross. Tate Popple was the star of the goal, though, breaking off the wall and getting the puck to Alarie while being hauled down.
The lead wouldn’t last long as Feist scored for Regina only 1:02 later to knot things 2-2.
Ross turned aside 28 shots to earn the win.
The Warriors fell to 4-5-1 on the campaign and are back in action on Thursday when they take on the Swift Current Broncos. Game time is 4 p.m.
