The Pats avoided being the only Memorial Cup host to go winless at the major junior hockey championship with a 5-2 win Thursday night over the WHL champion Red Deer Rebels in the final round-robin game.
Regina (1-2) now faces the OHL champion Ottawa 67's on Friday (9:30 p.m. EDT) in the first tiebreaker since 1993 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., when Laval edged Swift Current 4-3.
The Pats also did the QMJHL's Val-d'Or Foreurs a favour in ensuring the team that wins the tiebreaker Friday night will be fatigued for Saturday's semifinal against the Foreurs (2-1) that starts at noon local time.
Brett Lysak whoops it up after his shorthanded goal in a 5-2 Pats win.(CP Photo)
The 67's are in a difficult situation without their captain and scoring leader Joe Talbot because of a shoulder injury. Ottawa is coming off a 6-1 loss to Val-d'Or on Wednesday.
"Obviously, they miss Talbot but they have a lot of determination and character guys on that team," said Pats coach Lorne Molleken. "This one is over and done with and now it's time to get ready for Ottawa tomorrow night."
The Pats were obviously hungrier than the WHL champion Rebels (2-1), who had earlier clinched a spot in Sunday's final. Red Deer its earned bye by beating Val-d'Or in the round robin.
"Going into tonight's game we were already in the finals and the team we played weren't," said Rebels coach Brent Sutter. "Obviously, they played with a lot more desperation than we did tonight.
"I think you have three teams who would like to be our situation. We're in the finals.
"They're not, yet."
In a bid to shake up his team, Molleken started backup goaltender Chad Davidson, who was playing his first game since March 23, instead of Donald Choukalos. Davidson finished with 22 saves.
"I started with the jitters a little bit there, fumbled the puck and didn't control my rebounds, but as the game went on the guys let me see shots. And I had a bunch of long shots where I had a chance to settle in, get a feel for the puck and realize that this was just another game," said Davidson.
Whether the Pats were more confident in front of Davidson or finally shook off the rust of a seven-week layoff before the tournament, they looked like a different team than the one that lost the first two games.
They were more disciplined, their forwards showed some speed and Regina had better team defence.
"Our team really worked hard and gave Chad some necessary support," said Molleken, adding Davidson would get the start against Ottawa.
Karel Mosovsky Garth Murray, Kevin Korol, Philadelphia Flyers draft pick Jeff Feniak and Carolina Hurricanes property Brett Lysak had, with a short-handed goal, scored for Regina in front of a full house at the 6,995-seat Agridome.
The Pats earned a standing ovation for the final 44 seconds of the game, which ended in a brawl.
Regina was knocked out of the WHL playoffs in the first round hadn't played since April 1 coming into the tournament.
"We hadn't had much cheering in the last week so, definitely, it felt really good," said Davidson. "It might have been a case in the earlier two games of maybe rust.
"We hadn't played with a lead or in a close game for so long, we maybe had forgotten how to handle it. We came a long way in those two games and now we know we can play with a lead again and that's more confidence for the team."
Justin Mapletoft, a New York Islanders draft pick, and Doug Lynch replied for the Rebels, whose sloppy work on the power play allowed Lysak to steal the puck and score on a 2-on-1 at 7:20 of the second to make it 4-0.
"We didn't play like we would have like to in the first half of the second period," said Sutter. "You get down four goals like that and there were mental mistakes that can't afford to happen right now.
"We tried hard to get back into it, but it's a long way to come."
Mapletoft, on a power play, and Lynch drew the Rebels within two goals through the second periods, but Mosvosky scored on a power play late in the third.
Bendera gave up fat rebounds on Regina's second and third goals earlier in the second period and was pulled after Lysak's goal in favour of Cam Ondrik, who stopped 10 of 11 shots.
Murray, one of the fastest players in the Top Prospects Game's skills competition in February, stole the puck in the Pats' end and with Red Deer's defencemen on his heels, shoved the puck past Bendera while down on one knee for a 1-0 Regina lead in the first.
Regina and Red Deer split their regular-season games 2-2, with Regina winning two of three after revamping its lineup at the January trade deadline.
"We should have came out with an edge," said Rebels forward Mapletoft. "We play these guys every year in the league.
"There's a lot of pride on the line and they played a lot harder than we did. That was the difference in the game."
By Donna Spencer
