Nick Henry has picked a great time to get hot for the Regina Pats.
Playing on a line with Sam Steel, the 18-year-old from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba recorded a hat-trick to give the Memorial Cup hosts a thrilling 6-5 victory over the Swift Current Broncos on Wednesday.
“Sam is a special player and I have played a lot with him over the last two years – we have excellent chemistry and having Cam Hebig on that line is a real nice addition and has been a lot of fun.”
With the win, the Pats move on to the semi-final on Friday against the Hamilton Bulldogs while the Broncos season is over, which includes former Prince George Cougars defenceman Josh Anderson.
“It’s a tough game to play in and give Regina credit, we’ve played them 10 times in the past two months and it’s not easy playing a team that much and playing in the Memorial Cup certainly isn’t easy as well.”
Regina got a measure of revenge on the Broncos who knocked them out of the 2018 WHL Playoffs 51 days earlier in a hard-fought seven game series.
Anderson and his teammates fully expected the Pats to be frothing at the mouth when they locked horns in this tournament.
“You know before the game that they want to come in and knock you out, we just had to take it shift by shift and play our game.”
The 19-year-old blueliner from Duncan, BC is one of many on the Broncos expected to make the jump to the pro ranks next season.
The Ed Chynoweth Cup title is a little vindication after going through an equally disappointing playoff run with a Cougar team that loaded up at the 2017 trade deadline only to get bounced out in six games to the Portland Winterhawks.
Anderson says the difference between both teams came down to pure chemistry.
“We had a really special group and bonded great here in Swift Current with all the guys that came in at the deadline and the guys who were here before us welcomed us with open arms and brought us in like brothers right away.”
“We came to the rink and we enjoyed each other’s company and there is no bickering or fighting or stuff like that, we are a family and everyone respected everybody and that was the difference was the bond between us.”
Game 6 #MCMemorialCup:
What a finish! 5 goals in the final 10 minutes including Platt & Hajek from @WHLPats who hold on despite Heponiemi, Estephan, Gawdin tallying for @SCBroncos in final push.#MMC100 pic.twitter.com/TlOMK2ZW0e
— CanadianHockeyLeague (@CHLHockey) May 24, 2018
The Swift Current loss dropped their record to 0-3 ending a long and memorable season, which saw them play a CHL most 101 games.
Regina went three-for-five on the power-play while the Broncos went two-for-five.
Max Paddock picked up the win in goal for the Pats, in addition, Stuart Skinner to the loss for Swift Current.
Tyler Steenbergen missed his second straight game due to a concussion according to Broncos Head Coach Manny Viveros during the post-game press conference.
He also admitted leading scorer Glenn Gawdin played on a separated shoulder since round two of the WHL Playoffs as did Russian defenceman Artyom Minulin.
Steel tied a tournament-record five assists for the Pats.
The Regina victory puts the Acadie-Bathurst Titan into Sunday’s final.