The Regina Pats begin their 102nd season of hockey Friday when they host the Moose Jaw Warriors.
The team has had about a month of training camp along with seven preseason games to prepare for the season ahead.
Pats captain Austin Pratt said expectations are high heading into the year.
“This year we want to win and we want to make playoffs, that’s the goal for sure, and to go as far as we can in the playoffs,” Pratt said. “Everyone’s a year older, so everyone knows what to do, how to play, and what their role is on this team I believe.”
Starting goaltender Max Paddock said a good start to the season is highly important.
“The past two years we haven’t had good starts, and that’s a little bit demoralizing,” Paddock said. “As you win, you get more confidence in the room, guys start gelling a lot faster than you do if you were losing.”
Pats head coach Dave Struch said there’s a good mood in the dressing room heading into the weekend home and home.
“Everybody’s excited, everybody’s getting anxious, I’m hoping that the guys are getting nervous, that’s always a good thing,” Struch said. “We’ve had a real good month of training camp, a good week of practice here, so going into a rivalry home-and-home, we feel that we’ve done a lot of work in preparing, hopefully we can execute when it becomes game time.”
Opening face off is 7 o’clock. The Pats are also holding their annual pregame barbecue at 4:30 in the Agribition Building starting at 4:30. Tickets are still available at the Brandt Centre box office or on the Regina Pats website.
