The Regina Pats return to action Friday night when they face the defending WHL champion Prince Albert Raiders.

The Pats are heading into the game with one win and one loss after splitting their opening series with Moose Jaw, while Prince Albert also split their home and home with Saskatoon to begin the year.

Pats head Coach Dave Struch said he sees very little change in the Raiders overall game from last year.

“They play the same way, the obviously just don’t have the experience they had last year, which made them a good team,” Struch said. “The older guys  execute better, they’re stronger, but this young team plays fast, they play the same systems, they’re going to be a really good team this year right from top to bottom, they play well.”

Struch said his team needs to play their game to be successful.

“I thought that we had a good exhibition season, we played good games against Moose Jaw the first two (of the season),” Struch said. “We just need to continue to get better, we had a good week at practice, we need to come out ready to play 60-plus minutes.”

Puck drop is at 7 o’clock. Tickets for the game can be found at reginapats.com and the Brandt Centre Box office. 620 CKRM will also have the game live starting at 6:35.