The Regina Pats opened their playoff series with bitter rival Moose Jaw with a 3-2 win, but since then it's been all Warriors including a 5-4 double overtime victory in game 4 Wednesday night. They now lead the series 3-1 and predictably are led in scoring by veteran Quinton Howden. But it's a rookie who's starting to turn heads. 
This is a good news, bad news story depending on which side of the Regina/Moose Jaw rivalry you sit on. TPS has learned that the Warriors will have a rising star back in their line up at some point in the opening round.
Sad news to report by way of the Regina Pats today. An under-age defenceman is in hospital in Calgary after a car accident in that city early on Saturday morning. The accident has claimed the life of a female occupant in the car who was also from Regina."The accident took place early this morning in Calgary and I regret that not only has this accident left [the player] in hospital but has resulted in the death of a young lady from Regina.*the name of the player has been removed due to his age and Canadian Law.
At this point in time we do not know enough details to comment about the circumstances surrounding the accident and we will wait for the authorities to give us this information before we comment.
This is an incredibly difficult situation for me and our family as we are close with the young lady who died, as she was a close friend of our daughter. She was a beautiful young lady and she will be missed!
Chad [Lang] and Russ [Parker] are in Calgary and at the hospital with [the player] and his family but we do not have a status report on the extent of [the player's] injuries at this time.
We ask that both families be shown some courtesy at this difficult time and that all media inquiries be directed through Chad or myself [Brent Parker]. We will update you again later today on [the player's] situation. The tragedy here is the loss of life and we will not lose sight of this but we will support [the player] as a member of our organization as he deals with this situation."
Some news out of Regina today that the Pats have decided not to bring back assistant coach Shaun Sutter and goalie coach Ryan Cyr. GM Chad Lang is quoted in the team's official release and there is also mention that the search for their replacements will "begin immediately".
A report surfaced this weekend - citing an anonymous source - that the Regina Pats could be on the move to Chilliwack and replacing the Bruins who will end up in Victoria next year. The tale gets even wilder when it says the Manitoba Moose would take up shop in Regina when the NHL returns to Winnipeg.
Well I didn't see that coming with Russia beating team WHL in a shoot out, although we shouldn't be that shocked as they swept the Q and gave the OHL all they could handle. Maybe I'm a little biased but I didn't think Russia would win a game, let alone set themselves up for a sweep in the opener. They shouldn't have as the WHL gassed a 3 goal 3rd period lead when Russia lit them up like the Griswold house in Christmas Vacation and won it 7-6 in a shoot out.
If you were listening Tuesday night you might have heard Guy and I talking about a possible trade taking place in the WHL. It wasn't a major block buster but an interesting one.
Friday night the Regina Pats and the Edmonton Oil Kings got into an old school melee as a line brawl broke out near the end of the second period that included the two netminders. Some video has turned up and although it certainly misses much of the action, it's better than nothing.
Another busy show this weekend as The Pipeline Show looked ahead at the coming NHL season and bravely predicted this year's Calder trophy winners and candidates - with the help of an old friend from Hockey Night In Canada. We also went South to check in on the Barons of OK City as they prepared for their one and only pre-season tilt in advance of the regular season. Our 2011 eligible guest is considered the top player available from the AJHL. And after a wild affair last night in Regina we were joined by someone who was not only in the building but had the call of the brawl between the Pats and the Oil Kings.
In case you missed it in our update that appeared below yesterday, it appears that Terry Virtue leaving Tri City for personal reasons, meant he wanted to join Owen Sound. He is now an assistant coach with the Attack of the OHL. Hockeydb.com shows Virtue as being born in Scarborough so maybe going back east was his reason. Tri City also looks like they have someone in mind for the vacant gig, word is it's Scott Beattie who was an assistant coach with Kootenay last year.
The Regina Pats have done what Dean Millard has been telling me for several weeks that they would do; they have hired Chad Lang to be the new General Manager. The Pats have called a press conference for this afternoon to make it all official.
The Regina Pats have called a news conference for today, and speculation is that G.M. Brent Parker will step down and former Moose Jaw Warrior G.M. Chad Lang will be his replacement. 
(photo courtesy WHL.CA)
After the injury the talks resumed and a deal was done. But if the injury didn't happen, Hamonic would have remained a Warrior and when you consider how close they came to upsetting Calgary in the first round it makes you wonder what would have happened with the talented Dman in the line up.
While the Cougars aren't likely trading the first overall bantam pick, their first overall European pick could be on the block. Edmonton has the 4th overall pick and getting 2 Euro picks in the top 4 I'm told is something that the Kings are investigating. 
The WHL held it's draft lottery today in Calgary and with the most balls in the bucket, the Prince George Cougars have won the first overall pick. The Cougars who finished last in the WHL this year had 6 balls, followed by the Edmonton Oil Kings with 5, Lethbridge with 4, Seattle had 3, Regina 2 and Prince Albert 1.
The Brandon Wheat Kings took the Regina Pats to the woodshed Friday night, in a 10-2 pounding that was filled with fights. 3 broke out in the final minute and a half. Oilers prospect Toni Rajala notched a hattrick and chipped in with 2 assists giving him 55 points in 50 games, and 16 multi point games this season. The win gives Brandon a 2 point cushion on Calgary and Saskatoon and improves the Memorial Cup hosts to 12-0-1 in their past 13. It was an ugly end to the game as Stone was goaded into fighting by Teubert, who followed the winger around the ice despite his team being on a 5-on-3 penalty-kill and was going to be assessed slashing and elbowing penalties before the fight happened.
"Very disappointed and just totally unnecessary and certainly wish that it hadn't have happened...it's just a fight we didn't need," said Brandon GM/Coach Kelly McCrimmon, "We were, I thought, doing the right thing. We had a 5-on-3 power-play late in a 10-2 game and we could have put our big boys out and jammed it down their throat and tried to make it 11-2 or 12-2 but we did what we thought was the right thing and the right way to play the game by putting out the guys that don't get that opportunity as much. I think what happened was very, very disappointing...I can't sugar-coat it, I can't say it any simpler than that, I thought it was really unnecessary."
Somehow, Teubert managed to escape an instigator penalty on the play and what would have been an automatic game misconduct.
The incident so irked the Wheat Kings that Brandon co-captain Brayden Schenn, a teammate of Teubert's on the Canadian Junior Team and a prospect with the same NHL organization (Los Angeles) came across the ice while Teubert was being escorted to the Regina dressing room to give the defenceman his opinion of what transpired.
This road trip aside, things have been better than most expected for the Regina Pats this year. Until they went on their current 5 game losing skid, Regina was over .500 and challenging for a top 4 spot in the conference.
