CHILLIWACK, B.C. -- The Regina Pat Canadians continue to cruise along against the best Canada has to offer at the Telus Cup male U18 AAA national hockey championship.
The Pat Canadians put together another commanding victory on Thursday afternoon, rolling to an 8-1 win over the Pacific champion Okanagan Rockets to improve to 4-0 and hold down sole possession of first place heading into the evening contests.
And with the way things have been going, it shouldn’t be any surprise who led the way on the ice.
Tournament scoring leader Maddox Schultz and fellow high-scoring forward Eli Johnson each had two goals and five points to pace Regina to their third victory by four goals or more.
Schultz -- who had 43 goals and 93 points in 44 regular season games -- now has eight goals and 14 points across the four Telus Cup contests, with Johnson right behind with two goals and 11 points.
Jonah Sivertson had a solid game in his own right for Regina, scoring twice and finishing with three points to give him four goals and eight points, while Chase Surkan picked up two assists to sit at six goals and eight points.
Things were close in the early going against Okanagan, as Johnson scored the lone goal of the first period, but Sivertson, Johnson and Schultz would all score in the second to make it a 4-0 lead through two.
The offence kept rolling in the final frame, with Sivertson and Nathan Gardiner scoring six minutes apart early in the period to make it 6-1. They were soon followed by Schultz’s second of the game with 8:04 to play and Brodie Bowen’s first of the tournament with 2:58 remaining to close out scoring.
Brayden Westman had the lone goal for Okanagan 6:33 into the third.
Taylor Tabashniuk returned to the net for Regina and turned aside 18 shots to secure the win, Reed Russell had 25 saves for the Rockets
Regina’s power play was once again lethal, scoring three goals on four chances.
The win naturally guarantees a top four finish for the Pat Canadians and a spot in the semifinal on Saturday, and they’ll play for first place at 12 p.m. on Friday when they take on the Quebec champion Chevalier de Levis. The Chevalier are also unbeaten at 3-0 heading into their game Thursday afternoon against the Atlantic champion Moncton Flyers (1-2)
Full standings heading into Thursday afternoon are as follows:
Regina (West) 4-0-0-0 12 points
Levis (Quebec) 3-0-0-0 9 points
Moncton (Atlantic) 1-2-0-0 3 points
Elgin Middlesex (Central) 1-2-0-0 3 points
Okanagan (Pacfic) 1-3-0-0 3 points
Fraser Valley (Host) 0-3-0-0 0 points
The top four teams after the preliminary round advance to the semifinals at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday, followed by the bronze medal game at 12 p.m. and gold medal game at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
