Star Maddox Schultz led the Regina Pat Canadians to a 6-1 win with a hat trick against the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds in his team's first Telus Cup tournament game.
"It feels good to help my team in any way I can," Schultz said on the SportsCage. "It feels good, but for us to get the win -- we're just getting started here."
The last time the Pat Canadians made it to the male U18 AAA national hockey championship was in 2017. In Schultz's opinion, Regina's start against the Thunderbirds could have been better.
"We came out flat, but we had two weeks off. It's understandable, but we got our legs under us in that period. Then came out hot in the second and third, so I thought it was a good response from our team," Schultz said.
"We haven't seen some of these teams before, so the tape helps a little bit, but I think we have to watch out for their plays and play our game, not let them control us."
The Pat Canadians power play was working against the Thunderbirds, Regina scored three out of four times on the man advantage.
"It's been working all year, it's been clicking throughout these past couple of months," Schutlz said. "I think it really stepped up in that Circle K tournament and at regionals. To come here and for it to be working three-for-four, it feels good."
Pat Canadians' head coach Ryan Hodgins credits his team's depth for how well Regina has been playing.
"We have lines going in and so forth, but we call it the blender," Hodgins said. "We blend things up at times and I think that's the strength of having depth. You can move guys around, use guys in different situations and juggle it when you have depth.”
