WHL Playoffs: Pats, Thunderbirds to faceoff for Ed Chynoweth Cup

Regina Pats forward Adam Brooks (Keith Hershmiller/Regina Pats, CP)

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — The Western Hockey League championship is set.

The Regina Pats scored five straight goals to come from behind and defeat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 7-4 on Sunday in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final.

The Pats will play the Seattle Thunderbirds for the Ed Chynoweth Cup. Game 1 goes Friday in Regina.

Filip Ahl began the comeback for the Pats when he scored at 15:47 of the second period and Nick Henry tied the game less than two minutes later.

Jeff de Wit and Austin Wagner scored a minute apart midway through the third while Wyatt Sloboshan added an empty netter to complete a three-point outing. Robbie Holmes and Josh Mahura had first-period goals to round out the offence.

Egor Babenko, Jordy Bellerive and Ryan Vandervlis scored to give the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead just eight minutes into the game. Giorgio Estephan’s goal 1:05 into the second gave Seattle a 4-2 lead.

Tyler Brown made 24 saves for the win as Stuart Skinner stopped 38-of-44 shots in a losing cause.

Regina went 1 for 3 on the power play while Lethbridge went 3 for 3 with the man advantage.

The Pats, who entered the post-season as the No. 1-ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League, set a franchise record for wins in the regular season. Their last WHL championship came back in 1980.

THUNDERBIRDS 3 ROCKETS 1

KELOWNA, B.C. — Austin Strand scored the first of three straight goals in the second period as Seattle downed the Rockets in Game 6 of the Western Conference final.

Alexander True and Mathew Barzal also found the back of the net for the Thunderbirds, who got a 17-save outing from Carl Stankowski.

Nolan Foote was the lone scorer for Kelowna. Michael Herringer stopped 19-of-22 shots in a losing cause.

Seattle’s Keegan Kolesar was ejected late in the first period after receiving a major for checking from behind.

[relatedlinks]

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.