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Capitals prospect Alexander Suzdalev records first WHL hat trick, now fifth in overall league scoring

By Chris Cerullo

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February 26, 2023 3:26 am

Capitals prospect Alexander Suzdalev is having an absolutely sensational rookie reason in the WHL this year for the Regina Pats. He furthered his tremendous individual campaign along in Regina’s 6-3 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday.

Suzdalev had a career-best game, recording the first WHL hat trick of his career in a four-point effort. The highly-skilled, 2022 third-round draft pick brought cascading hats down in Regina just over a week after also pulling off ‘The Michigan’ lacrosse-style goal for the Pats.

In 54 games in the WHL this season, Suzdalev has now tallied 75 points (34g, 41a). That total sees him ranked fifth in the entire league in scoring and first among rookies by a whopping 18 points.

The hat trick

Goal 1

Suzdalev kicked off the game’s scoring with his first of the night. The slick winger finished off a very nice tic-tac-toe passing play after receiving a sweet slap pass feed from Sam Oremba. He made no mistake finding the top shelf of an almost wide-open net.

Goal 2

For his second tally, the Russian-born, Swedish-raised forward was sprung on a semi-breakaway by Pats defenseman Stanislav Svozil. The hard-charging Suzdalev slipped the puck five-hole on Brandon’s netminder and gave Regina a 4-3 lead in the second period.

Goal 3

To cap the hatty off, Suzdalev picked up a loose puck in the high slot and absolutely sniped the top shelf of the Wheat Kings’ cage. The shot went in and out so quickly that it was initially waved off by the closest official to the action. Replays eventually showed the water bottle rattling bullet did fully go into the net.

Suzdalev posed with his milestone puck after the game.

When Suzdalev recently hit the 30-goal mark, he became just the third Pats rookie in the last 25 years to score 30 or more goals. Before coming over to North America for this season, the 18-year-old had exclusively played junior hockey in Sweden.

“Of course it’s nice feeling,” Suzdalev told AccessNow Sports postgame. “I need to put the puck more in the net and I guess some were lucky today and kind of went in. Teammates were buzzing today too.”

Suzdalev was named the game’s first star after tying his previous WHL single-game high of four points.

The Capitals signed Suzdalev to a three-year, entry-level contract last July.

Headline photo: @WHLPats/Twitter

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