It had the makings of another playoff-like tilt between the Home Hardware Midget AAA Legionnaires and Regina Pat Canadians Wednesday night in the provincial capital, though the result fell short of the hype.

The Legionnaires headed out on the road with a three-game win streak, while the first-place Pat C's had five in a row of their own. The previous two meetings had also resulted in a Swift Current shootout win and Regina overtime win.

The final battle of the regular season between the Legionnaires and Pat Canadians favoured Regina early and often in a 7-2 Legionnaires' loss.

The Pat Canadians snatched momentum nearly right from puck drop, as they scored 51 seconds into the game - the first of four first-period tallies.

"Well real disappointing - embarrassing. We come in there and we'd played them the last two times to a draw. It's a big man's game and we know it, and we're not ready to answer the bell," said Legionnaires head coach Darren Evjen on his team's slow start.

"I thought the matchups everywhere - forwards, defense, goaltending. We weren't good enough physically, or with the puck, or mentally, or anything. They beat us everywhere. They score four, we don't score any. The score totally reflects the period," he noted.

Swift Current was out-shot 19-2 in the first period, but was able to settle down and regroup in the intermission.

The shot total in the second period belonged to the Pat Canadians, but the momentum swung back in the Legionnaires' favour.

Cash Arntsen scored 1:54 into the middle frame short-handed to trim the deficit to three. Though no other goals were to be found in the period, it set the tone for the type of effort Evjen expected from his team in the game.

"We come out in the second period with a mentality, and we change the game around. We start pushing back, and we're in the game. We win the period 1-0 because of the way we played," he said.

"That's how the two teams have usually played. We had a good second period, and we make it 4-1. We get a bounce here or there and we're in striking distance of winning the hockey game."

However, aided by some Swift Current penalty troubles, the Pat Canadians poured three more unanswered goals on the board to make it a 7-1 game.

Logan Linklater scored the Legionnaires' second goal - the last of the game - with 4:49 to go.

"The good evaluation with Regina is you really find out if you're going to be a player when you play against them," said Evjen, stressing consistency is paramount against a perennial powerhouse program.

"They're structured, they play for keeps, they challenge you everywhere. It's a fast, hard game and you've got to be able to play like that for 60 minutes. If [you don't], the game weeds you out real quick."

The result may have been far from what was expected or hoped by the Legionnaires' coaching staff, but Evjen said it could serve as a bit of a wake-up call, and a good test for how prepared the team is down the stretch and into playoffs.

"For me going forward, we have to understand how much we've got to give to win a hockey game like that. Right now we didn't do that," he said. "The good thing is we should look at this game and go into Friday and our mentality should be a lot different. Whether you're mad or embarrassed, the good thing is they'll show Friday how mad or embarrassed they are."

The Legionnaires are in a tie for seventh, and look to regain sole possession on Friday when they host the Moose Jaw AAA Warriors at the iPlex.

The Legionnaires (20-16-1-3) and second-place Warriors (29-11-1-0) face off February 14 at 8 p.m.