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| The Pats celebrate their Game 7 victory over the Broncos. |
Named for the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry when born in 1917, the Regina Pats seemed destined to become a royal franchise.
As the world’s oldest major junior hockey team, the Pats
have appeared in the Memorial Cup championship series and later tournament 12
times and have won the Memorial Cup on three occasions in 1925, 1930 and 1974.
They once had links to the NHL’s storied Montreal Canadiens as the big club’s
junior hockey affiliate for a time in the 1950s and 1960s. This was in an era
the pre-dated the current NHL Entry Draft.
Since the Pats were born, around 145 of their grads have
gone on to play in the NHL. Alums have spanned the ages including Murray
Balfour, Dave Balon, Eddie Litzenberger, Red Berenson, Clark Gillies, Greg
Joly, Ed Staniowski, Ron Flockhart, Lyndon Byers, Mike Sillinger, Derek Morris,
Barret Jackman, Josh Harding and Jordan Eberle.
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| Part of the Pats Regiment cheers their team on to victory. |
While the Pats have a rich history, it feels like the squad’s
storied exploits were from another time and only the odd historian would seem
to remember them.
On Friday, the Pats will open play in the best-of-seven WHL
championship series against the Seattle Thunderbirds (7 p.m. local time, Brandt
Centre). It will mark the first time the Pats have stepped on the ice to play
in the league championship series since 1984, when they lost out in a series
deciding seventh game to the Kamloops Junior Oilers.
They haven’t won the WHL
crown since 1980, when they downed the Victoria Cougars 4-1 in a best-of-seven
set.
It is safe to say numerous citizens in Saskatchewan’s
capital city barely have any recollection of the exploits of Dale Derkatch and
crew from 1984 or the late Doug Wickenheiser and his teammates from 1980.
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| Sam Steel was named the WHL’s MVP. |
Between 1984 and 2017, the Pats have put up some strong
regular seasons that include finishing first in the WHL’s East Division on a
few occasions. When it came to the post-season during that time span, the Pats
usually bowed out in the first round, made a handful of second round
appearances and did reach the WHL Eastern Conference Championship series in
1993 only to be swept away by the Swift Current Broncos.
They appeared in the 2001 Memorial Cup tournament as the
host squad falling in the event’s semifinal 5-4 in overtime to the Val d’Or
Foreurs.
While it has to be noted it is hard to win it all in junior
hockey and make long runs through the post-season, the Pats appeared
disconnected from their storied past. It felt like only a handful of people in
Regina remembered the team’s glory days like veteran Regina Leader-Post
columnist Rob Vanstone or 81-year-old Rollie Bourassa, who has suited up as the
Pats mascot K9 since 1978. Bourassa is still known to slide stair rails in his
mascot attire.
Over the past 15 years, it seemed like long playoff runs
belonged only to WHL franchises like the Brandon Wheat Kings, Kelowna Rockets,
Medicine Hat Tigers and Portland Winterhawks, who seem to consistently float to
the top of the league’s standings and make deep post-season forays.
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| Adam Brooks is the Pats charismatic captain. |
Still the Pats are an institution in Regina, and even in the
worst times, there always seemed to be a group of 4,000 followers that would
turn out for games.
In 2016-17, the Pats faithful, which has become dubbed as
the “Pats Regiment,” has been rewarded for their patience with a dream season
that almost seems too good to be true.
The Pats finished first overall in the WHL standings for the
first time since 1974 with a 52-12-7-1 mark. For much of the campaign, the Pats
were rated first in the Canadian Hockey League’s top 10 rankings and topped the
final rankings that were released on March 22.
Into the playoffs the Pats ventured. First, they swept away
the Calgary Hitmen in a best-of-seven series 4-0.
Regina received a major scare in the second round falling
behind 3-1 to the Broncos. The Pats proceeded to erase that type of series
deficit for the first time in team history with three straight wins to claim
the best-of-seven set 4-3. During the final moments of the 5-1 Game 7 victory
over the Broncos on April 17, the Brandt Centre rocked and jumped like it hadn’t
in some time.
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| Connor Hobbs has been a beast on the Pats back end. |
Next up in the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship series
were the Lethbridge Hurricanes, who were a club high on talent and heart. The
Hurricanes built a 2-1 series lead before the Pats raised their game to another
level to win three straight and take the series 4-2.
During the entire campaign, the Pats Regiment cheered for a
group of players that seem to be almost super-hero like in WHL MVP Sam Steel,
charismatic captain Adam Brooks, standout offensive defenceman Connor Hobbs,
clutch overager Dawson Leedahl, skilled rookie Nick Henry, speedy Austin
Wagner, steady rearguard Josh Mahura and gutsy goalie Tyler Brown.
The exploits of this group of stars is overseen by veteran
head coach and general manager John Paddock, who was named the WHL’s coach of
the year and executive of the year.
Between the regular season and playoffs, the Brandt Centre
has seen 23 sellouts of 6,484 spectators. The fans have witnessed pageantry
pre-game that has included a military veteran marching with a torch to centre ice
to light up the team’s logo providing a link to the club’s beginnings in 1917.
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| Mascot K9 has been a fixture at Pats games since 1978. |
The best part of this Pats run is it is all new for their
followers. Since the last run to the league championship series was in 1984, it
didn’t seem like this season would ever happen.
Even as the Pats piled up the wins, a few followers had to
think the bottom would fall out somewhere. The excitement around the team
should be nothing but pure at this point in time.
While the team topped the CHL rankings and finished first in
the WHL standings, you couldn’t expect a long playoff run until it actually
happened.
Going into the league championship series, there are no
guarantees the Pats will win the Ed Chynoweth Cup and advance to the Memorial
Cup tournament, which runs May 19 to 28 in Windsor, Ont.
The Thunderbirds are back in the league championship series
for a second straight year returning a number of key players including
spectacular star centre Mathew Barzal.
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| The Pats hope they can celebrate a few more wins in May. |
They fell in last year’s league title series
in five games to the Brandon Wheat Kings and will be looking to take care of
unfinished business.
The fact the Pats have made it this far has to be considered
a major success. The Pats Regiment should just enjoy the ride no matter how it
plays out from here.
Even with that in mind, the fans have to be excited about
the possibility of watching their heroes create a May to remember, because the
Patricia’s are still carrying the torch.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
