Regina Pat Canadians headed to Telus Cup for 1st time since 2017

Dan Plaster · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 21, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

One of the benefits of playing hockey precocious into April is coming to the rink successful shorts. That's what the bulk of the Regina Pat Canadians are doing arsenic they hole for the Telus Cup, which begins April 21 successful Chilliwack, B.C. 

The Pat Canadians person been grabbing headlines since December erstwhile a then-14-year-old Maddox Schultz took the hockey satellite by tempest astatine the Circle K Tournament successful Calgary.

Since past it's been a regular play title, a provincial title and a dominating westbound determination that punched their summons to the Telus Cup.

A blend of precocious octane offence and stout defence helped the Pat Canadians steamroll the contention astatine the westbound regionals, with the team outscoring opponents 25-2 successful 4 games.

"We kept getting amended and amended passim the playoffs," adjunct skipper Eli Johnson said. "Once we had the westbound regionals, I wouldn't privation to accidental afloat stride yet, due to the fact that that's to come, but we are playing truly bully hockey."

It's been 26 years since the Regina Pat Canadians won the U-18 nationalist rubric successful 1999, meaning nary of the existent players were live the past clip the squad won the championship.

"I deliberation the guys bash cognize the affluent past of this program," caput manager Ryan Hodgins said. "It's been a bully programme for a long, agelong clip with large players, large coaches, staff, successful the community."

The Telus Cup has 5 of the apical U-18 teams successful Canada taking portion successful a seven-day tournament. This means precise fewer days off, but this is thing caller to the Pat Canadians this season. It's the aforesaid format that played successful astatine the Circle K tourney that turned the play around.

"It was benignant of an casual accommodation for each of us, but we benignant of cognize what it's similar being successful a edifice and playing games astatine each hours of the day," goaltender Taylor Tabashniuk said. "So yeah, it wasn't excessively hard of an accommodation for our team."

There has been a batch of heartbreak for the Pat Canadians implicit the past fewer seasons. Since past playing successful the Telus Cup successful 2017, the squad has lost successful the Saskatchewan provincial semi-finals 3 times, and the provincial finals successful 2023 and 2024, earlier yet breaking done this season. 

"It conscionable feels truly bully to instrumentality that measurement and enactment the losing broadside down us," Johnson said. "It's awesome to bring it backmost home, bring it backmost to Regina, since it's been truthful long." 

Win oregon lose, this volition beryllium the last week this radical of Regina Pat Canadians volition walk unneurotic arsenic a group. 

"It's going to beryllium a blast, we're each truthful excited and we've been preparing for this each year," Tabashniuk said.

The Pat Canadians commencement the Telus Cup by facing the big Fraser Valley Thunderbirds connected April 21. The tourney finishes with the finals connected April 27. 

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