Visitors to “The Crushed Can” battled Warriors and their fans

First trip to Moose Jaw following rival Pats was eye opening

The Moose Jaw Civic Centre in 2011.

The pre-game reaction of a boy around the age of five proved the people of Moose Jaw took their WHL rivalry with hated Regina Pats seriously.

On Saturday, November 4, 2000, I stepped into the Moose Jaw Civic Centre, which was also known as “The Crush Can,” for the first time. It was the famous - or infamous depending on your point of view - home rink of the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors.

I was there that night covering the visiting Pats for the short-lived and ill-fated SportsRegina.com website.

During pre-game, I was touring the facility checking out various vantage points of where I might shoot pictures of the game from. As I walked around the stands, a boy, who looked to be five-years-old, asked me to take his picture.

Knowing the boy was likely from Moose Jaw, I replied, “I’m not from the Moose Jaw Times-Herald.”

The boy then asked with an exclamation emphasis, “Are you from Regina?”

Donald Choukalos and the Pats in the Civic Centre in 2000.

I nodded my head to give a “yes” response.

The boy quickly took off in the other direction and ripped into a tunnel that led to the concourse area like he had see The Joker, Lex Luthor or any other fictional villain you can think of.

The line was pretty clear.

“The bad guys” were anyone coming to this contest from Regina.

Hence was life in the rivalry between the Pats and Warriors, which is arguably the most heated one in the history of the CHL.

Tensions were high leading into this contest, which was the second encounter of the 2000-01 regular season between the two sides. The Pats and Warriors closed with 1999-2000 regular season with a heated home-and-home series.

The first game in Moose Jaw saw some Pats fans punch Warriors mascot, Puckhead, and the series concluded in Regina with a game that featured a line brawl that started when Warriors agitator Sean O’Connor hooked Pats goalie Donald Choukalos around the neck.

Lisa Franks at the Civic Centre in 2000.

The Pats healthy scratched dog mascot, K9, and polar bear mascot, Pat, in the return match due to fears of retaliation.

As for the November 4, 2000 encounter, the two sides met the previous night in Regina in a game that seemed to go on for three hours in real time due to all the fights and a third period line brawl that resulted in a suspension for Pats enforcer David Kaczowka. Moose Jaw came away with a 3-2 victory.

Despite all the crazy things that went on, the staff at “The Crushed Can” lived up to Moose Jaw’s motto of being “The Friendly City.”

As soon as you entered the building, they were super helpful in setting you up with game notes, making sure you knew where the media and scouts room was and ensuring you had everything you needed. If you had any other questions, all you had to do was ask.

The media and scouts room was set up in a dressing room at ice level. Pats head coach Lorne Molleken, who once coached the Warriors, and Pats assistant coach Chad Mercier came in and visited with everyone. At that time, you wouldn’t even know a big rivalry game was about to take place.

The Pats and Warriors in a scrum at the Civic Centre in 2000.

Things stayed on the down low for that night’s ceremonial faceoff. The Warriors were honouring Moose Jaw hero Lisa Franks, who won four goal medals in wheelchair racing at the 2000 Summer Paralympics held in October of that year in Sydney, Australia.

Pats captain Barret Jackman and Warriors assistant captain Jason Weitzel took part in the ceremonial faceoff. 

Jackman, who had played for Canada’s world junior team the previous season, had a deep respect for anyone that represented Canada on the world stage.

After both Jackman and Weitzel shook hands with Franks, Jackman turned to shake Weitzel’s hand.

Weitzel at first jumped back and game a facial expression of, “We’re enemies. What are doing?”

Weitzel then proceeded to shake hands with Jackman.

Grant Jacobsen (#15) fires a shot on goal for the Pats.

I expected the stage wouldn’t stay cordial. Right before the opening faceoff took place, I encountered two young teenage ladies from Regina who attended all the Pats home games.

They weren’t wearing their Pats jerseys that night, and they said they did so in order to avoid any problems with the Moose Jaw faithful.

As the game began, I looked up into the stands and wondered, “How did they get all these people in here?”

Attendance for that night’s game was listed as a standing room crowd of 3,135 at the 2,806 seat facility. It felt like there were more people shoehorned into the building than that.

There were eight uniformed police officers in sight at all times likely standing on guard in case anyone went over the line in the crowd, which happened a few times historically in that rivalry.

Before, after and during the game, you could feel the enormity and force of the crowd. They were figuratively on that ice surface playing that contest alongside the Warriors.

The game itself didn’t have any of the incidents like the previous recent encounters between the two sides at that point in time. For a game that didn’t have a fight or any line brawls, it was incredibly intense and physical.

Barret Jackman was heckle target of the Warriors faithful.

When anyone threw a hit, they were throwing a hit to hurt. Any time the Warriors laid a big hit, the crowd reaction was louder and way more emphatic than the hit itself.

The fans brought the heckles too, and the chants of “jackass” rained down for Jackman, who was also a first round NHL Entry Draft selection of the St. Louis Blues.

Pats 16-year-old left-winger Robin Big Snake and Warriors 16-year-old defenceman Mitch Love had a little battle going at one point that saw Big Snake take an unsportsmanlike conduct minor and Love a roughing minor at the 15:33 mark of the second period. Love happens to be the current day head coach of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades.

With the teams locked in a 2-2 draw, veteran Warriors left-winger Shawn Limpright scored on the power-play with 6:46 remaining in the third period to give the hosts a 3-2 edge. The Warriors locked things down defensively from there to make sure that 3-2 score hold up as the final in their favour.

I happened to be by the hallway where the Pats came off the ice after the game. Veteran Pats defenceman Scotty Balan was one of the first players who came off the ice, and I remember him firing his helmet down the hallway and loudly repeating an explanative all way to the Regina dressing room.

A huge media horde quickly formed outside the Pats dressing room.

Pats D Filip Novak at the Civic Centre in 2000.

As I stood among the huge gathering of media folks, I thought I saw Warriors fans heading into a fan lounge right next to the Pats dressing room. I might not have seen that correctly, but that is what I thought I saw.

I didn’t have much time to figure out what I saw there, because Molleken quickly emerged from the Pats dressing room to meet the media.

I ended up firing off the first question in the scrum for some reason, even though I was likely the youngest guy there at that point.

With all the things that happened the night before, I asked, “So what was the difference in this one?”

Molleken must have though the query was a smart assed one and responded, “Moose Jaw scored more goals. Next question.”

I followed by starting to ask if the result revolved around work ethic.

Molleken knew what I was getting at, and before I could finish the query, he said the work ethic was fine and went off to giving a good answer, which he always typically did.

He said that night’s game was a good hockey game, gave a break down on what both teams did and said the contest came down to Warriors netminder Sean Connors having a really good night.

A scramble of action around Warriors goalie Sean Connors.

Molleken proceeded to answer questions you may have already had in your head, which was something he regularly did.

After interviewing Pats players Brett Lysak and Matt Hubbauer, it was off to the Warriors side to talk up head coach Len Nielsen and Limpright.

It might sound strange now, but I needed to have the story finished by late Sunday afternoon, so I departed for the 45-minute highway trip back to Regina after the game.

As I left “The Crushed Can,” the fans that remained were in a friendly and jovial mood.

During the drive home, I kept thinking that was the craziest sports facility I had ever been to at that point in time of my life. I would return to “The Crush Can” for many more WHL contests over the years, and the atmosphere was still crazy, even when the Pats weren’t the opponent.

It did get cranked up a notch, when the Pats were in town.

From that point onward, I often told people that if they really wanted to experience the WHL they had to attend a game at “The Crushed Can” in Moose Jaw.

The Moose Jaw Civic Centre in 2011.

Anyone that didn’t get to see the Warriors play in that building before it was closed in September of 2011 missed out. After being replaced by state of the art Mosaic Place, “The Crushed Can” was demolished from August to November of 2012.

Still any time I drive by the strip mall buildings that exist where “The Crushed Can” was, I can still picture it and all the loyal Warriors fans inside going bonkers.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Better to be asterisks champ than no champ at Memorial Cup

Old Regina Pats collectables from the 2000-01 campaign.

    Being the asterisks champ is fine and dandy, if you are the host team at the Memorial Cup.

    On Sunday, the Memorial Cup tournament host Regina Pats will try to capture junior hockey’s most prestigious trophy for the fourth time, when they face the QMJHL champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan at 5 p.m. at the Brandt Centre. The Pats last claimed the Memorial Cup back in 1974 downing the Quebec Remparts 7-4 in the national final held in Calgary Alta.

    Of course, there are a lot of sports purists that will be big time upset, if the Pats win the CHL title after bowing out in the first round of the WHL playoffs.

The Pats celebrate a goal by Nick Henry on Wednesday.

    The Pats did finish seventh overall in the WHL regular season standings with a 40-25-6-1 record and were bounced in a tough seven game series to the Swift Current Broncos, who were second overall in the WHL regular season at 48-17-5-2.

    The Broncos would move on to win the WHL title and go 0-3 in the round robin portion of the Memorial Cup dropping each of their contests by a one-goal margin.

    Regina was idle for 45 days before taking part in the Memorial Cup. It appears the coaches and players used that time constructively, as the Pats seem to be fresher and physically stronger than the three league champions at the event.

    The Pats story this season eerily mirrors the story of the Pats from the 2000-01 campaign, when the franchise last hosted the Memorial Cup. In both campaigns, the Pats were hovering around .500 at the WHL Christmas break, they made a number of trades after the Christmas break leading to the WHL’s trade deadline to strengthen the club, had a strong second half of the regular season, bowed out in the first round of the WHL playoffs and had a strong showing at the Memorial Cup.

Pats captain Barret Jackman in action in 2000.

    In the 2000-01 campaign, the Pats finished fourth overall in the WHL with 40 wins, 27 losses, three ties and two overtime losses. They fell to the Calgary Hitmen in six games in the first round of the WHL playoffs and sat idle for 47 days before taking part in the Memorial Cup.

    The Pats fell in their first two round robin games before downing the WHL champion Red Deer Rebels 5-2 in their final round robin game and eliminating the OHL champion Ottawa 67’s in a standings tiebreaker game 5-0.

    At that time, I lived in Regina and spent a lot of social time around the Pats. During the break, the players’ consensus was they didn’t care about arguments about not deserving to be there or getting in by the backdoor.

    They were working hard over those 47 days off, so you might as well go out and win the thing and proved you belong in that event. For a club that did bow out in the first round of the WHL post-season, the players on the Pats that season were incredibly tight. 

    They were backed by the support of a bigger group of friends they made that campaign through the University of Regina’s athletic teams.

Members of the Pats, the U of R Rams football team and the U of R Cougars teams were frequently out together in the same social circles.

Filip Novak in action for the Pats in 2000 at the Moose Jaw Civic Centre.

    The Pats bonds were really evident during a heartbreaking 5-4 overtime semifinal loss to the Val-d’Or Foreurs on May 26, 2001. With the game tied 3-3, Pats captain Barret Jackman scored on a beauty set up from behind the Val-d’Or net by power forward Garth Murray to give Regina a 4-3 lead.

    The Foreurs forced overtime inside of the final minute when a point shot by star forward Simon Gamache deflected off the stick of Pats left-winger Kevin Korol past netminder Chad Davidson into the Regina goal to create a 4-4 tie. That set the Foreurs up to win the contest in overtime, when a centring pass from Val-d’Or defenceman Chris Lyness from behind the Pats net hit Davidson’s stick deflecting into the goal.

Garth Murray warms up for the Pats in 2000.

    The setback was a gut punch for the Pats, who came so terribly close to making the CHL’s championship game.

    A day later, the Foreurs fell in the Memorial Cup final 6-5 to the Rebels in overtime with defenceman Doug Lynch scoring the winning goal.

    Unlike the Pats squad of 2000-01, the current Pats entered the 2017-18 campaign on the heels of reaching the WHL Championship series last season for the first time in 33 years. Regina fell in the 2017 battle for the WHL title in six games to the Seattle Thunderbirds.

    Star centre Sam Steel, centre Jake Leschyshyn, left-winger Nick Henry, left-winger Robbie Holmes and defencemen Josh Mahura and Liam Schioler are the holdovers from that team.

    If the Pats beat the Titan on Sunday, they won’t go down as one of the greatest clubs in the history of junior hockey that is revered like the 2004-05 London Knights, the 1994-95 Kamloops Blazers or the 1970-71 Quebec Remparts.

Captain Sam Steel will look to have another big game for the Pats on Friday.

    This year’s Pats won’t be held in the same esteem as their 1973-74 club that won the Memorial Cup by capturing a league championship along the way.
    Had the Pats found a way last year to win the WHL title series against the Thunderbirds and capture the Memorial Cup, they would be in that discussion amongst the greatest junior teams having a dream season topping the WHL regular season standings with a 52-12-7-1 record.

    The current Pats still have a huge opportunity to get their hands on junior hockey’s most prestigious trophy with one more win.
   The game will attract a large number of casual fans who will be engaged in the game and not care how the Pats got to that point. They will be consumed by the game in the present.

The Pats hope to celebrate a Memorial Cup title win on Sunday.

    If the Memorial Cup on Sunday means being viewed as backdoor champions, the Pats have enough good players and character to ensure they will do everything they can to make that happen.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Pats season triggers great memories of the past

The Pats celebrate a Josh Mahura goal from Sunday.

    When I first walked into the Brandt Centre this season, it was reassuring to see a lot of good things stayed the same.

    The Regina Pats were the first WHL team I ever covered, but those days often seem like they were from another life. I covered the Pats for a website run by the University of Regina’s School of Journalism and Communications in the last half of the 1999-2000 season and for a short-lived sports reporting website during the first half of the 2000-01 campaign called SportsRegina.com.

    I was close to the same age as the players, and we ran in many of the same social circles. A couple of them lived two blocks south of my house. I had many good memories from that time.

    Back then, the Pats were owned by Russ and Diane Parker. In April of 2014, the Parkers sold the Pats to the Queen City Sports and Entertainment Group, which is headed by Anthony Marquart, who is the president of the Regina-based Royalty Developments.

The Pats celebrate a Joey Bastien goal in March of 2000.

    While I was in my 18^th season covering the WHL, I didn’t have a whole lot of dealings with any of the current Pats personnel outside of athletic therapist Greg Mayer and star offensive-defenceman Connor Hobbs.

    Having been a beat writer that covered the Medicine Hat Tigers for the Medicine Hat News for 10 seasons from 2004 to 2014, it had been over 13 years since I was last at the Brandt Centre in a capacity that was unattached to the Tigers.

    I was unsure at first what it would be like to walk back into the Brandt Centre. I was preparing myself to encounter a different experience than the one I remember long ago from when I covered the Pats.

    Last December, I had to venture to Regina a couple of times to nail down some items for a couple of freelance stories on two Saskatoon products for the Saskatoon Express. 

Overage captain Adam Brooks became a Pats icon.

    The trips allowed me the time to do some initial stories on the team for this blog, where I make a habit of traveling to different WHL centres to do stories on various teams.

    The Pats would finish first overall in the WHL with a 52-12-7-1 record and were ranked first in the final Canadian Hockey League rankings released on March 22. They were often rated first in the CHL top 10 rankings throughout the 2016-17 campaign, so the fact they were doing well made them an intriguing story.

    Entering the Brandt Centre on Dec. 3, 2016 for a home clash with the visiting Prince Albert Raiders, the attendant at the sign in desk was as friendly as can be. That provided the first good flashback to the past.

    Back when I covered the Pats in that long ago time, I remember the Brandt Centre staff making that facility, which was then known as the Agridome, one of the most friendly on the WHL circuit. That featured hadn’t changed, even though most of the staff obviously turned over. I was presently surprised to see a few old faces from back in the day.

Barret Jackman led the Pats with grit from 1999 to 2001.

    The seats and the scoreboard received an obvious facelift. When I went downstairs to the media and scouts lounge, it felt like a time warp. The downstairs of the facility looked pretty much the same from when I used to cover the team.

    When I was in the media and scouts lounge doing preparation work, Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock entered, went around shaking everyone’s hands and had short visits with each person. Paddock does this on a regular basis during the regular season, and I thought that was a pretty cool and classy touch.

    I jumped up with surprise and glee when I ventured out of the media and scouts lounge to see that 81-year-old Rollie Bourassa was still dressing up as the Pats dog mascot K9. He has been doing that since 1978. I didn’t realize he was still around.

    I think my freak out line was, “Oh my God! You’re still here!”

    I also had a chuckle when I shot pictures at that contest against the Raiders. My eyes often drifted to various points in the Brandt Centre where really good-looking girls used to sit game after game in the old days. Of course, they were no longer in those spots, but memories for a second drifted off to other good social times from the past.

Connor Hobbs works the point for the Pats.

    The Pats hammered the Raiders that night 12-2 before 5,749 spectators. When I looked at the stands, I couldn’t really find many empty seats.

    Seeing how packed the stands were, my mind drifted back to the days of when I used to cover the Pats. The players from that time like Barret Jackman, Garth Murray, Ryan Thomas and Matt Hubbauer got extra pumped to put on a show, if they saw that the stands were full like that.

    During post-game interviews, Paddock and his players were so easy to deal with, and that provided another flashback to the past. With the Pats doing so well, I figured I would be back to cover other games and potentially a decent playoff run as the season progressed.
    It was nice to see my mind was drifting back to a past life rediscovering a high comfort level and a professional joy I had covering that team.

    Having been a Regina resident, I realized the importance the Pats played in that city and knew the long history they had as the world’s oldest major junior team dating back to 1917. I also knew that the Pats best playoff runs were back in a distant past.

    Still, the Brandt Centre always contained at least 4,000 hard core fans no matter what happened with the team, and the Pats had a deeply embedded culture in the Queen City. They were an institution there, and I often wondered what it would be like to see the team on a long playoff run.

Garth Murray warms up for the Pats in 2000.

    When I saw Pats live for the first time this season in the romp over the Raiders, I remember telling former Pats head scout Todd Ripplinger that this was the best Pats team I had ever seen.

    As the season progressed, I made more trips to Regina to do stories about the club, and I saw the Pats frequently on the WHL playoff trail be it at the Brandt Centre or at rinks in other WHL cities. I began to get to know some of the players’ parents by face, who I didn’t know before.

    Friends in Saskatoon, where I am based, would tease me I was just heading down to watch Hobbs, who is from Saskatoon, and Sam Steel, who is the Pats superstar centre who has no ego. I replied you can throw in the team’s charismatic overage captain Adam Brooks too, who became one of the club’s icons spending a spectacular five complete seasons with the team.

    Besides that trio, forwards Jake Leschyshyn, standout rookie Nick Henry, speedy Austin Wagner, overager Dawson Leedahl, import Filip Ahl, Robbie Holmes and Braydon Buziak were fun to watch. Overager Chase Harrison, Josh Mahura and import Sergey Zborovskiy helped cement an impressive defensive unit.
    Gutsy goalie Tyler Brown slammed the door in net stealing the odd game when called upon and allowed the Pats to stay in other contests in order to manufacture an exciting comeback.

The Pats pour off their bench after their Game 7 victory over the Broncos.

    The Pats this season were as fun to watch as the skilled Tigers teams I used to cover in Medicine Hat.

    In the playoffs, one of the biggest memories came when the final seconds ticked off the clock when the Pats downed the Swift Current Broncos 5-1 in Game 7 of a second round series erasing a 3-1 series deficit for the first time in team history. The sellout crowd of 6,484 fans at the Brandt Centre were rocking as they never rocked before knowing the Pats were going to the WHL Eastern Conference Championship series for the first time since 1993.

    Shooting pictures of the team coming off the bench for the victory celebration, I saw shots that were similar to those of the 1980s Edmonton Oilers celebrating Stanley Cup title wins. A rink staffer told me to get out on the ice and take pictures of everything.

The Pats Regiment celebrates one of the team’s goals on Sunday.

    From the ice, I remember looking up at the crowd and thinking, “Holy (explanative)!”

    I wished the Pats teams I used to cover back in the day could have experienced a moment like that.

    The Pats would down the Lethbridge Hurricanes 4-2 in the best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference Championship series to make the WHL Championship series for the first time since 1984. 

    Regina fell in the best-of-seven WHL title series to the Seattle Thunderbirds in six ultra-competitive games. The Thunderbirds captured the Ed Chynoweth Cup for the first time in their history.

Sam Steel is the Pats humble superstar.

    Between the regular season and playoffs, the Pats sold out a record 26 contests, which was something that was beyond the imagination of most.

    I went out after covering games a couple of times socially and had a chuckle watching people in Regina celebrate Pats playoff wins like Saskatchewan Roughriders wins in the CFL playoffs.

    There was part of me that never thought I would see the Pats play in a WHL Championship series, and it was special to see that happen to create a link to the team’s success of a distant past. 

The Pats give a final salute to the Brandt Centre crowd on Sunday.

    While Pats fans endured heartbreak when the club couldn’t hold on to a late 3-1 third period lead in Game 6 of the WHL title series with the Thunderbirds at the Brandt Centre on Sunday, they could be proud the Pats went down fighting in the 4-3 overtime loss.

    For myself, I never thought I would enjoy covering games involving the Pats as much as I did this past season or it would bring back as many old memories as it did. 

    In between and including the work, I was glad I could make some more good memories and enjoy some more good times involving Regina’s historic major junior team.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

Pats/Warriors rivalry evolves

Punch ups of the past replaced by speed and skill

Altercations like these are no longer frequent at Pats vs. Warriors games.

    REGINA – Welcome to the new era feud between the Regina Pats and Moose Jaw Warriors, and if you are an ardent fan from the past, you might not recognize it.

    Separated by about a 71-kilometre stretch on the Trans-Canada Highway, the Pats and Warriors have engaged in arguably the greatest rivalry in the Canadian Hockey League dating back to 1984, when the Warriors moved from Winnipeg to the friendly small Saskatchewan city of Moose Jaw.

    For a majority of the history of this rivalry, the clashes between the Pats and Warriors were punctuated by three-hour games that includes multiple fights and line brawls. Fans on both sides got into various over-the-line antics in the stands to create wild atmospheres any time these two clubs met.

    Over the past 10 years, the image of the rivalry has changed much like hockey has changed thanks to a sharp decrease in fighting. On Saturday in Regina, these two arch-rivals met in a sold out Brandt Centre skating in as two of the elite teams in major junior hockey. The contest was played at a fast pace that featured momentum changes, skill, great goaltending and a total of six minor penalties.

Jake Leschyshyn (#19) and Noah Gregor (#22) battle for a draw.

    The Warriors skated away with a 4-1 victory that included an empty net goal thanks to a spectacular 39 save performance by star netminder Zach Sawchenko. Pats goalie Tyler Brown was stellar too turning away 34 of 37 shots he faced.

    The closest thing to an altercation came just over four minutes into the third period, when Pats star captain Adam Brooks had a lengthy wrestling match with Warriors defenceman Josh Brook. Each received a minor penalty for roughing.

    At the end of the game, there was a minor scrum in the left corner of the Moose Jaw zone. In the old days with a three-goal difference on the scoreboard, a line brawl would have definitely broken out.

Warriors goalie Zach Sawchenko stops Pats captain Adam Brooks (#77).

    When the scrum neared Sawchenko, he kind of glided away from it in a whatever type fashion. In a different time, another goalie in that same instance might have taken liberty to throw a few shots.

    The officials calmly separated the scrum and no penalties were called.  

    The gathering of 6,484 spectators, which did include a healthy contingent from Moose Jaw, seemed pretty engaged with the action. There no punch ups or incidents in the stands, and it seemed like the spectators preferred to engage more in firing off some good-natured jabs at each other.

    No mascots had to be healthy scratched like in the final game of the 1999-2000 campaign in Regina. In that clash, the Pats gave dog mascot, K9, and polar bear mascot, Pat, the night off due to fears of retaliation because some Pats fans punched Warriors mascot, Puckhead, in the head the night before in Moose Jaw.

Warriors fans cheer their team on in the Brandt Centre.

    On Saturday, the fans were still cheering hard for their teams, and that was one fact that didn’t change. When the Warriors carried play during the first 10 minutes of the first period and through the second stanza, their fans tried to make the Brandt Centre sound like the rowdy old Moose Jaw Civic Centre, which was best known as “The Crushed Can.” The Civic Centre has been demolished and replaced by the comfortable and modern confines of Mosaic Place in recent times.

    When the Pats carried play during the final 10 minutes of the first period and through the third frame, their fans got into the contest to back their side. One had to also chuckle from the fact the Pats fans made the loudest “boos” of the night, when it was announced in the third period a patron from Moose Jaw won the night’s 50/50 draw.

Pats centre Jake Leschyshyn (#19) wins a battle along the boards.

    During the post-game interviews with each side, it felt like a professionalism was there. Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock, Pats defenceman Connor Hobbs and Warriors head coach Tim Hunter went through the ins and outs of various aspects of the game. There was a focus from each side about what improvements had to be made going forward.

    While the thoughts of the rivalry were there, the Warriors, who improved to 25-9-6-1, weren’t that much over excited about the win, and the Pats, who fell to 27-4-6-1, weren’t noticeably more disappointed than normal about the loss.

Tyler Brown holds the fort in the Pats goal.

    Back in what seems like a forgotten era now, each side would be accusing the other of doing something underhanded during the game. Also, the victor would celebrate like the Memorial Cup was won, and at times, some members of the losing side would fire their helmets down the hallway in disgust followed by an assortment of curse words.

    Sawchenko, who has played his whole career in Moose Jaw, did give a nod to the rivalry.

    “Obviously, it is the best rivalry in the CHL,” said the 19-year-old puck stopper. “Being a part of it for four years now I truly believe that.

    “It is something pretty special. It is obviously not too hard to get up for a game against Regina. It is something pretty cool to hear our fan buses quiet the whole building tonight.”

Warriors captain Brett Howden looks to get past Pats centre Sam Steel.

    In the past, each side cheered against a villain from the other side. Warriors fans despised former Pats captain Barret Jackman, and Pats fans wished former Warriors captain Sean O’Connor would just disappear.

    And who could forget in the late 1980s when the song “Pop Goes the Weasel” played in Regina when Theo Fleury took the ice for the Warriors.

    The modern version of the rivalry is still intense. The hatred definitely isn’t there like it once was.

    Now, you get two top quality teams going at it putting on a great display of the game, and you have two fan bases that are just the right amount into the game. You add it all up, and it is still an enjoyable night out at the rink.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

A faded rivalry

Regina vs. Saskatoon clashes lack lustre of days gone by

The Rams and Huskies battle in the 2002 Canada West final.

            The fake kneel down play once symbolized all the animosity between Regina and Saskatoon.

            In the 1995 Prairie Football Conference final, the Regina Rams, who were still members of the Canadian Junior Football League, had a 19-8 victory sealed over the Saskatoon Hilltops. All the Rams offence had to do was kneel down on the last play to officially end the contest.

            Instead, Rams quarterback Darryl Leason started to go down on to one knee only to stand up quickly and throw a touchdown pass to a wide open Josh Shaw. The play was nullified by a penalty but tensions ran high over that play years later.

            Fans in Saskatoon deplored the attempt to run up the score in a decided contest. Those folks in Regina had no class.

            Fans in Regina loved the display as an attempt to stick it to what were viewed as the arrogant high on the horse citizens of Toontown. When you played road games in the Bridge City, you knew those people always tried to stack the odds in favour of their teams.

Heck, in one point in time it was joked a touch football game in Davidson between the staffs of the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix newspapers would break down into a brawl.

            The days of when the rivalry was that fiercely intense between Regina and Saskatoon are long faded away like the era when the horse and buggy was a common site on the street. The two biggest cities in Saskatchewan are no longer two city states that see their wars played out in an athletic arena.

            Part of the reason the rivalry has faded is because of the changing nature of the times. With the explosion of social media, especially Twitter, word and criticism spreads quickly when someone does something wrong. Often some small mistake because a much bigger deal than it really is.

            As a result, players, coaches and personnel on teams try not to say anything at all to stoke fires. The aim is act as respectively as possible in public.

            Currently in the CJFL, the Hilltops and the Regina Thunder have the classic modern day mutual respect rivalry. Over the past couple of seasons, they have staged a number of classic contests, and both sides talk about each other in very high praise terms.

            When the Rams left the CJFL for their first season in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport ranks in 1999, a new on field rivalry was born with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

Darryl Leason gets steps up to throw for the Rams in 2001.

            The peak of that rivalry came during playoff encounters in 2001 and 2002 at Taylor Field. The Rams came away with 58-31 victory in a Canada West semifinal match in 2001, where Leason completed 20 passes for 418 yards and five touchdowns. Victory was made even sweeter for the Regina side when the “dirty” Huskies couldn’t put Leason out of the game by taking “cheap shots” at his injured knee.

            A year later, the Huskies claimed what to date is the only Canada West final encounter between the two teams storming out to a 28-0 lead and closing out a 44-28 victory. The game’s turning point came with the Huskies leading 28-14 and the Rams getting set to cut the gap to seven before halftime rolled around.

            Huskies cornerback Ryan Barnstable picked off Rams quarterback Mark Anderson and ran the ball back 92 yards for a U of S touchdown. No “cheap shots” were needed this day to ensure a convincing victory over a team that had “more bark than bite.”

            At that time, fans on both sides thought the two clubs would face each other in the Canada West final on a regular basis. That rivalry has faded with the University of Calgary Dinos rising to be the dominant power in Canada West having won the last six straight conference titles.

            When the Huskies beat the Rams 21-16 at Mosaic Stadium in the only regular season encounter between the two teams this season, it didn’t feel like a rivalry game. The Huskies played harder in their previous game falling 38-24 at home to the Dinos.

            On the pond, the WHL rivalry between the Regina Pats and Saskatoon Blades has been dormant for a lengthy time. Both have closer geographical rivals which their fans get heated for.

A fight from a game between the Blades and Pats in 2000.

The Pats have had the Trans-Canada Clash with the Moose Jaw Warriors, which is often viewed as the greatest rivalry in the major junior ranks. The Blades most heated battles are with the Prince Albert Raiders.

The last memorable encounters between the Pats and Blades occurred in the first round of the 2000 WHL playoffs, which saw the Blades claim a heated seven-game series that contained piles of penalty minutes. Blades enforcer Darcy Hordichuk was the most hated guy in Regina at that time, while Pats captain Barret Jackman was a favourite target for the heckles of Saskatoon fans.

On campus outside of the action on the football field, matches between the Huskies and the University of Regina Cougars teams have traditionally been touch and go on the rivalry front. Part of that reality comes from the fact most of those schools teams played for a long time without an interlocking regular season schedule until the 1999-2000 campaign.

Also, many players on both sides have usually been past teammates on various provincial teams. That also seems to lessen tensions.

Men’s hockey once had a big rivalry. With former major junior players dominating rosters on most CIS teams for over a decade, the men’s game is more of a skilled game. There are still big hits, but “the chip on the shoulder” mentality seems to be left more in the junior ranks.

One place were animosity did rise up was in the Canada West women’s hockey championship series last season. The best-of-three series went more than the distance with the Huskies and Cougars battling through 17 periods and 296 minutes of hockey due to the fact every contest went to overtime.

Game 3 on March 2 was particularly heated. There were a couple of scrums, a lot players jawing with each other after whistles and the play was pretty physical. At one point in the second period, Huskies captain Cami Wooster, who stands 5-foot-3, ducked out of an attempted head hit from a Cougars player behind the Regina net.

If Wooster had been eliminated at that point in the game due to a concussion or other injury, it is highly likely the Huskies would have lost that contest. She had her team’s goal in regulation coming in the third period and drew the assist on Kaitlin Willoughby’s double overtime winner in the 2-1 victory at the ancient Rutherford Rink.

            Time will tell if those tensions are isolated moments of that series.

            For now, Regina and Saskatoon are city states that co-exist peacefully. The rivalry appears limited to old athletes and coaches that like to tell stories about long ago.

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