From 1917 to 2024: Regina Pats set to play franchise's 5,000th game Friday night
The Regina Pats will play the franchise’s 5,000th regular season game Friday night when they face the Wheat Kings in Brandon.
Commonly called junior hockey’s oldest franchise, the Pats played its first regular season game as a franchise back in December of 1917, a 5-2 win over the Regina Victorias, team historian Kevin Shaw wrote on the Pats’ website.
The team’s actual inception though was Oct. 30, 1917, Shaw wrote.
Known then as the Regina Patricias, the 1917-18 team would lose just one game en route to a provincial championship,” Shaw said.
The following year they would make it all the way to the Memorial Cup final before losing to the University of Toronto Schools.
The Pats first of four Memorial Cup titles came in 1925, their second in 1928, third in 1930 and fourth in 1974.
Their overall regular season record split between the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) which they left in 1966, and Western Hockey League (WHL) is 2524-2071-242-103 along with 59 shootout losses, Shaw says.
The franchise’s leading scorer is current assistant general manager Dale Derkatch, who recorded 222 goals, 269 assists and 491 points. Derkatch is the all time leader in goals assists and points.
Ed Staniowski holds the franchise’s games played record for goaltenders at 206, according to Shaw.
The 2024-25 version of the Pats have started the season 5-11-1-1. After a second consecutive game in Brandon on Saturday night, they’ll return home to host the Tri-City Americans on Nov. 20 before playing eight straight games on the road from Nov. 22 until Dec. 8.
Leading up to the 5,000th regular season, game Shaw took a full look at the teams’ history on their website.
A video compilation of some of the Pats' most notable moments can be viewed using the player at the top of this article.
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