This week in Regina Pats’ history: Week 3

 

The first week of the Pats history series started off with December 21st and the Pats’ first-ever game. The second week of the series covered the end of the year and continued into the new year.

This week in Regina Pats’ history continues with the week covering January 4 to 10.

We talk about a few interesting tidbits.

A couple of seven-point games, a 100th career goal, a first career hat-trick, and eight goaltender switches are covered.

Here we go.

January 4

Barrie Meissner
1964-65 Regina Pats Program

1966: With just 536 fans at the Stadium, the Pats whipped the Flin Flon Bombers 15-5. Barrie Meissner scored four times and added three assists to lead the scoring parade. Ken Faranski and captain Rich Sentes each added a hat-trick for the Pats. Three defensemen Greg Spencer, Murray Flegel, and Dave Rudolph scored for the Pats. Forwards Ernie Hicke and Andy Black rounded out the scoring for the Pats.

Tim Tabor made 27 saves for the Pats, while Bombers goaltender Chris Worthy made 32 saves on 47 shots. Worthy also picked up two assists in the losing cause. Allan Genovy scored twice while Wayne Kelly, George Forgie, and Bill Fraser scored singles for the Bombers.

“About the only thing that game served as was a big point feast for our players.” – Pats manager Del Wilson

January 5

1948: Maurice Young scored four times and assisted on two others as the Pats beat the Notre Dame Hounds 16-1. Young was playing his first game in over two months after suffering a concussion in the season opener.

“[Young] put on a terrific performance, operating in high gear all night to the delight of 473 paying customers who gave him a great ovation every time he took the puck.” – Fes Fairley, Regina Leader

Big Red Al Staley led all scorers with seven points, he picked up four goals and three assists. Gord Knutson the third part of the top line “was able to blink the red light only once, but garnered four assists.”

The “second” line of Harry Barrett, Freddy Evans, and Wilbert Printz also had a good game. Barrett picked up a hat-trick and a pair of assists. Evans scored twice and added a pair of helpers. Printz scored once and bagged a pair of assists. Doug McDonald finished the scoring.

Al Dornstauder was the only Hound to pick up a goal.

Johnny Craig picked up the win in goal for the Pats while McLay was in goal for all 16 goals against.

January 6

Doug Wickenheiser

1980: Doug Wickenheiser scored five goals on 17 shots as the Pats beat the Billings Bighorns 7-2. Three of Wickenheiser’s goals were scored while the Pats were on the powerplay. Brian Varga and Mike Blaisdell tallied once for the Pats in the win. Forward Ron Flockhart collected four assists and defenseman Darren Veitch added three helpers in the win.

Regina goaltender Bart Hunter made 37 saves and picked up an assist on Wickenheiser’s fifth goal.

With the win, the Pats moved to 24-12-0 on the season. Just one year earlier the Pats were a paltry 8-25-3 at the same point of the season.

Gord Stafford scored both of Billings’ goals. Neal Girard allowed five goals in two periods before being replaced by Andy Moog to start the third. The duo combined to face 51 shots.

January 7

Tim Iannone
Regina Pats Coca-Cola Poster

1986: Tim Iannone scored his 100th career goal as the Pats beat the Raiders 8-2 at the Communiplex. The first-period goal was Iannone’s 40th of the season. Len Nielsen picked up two goals and two assists to lead the Pats attack. Brent Fedyk scored twice on the powerplay for the Pats. Defenseman Selmar Odelein scored once while assisting on two others. Shawn Byram and Mark Janssens connected for a goal apiece to round out the goal scoring. Pats’ captain Al Acton picked up three assists. Special teams were key for the Pats as they scored four powerplay goals and one while shorthanded.

“Their power play was very effective. Ours wasn’t and our penalty-killing didn’t come up big. We just had very little going for us.” – Raiders coach Terry Simpson

Although the Raiders outshot the Pats 37-33, only two Raiders were able to beat Stacy Nickel. Ryan Stewart connected in the first and Tony Grenier struck for one in the second.

January 8

Joe Bouvier
Royal Studios

1997: Smokin’ Joe Bouvier scored his first career hat-trick to help the Pats beat the Edmonton Ice 11-2. His roommate Dmitri Nabokov also connected for a hat-trick before 3,066 at the Agridome.

Bouvier completed his hat-trick with 26.7 seconds left in the third period.

Bouvier, Nabokov, Boyd Kane, and Gerad Adams had four-point games. Kane and Adams each scored once and added three assists. Lars Pettersen scored twice while David Maruca scored once to round out the scoring.

Andy Adams and Aaron Mori combined to make 25 saves in goal for the Pats. Adams left the game in the first period with a thumb injury.

The Pats extended their home-ice unbeaten streak to 17 games going 16-0-1 during those games. At the time, the streak is the longest they had since the Pats moved to the Agridome in 1977.

Jay Henderson and Shaun Norrie replied for the Ice. Bryce Wandler and ex-Pat Tim Winters combined to make 42 saves.

January 9

Dennis Sobchuk

1973: Dennis Sobchuk, Mike Wanchuk, and Clark Gillies led the way in a win over the Swift Current Broncos. The Pats’ top trio combined for 15 points in a 9-3 win. Sobchuk connected for a hat-trick while adding four assists for a seven-point outing. His season total is now at 76 points, good enough for the third spot in the league. He has 35 goals and 41 assists at this point. Wanchuk scored twice (both on the powerplay) and added a pair of helpers. Gillies was goalless but picked up four assists. Rod Loynachan, Greg Joly, Mike Harazny, and Bill Bell rounded out the scoring for the Pats. The Pats outshot the Broncos 45-38 in the contest.

The Broncos, playing without four regulars, counted on David George, Terry McDougall, and Brent Leavins for their offense. Each one picked up a tally, while Leavins added two helpers in addition to his goal.

January 10

1981-82 Pats Player Card

1982: Dave Michayluk and Dale Derkatch each scored a hat-trick and added two assists as the Pats beat Medicine Hat 12-5. 2,289 spectators watched as Pats head coach Bill LaForge had some different tactics for the game. He made eight goaltender switches in the game.

“The encounter featured LaForge’s version of Guess the Goaltender. He started Ken Heppner in net then switched back and forth between Heppner and Jim Campbell, changing roughly every five minutes until late in the second period. Heppner came in at 16:16, after a 29-second breather on the bench, and guarded the net until the game’s end.” – Regina Leader-Post

Heppner played 44 minutes and 20 seconds, he allowed one goal in his stint. Campbell played just 15:40 and allowed 4 goals. Combined, they faced just 21 shots. The Pats fired 55 shots at Tigers’ goaltender Mark Frank.

1981-82 Regina Pats Player Card

Al Tuer picked up 19 penalty minutes giving him 337 for the season. He broke the previous record of 325 set by Erle Switzer.

Wally Schreiber scored twice for the Pats while Ray Plamondon, Taylor Hall, Brent Pascal, and Kurt Wickenheiser scored singles. Wickenheiser scored in his first career WHL game after a callup from the Regina Blues.

Rob Fleming led the Tigers with a pair of goals in the loss. Matt Kabayama, Mike Lay, and Mel Marshall scored singles for the Tigers.

Final Thoughts

This is yet another interesting week in Pats’ history. With the team dating back to 1917, there is still a treasure trove of games and stories to delve into.