In week six of the Pats history series: we have a trade. Lots of goals. A Pats’ scoring record will soon be broken. The end a brutal streak. A six-goal game by a defenseman. A war of words, and much more.
This week we cover January 25 to 31.
January 25
Pats Poster
1974: With leading scorer Dennis Sobchuk out with a hip pointer, it became a team effort for the Pats. Seven different Pats scored as they beat the visiting Saskatoon Blades 7-3 before 2,034 fans at the Stadium. Mike Wanchuk, Rick Uhrich, Rob Laird, and Glen Burdon scored in the first for the Pats. Bernie Federko replied for the Blades as the Pats took a 4-1 lead into the first intermission.
There was no scoring in the second period until late in the frame. The Blades pulled to within one goal late in the period. Ron Valade and Neil Hawryliw capitalized on two Blade powerplays with less than two minutes left in the period. The Pats held a 4-3 lead heading into the third.
It remained a one-goal lead for the Pats until Clark Gillies notched a marker at 12:45. Defensemen Kim MacDougall scored at 15:36 to give the Pats a 6-3 lead. Fellow defenseman Greg Joly scored a goal 22 seconds later giving the Pats a 7-3, lead sealing the deal for Regina. Jim Minor assisted on all three third period goals.
The final shots were 44-28 for the Pats. Eddie Staniowski made 25 saves to pick up the win for the Pats. Randy Ireland made 37 saves in net for the Blades.
January 26
1977-78 Regina Pats Program
1977: Gerry Minor’s goal at 14:59 of the third period gave the Pats a 3-2 win over the Portland Winter Hawks. The win ended the Pats’ Western Hockey League record 36-game winless streak. The last time the Pats recorded a win was more than three months earlier. The streak dated back to October 23, which was 96 days ago. It was the Pats and Winter Hawks’ fourth meeting of the season. In the three previous contests, Portland outscored Regina 29-5.
Doyle Wankel and Glen Rolfe scored the other markers for the now 3-34-8 Pats. Wayne Babych had both goals for the Winter Hawks. Tim Thomlinson made 32 saves for Portland, while Pat Ansell made 34 saves for the Pats.
“Maybe it was my new skates.” – Pat Ansell joked after the win
It was Lorne Davis’ first win since taking over as general manager and head coach. When the game ended many of the 1,480 fans at Exhibition Stadium gave the Pats a standing ovation.
January 27
1961: The Pats picked up win number 22 in 24 starts at home as they destroyed the Saskatoon Quakers 10-1.
Grabbing a 2-0 lead midway through the first period, the Pats then outscored the Quakers 5-1 in the second. The Pats then scored three more in the third period to finish off the 10-1 victory.
Garry Peters, Norm Beaudin, Wilf Martin, and Alex Hood each triggered a pair of goals for the Pats. Gary Butler and captain George Knipelberg each added one in the win. Peters, Beaudin, and Arvid Knutson all added a pair of helpers for the Pats. Art Koberinski played a strong game in goal, allowing just the single goal in the second frame.
Ex-Pat Ron Bahr scored the lone tally for the Quakers. Gary Waugh played a strong game despite the one-sided score.
January 28
1925: In the final game of the season, the Pats beat the Regina Tigers by an 11-1 score. With the win’ the Pats beat the Tigers all five times by a combined 51-6 score.
The Tigers’ defense held the Pats’ top scorers in check throughout the early stages of the game. Tiger goaltender Jimmy Langford also did his part to keep the game tied at zero through the first.
The Pats stepped it up in the second period and put six goals past the Tigers’ goaltender. Defenseman Johnny Gottselig scored a hat-trick, Frank Ingram scored twice and Sil Acaster chipped in with a single. The Pats held a 6-0 lead heading into the third period.
The third period was not much different as the Pats netted five more goals. The Tigers scored late to break up the shutout. Gottselig scored three more goals to make it a six-goal game for the defenseman. Acaster added another single and Bert Dowie rounded out the scoring for the Pats. Defenseman Jack Cranstoun assisted on four Pats goals. Jack Cunning picked up the win in goal. Harvey Dodge was the lone scorer for the Tigers.
January 29
1984-85 Pats Program
1984: With 2,889 spectators at the Agridome, the Pats rolled to an 11-0 win over the Calgary Wranglers. The Pats started strong and only got stronger as the game progressed. They outshot the Wranglers 15-3 in the first and took a 3-0 lead into the intermission. The Pats struck for six more goals on 20 shots in the second period to take a 9-0 lead. In the third period, the Pats scored two more times for the 11-0 win.
Kurt Wickenheiser scored a hat-trick to lead all Pat goal scorers in the game. Dale Derkatch scored twice and added an assist to move to 414 career points, second all-time to Dennis Sobchuk‘s 416. Taylor Hall, Doug Trapp, Jeff Lawson, Len Nielsen, Brad Lauer, and Jayson Meyer added singles in the win. Hall also added three assists while Trapp and Selmar Odelein picked up two each.
Jamie Reeve made 24 saves for his second shutout of the season. Ross McKay and Chris Churchill combined to make 39 saves in goal for the Wranglers.
January 29
1988: The Pats acquired Scott Daniels from New Westminster Bruins for defenseman Milan Dragicevic.
Coming… Pats coach Doug Sauter said the 18-year-old Daniels is a player that is “in the Mark Janssens mold.” He played 19 games the rest of the way scoring 2 goals and 3 assists while accumulating 83 penalty minutes. He would play played two more seasons for the Pats. The Hartford Whalers called his name 136th overall in the 1989 NHL Draft. In his Pats career, he would collect 51 goals and 60 assists to go with 495 penalty minutes.
Going… “Inconsistency was Milan’s biggest drawback,” said Sauter of the 17-year-old defenseman. Dragicevic a 6-foot-two, two-hundred-pound defenseman never reached his potential with the Pats. He finished the season with four goals and 11 assists in 25 games with New Westminster. In his Pats career, he played 89 games, scoring 11 times, and assisting on 26 for 37 points.
January 30
Regina Pats Coca-Cola Poster
1991: There were two convincing victories at the Agridome on this night. The Pats beat the Moose Jaw Warriors 8-1.
Late in the third period, Frank Kovacs had enough and attacked Derek Kletzel. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Kovacs received an instigator and a fighting major. His opponent, 5-foot-10, 175-pound Kletzel received a major. Warriors Kent Staniforth tried to get involved with Kovacs and received a ten-minute misconduct for his trouble.
Warriors head coach Lorne Molleken didn’t mince words on what he thought of Kovacs: “Regina’s got some good hockey players, like Jamie Heward and Mike Sillinger, but Frank Kovacs showed his true colors tonight – yellow.”
“Kovacs is a chicken(bleep) hockey player.” – Lorne Molleken
Molleken then added, “But Kovacs, if he’d found a crack in the ice, he’d have crawled into it.”
Kovacs was not amused with Molleken’s comments:
“Who does he think he is? Moose Jaw’s got those little runts out there hacking you all game. I got sick of it, so I hit him.” – Frank Kovacs
Back to the game.
Mike Sillinger scored twice in the first period to give the Pats a 2-0 lead. Brad Scott, Louis Dumont, Greg Pankewicz, and Garry Pearce scored in the second for the Pats. Kevin Smyth replied for the Warriors to cut the lead to 6-1 heading into the third. Dumont scored his second of the game and Greg Gatto rounded out the scoring in the third period. Jamie Heward, Kovacs, and Pankewicz added a pair of assists each in the win.
Mike Risdale made 28 saves for the Pats. Jeff Calvert and Jason Fitzsimmons also combined to make 28 saves for the Warriors.
January 31
Regina Pats Coca-Cola Poster
1986: With an 11-2 win over the hometown Lethbridge Broncos, the Pats ended a three-game losing streak. The Pats scored seven powerplay goals in the game.
Terry Lloyd was ejected from the game in the first period by referee Mike Langlois. During a fight with Mark Tinordi, Lloyd took a helmet and hit Tinordi with it. Lloyd received a minor, major, misconduct, game misconduct, and a match penalty for his trouble. The Pats’ penalty-kill held and the Broncos recorded just 4 shots in the entire first frame.
The Pats took 1-0 and 4-0 leads into the intermissions. Seven more goals were added to the visitors’ side of the scoreboard while the hometown Broncos notched two.
Tim Iannone, Al Acton, and Shawn Byram each scored a pair of goals (all on the powerplay). Bryan Wells scored the seventh powerplay marker for the Pats. Brad Lauer, Mark Janssens, Len Nielsen, and Brad Hornung added even-strength goals in the win. Iannone, Wells, and Hornung also collected a pair of assists each.
Dwight Mullins scored both Lethbridge goals on third-period powerplays.
Stacy Nickel made 25 saves in the win for the Pats. Greg Hubert faced 52 shots in net for the Broncos.
Final Thoughts
As we get closer to February and into March, the playoff races will start to get interesting. More records will be broken. Memorial Cup playoffs and Championships are on the horizon.
