Pats announce partnership with minor hockey
Minor hockey is a major priority for the Regina Pats.
Toward that end, the WHL team announced Monday that it has agreed to a long-term partnership with Hockey Regina Inc.
As per the agreement, the Pats will provide financial assistance to Regina’s minor hockey governing body on an annual basis while serving as a platinum sponsor.
“One of the goals at the outset of becoming an owner of the Regina Pats was giving back to the community,” Pats governor Anthony Marquart said Monday. “One of the companies and groups out there that was first and foremost in our minds was Hockey Regina.
“There’s so many wonderful families in the community that have kids play the sport of hockey and the vehicle they do that through is Hockey Regina. We’ve entered into a long-term deal. We’re giving back to the community through hockey. We think it paves the way for a long-term commitment to the kids and the community.”
Marquart’s ownership group, which also includes Todd Lumbard, Gavin Semple, Shaun Semple and Jason Drummond, purchased the Pats from Calgary-based Russ Parker last spring.
Under the Parker regime, the Pats had significant ties to minor hockey, such as tournament sponsorship and long-standing support of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League’s Regina Pat Canadians.
“We certainly have formalized some of the existing terms or prior terms,” Marquart said. “Giving back is an important component of us as an ownership group.
“Nothing had been in writing for some time, although the Pat s had committed to some of the tournaments here in the city. We’ve maintained that, but we’ve gone above and beyond that as well. We wanted to be a significant sponsor for Hockey Regina.”
The arrangement includes a uniform and co division sponsorship at the initiation and novice levels. The Pats’ logo will appear on the shoulders of all initiation-level jerseys and on the front of all novice jerseys, effective with the 201516 season.
The deal also calls for the Pats to remain a co-sponsor of Hockey Regina’s year-end initiation tournament, the title sponsor of the Regina Pats Pee Wee Tier 1 Classic and the tournament sponsor of the Graham Tuer Bantam AA Challenge.
As well, Hockey Regina’s novice and midget tournaments will have their divisions named after Pats alumni.
“I think it’s cool to have various divisions named after Pats alumni,” Marquart said. “Tournaments, as we go forward, will have a whole bunch of different divisions that will be named after Pats alumni and we think that’s great.
“We’ll go back in the Rolodex and we’ll find some great alumni and we’ll make them aware that they’re going to be named in the upcoming tournaments. That’s also important to us in gaining a relationship back with our alumni, so we’re strengthening our relationship with the alumni as well as with Hockey Regina.
“I also think it’s great that the novice-age kids will be playing with Pats logos on their jerseys. That’s a significant number of kids — hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of kids with Pats logos on their jerseys for every game that they play. That’s a great thing for the kids to have.”