Pats celebrate centennial of Memorial Cup and club
The Regina Pats are truly throwing the party of the century.
As previously reported by the Leader-Post, details were unveiled Friday about an ambitious centennial celebration that will launch a 100-day countdown to the 2018 Memorial Cup.
The Pats — in the midst of their 100th season — will play host to the 100th Memorial Cup tournament from May 18 to 27 at the Brandt Centre.
In honour of the dual anniversaries, Canada’s oldest major-junior club will host a Family Day longweekend extravaganza Feb. 16-19. The Centennial Salute Homecoming features two outdoor games at Mosaic Stadium: A WHL-NHL alumni contest on Feb. 17, followed the next day by a WHL game between the Pats and Moose Jaw Warriors.
The four-day event commences with a charity fundraiser and continues with a weekend-long outdoor winter festival at Mosaic Stadium — held in collaboration with the Waskimo Festival on Wascana Lake.
“As an organization we have been very busy planning this season as we march towards our goal of winning a Memorial Cup right here in our hometown of Regina,” said Memorial Cup chairman Shaun Semple, a co-owner of the Pats.
“We’ve also been planning a celebration to commemorate the occasion — a magnificent centennial celebration of a scale that this city and the province has never seen before and one that really will never be forgotten. Our plan is to take Saskatchewan’s 2018 Family Day weekend to a whole new level.”
It starts with a celebrity dinner that will serve as the official launch of the Pats’ new charitable foundation. Funds raised through the gala will be donated to local causes.
“We want to give back to the community and we view this as the vehicle to do that,” said Anthony Marquart, president of the Pats’ ownership group — Queen City Sports and Entertainment.
“One of our motivations of buying the team was to make this a community initiative. It’s not just the hockey product on the ice but our ability to raise funds and give back to this great city.”
The complete list of players in the alumni game — featuring Team WHL against Team Saskatchewan — is to be revealed in the coming weeks. It includes Garth Butcher, Brian Propp, Wendel Clark and Scott Niedermayer — the latter being among 14 hall-of-fame participants.
“The Centennial Salute will be the first outdoor gathering of former NHL stars in a non-NHL city,” noted Semple.
“It will be an absolutely unique outdoor hockey spectacle similar to the NHL’s Heritage Classic in Winnipeg and other cities — only better.”
The WHL game between Moose Jaw and Regina could break the CHL attendance record set in 2011 when the Pats and Calgary Hitmen met in front of 20,888 fans at McMahon Stadium.
The outdoor games in Regina represent the largest undertaking so far at the new 33,000-seat Mosaic Stadium, which opened last year. It’s also a major “leap of faith” for the Pats’ owners, who have absorbed all the financial responsibility.
“I won’t get into the exact numbers; all I can tell you is it’s in the millions of dollars,” added Semple. “That’s the part that is pretty unknown. Nothing like this has ever been done so there’s no model for financial success.
“We haven’t asked anybody to support the financial risk. It’s all on the Pats’ owners. It’s definitely risky. I’ve told my partners that we’re going to be able to sell the tickets and we’re going to do our best. I’ve lived here all my life and there’s no better fan base than this to bet on.”
Ticket details are to be announced in the coming weeks.