Pat C’s setting the bar high
Brad Herauf always believed in playing to win.
He can’t imagine why that would change in his first season as the head coach of the Regina Pat Canadians.
“Every year you try to win the whole thing,” offered Herauf, a former player who helped the Pat Canadians win the 1999 Air Canada Cup (now Telus Cup). “If that happens or not, I’m not too sure, but we’re going to practise and prepare every day like we want to win the Telus Cup.
“That’s not a prediction by any means but that’s our mentality. When people make predictions to finish second or third or fifth or sixth, to me that’s ridiculous. You want to finish first.”
The Pat Canadians — once a flagship franchise in Canadian midget AAA hockey — haven’t come close to winning a national championship since Herauf’s era. The 1999 title was Regina’s fourth, with the others coming in 1983, ’88 and ’94 (with silver medals in ’85 and ’89).
The team’s showing in 2012-13 was its best since 1999, going 25-13-5-1 and advancing to the second round of the playoffs.
Herauf served as an assistant last season under Norm Johnston, who retired. Following Herauf’s promotion, he recruited former head coach John Smith as team manager and ex-NHLer Mike Sillinger as an assistant. Former assistant Gaston Sirois also rejoined the team.
“That’s one part I really attacked this summer was getting a solid group and a good staff,” said Herauf. “I feel really good about the support staff I have around me. Sometimes it’s tough to find quality people in those positions when it’s (volunteer). It all came together.”
The Pat Canadians are hoping for similar results on the ice, beginning with tonight’s season opener in North Battleford against the Stars.
The Pat C’s (3-2-1 in the pre-season) have six returning players, among them goalies Cameron Pateman and Logan Flodell, along with forward Jayden Halbgewachs, a top prospect of the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors.
Halbgewachs (first round, 19th overall) is one of four WHL prospects from the 2012 bantam draft, along with Flodell (third round, Seattle Thunderbirds), defenceman Mike Eskra (fifth round, Vancouver Giants) and Owen Sillinger (10th round, Vancouver). They’re joined by defenceman Ryan Roberts, a 10th-round pick of the Medicine Hat Tigers in 2013 and the lone 15-yearold on the team.
Regina also added forwards Adam Edmands and Cohen Yano, both of whom played in the league last season with the Moose Jaw Generals.
“We have some big-name kids from the draft but for the most part we have a lot of blue-collar hockey players who are going to have a good attitude and play their role,” said Herauf. “People are going to say maybe we don’t have the sexiest team on paper but with Logan and Cameron in net we have some of the best goaltending in the league, if not the best.
“The back end will be good for us … with three veterans and (the addition of) Ryan Roberts and Jake Tesarowski, who was really close (to making the team) last year. (Up front), Jayden Halbgewachs has been known to score goals and he’ll be relied on heavily but we’re going to play a real solid team game and score by committee.”
Herauf said there were some tough choices in putting the team together, especially with a number of 15-year-olds knocking at the door. In the end, he went with an older group, one that he believes gives the Pat Canadians the best chance to succeed.
“I want to ice the best possible team every year,” he added. “I’m not really looking at it as a rebuild. Yeah, we have a lot of new faces but saying that just gives us an excuse to lose hockey games. We have an older team and a lot of guys will be new to AAA but if the right things fall into place we should be right there.”