PATS ARE WHERE IT’S AT FOR SUPERFAN SHAW
The Regina Pats are in the basement — in a good way.
Kevin Shaw’s downstairs shrine to his favourite sports team is something to see.
“The Regina Pats have been a part of me,” the 41-year-old collector and statistical maven says. “It’s ingrained.
“I eat, sleep and breathe Pats.” That is evident from the moment you enter his residence.
Game-worn jerseys are everywhere — including the toddler-sized Dale Derkatch sweater that Shaw donned at Pats games in the 1980s.
“I don’t remember it, because I was so young, but I’m told that I wore it 24/7 — all the time,” he says. “I even slept in it. That’s why it looks like it’s totally destroyed. I never took it off.
“I was his biggest fan when I was little. I’m not little anymore.”
Shaw’s mother, Laura, began attending Pats games back in 1974, when the team last won the Memorial Cup.
Pat Shaw, Kevin’s father, has been a regular at the team’s games since 1976.
It was natural, then, that Shaw began watching the Pats at the age of nine months, sitting on his father’s lap at what was then called the Agridome (now Brandt Centre).
In those days, Laura Shaw used to keep track of the scoring and penalties, scribbling notes on the roster page in the Pats’ program.
Kevin was around nine or 10 when he emulated her, demonstrating even at that point that he had an interest in statistics.
The key turning point was his perusal of the Pats’ 1987-88 program, which listed everyone who had played at least 30 games for the WHL team. He flipped through that program a handful of years after it was issued and quickly became intrigued.
“I wanted to know the players who played fewer than 30 games,” says Shaw, who still attends every Pats home game with his parents.
“That’s when it really started. I don’t know if you would call it being a completist, but since then I’ve been trying to find out everything I can about the Pats.”
The obsession extends to Pats memorabilia. Shaw’s collection includes around 30 gameworn jerseys, a variety of sticks (including some from the 1974 Memorial Cup), a wide array of programs (including a Pats yearbook from the 1930-31 season), ticket stubs, books, posters, pennants, cards and artifacts dating back as far as the 1920s.
The showpieces were once in the possession of Sil Acaster, one of the Pats’ first great stars.
Included in Shaw’s collection are Acaster’s pocket watch — a gift from the City of Regina — and a pendant (from the Rotary Club), along with a 1925 Memorial Cup medallion.
“That’s the creme de la creme,” he says. “Instead of a Memorial Cup ring, they got a medallion. That’s probably the most precious thing I own.”
That, along with amazing powers of recollection.
Without consulting any of his statistical resources, Shaw can rattle off names and numbers of Pats players, dating back to the team’s inception in 1917.
His expansive database includes a detailed statistical record of everyone who has played for the franchise, along with a list of transactions (dating back to 1946) and a compilation including the name of everyone who has covered the Pats for the Regina Leader-post.
“I want to know everything there is to know about the Pats — not necessarily know it, but have access to it in case anyone else is interested,” Shaw says.
With that in mind, he is constantly mining the internet — the wonder that is newspapers.com being an especially invaluable resource — and searching for the most trivial information pertaining to the team. He covets any statistically related publication that documents Pats stats, especially from the early years.
“I’m all over the place,” Shaw says with a chuckle. “I go on tangents. If I see a transaction the Pats made in 1962, I’ve got to find out about it.”
The same dedication applies to his pursuit of Pats memorabilia. He estimates that he visits ebay
“four or five times a day” with the objective of expanding his collection, even though there is only room to display no more than one-quarter of it. The rest of his collectibles are stored away.
Even though the shelves are overflowing and the walls are fully decorated with Pats paraphernalia, Shaw’s pursuit of memorabilia is relentless.
“I want a jersey from the ’50s or before,” Shaw says, speaking of a decade in which the Pats made regular appearances in the Memorial Cup.
Shaw also wants to answer a nagging question: What date did the Al Ritchie Memorial Centre open? He has narrowed it down to late 1966 or early 1967.
“All because of an argument my friend was having about what is the oldest rink in the city?” Shaw says.
His expertise extends to
Brandt Centre history. The first event held at the edifice formerly known as the Agridome was a Jehovah’s Witnesses district convention on July 11, 1977.
The building did not open to the public until Aug. 1 of that year, when Paul Anka was the headliner during Buffalo Days. The list of stars also included
Kiss (Aug. 2), the Hurricane Helldrivers (Aug. 3), Bay City
Rollers (Aug. 4), Kenny Rogers and Barbara Mandrell (Aug. 5) and Bob Hope (Aug. 6).
As for the Pats, they debuted at the new venue on Sept. 14, 1977, when the Blue and White intrasquad game was held. (Paul Hogan, who helped the Blues win 10-7, opened the scoring at the 43-second mark.)
The torrent of trivial tidbits includes ...
The Regina Patettes, a female team, played only one game during the 1930-31 season. They played two 10-minute periods against a Woolworth’s team before a Pats game.
“I literally found it by accident one day,” Shaw says. “I thought, ‘Who are the Patettes?’”
Future NHLER Butch Goring, a pickup from the MJHL’S Dauphin Kings, played two games with the Pats during the 1969 Memorial Cup.
“I want to know what number he wore,” Shaw says.
Recently traded goaltender Max Paddock, now with the Prince Albert Raiders, played in only five post-season games with the Pats.
“All of them were in the 2018 Memorial Cup,” Shaw says of Paddock, who was named the all-star goaltender at the Regina-based event.
“There were a lot of years in which the Pats played only two games,” Shaw says, rewinding to the 1920s. “They played the Regina Boat Club one year.” The Boat Club’s defence sprang a leak, as the Pats won 9-2 and 16-1 in 1923. (Alas, not one of the Boat Club’s players was named Bobby Oar.)
For a capper, Shaw notes that Daylan Weigel became the 1,217th skater in Pats history when he suited up Wednesday against the host Saskatoon Blades. The statistical ledger also includes 161 goaltenders.
“Or hockeyists,” Shaw says. “Players were called hockeyists for the longest time in the ’30s and ’40s.”
Only a true Pats hobbyist would know.