Rhinehart's first hat-trick fulfils his father's request

Rhett Rhinehart got a real hat-full Thursday with an assist from his dad.

On his birthday, Dwayne Rhinehart passed on a three-candled wish to his son, Rhett.

“It's kind of a funny story,” Rhett Rhinehart explained during a postgame media Zoom conference, sharing it with Global-tv's Ryan Flaherty.

“It's his birthday today and, in the phone call right before the game, he jokingly said to me, `score a hat-trick for me on my birthday.' So it was pretty suiting.”

The Saskatoon Blades defenceman did just that, recording his first career Western Hockey League hat-trick in a 4-1 win over the Regina Pats during East Division hub action at the Brandt Centre in Regina.

So when was the last time that the big D -man notched a hat-trick?

“Um, it might have been, like, peewee, probably. It's been a long time — it's been quite a while,” said Rhinehart. “It was pretty surreal getting a hat-trick.”

It was the fifth straight win for Saskatoon, which remains atop the East Division standings with a 142-2-0 record.

“I was just listening to his story, with his dad having his birthday and him getting a hat-trick — that's pretty cool,” said Blades head coach Mitch Love, himself a former D -man. “That's pretty special.

“We talk about family here all the time and to have a story like that is pretty surreal and it's great to see. Rhett's played some really good hockey for us in the hub. Typically, when you do small things, the little things, in a hockey game, like he has for the last month and a half, you get rewarded for it offensively.”

Kyle Crnkovic added an empty-netter for the Blades, who led 2-0 and 3-1 by periods.

Logan Nijhoff got credit for Regina's goal as the Pats slipped to 6-9-2-1.

The puck actually went off Rhinehart.

“A few of the boys were saying I scored four goals and even one of the refs chimed in on me,” Rhinehart laughed. “That was kind of funny. It was kind of an unfortunate bounce.”