The Regina Pat Canadians are looking to become the fourth team to win back-to-back gold medals at the Telus Cup.
The Saskatchewan U18 AAA Hockey League champions are back in the Canadian championship in Peterborough, Ont. as the defending champions. Their win in last year’s tournament was the fifth championship for the team, tying them with the Notre Dame Hounds and Séminaire Saint-François Blizzard for the most titles.
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“I thought we did an unbelievable job last year staying resilient. That’s one of the things our older guys can lean on the younger guys to do – stay connected, stay resilient, and good things will happen,” said Maddox Schultz, who was taken first overall in the WHL Draft by the Regina Pats.
Schultz was named the tournament’s MVP for his performance last season.
“Individual awards are great, but we’re going there for one thing, and that’s to win. I’m really looking forward to it,” Schultz said.
Pat Canadians head coach Ryan Hodgins said that’s just the type of player that Schultz is.
“Maddox comes to play every night. He doesn’t need to do anything more, he doesn’t need to do anything less. He just needs to be Maddox and go play and just be Maddox,” Hodgins said.
The only teams to win back-to-back Telus Cup championships are the Red Deer Chiefs (2012-13), the Notre Dame Hounds (2009-10) and the Prince Albert Mintos (2006-07).
Regina seems to have improved after winning the championship last year, as this year’s squad scored more goals (233 to 258) and allowed fewer (128 to 118) during league play. They also did it without Schultz and Liam Pue, the third overall pick in the WHL Draft by the Pats, for most of the season, as they played a number of games with the Regina Pats. Schultz recorded 60 points (30 goals, 30 assists) in 21 games, while Pue added 16 goals and 48 points.
Captain Cooper Bratton knows what is needed to win at the tournament, as he’s another returning member from last year’s team.
“It takes a lot of determination. Some guys on this team have been in this spot before. It’s a grind. It could be seven games in seven days, so we just have to come prepared,” Bratton said.
Hodgins said with the Telus Cup, the players have to make sure they’re ready to go for every game.
“In a series, if you have a bad game, you have a chance to respond in a best-of-five. In these tournaments, it’s not always the case. If you drop a game, that could be the difference in moving on or not,” Hodgins said. “You have zero leeway to drop a game. You have to be ready to go.”
Regina got back to the tournament after defeating their rivals, the Moose Jaw Winmar Warriors, 5-1 in the Western Regionals final, which took place in Regina at the Co-operators Centre.
“We’re ready to go. It’s very exciting. It has been a lot of practices and the guys are ready. We’re ready to hit the road and get going,” Hodgins said.
Regina will open their tournament against the hosting Peterborough Petes on Monday. Puck drop is set for 5 p.m. local time.
The rest of the schedule can be found on the Hockey Canada website.
