Pats to meet Hitmen in outdoor WHL game in Regina

Regina hockey fans are set to get a full weekend of outdoor action in October.

On Monday, the WHL’s Regina Pats and Regina Exhibition Association Limited announced an outdoor game is to be played in Regina just one day after Mosaic Stadium plays host to the NHL’s Heritage Classic.

The Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames are to play outdoors in Regina on Oct. 26. The next day, the Pats are to entertain the Calgary Hitmen in the Prairie Classic.

It’s the second time the Pats and Hitmen are to face off in an outdoor WHL game. They also met during the 2010-11 season at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium.

WHL Commissioner Ron Robison said the opportunity to play an outdoor game as part of the NHL’s festivities marks a great opportunity to grow the major-junior league.

“Anytime you get to stage an event of this magnitude in a stadium of this calibre — arguably the best stadium in Canada — it’s a wonderful opportunity for us to promote the league,” he said.

General ticket prices are set at $18.50, around the same price as a regular ticket for a Pats game at the Brandt Centre. Pats chief operating officer Stacey Cattell said maintaining a lower price provides more opportunity for people to attend the game.

“We’re not focused on price here. This is opportunity,” said Cattell, who added that season-ticket holders will see their tickets transferred to the outdoor game without any need for an extra purchase.

Holders can view where their seats are in the stadium and are offered a grace period to change where they want to sit.

Two outdoor games were to be played at Mosaic Stadium in February of 2018, when the Pats were to hold a homecoming weekend as part of their 100th anniversary season. But slow ticket sales resulted in the games — a WHL encounter between the Pats and Moose Jaw Warriors as well as an alumni game — being moved into the Brandt Centre.

This time around, Pats goaltender Max Paddock said the opportunity to play in an outdoor environment like Mosaic Stadium is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“It’s something that I’ve been looking forward to a lot,” Paddock said. “Playing in a top-notch stadium, it’s going to be unreal.”

On the other side of the rink, Hitmen forward and Regina product Carson Focht is relishing the opportunity.

“I’ve always kind of dreamed of playing an outdoor game, and just to have it in my hometown it’s something that’s really special,” said Focht.

Like Paddock, Focht is excited to experience his first outdoor game.

“I don’t know too much,” he said. “I know sometimes you wear face stuff like football players for the sun … I’ve heard it’s just a really cool atmosphere.”

The Pats aren’t sure what to expect in terms of attendance, but certainly they hope to capitalize on tourists coming in for the NHL game.

“We could have 16,000 or we could have 20,000, we don’t know,” said Cattell. “But there’s an excellent opportunity now for everybody to participate in it.”

Tickets for the game are to go on sale on Ticketmaster on Aug. 29, starting at 10 a.m.