PREVIEW: Pats Wrap Up Weekend with Matinee Matchup Against Blades in Saskatoon

The Regina Pats get set for their 29th game of the 2025-26 regular season on Sunday afternoon, visiting the Saskatoon Blades at the SaskTel Centre. Regina enters the matchup looking to halt a seven-game slide, while Saskatoon is trying to right its own ship after dropping four straight following a run of four consecutive wins.

The Pats are coming off a tough 7-4 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings on Friday at the Brandt Centre. Regina built a 3-1 lead early in the second period, scoring twice in the opening four minutes to break a 1-1 tie before Brandon stormed back with five unanswered. Liam Pue (1G-1A) and Reese Hamilton (2A) paced the offence with multi-point efforts, while Ruslan Karimov, Julien Maze and Jace Egland also found the back of the net. Marek Schlenker made 20 saves in the loss. Regina outshot Brandon 40-27, went 3-for-4 on the power play, and finished 2-for-4 on the penalty kill.

Pue continues to heat up, now with four points (2G-2A) over his last four games. The Langley, B.C. product has seven points (3G-4A) in 15 games with the Pats and recorded his first career multi-point outing on Friday.

A major storyline in today’s contest will be special teams. Regina’s power play has been red-hot, striking 17 times over the last 12 games for a 34.0% clip (17-for-50). Overall, the Pats’ man-advantage sits at 26.4% (32-for-121), seventh in the WHL and third among Eastern Conference clubs. Saskatoon counters with a strong power play of its own, ranking eighth in the league at 26.2%.

The Blades are coming off a 4-1 loss to Brandon on Wednesday. Jack Kachkowski scored the lone Saskatoon goal, while the shots finished 33-32 for the Wheat Kings. Saskatoon went 0-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. The defeat also snapped several point streaks: Rowan Calvert (5G-2A in six games), Tyler Parr and Brayden Klimpke (five games each), and Cooper Williams, who still has seven points (4G-3A) over his last six outings.

Saskatoon is looking to build on another above-.500 season from a year ago, when the club finished 37-23-4-4 for 82 points — marking eight straight winning seasons and five straight playoff appearances. They were swept in the first round by Calgary.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Today marks the first of six meetings this season between the Pats and Blades. Last year, Regina went 1-4-1 against Saskatoon, posting an 0-2-1 record at the SaskTel Centre and a 1-2-0 mark at home. Over the Pats’ last 18 regular-season games vs. Saskatoon, Regina is 5-11-1-1. Including playoffs, the teams have played 27 times since the start of the 2022-23 season.

Regina looks to snap its skid, Saskatoon looks to rediscover its winning form — and with both teams hungry for a spark, Sunday’s divisional matchup sets up as a critical early-December showdown.

COMING UP 

The Regina Pats play the third of four games before the Christmas Break as they host the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday, December 13 for their Teddy Bear Toss Night. the Pats will then wrap up their pre-Christmas schedule against the Prince Albert Raiders on Wednesday, December 17 at home.