REGINA PATS: Retire Mike Sillinger’s number

Regina, Saskatchewan – The Regina Pats are proud to honour one of the best forwards to have ever dawned a blue, white and red jersey. Mike Sillinger will have his number 16 raised to the rafters of the Brandt Centre during a pregame ceremony on Friday, January 14^th as the Pats host the Edmonton Oil Kings.

“It’s truly an honor to have my jersey hanging up in a place where I have had some of my greatest memories,” says Mike Sillinger. “I was lucky to play my entire junior career here with the Pats and was always so proud to represent a great organization. As a home town boy, wearing that Pat Jersey was a dream come true and I will cherish those days forever.”

The home town Regina boy played with the Pats from 1987 to 1991 and is third on the all time Pats list in goals with 178, third in assists with 241 points and second in points with 419. When Sillinger broke into the league as a 16 year old in the 1987-88 season, he was teamed up with Jamie Heward and Frank Kovacs to form the famous “Pup Line”. He finished in the top 15 WHL scorers in the 88-89, 89-90 and 90-91 seasons. During the Pats playoff run to the conference semi-finals in the spring of 1989, Sillinger picked up 22 points in 11 games good for 9^th among playoff scorers.

Regina Pats President, Brent Parker, “Mike was a great Regina Pat as well as being a tremendous ambassador for our organization and the City of Regina and this is an honour that is long overdue. The unique situation of having the #16 retired to two people is not lost on us, but we felt strongly that the accomplishments of both Dale Derkatch at Mike Sillinger while wearing this number were both worthy of this recognition. This night is really about honouring the person more than the number and I can’t think of anyone more deserving of being recognized for his accomplishments both here with the Pats and during a stellar NHL Career than Mike.”

The 1990-91 season was a fantastic cap to his WHL career as that winter, he put on the Red and White of Team Canada and helped the squad to a gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Saskatoon, later that season, he was named a WHL Eastern Conference all-star.

Sillinger was drafted in the 1^st round, 11^th overall in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft by the Detroit Red Wings. After his career was done with the Pats, he went on to a 16 year career in the NHL, playing in over 1000 games for 12 teams.

                                                                    — Regular Season —                      —- Playoffs —-

Season   Team                                      Lge          GP  G     A   Pts  PIM             GP   G   A Pts PIM

—————————————————————————————————————————–

1987-88  Regina Pats                WHL   67   18    25   43    17            4       2   2    4    0

1988-89  Regina Pats                WHL                   72   53    78  131   52                —      —  —    —   —

1989-90  Regina Pats                WHL                   70   57    72  129   41            11    12 10  22   2

1990-91  Regina Pats                WHL                   57   50    66  116   42            8       6   9   15   4

Totals                                                   266 178   241 419  152         23    20 21  41  6

Eastern Conference All-Star – 1991

Sillinger will join the 7 other retired numbers and 6 members in the builder’s category in the rafters of the Brandt Centre:

Retired Numbers:                                                                       Builders:

#1 – Ed Staniowski (71-75)                                         Graham Tuer

#8 – Brad Hornung (84-87)                                         Lorne Davis

#9 – Clark Gillies (71-74)                                            Bob Turner

#12 – Doug Wckenheiser (77-80)                                Al Ritchie

#14 – Dennis Sobchuk (71-74)                                    Gord Staseson

#16 – Dale Derkatch (81-85)                                       Del Wilson

#17 – Bill Hicke (54-58)