‘Preparing for this moment’: Regina Pat Canadians looking for first national championship since 1999

WATCH: The Pat Canadians are focused on the Telus Cup, after having not won nationals since 1999. Donovan Maess has the story.

The 2025 Regina Pat Canadians U18 AAA hockey team are looking to do something the franchise has not done since the turn of the century: win a national championship.

The Pat C’s earned their spot in this year’s Telus Cup by winning the Saskatchewan Male U18 AAA Hockey League (SMU18AAAHL) before going on to dominate at the Telus Cup Western Regional Tournament.

“We’ve been preparing for this moment since the first week of the season,” goaltender Taylor Tabashniuk said. “It can’t come soon enough.

Regina finished atop the provincial U18 AAA standings with a 35-7-2 record. In the league playoffs, they lost just one game and swept the championship series against Moose Jaw.

At the Telus Cup regional tournament in Kenora, Ont., the Pat Canadians went undefeated in four games outscoring their opponents 25-2.

They have already lifted two championship trophies this season but the team wants one more above their heads.

“We’ve taken it one day at a time,” Tabashniuk added. “But you can’t help but look at the bigger picture and see what we want to accomplish long term.”

“Winning the league was huge for us,” forward Maddox Schultz said. “Then we went to regionals and won. And that was also huge.”

“We’re just really close-knit group and really excited for it,” he added.

Schultz led the Pat C’s in points this season as a 15-year-old with 138 (64 goals, 74 assists) in just 63 games.

The stand-out season got him named as the Canadian Elite Hockey League’s (CEHL) Player of the Year.

However, the focus for Schultz and the rest of the team is on the group.

Regina goes into the Telus Cup as the number two ranked team in the country.

“We’ve been highly touted since the start of the season,” Schultz said. “Every player on the team has to buy in and want it more than the other team.”

While Regina has some star power on their team, Head Coach Ryan Hodgins says the team’s strength is the sum of its parts.

“Our strength is our depth,” he said “Our depth is really good. We have guys that have bought into roles and executing their roles.”

“And overall buy in to compete as a team,” Hodgins added.

The Regina Pat Canadians have made nine total national championship appearances. Their last was in 2017 where they finished fourth place.

In fact, Regina has not won a national title since 1999.

“It would mean a lot for our program,” Hodgins said. “This program’s been strong for a long time. And it has a great history of teams and players and coaches and staff.”

“It would mean a lot to bring [a championship] back to Regina,” the coach added.

The players are confident they can get it done.

“Absolutely we can,” Tabashniuk said.

The 2025 Telus Cup goes April 21 to 27 in Chilliwack, B.C.