REGINA — The Regina Pats and Saskatoon Blades will continue their Saskatchewan Highway 11 rivalry in the postseason.
The squads will clash in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Thanks to a 48-15-4-1 record, the Blades are the conference’s third seed and will have home ice advantage for the best-of-seven series. The Pats are the conference’s sixth seed after a 34-30-3-1 regular season.
The series will feature the WHL’s top scorer from the regular season. Pats forward Connor Bedard earned the Bob Clarke Trophy after racking up 143 points in only 57 games. The projected No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming National Hockey League Draft had 36 more points than the league’s second leading scorer, Prince George’s Chase Wheatcroft, who had 107 in 68 games. Bedard paced the WHL with 71 goals and was tied for the league lead in assists at 72 with Prince George’s Riley Heidt.
The series schedule is:
| Game 1 | March 31 | In Saskatoon |
| Game 2 | April 2 | In Saskatoon |
| Game 3 | April 4 | In Regina |
| Game 4 | April 5 | In Regina |
| Game 5 | April 7 | In Saskatoon |
| Game 6 | April 8 | In Regina |
| Game 7 | April 10 | In Saskatoon |
Perhaps surprisingly, the two teams have only met three times in the postseason in the past 30 years. The Blades won two of those series. The last time they played in the playoffs was in 2006 with the Saskatoon squad prevailing in six games.
This season, the Blades won the regular season series, 4-2. However, the teams split the last four games they played against each other.
The Pats are in the postseason for the first time since 2018. That was the year they hosted the Memorial Cup national major junior championship.
The Regina team wrapped up its regular season with a 3-2 loss to the Blades on the road and also fell 5-3 to the Prince Albert Raiders at home.
Before their final home game, the Pats handed out some hardware. This year’s winners included:
- Player of the Year – Connor Bedard
- Mike Kartusch Community Service Award – Connor Bedard
- Bill Hicke Most Popular Player – Connor Bedard
- Torchey Schell Top Scorer Award – Connor Bedard
- Three Star Award – Connor Bedard
- Charles Johnston Memorial Top Defenceman – Stanislav Svozil (Among WHL defencemen was second in assists with 67 and was third in points with 78 in 56 games)
- Rick Rypien Memorial Award (Unsung Hero) – Parker Berge
- Nick Pappas Rookie of the Year – Alexander Suzdalev (Led WHL rookies with 38 goals, 48 assists and 86 points)
- Hub Bishop Most Sportsmanlike – Tye Spencer
- Scholastic Player of the Year – Matteo Michels
