REGINA — The I Love Regina Pats game was a big hit for fans at Brandt Centre.
The long-awaited promotion for the contest between the Regina Pats and Calgary Hitmen happened Tuesday night, with fans enjoying low ticket prices and plenty of pre-game festivities.
Tickets were on sale at the special price of $9.99 – up to 60 per cent off – providing the Pats with a big crowd on a normally slow Tuesday night.
The promotion was part of a partnership between the Pats and the City of Regina announced earlier this year. The night saw pre-game festivities which included a display of plenty of City of Regina vehicles including a transit bus and a fire truck. There was many exclusive I Love Regina and Tourism Regina merchandise on hand. And there were some guest appearances by personalities such as the Riders' Gainer the Gopher.
Also on hand was Mayor Chad Bachynski and many representatives from the City of Regina who had booths set up to promote efforts such as Vision Zero (the speed zone initiative) as well as tourism and winter recreation.
Mayor Bachynski dropped the puck for the ceremonial faceoff, and was later joined by the other Regina city councillors in a shootout on the ice during the second period intermission.
In addition to being a night to celebrate the city and civic pride, there was also an important hockey game on ice as the Pats looked to rebound from a 8-5 loss to Brandon in the previous contest Saturday night. They faced a Hitmen team that had ten wins on the season and came into the game on a six game winning streak.
As for the contest itself – the Pats came back from a 3-1 deficit to win the game in overtime 4-3 on a goal by Keets Fawcett, who also got the game tying goal and was named star of the game.
