Pats Snap Hitmen's Perfect Start With 7-2 Win in Calgary
The perfect start is over. The Calgary Hitmen came into Sunday afternoon 4-0 and riding high off Carter Sanderson's hat trick against Lethbridge. The Regina Pats left the Scotiabank Saddledome with a 7-2 win, five unanswered goals and a hat trick of their own.
By Jason LaFace | Alberta Radio
Monday, October 5, 2026
How it went
Regina struck first. Keets Fawcett opened the scoring at 1:51 of the first period, and Liam Pue doubled it at 9:39. Calgary pushed back hard in the second. Charlie Kresl got the Hitmen on the board, and just over two minutes later Sanderson tied it, his fifth goal in three games. Kresl's assist on that goal moved him into the Hitmen scoring lead with ten points.
The tie didn't last. Pue scored his second of the afternoon at 14:28 off a feed from Ellis Mieyette, and Matthew Paranych made it 4-2 at 16:56 before the second intermission. Samuel Karsay scored his first WHL goal early in the third, Pue finished his first career WHL hat trick into an empty net with 48.8 seconds left, and Owen Sejna added a power-play goal with six seconds remaining in regulation.
By the numbers
Eric Tu made 27 saves for Calgary. Taylor Tabashniuk stopped 21 for Regina. Pue was the game's first star, Kresl took second-star honours and Fawcett was third. The win moved the Pats to 2-2-0-1.
Even with the loss, Calgary sits 4-1-0-0, tied with the Medicine Hat Tigers for third in the Eastern Conference.
The take
One bad afternoon doesn't erase a good week. Sanderson is scoring at a ridiculous clip, Kresl is driving the offence, and 4-1 is still a strong start. But a 2-2 game turned into a rout in about 20 minutes of hockey, and that is the part the coaching staff will want answers on. The Pats didn't out-skill Calgary so much as outwork them after the Hitmen tied it.
That's a correctable problem, and the schedule gives them a quick test. Calgary visits the Red Deer Rebels on Friday, Oct. 9, in a Central Alberta measuring stick, then comes home to host the Victoria Royals on Thanksgiving Monday, Oct. 12, at 1 p.m. at the Saddledome. Holiday hockey with the family is a fine Alberta tradition. A bounce-back would make it a better one.
Source: Os1ris News Aggregation
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