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The Regina Pats theme nights are a little off

With a Thursday night game, a celebrity in town, and greater alcohol portions than ever before, the Regina Pats are raising the bar.

The Calgary Hitmen were in town to take on the Regina Pats in Western Hockey League action on Thursday, Oct. 20 – a night that was marketed as “Rivalry Night”. Did I miss the part where the Hitmen and Pats became rivals? If someone could fill me in on this, I would greatly appreciate it. Generally, teams need to be evenly matched and have a relatively close win-loss record between them, or have bad blood dating back decades in order to be considered “rivals”. Apparently, the Pats narrow 4-3 victory over the Hitmen earlier this season was enough to stir the pot in Cowtown.

Rivals or not, this was the first time in a long time that Pats fans were able to enjoy a weeknight game. Although weekend games have been a regular occurrence for the Regina Pats in past years, the weeknight game has the potential to draw a larger crowd. Just over 3,300 people were in attendance to take in the action. However, Bret Hart may have had something to do with that.

Bret “The Hitman” Hart was at the Brandt Centre to watch his team and sign autographs for fans if they were patient enough to wait in a massive lineup that was almost certainly never-ending. As you can tell, I was not that patient.

However, the real reason that the Thursday night game brought a decent-sized crowd was alcohol. For the first time ever, there were 32 oz. beers available for eight bucks. It’s slightly odd that they would have more alcohol available on a weekday vs. the weekend, but whatever; I didn’t hear anyone complaining.

In fact, people seemed to love the new alcohol size as one fan shouted “Bret Hart and 32 oz. beers, this is the best Pats game ever.” Between the alcohol and the former WWE wrestler appearance, only one thing could make the night better: a win for the home team.

However, Pats fans just simply aren’t that lucky. Did fans really think that they could get more alcohol plus a Pats win? Because that would just be greedy. Calgary did “The Hitman”, proud as it skated to a 3-1 victory over the home team.

The Pats could never recover from a first period flurry that saw Victor Rask, Cody Sylvester, and Kenton Miller all light the lamp for Calgary. Colton Jobke would eventually wipe the goose egg off of the scoreboard for the Pats, but a scoreless third period handed the Regina Pats their fourth loss of the season.

The Pats were back in action for a home-and-home series with the Price Albert Raiders, beginning in P.A. on Oct. 22.

Regina was dominant in Game 1 of the weekend series, easily pulling off a 4-1 win over the Raiders. The Pats were set to take on the Raiders once again on Sunday, though some people were worried the game might not even happen.

The Regina Pats decided to call Sunday’s game “Doomsday”, as apparently some yahoo predicted that the world would end on Oct. 21; is anyone else surprised that it didn’t end? I hope that my sarcasm is coming across in this. Thank God the world didn’t end, as the Pats were able to notch their ninth victory of the season and are now in sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference.

So much for a “doomsday”.

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