By Darren Steinke
Special to the Herald
Not so long ago, Ethan Regnier believed that his opportunities to score big goals in the U Sports post-season had flown by the wayside.
The Prince Albert product had been playing with the Mount Royal University Cougars Men’s Hockey Team. He decided that direction in life at that time wasn’t for him after his second season with the team wrapped up after the 2022-23 campaign. He left Calgary and returned to Saskatchewan playing senior hockey closer to home with the Rosthern Wheat Kings in 2023-24.
After Regnier left the Cougars, Brandin Cote, who is the head coach of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, came calling. The two were part of the WHL’s Swift Broncos together from 2018 to 2020 with Regnier playing forward and Cote serving as an assistant coach.
Regnier elected to join the Huskies. On Sunday, Regnier found himself playing centre for the Dogs against the visiting Cougars in a series deciding Game 3 of the Canada West Conference Championship Series at Merlis Belsher Place on the U of S campus.
With 5:55 remaining in the third period, Regnier, who is a Prince Albert Minor Hockey product, potted a key insurance goal to give the Huskies a 2-0 advantage. The Huskies would go on to post a 3-0 victory before a record tying attendance of 3,013 spectators at their state of the art home rink.
Ethan Regnier, right, is all smiles after receiving his championship medal and baseball hat follow the University of Saskatchewan Huskies winning the Canada West Conference Men’s Hockey Championship Series at Merlis Belsher Place on the U of S campus in Saskatoon on Sunday. Regnier had two goals, one assist and was a plus-three in the plus-minus department in the six games the Huskies played in the Canada West Playoffs.
“I played senior last year after leaving MRU,” said Regnier, who recorded two goals, one assist and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department in the Huskies six post-season games to date. “I never thought I’d come back and play in this league.
“Cotesy (Cote) coached me in Swift, and he reached out. I was obviously super excited. I never thought I would have the chance to play again here.
“Obviously to culminate into this, it is pretty special.”
When Cote joined the Huskies as an associate coach at the start of the 2021-22 campaign, he wanted to bring Regnier to the U of S at that time, but Regnier had committed to the Cougars. After becoming the Huskies head coach at the start of the 2022-23 campaign, Cote kept tabs on Regnier.
Following Regnier’s departure from the Cougars, Cote reached out. The bench boss was pumped the 24-year-old centre delivered in a big moment to help the Huskies claim the Canada West title.
“I’m so proud of him,” said Cote. “I love that kid.
“I had him at Swift. It just sort of happened he had already committed to Mount Royal in the in between time when we came in. When he left, I knew he was a guy that we wanted to sort of keep tabs on, and we were so thankful we got him.
“He is such a calming presence out there, and honestly, he was one of our best players in these playoffs.”
On his key goal in the Game 3 of the Canada West final, Regnier was in the right place at the right time while working the forecheck. Cougars third-year defenceman Remy Aquilon, who is an alum of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders, had the puck deep in his zone, and he was forced to cough it up after he was floored by a big hit from Huskies fourth-year right-winger Jarrett Penner.
After the hit, the puck squirted to Regnier, who was all alone in front of the Mount Royal net. He tucked a shot between the legs of Cougars netminder Shane Farkas to give the Huskies their two-goal edge.
“Penn (Jarrett Penner) is my linemate there,” said Regnier, who stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 163 pounds. “He is always hard on the puck, so you always have to be ready.
“You never know what is going to happen. It just came out to me. I tried to make a quick move, and luckily, it went in.”
Regnier was pumped his Huskies prevailed in Game 3 to capture the conference title.
“I’m pretty speechless,” said Regnier. “To do it in front of the crowd and the support we have here, it is awesome.”
Ethan Regnier takes a lap around Merlis Belsher Place on the University of Saskatchewan Campus on Sunday with the Dr. W.G. Hardy Trophy for helping the U of S Huskies win the Canada West Conference title. Regnier had the Huskies second goal in a 3-0 victory over the Mount Royal University Cougars in the series deciding Game 3 of the Canada West Conference Men’s Hockey Championship Series.
Regnier said that moment was a bigger memory than being a member of the Broncos WHL championship winner as a rookie in 2017-18. He got into three games in the WHL Playoffs and two contests at the CHL’s championship tournament – the Memorial Cup.
“I was a rookie there in Swift, so I wasn’t playing much,” said Regnier. “I wasn’t even dressed the last game.
“To be dressed in this one and to score a goal at the end there, it is pretty special.”
In the current day, Regnier is playing on a Huskies squad that has lots of Prince Albert connections. Cote was a Raiders assistant coach in 2016-17.
Landon Kosior, Keaton Sorensen, Rhett Rhinehart and Ty Prefontaine all played for the Raiders. Rhinehart and Prefontaine had short stays with Prince Albert’s storied WHL club.
Former Prince Albert Mintos under-18 AAA players Josh Pillar and Ashton Ferster are also with the Huskies.
“All of our guys here are brothers, and we’d do anything for each other,” said Regnier. “A bunch of guys who have roots in P.A., it is pretty special to share that with them.”
Cote, who is from Swift Current, has good memories of his one season working in Prince Albert with Marc Habscheid as head coach, Dave Manson as an associate coach and Curtis Hunt as general manager. It was a building season for the Raiders, who missed the post-season with a 21-44-5-2 mark.
That squad had a core group of eight players in Brayden Pachel, Parker Kelly, Zack Hayes, Max Martin, Spencer Moe, Cole Fonstad, Sean Montgomery and Ian Scott. They all played a huge part in helping the Raiders win the WHL championship in 2018-19.
Cote left Prince Albert following 2016-17 for family reasons and found his way to his hometown Broncos at the start of the 2018-19 campaign. He expected he was going to miss out on something special with the Raiders. Cote said Sunday’s Canada West title win makes up for what he missed in Prince Albert, but he was pleased to see the Raiders have the success they did.
“Honestly, I was super happy for that group that won in P.A.,” said Cote. “My time in P.A., it was the building blocks for my coaching path.
“I owe a lot to Marc Habscheid, Dave Manson and Curtis Hunt for giving me the opportunity to start on my path. Obviously, Mike Babcock was a big part of my mentorship here, and in my junior career, he coached me (with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs). I have a lot of people that I need to thank just for helping me sort of build my repertoire and get the experience I needed.
“Ultimately, it has culminated into a win.”
Kosior was pumped to win with the Prince Albert connections along with a couple of links from his days with the Tisdale Trojans under-18 AAA squad. Kosior played on the Trojans with Huskies star goalie Roddy Ross and left-winger Cade Hayes.
“Those are all my best buddies,” said Kosior, who had an assist in the Game 3 win. “Even back to my Tisdale days, there are two guys that I played with in Tisdale too.
“Just to win with those guys, it is unbelievable.”
Sorensen said it was cool to be partnered up on the Huskies with a number of people that came through the Raiders.
“P.A. is a great organization,” said Sorensen. “It is awesome to see lots of P.A. guys that have come here.”
Now, all the Prince Albert connections on the Huskies set their sights on trying to help the U of S side in a second U Sports championship in team history. The Huskies lone U Sports title came from their legendary 1982-83 squad that was coached by Dave King and captained by Willie Desjardins.
The Huskies are having a memorable year in 2024-25. During the regular season, they topped the Canada West standings with a 23-5 record and were rated second in the final U Sports Top 10 Rankings.
“It is going to be pretty exciting,” said Regnier. “We’re going to enjoy (the Canada West title win) and get some rest and be ready for Ottawa.”
Darren Steinke is a Saskatoon-based freelance sportswriter and photographer. He blogs frequently at stankssermon.blogspot.com.
