The Regina Daily Post
March 31, 1930. p.1
Today will be a banner one for Regina sports boosters for at 5.35 Al Ritchie and his record breaking little hockey machine, the Pats, champions of the Dominion and one of the finest junior aggregations ever developed in the Queen City, will arrive home from Winnipeg where they went through the playdown schedule of six games without tasting a single defeat to annex the premier honors.
A reception second to none ever accorded a championship team in this city or any other has been planned for the fighting band of warriors who brought the Memorial Cup to Regina for the third time in six years. A big street parade will start at the Union Depot and the victorious players, along with Coach Ritchie, will be conveyed on a float from there to the Capitol Theatre, where they will be officially welcomed by Mayor McAra.
Have Left Winnipeg
Pete Egan, president of the club, has announced that the Capitol Theatre will be closed for pictures between 5.30 and 7 o’clock in order to pay fitting homage to the club of which he is the guiding spirit.
The Pats left Winnipeg at 9.30 this morning after being congratulated on all sides for they won their way into the hearts of ‘Peg fandom with their spirited displays against Calgary, Elmwood and Toronto. Sunday afternoon the boys had their picture taken outside the Amphitheatre--the rink in which their greatest thiumphs occurred.
From the time after the game terminated until Sunday night the Regina youngsters were a busy bunch. Telegrams by the hundreds poured into their hotel all the time, coming from all parts of the North American continent. At noon Sunday they were guests of the Canadian Cycle and Motor Co., at a banquet in the St. Charles Hotel where Jack Pape, western representative of the company, paid the team a high tribute which was fittingly replied to by “Bricks” Peebles, vice-president of the Pats, who also thanked Mr. Pape for the hospitality shown his team in the Manitoba capital.
Lynch Praises Pats
Before his team left at 6 o’clock Sunday night, Jimmy Lynch, president of the West Torontos had nothing but praise for Al Ritchie and his cohorts. Jimmy is a former Reginan himself and he stated just before the train pulled out that “you can’t hold down that city at all.”
When the Pats arrive this evening they will bring with them the Abbott Cup, emblematic of Western Canada supremacy but the Memorial Cup is still in Toronto and will not be on hand for a few days yet.
Two championships were won by Regina junior teams within the last six years but the one captured on Saturday night will probably be valued more than any other due to the record-breaking feat of the Pats. In the Western playdown they never had a single goal scored on them while, by virtue of beating Toronto in two straight games, they went through the season without dropping a contest under either league or playdown auspices.
Junior Teams in Uniform
All branches of local sport will be represented in the big parade which is to assemble outside the depot at 5:35. As soon as the boys arrive they will be bundled aboard a float, specially constructed in honor of the occasion.
Preceding them will be members of all local junior and juvenile hockey teams, dressed in full uniform, who will be gathered together at the west end of the station shortly after 5 o’clock by Gratton McCarthy.
Right behind the Pat float will follow a stream of cars containing the executives of such games as hockey, rugby soccer, curling, baseball, basketball, tennis, softball, etc. The various service clubs will also be represented in the procession, including the Rotary, Kiwanis, Gyro, Lions and Kinsmen. Movies of the parade will be taken if the weather is good.
The first three rows in the Capitol have been reserved for the families of the players.
From the depot, the procession will proceed along South Railway to Hamilton, up Hamilton to Eleventh, along Eleventh to Scarth, and up Scarth to the theatre. Fans are asked to line the streets and not to congest the station.
The men behind the welcome are Mayor McAra, Pete Egan, G. McCarthy, Fred Baker, Jack Hunter, Mike Busch, A. Gillespie, C. T. Dempsey, Jimmy Herbert, Ab. Holt, Harvey Dodge, Angie Mitchell, Hal Brotman and all members of the Regina Hockey Association.
