REGINA, Saskatchewan — The Regina Monarchs program is one of the teams that play in the Saskatchewan AA Hockey League U15. They are based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and are one of the few teams whose history dates back to an old team with the same name.

The old Regina Monarchs were a junior team in Regina and was very successful at that time. The team was formed by combining the Regina Falcons and the Regina Pats in 1927. They won the Western Canada Memorial Cup Playoffs, the Final of the Memorial Cup, and the Saskatchewan Junior playoffs in their inaugural season.

In the 1964-1965 season, the team also won the Saskatchewan Intermediate A Championship and lost the finals of that season’s Western Canadian Intermediate Playoffs.

“His speedy, brilliant hockey earned him rounds and round of applause from the great crowd,” reports The Leader about winger Harold Mush on his performance when he played for the old Regina Monarchs.

The new Regina Monarchs are a well-organized hockey team, playing in one of the best leagues and has the capacity to stand the test of time. In the 2014-15 season in the Saskatchewan AA Hockey League, the Monarch won 20 of their 31 games and lost only five. As a result, they ranked third at the end of the season and made the playoffs.

In the playoffs, they played in the semi-finals before being eliminated at that stage. They made the second semi-finals at the playoffs in the 2015-16 season after winning 12 of their 30 games and losing 15 games. They ranked sixth in the regular season.

Meanwhile, in the 2016-17 season, they bounced back from their previous losses, winning seven more games against the 12 of the prior season. Their 19 wins and seven losses in 30 games were enough to take them to the playoffs. But, again, they were eliminated at the playoffs, although they were ranked third in the regular season.

This is three consecutive semi-final losses for the Monarchs; one would think destiny was playing pranks on them. But they took their destiny into their hands the following season.

In the 2017-18 season, the Monarchs won 21 games for the first time since 2014, losing only eight of the 31 games played that season. They came second in the regular season behind Swift Current Broncos U15 AA. For the first time, they made it past the semi-finals in the playoffs. Even though they didn’t win it, it was good to know that their destiny wasn’t stuck in the semi-finals.

The 2018-19 season wasn’t as spectacular as the previous season, as they could only win 14 games against the 21 of the last season. As a result, they were ranked seventh in the regular season and got eliminated in the division quarterfinal. This was the lowest they had gone both in the regular season ranking and in the playoffs.

Again, they didn’t allow the losses of the previous season tie them down. Instead, they bounced back from their worst ranking in the previous season to do something they had not done before in the 2020-21 regular season. The team won 26 of their 31 games and lost only five. They have never won this number of games since 2014 in the Saskatchewan AA Hockey League U15. Their five losses were also the fewest since 2014.

If not because the playoffs were interrupted, the chances are that they would have won it or at least made the finals.

The Monarch Co-Captain was the highest scorer in the Saskatchewan Bantam AA Hockey League history in the same season. But that was not all. Sam Oremba and Brady Birnie were both selected in the first round of the Western Hockey League bantam draft of 2020.

“They’re both good players on their own… together they were pretty dynamic this year,” said Darby Birnie, who is the father of Brady and an assistant coach of the Monarch.

The Regina Monarchs are not just in the business of playing hockey for the fun of it, but they are also in the business of developing world-class players.

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