Ex-Rockets’ defender Richie Regehr on jump to WHL and cup of coffee in NHL

“My dad was a good athlete and wanted to get us into hockey” Regehr recalled. “Dad played hockey growing up, and his brothers played hockey. My mom tells me they threw me on the ice and all I would do is lie down and make snow piles.

“Hey Mom, look it’s snow because I had never seen snow before.”

Now running a hockey skills company in nearby Saskatoon, originally called the ‘Department of Defence’, Regehr is helping improve the hockey IQ of players between the ages of 9 and 18.

Regehr has even rubbed shoulders with current Kelowna Rockets d-man Caden Price and ex-teammate, now Brandon Wheat Kings forward Nolan Flamand, two players that grew up in Saskatchewan’s largest city.

Now 40, it is hard to believe the well-spoken, yet modest Regehr has hit middle age.

It only becomes more apparent when describing how he was chosen by the Kelowna Rockets in the first round of the 1998 WHL Bantam Draft.

“With no social media, I remember getting a phone call informing me I’d been picked”, Regehr said with a youthful chuckle. “I am going to date myself, but you’d have to wait until the morning and read the newspaper to see who else was drafted. I would look and go, oh that’s what happened”.

Regehr was one of nine d-men taken in the opening round that year, with the Medicine Hat Tigers choosing Jay Bouwmeester first overall.

“I always put pressure on myself”, Regehr admitted about being taken ninth overall in the draft. “I felt pressure, but it never affected the way I played. Plus, my brother played in the league, so I also found a little pressure in that.”

Robyn Regehr was turning heads with the Kamloops Blazers in the late 90’s, eventually being chosen 19th overall by the Colorado Avalanche in the 1998 NHL draft.

“I don’t even correct people when they call me Robyn”, Regehr said. “I think by him playing in the league [WHL] helped me. Being around the Blazers during the prairie swing, you are still in awe, but then getting the chance to play in the WHL, things weren’t so foreign to me.”

Regehr is one of those rare Rockets alumni who played in Memorial Arena in the winter of 1998 before moving over to the sparkling, brand-new Skyreach Place (known now as Prospera Place) when it opened in September the following season.

“My first game in the old building, those boards were so massive, so high”, Regehr recalled before skating in the new 6,007-seat arena located on Water Street. “That was an unbelievable building. Being from Saskatchewan, the restaurant up there, everything about it was so nice.”

Regehr played under head coach Marc Habscheid, who pushed the young d-man to get better in an effort to change the culture of the organization.

“Marc definitely got the most out of me”, choosing his words carefully. “Bruce [Hamilton] is just a gem of a person. Bruce was always so good to me. I equate him to Darryl Sutter”, who Regehr says is far more personable then what his media press conferences may imply.

“Bruce always asked me how things are, and how is my family back home”, Regehr continued. “Bruce is one of the nicest people that I have met and was always a supporter of me.”

After playing 138 games with the Kelowna Rockets, the team traded the 18-year-old to the Portland Winterhawks for two older d-men, with Kevin Young and Jesse Ferguson coming to the Okanagan Valley.

“Marc had benched me for like a whole month the year prior, so I knew something could happen. The practices were unbelievably hard. The trade was a shock. It is never easy being traded. The first thing that goes through my head is nobody wants me.”

Regehr flourished with the Winterhawks, scoring a career high 16 goals and collecting 61 points in 67 games in his 19-year-old season before placing third in team scoring in 2003-2004 with 43 points in 65 games under then head coach Mike Williamson.

“I wasn’t given free rein, but I was used to put up points,” Regehr said. “They had some real big forwards like Paul Gaustad and Jozef Balej. Paul was unbelievable in front of the net. As a shooter, all I had to do was aim and get the puck to the net and he would do the rest. I would say it was a great place to play, just like Kelowna. I was so lucky to have those two places, those are two top-notch places to play.”

Never drafted by an NHL team, Regehr played 20 games with the Calgary Flames between 2005 and 2007, which was the same team his older brother played 11 of his 16 seasons with.

“I got a PTO [professional tryout contract] from the Flames in the fall of 2004, and they offered me an AHL contract. The league that year was unbelievable because it was the NHL lockout. Our team was half in half with the Carolina Hurricanes, so I was playing with Eric Staal, Mike Commodore, so it was pretty much the NHL, yet not the NHL.”

Regehr made his NHL debut, on December 29, 2005, with the Flames against the Minnesota Wild.

“Anytime you are called up to the NHL it is massive, like Christmas times ten”, Regehr added. “I flew out to Vancouver on Christmas Day. The team wasn’t there because of a mandated break. I took part in the morning skate against the Canucks and was told I wasn’t playing. I didn’t care, as I was so jacked up. I flew back to Calgary with the team and played a few nights later against Minnesota.”

Regehr’s NHL debut, while eventful, could have been more so except for a goal-scoring change.

“I thought I had scored the game-winner, and then they changed it after the game. A teammate said he was sorry he touched the puck. I was just glad we won, and I got a point,” enthusiasm coming from his voice even 17 years after the fact.

Regehr would eventually score his first – and only goal – in his 16th NHL game against the Los Angeles Kings on December 19, 2006.

“You can see the interview on-line, and I am just like a kid in a candy store.”

One of the biggest thrills was playing with brother Robyn while in Calgary.

“We didn’t play much together because he was a shutdown d-man against first-line players. We played with each other against Edmonton, so my dad drove through the night, watched us skate in the morning, and then watched us play.

“I remember going up the ice and someone took a big run at me”, Regehr added. “I kind of alluded it, and all I could see is my brother rip across the ice and he took on the guy right away.”

After being sent up and down to the minors several times while dealing with concussions, Regehr elected to play in Europe where he won five championships while in Germany, before eventually retiring in 2018.

He also set a league record, with five goals by a defenceman in one game.

“I was Halloween”, Regehr digging deep into the memory banks. “My coach said he wanted to get me more goals on the power play. Everything I shot went in that night, it was one of those days. It is like on a golf course where you can’t miss.”

“I don’t miss the game as a player”, Regehr concluded.

“What helps is I am on the ice a lot with the kids. If I wasn’t, I may miss it more.”

by Regan Bartel

Ex-Rockets’ defender Richie Regehr on jump to WHL and cup of coffee in NHL

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