The Innovex Estevan Bears wrapped up their 2025-26 regular season schedule on February 21st. And once the final buzzer of the 44th game rang out, it marked the end of the most successful regular season in Bears franchise history.
The Bears finished with a record of 26-14-2-2, good for 56 points and a 5th overall finish in the SMAAAHL standings. The Bears will face the Swift Current Legionnaires in the Best-of-5 Quarterfinal round.
But before turning the page to playoffs, it’s important to commemorate what ended up being a franchise-best regular season in the six-year history of the Estevan Bears.
TEAM ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The Bears joined the SMAAAHL starting in the 2020-21 season, which was shortened and cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. In the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons under former Head Coach Jeff Smith, the Bears finished with 35 and 32 points respectively and did not qualify for playoffs. In the three seasons since under current Head Coach/GM Ryan Pilon, the Bears have not only improved their point total each year…they’ve qualified for the postseason.
In 2023-24, the Bears finished with 43 points and 8th overall. They would win their first ever playoff game but lost the quarterfinal series in 4 games to the Saskatoon Blazers.
In 2024-25, the Bears took another step with 47 points and 7th overall. The Bears would go up (2-1) in their quarterfinal series against the Moose Jaw Warriors, but were unable to complete the upset and fell in the final two games to lose the series.
This year, in 2025-26, the Bears took a giant leap forward with 56 points and a 5th overall finish with playoff results to come. But it’s already been a historic year for the team in several categories. The Bears finished with a (+43) goal differential, shattering their previous best mark of (-6) in 24/25. Both their 205 goals for and 162 goals against were also franchise bests.
PLAYER STATISTICS
Individually, the Bears saw 4 of their top 5 statistical seasons in 25/26. Gunner Moore led the way with a team-best 84 points, which also led the entire SMAAAHL in scoring. Boston Schmidt had 69 points, including a franchise-best 36 goals. Dylan Brass had 64 points, good for 3rd overall in team scoring. And finally, Brendan Jones’ 59 points place him with the 5th best scoring season for the Bears…trailing only Moore’s mark of 62 points in 24/25.
On the blue line, Kayson Anderson posted the top statistical season for a Bears’ defenceman with 40 points, passing Thomas Ries who had 38 points in 23-24. And in net, goaltender Evan Hutcheon set franchise-best marks in Wins (19), Save Percentage (.910SV%), and Goals Against Average (2.98 G.A.A.). Brady Carr (16 wins, .900 SV% in 24-25), Jackson Miller (.900SV% in 21-22), and Kaden Perron (3.37 G.A.A. in 23-24) had the previous high marks.
TEAM STREAKS
The 2025-26 season did not start well, as the Bears posted a lacklustre (3-9-0-0) record in their first 12 games. However, that would change in a big way almost immediately. From October 29th to December 12th, the Bears ran a 13-game point streak (10-0-1-2) to turn their season around. And from December 13th to the end of the season, the Bears went (13-5-1-0) which included regulation wins over the top 3 teams in the standings (7-4 over Regina, 4-1 over Moose Jaw, 6-4 over the Blazers).
