Saturday 18 November 2017

Hilltops season flew by into a fourth straight CJFL title

The Hilltops celebrate a Colin Stumborg touchdown.
    Two realizations hit when the Saskatoon Hilltops won their fourth straight Canadian Junior Football League title.
    First was the realization of euphoria with the team winning the Canadian Bowl with a 56-11 triumph over the host AKO Fratmen in Windsor, Ont.
    The second unexpected realization hits when you start asking yourself, “Wow, is the season really over?”
    It seemed like yesterday it was July 31 and the Hilltops were opening their main training camp at Ron Atchison Field. Since that opening day of training camp, the season just sped by.
    All of a sudden, it was Nov. 11, and the Hilltops were in Windsor, Ont., winning the Canadian Bowl for the seventh time in eight years. The Toppers also claimed their 20th CJFL title in team history. Even now, that game was held a week ago from today.
Tom Schnitzler hoists the Canadian Bowl.
   In a double edge situation with a positive twist, the fact the season flew by meant it was fun. There were downs that went along with the ups, but everyone looked forward to practice and game day no matter what was happening.
    Credit on this front has to go to the team’s leadership group. That group starts with the coaching staff led by head coach and offensive coordinator Tom Sargeant and defensive coordinator Jeff Yausie.
    The leadership group proceeds to expand to the team’s captains like quarterback Jordan Walls, running back Logan Fischer, receiver Sam Mike, offensive tackle Kirk Simonsen, middle linebacker Cameron Schnitzler, defensive lineman Tom Schnitzler, outside linebacker Cody Peters and safety James Vause.
Hilltops running back Logan Fischer tears downfield against the Thunder.
    That group helped all those involved with the team to stay in the moment. With the Hilltops trying to become the first team in the history of the CJFL to win four straight league championships, it could have been easy to emotionally hook everything up to that end result.
    The Hilltops never got into a position where the players started to think every touchdown would win the Canadian Bowl that day or conversely every missed tackle would cost you a national championship that day.
    If the team got hooked on to that line of thinking, the season could have ground down a team even as storied as the Hilltops.
    Instead, the team focused on the moment no matter where they were at in the campaign.
    In the annual alumni game in August, the players were trying to prove they were ready for bigger roles, but moments were reserved to renew links with alums that played a part of establishing the club’s venerable history.
Hilltops HC Tom Sargeant, right, is rocking and rolling on the sidelines.
    On Aug, 12, the Hilltops played their first game ever at Regina’s new state of the art Mosaic Stadium. The players and coaches will always remember stepping on to that field for the first time and hearing the noise from all the supporters that came down from Saskatoon echo in the facility.
    The Toppers won 37-20 that day over the host Regina Thunder. While the coaches and players knew there was still a lot to work on, everyone made sure to take time to thank the family and friends that lined the west side stands after the game to create some special moments.
    A 29-26 loss to the Thunder on Sept. 9 at Saskatoon Minor Football Field provided a grounded moment for the Hilltops. That setback would prove to be the only loss for the Saskatoon side, but it provided many lessons to the Hilltops regarding the challenges in facing a quality opponent.
Hilltops DL Riley Pickett gets one of his nine regular season sacks.
    Everything from one or two off play calls on the coaches’ side to being out executed on the players’ side for one or two plays can result in the scoreboard not coming out in your favour.
    Another big memory was the last regular season game on Oct. 7, where the Hilltops traveled to Edmonton to face the Huskies, who were undefeated at 7-0 at that time. That contest would decide first place in the Prairie Football Conference and there was curiosity on the Hilltops side to see what the Huskies were about.
    The Hilltops were pumped up to play that game and came away with a 38-28 victory in an encounter that was a battle.
    Two exciting playoff contests at SMF Field followed as the Hilltops slipped past the Winnipeg Rifles 28-21 in a PFC semifinal and downed the provincial rival Thunder 36-24 in the PFC Final. Defensive tackle Garth Knittig flew through the air for the game clinching touchdown with 96 seconds to play for Saskatoon. It is safe to say no one will forget that sight.
    On Oct. 29, the Hilltops played their final home game of the 2017 campaign at SMF Field and hammered the Nanaimo, B.C., based Vancouver Island Raiders 48-0 in a CJFL national semifinal.
DT Garth Knittig (#59) flies through the air for a Hilltops TD.
    That set the stage for Saskatoon’s historic win in the Canadian Bowl, where the Hilltops rounded out their 11-1 overall record for the campaign.
    During the journey, a lot of special memories were made for everyone that was involved with the team. You took time to savour each moment as the season progressed, but it still seemed that moment passed along before you knew it.
    The team has spent the past week enjoying the spoils from the Canadian Bowl win, which included being honoured before Wednesday’s Saskatoon Blades WHL game.
    Tonight, the “Hilltops Family” in the club and their supporters will gather one last time in 2017 for the club’s end of the year banquet at Radisson Hotel to enjoy the season that was. After tonight, life circumstances like family, school and work will begin to pull the 2017 edition of the Hilltops in all sorts of directions making harder and harder for future reunions to occur.
    The Hilltops enjoyed a lot of great moments in 2017. It is just too bad time in real life wasn’t able to go a just little slower just to enjoy them that much longer.

Slobodzian, Parker to play for Canada at under-18 worlds

Willow Slobodzian will play for Canada at the under-18 women’s worlds.
    It seems like Willow Slobodzian and Mackenna Parker are destined to do everything together.
    The two 17-year-old Clavet, Sask., products found out on Thursday they will play for Canada at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Under-18 Women’s World Championship, which runs this coming January 6-13 in Dmitrov, Russia.
    Slobodzian, who is a smooth skating standout defender, and Parker, who is a smart and skilled centre, have spent most of the last decade playing together at various levels of minor hockey. Together, they helped the Saskatoon Stars win Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League championship in 2015 and 2016.
    This season, Slobodzian, who stands 5-foot-7, is playing her rookie season with the Cornell University Big Red Women’s Hockey team appearing seven overall games entering play Saturday. On Friday, she picked up her first career NCAA goal scoring on the power play in the Big Red’s 5-1 road victory over the Brown University Bears.
    Last season with the Stars, she was the team’s captain and posted six goals and 21 assists appearing in all of the team’s 28 regular season games.
Mackenna Parker will play for Canada’s under-18 women’s team.
    Parker, who stands 5-foot-5, is using up her final season of midget AAA eligibility with the Stars as their captain. She leads the SFMAAAHL in scoring with 19 goals and 14 assists in nine games.
    Now in her fourth season with the Stars, Parker is currently tied as the third all-time leading scorer in the history of the SFMAAAHL piling up 68 goals and 63 assists in 90 career regular season games for 131 points entering play Saturday.
    Brienna Gillanders, who played for the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats and Notre Dame Hounds from 2006 to 2010, is tied with Parker with 131 career SFMAAAHL regular season points.
    Parker is the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Stars.
    Slobodzian and Parker will be joined on the Canadian team by a third Saskatchewan product in defender and Gull Lake resident Taylor Kirwan. Kirwan is the captain of the SFMAAAHL’s Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats this season, and she has six goals and eight assists in 11 regular season games.
    The Saskatchewan trio should help the Canadian side in a big way at the under-18 women’s worlds.
    For Slobodzian and Parker, it is great to see them continue their hockey journey together “side by side and stride for stride” as stated in a 2016 Hockey Canada article about the talented duo.

New committee gets sports gear to rural kids

Steve Hogle chairs the Saskatoon Equipment Drive Committee.
    The new Saskatoon Equipment Drive Committee created under the umbrella of Kidsport Saskatoon made a big first splash on Thursday.
    The new committee was established to collect, process and distribute new and gently used equipment to youth across Saskatchewan. Partnered with Sport Central in Edmonton, Alta., the Saskatoon Equipment Drive Committee received $400,000 worth of sports equipment at the Canadian Tire warehouse on 105th Street East on Thursday morning.
    The shipment included close to 6,000 pieces of equipment that were distributed to the Big Island Cree Nation, the Yellow Quill First Nation and Ranch Ehrlo in Regina.
    The Saskatoon Equipment Drive Committee is chaired by Saskatoon Blades president Steve Hogle. The committee also includes Saskatoon Police Service spokesperson and communications expert Kelsie Fraser. Both Hogle and Fraser have always been active in getting involved with community initiatives.
    Anyone seeking information about the Saskatoon Equipment Drive Committee can contact kidsportequipment@sasksport.sk.ca or check out the committee’s web page by clicking here.

Nogier plugs SPS K-9 calendar

    Nelson Nogier might be sidelined with a shoulder injury, but he is finding time on the recovery trail to be a pitchman for the Saskatoon Police Service’s K-9 Unit Calendar.
    The 21-year-old defenceman sent out a tweet on Wednesday encouraging everyone to pick up the calendar, which raises funds for the Saskatchewan SPCA Stryker K9 Care Fund. Nelson’s father, Patrick, used to be part of the Saskatoon Police Service’s K-9 unit. The Nogier family would keep Patrick’s retired K-9 unit partners as pets.
    Nelson is in the second year of his NHL entry-level contract with the Winnipeg Jets. On Sept. 29, he suffered a serious shoulder injury playing a pre-season game with the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose, and is currently involved in a rehabilitation process that is expected to last four-to-six months from the time the injury occurred.
    The defensive defenceman, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 191 pounds, is a Saskatoon area product and is a graduate of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades and Red Deer Rebels. Last season, Nelson played 60 games with the Moose collecting two goals, 11 assists and was a minus-five in the plus-minus department.
    He finished off his first professional campaign play 10 games with the NHL’s Jets posting a minus-one rating. The Jets posted an 8-2 record in Nelson’s 10-game stretch with the team.


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