Huskies’ Whiting hits final sprint in U Sports

Ben Whiting is playing his final games with the Huskies.

    The end of the line with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team is becoming more real for Ben Whiting with each passing day.

    Over the last four years, the standout outside linebacker has watched the Huskies graduating fifth-year players be introduced individually to the crowd at Griffiths Stadium before the team’s last home game. The fifth-years run out of the tunnel and between two lines of team alums, who are dressed in their old game jerseys from their playing days.

    Now, Whiting is a fifth-year player, and he will make that same run to the field on Saturday, when the Huskies host the University of Alberta Golden Bears at 2 p.m. at Griffiths. The contest will close the U Sports regular season schedules for both sides.

    “It definitely flew by,” said Whiting, who is a graduate of Saskatoon’s Marion M. Graham Collegiate Falcons football team. “You watch the fifth-years when you are a rookie running through, and you think it is going to not sneak up on you like it did.

Ben Whiting, right, tackles a Thunderbirds running back.

    “It definitely snuck up on me, and (it was) definitely a goal that I wanted to reach for myself when I came here. I’m glad that I am being able to reach it.”

    Whiting is one of six players on the Huskies roster who are in their fifth and final seasons of U Sports eligibility. The five others are defensive back Payton Hall, linebacker Eric Thakurdeen, defensive lineman Evan Machibroda, and offensive linemen Andrew Serke and Tanner Secord.

    Saturday’s game has quite a bit on the line too. The Huskies and Golden Bear both have 4-3 records going into the contest and the winner will be assured of at least a second place finish in the Canada West Conference standings and will host a Canada West semifinal playoff game.

Ben Whiting sizes up the opposition offence.

    The Huskies, who are the defending Canada West champions, could still finish first in Canada West, if they win on Saturday and the University of Calgary Dinos (5-2) fall at home to the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (2-5).

    While there are a lot of implications for the Huskies based on the result of Saturday’s game with the Golden Bears, Whiting admits it will be somewhat unique on a personal level reflecting of the fifth-year introductions.

    “I wouldn’t say (it is) different, but maybe just a little more special,” said Whiting, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 225 pounds. “At the end of the day, it is just another game, a must win, and that is how we’re going into it with that mentality.”

    Whiting sits second on the Huskies with 37.5 total tackles this season behind super-rookie Ramsey Derbas, who is having a breakout campaign with 43 total tackles. On the Huskies career list for most total tackles, Whiting sits third with 206 total tackles.

Ben Whiting, left, gives congrats to Nixen Voll after an interception.

    When he graduated from Marion M. Graham, Whiting decided to join the Huskies because he wanted to play in his hometown and due to the fact his grandfather, Don Brock, played for the Huskies from 1959 to 1961.

    Whiting’s older brother, Sam, played for the Huskies men’s soccer team. Ben would later be joined on the football team by his younger brother Tom, who is in his third year with the Huskies.

    Ben and Tom have been starting together for the past two seasons.

    “That is pretty cool,” said Ben Whiting. “Honestly, there are not a lot of people that can say that they can do that at this level.

    “I’m willing to bet that we are the highest chemistry of any linebacker corps in Canada, so that is pretty cool. It is something special for sure, but I don’t think I am going to be able to fully appreciate it until maybe I am done with football. It is super awesome lining up with him every day.”

Ben Whiting (#4) enjoys play beside brother Tom Whiting (#47).

    Huskies head coach Scott Flory admitted he likely wouldn’t be able to say enough when it came to talking about how much Ben Whiting has meant to the program.

    “That is pretty hard to summarize in a few words,” said Flory. “Ben (Whiting), he is a consummate leader.

    “He is an outstanding football player. He is an outstanding young man. He has meant a lot to this program.

    “He is going to make the most of his time left here with the program.”

    During Flory’s first season as head coach in 2017, the Huskies linebacker group was fairly depleted for much of the season due to injury. Whiting missed a pair of contests during that campaign.

    When Whiting returned from injury, the level of playoff the Huskies defence went up quite a bit. It seemed like Whiting was always around the ball.

Ben Whiting (#4) breaks up a passing play against the Bisons.

    “I think that just shows the quality of a person and a player he is, because he makes everyone around him better,” said Flory. “He elevates play of guys around him.

    “That is the true mark of a leader and an outstanding player.”

    Whiting said he is able to get to the ball due to football smarts. He said he isn’t the fastest guy or the strongest guy on the field, so he has to rely on his ability to read and anticipate plays.

    During his time with the Huskies, Whiting said the obvious biggest highlight was the playoff run last year, where the team won the Canada West title with a 43-18 victory over the Dinos to make a U Sports semifinal bowl game. 

Ben Whiting (#4) tackles a Bisons quarterback.

    The Huskies were eliminated from the post-season falling in the Mitchell Bowl 47-24 to the University of Western Ontario Mustangs in London, Ont.

    “Again, it is kind of one of those things that you can’t really appreciate fully until the moment is over and done with,” said Whiting. “We just took each game one at a time and put our best foot forward and we were able to string a little win streak there and make a playoff push at the end.”

    After dropping a 38-37 heartbreaker to the Thunderbirds last Saturday in Vancouver, B.C., Whiting would like to see the Huskies build momentum to the upcoming playoffs with a win over the Golden Bears this coming Saturday.

    The Golden Bears claimed the previous meeting between the two sides 19-17 on Sept. 21 in Edmonton, Alta. A win this coming Saturday would ensure Whiting would play at least one more home game.

Ben Whiting (#4) has relished taking the field with the Huskies.

    “It is no secret we tend to play a lot better at home,” said Whiting. “Any home game we can get, we’re definitely going to be playing our best for it.

    “We want to play at Griffiths Stadium every game.”

    Flory said this Saturday’s game against the Golden Bears is a big bounce back opportunity for his team, and he believes squad will have a good outing.

    “You have to win your home games,” said Flory. “We’ve got to be able to do that at home here in front of our home crowd.

    “That is a good football team in University of Alberta coming in here, and we have to be able to respond especially after last week. It will be a good football game, and I know our guys will be prepared and be ready to play.”

Hypothetically, females who could join WHL coaching ranks?

Emily Clark surrounded by her fans at the SaskTel Centre in 2018.

    When the Moose Jaw Warriors hired Olivia Howe to be a coaching assistant on Oct. 11, the imagination began to wonder who else could join coaching staffs in the WHL from the female hockey ranks.

    Howe, who is a 25-year-old product from Moose Jaw, was an inspired hire by her hometown WHL club.

    She ripped up the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League for four seasons from 2008 to 2012 as a skilled forward with the Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox. She became the circuit’s all-time leading scorer piling up 107 goals and 100 assists for 207 points in 106 regular season games.

    Howe helped the Hounds win the Esso Cup in 2011 as Canadian national female midget AAA hockey champions.

    She also attended Hockey Canada’s female under-18 selection camps in 2010 and 2011.

    Following her time with the Hounds, Howe, who stands 5-foot-10, joined the NCAA women’s ranks and became a star with the Clarkson University Golden Knights for four seasons from 2012 to 2016. She appeared in 152 overall games posting 42 goals and 58 assists.

    She helped the Golden Knights win their first NCAA title in 2014.

Emily Clark waves to the SaskTel Centre crowd.

    After graduating from Clarkson, Howe returned to Wilcox to become an assistant coach with the Notre Dame Hounds team that played in the Junior Women’s Hockey League. She has scouted the women’s game for Neutral Zone, which is a hockey scouting news site that identifies and ranks prospects for the NCAA and U Sports.

    It is conceivable that the Warriors four WHL rivals in Saskatchewan could each one day bring a female on to their coaching staffs. The following are one possible hypothetical for each club.

    In Saskatoon, the Blades could bring on board hometown hero Emily Clark, whenever she decides to hang up her skates. Clark’s power forward style of play mirrors that of famous Blades alum Wendel Clark. Believe it or not, the Emily and Wendel are not related.

    Emily Clark was a star for her hometown female midget AAA team in the Saskatoon Stars. She just finished up a four-year career in the NCAA ranks winning a national championship with the University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team.

    In 147 career games with the Badgers, Clark piled up 70 goals, 76 assists and a plus-135 rating in the plus-minus department. She is a veteran with Canada’s senior national women’s team, so it would likely be some time before she decides where life will take her after her hockey playing days are done.

    Once again, this is a hypothetical scenario. Clark does have a great relationship with the Blades, so it is possible to imagine she could work for the franchise as a coach one day.

    Up in “Hockey Town North,” one name quickly jumps to mind for a female possibly joining the coaching staff of the team of Mike Modano and Dave Manson, the franchise where honour still matters and the defending WHL champions – the Prince Albert Raiders.

Kaitlin Willoughby skates with the Huskies in 2017.

    The name of that player would be Kaitlin Willoughby, who is the most popular female player to come out of the “Gateway to the North” via Canwood, Sask.

    Willoughby moved to Prince Albert when she played for the female midget AAA Northern Bears and her family later relocated to that centre.

    She went on to star for the University of Saskatchewan women’s hockey team becoming the second all-time leading scorer in the history of the program piling up 50 goals and 61 assists for 111 points in 132 regular season games. Out of Willoughby’s 50 goals, 10 of her tallies were game winners.

    She played a key role helping the Huskies win their only Canada West title to date in 2014 and appear at U Sports nationals in 2014 and 2018.

    Willoughby played for Canada’s women’s hockey team at the Winter Universiade in 2017 and this past March helping the Canadian side will silver medals at each event. Last season, she helped the Calgary Inferno win the Clarkson Cup as champions of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, which ended up folding this past spring.

    Willoughby gets bonus points for her actions in the final moments of the Huskies 2-0 sweep of a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in February of 2018.

    In the Huskies 2-1 Game 2 series clinching win in their final outing at the ancient Rutherford Rink, Willoughby, who was the Huskies captain, found herself heading to the penalty box with 35 second remaining in the third. She took a roughing penalty for going after a Thunderbirds player that hit Huskies netminder Jessica Vance.

Kaitlin Willoughby is involved in this post-game scrum in 2018.

    When the buzzer sounded to end the game, the Thunderbirds again hit Vance. Willoughby raced out of the penalty box, threw her stick away into the right corner of her defensive zone, barrelled into the middle of a scrum and confronted Thunderbirds centre Mathea Fischer.

    The whole Huskies team came off their bench and assembled like a gang behind their leader in Willoughby as she went after the Thunderbirds forward. The whole scene was a very Prince Albert Raiders mirror type image, where a message was sent to the opposing team to let them know a bell had to be answered if anything underhanded happens on the ice.

    Currently, Willoughby is still playing with the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association barnstorming tour that is hitting various centres across North America.

    She is a nurse, so it is unlikely she would give up that secure career to join the coaching ranks of the WHL.

    In Swift Current, Taylor Lind would be the perfect choice to one day end up on the coaching staff of the WHL’s Broncos. Lind is in her first season playing for the NCAA’s St. Cloud State University Huskies women’s team, so it will likely be a while yet before she hangs up the skates.

Taylor Lind in action for the Wildcats in 2018.

    Lind, who is from Shaunavon, Sask., had a phenomenal run in the female midget AAA ranks with the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats. Playing in 83 regular season games, Lind set career team records in goals (93), assists (77) and points (170).

    She is the second all-time leading scorer in the history of the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League. Lind is still 17-years-old and still had a year of midget eligibility remaining to take a run at the SFMAAAHL’s all-time scoring record held by Howe.

    She graduated from high school a year early and elected to join the NCAA ranks.

    Lind is a special player who can do it all, so she will likely be playing the game for some time to come. She is a popular hero in Swift Current as that centre’s female version of Joe Sakic. Lind would be a natural addition to join the Broncos coaching staff one day.

    For the Regina Pats, they could bring on board Brandy West-McMaster, who is one of the game’s pioneers as an original member of the University of Regina Cougars women’s hockey team. West-McMaster played for the Cougars in their first five campaigns of existence as a U Sports team from 1998 to 2003.

    She is still the program’s all-time leading scorer piling up 80 goals and 53 assists for 133 points in 66 career regular season games. West-McMaster was the U Sports player of the year in women’s hockey in the 2000-01 campaign, when the Cougars won their only Canada West Conference title to date.

Brandy West-McMaster in action for the Cougars in 2000.

    The Cougars advanced to the U Sports national championship game falling 4-3 to the University of Toronto Varsity Blues.

    After her playing days concluded, West-McMaster has coached at various levels of the women’s game including being an associate coach with Wilfred Laurier University, an assistant coach for the Notre Dame Hounds female midget AAA team that won the Esso Cup national title in 2011 and an assistant coach with the Cougars.

    She is currently an assistant coach with the SFMAAAHL’s Regina Rebels.

    With all that said, it would be hard to bring West-McMaster to the WHL, because she is an instructor at the U of Regina and can be found coaching her two daughters, Bailey and Keeley, as they come up the minor hockey ranks.

    In a hypothetical world, West-McMaster has the grace and class suited for a royal franchise like the Pats, who are the world’s oldest major junior team. Her experience would be a big asset as well.

    On top of looking at Saskatchewan’s WHL adding a hypothetical female coach, I have to make one more bonus selection for a WHL club outside of the “Land of the Living Skies.”

    If you could pry her away from her teaching career in Calgary, Alta., Jenna Cunningham would be cool addition to the coaching staff of her hometown Medicine Hat Tigers.

    Cunningham was the highly athletic skilled forward who could score goals at will. The style of game she played suits the on-ice philosophy of the high flying finesse-style Tigers, who transition up and down the ice with great speed and score piles of goals with pretty passing plays.

    Cunningham, who is a member of the Medicine Hat’s Sports Wall of Fame, played with the now defunct Medicine Hat Encana Hawks female midget AAA team that advanced to the semifinal round of the Mac’s Tournament, when the female division debuted in the 2004-05 campaign.

    She had a star career with the Dartmouth University Big Green women’s hockey team piling up 63 goals and 62 assists for 125 points in 113 games from 2006 to 2010.

    Cunningham was an original member of the Inferno, when they were officially formed before the start of the 2013-14 campaign. She appeared in 108 career regular season games with the Inferno piling up 40 goals and 28 assists.

    When the Inferno won their first Clarkson Cup in 2016, captain Brianne Jenner made sure that Cunningham was the first teammate she passed the championship trophy to. The move recognized Cunningham’s dedication to the team and female hockey.
    As I said, all of those are hypothetical placements, but sometimes, it is cool to dream of what could be.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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