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| Emily Clark, centre, with Anica Gauthier (#22) and Bridget Rezansoff (#17). |
On Friday,
Clark’s hero status received another big boost upwards when the Saskatoon Stars
retired her #13 before their 4-3 Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League
regular season setback to the league leading Regina Rebels.
The skilled forward played three seasons for the Stars from 2009 to 2012 appearing in 82 regular
season games collecting 45 goals and 46 assists for 91 points.
Her best
season came in her final campaign in 2011-12. During that season with the
Stars, Clark appeared in 26 regular season game collecting 26 goals and 34
assists for 60 points.
Clark’s 34
helpers are still a Stars record for most assists in one regular season. Her 60
points is still a team record for most points in one regular season, but it was
matched in the 2017-18 campaign by Mackenna Parker, who tallied a club record
33 goals and 27 assists in 23 regular season games.
 |
| Emily Clark, left, and her father, Del Clark, watch her number get raised up. |
They also know about her being a member of the University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team that won an NCAA championship last season.
When Clark
makes appearances back in her hometown of Saskatoon, it helps connect the
24-year-old to her local area fans and makes her more real to them. As an added
bonus, Clark is really good when it comes to interacting with children.
The Stars
did a great job with Clark’s jersey retirement night. Her young fans would have
been in awe of her highlight package that was shown on the video scoreboard
that was supplied by the Badgers communications department.
 |
| Emily Clark, centre, shakes hands with Rebels captain Sydney Pedersen. |
It is hoped
that one day number retirement ceremonies for female athletes like Clark will
be a more common thing. At the moment, it isn’t common to see a sports team
retire a number for a female athlete.
During my
time in media dating to beginnings in student media back in 1996, Clark’s
number retirement was the first one I have attended for a female athlete. For
as long as I have physically walked on Earth, Clark’s number retirement
ceremony is the only one I have seen in person or on a video broadcast for a
female athlete.
Despite coming a long way over the last 20 years, female sports still fights an uphill battle for exposure. With the media cuts that have come down in Canada over the last 20 years, the will by management to cover female sports is close to nil unless a legend defeating tennis player like Bianca Andreescu comes along.
Mainstream outlets are more concerned these days with focusing resources on conflicts in government politics.
Despite coming a long way over the last 20 years, female sports still fights an uphill battle for exposure. With the media cuts that have come down in Canada over the last 20 years, the will by management to cover female sports is close to nil unless a legend defeating tennis player like Bianca Andreescu comes along.
Mainstream outlets are more concerned these days with focusing resources on conflicts in government politics.
 |
| Emily Clark, left, interacts with a couple of young fans. |
Libby
Epoch, who is a fourth-year point guard for the University of Saskatchewan
Huskies women’s basketball team, should be a household name. She has been part
of Canada’s national team system, but you would be hard pressed to find someone
outside of Huskie Athletics who knows who she is.
Berit
Johnson is a third-year member for the U of S Huskies women’s wrestling team.
Last season, she won a silver medal at the U Sports nationals and won a junior
national title at the Canadian championships.
At age 20,
she has the potential to make big waves in her sport, but barely anyone knows
anything about her outside her sport.
 |
| Emily Clark, left, is pictured with one of her fans. |
When any of these ladies does something significant and it gets attention, little girls see it and believe they can do that too and also have a positive impact on society.
Locally,
Clark is the female athlete from Saskatoon and area who has the biggest
following.
When little
girls in Saskatoon and area encounter Clark, it is a big “oh wow” experience
for them.
That even
goes for girls in their teenage years. Parker was a ball of happy mush when she
equalled Clark’s Stars record for most points in one regular season, because
Clark is her hero.
After the
Stars retired Clark’s number on Friday night, you can be sure there were a
number of little girls who left Merlis Belsher Place that night believing they
could do something great and special too.
Focht hits 60 in Rebels 5-2 victory
 |
| Lauren Focht scored her 60th career goal on Sunday. |
On Sunday
at the Art Hauser Centre, Focht netted her 60th career regular
season goal in her Rebels 5-2 victory over the host Prince Albert Northern
Bears in a SFMAAAHL regular season contest. The 17-year-old star forward netted
her milestone goal on a power play in the third period, which gave her club a
4-2 lead at that point in the contest.
Alexis
Petford and Neena Brick picked up assists on Focht’s 60th career
tally.
Focht
becomes just the 12th player in the history of the SFMAAAHL to score
60 or more goals and just the third member of the Rebels to pull off that feat.
Emma
Waldenberger scored 60 career regular season goals in four campaigns with the
Rebels from 2010 to 2014. Waldenberger also posted 61 career assists for a
total of 121 points in 109 career regular season contests.
She is the
Rebels all-time leader in regular season points.
Kennedy
Bobyck scored 63 regular season goals over three campaigns with the Rebels from
2014 to 2017. She collected 57 assists for 120 points in 80 career regular
season games.
Focht is in
her fourth full season with the Rebels, and has collected 45 assists and 105
points in 90 career regular season games with her hometown team. She is one of
19 players in the history of the SFMAAAHL to record 105 or more regular season
points.
In Sunday’s
clash with the Bears, the Rebels took a 1-0 lead in the opening frame with a
goal from Allee Gerrard.
 |
| Lauren Focht has 105 points in 90 career regular season games. |
Before the
first period expired, Shaelyn Myers scored for the Rebels to force a 2-2 tie.
Brick
scored the only goal in the second period to give the Rebels a 3-2 advantage.
Focht and Megan Hayhurst sealed a Regina victory with power-play goals in the
third.
Chantel
Weller stopped 18 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Rebels, who top the
SFMAAAHL standings with a 14-0-1 record.
Janae
Neufeld turned away 26 shots to take the setback in goal for the Bears.
The Bears,
who will host the Esso Cup national female midget AAA championship tournament
in April of the new year, fell to 9-7-1, but they continue to sit third in the
SFMAAAHL.
Sunday’s
contest finished off a stretch for the Rebels where they played three contests
in less than 48 hours. They won all three of those games in regulation time.
Both the
Rebels and Bears now depart on their respective Christmas breaks.
The Rebels
return to regular season action on Saturday, Jan. 4 in the new year when they
host the Battlefords Sharks (7-9) at 8 p.m. at the Co-operators Centre in
Regina.
The Bears
return to regular season play on Friday, Jan. 3 in the new year when they host
the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats (11-1) at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser
Centre.
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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