Last meaningful hockey game in Saskatoon felt weird

Contacts’ playoff match may have closed competitive season

Tye Spencer may have netted the season’s final competitive goal.

    It might have been the weirdest feeling night in the short history of Merlis Belsher Place.

    On Thursday, the Saskatoon Contacts faced the Moose Jaw Warriors in Game 3 of a best-of-five Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League playoff series. The Warriors were holding a 2-0 edge in the series going into the game, and the Contacts were trying to stave off elimination.

Normally, a lot was on the line in this contest.

    About two hours before the game, Hockey Canada put out a released that said it was cancelling all its sanctioned events effective on Friday due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. That meant Thursday’s clash would be the final game of the 2019-20 season for the Contacts and Warriors no matter what happened.

    At the moment, it looks like that could be the final meaningful competitive hockey game played in Saskatoon for the 2019-20 campaign.

Ben Wourms-Rowe scored twice for the Warriors on Thursday.

    Due to the timing of that announcement, there was enough time for word to travel around the hockey community in Saskatoon that Thursday’s Contacts game could potentially be it for the overall season.

    Merlis wasn’t anywhere near full but a decent crowd filled into the rink for a midget AAA game with a late 8:30 p.m. puck drop. More people were out than usual for a Contacts contest set for that time slot.

    As cancellations and postponements from all over the sports world have been pouring in during the previous 36 hours before puck drop, Thursday’s playoff clash between the Contacts and Warriors had an ominous tone to it.

    The spectators, including the ones that came to town to support the Warriors, didn’t seem to know how to act. 

Contacts head coach Marc Chartier, fourth from right, is all fired up.

    There was cheering, but there was a lot of socializing in the stands about what had being going in the world.

    It seemed like all the spectators were still processing all that had happened. During social chats, it was obvious each person was dealing with what was happening off the ice in their own way.

    Some member of the Saskatoon Stars female midget AAA team were sitting in the crowd with tears in their eyes having obviously been told their season had come to an end too.

Alex Bernauer jets up ice for the Contacts.

    The coaches on both the Contacts and Warriors told their players before the game what had happened with the hockey announcement, which was only fair. They all knew this would be their last game no matter the outcome.

    Even with that knowledge, a good 65 per cent of the game was played at a high level. During the other 35 per cent, you could tell things on both sides were a bit off.

    Alex Bernauer gave the Contacts a 1-0 lead scoring 61 seconds into the contest. That seemed to give the night an energetic start.

    Atley Calvert netted the equalizer for the Warriors just 3:36 later, and Warriors forward Ben Wourms-Rowe scored twice to give the visitors a 3-1 edge heading into the first intermission.

The crowd at Merlis didn’t seem to know how to act at Thursday’s game.

    After the Warriors took a two-goal lead, it seemed both teams went through a large stretch where the minds were wandering because of the news of the day.

    With 2:25 remaining in the second, the Contacts cut the gap to 3-2 with a goal from forward Riley Girod. Girod’s tally quickly increased the competitive level of the contest that it felt like a playoff game.

    The Warriors extended their edge to 5-2 in the third with power-play goals coming from the sticks of Ethan Peters and Maximus Wanner. Peters scored with 11:07 remaining in the third, while Wanner tallied with 1:58 to play in the frame.

The handshake line on Thursday consisted of fist bumps.

    Contacts rookie forward Tye Spencer rounded out the game’s scoring netting a buzzer beater with 0.1 seconds remaining on the third period clock. That tally made the final outcome 5-3 in favour of the Warriors, who swept the series 3-0.

    Chase Hamm made 39 saves to take the setback in goal for the Contacts. Dylan Ernst turned away 41 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Warriors, who swept the series 3-0.

    The Contacts finished third in the SMAAAHL regular season standings with a 30-12-2 record, while the Warriors were fourth with a 30-13-0-1 record.

    While the Warriors technically advanced to the SMAAAHL championship series, there wasn’t much celebrating due to the fact they won’t play another series. 

Warriors G Dylan Ernst talks to Contacts F Tye Spencer.

    There was a little initial cheer and celebration followed by “a now what happens” look.

    The two sides took part in the handshake line giving fist bumps with their gloves on.

    Both sides proceeded to thank the officials, with the Contacts offering thanks first and the Warriors following. A couple of the initial Contacts leading the thanks line for the officials extended their hands for a handshake.

    That was done likely out of habit.

    The officials shrugged off the handshakes preferring to practice social distancing. The players on both squads offered verbal thanks to the officials, which were received with humility.

    A couple of players managed to exchange courteous elbow bumps with the linesmen.

    After greeting the officials, some of the players on either side began posing for pictures with teammates, relatives and friends before leaving the ice. There were also visits between players from both sides.

    Again it seemed like the players, staff and fans on both sides didn’t really know how to act. The Warriors were happy, but the happiness was tempered knowing they wouldn’t play another game.

Contacts players and supporters pose for a picture after Thursday’s game.

    The Contacts lost, but they weren’t overly disappointed as they had a whole game to digest the fact their season would come to an end that night even if they had won.

    A lot of regulars at various hockey games at various levels in Saskatoon were in attendance on Thursday, and there was a question when everyone would gather again for another game.

    It didn’t seem real to be walking out of Merlis that night to be thinking that might have been the last meaningful competitive hockey game played in Saskatoon on the season.

    The ominous feeling was still there, and it will likely be there until overall life gets closer to normal.

Ridley holding at 3,998 games as Tigers play-by-play voice

Tomorrow was to have been my 4000 broadcast of Tiger hockey games. For the common good because of the virus, that has been put on hold.
Many thanks to the chat and Tiger staff for the hard work they went to In order to make the nite a huge success. Awesome.

— Bob Ridley (@BobRidley_CHAT) March 13, 2020

    The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the scare it created iced what was going to be a special and unique milestone night in the history of the WHL.

    On Thursday, the regular season schedules of all three CHL leagues including the WHL, OHL and QMJHL were paused until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Had the regular season continued, Bob Ridley would have called his 4,000^th game as the play-by-play voice of the Medicine Hat Tigers tonight at the Canalta Centre in Medicine Hat against the visiting Swift Current Broncos.

    At the moment, Ridley’s games called total sits at 3,998 games due to the fact the Tigers were slated to play the Broncos in Swift Current on Friday night, and that was a postponed game as well.

Bob Ridley calls a Tigers playoff game in March of 2019.

    The 75-year-old from Vulcan, Alta., called his 3,998^th game on Tuesday, when the Tigers downed the visiting Red Deer Rebels 4-3 in overtime at the Canalta Centre.

    Centre Ryan Chyzowski scored the winner and his second marker of the contest at the 1:46 mark of the extra frame.

    Ridley is the only play-by-play voice in the history of the Tigers, and his 4,000th game was expected to be a big high point of the team’s 50^th anniversary season. Effort was made to ensure his 4,000th game was scheduled to be a Saturday home contest.

    At the moment, Ridley has called 3,566 of the Tigers 3,567 regular season games, the club’s one standings tiebreaker game, all of their 411 games in the WHL playoffs and all 20 of their contests in the Memorial Cup.

    No one has called more games as the play-by-play voice of one hockey team at any level than Ridley has.

    As it stands right now, someone would have to call 80 games a season for 50 seasons to be able to surpass Ridley’s career total.

    Ridley drove the Tigers team bus over most of that stretch as well.

Bob Ridley calls a game at the 2007 Memorial Cup.

    On Friday, Ridley put out a sweet tweet thanking the staff at the CHAT broadcasting outlet and the Tigers for all the work that was put into what would have been his 4,000^th game.

    At the moment, the night Ridley calls his 4,000 game as the Tigers play-by-play voice is something great to look forward to, when the coronavirus scare comes to an end.

    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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