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| I’m dressed in a signature look for Saturday’s WHL game in Prince Albert. |
It seems a bit weird to do this now. Due to the way life has dealt out the cards, I wasn’t able to get back into the WHL rinks as quickly as I wanted.
I got out to scout a game in Regina between the host Pats and the Everett Silvertips on Oct. 29. The next day I covered the PFC final between the Saskatoon Hilltops and host Regina Thunder at Mosaic Stadium, which was won by the host side.
I finally started covering WHL games again in November, and it felt outstanding to be back in the rink. I feel like I am in my good place, when I am covering WHL games, because I’ve had so many great experiences with that circuit covering it over a span of time that now stretches to 24 seasons.
With that said, I’ve been trying to get off the train for some time since the end of the 2021-22 campaign to get recharge time. I will still be around the WHL rinks, as I write columns for the Prince Albert Daily Herald, and I will still be busy with work at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.
When I took a break from producing content for this blog back in July, I replaced with work on a special project I was doing. That special project was putting together a longer reflection feature on the Hilltops run of six straight CJFL title wins from 2014 to 2019 for the team’s first game program of the 2022 campaign. That feature also appeared on this blog.
The Hilltops reflection feature was fun, but transcribing the seven long interviews and crafting everything still took time to do. Plus, spring and especially summer are the busy times at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex, so I was putting in extra hours there in summer.
I didn’t really have any days that were like days off outside of a day here and there I just slept away.
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| At Mosaic Stadium for the PFC final on October 30. |
If you decide to do stories and cover games of one team, you have decided you won’t be doing stories or covering games of another team. You throw in juggling time where family needs you and all of a sudden you are wondering where weeks and months disappeared to.
Starting in
August of 2021 when the Hilltops got back into action after the 2020 CJFL
season was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has
gripped the world, I’ve been going non-stop. When the WHL returned to full
regular season play for the 2021-22 campaign, I hit the ground running covering
games from the opening night of the regular season on October 1, 2021. I also got in a handful of University of Saskatchewan Huskies events mainly games involving the football team.
When the
sports world started to return to normal for the 2021-22 season, there were
still no guarantees if seasons would play out. A year ago at this time, you
needed to show proof of vaccination for COVID-19 to get into most sports
facilities in Canada.
Outside of
going to a wedding for my niece in early September of 2021, I avoided all big
gathering events on the social front. The only big gather events I went to were
the games I covered, and I got out to those lots.
There are
times people are shocked to hear I haven’t been to a Saskatchewan Roughriders
game since the Labour Day Classic on September 1, 2019, or since March 15,
2020, I hadn’t gone to events as a ticket buyer until I went to a WWE show at the
SaskTel Centre this past October 2 or went to a smaller venue concert that
expanded to a social night out this past November.
During the
2021-22 campaign, one of my main focuses was to not accidentally be the one
that brought COVID-19 to a team I was covering, because you knew in that
campaign a team would be shut down for two weeks. The WHL was pretty much all
shut down for the first two weeks this past January, and it was due to multiply
positive COVID-19 tests among the member clubs.
It is amazing
how quickly people forgot those things were a reality. It has only been since
the start of the current 2022-23 sports season where I have started to
experiment with going out again to something that is not a sports event I am
working in some capacity.
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| Any time spent with the Valkyries is always a fun time. |
Still, the
train didn’t stop. I elected to cover the Saskatoon Valkyries as they went 7-0
and won the Western Women’s Canadian Football League championship. I hadn’t
been around women’s sports as much as I would have liked since everything
started up again.
The
Valkyries have always been one of my favourite teams, and everything naturally
clicks when I’m around them. I didn’t want to miss out when they returned to
normal play.
In July,
the Hilltops feature consumed my time. In August, the Hilltops started their
2022 campaign, but life threw a wrench in the path.
An
immediate family member found out after a medical appointment in late August a
surgery was needed right away, and that family member had that surgery in early
September. Everything on that front was a resounding success, but that kept me
stapled close to home for six weeks starting in early September taking on extra
responsibilities.
Over that
period of time, the extra responsibilities ate up the time I would have used on
the sports front. When I was writing sports stories and columns, the task
seemed to be harder than normal, which was another sign a break is needed.
In my home
office, I have a stack of WHL game notes from last season, camera equipment I
purchased that I need to test out and there a bunch of other catch up and clean
up tasks I need to do. I am one of those persons that rightly or wrongly likes
to get those tasks done before something becomes a need to do task where you
have to drop everything.
I know
there are people out there that never do catch up tasks until they are need to
do tasks and that is fine, if it works for their lives.
My plan
right now is to not return to this blog until the first week of January 2023 in
the new year. I will still be writing WHL columns for the Prince Albert Daily
Herald, so I will try to do teases from this blog to the Daily Herald pieces in
between now and the first week of January 2023.
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| Tanner Molendyk is heading to the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game. |
Saskatoon
born 17-year-old defenceman Caden Price, who plays for the Kelowna Rockets was
also invited to the Top Prospects Game. Saskatoon area products in Riley Heidt,
who plays for the Prince George Cougars, and Brayden Yager, who plays for the
Moose Jaw Warriors, are both heading to the Top Prospects Game as well. Heidt
and Yager are both 17-year-old centres.
Red Deer Rebels 17-year-old centre Kalan Lind from Shaunavon rounds out the Saskatchewan products heading to the Top Prospects Game.
Of course,
Regina Pats 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard will be the main showcase
player for the Top Prospects Game.
On
Saturday, it was cool to see Medicine Hat Tigers head coach and general manager
Willie Desjardins record his 400th career regular season win as head
coach of the Tigers, when his squad downed the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors 6-3
at Co-op Place. Desjardins is the first to record 400 regular season head
coaching wins behind the bench of the Tigers.
While I
will still be doing work for the Daily Herald and the Gordie Howe Sports
Complex, I am hoping the break from this blog will give me catch up time and
down time. I am also hoping to take part in more Christmas time gatherings. I
am slated to go to one of those this coming Saturday.
With that
noted, the time off from this blog will fly by, and it will be the first week
of January 2023 before any of us know it.
For now as
Winnipeg product and God of pro wrestling Kenny Omega would say, I must bid you
all adieu.
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| Dressed up and looking good with the Hilltops mascot Topper. |
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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