Huskies’ Klassen ripping up comeback trail

Huskies utility player Colton Klassen was drafted by the CFL’s Alouettes.

    Would the rehab result in a reward he dreamed of?

    Over the past four seasons, Colton Klassen established himself as the heart and soul utility player for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team. With the game breaking plays he made on the field, one wondered if someone in the CFL took notice and would be willing to give him a shot.

    Would Klassen’s named be called in the CFL Draft that was held last Thursday in an online format?

    Some might consider his size of standing 5-foot-8 and weighing 200 pounds as being a detriment to the professional game. When you see him live and you see him on video, all you see is Klassen making explosive and game-changing plays.

Colton Klassen is about to be taken off the field on a cart.

    The CFL dreams for the graduate of Saskatoon’s Holy Cross High School Crusaders football team appeared to have come to a halt on October 26, 2019 at Griffiths Stadium. The Huskies downed the visiting University of Alberta Golden Bears 22-9 to close the regular season, but Klassen went down with a gruesome dislocated right ankle near the end of the first quarter.

    Those that knew Klassen expected the visions of the comeback were already being made when he was being taken off the field on a cart.

    The most optimistic timeframe would have seen Klassen ready in time for the Huskies to begin their next regular season in September of 2020. Klassen set his sights on being ready for CFL combine activities in March of this year.

Colton Klassen, left, pulls away from a U of Manitoba Bisons defender.

    Even if Klassen was ready and performed well in CFL combine activities, there was a notion that it still might not be enough to erase doubts in the minds of those who make decisions in CFL player personnel departments. CFL clubs could elect to see how Klassen performed with the Huskies in his fifth and final year of U Sports eligibility to confirm that the horrific injury from last season truly healed up.

    Klassen started healing up like the fictional superhero Wolverine. He meticulously followed the instructions of the team around him that was helping him with his rehab.

    Dr. Mark Ernst performed the surgery to repair Klassen’s ankle. Physiotherapists Stephanie Peppler and Mitch Dahl set Klassen on a path that allowed him to rebuild the strength in his ankle and help him regain his range of motion.

Colton Klassen is a heart and soul member of the Huskies.

    Massage Therapist Gerrit Delver helped ready Klassen’s ankle for his workouts.
    He made unbelievable progress on a week to week basis. Klassen was invited to a CFL regional combine, and he was going to be ready for that event, which was ultimately cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    Before the shutdowns intensified in late March to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, Ignite Athletes was able to run athletes through testing at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. Klassen ran the 40-yard dash in under 4.6 seconds.

    Klassen did the work and received miraculous results in return. He handled what he could control in outstanding fashion.

    The question remained. Would it be enough?

    Round after round went past in last Thursday’s CFL Draft, and after seven rounds were complete, Klassen’s name had yet to be called.

    Over those first seven rounds, four of Klassen’s teammates with the Huskies heard their names called.

    Offensive left guard Mattland Riley, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 300 pounds, was selected in the first round and seventh overall by the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Colton Klassen plays receiver, running back and returns kicks.

    Defensive end Nicholas Dheilly, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 230 pounds, was picked in the fifth round and 46^th overall by the defending Grey Cup champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
    Receiver Sam Baker, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 205 pounds, was taken in the sixth round and 48^th overall by the Toronto Argonauts.

    Right tackle, Nicholas Summach, who stands 6-foot-8 and weighs 330 pounds, was selected in the seventh round and 57^th overall by the Edmonton Eskimos.

    All that remained was the eighth and final round that contained nine selections. After four more selections were announced, Klassen was still waiting to hear his name to be called.
    Would the CFL dream not materialize?

    Finally with the 69^th overall selection, Klassen was drafted by the Montreal Alouettes. It was the fifth last selection in the draft.

Colton Klassen can make tough catches in traffic.

    At that moment, it seemed liked someone noticed Klassen was named the offensive player of the year for the Prairie Football Conference playing his final season in the CJFL ranks in 2015 with the Regina Thunder. Klassen led the conference with 911 yards rushing coming on 117 carries and scoring five touchdowns.
    Someone saw that Klassen agreed to move into a slot position receiver role in the Canadian University ranks after being approached about the move by current Huskies head coach Scott Flory.

    In 2018, Klassen hauled in 38 passes for 676 yards and scored eight touchdowns earning accolades as a Canada West all-star. Someone saw that.

    Someone saw Klassen catch 37 passes for 456 yards and two touchdowns last season and once again earn Canada West all-star accolades.

Colton Klassen has celebrated many big plays with the Huskies.

    Someone kept up with the news on how Klassen’s rehab was going.

    Klassen is going to get his CFL chance. Besides playing running back and receiver, he can return kicks too.
    When he gets to audition for a position with the Alouettes at a training camp, Klassen’s ace card is his versatility. If has the opportunities to hold for field goals or maybe unload the odd punt, he should try to do that too.

    The more he shows off his versatility the more valuable he is going to be. The Alouettes coaches and management will have their hands forced to hold on to a national player that has a number of skills for the game and can make plays.

    Klassen has earned his chance to make it to the CFL as a drafted player. The fact his CFL dream didn’t go down on that Oct. 26th day last year when he dislocated his right ankle makes his journey look that much more remarkable.

Canada West scoring champ embraces NWHL, other notes

I’m so incredibly grateful for the past 5 years with @PandasHockey! Excited to start this next chapter with the @BuffaloBeauts👊 https://t.co/MHdDJ7lgkT

— Autumn MacDougall (@Auttiemac) April 29, 2020

    Autumn MacDougall is taking her talents to the National Women’s Hockey League.

    On Wednesday, the 22-year-old star forward, who just graduated from the University of Alberta Pandas women’s hockey team, was selected in the third round and 14^th overall by the Buffalo Beauts in the NWHL Draft.
    This past season, MacDougall played out her fifth and final season of U Sports eligibility with the Pandas leading the Canada West Conference in scoring for the second time in her career. The Cole Harbour, N.S., product piled up 17 goals and 14 assists for 31 points appearing in all of the Pandas 28 regular season games.

Autumn MacDougall in action for the Pandas in October of 2016.

    MacDougall was named a first team Canada West all-star and a first team U Sports all-Canadian all-star.

    She helped the Pandas finish first in Canada West with a 20-8 record and win the Canada West Conference title for a second straight year.

    The Pandas never got to play at the U Sports nationals held in March in Charlottetown, P.E.I., because the event was called off after the first day of play on March 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    MacDougall, who stands 5-foot-1, had a storied career with the Pandas. In the 2016-17 campaign, she helped the Pandas win their eight U Sports national title in team history.

    In 2017-18, MacDougall won her first Canada West scoring title piling up 12 goals and 18 assists for 30 points appearing in all of the Pandas 28 regular season games. She picked up first team Canada West all-star honours and first team U Sports all-Canadian all-star honours.

    In 2018-19, MacDougall piled a career high 35 points coming off 14 goals and 21 assists appearing in all of the Pandas 28 regular season games. She finished second in the Canada West scoring race behind teammate Alex Poznikoff.
    MacDougall again picked up first team Canada West all-star honours and was named a second team U Sports all-Canadian all-star.

Autumn MacDougall in action for the Pandas in February of 2018.

    All total, MacDougall appeared in 139 career regular season games with the Pandas posting 58 goals and 67 assists for 125 points. She is the sixth all-time leading scorer in the history of the Pandas program.

    MacDougall holds the Pandas records for career regular season power-play goals (24) and game-winning goals (18).

    On Twitter, MacDougall said she was excited to start the next chapter of her hockey career with the Beauts.

    Last Wednesday, the NWHL also put out a tweet great complementary quote on MacDougall from her Pandas head coach in Howie Draper.

    MacDougall is the first player from the Canada West Conference to be selected in the NWHL Draft.

    The NWHL was founded in 2015 by Dani Rylan, who serves and the circuit’s commissioner. It just finished its fifth season of operation and recently grew from five to six teams adding an expansion club in Toronto.

    This season’s Isobel Cup championship game slated for March 13 between the host Boston Pride and Minnesota Whitecaps was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fate of that contest still hasn’t been determined.

    The NWHL used to have a competitor in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League that was founded in 2007 and folded on May 1 of last year.

    After the CWHL folded, the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association was formed as a non-profit, and its members include most of the high-profile players that skate for senior national teams in Canada, the United States and Europe.

Autumn MacDougall and the Pandas celebrated lots of win.

    The PWHPA said it was boycotting the NWHL and any other women’s professional league in North America until players received health insurance and a livable salary.
    Basically, the PWHPA would like to see the NHL come in and have the same relationship the NBA has with the WNBA, where the NBA fully backs the WNBA.

    At the moment, the NWHL splits its revenues 50 per cent with the players on the circuit.

    There is a standoff between the PWHPA and NWHL or more accurately it seems the standoff is between the PWHPA and Rylan.

    Still, it seems that Rylan’s league is attracting skilled players that fall through the cracks when it comes to being scouted or making national team programs. The fact that her league is getting cooperation from coaches like Draper and programs like the Pandas is a big victory for Rylan.

    During a video speech on Twitter on Wednesday, Rylan showed confidence that her circuit will ultimately be able to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Over the past week, the 32-year-old Rylan, who was once the gritty captain of Northeastern University Huskies women’s hockey team in the NCAA Division I ranks, came out with some big wins over her detractors in the PWHPA.

• Jaycee Gebhard, who is an alumna of the Saskatoon Stars female midget AAA team, was selected in the first round and sixth overall by the expansion Toronto club in last Wednesday’s NWHL Draft. The 22-year-old centre was the captain of the Robert Morris University Colonials women’s hockey team in the NCAA Division I ranks. In her final campaign of eligibility with the Colonials this past season, Gebhard piled up 20 goals and 43 assists for 63 points in 36 overall games.
• A pair of players from the Regina Riot powerhouse Western Women’s Canadian Football League team are on the front lines battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Veteran linebacker Adrienne Zuck is a registered nurse at the Regina General Hospital. Julianna Cornish, who played on both the offensive and defensive lines, is an educational assistant and youth care worker at Ranch Ehrlo. Both are doing their parts to get society through this unprecedented tough time. The 2020 WWCFL season was outright cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team got in on the #SocialDistancingChallenge fun. They put together a fun pass the puck video that included contributions from players and players’ family members.

#SocialDistancingChallenge Thanks to @PandasHockey for the nomination. We had fun getting the whole Huskie family involved in this one. @UNBWHockey and @URWomensHockey you’re up! pic.twitter.com/oSNEtP7Qih

— USask Huskie Women's Hockey (@HuskiesWHKY) May 2, 2020

    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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Huskies find ways to win early

U of S women’s hockey team overcomes tough opening games

Pandas F Autumn MacDougall is stopped by Huskies G Cassidy Hendricks.

    Coming out of the gate, it appeared the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team was facing a murderous schedule.

    In their first four games, the Huskies had to hit the road to take on the defending Canada West champion University of British Columbia Thunderbirds twice, and then they returned home to host the University of Alberta Pandas, who are always a conference powerhouse, twice. On paper, a split in each series would be considered a great success for the Huskies.

    There was also a realistic chance the Huskies could play well and still come out of that stretch without a win.

Kaitlin Willoughby netted the shootout winner for the Huskies.

    Under first year head coach Robin Ulrich, the Huskies weren’t phased by the early challenge. After dropping their regular season opener 4-0 in Vancouver to the Thunderbirds on Oct. 7, the Huskies have rolled off three straight wins.

    After falling to the Thunderbirds, the Dogs rebounded the next night downing UBC 5-3, which ended a streak where the Thunderbirds had won eight straight meetings between the two squads.

    On Friday, the Huskies opened their home schedule at the ancient Rutherford Rink with a 2-1 double overtime victory over the Pandas. Offensive defender Leah Bohlken blew home the winner on the power play on a perfect backdoor feed from star winger Kaitlin Willoughby.

    On Saturday at Rutherford, the Huskies completed the sweep of the Pandas pulling out a 2-1 victory after a tiebreaking shootout. Willoughby was the first shooter up in the shootout and netted a beauty goal on a deke that totally fooled Pandas goaltender Dayna Owen.

    That turned out to be the only tally in the tiebreaking session. Veteran Huskies goalie Cassidy Hendricks slammed the door on the three Pandas shooters she faced to deliver her side to victory.

Rachel Lundberg (#15) celebrates her short-handed goal.

    When you play tough opponents like the Thunderbirds and Pandas, who were rated eighth in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport top 10 rankings, the key is to just to find a way to win. That is what the Huskies have done, and Saturday’s game provided the perfect example of just finding a way to get to right side of the scoreboard.

    The Huskies weren’t always at their best. Had it not been for the stellar play of Hendricks, who made 29 stops through regulation and 10 minutes of overtime play, the Huskies wouldn’t have pulled out a sweep.

    The Pandas had the Huskies pinned in their own zone for much of the first period, and at one point, the visitors had a 9-1 edge in shots on goal. U of A was winning every race for loose pucks and taking what seemed like every physical battle for the puck.

    Hendricks was under siege, but the fifth-year standout from North Vancouver played with a trademark calm that has defined her whole university career. She was going to hold her team in the game until her teammates could find some traction.

    When the first 20 minutes ended, the Pandas had outshot the Huskies 16-7. The visitors could have had at least a three-goal edge on the scoreboard, but the two sides were locked in a 0-0 draw.

Rookie Kayla Kirwan has been solid for the Huskies. 

    The hosts found the traction they were looking for early in the second. While on the penalty kill, fifth year defender Alyssa Dobler sprung hard-working second-year forward Rachel Lundberg on a breakaway.

    Lundberg broke into the Pandas zone, wired her first shot off the post, collected the rebound and beat Owen to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. The Dogs found their skating legs, and they played fairly even for the rest of the contest with the Pandas.

    In the third, the Huskies ran into some penalty trouble, which allowed the Pandas to pull even. Playing with a two-person advantage, Pandas sophomore forward Autumn MacDougall buried her second of the season to tie things up at 1-1 shortly before the seven minute mark.

    Before going to overtime, the Pandas had a glorious chance to pull ahead. Third-year forward Amy Boucher found herself on a breakaway late in the third, but she fired a shot wide of the goal.

    During the second five-minute overtime period, Owen had to make a big save on Willoughby, when the Huskies were pressing with all sorts of pressure around the U of A net.

    That set the stage for the shootout, where Willoughby made no mistake in potting the only goal in the tiebreaking session to give her team the win. The Huskies improved to 3-1 as a result.

The Huskies celebrate their shootout victory against the Pandas.

    Owen turned away 22 shots over 70 minutes and two of the three shooters she faced in the shootout as the Pandas record moved to 2-0-2.
    Besides getting clutch contributions from their veterans, the Huskies have also received strong performances from rookie defender Kayla Kirwan and rookie forward Emily Upgang.

    After three big wins in a row, the Huskies now encounter their next challenge, when they hit the road to Lethbridge for two trap style games this coming Friday and Saturday against the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns. The Pronghorns are 1-3, but they have always found a way to give the Huskies difficulties.

    For the moment, the Huskies can take pride in their surprising good start. In the back of their minds, they have to ensure they don’t get too high, so they can focus on their next challenge and keep finding ways to win.

Bauml bashes Bears with hat trick

Kohl Bauml had a hat trick to lead the Huskies to a big road win.

    Kohl Bauml put the U of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team on his back to power them to a huge road victory in Edmonton.

    On Saturday, Bauml fired home a hat trick to lead the defending Canada West champs past the U of Alberta Golden Bears with a 4-2 victory at the Clare Drake Arena. Bauml’s third goal broke a 2-2 tie just 55 seconds into the third period.

    Huskies captain Kendall McFaull added a big insurance marker just past the midway point of the third to cement a two-goal victory. Goaltender Jordon Cooke made 32 saves to give the Dogs a split in their weekend series with their forever rivals. The Bears picked up a 3-2 double overtime victory on Friday.

    In Saturday’s encounter, Jayden Hart and Cole Linaker had singles for the Bears, while netminder Kenny Cameron turned away 24 shots taking the loss in goal.

    With Saturday’s win, the Huskies, who are rated third in the CIS top 10 rankings, improved to 3-0-1. The Bears, who are rated fourth in the CIS top 10 rankings, fell to 1-1.

    The Huskies return to action this coming Friday and Saturday when they host the U of Lethbridge Pronghorns (1-1) at 7 p.m. on both nights at the Rutherford Rink.

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