Young defender’s star continues to rise in
hockey
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| Jaime Bourbonnais, right, gets an award at last year’s 4 Nations Cup. |
She’s suited up with Canada’s senior national women’s hockey team to play at a 4 Nations Cup and a women’s worlds all before her 21st birthday this coming September 9. The day is coming when Bourbonnais will become a household name across Canada, because this young lady from Mississauga, Ont., will make it happen.
Throughout
her hockey career, Bourbonnais, who stands 5-foot-7, is a rarity being a
skilled and elite offensive-defender. She is already one of the top female
players in the world at her position.
Last
Sunday, she was named to the roster for Canada’s national development team for
a three-game series against the United States, and she named captain of the
Canadian side. Canada closed out the series in Lake Placid, N.Y., winning Game
3 by 2-1 final on Saturday. The U.S. took the series 2-1.
The captain
“C” is a great nod of respect for how far Bourbonnais has come and shows how
much of a positive influence she has on her teammates.
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| Jaime Bourbonnais in action at last year’s 4 Nations Cup. |
It was
great to see Hockey Canada entrusted her with a leadership role, and you
already believe that she is going to run with it.
One of the
old clichés in sports is hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.
However,
when talent works hard you get Peyton Manning or Warren Moon. That notion was
told to me by legendary CFL coach and general manager the late Cal Murphy, who
is in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
Bourbonnais
fits the description of talent working hard to become Peyton Manning or Warren
Moon.
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| Jaime Bourbonnais is an elite offensive-defender. |
In her
first games with Canada’s senior national women’s team, Bourbonnais was the
most noticeable player on the ice for Canada, and it can be argued she was
Canada’s best player at that event.
While
Canada fell 5-2 to the United States in the tournament final of that event,
Bourbonnais left one final big impression blasting home a power-play goal in
the third period to account for Canada’s second tally.
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| Jaime Bourbonnais (#25) celebrates a goal at last year’s 4 Nations Cup. |
She helped
Cornell, which is located in Ithaca, N.Y., advance to the National Collegiate
Athletic Association’s Frozen Four women’s hockey championship tournament in
Hamden, Connecticut. The Big Red fell 2-0 in a semifinal match to the
University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Along with
piling up numerous all-star accolades, Bourbonnais was nominated for the Patty
Kaizmaier Award, which is given annually to the top female college ice hockey
player in the United States.
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| Jaime Bourbonnais is destined for big things on the international stage. |
Bourbonnais
is following in family footsteps suiting up for Canada. Her grandfather, Roger,
played centre for Canada’s senior men’s national team in the 1960s and helped
Canada win bronze medals at the world championships in 1966 and 1967 and a
bronze medal at the Winter Olympics in 1968.
He turned
down chances to join the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings in order to pursue a career as
a lawyer.
Jaime has a
big chance of likely eclipsing her grandfather’s accomplishments on the
international stage before her career is finished.
Jaime
Bourbonnais is a great player and you can bet she will still find a way to get
better than she already is. When she hits her peak in the game, it will be
marvellous to behold.
Gordie Howe Sports Complex a winner in IBA
deal
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| Joe Gallagher Field at Gordie Howe Sports Complex. |
On Monday,
Francois-Philippe Champagne, who is the federal Minister of Infrastructure and
Communities, announced with a tweet that included a letter to SaskBuilds that
13 of 25 projects submitted through the Integrated Bilateral Agreement (IBA)
have been approved.
This deal
could potentially bring $896-million into Saskatchewan for infrastructure
projects over the next 10 years.
The
minister added approvals for 11 other projects are expected shortly.
One of the
13 approved projects will see more money go toward the revamp of the Gordie
Howe Sports Complex in Saskatoon. The Gordie Howe Sports Complex is the area of
town that contains numerous sports facilities like Saskatoon Minor Football
Field, Cairns Field, the Geoff Hughes Minor Baseball Complex, Bob Van Impe
Stadium and Gordie Howe Kinsmen Arena.
A
multi-sport indoor athletic training facility and a track and field are the
newest additions to the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.
The amount
of money that will flow into the Gordie Howe Sports Complex wasn’t divulged.
The master plan for the facility said that $62-million would be spent on
improvements, and as of July of last year, $42-million was raised towards that
goal.
Since July
of last year, fundraising has continued and construction has continued to
proceed as funds came in.
Overall,
this is a win for Saskatoon.
Another win
for Saskatoon on the cultural and arts front is the fact funding for a new site
for Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan has been approved through the IBA deal. Again,
no figures were released regarding what will go to this project.
With that
said, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan has become an important staple in
Saskatoon, so that is another win for the city with regards to the IBA deal.
Expect new WHL rink talk to heat up in Sask.
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| The Raiders raise the Ed Chynoweth Cup last May at the Art Hauser Centre. |
The
proposed multiplex would include an aquatics centre, two smaller rinks and a
larger rink that would be the new home of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders.
This
project was not approved as the federal government deemed the Raiders to be a semi-professional
sporting franchise.
In a post
on Thursday, I wrote that Prince Albert deserves such a facility. If you want
to see that piece again, you can do so by clicking right here.
Going
forward into the future, it will be interesting to see how the various levels
of government treat building rinks for WHL teams in Saskatchewan.
It is safe
to say over the last four years the idea of building new rinks in three other
Saskatchewan WHL centres in Regina, Saskatoon and Swift Current has been test
floated out there.
In August
of 2011, Mosaic Place opened in Moose Jaw giving the WHL’s Warriors a new 4,414
seat rink to play out of plus standing room.
Since there
have been notions to build new rinks in Prince Albert, Regina, Saskatoon and
Swift Current, one wonders how those notions will evolve going into the future.
Not like my
two cents really matters, but I would like to see government money used to help
Prince Albert and Swift Current get new facilities first before the two bigger
centres. In Prince Albert and Swift Current, you can get their WHL clubs and
midget AAA teams all located in one building creating a great sports centre for
those communities and surrounding areas.
The people
in Prince Albert and Swift Current have shown strong support for their
respective WHL and midget AAA teams.
With that
said, just because I have those thoughts doesn’t mean they will become a
reality.
Will IBA influence CHL class action
lawsuits?
One has to
wonder if the Integrated Bilateral Agreement (IBA) between Canada’s federal
government and Saskatchewan will have an effect on the CHL class action
lawsuits?
Charney
Lawyers PC, a firm specializing in class action lawsuits, has filed lawsuits on
behalf of former CHL players against the CHL and its member major junior
leagues in the WHL, OHL and QMJHL. The lawsuits content the players of major
junior hockey teams are employees of their member clubs and should be entitled
to minimum wage and overtime pay.
The IBA
deal between the federal government and Saskatchewan views major junior teams
as semi-professional teams. That could be interpreted as a tidbit that could
help those making the class action lawsuits against the CHL and its member leagues.
Don’t expect
decisions on this front to be made any time soon. Litigation has been ongoing
since these lawsuits were filed in October of 2014.
I don’t
want to speculate what type of decisions could be made. I know in Canada’s
court system that anything can happen even if it is viewed as remote.
Typically
in Canada’s court system, nothing happens fast. If this comes to an end within
the next five years, I would be very surprised.
What
will happen with Board of Trustees for Huskie Athletics?
During the
final week of June of this year, five out of the six external community member
resigned from the board that was part of a governance model for the U of
Saskatchewan Huskies teams.
The resignations
included David Dube, who was the board’s chairperson, Diane Jones Konihowski,
David Sutherland, Tom Anselmi and Ken Juda.
The Board
of Trustees includes five representatives from the university. The creation of
the board was announced in September of 2016, and it became active on Nov. 1,
2016.
Under a new
governance model that saw the Board of Trustees become a reality, the board was
to advice and guide Huskie Athletics, who play out of U Sports, and report to U of S president Peter
Stoicheff.
The
external members resigned over a feeling of frustration regarding the influence
they had on the athletic program.
Since the
details came out via mainstream media outlets during the first week of July,
all has been quiet on the Board of Trustees front.
To me, I
just see it as a university political squabble. I think the board members who
resigned had good intentions towards Huskie Athletics.
I believe
Stoicheff has good intentions towards Huskie Athletics. Stoicheff is also
tasked as part of his job with ensuring the university has proper oversight
over anything that has the institution’s name.
This whole
concept hasn’t really been around long enough to judge if it is good or bad.
The board
was around when the departure of legendary Huskies football head coach Brian
Towriss was mishandled in December of 2016, but Stoicheff took responsibility
and apologized for how that news came down.
That
episode has long since blown over, and Towriss is a regular visitor at various
events involving Huskies football.
It will be
interesting to see how the U of S as an institution proceeds from here.
Hardy a welcome addition for Huskies
One spot
where the U of Saskatchewan Huskies hit a massive home run was when Dave Hardy
was named the chief athletics officer on Aug. 7.
He
officially started his new position last Monday.
At age 71,
Hardy takes over the top job with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies
program from Shawn Burt, who recently stepped down to be closer to family in
Ontario.
Hardy has a
storied career in the Saskatoon school system as a teacher, principle and
school superintendant. He is a former president of Vancouver College, and he
led that institution to new heights in academic and athletic excellence.
That
included facilitating a capital fundraising campaign that exceeded $20 million.
In
Saskatoon, he is widely remember for guiding the Saskatoon Hilltops as head
coach for 10 seasons from 1988 to 1997. The Hilltops won two Canadian Junior
Football League titles in 1991 and 1996 under Hardy’s guidance.
He is an
alumnus of the Huskies men’s basketball team, and coached basketball for
extended stints during his time in the Saskatoon school system.
Hardy has
made a big positive impact on the community of Saskatoon during his life. It is
safe to say the news that he has become the Huskies CAO has been well received
in Saskatoon.
Optimism is
high the Huskies program will accomplish great things under his watch.
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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