Celebration is deserved for CFL Draft selections

Nelson Lokombo in action for the Huskies in 2019.

They’ve worked their butts off and deserve a moment of celebration.

On Tuesday, the annual CFL Draft was held by the beleaguered Canadian professional football circuit which wasn’t able to hit the field for a season in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

Due to public health orders and restrictions that are still in place to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, the start of a possible 2021 CFL season has been pushed back from June 10 to August 5. Each team is slated to play 14 regular season games each as opposed to the normal length of 18 regular season games.

As it stands right now, the last CFL game that was played was on Nov. 24, 2019 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alta., when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers thumped the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-12 to win the Grey Cup.

While the CFL wasn’t able to hit the field in 2020, players who were selected in Tuesday’s CFL Draft should take every opportunity to enjoy the moment. They put in a lot of hard work and made a tonne of sacrifices to get to this point.

The draftees that play out of Canada had to preserver though an unprecedented 2020, where the football league in U Sports and the CJFL weren’t able to hold campaigns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Connor Berglof in action for the Huskies in 2019.

Football has been a passion for a long time for the draftees. Being selected in the CFL Draft is still a huge accomplishment.

The latest CFL Draft was a good day for both the University of Saskatchewan Huskies and the University of Regina Rams.

The Huskies had three players taken in the draft including defensive backs Nelson Lokombo and Josh Hagerty along with centre Connor Berglof.

The Rams had two players selected in linebacker Robbie Lowes and running back Kyle Borsa.

On the Huskies front, Lokombo was the most well-known CFL prospect as he was named the U Sports defensive player of the year and a first team all-Canadian all-star in 2019.

That season, Lokombo, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 190 pounds, topped the Huskies with four interceptions, and he returned two of those interceptions for touchdowns during the regular season.

The Abbotsford, B.C., product posted 23.5 total tackles, 2.5 sacks and four pass breakups during the regular campaign, which saw the Huskies post a 5-3 record.

Josh Hagerty in action for the Huskies in 2019.

The 22-year-old, who has played three complete seasons with the Huskies, can play every position in the defensive secondary and could likely slide into an outside linebacker spot if needed.

Connor Berglof kept up the Huskies reputation as being “O-line U” getting selected in the third round and 24^th overall by the Ottawa Redblacks. 

The graduate of Saskatoon’s Tommy Douglas Collegiate Tigers high school football team was the Huskies starting centre in 2019 and picked up all-Canadian all-star honours in his third campaign of U Sports eligibility.

The 24-year-old Berglof, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 300 pounds, became the third starter from the Huskies O-line in 2019 to be selected in the CFL Draft.

In the 2020 CFL Draft, left guard Mattland Riley was picked in the first round and seventh overall by the Roughriders, and right tackle Nick Summach was selected in the seventh round and 57^th overall by the Edmonton Football Club.

Hagerty rounded out the Huskies that were picked in the 2021 CFL Draft going in the sixth round and 47^th overall to the Toronto Argonauts.

Robbie Lowes (#32) recovers a fumble for the Rams in 2018.

The 22-year-old, who is a graduate of Regina’s Campbell Collegiate Tartans high school team, had 13.5 tackles and one interception playing six regular season games for the Huskies in 2019. Hagerty, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 200 pounds, has played three seasons for the Huskies and has a huge upside.

He has the potential to be one of those players where people will look back and not believe he was a sixth round CFL Draft selection.

On the Rams side of things, both Lowes and Borsa were selected by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Lowes was the first to go off the board being taken in the fourth round and 34^th overall. The 25-year-old, who is a graduate of Regina’s Michael A. Riffel High School Royals football team, collected 35 total tackles, two forced fumbles, two blocked kicks, one interception and one fumble recovery helping the Rams post a 3-5 record in 2019.

Lowes, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 205 pounds, played two complete seasons with the Rams after spending three seasons in the CJFL split between the Regina Thunder and the Langford, B.C., based Westshore Rebels.

Kyle Borsa in action for the Rams in 2018.

The Bombers picked Borsa in the fifth round and 39^th overall. The 22-year-old last played for the Rams in 2018 and was forced to miss the 2019 U Sports football season serving a 16-month suspension after testing positive for a banned substance.

In the 2018 campaign, Borsa, who stands 6-feet and weighs 185 pounds, appeared in all eight of the Rams regular season games carrying the ball 96 times for 613 yards scoring six touchdowns. He caught 16 passes for 227 yards with one of those receptions going for a major score.

Borsa piled up 1,340 all-purpose yards in 2018, which was the second highest total for a Rams player in one season in the team’s U Sports history.

Also, former Rams linebacker Nick Cross, who played the 2019 campaign with the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds, went in the first round and ninth overall to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The 21-year-old Cross, who stands 6-feet and weighs 182 pounds, appeared in all eight regular season games for the Thunderbirds in 2019 piling up 66.5 tackles and returned one interception 17 yards for a touchdown.

Cross is a graduate of Regina’s Dr. Martin Leboldus High School Golden Suns football team.

Nick Cross, left, with Nicholas Dheilly in 2019.

For the players that were selected in Tuesday’s CFL Draft, their hard work resulted in the realization of a dream.

No matter what is happening in the world outside of the control of these players, their draft selections are an accomplishment they have every right to savour and enjoy.

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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CFL keeps on keeping on with CFL Draft

Circuit faces unprecedented questions, uncertainty

Andrew Harris in action for the Bombers in 2017.

It will be a CFL Draft like no other, because the Canadian professional football circuit is facing uncertainty the likes it has never seen before.

On Tuesday, the CFL will hold a CFL Draft that will last six rounds. The first two rounds will be shown on TSN at 5 p.m. Saskatchewan time.

Normally for a prospect player that is selected in the CFL Draft, they take a step towards playing in a CFL game one day. A likelihood still exists drafted prospects will attend a CFL camp, but not make a roster to play in a CFL game.

For the prospects that are selected in Tuesday’s CFL Draft, they might not even get to see a CFL training camp let alone a regular season game.

That is the reality of the CFL as it attempts to operate with a world having been stuck in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic dating back to about March 11, 2020.

The CFL already has one full draft class that has never seen the field at a CFL training camp. The players who were selected in the 2020 CFL Draft in late April of that year saw the entire CFL season get cancelled.

The league’s nine teams ultimately never did bring players together for any training camp activities.

The CFL pushed for government funding to be able to hold a season in 2020, but the funding the circuit sought never game.

Actually, post-secondary football wasn’t played anywhere in U Sports or the Canadian Junior Football League in 2020, so most of the players from Canada that could be drafted haven’t played a season since 2019.

On top of the pandemic this year, there is another elephant in the room that looms over everything the CFL does – the XFL.

On March 10, news broke that saw the CFL and XFL reveal they’re poised to begin serious discussions about a potential partnership. The XFL is the spring start up league in the United States that was bought out of bankruptcy in August of 2020 by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Dany Garcia and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital.

According to the XFL’s website, RedBird Capital managers US$4-billion in assets.

There is speculation that these potential partnership discussions are moving in the direction of full merger.

How real this speculation is can be debated.

On April 26, The Canadian Press reported U Sports, the CJFL, the Canadian Football Officials Association and Football Canada sent a joint policy letter to CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie for consideration.

The letter requested the CFL remains committed to essential rule components of Canadian Football in Canada.

This includes traditional field width and length between goal-lines and having 12-players per side. The letter requested the CFL maintains the current mandate of starter and roster positions for national players.

The joint policy letter wouldn’t have been sent, if there wasn’t concern for how far the discussions between the CFL and XFL have gone.

Brendon LaBatte (#57) in action for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2017.

On March 29, the community owned Winnipeg Blue Bombers announced an overall loss of $6,982,217 for 2020.

The Bombers won the Grey Cup in 2019, which was the last time the CFL held a season. For 2019, the Bombers posted a $3.5-million operating profit.

The Winnipeg franchise is viewed as one of the healthiest clubs in the CFL. If the Bombers lost close to $7-million in 2020, one wonders what the losses were for the eight other CFL teams.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Edmonton Football Club will eventually have to present their financial statements for 2020 being both community owned franchises.

It should be noted that no new ownership groups or entities in Canada have shown any interest in stepping up to take stewardship of the CFL.

On top of all that, the CFL has to deal with the spectre of the NFL.

In November of 2020, Ambrosie told the Rod Pedersen Show he had talked with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, but there wouldn’t be financial support from the NFL to help the CFL work through its losses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 1997, the NFL provided a US$3-million interest free loan to the CFL, which was struggling financially at the time. In return, the NFL was granted access to CFL players entering a two-month window in the option year of their contracts.

The CFL turned the corner financially and repaid that loan and the agreement with the NFL expired in 2006.

That agreement was done when Paul Tagliabue was the commissioner of the NFL. It was viewed that this move by the NFL helped give a boost to the game of football and the CFL in Canada.

On March 30, the NFL announced it would be looking at hosting neutral site regular season games in Canada along with Europe, Mexico, South America and the United Kingdom as the league increases its regular season schedule from 16 games per team to 17 games per team starting this coming campaign.

Does that mean the NFL is looking to get more of a footing in Canada?

While three-down football is played at all levels in Saskatchewan, the four-down version of the game is played at the grassroots level in other locations like the greater Toronto area and the greater Vancouver area. Together, both those areas make up a sizable portion of Canada’s population.

Noting that, the joint policy letter from U Sports, the CJFL, the Canadian Football Officials Association and Football Canada didn’t make mention about games using either three or four downs.

Ultimately, the CFL might not take the field again in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, even though it is still trying to conduct business as normal as possible.

On April 21, the CFL announced it was pushing the start of its regular season back from June 10 to August 5. Each club is slated to play a 14-game regular season as opposed to an 18-game regular season.

In 2020, the CFL went through scenarios regarding shortened campaigns before the season was cancelled.

Due to the fact there is no certainty mass gatherings will be allowed in Canada in the size that will allow the CFL to have a strong enough income from ticket sales to go ahead despite vaccine rollouts for COVID-19, the CFL is looking at repeating 2020 in 2021.

Evan Johnson (#64) locks up on a block for the Ottawa Redblacks in 2019.

Thanks to the fact the 2020 season was lost and the 2021 campaign might not go ahead, some CFL veterans have already decided to retire from the game and move on to the next part of their life.

For the players that are taken in the 2021 CFL Draft that will be held Tuesday, the draft selection will still be a great accomplishment. Those prospect players will work hard to play, but there is a very real chance they won’t have a CFL league to play in.

As it stands right now, the last CFL game that was played was the Bombers 33-12 Grey Cup win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Nov. 24, 2019 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alta.

That might go down as the last game ever played in the storied history of the CFL.

Cote joins Huskies, other notes

Brandin Cote will be reuniting with first WHL head coach.

On April 26, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies announced Cote will be the new associate coach for the athletic program’s men’s hockey team. Cote had been an assistant coach with his hometown WHL in the Swift Current Broncos since the start of the 2018-19 season.

The Broncos closed their developmental 24-game regular season this past Wednesday falling 6-5 in overtime to the Prince Albert Raiders playing in the WHL East Division bubble at the Brandt Centre in Regina.

The 40-year-old Cote will begin his new position with the Huskies on July 1.

Cote will join legendary head coach Mike Babcock on the Huskies bench. Babcock, who is famous from his time in the NHL and leading Canada’s men’s Olympic team to two gold medal wins, is serving as the Huskies interim volunteer head coach for two seasons taking over for long time and legendary Huskies head coach Dave Adolph, whose retirement became official on Saturday.

Cote played for Babcock as an associate player call up in 1996-97 and three seasons from 1997 to 2000 with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs, when Babcock finished up his time as Chiefs head coach.

Cote was a career member of the Chiefs serving as the team’s captain after Babcock moved on to the professional ranks. From 1996 to 2002, the shifty centre played in 352 career regular season games with the Chiefs collecting 101 goals and 154 assists.

In the 2001-02 campaign, Cote won the Humanitarian of the Year awards for the WHL and CHL.

He went on to a career spanning eight seasons in the professional ranks playing in the AHL, the East Coast Hockey League as well as leagues in Germany, Italy and England.

Cote was an assistant coach of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders in 2016-17 and was an assistant coach with the Red Deer College Kings men’s hockey team in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association ranks in 2013-14. He served as the Kings associate coach in 2017-18.

With this move, it is believed Cote could take on the role of becoming the Huskies head coach one day.

• On Friday, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies posted a heartfelt piece regarding long time and legendary men’s hockey team head coach Dave Adolph. Adolph’s retirement became official on Saturday. The piece the Huskies posted on their website on Friday contains interviews from the 17 players that served as captains during Adolph’s time as head coach from 1993 to 2021. The captains talked about how much Adolph meant to the program and themselves personally. The piece can be found by clicking right here.
• Last Wednesday, the Formula 1 announced the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, Quebec, has been cancelled for a second straight year due to public health protocols brought in to battle COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s race had been scheduled for June 13. The Turkish Grand Prix will replace the Canadian Grand Prix for the weekend of June 11 to 13.
• Last Wednesday, Softball Canada announced it has cancelled all 10 of its Canadian fast pitch and slo-pitch championships for a second consecutive year. Softball Canada made the decisions due to the public health protocols and travel restrictions that are in place in Canada to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
• On Friday, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced the 2021 women’s world hockey championship has been rescheduled for Aug. 20 to 31 at a location to be announced. The IIHF will evaluate venues with Hockey Canada. Women’s worlds were originally scheduled for May 6 to 16 in Halifax and Truno, Nova Scotia. On April 21, Nova Scotia premier Iain Rankin pulled the plug on the tournament over concerns of rising COVID-19 cases in the province.
• Tickets are on sale for the May jackpot for the Saskatchewan Amateur Football Mega 50/50 lottery. The funds from this 50/50 lottery will go to support the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder and the WWCFL’s Saskatoon Valkyries and Regina Riot. The draw date will be May 31. Tickets can be purchased by clicking right here, and purchasers must be in Saskatchewan in order to buy tickets.

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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If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Riley’s day – Huskies OL goes seventh overall to Roughriders

Mattland Riley will be looking to open up huge holes for the Roughriders.

    Mattland Riley will become the latest to live out the Saskatchewan football dream, and he totally deserves that opportunity.

    On Thursday, the Melfort, Sask., product and left guard with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team was selected in the first round and seventh overall by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the CFL Draft. 
    Riley’s selection helps the Huskies uphold their reputation as “O-line U” as the storied U Sports program has a history of sending numerous offensive linemen to the Canadian professional ranks over the years.

    The 23-year-old becomes the latest player to go on the journey of growing up in a smaller Saskatchewan learning the game of football there, moving on to the university ranks and finding his way to the province’s CFL team.

    Riley, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 300 pounds, played high school football in the nine-man ranks with his hometown Melfort and Unit Comprehensive Collegiate Comets before joining the Huskies in the U Sports ranks.

    Over the past two seasons, Riley piled up the individual accolades with the Huskies.

Mattland Riley has been an elite pass protector.

    In 2018, Riley was a Canada West all-star and a second team U Sports all-Canadian all-star. He helped the Huskies win the Hardy Cup as Canada West Conference champions.

    In 2019, Riley was again named a Canada West all-star and a first team U Sports all-Canadian all-star. The Huskies finished second in the Canada West Conference with a 5-3 record and advanced to the Hardy Cup title game falling 29-4 to the eventual U Sports champions and Vanier Cup winners in the University of Calgary Dinos.

    Riley, who has used four years of U Sports eligibility, has all the physical tools to succeed at the professional level. He is really skilled at using his hands to tie up the hands and arms of on-rushing defensive linemen.

    The engineering major has smarts too.

    On top of all that, Riley is pretty down to earth, easy going and enjoys each day as it comes. He is pretty humble and never likes to have himself put in front of his teammates as individual awards pile up.

    When he arrives with the Roughriders, he is going to find he has a lot in common personality wise with veteran star offensive left guard in Brendon LaBatte, who grew up in Weyburn, Sask. The main difference between the two is LaBatte likes to race fast stock cars and does that as a hobby.

    Riley is one who legitimately puts the team first. He knows that if the team succeeds he will ultimately find success.

Mattland Riley, right, was a first team U Sports all-Canadian all-star.

    He always notes he plays along with some really good guys on the Huskies offensive line.

Riley will also get to renew some old football ties and seen an old friend when he begins working out with the Roughriders.

    In late November, the Roughriders signed offensive lineman and fellow Melfort product Logan Ferland to their main roster. Ferland was on the Roughriders practice roster last season and played his fifth and final CJFL campaign at left tackle with the Regina Thunder.

    Riley and Ferland were former teammates on the Comets and will now get to reunite in the professional ranks.

    While the spectre of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hangs over the world having shutdown most walks of life in Canada, Riley has continued to work out at home turning the spare room at his place into a weight room.
    On Thursday, he got to enjoy a great day as all the hard work he has put in and continues to put in has resulted in the chance to live out the Saskatchewan boyhood dream, because he will have a chance to play for the Roughriders.

Mattland Riley, right, is at locking up a D-lineman’s hands.

    Overall, Riley was one of five Huskies player to be selected in the CFL Draft. Defensive end Nicholas Dheilly, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 230 pounds, was selected 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 picked in the sixth round and 48^th overall by the Toronto Argonauts.

    Right tackle, Nick Summach, who stands 6-foot-8 and weighs 330 pounds, was selected in the seventh round and 57^th overall by the Edmonton Eskimos. Summach’s selection helps further cement the Huskies reputation as “O-line U.”

    Utility player Colton Klassen, who stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 200 pounds, went in the eighth round and 69^th overall to the Montreal Alouettes. Klassen made an amazing recovery from a season ending broken right leg.

    Defensive end Tom Schnitzler, who played for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds and is an alumnus of the 22-time CJFL champion Saskatoon Hilltops, was selected in the eighth round and 72^nd overall by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Schnitzler, who stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 245 pounds, is an accomplished long snapper too.

Mattland Riley (#55) has enjoyed being part of the Huskies O-line.

    The University of Regina Rams had two players picked in the CFL Draft.

    Offensive lineman Theren Churchill, who stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 280 pounds, went in the first round and ninth overall to the Toronto Argonauts.

    Offensive lineman Andrew Becker, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 280 pounds, was selected in the sixth round and 49^th overall.

    The British Columbia Lions traded up to get the first overall selection from the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL Draft. In a trade that was announced at the draft, the Lions sent the third and 12^th overall selections to the Stampeders for the first overall pick and 15^th overall selection.

    With the first overall pick, the Lions selected linebacker Jordan Williams, who stands 6-feet and weighs 230 pounds, from the East Carolina University Pirates football team in the NCAA Division I ranks.

CFL seeks financial aid from federal government, other notes

Will the COVID-19 pandemic crush the CFL?

    On Tuesday evening, The Canadian Press broke a story the CFL was looking to the Canadian federal government for financial assistance due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    After The Canadian Press broke that story, it blew up on all of Canada’s mainstream media outlets. It was even covered by FOX News in the United States.

    The CFL is looking for $30-million in Canadian funds now to manage the impact COVID-19 has had on league business. The circuit is asking for additional assistance for an abbreviated regular season and up to another $120-million in Canadian funds for a completely lost season.

    In other words, the CFL is looking for $150-million in financial assistance if its nine teams are unable to play the 2020 regular season and playoffs.

    The CFL isn’t the only sports organization looking for financial assistance from a government in Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 22, the British Columbia Hockey League, which is a junior A circuit, asked the provincial government in B.C. for financial aid.

    On Tuesday, the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, which is a junior B circuit that has 19 out of its 20 located in B.C., said in a release it will be seeking financial assistance from both the B.C. provincial government and the Canadian federal government.

Will fun times like this return to Mosaic Stadium in Regina?

    On Wednesday, it came out the Canadian Premier League, which is an eight-team professional soccer league, is asking the Canadian federal government for $15-million in financial aid.

    Also on Wednesday on the profession basketball front, Devin Heroux of CBC Sports reported the Canadian Elite Basketball League is looking for a $5-million loan from the Government of Canada to help with finances.

    I have no problem with the CFL going after financial assistance from the Government of Canada. I believe the CFL is a Canadian institution that needs to be preserved.

    I could see the CFL folding if it doesn’t have a season in 2020 and doesn’t receive financial assistance.

    Actually, I do not have a problem with any sports league, sports entity or non-sports business seeking out financial assistance from the Canadian federal government of any of Canada’s provincial governments.

    In order to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, all these governments have ordered shutdowns and prevented all of these entities from doing business. The ability of any of these outlets to bring in revenue has been extremely hampered due to no fault of their own.
    It is highly unlikely any of these sports leagues, sports entities or businesses would be asking for aid if a pandemic didn’t happen. 

Will Canadians like Evan Johnson (#64) be able to show off their skill.

    If the pandemic didn’t happen, all of these entities would go on with business as usual and be healthy.

    They weren’t mismanaged, and they didn’t ask to be forced to shut down by governments.

    If you shut down the entire whole non-essential work sector in society, there will be massive consequences, and these financial aid requests are part of the consequences.

    On Wednesday, Global News national telecast said Statistics Canada had complied data with the cooperation of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and the numbers aren’t good.

    In that story, Statistics Canada said 53 per cent businesses surveyed reported revenue decreases of 20 per cent or more during the first three months of this year compared to the first three month of last year.

    Statistic Canada said one-third of businesses surveyed reported revenues dropped by 40 per cent or more during the first three months of this year compared to the first three months of last year.

    Out of the businesses surveyed, 41 per cent of businesses have been forced to lay off some employees. In the accommodation and food services sector, 24 per cent of those businesses surveyed said they have laid off all of their workers.

Will Zack Evans, right, be able to keep playing in his home city?

    I suspect if you take out what happened in January and February out of that Global News report the gloom of those numbers would be worse.

    I have no problems with sports leagues, sports entities or non-sports businesses asking for financial assistance from governments in these COVID-19 times. I also realize that there is only so much money to go around.

    Unless the governments of Canada elects to throw open the economy for business as usual, it is hard to optimistic about what could happen to these sports leagues, sports entities or non-sports businesses on the business front.

    One thing is for certain, I can’t see life in Canada returning to what it was on March 10 of this year before all the shutdowns happened until after a lengthy stretch of time passes.

• On Wednesday, Donna Spencer of The Canadian Press wrote a story that quoted a trio of people involved with the now defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League being upset about men’s professional sports leagues asking for financial assistance. The CWHL folded on May 1, 2019 due to financial difficulties. The article quoted others who worried this will widen the gender gap in sports. Spencer’s piece can be found by clicking right here.
• On Tuesday, the 2020 Hlinka Gretzky Cup hockey tournament, which is an under-18 national team best versus best event, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hlinka Gretzky Cup was set for Aug. 3 to 8 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta.
• On Tuesday, the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede summer festival scheduled for July 22 to 25 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• On Tuesday, the Clunie-Cooper Memorial Professional Bull Riding event slated for June 12 to 13 at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• On Tuesday, it was announced the Saskatchewan Summer Games set to run July 26 to Aug. 1 in Lloydminster have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are now slated to be held in Lloydminster July 18 to 24 2021.
• On Monday, the Saskatoon Blades signed offensive defenceman Tanner Molendyk to a WHL Standard Player Agreement. The Blades selected the McBride, B.C., product in the first round and fifth overall in the WHL Bantam Draft held on April 22.
• On Wednesday, the Prince Albert Raiders signed defensive defenceman Terrell Goldsmith to a WHL Standard Player Agreement. The Raiders selected the Fort St. James, B.C., product in the first round and 15^th overall in the WHL Bantam Draft held on April 22.
• On Thursday, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team announced that 21-year-old forward and Saskatoon product Dawson Holt has committed to the team. Holt played for four and a bit seasons with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants from 2014 to 2019. Last season, he started the campaign in the WHL with the Regina Pats before joining Vernon Vipers of the British Columbia Hockey League in the junior A ranks.

    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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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.