Blades import RW Sidorov to remain in Saskatoon

Egor Sidorov (#19) celebrates scoring for the Blades on April 8.

Egor Sidorov will be calling Saskatoon home for the foreseeable future.

Sidorov just finished playing through his rookie season at right wing for the Saskatoon Blades appearing in 53 regular season games posting 23 goals, 12 assists and a minus-two rating in the plus-minus department. He also had a goal and two assists in the five post-season games the Blades played against the Moose Jaw Warriors in falling 4-1 in a best-of-seven first round series.

Sidorov is a European import player from Vitebsk, Belarus. Due to Russia’s war with Ukraine that started on February 24, Belarus has faced sanctions due to supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Thanks to instability in that part of the world, Blades general manager Colin Priestner confirmed that Sidorov, who will turn 18-years-old on June 18, will be remaining in Saskatoon.

“He (Sidorov) is going to stay here for the summer,” said Priestner. “We’re working with immigration right now on it.”

The Blades 2021-22 campaign officially came to an end last Friday, when they fell 6-3 to the Warriors in Moose Jaw in Game 5 of their first round series. At the conclusion of that setback, the Blades had to face the reality of Sidorov’s life situation away from the rink in a more definite way.

Sidorov, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 164 pounds, was selected by the Blades in the first round and 20^th overall in the 2021 CHL Import Draft. He made his Blades debut playing in the team’s regular season opener for the 2021-22 campaign on October 1, 2021 in a 7-1 loss to the Warriors in Moose Jaw.

Since that beginning, Sidorov became a fan favourite with his energetic and infectious upbeat demeanour.  He arguably had his most memorable night with the team this past Feb. 12, when he scored a hat trick in a 6-2 win over the visiting Regina Pats at the SaskTel Centre.

Egor Sidorov scored 23 regular season goals as a rookie.

In that contest, Sidorov had more points than Pats 16-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard, who finished that outing with one goal and one assist.

“He (Sidorov) really wants to be here,” said Priestner. “His parents want that too for him, and it would be dangerous to send him home.

“He is going to be an amazing player next year for us, and let’s just hope everything works out with the immigration status.”

Besides becoming a fan favourite, Sidorov is very popular with his Blades teammates. When he has been chosen for post-game radio show interviews with Blades play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk that are done in the SaskTel Centre in front of an audience, usually eight to 10 Blades players follow Sidorov up to act as a cheering section.

The Blades teammates offered that support due to the fact Sidorov usually could only give simple one sentence answers to interview questions for much of the season.

“He (Sidorov) is extremely well liked in that group,” said Priestner. “He didn’t speak a word of English six months ago, and now we did an exit interview without Google translate completely with him.

“It is amazing. He is a great kid. He doesn’t like what is going on over there.”

On April 27, the CHL announced that players from Russia and Belarus will be ineligible for the upcoming CHL Import Draft, which will be held on July 1 via conference call. That decision was made due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with the support of Belarus.

Blades fans enjoy cheering for Egor Sidorov.

Players that are already on the protected lists of CHL teams from Russian and Belarus are not affected by that decision. They will remain eligible to play in the three major junior circuits that fall under the CHL umbrella that includes the WHL, OHL and QMJHL.

Back on March 2, the CHL cancelled the 2022 Canada Russia Series, where all-star teams from the WHL, OHL and QMJHL face a touring Russian junior team. At that time, the CHL condemned Russia’s actions involving military force in Ukraine.

Before CHL sanctions, Russian and Belarusian teams were banned by the International Ice Hockey Federation from its events at all levels until further notice because of the ongoing war in Ukraine. The sport’s governing body removed Russia as host of two major events in the upcoming world junior championship and the 2023 world men’s championship.

Sidorov played for Belarus’s under-20 team at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Division IA Championship that ran from December 12 to 18 in Denmark of that year. In helping Belarus top that event with a 5-0 record, Sidorov recorded two goals, one assist and a plus-one rating.

At the moment, that marks the last time Sidorov has been to Europe.

Priestner said Sidorov told him how Russia and Belarus signed a treaty for greater cooperation in 2000 forming a Union State. Under that agreement, Russia basically has been able to control Belarus.

Priestner said teams in the CHL wants to help the Russian and Belarusian players that came over to play in either the WHL, OHL or QMJHL before the war in Ukraine started.

Egor Sidorov (#19) hugs Blades goalie Nolan Maier.

The Prince Albert Raiders, who are the Blades archrivals, have two Belarusians on their roster in netminder Tikhon Chaika, who turns 19-years-old in August, and left-winger Vladislav Shilo, who turned 19-years-old in March.

“They’re all kind of working under that same let’s keep them here,” said Priestner. “Sending them back is not likely a good outcome for them.”

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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Wheat Kings, Blades, Ice in final sprint for Subway Cup

WHL campaign to conclude at end of regular season

The Wheat Kings do their traditional head bump goal celebration.

For a second straight year, the WHL won’t be handing out the Ed Chynoweth Cup to a league champion.

On Monday, the major junior circuit announced its 2020-21 campaign will officially come to an end at the conclusion of its abbreviated regular season. The decision was made due to ongoing challenges presented by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which include navigating public health orders and restrictions on travel across international and provincial borders.

In the 2020-21 campaign, each team is playing a shortened 24-game regular season which is being held for developmental purposes. Due to some teams experiencing positive COVID-19 tests, nine out of 10 clubs in the B.C. and Central Division will play campaigns that are shorter than 24 games.

The Kelowna Rockets will play an even shorter season due to the fact they had nine games postponed after team activities were suspended due to a coronavirus outbreak. On Wednesday, the WHL announced only one of those contest will be made up meaning the Rockets will play a 16 game regular season.

The B.C. Division’s other four teams in the Kamloops Blazers, Prince George Cougars, Vancouver Giants and Victoria Royals will all play 22-games each.

On Wednesday, the Calgary Hitmen were cleared to return to play after undergoing a 14-day isolation period and a halt of team activities due to a positive COVID-19 test. All members of the Hitmen cohort have tested negative for COVID-19 in the latest round of testing.

The Hitmen had six games postponed. After the WHL announced rescheduled games on Wednesday, the Hitmen learned they will be able to make up three of their lost games meaning they will play 21 regular season contests.

The Hitmen return to play Friday, when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes. The Hurricanes will still get all 24 of their regular season games in.

The Edmonton Oil Kings, Medicine Hat Tigers and Red Deer Rebels will play 23 regular season games each.

The Tri-City Americans have been sidelined due to a positive COVID-19, and they have had five games postponed. No word has been mentioned on dates to make those games up, which means teams in the B.C. Division might not play a 24-game slate as well.

The WHL will still crown champions in each division.

For the East Division, that means the Brandon Wheat Kings, Saskatoon Blades and Winnipeg Ice are engaging in a final sprint for first place and the right to win the Subway Cup. Subway is sponsoring the East Division bubble at the Brandt Centre in Regina and championship trophy that will be given to the first place team.

The Blades have enjoyed a number of wins in the Regina bubble.

The seven clubs in the bubble in Regina have not had their schedules disrupted due to positive COVID-19 tests.

Currently, the Brandon Wheat Kings have the inside track to first place extending their current winning streak to five games with their 6-1 victory over the Swift Current Broncos on Wednesday.

Nolan Ritchie scored twice for the Wheat Kings, while Lynden McCallum, Rylan Thiessen, Brett Hyland and Vincent Iorio all had singles. Matthew Ward replied with a single for the Broncos.

Ethan Kruger made 17 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Wheat Kings. Isaac Poulter turned away 27 shots to take the loss in goal for the Broncos (4-16-1).

The Wheat Kings top the East Division with a 16-3-2 record. Brandon will lock up first place if it wins its final three straight games.

The idle Saskatoon Blades, who have a 14-3-2-1 record, sit three points behind the Wheat Kings for top spot with one game in hand.

The Winnipeg Ice also sit three points behind the Wheat Kings after posting a 6-5 overtime victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors on Wednesday.

Jakin Smallwood netted the winner for the Ice at the 1:46 mark of the extra session. It was his second tally of the contest.

Peyton Krebs and Skyler Bruce each scored twice for the Ice. 

Cade Hayes led the Warriors with a pair of goals and an assist. Riley Krane, Jagger Firkus and Daemon Hunt all had singles for Moose Jaw.

Brayden Yager picked up a pair of assists for the Warriors, while Krane had a helper to go with his goal.

Carl Stankowski made 24 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Ice. Boston Bilous turned away 37 shots to take the setback in goal for the Warriors (8-11-2).

The Ice improved to 15-5-1 with the win. They are playing their second campaign as the Winnipeg Ice after moving out of Cranbrook, B.C., following the 2018-19 campaign. The franchise was known as the Kootenay Ice, when it was located in Cranbrook.

The Blades have a game in hand on the Ice.

Saskatoon will face Winnipeg on Friday and go at it with Brandon on April 28.

The Regina Pats (8-9-2-1) Warriors and Prince Albert Raiders (7-10-2-1) will jockey for fourth, fifth and sixth place in the Division. The Broncos are locked into finish in the basement of the East Division.

Teams in the B.C. Division will play for the RE/MAX Cup sponsored championship trophy. Due to the fact teams in the B.C. and Central Divisions won’t play an equal amount of games, the WHL hasn’t announced how it plans to crown champions in those divisions.

The WHL also announced on Monday the season end WHL awards will recognize individual award winners from each division as opposed to the traditional celebration of conference-based award winners.

Peyton Krebs in action for the Ice franchise in November of 2018.

The WHL Awards, which will be celebrated digitally following the conclusion of the 2020-21 campaign, will culminate with honourees in each major awards category on a league-wide basis.

While the WHL did valiant work to ensure its member teams got on the ice, the major circuit, which plays under the CHL umbrella, has to be thankful luck fell its way too.

On Tuesday, the OHL cancelled its entire 2020-21 campaign without being able to play a single game. The COVID-19 pandemic never subsided enough in Ontario to create a situation for the OHL to get back on the ice.

Desjardins recaptures Tigers career wins record

Willie Desjardins works the Tigers bench in December of 2019.

Willie Desjardins is once again the all-time leader in career regular season head coaching wins for the Medicine Hat Tigers.

On Monday, the Tigers slipped past the visiting Red Deer Rebels 3-2 at Co-op Place. That victory marked the 376^th career regular season win for Desjardins as the Tigers head coach. The Climax, Sask., product is also the team’s general manager.

Desjardins collected his wins serving as the Tigers head coach from 2002-10 and since returning to the team in 2019.

Desjardins surpassed the 375 wins put up by Shaun Clouston, who served as an assistant and then associate coach with Desjardins from 2003 to 2010. Desjardins previously held the Tigers career record for regular season coaching win before Clouston became the team’s head coach.

Clouston picked up his initial head coaching wins with the Tigers from 2008 to 2010, when Desjardins was away involved with coaching duties with Canada’s world junior team. Clouston picked up the bulk of his wins serving as the Tigers head coach from 2010 to 2019 along with becoming the team’s general manager from 2012 to 2019.

Clouston was released from the Tigers following the 2018-19 season to allow Desjardins to return to the roles of head coach and general manager. Clouston has served as the head coach of the Kamloops Blazers since the split with the Tigers.

Desjardins’ career record with the Tigers sits at 376-198-64 with the third column accounting for ties, overtime losses and shootout losses. Clouston’s career record behind the Tigers bench is 375-241-46.

In the Tigers win on Monday over the Rebels, Medicine Hat never trailed in the contest getting singles from Ryan Chyzowski, Rhett Parsons and Oren Shtrom.

The Rebels replied with singles coming off the sticks of Dallon Melin and Chris Douglas.

Beckett Langkow made 27 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers (12-3-0-1). Chase Coward turned away 32 shots to take the setback in goal for the Rebels (2-15-2).

“It’s been an honour to be part of such a great organization,” said Desjardins to Adam Jones of TigersHockey.com. “I’d like to thank (Tigers owners) Darrell and Brent Maser for their support.

“I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by some great people over the years, and because of that, we’ve had some success. The players win the games. Without their hard work and determination, we wouldn’t be here.”

The Tigers return to action on Thursday, when they travel to Edmonton to face the Oil Kings.

Marleau tops NHL career regular season games list

A Patrick Marleau card.

It seems fitting that a special NHL milestone moment would go to Patrick Marleau

Taking the opening faceoff on right wing for the San Jose Sharks on Monday against the Vegas Golden Knights in Las Vegas, Nevada, Marleau became the NHL’s all-time leader in career regular season games played at 1,768 when the puck dropped.

The Aneroid, Sask., product, who is playing in his 23^rd NHL season, broke a record that was viewed at one time to be untouchable.

The previous mark of 1,767 career regular season games was held by the iconic “Mr. Hockey” in Gordie Howe, who was born in Floral, Sask., and raised in Saskatoon. The late Howe played 25 seasons for the Detroit Red Wings from 1946 to 1971.

He helped the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955.

Howe skated in one final NHL campaign in 1979-80 for the Hartford Whalers playing in all of the Whalers 80 regular season games turning 52-years-old near the end of that season. In his 1767 career NHL regular season games, Howe piled up 801 goals and 1,049 assists for 1,850 points.

On top of his time in the NHL, Howe played six campaigns in the now defunct World Hockey Association with the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers from 1973 to 1979. During those six seasons, Howe appeared in 419 regular season games posting 174 goals and 334 assists for 508 points.

He helped the Aeros win the Avco Cup as WHA champions in 1974 and 1975.

During the Sharks game on Monday, Marleau wasn’t able to pick any points as the Golden Knights posted a 3-2 victory after a tiebreaking shootout. Marleau was given a chance to try and score in the tiebreaking shootout, but he was unsuccessful.

He received a salute from both team following the game.

The 41-year-old Marleau has always carried himself with dignity and class. When Howe’s NHL record for career regular season games played fell, it was fitting that Marleau was the one to do it.

Before breaking into the NHL, Marleau played two seasons in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds from 1995 to 1997 appearing in 143 regular season games collecting 83 goals and 116 assists for 199 points.

After the Sharks 5-2 loss to the Golden Knights in Las Vegas on Wednesday where Marleau picked up an assist, he has appeared in 1769 regular season games posting 566 goals and 631 assists for 1,197 points.

CFL delays start of season to August 5

Andrew Harris rumbles up field for the Bombers in 2017.

The COVID-19 pandemic is still delivering huge hits to the CFL.

On Wednesday, the CFL announced it will be delaying the start of its 2021 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Training camps were expected to open in the middle of May and the first exhibition game was set for May 23.

Originally, the league planned to kick off the regular season on June 10, where each club would play a standard 18-game regular season campaign.

Now the CFL is targeting Aug. 5 for the start of the circuit’s regular season, where each club will play 14 regular season games each. The Grey Cup is being rescheduled for Dec. 12 as opposed to Nov. 21.

The CFL was unable to get a season off the ground in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last CFL game was played on November 24, 2019 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alta., and saw the Winnipeg Blue Bombers stomp the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-12 to win the Grey Cup.

In a released statement, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said the Aug. 5 date is a target date, because the league’s plans are subject to change due to the state of COVID-19 across the country.

In order to play on Aug. 5, Ambrosie said the CFL would need approval from public health officials across Canada of the circuit’s plans for protecting players, coaches and fans. The commissioner added the CFL would need permission from governments to host a significant number of fans in the stands in a significant number of venues at the start of the season and the rest of the venues soon after that.

Ambrosie said the CFL has contingency plans in place in case factors beyond the league’s control delay the start of the season beyond Aug. 5.

“The bottom line is we are optimistic we will have a season in 2021, culminating in a great Grey Cup,” said Ambrosie in a statement. “Everyone who loves the CFL can help us and their communities.

“Please, when it is your turn, get vaccinated. And please follow your local public health guidelines on measures including wearing a mask and social distancing.”

There was no work on where the CFL’s talks on working in partnership with the XFL were at. There was no mention about the CFL’s efforts to secure federal government funding in order to play in 2021.

The CFL failed to get government grants that would allow the circuit to hit the field in 2020.

Once again, CFL fans have to continue to hurry up wait to see if the league they love will be back in 2021.

Government of Nova Scotia nixes women’s hockey worlds

The Government of Nova Scotia dropped the axe on the women’s world hockey championship.

On Wednesday, Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin withdrew permission for the 11-day tournament citing concerns over increasing COVID-19 numbers and the circulation of COVID-19 variants.

Nova Scotia imposed new travel restrictions this week barring people from outside the province from entering unless travel is essential or the travels are permanent residents of Nova Scotia. People from Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador are exempted from the ban, which goes into effect at 8 a.m. Thursday Nova Scotia time.

The International Ice Hockey Federation and Hockey Canada were informed early Wednesday morning that the event was called off. Women’s worlds were scheduled to be held May 6 to 16 in Halifax and Truno, N.S.

Hockey Canada was holding its selection camp for the women’s worlds in Halifax, and Wednesday was supposed to be the final day of that camp. An intrasquad game that was supposed to close the camp on Wednesday afternoon ultimately wasn’t held.

Saskatoon products Emily Clark and Sophie Shirley were taking part in the selection camp.

The 2021 women’s worlds were first slated to be held in April but were pushed back to the May 6 to 16 dates before being cancelled. They were also supposed to be held in Halifax and Truno in March of 2020 before being called off due to COVID-19 concerns.

The IIHF will work with Hockey Canada told a women’s worlds later in 2021 but no commitment was made Wednesday to hold it in Nova Scotia.

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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Expect bubble system to be part of sports for a while yet

Clark writes from Hockey Canada bubble

Emily Clark, centre, is at a Hockey Canada bubble training camp.

Until the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic goes away, expect various parts of the sports world to continue using the bubble environment.

That environment could be a more loose bubble. That basically means athletes exist by just community back and forth traveling between home and their athletic facility.

You don’t associate with anyone else outside of that little world.

The tight bubble sees all athletes from a team or league get rounded up and live at a hotel connected to an athletic facility. Those athletes are cut off physically from the rest of the world, and they live in their hotel rooms, a social room with their teammates or at the athletic facility.

Athletes and team officially are usually tested daily for COVID-19 in that setup.

That tight bubble environment is what most people think about of when it comes to a bubble environment. That bubble environment was used successfully by the NHL, NBA and WNBA to successfully complete their post-seasons in 2020.

It was used successfully by the International Ice Hockey Federation to complete the men’s world juniors in Edmonton, Alta., which wrapped up Jan. 5 when the United States blanked Canada 2-0 in the gold medal game.

An Emily Clark hockey card.

That type of bubble environment is being used by Hockey Canada again to host training camps for the senior national women’s team and the national para men’s team in Calgary, Alta.

The national women’s team camp began on Sunday and runs through to Saturday, Jan. 30. A total of 35 players will take part in this camp, while 12 were invited an unable to attend due to school commitments and other reasons.

Sophie Shirley, an alumna of the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA team, was one of the invites that was unable to attend as the star centre is playing NCAA regular season games with the University of Wisconsin Badgers.

The national para men’s team began camp on Saturday and runs through to Tuesday, Jan. 26. A total of 14 players will take part in skating sessions in that camp, while another 13 players were invited but unable to participate.

Players have to quarantine for three days upon arriving in Calgary, and they are closed to the public and media.

On the women’s side, national team veteran and Stars alumna Emily Clark typed out a post on Hockey Canada’s bubble blog on Tuesday.

In the short piece Clark wrote, the 25-year-old Saskatoon product said she went straight to her room upon arriving at the team hotel. Once she was at her room, she unpacked and waited for her first COVID-19 test and dinner to arrive at her door.

For down moments, she brought a Nintendo Switch game system and books to pass the time.

Clark wrote about all the Zoom meetings she took part in on Monday along with medical check ins. She visited with teammates on FaceTime and wrote it was strange to visit with someone that way, when they are in hotel rooms in the same building.

An action shot Emily Clark hockey card.

Clark said she was grateful to be under the same roof as all her national team teammates, and she noted it had been 11 months since they were all together. She ended by saying she believes the next two weeks were going to a lot of fun.

Clark’s full piece can be found by clicking right here.

In both camps, the players will start on ice sessions by skating in small groups before they grow to the size of full practice groups. In both camps, the full practice groups will see the players split into teams red and white.

The camps will progress to the point where there are red and white intrasquad games.

These tight environment bubble camps Hockey Canada is having for the national women’s team and the national para men’s team won’t likely be the last of their kind.

It is a good bet the tight bubble environment will be used for camps and league and post-season games in the sports world for the foreseeable future to come.

Video shows Badgers at their best

When the University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team gets rolling on all cylinders, they might be the most exciting team in the overall female game.

Last weekend, the Badgers looked like the 1980s Edmonton Oilers sweeping the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers at the LaBahr Arena in Madison, Wisconsin. The Badgers hammed the Gophers 5-0 last Friday and rolled to a 6-3 victory last Saturday.

The Gophers entered the two contests as the top ranked team in NCAA women’s hockey, while the Badgers were ranked number two.

The two-game series was expected to be a hard-fought showdown, but the Badgers proved to be too much improving their overall record to 6-2.

Badgers star centre Sophie Shirley, who is an alumna of the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA team had a goal and an assist in Friday’s win and followed that effort up with a three-assist night in Saturday’s victory.

The 21-year-old has three goals and eight assists appearing in all eight of the Badgers games so far this season.

The Badgers roster also contains Sophie’s younger sister, Grace. Grace, who plays forward, is another Stars alumna.

The Badgers were so impressive in the sweep that the University of Wisconsin athletic department put out a cool one-minute highlight video on their social media feeds. The video can be found below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Wisconsin Women's Hockey (@badgerwhockey)

Hurricanes suffer small loss in 2019-20, other notes

Peter Anholt, left, watches over his Hurricanes in Dec. 2015.

The WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes almost broke even on their 2019-20 season that was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are expecting a sizable loss in 2020-21.

During a virtual AGM that was held on Monday, the Hurricanes announced they lost just $1,030 on the 2019-20 campaign. As one of four community owned teams in the WHL, the Hurricanes present their financial statements at an annual general meeting.

Their financial loss was quite a bit less than the WHL’s other three community owned teams, which are all located in Saskatchewan.

On Sept. 29, 2020, the Swift Current Broncos announced they lost $791,000 on the 2019-20 campaign. On that same day, the Moose Jaw Warriors announced a loss of $391,299 for 2019-20.

On Oct. 7, 2020, the Prince Albert Raiders announced they lost $331,895 on the 2019-20 season. In the Raiders case, they would have easily made money had they hosted their final two home regular season games and from their home playoff dates.

The losses of all four community owned teams were compounded by money they didn’t receive from the Sportsnet television contract for broadcasting CHL games. Sportsnet didn’t have to pay out for games that weren’t played due to the COVID-19 pandemic and from the 2020 Memorial Cup tournament that was cancelled in Kelowna, B.C., that annually determines a CHL champion.

The Hurricanes celebrate a goal in 2017-18.

It was also easier for the Hurricanes to get closer to the break even point compared to the Saskatchewan community owned teams due to the fact the Lethbridge side plays out of a bigger rink. The Hurricanes averaged 3,970 fans per game in 2019-20, while the Warriors averaged 2,981 spectators per game, the Raiders averaged 2,642 patrons per game and the Broncos averaged 1,954 supporters per game.

As for the future, the Hurricanes are estimating they could lose as much as $1,3-million for the 2020-21 campaign. The WHL is still planning to play a regular season for 2020-21 with each team playing 24 regular season games exclusively against division rivals.

The games will likely be played without fans.

Danica Ferris of Global News reported that Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt said playoffs are planned to be held to crown division champions, but the post-season structure hasn’t been decided upon.

When asked why the league has decided to go ahead with a season that will mean a significant hit to clubs, Anholt said it’s in the best interest of the league’s future.

“You know there’s always the other side of it, if we don’t do it, what’s our league going to look like coming out the back end,” said Anholt. “I think that’s a big, big concern to us.

“So this season is all about development for our players and for our players alone.”

Ferris’s story can be found by clicking right here.

• On Thursday, Jan. 14, Kalli Hiebert, who is a 17-year-old defender with the Saskatoon Stars female midget AAA team, committed to join the Fredericton based University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds women’s hockey team in the U Sports ranks for the 2021-22 campaign.
• Last Friday, Boston Buckberger, who is a 17-year-old defenceman with the Saskatoon Blazers under-18 AAA hockey team, announced he has committed to play for the Madison based University of Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team in the NCAA ranks. Buckberger plans to play in the junior A ranks first before joining the Badgers.
• On Monday, offensive lineman Mattland Riley signed with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Roughriders selected Riley in the first round and seventh overall in the 2020 CFL Draft. Riley, who is from Melfort, Sask., played four seasons for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team from 2016-19. Suiting up at left guard, Riley was a second team U Sports all-Canadian all-star in 2018 and a first team U Sports all-Canadian all-star in 2019.
• On Monday, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced the men’s world championships were being pulled out of Belarus following pressure from opposition groups and threatened boycotts by sponsors due to political unrest in that country. The tournament was slated to start on May 21 and was to be co-hosted with Latvia. The IIHF said it will seek a new co-host country or elect to allow Latvia to host the event on its own.
• On Tuesday, Diane Jones-Konihowski, who was a superstar with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s track and field team from 1969 to 1975, was named to the Canada West Hall of Fame. She helped the Huskies win Canada West title in 1970, 1971 and 1975, while capturing 12 individual gold medals. Jones-Konihowski represented Canada at the Olympic Summer Games in 1972 and 1976 and won gold for Canada in the pentathlon at the 1978 Commonwealth Game in Edmonton, Alta.
• The QMJHL is slated to resume its regular season on Friday. The major junior circuit last hit the ice for regular season games on Nov. 29, 2020 and paused after new COVID-19 cases continued to rise in the communities the circuit is based in. The 12 teams in Quebec will play in protected environment bubbles in Chicoutimi, Drummondville, Rimouski and Shawinigan. The circuit postponed a total of six games involving the six teams in the Maritimes Division slated for Friday and Saturday following meetings with government and health officials in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
• On Wednesday, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) levied sanctions against Basketball Canada after it decided its men’s senior national team would not to attend a FIBA AmeriCup qualifier this past November on the advice of medical experts amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Canada was to play two games in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Canada could lose a point in the FIBA AmeriCup standings and is slated to be fined between $80,000 to $160,000 in Swiss Francs, which worked out to $113,988 to $227,997 in Canadian funds. If Canada plays the final stage of the FIBA AmeriCup qualifier set for Feb. 18 to 22 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Canada won’t lose a point in the standings and only be fined the lesser amount. CBC did a detailed story about this situation, and that piece can be found right here.
• Happy birthday shout outs for Thursday go to Jordan Kulbida, who is a forward with the University of Regina Cougars women’s hockey team and a pitcher for the Saskatoon G-Force women’s softball team, and Kirby Dach, who is an alumnus of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades and a centre with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks.
• On Thursday afternoon, the Manitoba Under-18 AAA Hockey League went public with a letter to Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister to reopen sports facilities and let games resume in the midst of that province’s COVID-19 restrictions. The open letter cited fears about the mental health challenges young player face due to being isolated and not playing sports. The letter is sure to be controversial. People from the sports community have chimed in agreeing with it in initial reactions. Others have chimed in accusing this being the work of selfish parents that want to live their lives through their children and jeopardize public health in the process. Just want to note that I am just passing on the message. The letter can be found right here.
• On the fun side of things, I’ve been reintroduced to the WWE Universe thanks to the kick butt storyline involving Alexa Bliss, Bray Wyatt, who goes by his alter-ego persona “The Fiend,” and Randy Orton that has gone on for the last seven months. I was checking out various social media accounts from WWE talent and marveled at home many “Millions and Millions” of followers they have. A veteran line John Cena has 12.7-million followers on Twitter and 14.7 million followers on Instagram. Charlotte Flair has 1.8-million followers on Twitter and 4.3-million followers on Instagram. There are fan accounts of these WWE superstars that have tens of thousands of followers. Two really good ones follow Bliss. The @Era_Of_Bliss account on Twitter has over 20,000 followers and the @alexa_bliss_wwe._ account has over 59,000 followers. The fans also make tribute music videos of the WWE Superstars they follow and post them on Youtube. A lot of them are quite good. I came to a new realization just how big the WWE Universe actually is and how many people follow. I am also impressed with the passion of the ultra-passionate fans.
• On Monday, I watched Monday Night RAW from beginning to end live just for the second time in the last three years. The main aim was to check out Alexa Bliss and what would happen next with her new evil persona character, and that didn’t disappoint. She was so good. The other part of the show I got a kick out of was duo of The Miz and John Morrison. They made fun of Goldberg and WWE Champion Drew McIntyre on their interview show “The Dirt Sheet” having Gillberg and mini Drew McIntyre appear on the show. The whole segment is hilarious. The Miz and Morrison are outstanding in the comedy department.
• Sticking with the WWE, after Alexa Bliss hit Randy Orton with the “fireball shot heard round the world” on the Jan. 11 edition of Monday Night RAW, the WWE put out a top 10 video of “Superstars throwing fire” this past Sunday. The Bliss fireball topped the list. The fireball stunt is a dangerous one, and most of the videos in the list are from the 1980s and 1990s. That shows the WWE doesn’t bring it back very much. One of the videos on the top 10 list featured Sabu from the ECW days. One I forgot about that made the list was Hulk Hogan taking a fireball shot from Yokozuna’s photographer at King of the Ring in 1993. Yokozuna proceeded to win the WWE title after that fireball shot. The top 10 fireball shot video can be found by clicking right here.
• In checking out the WWE, I noticed their creative team is great at weaving a glimpse of the personal lives of the company’s talent away from the camera and the show’s storylines. One was a video from October of 2020 of Alexa Bliss, whose real name is Alexis Kaufman, visiting with her mom, Angela Kaufman, who works as a nurse in Florida actively treating COVID-19 patients. The video was one of the few in person meetings the two have had during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it can be found by clicking right here.
• The sports community in Saskatchewan is morning the passing of veteran Regina-based sports broadcaster Warren Woods. Woods passed away on Wednesday at age 66 due to complications battling COVID-19. Woods was a mainstay on Regina’s version of Sportsline, which air on STV that later became Global Regina. He then moved from Global Regina to work the radio waves with CJME. He was involved with many sports communities with the strongest ties going to the curling community and the University of Regina Rams football team. All-time great Regina Leader-Post sports columnist Rob Vanstone typed a heartfelt farewell piece on “Woodsy,” which can be found right here.

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