Prince Albert Northern Bears alumna stars at Huskie Women of Influence Breakfast

Kaitlin Willoughby, right, chats with Heather Morrison.

The centre stage spotlight of the University of Saskatchewan Huskie Women of Influence Breakfast was a deserving spot for Kaitlin Willoughby.

These days Willoughby skates for the Montreal Victoire as a checking forward in the PWHL. From 2013 to 2018, she was a star forward with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey Team skating to a legendary career where she still sits as the program’s second all-time leading scorer. Before that, she was a star with the Prince Albert Northern Bears, who were then known as the A & W Bears, of the SFU18AAAHL.

On Tuesday morning before a packed TCU Place in Saskatoon, Willoughby was the keynote speaker for the third annual Huskie of Women of Influence Breakfast that raises scholarship funds for the Huskies women’s programs. She took part in a sit down style question and answer session with emcee Heather Morrison, who is a local area broadcaster.

While Willoughby talked about her hockey journey through all parts of her life, she enjoyed the vibe at the breakfast.

“I think seeing this event, I think it is in its third year, and just to see the support of people in the community showing up for women athletes at U of S I think it is really incredible to see,” said Willoughby. “Events like this are what makes it possible to have female athletes play a sport at the university and be able to financially have a little bit of aid in getting their degree and also playing a sport.

“I’m all about supporting that and to see everyone turn up today and hear the stories of the athletes were just incredible.”

This story of mine appeared in the Prince Albert Daily Herald. To read the full article, feel free to click right here.

Canadian Bowl will be my last ride for football on this blog

The Hilltops and Thunder take part in a prayer circle on Sept. 27.

REGINA, Sask. - Earlier this season, CJFL provincial rivals the Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder could be found taking part in what those in some parts of the world and political spectrum would say is the most controversial moment of their rivalry – a prayer circle.

Back on September 27, the Thunder edged the Hilltops 24-21 at Saskatoon Minor Football Field. Following that contest at centre field, a sizable contingent from both the Hilltops and Thunder got together in a circle, took a knee and said a prayer.

If anybody on the far left wing saw this, they would say this is an injustice toward humanity. Religion and especially the Christian religion have no place in sports. Those extreme leftists would view both of those teams as evil.

For those on the right wing, those players would be viewed as athletes who are not afraid to show their faith in the Lord. They would be viewed as having extreme courage and being heroes.

Those on even the further right use this display as those players taking a step towards being part of the maple version of the Make America Great Again movement, which brought Donald Trump into power as the President of the United States of America.

Those on that right wing spectrum might even use it as an example of the influence late American right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk had on the youth of the world and helping move the world towards what they viewed as a better place.

The truth is the Hilltops and Thunder players formed a circle, took a knee and said a prayer to show their faith in a Higher Power. Football teams are multicultural, and some of those players might not believe in Christianity and were praying to the Higher Power they believed in. There was nothing more, nothing less about that prayer circle than what I just wrote.

Everything that I wrote about those on the extreme left and further right wings is all spin doctoring 101. These are traps teams in the United States are falling into by doing nothing else than being themselves. That also includes activities like walks to the rink for hockey teams, because players on both the men’s and women’s side of the sport are well dressed during those walks to the rinks when they are posted on social media or regular media channels.

At the moment, the Hilltops and Thunder haven’t fallen into any of these traps to my knowledge, but they very well could have.

For myself on the political spectrum, I find these days I don’t fit in either with the right or left wings. I am not a Trump fan, and the same goes for former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has acted as part of the extreme left in his career in my view.

I actually think Kirk is a sympathetic figure. When I have seen videos of him interacting with others and interacting with his family, I just see him as a Christian good guy.

I don’t agree with everything he said, but he struck me as the type of guy you can agree to disagree with and then go off and have a pop or two together. I think it would be easy for a friendship to form with someone like him, even when you have differing views.

That unfortunately in this world has become a lost art. The fact Kirk was gunned down on September 10 is an example that agreeing to disagree and forming friendships with someone with a different view is a lost art.

All of this serious talk actually makes anything that has occurred in the football rivalry between Saskatoon and Regina seem small and insignificant. For the older veterans of that football rivalry, we are all just old men telling old tales, and if you are in the right mindset, humour can be found in the old tales.

That brings us today’s championship final of the CJFL’s Prairie Football Conference, where the Hilltops downed the Thunder 30-27 in overtime at Mosaic Stadium. When kickoff happened shortly after 1 p.m., I wasn’t there.

I was on a spot at the edge of the north shore of Wascana Lake visiting my dad’s resting place for the first time since the summer of 2020. God, family, and then football. My late friend in CFL icon Cal Murphy would say I had my priorities in the right place, if that is where a Higher Power says you are meant to be at that place in time.

For me, it felt like I was in the right place at the right time as I contemplate a bigger than football and sports moment for myself. That is resulting in a longer column here and a lot of contemplation over the last three days.

After visiting my dad’s resting place, I ventured over to the University of Regina to start typing this piece. If you needed to find me, I was in the spot where the old University of Regina Rams table existed in the main food court. Again, it felt like the right place at the right time to be as I feel a significant part of me when I am at my best was formed at my time at the U of Regina living here from 1995 to 2001.

The trigger of my challenge came when I messaged the Thunder about getting a media pass to work the PFC final at Mosaic Stadium, because the staff at Mosaic Stadium, while friendly, is tight with security there.

At 6:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, I received this message from Thunder president Murad Al-Katib, “I am sorry. We are unable to provide you with field and media floor access. This access is limited to accredited media as per PFC policies.

“As for stats access, I suggest you request from your Hilltops contacts. Greg (Peacock), team president, is on copy.”

I received a media pass to work Thunder hosted games at Taylor Field and later Mosaic Stadium with no problems or questions asked in the past. Because of responsibilities covering hockey with regards to the WHL and by extension the CHL, I didn’t make any CJFL road games in 2023 and 2024. The response from Al-Katib in my mind is spin doctoring.

I went through the CJFL code of conduct and social media policies online and didn’t find anything regarding media accreditation. I can’t find any PFC policies online. Maybe I looked in the wrong place.

I’ve had CHL accreditation for almost three decades working either for mainstream media outlets or as an independent. Any time I work Hockey Canada events, I get accreditation pretty much immediately.

So that brings us to what changed on the Thunder’s side.

I give the straight goods, and I don’t blow smoke up anyone’s asses to be old school. I know that is no longer the common practice in today’s world. Here is the thought process from my side.

On October 20, 2024, the Thunder downed the Hilltops 24-19 in that year’s PFC final. On the second last play of that contest, Thunder middle linebacker Stephen Smith nailed Hilltops quarterback Trey Reider with a blatant and illegal helmet-to-helmet head shot that was not flagged for penalty. Had a penalty been called, the Hilltops would have had maybe one or two plays to score the winning touchdown from about the Thunder 12 yard line or closer depending on the call.

The Hilltops ran a trick play on that play, which likely resulted in the foul being missed. The play happened right in front of me along with Shane Clausing of then 650 CKOM in Saskatoon, who also got the smoking gun video of that play.

The smoking gun video had been viewed about 999 times on Platform X. I thought it was more that that.

I actually found that video today on Platform X and double checked it. It is right here for anyone that is interested.

I along with Clausing wrote about the missed call in our game pieces. In old school style game reporting, that is what you do when there is an obvious call of a dangerous play late in a contest that is missed by the officials that could have changed the result of that game. You do that because that goes down as something that sticks in the memory of those who watched the game in the stadium that day.

When I posted the link on my Facebook page to the story on my blog, John Tokar, who was the athlete development coordinator of the Thunder at the time and now their leadership development coordinator, wrote a comment that I spread disinformation about Smith and that the play never happened.

When I first saw the comment, my mind quickly switched to my experiences in the WHL.

My first thought was, “Wow. If this happened in the WHL, their communications department would see it in quick order, hand the screenshots over to their department of discipline and a fine or fines would likely be given out within a period of two days for violating that circuit’s social media policy.”

When I talked with Clausing, he said he hadn’t heard anything on his side from the Thunder. He couldn’t believe I took all the heat, because he took the smoking gun video of the play from the sidelines.

I also realized the WHL has a sizeable league office staff of paid full-time employees. The CJFL is a volunteer run league. I believe the only person in the CJFL who is compensated with a full-time wage for the months the season goes on is Ryan Watters, who is in charge of communications and digital media.

Being a volunteer run league with limited resources compared to the WHL and the overall CHL, I was under the impression the CJFL didn’t have a code of conduct or a social media policy. That would be due to the fact they wouldn’t have the resources to enforce those policies like in the WHL and CHL.

I contacted CJFL commissioner Jim Pankovich asking if the CJFL had a code of conduct or a social media policy.

He said the CJFL did have code of conduct and social media policies. He asked what I came across and to send all the information I had his way. I sent him some screenshots that included Tokar’s comments and stills from Clausing’s video and the link to Clausing’s video on Platform X.

Pankovich thanked me for the information and said the league would review and investigate further if necessary.

A couple of days later, I was contacted by Tokar. He apologized, and we had a really great back and forth.

He was brave enough to ask if all the comments under my Facebook post could be deleted. As a show of good faith and to show it was all water on the bridge, I said that wouldn’t be a problem, and I deleted all the comments under my Facebook post.

During my almost three decades covering the WHL and CHL, I have had times where I have dealt with very passionate coaches and general managers that would say to my face they didn’t agree with something I wrote or said.

Red Deer Rebels general manager and owner Brent Sutter, who often served as his team’s head coach, is notorious for his fire-type passion, and I consider him a best friend in the game even after the times we had disagreements. It has actually only been one or two times we have really disagreed with each other as I believe Sutter and I view a lot of things in a similar way.

If a situation came up where we agreed to disagree, we agreed to disagree, and I believe in every one of those cases each side had a better understanding of where the other was coming from.

The next time I would meet with anyone in the WHL and CHL after a disagreement, it was all water under the bridge and you forged ahead in a positive manner. That is the way in that level of hockey.

While my contact with Tokar was outstanding, I had contacts and talks with various folks in the football community connected to the Thunder and Hilltops. When that all wrapped up, I came away with a feeling that this whole situation wasn’t over, and I got a gut feeling that ill will was going to be held against me.

I have been doing media work since 1996, so I believe I have some type of ability to read humans. Plus, we live in the age of Trump, where society is more filled with division and hatred than ever before casting a shadow over all parts of life.

With social media and all the communication tools at our disposal, we are more connected and disconnected with each other at the same time. This is due to the lack of face-to-face interactions especially interactions in a social setting.

Also in my personal life then at the time of the 2024 PFC final and now, I deal with pressures from my 80-year-old mom and my family to be in the sports world less and to be more present at home. Everyone on the family front was full support with my pursuits covering the sports world and my activities in, but once the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit, the dynamics and expectations on the family front changed.

I am not stating this as a complaint. I am stating this as a part of life.

As a result, I went into this CJFL season really with one foot out the door. I actively wouldn’t be covering it on this blog, if the Hilltops hadn’t requested more help from me to put pieces together for their game program. I have been doing that since 2017.

In relation to the CJFL, I have been what you would old school call a Hilltops beat writer since I moved back to Saskatoon after a 10-year stay in Medicine Hat, Alta. During my years in the Hat, I had only here and there interactions with high-level football above the high school level. Believe it or not, most of those interactions were with the NFL due to Medicine Hat product and Medicine Hat High School grad Dan Federkeil playing four years on the offensive line with the Indianapolis Colts and having to block for “the” Peyton Manning.

With that said, I had gone 10 years without being heavily involved with high level football above high school until I returned to Saskatoon in 2014.

During summer, I went to a couple of Saskatchewan Roughriders games at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. I ran into a handful of Thunder staffers, and our interactions, while cordial, were awkward.

I would say since October of 2024 the only Thunder staffer I have encountered face-to-face that was jovial and legitimate extremely happy to see me was receivers coach and long time old Rams bud Chris Ashman. That was at the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame induction night when my old Regina Rams from 1997 and 1998 along with long time friend and Rams alum Jon Ryan went into the Hall.

On one Roughriders game in August, I ran into one Thunder staff, who have I have known for about a decade and has the purest heart you could know. We had a great chat about baseball, but it felt like that staffer was torn to be talking to me and was holding back wanting to tell me something.

To add to everything, since 2024 I felt like from the CJFL office it would be kind of better if I silently went away. There seemed to be a fear of what to do if anything else happened that needed to be checked into.

That thinking doesn’t come from a malicious place. It comes from a place of worry about all the time that gets spend dealing with these types of issues. They really are time sucks.

I wrote all of that to be able to add background for where I am coming from, when I saw Al-Katib’s response early Thursday morning.

I will admit my first reaction came from my influence of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders side of my life. Starting a game by putting your five toughest players on the ice to instigate a five-versus-five line brawl to send a message is the obvious road that wouldn’t lead anywhere and make things worse. In today’s age, that would get you a lifetime suspension from the sport.

Same would go with my old late friend Donn Clark who as the Raiders head coach in the 1993-94 season challenged Medicine Hat Tigers head coach Bob Loucks to fight behind the Zamboni at The Arena in Medicine Hat, Alta., late in a WHL game on January 15, 1994, when Clark felt the Tigers were taking advantage of his younger team. Just to be clear, that is how that night is remembered on the Prince Albert side of things where the Raiders players loved the fact their coach had their collective backs.

The Hilltops did give me a team personnel field pass to be used for today’s game. I decided against using it and going just to avoid a bitter Thunder staffer from finding a code of conduct issue to be used against the Hilltops and myself. I didn’t feel like putting any more time into bitter issues.

During my thoughts, I reflected on the last time I went into a season covering a team where one foot was out the door. In this case, it was a pair of teams.

I went into the 2016-17 U Sports campaign covering the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s and Women’s Hockey Teams with one foot out the door due to some issues that arose late in the previous campaign that were also unresolved that were far different from the one I have been writing about regarding the CJFL.

There came a point early in that Huskies campaign, where I just decided the best course of action was for me to divorce the two Huskies hockey teams. The divorce turned into a marriage separation, and I will give the Coles notes version of why that was.

Kaitlin Willoughby - the ultimate professional and leader.

Kaitlin Willoughby, who was an assistant captain of the Huskies women’s team and would later become their full-fledged captain, rose up like a phoenix and became the ultimate professional and leader. She handled it. When I reflect on that, it comes as no surprise she is still playing these days in the PWHL with the Montreal Victoire.

I was back covering the Huskies hockey teams full time, and was doing regular stories on the Huskies football team until I got knocked off course by the COVID-19 pandemic. After the COVID-19 pandemic, I never really got any momentum again on that front outside of working like one to three overall Huskies events a season.

With all that said, the overall point here was Willoughby showed the type of leadership that is extremely lacking in today’s world.

Now with all of that background established, I have made a decision.

Leading up to and working the upcoming CJFL championship game – the Canadian Bowl, it will be my last ride in covering football for this blog. I will go into a marriage separation status with the game of football after the Canadian Bowl when it comes to writing about it on this blog and that goes for all levels of the game in Canada. I will leave myself leeway for writing about the NFL and NCAA Division I for fun whenever rare times come that I feel like doing that.

I have decided that the whole is greater than the one, which means myself. I have also decided the whole is greater than the one team, being the Hilltops. To be honest, the Hilltops are like the children in caught in the marriage separation thing in my eyes out of this whole thing.

I have come to the conclusion there are maturity issues with some inside the Thunder team, but I admit I can’t pinpoint who those folks are. I am judging from the body language of their staffers I have encountered in more fun settings that those issues are there.

I am kind of old school, and I will not apologize for covering the head shot hit late in the 2024 PFC final in an old school way. I know my type is a breed that is near extinction, but for better or worse, I stick to my guns in the old school way on that front.

Actually to be truthful, I’ve had folks tell me in the WHL, while I cover things in the old school way I am still a homer and I am pulling for the best for the main teams I am covering at the time. Even with that, those folks say I can still take a step backwards and be objective with regards to the main teams I cover, and I can write stories on any team on the circuit and those stories are as good as the one on the main teams I cover.

Jeff Chynoweth, who is the former owner and general manager of the franchise that was one the Kootenay Ice, said pretty much those exact words to me many years ago, and I have never forgotten them. Those types of words rank as the greatest compliments I have ever received on my work.

I might not be like my long ago University of Regina School of Journalism classmate Merelda Fiddler-Potter who has a long list of well-earned awards and a whole host of degrees, but I cherish the compliments like the ones Chynoweth gave me. Side note, I decided to mention Fiddler-Potter, because I saw a poster at the U of R listing her accomplishments and I did have a crush on her when we first met. We formed a pretty decent friendship in our school years.

Now remember, we are in the age of Trump, and that is also considered in the decision making. With all the division and hatred that is prevalent in way too many parts of the world, I am not into getting into fights over what I consider petty issues in the big picture of things.

On the football front, I know how intertwined the game is in Canada, and Thunder personnel are involved in the game at the provincial level in various facets. In the grand scheme of things, I don’t have to be in that world. If my departure will help everyone in the game being more comfortable in the future, again, I believe in this case the needs of the many are greater than the needs of the one, and the time has arrived for the many to go forward without this one.

Being in the sports world, we all have expiry dates when comes to teams and leagues, and my gut feeling is my expiry date with the CJFL came after the 2024 campaign.

I will still allow myself freedom to do fun football posts on the Canadian game on my own social media channels. If there are paid requests through entities like The Canadian Press and the Prince Albert Daily Herald to cover the game in Canada, I will fulfill those requests, unless my busy life has me committed to other things.

Now that the Hilltops have advanced, I have had previous talks with the staffers at the Daily Herald about doing a story on brothers Ryan Adamko and Scott Adamko, who are graduates of the Prince Albert Carlton Comprehensive High School Crusaders program. I will do a double check on the need there, but I expect I will be doing a story on that front for the Daily Herald.

I will still do stories on football in Canada for the platforms overseen by the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I work there as a communication coordinator, and that is part of my job there.

For the first time in my dealings with the CJFL, the upcoming Canadian Bowl that the Hilltops will be hosting at Saskatoon Minor Football Field on November 9 will be a suit game for me. Like when I work covering games in the WHL and CHL, I will be bringing out the suit and tie to cover the upcoming CJFL title game, which means I will be in a more heightened business state.

Again, this is my last ride like Ray Lewis with the Baltimore Ravens in the 2012 NFL season. Of course in life, I have learned to “never say never,” so it will never be written in stone how long the marriage separation from the sport of football in Canada will last on this blog.

I have already thought about paying more attention to things I haven’t with the extra time I will have. That includes being more present in the home and being around for my 80-year-old mom, being more focused on my work on the WHL circuit, hopefully getting out to a Winnipeg Blue Bombers home game wearing Bombers gear in memory of Murphy, and hopefully seeing Prince Albert product Abby Soyko play with the University of Alberta Pandas Women’s Hockey Team in their storied and historic home barn of the Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, Alta. She has been a super special person and supremely good influence that I have dealt with in the sports world.

Oh, as far as possible controversies go from today’s PFC final, I don’t know what happened as far as the blow by blows of the contest went. If there was a controversy, I am perfectly fine if this one played out.

That controversy would be that the players on the Hilltops and Thunder, if they felt moved to do so, would have once again gathered at centre-field after the game to take part in a prayer circle to show their faith in the Lord or the Higher Power that they believe in.

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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PWHL buzz heartwarming

A PWHL post on Platform-X.

The Professional Women’s Hockey League is hot.

The new professional women’s hockey circuit had an outstanding first six days, which has created a lot of buzz. On New Year’s Day this past Monday, the first PWHL regular season contest was played at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto. The host Toronto side dropped a 4-0 decision to New York before a sellout crowd of 2,537 spectators.

On Saturday at the Xcel Energy Centre in Saint Paul, Minn., the host Minnesota side drew a professional women’s hockey record crowd of 13,316 spectators to a 3-0 home opening win over Montreal. That broke the mark of 8,318 spectators that turned out Tuesday at TD Place in Ottawa to see the host side fall 3-2 in overtime to Montreal in the PWHL’s second ever contest.

It would be safe to say that women’s hockey has had a strong following since the sport made its debut in the Winter Olympics in 1998 in Nagano, Japan. The United States 3-1 victory over Canada in the gold medal game of that women’s hockey tournament cemented the rivalry between those squads as real.

Since that tournament, the rivalry in women’s hockey between Canada and the United States is one of the greatest in all sports.

Women’s hockey has flourished since that time. Numerous elite level women’s hockey programs exist in the university and college ranks in Canada and the United States.

With those elements present, there shouldn’t have been any doubt an appetite would exist for professional women’s hockey specifically in North America. A year ago at this time, the women’s game at the professional level in North America was broken into two groups in the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association and the Premier Hockey Federation – formerly the National Women’s Hockey League.

Kaitlin Willoughby in action for the Huskies in 2017-18.

That all changed on June 30, 2023. In the 14 months leading up to that date, the PWHPA had been working with the Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises in a bid to launch its own league. Walter’s firm purchased the assets of the PHF on June 30, 2023.

That started the unified group down the road to hitting the ice with the six-team PWHL.

After the circuit hosted its first five games over six days starting on January 1, it feels like the honeymoon period is on. At this point, the PWHL keeps hitting homer after homer and everything is great.

On the media front, I’ve covered the women’s game since 1997 spanning the gamut going up and down of casual follower to heavily involved follower. 

Since moving to Saskatoon in the summer of 2014, I covered the women’s game especially in Saskatchewan fairly heavily until the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic gripped the world causing shutdowns and stoppages in the world in North America starting on March 11, 2020.

When all sports in North America started to proceed more regularly in August of 2021, life took me away from covering women’s hockey like I did before the pandemic shutdowns happened. I’ve covered the sport only casually since that time.

Still, I am happy for everyone involved with the PWHL. I wanted to highlight a handful of those involved with the circuit, and the names might not be ones you would be expecting. For those that have followed my work, some of these names will come as no surprise.

Emily Clark meets a group of youngster in November 2018.

First, I was happy for New York head coach Howie Draper. When New York blanked Toronto 4-0 on New Year’s Day, Draper became the first person to collect a head coaching win in the history of the PWHL.

The 56-year-old put a tonne of time into the women’s game being hired as the inaugural head coach of the University of Alberta Pandas Women’s Hockey Team on September 1, 1997, and he was the only head coach the team had known until joining New York’s PWHL club on September 15, 2023.

Draper guided the Pandas to eight U Sports championships and 14 Canada West Championships. No program has won more U Sports or Canada West titles in women’s hockey than the Pandas.

He piled up 667 career wins as Pandas head coach and got to serve in various roles with Hockey Canada’s women’s program.

U Sports women’s hockey is often overshadowed by women’s hockey in the NCAA Division I ranks. In my opinion across each of those circuits as a whole, the coaches on the U Sports teams are as good or a step better than the coaches on the NCAA Division I squads.

Draper getting the first PWHL head coaching win feels like it validates that opinion.

Sophie Shirley in action for the Stars in 2014-15.

I’m happy for Toronto forward Kaitlin Willoughby. Willoughby is one of the all-time greats for the Prince Albert Northern Bears under-18 AAA team and the U of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Hockey Team. She played for Canada twice at the FISU Winter Universiade.

As rookie pro who turned 24-years-old in the 2018-19 campaign, Willoughby helped the Calgary Inferno win the Clarkson Cup as champions of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.  

While Willoughby received rookie minutes, it was said that she did really well that season and needed to be elevated up the roster to play more minutes.

The CWHL folded after the 2018-19 campaign, and the PWHPA was formed in the aftermath. Willoughby hung in with the PWHPA for the next four seasons, and it would have been easy at any point during that time for her to focus on her nursing career and play the game at the recreational level.

She kept at it and is playing in the PWHL’s inaugural season at age 28.

I’m happy for Toronto forward Emily Clark. Clark grew up in Saskatoon as a hockey star, and she is an alumna of the Saskatoon Stars under-18 AAA team.

Jaime Bourbonnais in action in November 2018.

She is a well-known veteran on Canada’s Senior National Women’s Team. She is idolized by many young female players in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan and dare I say across Canada. Clark holds her hockey roots in her heart and enjoys when she can give back to the game in her hometown.

I’m happy for Boston forward Sophie Shirley. She was one of the greatest hockey discoveries I ever made when I saw her piling up points as the 15-year-old sophomore star with her hometown Stars.

Shirley has put up points everywhere she has gone in hockey and owns three NCAA Division I championship rings playing for the U of Wisconsin Badgers Women’s Hockey Team. 

She is still 24-years-old, and I can still see her reaching new heights in the game with this avenue.

I’m happy for New York offensive-defender Jaime Bourbonnais. I first met her at the 4 Nations Cup when it was held in Saskatoon in November of 2018. 

She was 20-years-old at that time and then one of the youngest players on Canada’s Senior National Women’s team.

Bourbonnais’s positivity was infectious, and the mood of any room she stepped into got a whole lot better. When it comes to hockey, I have a soft spot for offensive-defenders, and Bourbonnais plays that role so well it is easy to drift into just being a fan.

I’m happy for New York offensive-defender Brooke Hobson. As captain of her hometown Bears squad that won the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League title and advanced to the Esso Cup national championship tournament in 2016-17, Hobson was both confident and kick ass.

Brooke Hobson for the Bears in action in 2017.

When the Bears swept the Hartney, Man., based Westman Wildcats 2-0 in a best-of-three female under-18 AAA Western regional playdown series at the Art Hauser Centre, the spotlight fit Hobson just fine. 

With the Bears trailing Game 2 of that series 6-3 in the third period, Hobson potted a pair of goals that started a 7-6 comeback win.

She has a rocket shot from the point that seemed gifted to her by a Higher Power. Hobson worked hard to get all the good things that have come her way in hockey.

I’m happy for TSN broadcaster Claire Hanna. Hanna has always been a strong advocate for women’s sports.

She also has street cred having been a star libero with the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds Women’s Volleyball Team winning three U Sports titles. 

Hanna was once a player in Canada’s national team program for volleyball.

Covering a circuit like the PWHL has been one of Hanna’s dreams. If she had Taylor Swift’s bank account, Hanna would be one of the owners of the circuit.

I’m happy for play-by-play broadcaster Daniella Ponticelli. The former play-by-play voice of the Huskies Women’s Hockey Team, Ponticelli was on the call for the PWHL’s first two games.

Ponticelli is best known for calling both hockey and football at a high level as a play-by-play voice, and it feels she was born for the moment to call PWHL games.

Howie Draper works the Pandas bench as head coach in Jan. 2023.

Again, everything about PWHL’s first six days was sensational. Here is a cheers to the continued success of the newest women’s professional hockey league.

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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Fun with photos with the ancient Rutherford Rink

Logan McVeigh celebrates scoring in the 2016 Canada West final.

The Rutherford Rink was the place its inhabitants loved to hate and also hated to love.

The old home of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s and women’s hockey teams was a vastly out of date facility that needed to be replaced for at least the final 30 years of the close to 89 years it was in operation.

It made the Moose Jaw Civic Centre, which was also known as “the Crushed Can,” look like the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

The ancient Rutherford Rink invented the terms “rust break” and “rust delay.”

Those delays happened when a puck was fired into the rook of the facility causing rust to rain down from the corroded support beams on to the ice surface. The Huskies trainers would leap on to the ice to clean up the mess in record time to allow games to proceed.

The building had a seemingly endless list of surprises. In September of 2014, water shot out from a goalpost hole where the net sat on the south end of the rink.

The Huskies had to adjust training until that little surprise was fixed.

Still, the ancient and cramped facility produced lots of memories. Being contained in such close quarters, everyone inside the rink from players, coaches, staffers and maintenance personnel got to know each other real well.

The Huskies also had lots of memorable moment on the Ruthy’s sheet of ice. One of those is the lead picture of centre Logan McVeigh celebrating his goal in Game 2 of the 2016 Canada West Championship series against the Huskies “Forever Rivals” the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

McVeigh’s third period goal gave the Huskies a 2-1 edge in the game, which they would win 3-2 to sweep the best-of-three series 2-0. The Huskies were playing that season to honour the memory of the team’s gritty, glue-guy forward in Cody Smuk, who passed away from cancer in June of 2015 at age 26.

Having moved to Saskatoon in the summer of 2014, I only got to see a small portion of the Rutherford’s history. It opened in late 1929, and the official grand opening was held on January 23, 1930 with a men’s hockey game between the Huskies and the University of Manitoba Bisons.

The 2017-18 campaign was its last full season. The Huskies men’s team closed it out with one last U Sports exhibition game on September 23, 2018, when they downed the York University Lions 5-2.

The Huskies proceeded to move to Merlis Belsher Place for two seasons, before Merlis was converted into a field hospital in waiting to help with the battled against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

The Ruthy sits empty with a significant amount of decommission work carried out on the inside of the building.

The Rutherford Rink was a dump, but for those who got to inhabit it, it was affectionately our dump.

Without further ado, here are some photos I shot at the Rutherford Rink from 2014 to 2018.

Smuk’s night in January of 2015

On January 30, 2015, the 85^th birthday of the Rutherford Rink was held but the star of the night was Huskies men’s hockey team gritty, glue-guy forward Cody Smuk.

Smuk, who was fully engaged with a battle with cancer that would take his life in late June of 2015, was honoured before the Huskies men’s hockey game against their “Forever Rivals” the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

Smuk dropped the puck for the ceremonial faceoff and all the member of both the Golden Bears and Huskies came over to shake his hand before the game.

“Willo” drives home her hatty

Huskies women’s hockey team star winger/centre Kaitlin Willoughby drives home her hat trick goal on February 17, 2017 to power her side past the University of Regina Cougars 4-3 in Game 1 of a Canada West quarter-final series.

I could have made an album of just Willoughby’s moments alone at the Rutherford Rink.

#24 shines brightly on the Huskies

Huskies men’s hockey team forward Carson Stadnyk celebrates scoring with 24 seconds remaining in the third period of a series deciding Game 3 of a Canada West semifinal series on February 24, 2018 against the University of Calgary Dinos.

The goal gave the Huskies a 2-1 lead. They added an empty-net goal in the 3-1 win. Of course, #24 was the number worn by late Huskies men’s hockey team gritty glue-guy forward Cody Smuk.

Stadnyk’s goal was the last playoff series winner scored at the Rutherford Rink.

Cable slides home Canada West title winner

Huskies men’s hockey team right-winger Levi Cable slides home what would be the winning goal of the 2016 Canada West Championship series in the third period on March 5, 2016.

The Huskies swept the best-of-three series against their “Forever Rivals” the University of Alberta Golden Bears 2-0 with a 3-2 victory in Game 2 of the set where Cable scored his series winner.

“Rust break” for referees

The officials clear up “rust break” or “rust delay” during a Huskies women’s hockey game in the 2015-16 season.

I could do a whole picture post on “rust breaks” from the Rutherford Rink.

Regular “rust break” clean up

In this photo, the trainers for the Huskies men’s hockey team show off a regular clean up for a “rust break” or “rust delay” during the 2016-17 campaign.

Spafford’s goal celebration with Alm

Huskies men’s hockey team forward Matthew Spafford celebrates scoring a goal with Huskies ardent supporter Rod Alm celebrating on the other side of the glass in a game on January 15, 2016.

In the picture, it appears the two are about to high-five each other.

Stars’ Parker fired up over post-season goal

Saskatoon Stars captain Mackenna Parker (#11) is all fired after scoring for the Saskatoon Stars in Game 1 of the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League championship series on March 23, 2018.

The Stars, who played a handful of games at the Rutherford Rink in their history, downed the Prince Albert Northern Bears 5-3 on this night.

Huskies women’s team takes 2014 Canada West title

The Huskies women’s hockey team celebrates winning their first Canada West Championship with a team photo here on March 2, 2014.

Cook drives to the goal

Huskies women’s hockey team “Mighty Mouse” centre Kandace Cook, who stands 5-foot-2, wouldn’t be denied driving to the goal for a scoring chance against an army of University of Regina Cougars players.

Faithful cheer on the Huskies

A sellout crowd cheers a goal by the Huskies men’s hockey team in Game 2 of the Canada West Championship series on March 5, 2016.

Roommate joy

Huskies women’s hockey team “Mighty Mouse” centre Kandace Cook celebrates a goal with netminder Cassidy Hendricks on January 17, 2015.

The two were roommates during the 2014-15 campaign.

Herner goes super fan

Huskies women’s hockey team forward Kori Herner goes super fan cheering on the Huskies men’s team in Game 2 of the Canada West Championship series on March 5, 2016.

Wrap up of another game day

Rutherford Rink maintenance staffer Calvin Rempel floods the ice at the end of the night after a playoff win by the Huskies men’s hockey team on February 25, 2017.

Smith celebrates Canada West semi series winner

Huskies women’s hockey team centre Chloe Smith, centre, celebrates scoring what would be the winning goal of the Canada West semifinal series on February 24, 2018.

Smith’s tally allowed the Huskies to pick up a 2-1 victory over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in Game 2 of the series and sweep the best-of-three set 2-0. Her goal was that last women’s playoff series winner at Rutherford.

Broken glass delay

Another Rutherford Rink surprise saw a pane of glass break during a Huskies men’s playoff game on February 23, 2018.

All hands were on deck to fix the glass. Huskies women’s hockey team equipment manager Dave Westbury and long time Huskies men’s hockey team equipment manager Peter Herd are in the middle of the action fixing the glass.

On a side note, the replacement pane of glass had a sticker on it that said the glass pane was made in 1989.

The sweetest of title sweeps

The Huskies men’s hockey team celebrates winning the Canada West Championship with a team photo on March 5, 2016.

The Huskies were playing to honour the memory of gritty, glue-guy forward Cody Smuk, who passed away from cancer at age 26 in June of 2015. Members of Smuk’s family were part of the team picture including his father, Marty, mother, Darla, and fiancée Stephanie Vause.

Yours truly with McVeigh

To close the photo fun from the Rutherford Rink, a picture of myself with Huskies men’s hockey team centre Logan McVeigh during the celebrations of winning the Canada West Championship on March 5, 2016.

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.

Fun with photos

Garth Knittig (#59) dives in for a TD for the Hilltops.

    Defensive lineman touchdowns always make great photos.

    Anyway how saw big old Garth Knittig fly through the air like a bird in the 2017 PFC final for the Saskatoon Hilltops would know that was true. 
    The defensive tackle, who was dubbed “the Delisle Destroyer,” looked like a stout thick building standing 5-foot-10 and weighing 285 pounds getting some serious air time taking the ball on a short-yardage plunge and diving in over top of the Regina Thunder defence from a yard out.

    Knittig’s score came with 96 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and it put the Hilltops up 36-24 over the Thunder. The score would be cemented as the final outcome of the contest at Saskatoon Minor Football Field on Oct. 22, 2017.

    Before Knittig’s touchdown, the Hilltops were holding on to a 29-24 lead against their Regina rivals late in the fourth quarter and wanted to ensure the Thunder didn’t have a chance to pull out any last minute heroics.

    On Knittig’s goal-line short-yardage score, he actually wasn’t supposed to get the ball. He was in the Hilltops short-yardage offensive package to be a blocking fullback.

    Hilltops star quarterback Jordan Walls didn’t hear the play call correctly and was supposed to hand off to a regular ball carrier. He also didn’t question what he heard, because Knittig was a strong, tough and hard-working defensive tackle.

    Everyone in the Hilltops huddle would have been in favour of getting Knittig into the end zone. Little did anyone know, Knittig could run the one-yard dive play as well as Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Marcus Allen, who was an all-time NFL great with the Los Angeles version of the Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Garth Knittig gets set on defence in the 2017 PFC final.

    After that win, the Hilltops advanced on to win a fourth straight CJFL title.

    The image of Knittig’s score in that PFC final is one of the many photos I have captured over the years I enjoy looking at. Since I started this blog in late August of 2014, readers have constantly said they like the photos I have posted.

    Readers might not always like what I have to write, but I don’t think I have ever received a bad word regarding a picture I have posted. Most of those pictures have been from sports events that I have covered.

    Actually, I have usually received great feedback from my picture taking at sporting events. The first photos I ever took came from the second school year I worked at the University of Regina student news paper, The Carillon, in 1997-98.

    I shot a tonne of photos during my time at the Prince Albert Daily Herald from 2001 to 2004.

    I then went through a period of time where I didn’t shoot extensively. When I joined the Medicine Hat News in September of 2004, I was brought on to be a WHL beat writer that covered the Medicine Hat Tigers.

    While I did write about other sports, my main focus was on the Tigers and stories on the WHL league front.

    When I first got to the news, we had a deep editorial staff with three talented photographers. I wasn’t needed to fill that role.

The Hilltops celebrate winning the PFC title in 2017.

    During my time there, the News was sold to Glacier Media and the budget cut era began to take hold at that outlet. I took up shooting photos once again during the 2010-11 hockey season and have kept doing that craft since then.

    I actually like shooting photos more than I do writing.
    During these days that pass under the cloud of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it seems doom and gloom can overcome life.

    I figured I would share 10 more photos in no particular order I have taken over the years that look cool. I saw on my Instagram account I have posted at the moment 1,299 photos I have taken that I really like.

    That volume makes it hard to cut down to a handful of favourities. I figured this could be a fun post I could do on continuing basis even after the pandemic ends.

    With all that said, I hope you enjoy the first batch of photos I have collected for this post. 

Hannoun’s Game 7 OT winner gives WHL title to Raiders

    This will go down as the most iconic photo I have ever taken.

    Overage centre Dante Hannoun (#17) reacts to scoring the overtime winner for the Prince Albert Raiders in Game 7 of the WHL Championship series played on May 13, 2019 at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.

    Hannoun’s goal gave the Raiders a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Giants. It also gave the defining moment in the history of the Raiders legendary home rink in the Art Hauser Centre.

Rams’ Hughes the Huskies in the dust

    University of Regina Rams running back Neal Hughes was one of that program’s all-time top playmakers before going on to a 10-year CFL career with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

    Before he won two Grey Cup rings with the Roughriders, Hughes blasts away from the University of Saskatchewan Huskies defence in this photo take on Sept. 15, 2001. He ran the ball 17 times for 141 yards and scored two touchdowns and caught six passes for 80 yards and a major score.

    The Rams won the Hall of Fame game 31-21 before 7,238 spectators on the frozen concrete of Taylor Field.

Smith’s joyful Ruthy moment with Huskies

    Chloe Smith only played two seasons for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team, but that was enough time to carve out a memorable moment.

    In this photo taken on Feb. 24, 2018, Smith (centre) celebrates scoring the winning goal for the Huskies who downed the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 2-1 in Game 2 of a Canada West semifinal series. She was in her rookie season with the Huskies when she scored this goal.
    The win allowed the Huskies to sweep the best-of-three series 2-0.

    Smith’s tally goes down as the final U Sports women’s playoff series winner scored at the ancient Rutherford Rink.

Shirley so good at age 15 with Stars

    So good, so young.

    Sophie Shirley is pictured in action here for the Saskatoon Stars at age 15 during a Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League semifinal series against the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats at the Agriplace Arena.
    At the time standing just 5-foot-4, Shirley weaved her magic piling up 12 goals and 12 assists helping the Stars win all nine of their league playoff games in 2015 and capture their first Fedoruk Cup as SFU18AAAHL champions.

    She finished second SFU18AAAHL regular season scoring with 22 goals and 17 assists in 27 games.

    Now standing 5-foot-9, Shirley is a star centre with the University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team and a member of Canada national women’s development team. She helped the Badgers win an NCAA national title in 2019 and has a decorated list of accomplishments in hockey having just turned 21-years-old.

Huskies’ Machart follows Riley to the end zone

    Running back Adam Machart rocked and rolled for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in 2019.

    In this picture taken on Sept. 6, 2019, Marchart follows the block of left guard Mattland Riley in the Huskies homecoming game against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds at Griffiths Stadium.

    Machart had a big night carrying the ball 15 times for 134 yards and scoring two touchdowns. He caught an additional five passes for 39 yards in a 40-7 Huskies victory before 6,278 spectators.

    That was the beginning of a huge campaign for Machart. He set a new Huskies team record for most rushing yards in a season piling up 1,334 yards on 156 carries, where he scored eight touchdowns.

    Machart also caught 20 passes for 204 yards and scored three majors through the air. His 1,538 all-purpose yards were a new Huskies team record for one regular season.

    Riley would be selected in the first round and seventh overall by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the CFL Draft held this past April 30.

Cornwall blows roof of SaskTel Centre for Rush

    Jeff Cornwall gave the Saskatchewan Rush a dream finish to their first campaign playing out of the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

    On June 4, 2016, Cornwall, who is a Rush defender, scored a on a coast-to-coast rush with 12 seconds to play in the fourth quarter to break a 10-10 tie with the Buffalo Bandits and put the Rush ahead 11-10 sending 15,182 spectators into delirium. That 11-10 score held up as the final in Game 2 of the National Lacrosse League Championship Series.

    The Rush swept the best-of-three set 2-0 to capture their second NLL title in team history. Their first came the previous season in what was their final campaign based in Edmonton.

    This photo shows the Cornwall (centre in front) celebrating his winning goal in 2016. I like the zoomed out photos of this moment the best, because they show how crazy the SaskTel Centre crowd was.

Moskaluke performs on Canada in 2017

    Just to show I can take pictures of happenings outside of the sports world, I had to throw in this picture of Jess Moskaluke.

    In this picture, Moskaluke is performing at Diefenbaker Park in Saskatoon on Canada Day of 2017. I guess it wouldn’t be much of an admission to say I love taking pictures of Jess Moskaluke performing in concert.

    I’ve only done that twice in my life. I hope I will have another opportunity to take pictures of her in action in the future.

    She has quite the stage presence, and of course, a fantastic singing voice.

Steel’s all-heart goal celebration for the Pats

    Sam Steel represented everything that was good about the WHL’s Regina Pats.

    The star centre gave his heart and soul to the historic major junior team every time he stepped on the ice.

    This picture was taken on April 17, 2017, and it was of Steel’s celebration in scoring the Pats first goal in a series deciding Game 7 of a second round playoff series against the Swift Current Broncos.      This picture shows Steel was locked into performing heroics with the Pats.

    He finished the night with two goals in a 5-1 Pats victory. The Pats trailed in the series 3-1 before pulling out three straight wins to take the set.

    It still marks the only time in the post-season the Pats have rallied back to win a series in which they trailed 3-1.

Caller versus Loewen

    This at the moment goes down as my best photo from a hockey fight, but the fight actually wasn’t as good as the photo was.

    On Dec. 9, 2017, the Saskatoon Blades hosted the Kamloops Blazers in a WHL regular season game at the SaskTel Centre. At the 11:45 mark of the first period, Blades 18-year-old defenceman Jackson Caller fought Blazers powerhouse 19-year-old left-winger Jermaine Loewen.

    Moments before this fight, Loewen had driven Caller’s defensive partner, Evan Fiala, hard into the boards.

    Caller, who stood 6-foot-2 and weighed 189 pounds, hung in a little bit with Loewen, who stood 6-foot-4 and weighed 221 pounds. Loewen overpowered Caller and won the fight without dispute.

    The fight was one-sided, but an early still made the bout look more competitive than it was. The Blazers took the game 4-1.

Willoughby plays hero for Huskies

    Kaitlin Willoughby had a number of big moments for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team, but one picture I took of her goes down as an all-time classic.

    This photo taken on Jan. 21, 2017 shows Willoughby celebrating her overtime winner that gave the Huskies a 5-4 victory over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in a U Sports regular season game at the ancient Rutherford Rink.

    Willoughby’s tally was a highlight reel one that saw her speed down the left wing in the Thunderbirds zone, cut to the net and snipe the winner top corner past diving Thunderbirds defender Kelly Murray and netminder Amelia Boughn.

    Willoughby, who was in her fourth season with the U of S at the time of this photo, finished as the Huskies second all-time leading scorer with 50 goals and 61 assists for 111 points in 132 regular season games.

    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.