Possible Hilltops, Thunder football friendlies could have unique potential

The Hilltops and Thunder go at it last season in Regina.

    If the powers that be gave their approval, it would be great to see the Saskatoon Hilltops and the Regina Thunder face each other in a series of exhibition games.

    On Aug. 6, the CJFL officially cancelled its 2020 campaign due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Hilltops have won the last six straight CJFL titles and nine out of the last 10 league championships.

    The one title the Hilltops didn’t take out of that run was claimed by the Thunder in 2013.

    In recent days, there has been banter about the two sides going head-to-head in a series of exhibition games or scrimmages.

    The Hilltops and Thunder have developed an intense and high level provincial rivalry over the last decade. If the two sides could get together for a series of friendlies, it would provide a much needed familiar sight in the fall.

The Thunder defence wraps up Hilltops RB Carter McLean, middle.

    Of course, the biggest hurdle is those clubs would have to come up with a plan that would need to be approved by the Saskatchewan Health Authority. Considering the Saskatchewan Health Authority hasn’t approved a start date for the Saskatchewan Hockey Association to begin playing sanctioned games, getting football off the ground seems like an enormous task.

    One way the Hilltops and Thunder might be able to satisfy health authorities might be to shelf playing 12-versus-12 football for now. If they want to get some football action in, maybe the two teams should pitch playing games in the six-man or nine-man format.

Hilltops R Keegan Dicks, right, looks to get past a Thunder defender.

    In rural Saskatchewan, six-man and nine-man football is big. It is common for Saskatchewan towns to shut down in order to allow everyone to turn out for the six-man and nine-man high school games that take place in the fall.

    Of course, high school is the highest level you can play the six-man and nine-man games. At the post-secondary level, you can only play the 12-man game.

    Still, the six-man and the nine-man games have a deep history in Saskatchewan.

    It would be neat if the province’s two junior teams attempted to plays those types of games in an exhibition setting. Of course, the drawback is you are not creating a chance to gain more experience at the 12-man game.

Thunder QB Blake Scherle fires a pass downfield under pressure.

    On the other side, the novelty of seeing the Hilltops and the Thunder play six-man or nine-man games would be something that could peak people’s curiosity.

    The biggest selling point to the Saskatchewan Health Authority would be these types of games would cut down on the size of traveling parties.

    Unfortunately, another drawback is the Government of Saskatchewan has capped crowds for outdoor sporting events at 150 spectators.

    On the plus side, you could possibly get Regina’s Access Communications to broadcast those six-man or nine-man games between the Hilltops and Thunder on television.
    The Access feed could be shown on the Shaw community channel in Saskatoon.
    Even if the games rotated between cities, you might be able to convince Access Communications to broadcast the games Saskatoon.

It is always intense when the Hilltops and Thunder collide.

    Access Communications does that same thing when the WHL’s Regina Pats face the Blades in Saskatoon. 

    You would have to think a few football starved fans would check out those encounters between the Hilltops and Thunder on television. They would likely be popular among the football communities of both cities.

    You could make the broadcasts more fun by getting Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant and Thunder head coach Scott MacAuley to wear microphones for the game, since these are exhibition tilts.
    Even without microphones, both can still be heard from the sidelines by spectators in the stands.
    The Hilltops and Thunder could play a best-of-three series that could build up to play a 12-man contest.

The Hilltops and Thunder have a compelling rivalry.

    The first contest could be a six-man game, the second a nine-man encounter and the third could be a 12- man match.
    That type of progression might increase the confidence of the Saskatchewan Healthy Authority for allowing a 12-man contest.

    With all that noted, it still seems like a pipe dream of seeing the Hilltops and Thunder face each other on the field in 2020.

    However, everyone is permitted to dream.

Thumbs up to CEBL for crowning champ, other notes

The @ED_Stingers are UNSTOPPABLE. 👏👏

They are bringing home the 2020 @CEBLeague championship 🏆.#OurGame pic.twitter.com/FiXQhO1QBe

— CEBL (@CEBLeague) August 9, 2020

    The Edmonton Stingers were over the moon this past Sunday.

    Guard Xavier Moon sank a game-high 31 points to power the Stingers to a 90-73 victory over the Abbotsford, B.C., based Fraser Valley Bandits in the Canadian Elite Basketball League championship game in St. Catherines, Ont. Moon was named the CEBL Championship Finals MVP.

    The Stingers title victory capped the CEBL Summer Series tournament that saw all seven teams on the circuit play in a bubble environment at the Meridian Centre. All of the CEBL Summer Series games were played without spectators.

    Chief executive officer Mike Morreale, who was once a star receiver in the CFL, and the crew running the CEBL deserve major applause.

    The CEBL was only in its second season of existence and the professional circuit managed to hand out its championship trophy despite the fact the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the sports world.

    The CEBL used the Elam ending rule to add intrigue.

    The rule sees the game clock turned off at the first stoppage of play inside of the final four minutes of the fourth quarter. At the CEBL Summer Series, nine points is added to the total of the winning team at the time, and both squads push to hit that target score to end the contest.

    The rule was designed to prevent stoppages with fouling by the team that trails on the scoreboard inside of the final four minutes of the game.

    At the moment, the CEBL is the only team sports league that exists within Canada’s borders to crown a champion during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The tournament was broadcast by CBC either through live television or on an online stream.

    The fact the CEBL was able to pull this off is a big win for that circuit. It builds huge confidence that CEBL is going to be here to stay over the long term.

    It was able to play through a set of obstacles that are capable of crushing a fledgling league and has tripped up established and storied sports leagues.

    The CEBL had a great inaugural season in 2019 that saw the Saskatchewan Rattlers win the league title at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon. It would have seemed unfair if that turned out to be the end of the CEBL’s story.

    Now, it appears the CEBL has a high likelihood of being with us whenever the COVID-19 pandemic comes to a close. Here is hoping the CEBL will have a long and prosperous run.

• On Monday, longtime TSN hockey insider Bob McKenzie announced over Twitter he was heading into semi-retirement. He joined TSN in 1986 after starting his media career working for print publications including stops with the Toronto Star and The Hockey News. McKenzie, who will turn 64-years-old on Sunday, will still be doing draft rankings for TSN and working as part of the crew that covers the World Junior Hockey Championships.
• On Tuesday, the NCAA’s Big 10 and Pac-12 conferences each voted to postpone football and other fall sports season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both conferences are holding out hope about having their fall sports play in the spring of 2021 but action at that time is far from guaranteed. That means there will be no November football clash between Michigan and Ohio State, who are storied Big 10 rivals.
• On Wednesday, the Regina Leader-Post reported the Regina Intercollegiate Football League high school circuit won’t begin regular season play any earlier than Sept. 28 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally, the Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association was going to allow practices to start Aug. 20, but that has been moved back to Sept. 14.
• On Thursday, 37-year-old Nashville Predators defenceman Dan Hamhuis announced he was retiring from the NHL. Hamhuis played in 60 regular season games for the Predators this past season posting eight assists and a plus-eight rating in the plus-minus department. The Smithers, B.C. product played in 15 NHL seasons from 2005 to 2020 appearing in 1,148 regular season games split between the Predators, Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars posting 59 goals and 297 assists. He played in the WHL for four seasons for the Prince George Cougars from 1998 to 2002 appearing in 247 regular season games collecting 34 goals and 122 assists. Hamhuis was named the WHL’s player of the year for the 2001-02 campaign. In the current day, Hamhuis is a co-owner of the Cougars.
• On Friday, the QMJHL announced it still intends to start its regular season on Oct. 1. The circuit said games in the province of Quebec would be played without fans and details were still being worked out for teams in the Maritime provinces.
• The tweet of the week goes to Canada track and field star hurdler Sage Watson. Known for her trademark ruby red lips on race day, Watson is pitching a new shade of red lipstick for L’Oreal Paris.

I am so honoured and excited to be partnering with @lorealparis to launch their new Colour Riche North Red. I want others to feel confident, beautiful and empowered like I do on the track when they wear this bold North Red shade! Because you’re worth it 😘💋#lorealparis pic.twitter.com/BObYDtTltx

— Sage Watson (@SageWats) August 14, 2020

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

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Out of sight out of mind fear drives COVID-19 sports world

Andrew Harris runs the ball for the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

    If you don’t play, you don’t exist.

    It is that type of fear that is driving the sports world right now in the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    Teams, leagues and minor sports bodies fear the old cliché, “out of sight, out of mind.”

    A cliché becomes a cliché, because it is grounded in truth. The teams, leagues and minor sports bodies don’t want to be forgotten.

    There is a fear that if people stop interacting with their favourite team, league or the minor sports body they are involved with, those people will find other ways or focus on other interests to occupy their time and forget about the sports world.

    As a result, there are many inside these teams, league and minor sports bodies who feel they need to find some way to play at all costs.

    That line of thinking often results in pressure to throw good money after bad money.

    At the moment in North America, the big four professional leagues have returned to play or are about to return to play in the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB. UFC and the NASCAR Cup Series have been motoring along since May.

    The WNBA has also hit the court, and out in Germany, the pro soccer Bundesliga completed its campaign in early July.

Most leagues in Canada have no where near the NHL’s resources.

    One thing all these circuits have is major resources noting that the WNBA is backed by the NBA. That doesn’t mean these professional circuits are immune to the impacts of COVID-19.

    In the MLB, the Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies are still dealing with the after effects of being rocked by positive COVID-19 tests. Both clubs were last in action when they played each other in Philadelphia this past Sunday and haven’t seen the field since.

    There are fears the MLB season won’t be played to a conclusion.

    On the economic side, the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks gave a written termination notice to 49 people working full time in business operations. As it is unknown as to when the Canucks will host home games, they couldn’t keep those employees on staff. That story came out in the Vancouver Province on Thursday.

Will gate-driven circuits like the WHL find the conditions to play?

    The Canadian Elite Basketball League is in the process of conducting a month long Summer Series tournament to crown a league champion playing out of a bubble environment at the Meridian Centre in St. Catherines, Ont.

    The CEBL isn’t flush with cash, so Mike Morreale and that circuit’s leaders deserve big credit for getting that circuit going. Still, running a basketball league isn’t the same as getting a football league back in action in Canada.

    If the storied CFL takes the field in 2020, it will do so in the bubble city of Winnipeg. That league is still facing numerous hurdles as far as playing games go including getting players living in the COVID-19 ravaged United States into Canada and getting the CFL and CFL Players’ Association to come to terms on a deal to play this season.

    The CFL is still seeking money from the Government of Canada to take the field again and no results have occurred on that front. The CFL was looking for $44-million to play this year and was seeking $150-million in federal government assistance if the 2020 season is lost.

CFL great Charleston Hughes (#39) is focusing more on the working world.

    At the moment, players from the United States that live in Canada like Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive end Charleston Hughes are focusing more on opportunities in the working world. Hughes lives year round in Regina.

    On the minor sports front, minor sport bodies are content to get registration that reaches just 25 per cent of recent years in order to spring into action. Still, those bodies are facing the reality of needing like three years to recover economically from 2020.

    Even with that in mind, people are thinking about you, if you are out there playing.

    No one knows what the future will be like for gate driven leagues like the CHL major junior hockey circuit that includes the WHL, OHL and QMJHL.

    Same goes with junior A hockey that includes the SJHL or the professional NLL circuit.

    U Sports could look drastically different after the pandemic as opposed to before the pandemic. That circuit won’t hold any national championships in fall, and most of its conferences have shuttered fall competition. The odds aren’t great action will resume in January of 2021.
    The Government of Canada wouldn’t allow the MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays to play out of Toronto in front of no fans, so what are the odds that gate driven leagues will be able to operate with fans.

Will U of Saskatchewan Huskies football be hurt by not playing in 2020?

    Governments in Canada at the federal, provincial and municipal level don’t seem to be in a rush to allow sports events where around 1,000 people attend let alone attendances that surpass 10,000. In Saskatchewan, stock car circuits are racing in front of gatherings that are allowed to top out at 150 people.

    I have been thinking what my father, the late Dan Steinke, would do when it comes to the business side of the sports world, because he had his share of success in the business world.

    I suspect he would treat the COVID-19 pandemic like the world was in the grips of a world war.  

    Concluding that governments in Canada don’t have a will to allow sports teams to play in front of mass gatherings of people and most avenues to generate revenue have been significantly hurt, my late dad, if he was the owner of a sports team, would likely layoff all the staff and cut everything down to the point where he held just the intellectual property of the team.
    He would put the intellectual property of the team into storage ready for it to be brought back when the pandemic ends.
    My dad would suggest owners of sports teams to follow that course of action, because he would see no value in continually throwing money into a black hole as the end date of the pandemic is uncertain.

What will Makena Kushniruk and the Saskatoon Stars see in 2020-21?

    He wouldn’t like following this course of action, but he would do what needed to be done. If you think about it, 143 days have passed since the sports world in North America proceeded like normal.

    With that in mind, the leaders of teams, leagues and minor sports bodies are working their hardest to figure out the best path in this uncertain time. No one knows what the correct answer will be to get through these pandemic days.

    A bigger than major reboot for the sports world especially in Canada might be unavoidable.

    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.