It's sweet Wouters, Paddock, overagers will get final bow

Chase Wouters (#44) enjoys an OT winner in the 2019 WHL playoffs

So what would it have been like had Chase Wouters never suited up again as captain of the Saskatoon Blades or Max Paddock never put on the pads again to play goal for the Prince Albert Raiders?

It appears questions on those fronts will be pushed off until this coming May.

Wouters and Paddock are slated to get the chance to hit the ice again.

The WHL’s five teams based in Saskatchewan along with the two clubs in Manitoba will each play a 24-game regular season schedule in a bubble environment at the Brandt Centre in Regina without fans. Team will be able to practice in the neighbouring Co-operators Centre.

Those seven clubs make up the WHL’s East Division for this coming season, and they are slated to hit the ice on March 12.

At the moment, the WHL’s Central Division containing the league’s five teams based in Alberta are set to hit the ice on Feb. 26 with club’s playing in their home centres. The U.S. Division will begin play on March 19 with all games expected to be held in the state of Washington.

The teams in those divisions will each play a shortened 24-game regular season.

Plans are still in the works to get the B.C. Division back into action.

Max Paddock protects the Raiders goal in 2020.

For the overage players from 17 teams that have been cleared to return to play, they will get the chance at the moment to have a final bow.

With anything right now, there is always a possibility the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic can throw a wrench into things.

The overages won’t play in front of a physical crowd. In the case of Wouters and Paddock, they won’t get to play one last time in their home centres.

The returning overagers will get a chance to put on a WHL jersey again. Back on March 12, 2020 when the 2019-20 WHL campaign was paused and the remainder of the season was later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there seemed to be a real chance the overagers for the 2020-21 campaign wouldn’t hit the ice in the WHL again.

All the returning WHL players watched as the overagers from the 2019-20 campaign basically all saw their major junior careers come to a sudden end at the same time. Teams did tribute videos and pieces for the departing overagers on team websites and social media platforms.

There was still a sting those graduating overagers took that they actually didn’t expect their respective WHL careers to end when they last stepped off the ice.

The same fate could have happened to this year’s overage class. It does feel good to know that they won’t have their careers come to a sudden end.

In Wouters case, he was selected in the first round and 18^th overall by the Blades way back in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft. After playing two games as a 15-year-old call up in 2015-16, Wouters has been a career regular on the Blades roster since.

He has appeared in 259 regular season games posting 65 goals, 94 assists and a plus-10 rating in the plus-minus department.

Chase Wouters has played 259 regular season games for the Blades.

Wouters had a memorable playoff moment scoring the overtime winner to lift the Blades to a 3-2 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors at the SaskTel Centre in Game 1 of a first round series in 2019. The Blades swept the best-of-seven set 4-0 before falling 4-2 in a best-of-seven second round series to the eventual WHL champion Prince Albert Raiders.

Wouters has represented the Blades with class for his whole career and done seemingly every community appearance that was asked of him. It is heartwarming to know he will get to wear Blades colours once again.

Paddock got his start WHL start with the Regina Pats. As a 17-year-old rookie in 2017-18, Paddock was in goal when the Pats made it to the championship final as the host team of the 100^th Memorial Cup tournament, which determines a CHL champion.

Paddock turned away 41-of-43 shots as the Pats were blanked 3-0 by the QMJHL champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

The Brandon, Man., product proceeded to play through a 2018-19 season where the Pats were going through a major rebuild after hosting the Memorial Cup.

Paddock remained with the Pats until he was traded to the Raiders on January 9, 2020 for sophomore left-winger Jakob Brook, a second round selection in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft and a conditional third round selection in the 2022 WHL Bantam Draft that depended on Paddock suiting up with the Raiders as an overager.

In 114 career regular season games with the Pats, Paddock had a 44-49-10 career record, a 3.27 goals against average, a .901 save percentage and four shutouts.

In just over two months with the Raiders, Paddock appeared in 19 regular season games posting a 13-3-3 record, a 1.67 goals against average, a .935 save percentage and three shutouts.

With Paddock’s help, the Raiders were sitting first in the WHL’s East Division with a 36-18-6-4 record before the rest of the 2019-20 campaign was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Max Paddock in goal for the Raiders in March of 2020.

At the moment, Paddock is with the AHL’s Stockton Heat on an amateur tryout contract. The Heat are playing out of Calgary, Alta., due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paddock is expected to be back with the Raiders when the East Division starts regular season play on March 12.

Along with getting to make a final bow, Wouters, Paddock and the other overagers will get to compile recent game footage of themselves in action. They could use that football to potentially attract opportunities in the professional or Canadian university ranks.

While they will have that footage as a tool to attract future opportunities, they will get a change to be with their WHL teammates once more and get to create more of a proper closure to their junior careers.

Cozens on shaky ride in NHL COVID-19 campaign, other notes

Dylan Cozens in action for the Hurricanes in 2019.

Dylan Cozens showed he was ready for the NHL until COVID-19 protocols took him off the ice.

The former star centre with the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes began the 2020-21 season serving as an alternate captain for Canada’s world junior team. At world juniors played in a bubble environment at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alta., Cozens topped Canada in scoring posting eight goals, eight assists and a plus-11 rating in the plus-minus department in seven games.

Canada fell 2-0 in the gold medal game to the United States on Jan. 5.

Cozens then joined the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres for his rookie season as a professional. The product of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territories suited up for nine regular season games collecting two goals, one assists and a plus-one rating.

At that point, COVID-19 protocols came calling.

Cozens, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 188 pounds, dressed for the Sabres as they dropped a 5-3 decision at home to the New Jersey Devils on Jan. 31. Due to issues with COVID-19, the Sabres wouldn’t play a game again until this past Monday, when they dropped a 3-1 decision at home to the New York Islanders.

Cozens was placed on the NHL’s COVID-19 “protocol list” on Feb. 6. He returned to practice with the Sabres this past Tuesday, which means he is off the “protocol list.”

At this point, Cozens still hasn’t suited up for a game since that Jan. 31 encounter with the Devils. The Sabres travel to New Jersey on Saturday to face the Devils.

The Devils actually didn’t play any games between downing the Sabres on Jan. 31 and dumping the Rangers in New York 5-2 this past Tuesday due to issues with COVID-19.

Through Monday, the NHL has postponed 35 regular season games due to COVID-19, and all those postponements have been in the United States.

The NHL has been changing its protocols to try and prevent even more postponed games.

That included a change on Feb. 11 that said all players, coaches, training staff, equipment staff and other members of the team’s traveling party on the road will be required to remain at home during home games.

They can’t leave their place of residence except to attend practices and games, exercise outdoors on an individual basis, perform essential activities like going to the doctor or deal with family or other emergencies and other extraordinary circumstances.

The NHL also strongly recommended that household members limit their activities outside the home as well and is encouraging teams to provide way for household member to be tested for COVID-19 regularly.

As you can see, completing an NHL campaign where teams aren’t confined in bubble environments has been very challenging in the United States in these COVID-19 times. Players like Cozens have experienced highs and pitfalls of these present day moments.

• Tickets are on sale for the February jackpot for the Saskatchewan Amateur Football Mega 50/50 lottery. The funds from this 50/50 lottery will go to support the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder and the WWCFL’s Saskatoon Valkyries and Regina Riot. One prize will be drawn per month, and the remaining draw dates are Sunday, February 28, 2021, March 31, 2021, April 30, 2021 and May 31, 2021. Tickets can be purchased by clicking right here, and purchasers must be in Saskatchewan in order to buy tickets.
• There has been a sizable grouping of minor hockey parents in Saskatchewan that have been saying if their kids in minor hockey can’t play than the WHL shouldn’t play. Those parents are trying to compare two different spectrums. In order to play, WHL clubs are providing private PCR testing through DynaLIFE Medical Labs as far as the COVID-19 testing component is concerned. Plus, the five Saskatchewan based clubs and two Manitoba based teams are playing in a bubble environment in Regina. Minor hockey bodies don’t have that type of money to afford those types of things. I guess if minor hockey players could play in a bubble environment where associations provide regular weekly COVID-19 testing, then you could have minor hockey in Saskatchewan.
• On Feb. 12, the junior A Manitoba Junior Hockey League cancelled the remainder of its 2020-21 campaign including regular season and playoffs due to continuing government restrictions brought in to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
• In many Saskatchewan media outlets over the last few days, Saskatchewan Hockey Association general manager Kelly McClintock said there was really no hope of playing any more competitive minor hockey for the 2020-21 campaign. Those comments came after the Government of Saskatchewan decided on Tuesday to extend current Public Health Orders and restrictions to battle COVID-19 to March 19. Teams are still allowed to continue training with players in groups of eight.
• On Monday, the Saskatoon Blades acquired 2001 born right-winger Blake Stevenson from the Tri-City Americans for a conditional fifth round selection in the 2023 WHL Bantam Draft. In 2019-20, Stevenson appeared in 47 regular season games with the Americans collecting 10 goals and 10 assists. He is eligible to play in the WHL as an overager in 2021-22.
• On Tuesday, the Red Deer Rebels announced Troy Gillard would be the team’s play-by-play voice for the club’s shorted 24 WHL regular season schedule. Gillard will work the Rebels 12 home games with colour analyst Mike Moller. The Rebels open the regular season on Feb. 19 hosting the Medicine Hat Tigers.
• On Tuesday, the Everett Silvertips announced overage left-winger Cole Fonstad and overage defenceman Gianni Fairbrother were named the team’s co-captains for the 2020-21 season. Fonstad helped the Prince Albert Raiders win the WHL title in 2019 before a trade early in the 2019-20 campaign brought him to Everett. In 60 regular season games split between the Raiders and Silvertips in 2019-20, Fonstad had 15 goals, 59 assists and a plus-39 rating. This season, he had five goals and five assists in six games with the Estevan Bruins in the junior A Saskatchewan Junior Hockey league before play was halted due to government restrictions to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019-20, Fairbrother appeared in 37 regular season games for the Silvertips posting five goals, 20 assists and a plus-six rating.
• On Thursday, the Regina Pats dealt 17-year-old defenceman Daylan Weigel to the Swift Current Broncos in exchange for a fifth-round selection in the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft. In 2019-20, Weigel dressed in one regular season game for the Pats. He played 42 regular season games in the Saskatchewan Male Under-18 AAA Hockey League collecting six goals and 20 assists with the Saskatoon Blazers. He suited up for the Blazers in four games this season collecting one assist before play was halted due to government restrictions to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
• On Thursday, the Brandon Wheat Kings announced 19-year-old defenceman and Prince Albert, Sask., product Braden Schneider was named the team’s captain. In 2019-20, Schneider appeared in 60 regular season games for the Wheat Kings posting seven goals, 35 assists and a plus-nine rating. This season, he was a member of Canada’s silver medal winning team at world juniors appearing in six games collecting one goal, two assists and a plus-eight rating. He dressed for two games with the AHL’s Hartford Wolfpack posting one assist and a plus-two rating.

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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COVID-19 pandemic times lead to rediscoveries

Visiting my Dad’s resting place in Regina.

    It has been great to have weekends again for an extended stretch.

    That has been one of the many rediscoveries I’ve come across during these coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic times.

    For the last 20 years, I really haven’t had regular weekends over a lengthy span of time due to making a career covering sports events. When massive shutdowns started to occur on March 11 and 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, my weekends opened up.

    With all that noted, I miss covering sports events a great deal. The clock in my head keeps telling me the Saskatoon Hilltops should be well into their CJFL regular season.

I’ve enjoyed getting out to cut the grass during the pandemic.

    The 2020 CJFL season is one of many things that have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Even with local baseball and softball starting up in early July and the Saskatoon Stock Car Racing Association springing to action at the Wyant Group Raceway on Aug. 8, the last sports event I covered with a focus and intensity was the Saskatoon Contacts getting eliminated from the Saskatchewan Under-18 AAA Hockey League playoffs on March 12 at Merlis Belsher Place.

    The Contacts fell 5-3 to the Moose Jaw Warriors, who swept a best-of-five league semifinal series 3-0.

    Well over five months have passed since that game was played, and weekends have become actual weekends. There is anticipation when Friday arrives and a dread when Monday rolls around.

Yes, I own the DVDs to the “Disney” Star Wars trilogy.

    I haven’t had this many weekends in a row that have been actually weekends where you can have down time since the summer of 2000.

    During weekends, I will do things that need to be attended to at home like clearing snow or cutting the grass depending on what season it is. When the pandemic got real in Saskatoon, winter was still on in full force.

    It seemed like it didn’t start to get warm outside until the beginning of May, and it has been warm ever since.

    On weekends, I will do my workouts in my weight room in the basement. I’ve gotten used to watching movies on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

I used the Denver Broncos to win the Super Bowl in Madden.

    I’ve actually found a new joy in just hanging on the homestead on Saturday nights.

    On Saturdays and Sundays, I can often be found playing a game or two of Madden 2008 on my PlayStation 2, or I can be seen venturing on a long bike trip through the city.

    For the first time in like five years, I’ve started and completed a regular season of Madden inside of a calendar year. I can’t remember when was the last time I finished a Madden season inside of six months.

    I used the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers just to be different and have fun. The Broncos ended up winning the Super Bowl over the Panthers 56-28.

    Besides creating storylines on Madden, I got to have a little fun in the statistics department.

The Denver Broncos raise the Super Bowl trophy in Madden.

    With the Panthers, I signed a younger computer generated quarterback with a 99 overall rating and receiver Calvin Johnston, who was nicknamed in real life “Megatron.”

    Johnston had a 98 overall rating when he was signed and was boosted up to a 99 overall rating by the end of the season. I had Johnson catch 83 passes for 2,398 yards and 23 touchdowns appearing in all 16 regular season games.

    I’ve re-watched a lot of Star Wars movies including all three that are part of the “Disney” trilogy.

    I rediscovered the 1980s animated television shows for Transformer, G.I. Joe and Robotech. I viewed the Transformers shows off old VCR tapes I own.

    I started out watching G.I. Joe and Robotech episodes on YouTube.

A pandemic DVD purchase. Can’t go wrong with 1980s G.I. Joe.

    I later bought a couple of DVD sets of G.I. Joe television shows from the 1980s at Hi-Tech Gametraders in Confederation Mall in Saskatoon.

    I totally endorse shopping at Hi-Tech Gametraders, which is a good local Saskatoon business.

    I found the complete Robotech series on DVD for sale online in the United States and purchased it and had it shipped to my place in Saskatoon.

    The DVD sets were pandemic buys, because I likely wouldn’t have bought them had the world gone on like it normally would.

    I finally made a road trip for the first time in the pandemic traveling to Regina on Aug. 19 and 20. I brought my mountain bike to Regina, and biked there for the first time in 10 years.

    In a cool twist, the mountain bike I road in Regina was the same one I won following the University of Regina Cougars women’s basketball team to U Sports nationals in Thunder Bay, Ont., in 1999.

Another pandemic DVD purchase. Robotech is still cool.

    I won the bike hitting a half-court shot during a halftime competition at the tournament’s championship game.

    I’ve only hit a half-court shot one other time in my life since.

    During my Regina stop, I visited the resting place of my late father, Dan Steinke.

    While it was great to finally hit the highway again, I’ve discovered during the pandemic that I have grown comfortable with being a home body.
    I haven’t been a home body since I was in Grade 9.

    Still, it does suck that the world hasn’t progressed in a normal fashion specifically in North America since early March. When the pandemic does end, I hope I can become active again covering the sports teams in the hockey and football world that I’ve covered over 24 years before the pandemic started.

    There are no guarantees that will happen as that depends on how events in the world play out the longer the pandemic goes.

In the pandemic, I plan to keep making the best with the cards dealt my way.

    With that noted, I am going to continue to rediscovering doing a few things I used to do in taking advantage of the cards that have been dealt to me in the present.

    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.

Appetite for Destruction – GnR will rake in money in Regina

An LP of Guns N’ Roses debut album.

    “Are you out of your mind?”

    That was my first reaction when I saw the ticket prices for the Guns N’ Roses concert in Regina on Sunday at new Mosaic Stadium.

    When I looked at the Ticketmaster map to see how well ticket sales were going, I began to question if I was lost with some parts of today’s world.

    The prices were outrageous. Most seats were tagged at $165 and upwards plus fees. Floor seats were going for $275 plus fees. Admission for the standing pit area in front of the stage was $350 plus fees.

    Tickets are also available for $75 each plus fees, and a handful of those went on sale in the north end zone of new Mosaic. The Friday ploy is a standard entertainment industry practice were a handful of tickets are held for release a couple of days before the event.

    While the pricing was a shocker, the other shocker was tickets were selling. The Ticketmaster stadium map was dominated with white, which is the colour that marks a sold seat.

The back of a Guns N’ Roses debut album in LP format.

    The biggest concentration of open seats are in the two most expensive areas on the floor and in front of the stage. With that said, the floor is about 60 per cent sold.
    Doors open for Sunday’s show at 4:30 p.m., Our Lady Peace goes on stage at 6:15 p.m. and Guns N’ Roses hits the stage at 7:30 p.m.

    GnR’s current tour is dubbed the “Not in this Lifetime….. Tour,” and it features the reunion of core members in frontman Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan.

    Anyone that is aware of this band’s history figured this reunion would never happen. Following the band’s heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Slash departed in 1996 and McKagan followed in 1997. The feuds between Rose, 55, Slash, 52, and McKagan, 53, appeared to revolve around ego.

    A reunion of the three core members was always possible from the standpoint it could happen because way too much money could be made. That reason was a big factor in KISS reuniting with its original lineup in the late 1990s. Motley Crue would constantly fly apart and reunite bringing in boatloads of money in the process.

CDs of GnR’s Use Your Illusion albums.

    In the case of KISS and Motley Crue, there always seemed to be an underlying respect and actual brother type caring between the band members.

    In Guns N’ Roses case, it seemed like tensions were always so toxic that a reunion would never happen. At times, it seemed tensions were beyond toxic as far as a hate meter was concerned.

    When Rose, Slash, and McKagan, did get back together in early 2016 and their initial reunion grew into the band’s current tour, I know for myself I didn’t know how to take it.

    During my high school years, Guns N’ Roses was my favourite band. In my Grade 11 and 12 years, I became sort of minor cult figure in Winnipeg’s J.H. Bruns Collegiate singing GnR songs in the hallway and also performing “Don’t Cry” once at a gym rally. There were a number of classmates that just knew me by the nickname “Axl.”

    It should also be noted my high school sweetheart hated Guns N’ Roses in an extreme way, and that might have played a part in us breaking up right after her high school graduation ending a two-year relationship, but I digress.

    That part of my life would appear on the odd occasion during my university years in Regina. I sang “Patience” and “Don’t Cry” at the impromptu after party of the University of Regina Cougars award night in 1998 at the now defunct Bart’s On Broad in Regina. In my best suit out of all things, I sang in front of all the school’s athletic teams and a number of coaches, who clearly enjoyed the entertainment that night.

Guns N’ Roses concert VCR tapes from a show in Tokyo.

    Most of Guns N’ Roses songs had a rage and emotion to them that seemed linked to the late 1980s early 1990s time period. Even power ballad type songs like “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Don’t Cry” and the softer “Patience” required you get to that emotional point that was linked to a romantic relationship.

    You went to KISS to enjoy yourself and to Motley Crue to party. I paid $145.50 for a floor seat for Motley Crue’s farewell tour stop in Saskatoon in December of 2015, when they toured with Alice Cooper. Both groups put on iconic performances that night that were true to who they were.

    Guns N’ Roses was an attitude and you went to a show to act out in a pissed off way.

    Concerts in 1991 in St. Louis and 1992 in Montreal ended in riots, and part of the draw was seeing an act that was so unstable that mayhem might break out. I had a friend that went to the Montreal riot show, where GnR toured with Metallica, and he recalled seeing live fires all over the place.

A Guns N’ Roses VCR tape.

    In recent years even before the reunion, I often saw signs that the band wasn’t forgotten. The GnR tribute band The Nightrain seems to have been around forever.

    I would see Guns N’ Roses T-shirts on sale in respectable clothing outlets, which was something you would never see in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

    I would also see the odd young lady in her late teens wearing a GnR T-shirt or the T-shirt of another hard rock band that made its name in the 1980s. It always struck me how these young ladies knew of these bands.

    In early April, I was in Prince Albert covering hockey. I was checking out a retail store hours before the hockey game, when I visited with a really good looking young lady with blonde hair, who had to be 18 or 19 years of age.

    She was wearing a Guns N’ Roses tour T-shirt, and she had the bottom part tied to her waist, so the T-shirt fit tight to her body. She also donned black yoga pants and cute set of sandals.

    She looked amazing. I told her stories about the band in its heyday, and she was entertained and laughed with amusement at them. She was clearly in for the nostalgia.

    It struck me you would never see any young ladies dressed like her back in the band’s heyday, where GnR’s every day female fans dressed like tough head banger chicks with tight jeans or black leather pants. They also wore stylish footwear that could do damage in a fight. They still looked hot, but they had the image that they could really mess you up if given the chance.

    So far on their current tour, Guns N’ Roses sound like they are delivering. They are expected to have one of the top grossing tours of 2017.

A Guns N’ Roses poster from 1991.

    They played at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg on Thursday night. According to the review in the Winnipeg Free Press, which is one of the last bastions of good independent journalism in Canada, Guns N’ Roses turned back the clock and were as good as their best days in their prime ripping through a three-hour set.
    The show also started on time, which harkened back to the fact GnR concerts had a habit of starting notoriously late in the early 1990s.

    Having only casually followed news on the band since 1996, I am finding I can’t get myself back in that emotional place to go see one of their shows. On an impulse whim, I find I can’t dish out money for a ticket with the crazy prices that are being charged.

    Judging by Regina ticket sales, a lot of people want to see the reunited band, and they are willing to pay big amounts of money to do it.

    I hope they enjoy the show and the band impresses. For me, my passions in life have changed, so I believe I will take a pass on this concert.

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

A faded rivalry

Regina vs. Saskatoon clashes lack lustre of days gone by

The Rams and Huskies battle in the 2002 Canada West final.

            The fake kneel down play once symbolized all the animosity between Regina and Saskatoon.

            In the 1995 Prairie Football Conference final, the Regina Rams, who were still members of the Canadian Junior Football League, had a 19-8 victory sealed over the Saskatoon Hilltops. All the Rams offence had to do was kneel down on the last play to officially end the contest.

            Instead, Rams quarterback Darryl Leason started to go down on to one knee only to stand up quickly and throw a touchdown pass to a wide open Josh Shaw. The play was nullified by a penalty but tensions ran high over that play years later.

            Fans in Saskatoon deplored the attempt to run up the score in a decided contest. Those folks in Regina had no class.

            Fans in Regina loved the display as an attempt to stick it to what were viewed as the arrogant high on the horse citizens of Toontown. When you played road games in the Bridge City, you knew those people always tried to stack the odds in favour of their teams.

Heck, in one point in time it was joked a touch football game in Davidson between the staffs of the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix newspapers would break down into a brawl.

            The days of when the rivalry was that fiercely intense between Regina and Saskatoon are long faded away like the era when the horse and buggy was a common site on the street. The two biggest cities in Saskatchewan are no longer two city states that see their wars played out in an athletic arena.

            Part of the reason the rivalry has faded is because of the changing nature of the times. With the explosion of social media, especially Twitter, word and criticism spreads quickly when someone does something wrong. Often some small mistake because a much bigger deal than it really is.

            As a result, players, coaches and personnel on teams try not to say anything at all to stoke fires. The aim is act as respectively as possible in public.

            Currently in the CJFL, the Hilltops and the Regina Thunder have the classic modern day mutual respect rivalry. Over the past couple of seasons, they have staged a number of classic contests, and both sides talk about each other in very high praise terms.

            When the Rams left the CJFL for their first season in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport ranks in 1999, a new on field rivalry was born with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

Darryl Leason gets steps up to throw for the Rams in 2001.

            The peak of that rivalry came during playoff encounters in 2001 and 2002 at Taylor Field. The Rams came away with 58-31 victory in a Canada West semifinal match in 2001, where Leason completed 20 passes for 418 yards and five touchdowns. Victory was made even sweeter for the Regina side when the “dirty” Huskies couldn’t put Leason out of the game by taking “cheap shots” at his injured knee.

            A year later, the Huskies claimed what to date is the only Canada West final encounter between the two teams storming out to a 28-0 lead and closing out a 44-28 victory. The game’s turning point came with the Huskies leading 28-14 and the Rams getting set to cut the gap to seven before halftime rolled around.

            Huskies cornerback Ryan Barnstable picked off Rams quarterback Mark Anderson and ran the ball back 92 yards for a U of S touchdown. No “cheap shots” were needed this day to ensure a convincing victory over a team that had “more bark than bite.”

            At that time, fans on both sides thought the two clubs would face each other in the Canada West final on a regular basis. That rivalry has faded with the University of Calgary Dinos rising to be the dominant power in Canada West having won the last six straight conference titles.

            When the Huskies beat the Rams 21-16 at Mosaic Stadium in the only regular season encounter between the two teams this season, it didn’t feel like a rivalry game. The Huskies played harder in their previous game falling 38-24 at home to the Dinos.

            On the pond, the WHL rivalry between the Regina Pats and Saskatoon Blades has been dormant for a lengthy time. Both have closer geographical rivals which their fans get heated for.

A fight from a game between the Blades and Pats in 2000.

The Pats have had the Trans-Canada Clash with the Moose Jaw Warriors, which is often viewed as the greatest rivalry in the major junior ranks. The Blades most heated battles are with the Prince Albert Raiders.

The last memorable encounters between the Pats and Blades occurred in the first round of the 2000 WHL playoffs, which saw the Blades claim a heated seven-game series that contained piles of penalty minutes. Blades enforcer Darcy Hordichuk was the most hated guy in Regina at that time, while Pats captain Barret Jackman was a favourite target for the heckles of Saskatoon fans.

On campus outside of the action on the football field, matches between the Huskies and the University of Regina Cougars teams have traditionally been touch and go on the rivalry front. Part of that reality comes from the fact most of those schools teams played for a long time without an interlocking regular season schedule until the 1999-2000 campaign.

Also, many players on both sides have usually been past teammates on various provincial teams. That also seems to lessen tensions.

Men’s hockey once had a big rivalry. With former major junior players dominating rosters on most CIS teams for over a decade, the men’s game is more of a skilled game. There are still big hits, but “the chip on the shoulder” mentality seems to be left more in the junior ranks.

One place were animosity did rise up was in the Canada West women’s hockey championship series last season. The best-of-three series went more than the distance with the Huskies and Cougars battling through 17 periods and 296 minutes of hockey due to the fact every contest went to overtime.

Game 3 on March 2 was particularly heated. There were a couple of scrums, a lot players jawing with each other after whistles and the play was pretty physical. At one point in the second period, Huskies captain Cami Wooster, who stands 5-foot-3, ducked out of an attempted head hit from a Cougars player behind the Regina net.

If Wooster had been eliminated at that point in the game due to a concussion or other injury, it is highly likely the Huskies would have lost that contest. She had her team’s goal in regulation coming in the third period and drew the assist on Kaitlin Willoughby’s double overtime winner in the 2-1 victory at the ancient Rutherford Rink.

            Time will tell if those tensions are isolated moments of that series.

            For now, Regina and Saskatoon are city states that co-exist peacefully. The rivalry appears limited to old athletes and coaches that like to tell stories about long ago.

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