Unfortunately, sports and politics do collide

Expect trend to increase with Trump as US President

Has anybody in Canada seen much of Steven Guilbeault in recent weeks?

From 2021 to 2024, it seemed like the famed former member of Greenpeace was a regular on Canadian news networks serving as Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, which is a position he still holds. Guilbeault seemingly spoke as Prime Minister of Canada 1A creating policies to force Canada to move towards a green economy. He was the star shown all over the place as it seemed to be Canada was positioned to be the hero that was going to save the world from climate change under the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Guilbeault was seen regularly in early January 2025 until January 20 rolled around and Donald Trump was inaugurated as President of the United States of America for a second term taking over from Democrat Joe Biden, who beat Trump in the 2020 Presidential Election. Since becoming the President of the United States again, Trump signed off on an avalanche of executive orders changing numerous aspects of life in that country and using the threats of tariffs to declare economic war on first Canada and Mexico along with seemingly the rest of the world.

Of course, he keeps repeating that line about making Canada the “51^st state.”

All of that has thrown Canada’s political scene in a crisis mode with the country’s economy being very dependent on what has traditionally been a good relationship with the United States. Under the specter of this current political climate, it seems like there is a fear that Canada could turn into a third world country overnight, if Trump makes good on his plans.

All of a sudden, you don’t hear much about Guilbeault and talk about Canada’s environmental policies has become muted. If they are talked about, they seem out of place in dealing with the economic challenges Canada now faces.

Shifting to the sporting world, Trump appeared at Super Bowl LIX on February 9 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. He received big cheers, but left early as the Philadelphia Eagles stormed to a 34-0 lead and hammered the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs 40-22. The Chiefs scored two touchdowns in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter to make the final score look better cosmetically.

On Sunday, Trump appeared at the Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Air Force 1 took a flyby of the track and Trump road in his armoured Cadillac limousine nicknamed “The Beast” and lapped the track with his presidential motorcade leading the field of cars.

In Canada, the national anthem of the United States has been booed before NHL and NBA games hosted in Canadian cities and the two 4 Nations Face-Off games the United States team played at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The booing is done to show displeasure with Trump’s tariff threats.

On Monday, Bill Guerin, who is the Team USA general manager for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, said on Fox News he would be very happy to see Trump in the crowd for Thursday’s championship game. The USA will face Canada in the final to be played at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts (7 p.m. Saskatchewan time, Sportsnet). At the moment, it does not look like Trump will be attending this contest.

Trudeau was in attendance for the preliminary round game between Canada and the USA taken 3-1 including an empty-net goal by the Americans last Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal. That game started with three fights in the first nine seconds of the opening frame.

If the United States wins the 4 Nations Face-Off title game, you can be sure you will see messaging on social media that Canada was put in its place and that the USA owns Canada. You will likely hear messages from the folks in the United States that Canada has become an embarrassment in the game it loves and that Canada really isn’t a real country and should become a state.

When it comes to sport on the international scene, sport has become the place where a sizable number of countries use that space as the spot that proves their country and culture is superior that of another country and its culture.

When the Soviet Union existed, it often used both Summer and Winter Olympic Games along would world championships to declare being the world’s most superior nation state. Russia would do that under the rule of Vladimir Putin before their sports bodies were banned at Olympic and various other international sporting events following their invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

When Canada’s NHL players face the Soviet Union in the famed eight-game Summit Series of 1972, it became a tribalistic battle between cultures and peoples out on a hockey rink. Canada claimed that series with four wins, three losses and one tie on Paul Henderson’s famed Game 8 winner that broke a 5-5 tie and gave Canada a 6-5 victory with 34 seconds remaining in the third period.

Unfortunately, I believe the politics of the current day has devolved into a clown show and that has happened over the last 15 years.

To me, the extreme left that is seen as the woke left follows Trudeau. To me, it seems like that group of people believes concerns about the environment and climate change surpass all other issues, people are not born with a gender and can chose their gender, the Christian religion is evil, religion has no place in government, diversity, equity and inclusion is important, people are citizens of the world and should work toward a good of the globe view, the media should be controlled, the right wing voices should be silenced and the education system should conform to the leftist view that were listed.

To me, the extreme right follows Trump and the idea of Trumpism. To me, it seems like that group of people believes the economy is the issue of greatest concern, being hired on merit is more important than diversity, equity and inclusion, the Christian religion is good, religion has a place in government, there are only two sexes in male and female, women’s sports are for biological women, concerns about the environment and climate change have gone too far, those on the left wing are crazy, being combative with the media and those that don’t share your views is an acceptable behaviour and the education system should conform to the rightist view that were listed.

For both the extreme left and extreme right, I feel like if you don’t follow the dogmas I listed for each side those on each side believe you are an evil person that should be destroyed or at minimal cancelled.

Both sides have had their surprises.

In Canada especially Western Canada, the Liberals climate agenda when fully implemented would see only electric vehicles being used in Canada and all structures would be warmed by electric heat pumps. If you lived in Saskatchewan the last 10 days and experienced the extended extreme cold weather, those policies would mean no one would go anywhere and people would be freezing to death as electric heat pumps quit when it is colder than -25 C. In already following a green economic policy that has partially been put into action, tent cities and homeless has become the norm in Canadian centres of all sizes due to job losses and increased poverty.

Also if only electric vehicles were used, people at the moment would need to pay $31,000 to $75,000 to replace a battery on an electric vehicle. You are not likely to get three years out of a battery of an electric vehicle. The battery in an electric vehicle like all batteries declines in efficiency every time it is used, and electric vehicle batteries decline faster due to the size of the charge they need to hold.

Also, it does way more environmental damage to mine for the lithium for electric batteries for vehicles, and as my mechanic told me, the electric vehicle graveyard is already bigger than the gas vehicle graveyard. The world also doesn’t have enough lithium for there to be a full conversion to electric vehicles.

In the United States, President Trump’s second term so far has been more than anyone expected on the surprise front with all the executive orders he has signed. He is trying to change how government there operates, clear out senior executives in the FBI, send buyout offers to the entire CIA workforce, threaten economic war with Canada and Mexico and seemingly most other parts of the world and has seemingly sided with Russia in its war with Ukraine falsely saying that Ukraine started that war.

To me, both those on the far left and far right are trying to work things on the financial front to profit themselves and their buddies. If they do actually want to help the people they govern, they don’t truly know how to do that.

I said this before, but I personally have no use for Trudeau and Trump. I also believe there is value in trying to understand why people vote for either side, especially if their views are moderate or centralist. I believe it helps to figure out why we got to where we are in the world.

I believe the strong centralist voice has been lost. I believe good democracy comes from doing the art of the compromise well.

I also believe there are too many lies told in this world being both “white” lies and straight out lies. Those lies make trust hard to achieve and gives conspiracy theories traction.

I believe I don’t fit with either the far left or the far right, which means those on both spectrums will hate me. I understand that is an “it is what it is” thing, and I am fine with it.

Things will play out however they play out, and I will adjust to those factors when the effect me the best I can using the cards that are dealt my way. I feel like I have constantly said that since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic started in March of 2020.

For myself, I personally wish sports and politics did not mix. Unfortunately, the reality is sports and politics do mix, and they have mixed pretty much for all time. The intensity of how sports and politics mix constantly changes as the years go on and can rage for a small to no mix up to a big mix.

With the way the world is currently especially in North America, the sports and politics mix appears set to happen on a more regular and intense basis going forward. Buckle up.

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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Bedard is the top prospect of 2023 NHL Entry Draft, Russian Michkov should be disqualified from those talks

Connor Bedard, right, fires a shot on goal for the Pats in April.

Apparently there seems to be no problems in the Ukraine these days when you read the initial stories regarding prospects for the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.

It feels like places like the Hockey News and other outlets that have put out initial draft rankings haven’t heard that Russia invaded Ukraine in an unprovoked manner back in February and there is still an unjust war going on between those two countries.  How else is Russian right-winger Matvei Michkov still in the discussions about being a potential top three selection in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft?

Basically, these reports say that Michkov is so good that he could rival centre Connor Bedard of the WHL’s Regina Pats for talent and being the top selection in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. These reposts rarely mention the words “war” or “Ukraine.”

They usually mention Michkov is under contract to St. Petersburg of the KHL until the end of the 2025-26 season, so NHL teams will have to wait to get him.

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

Blades import RW Sidorov to remain in Saskatoon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Egor Sidorov scored 23 regular season goals as a rookie.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blades fans enjoy cheering for Egor Sidorov.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Let’s keep CHL imports out of crossfire in tensions with Russia

Tikhon Chaika tends the net for the Raiders.

Due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, what will be the fate of Russian and Belarusian players skating at the moment in the Canadian Hockey League?

That question will hopefully clear up in the coming days, weeks and possibly months.

The war between Russia and Ukraine was an issue Russian and Belarusian players in the CHL never saw coming at the start of the 2021-22 season. When the season started, the biggest concern was navigating the differing and changing restrictions regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

A lot of imports playing in the CHL elected to spend their Christmas breaks in North America instead of going home including the Prince Albert Raiders two Belarusian players in Tikhon Chaika and Vladislav Shilo.

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

Raiders’ Allan brings boom at finish of hockey season

Nolan Allan in action for the Raiders in 2019-20.

Nolan Allan finished his hockey season with a bang.

On Thursday, the Davidson, Sask., product, who turned 18-years-old in late April, completed his 2020-21 campaign playing defence for Canada in the gold medal game against Russia at the men’s under-18 world hockey championships in Frisco, Texas.

Just under two minutes into that contest, Allan made the first head turning play hammering Russian captain Nikita Chibrikov into the Canadian bench. Canada would win the contest 5-3 to capture their first goal medal at the under-18 worlds since 2013.

Allan’s hit made numerous highlight reels and the still photograph of the collision showed up on various social media accounts. It was arguably the most talked about play from the game that didn’t feature Canada’s 15-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard.

Bedard did score Canada’s first goal and assisted on the fifth tally in the victory.

Allan’s hit and gold medal win provided a sweet cap to a unique hockey campaign. It was a campaign that provided an opportunity for Allan to experience sizable growth.

In 2019-20, Allan, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 189 pounds, had a sound 16-year-old rookie season with the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders. He appeared in 58 regular season games posting two goals, six assists and a plus-16 rating in the plus-minus department before the campaign was permanently halted in March of 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

In November of 2019, Allan took part in the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge held jointly in Swift Current, Sask., and Medicine Hat, Alta., picking up an assist in five games with Team Canada Red.

Due to government restrictions that were brought in to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, Allan didn’t have a clear roadmap on how the 2020-21 hockey campaign would unfold.

NOLAN ALLAN LAYS THE BOOM EARLY. 🇨🇦 #U18Worlds pic.twitter.com/jOpNcYrq7x

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 7, 2021

The alumnus of the Saskatoon Blazers Under-18 AAA Hockey Team started the 2020-21 season playing in the junior A ranks with the La Ronge Ice Wolves of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League via a loan agreement with the Raiders.

Allan had two goals and three assists in five games with the Ice Wolves before the SJHL campaign was put on ice late this past November due to increased government restrictions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

From that point, he spent much of his time training back home in Davidson to hopefully get ready for some sort of WHL campaign.

Eventually, the dust settled where the WHL was able to get back into action with divisional play with a shortened regular season held for developmental purposes.

Allan’s Raiders would join the WHL’s four other Saskatchewan representatives in the Moose Jaw Warriors, Regina Pats, Saskatoon Blades and Swift Current Broncos along with the two Manitoba clubs in the Brandon Wheat Kings and Winnipeg Ice in an East Division bubble.

Nolan Allan logged a lot of minutes on defence for the Raiders.

Each club in the East Division bubble would complete a 24-game regular season playing all contests at the Brandt Centre in Regina in the months of March and April. Teams would stay at the dorms at the University of Regina and Luther College, which is on the grounds of the U of R campus.

When the Raiders lost captain and star defenceman Kaiden Guhle to a season ending hand injury in their second contest and dealt with a number of other minor injuries throughout that campaign, Allan found himself logging a lot more minutes than he normally would have.

He focused on controlling the action in the defensive zone. Allan appeared in 16 games in the Regina bubble posting one goal, one assist and a minus-three rating before departing to play for Canada.

The Raiders finished fourth in the East Division with a 9-11-3-1 record.

With Canada’s under-18 team, Allan joined forces with two Regina bubble foes in Bedard, who had 12 goals, 16 assists and a plus nine rating in 15 games with the Regina Pats, and 16-year-old defenceman Denton Mateychuk, who had two goals, seven assists and a minus-eight rating in 16 games with the Moose Jaw Warriors.

In the seven games Canada played at the under-18 worlds in Frisco and Plano, Texas, Allan had a strong tournament anchoring the back end for Canada posting one goal, one assist and a plus-seven rating.

The hit on Chibrikov in the gold medal contest will go down as Allan’s signature play from that event.

As far as the number of games played goes, Allan’s season was nowhere as long as it would have normally been, but he got a tonne of quality experience in the contests he did play.

The experience he gained should serve him well in the future.

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Canada West intends to return in 2021-22, other notes

The Huskies football team takes the field for a game in 2019.

The Canada West Conference will try to play a campaign in 2021-22.

The conference, which plays under the U Sports umbrella, had all member institutions affirm their commitment to return to play at a virtual Canada West annual general meeting held this past Tuesday and Wednesday. The Canada West Conference includes the University of Saskatchewan Huskies and University of Regina athletics programs.

Canada West wasn’t able to hold a season in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the world. Government and individual university institutional restrictions in a lot of cases prevented programs from training together at various points in time.

Before the 2020-21 campaign was called off, Canada West was hoping to get its various sports back in action with modified regular seasons and possible post-season play.

The conference is once again looking at modified formats for the upcoming 2021-22 regular season, which will include a greater emphasis on regional play wherever possible.

In a release that was sent out on Wednesday, Canada West said the alternative formats may require further adjustments which will be addressed as permissions and approvals for return to competition are known.

The conference’s member programs will still need to receive permission to return to sport competition from their institutions and clearance from the health authorities in their respective provinces.

At the moment, the conference’s football league that contains six teams will each play six regular season games. The teams will play each other once along with one more additional game.

The top four teams advance to playoffs, where the semifinals and Hardy Cup conference championship game would be played like normal.

For the men’s and women’s hockey leagues that contain nine teams each, each team is slated to play a 20-game regular season. The top six teams advance to the post-season and the quarter-final, semifinal and championship rounds are slated to be played in best-of-three formats like they would in any normal campaign.

The Canada West release on the conference’s return to play plans can be found by clicking right here.

• On Friday, Lacrosse Canada canceled nine of its 2021 national championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The minor box lacrosse nationals for under-12, under-14 and under-17 boys and under-14 and under-17 girls have been cancelled. The Founders’ Cup Junior B National Championship has been cancelled. The field lacrosse nationals for under-15 boys, under-18 men’s and senior men’s were also cancelled.
• I was in the pages of the Your Saskatoon News monthly publication with a story on star hockey playing sisters Sophie and Grace Shirley, who are both alums of the Saskatoon Stars Female Under-18 AAA Team. The Shirleys talked about their experiences this past season helping the University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team win a sixth NCAA title. The story on the Shirleys can be found by clicking right here.
• Greg Harder is no longer the Regina Leader-Post’s beat writer that covers the WHL’s Regina Pats. Harder has been promoted to be that publication’s arts and features editor. Harder joined the Leader-Post sports department in 1998. He took on duties as the Pats beat writer before the start of the 2000-01 campaign. He performed those duties with great distinction. With the way the media is these days in Canada, it is unlikely the Leader-Post will replace Harder in the sports department. He was one of the few mainstream media outlet beat writers that was still on the WHL circuit. Long time Leader-Post sports scribe Rob Vanstone penned a tribute piece on Harder’s time in the Leader-Post sports department that can be found right here.
• On Friday, paNOW.com ran a great story on one of the top behind the scenes guys on the WHL’s circuit in Prince Albert Raiders manager of team services Kim Jackson. Jackson fills numerous roles in the Raiders organization. The piece on Jackson written by Jeff D’Andrea can be found by clicking right here.
• University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team forward Collin Shirley is currently playing in the ECHL with the Allen Americans. He had a goal in his first five games. Shirley still has two seasons of eligibility left to use with the Huskies.
• Prince Albert Raiders right-winger Ozzy Wiesblatt and Saskatoon Blades centre Tristen Robins are both with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda now that the seasons of their respective WHL teams have come to an end.
• Tickets are on sale for the May jackpot for the Saskatchewan Amateur Football Mega 50/50 lottery. The funds from this 50/50 lottery will go to support the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder and the WWCFL’s Saskatoon Valkyries and Regina Riot. The draw date will be May 31. Tickets can be purchased by clicking right here, and purchasers must be in Saskatchewan in order to buy tickets.
• On Thursday, the Medicine Hat Tigers finished their developmental WHL regular season falling 3-0 at home to the Edmonton Oil Kings at Co-Op Place. The Tigers hit the ice for 23 games posting a 14-8-0-1 record. With the season coming to a conclusion for the Tigers, Bob Ridley, who has been the franchises only play-by-play voice since the modern version of the team hit the ice in 1970-71, has called 4,021 of the clubs 4,022 games. Ridley’s total includes 3,589 of the 3,590 games the Tigers played in the regular season, one standings tiebreaker game, 411 games in the WHL playoffs and 20 contests in the Memorial Cup tournament. If you called 80 games a season for 50 seasons, you would still fall short of Ridley’s total for games called. Ridley has called the most games as the play-by-play voice of one hockey team at all levels of the sport.

Following the final game last night, the Tigers Willie D. His coaching staff and players presented me with this motorcyle helmet commemorating my 50 plus years broadcasting Tiger hockey. What a tremors honor . An awesome group to be a small part of. pic.twitter.com/NRe7B0hqbV

— Bob Ridley (@BobRidley_CHAT) May 7, 2021

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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One to go – Canada dominates in world juniors semifinal win

Braden Schneider in action for the Wheat Kings in 2020.

A Canadian supporter could be forgiven for having DJ Otzi’s “Hey Baby” at the ready on Tuesday night for the gold medal game of the world junior men’s hockey championship.

Canada was that impressive in their 5-0 win over Russia in the tournament’s first semifinal game played inside of a bubble environment with no fans at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Monday night. World juniors are being played in a bubble due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

Just 59 seconds into the game against Russia, Canadian centre Alex Newhook, who returned after missing one game due to injury, ripped home a shot in close to the top right corner of the Russian net with so much mustard the officials needed to stop the contest to check video review to confirm the puck went into the goal.

After the officials said that tally was good, Canada kept storming the Russian end and exited the first frame with a 3-0 lead. The world junior hosts added single goals in the second and third periods to round out a convincing 5-0 victory looking like the NHL’s 1980s Edmonton Oilers in the process.

The win propels Canada into Tuesday’s goal medal game (8:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN).

Canada will face the United States, who slipped past Finland 4-3 in Monday’s other semifinal. Finland and Russia will go at it in Tuesday’s bronze medal game (4:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN).

For Canada in Monday’s dominant win, the tournament hosts never took the foot off the gas after Newhook gave the Canadian side a 1-0 lead.

At the 10:33 mark of the opening frame, Dylan Cozens and Jacob Pelletier combined to set up linemate Connor McMichael on a backdoor feed, and McMichael ripped the puck into an open cage to increase Canada’s advantage to 2-0.

Following that tally, Canada struck again this time on the power play at the 15:05 of the opening frame when forward Cole Perfetti ripped home a shot glove side on Russian netminder Yaroslav Askarov to give the tournament hosts a 3-0 lead.

Cozens and Bowen Byram, who is star offensive-defenceman for the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, picked up helpers on Perfetti’s tally.

Canada held a 16-7 edge in shots on goal after 20 minutes.

Dylan Cozens in action for the Hurricanes in 2019.

Things didn’t get any better for the Russians in the second. At the 4:09 mark of that frame, Canadian defenceman and Prince Albert, Sask., product Braden Schneider ripped home his first goal of the tournament through a screen to put Canada up 4-0.

Schneider, who plays for the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, has his best game of the tournament as he was sound and physically strong at both ends of the ice.

With less than three minutes to go in the second, Russia appeared to gain a measure of relief when forward Mikhail Abramov deposited a power-play goal in the back of the Canadian net.

The Russians couldn’t even get a reprieve from that development.

The Canadian coaching staff immediately challenged the goal sighting an offside zone entry. Following a video review, the official determined the play was offside and disallowed the Russian marker allowing Canada’s lead to hold at 4-0.

The only thing that seemingly went wrong was Cozens was stopped on a penalty shot with 29.4 seconds remaining in the second.

With 1:29 remaining in the third, Cozens scored into an empty Russian net to complete a three-point night and round out Canada’s 5-0 win. The star centre for the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes has points in all six of Canada’s games through the preliminary and playoff round netting eight goals and eight assists for 16 points over that time.

Canadian netminder Devon Levi was brilliant again making 28 saves to pick up his third shutout of the tournament. Askarov turned away 30-of-34 shots to take the loss in goal for Russia.

Canada and Russia met in the goal medal final at last year’s world juniors in Ostrava in the Czech Republic. Canada fell behind 3-1 in that contest in the third period but rallied for a 4-3 victory with forward Akil Thomas scoring the winner with 3:58 remaining in regulation.

In Monday’s win, another group that needs to take a bow is Canada’s coaching staff led by Andre Tourigny, who is the head coach of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s. The staff includes assistant coaches Mitch Love, who is the head coach of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, Tyler Dietrich, who is an assistant coach with the Blades, Michael Dyck, who is the head coach of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, and goaltender coach Jason LaBarbera.

LaBarbera was the goaltending coach of the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, but he moved over to become a full-time goalie coach for the NHL’s Calgary Flames before world juniors started. The Flames own the Hitmen.

The fact the Canadian side came out of the gates on fire and never let up on Monday showed the coaching staff did their part to make sure the players were motivated and prepared. The Canadian players haven’t got complacent even with the fact Canada hasn’t trailed at one time during this event going 6-0.

Bowen Byram in action for the Giants in 2019.

When Canada won gold at the world juniors held during the 2017-18 hockey season in Buffalo, New York, DJ Otzi’s “Hey Baby” was the popular goal song for the Canadian side. It has become a popular tune for Canadian fans to play when Canada experiences success at succeeding world juniors.

After watching Canada romp past Russia on Monday, it is easy for Canadian fans to envision “Hey Baby” being played again on Tuesday night.

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Bears stay alive in post-season with Game 3 win over Hounds

Abby Soyko scored the winner for the Bears on Monday.

    The Prince Albert Northern Bears added at least 60 minutes of life to their 2018-19 season.

    On Monday at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert, the Bears staved off elimination from the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League playoffs with a 3-2 victory in Game 3 of a best-of-five first round series with the Notre Dame Hounds. With the win, the Bears cut the Hounds lead in the series to 2-1.

    Notre Dame will have its next chance to wrap up the series hosting Game 4 on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the Duncan McNeill Arena in Wilcox. If the Bears are able to win that contest, the two squads would meet in a series deciding Game 5 on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

    The Hounds claimed Game 1 of the series by a 3-2 score last Thursday in Prince Albert, and took Game 2 by a 5-1 score last Saturday in Wilcox.

    In Monday’s encounter, the Bears took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal from Miranda Heidt. The hosts went up 2-0 when veteran forward Jasper Desmarais scored on the power play at the 6:57 mark of the second period.

    Before the second intermission rolled around, the Hounds cut the Bears lead to 2-1 on a goal from star forward Lyndsey Janes.

    At the 9:11 mark of the third period, star captain Abby Soyko put the Bears up 3-1 with a power-play goal.

    Jada Livingston scored for the Hounds with 6:10 remaining in the third period to cut the Bears lead to 3-2. Notre Dame was unable to net the equalizer from that point.

    Lexi Beuker turned away 15 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Bears, who were 17-9-2 during the regular season. Star netminder Kaitlyn Ross turned away 31 shots to take the setback in goal for the Hounds, who were 12-13-3 in the regular season.

    During the series, Soyko was named a second team SFMAAAHL all-star at forward. Bears forward Jadyn Kushniruk, who is playing her final season of midget AAA eligibility, was named the winner of the Carol Scheibel Top Scholastic Player award.

    The Bears off-ice crew of Dwight Sachkowski, Gary Schwan, Ron Wildey and Lloyd McBeath won the Esso Volunteer Award.

    The winner of this series will advance to face the defending SFMAAAHL champion Saskatoon Stars in a best-of-five semifinal series. The Stars finished first overall in the SFMAAAHL with a 27-1 record.

Wildcats sweep away Sharks in OT

Taylor Lind is the MVP of the SFMAAAHL.

    The Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats punched their into the SFMAAAHL semifinal round in dramatic fashion.

    On Sunday at the Fairview Arena in Swift Current, the Wildcats downed the Battlefords Sharks 2-1 in overtime in Game 3 of a best-of-five SFMAAAHL first round series. With the win, the Wildcats swept the best-of-five set 3-0.

    In the series clinching win, sophomore 15-year-old forward Baylee Kirwan scored the winner on a power play at the 2:22 mark in overtime to deliver the Wildcats to victory. Sara Kendall and Maddy McCleary picked up assists on the winning tally.

    Star captain Taylor Lind gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead scoring a power-play goal 40 seconds into the second period. Brooklyn Rublee and Ryleigh White had assists on Lind’s tally.

    Veteran forward Ensley Fendelet, who is playing her final season of midget AAA eligibility, potted the equalizer for the Sharks to force a 1-1 tie and overtime with 2:18 remaining in the third period.

    Harper Davey stopped 20 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Wildcats, who were 17-10-1 during the regular season. Haylie Biever turned away 37 shots to take the setback in goal for the Sharks, who were 11-13-4 in the regular season.

    The Wildcats are 14-1 including action in the regular season and playoffs since returning to play after the Christmas break.

    During the series with the Sharks, Lind was named the winner of the Hayley Wickenheiser Most Valuable Player award, a first team SFMAAAHL all-star at forward and formally received the Kelly Bechard Top Scorer award. Sharks captain Ali Aitken was named a second team SFMAAAHL all-star at forward.

    The Wildcats will face the Regina Rebels in a best-of-five SFMAAAHL semifinal series. Game 1 of that series is set for 4:45 p.m. at Saturday at the Co-operators Centre in Regina.

Rebels douse Prairie Fire in three games

Neena Brick is the top rookie of the SFMAAAHL.

    An offensive explosion allowed the Regina Rebels to sweep the Melville Prairie Fire out of the SFMAAAHL playoffs.

    On Sunday at the Co-operators Centre in Regina, the Rebels broke a 1-1 tie scoring three times in the third period to down the Prairie Fire 4-1 in Game 3 of a best-of-five SFMAAAHL first round series. With the win, the Rebels sweep the best-of-five set 3-0.

    Brooklyn Stevely gave the Rebels a 1-0 lead at the 2:29 mark of the first period. Samantha Thompson netted the equalizer for the Prairie Fire scoring on the power play at the 13:23 mark of the first period to force a 1-1 tie.

    Facing elimination, the Prairie Fire ensured the 1-1 score held up heading into the third period.

    The Rebels scored three times in the first 5:18 of the third to cement the final outcome. Neena Brick scored twice and Samantha Sichkaruk had a single in the Rebels three-goal surge.

    Payton Schlamp turned away 21 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Rebels, who were 17-7-4 during the regular season. Cheyenne Jamieson turned away 38 shots to take the setback in goal for Prairie Fire, who were 10-16-2 during the regular season.

    During the series, Brick was named the winner of the Dana Antal Top Rookie award, while Stevely was named a first team SFMAAAHL all-star defender.

    Prairie Fire veteran defender Allison Hayhurst was named a second team SFMAAAHL all-star. Melville head coach Casey O’Brien claimed the Shannon Miller and Wally Kozak Top Coach award.

    The Rebels advance to face the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats in a best-of-five SFMAAAHL semifinal series. Game 1 of that series is set for 4:45 p.m. at Saturday at the Co-operators Centre in Regina.

Canada just short of women’s hockey gold at Universiade

🇨🇦🥈 Medalist in Women’s 🏒 at @Krasnoyarsk2019.

Final is 2-0 for 🇷🇺.

3rd consecutive silver at Winter Universiade and 7 for 7 in Final Universiade games for #uCAN

4th 🏅 of this Universiade for 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/eGOHUwiWXK

— U SPORTS Team Canada (@USPORTSIntl) March 11, 2019

    A heroic 40 save performance from Jessica Vance wasn’t enough to capture a gold medal for Canada’s women’s hockey team at the FISU Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

    Vance, who is the star netminder for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team, made 40 saves on Monday as Canada fell 2-0 to host Russia in the gold medal final at the Winter Universiade. Canada’s women’s hockey team captured a silver medal in each of the last three Winter Universiades.

    Thanks to Vance’s puck stopping, Canada and Russia entered the third period locked in a 0-0 tie. At the 6:53 mark of the third, Canada was given a delay of game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass while in the defensive zone.

    On the ensuing power play, Liana Ganeeva scored to give Russia a 1-0 lead. Alevtina Shtareva scored into an empty-net inside of the game’s final 15 seconds to seal a 2-0 win for the host side.

Nadezhda Morozova turned away 34 shots to pick up the shutout win in goal for Russia.

    Besides including Vance, the Canadian roster contained Leah Bohlken, who is a star defender for the Huskies, and Kaitlin Willoughby, who was the former star captain with the Huskies and now plays professionally for the Calgary Inferno of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

    Vance and Willoughby are both alums of the Prince Albert Northern Bears female midget AAA team. Before joining the Huskies, Bohlken spent time in the SFMAAAHL briefly with the Weyburn Richardson Pioneer Gold Wing and mainly with the Regina Rebels. She also played for the Notre Dame Hounds entry in the Junior Women’s Hockey League.

    Willoughby was the captain of the Canadian team and was a member of Canada’s women’s hockey team that won silver at the 2017 Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

    With the conclusion of Monday’s gold medal game, the 2018-19 hockey seasons for Vance and Bohlken have come to an end as the Huskies were eliminated from the U Sports playoffs back on Feb. 23.

    Willoughby’s season still has one more game. She will join the Inferno to play for the Clarkson Cup to become CWHL champions on March 24 in Toronto against Les Canadiennes de Montreal. The Clarkson Cup is a one-game championship final.

    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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Canada golden again

            Canada rules! 

            What more needs to be said?

            You didn’t have to be glued to a social media feed to know that most people in Canada were watching the final of the world juniors on Monday night on television, and if you were real lucky, you were one of the lucky spectators at the game at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

            In an all-time just plain great game, Canada downed Russia 5-4, but it was a different sort of classic.

            When someone thinks of Canada winning a critical world junior game or the championship game itself, there are usually visions of heroic past performances by Jordan Eberle and Jonathan Toews.

            In this one, Canada built what seemed to be a safe 5-1 lead in the second period, but the Russians stormed back with three straight goals before the second intermission rolled around to cut the lead to 5-4.

            What made this performance great was how Canada regrouped in the second intermission.

            Russia started the third on the power play and had capitalized on 2-of-3 power-play chances. The first order of business was to kill off the fourth Russian power play, which Canada did admirably.

            After the kill, the Canadian players closed out the third defensively to preserve the 5-4 win. Zachary Fucale made 11 saves in the third and 26 overall in the contest to backstop the victory.

            In the third, the Canadians were outshot 11-4, but it didn’t totally feel like the host side was in trouble. Canada calmly did its job shift after shift and preserved the win and a 7-0 tournament record.

            Max Domi, who is the son of long time former NHLer Tie Domi and basically grew up in Toronto, came through as a hometown hero. He set up Canada’s opening goal 23 seconds into the contest by Anthony Duclair, scored Canada’s fourth goal and assisted on Sam Reinhart’s deflection tally, which ultimately won the game.

            Nick Paul and 17-year-old phenom Connor McDavid tallied Canada’s other two goals. Defenceman Darnell Nurse was a beast on Canada’s back end, and he deserved being named the team’s player of the game for the contest.

            Captain Curtis Lazar didn’t register a point in the final, but the ultra-positive forward was instrumental all tournament long in helping Canada win its first gold medal since 2009 to end a six-year drought. Lazar also helped the Edmonton Oil Kings win the Memorial Cup last May, which also ended a six-year drought for the WHL as a league when it came to winning major junior hockey’s biggest prize.

            Right now for Canada, it is celebration time. There is always so much pride that goes along with a golden finish.

Huskies go up, go down

Defenceman Chad Suer of the Huskies.

            Being a little risky with the puck likely cost the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team a series sweep in their first regular season weekend back from the Christmas break.

            On Saturday at the ancient Rutherford Rink, the Huskies erased a 3-2 deficit after two periods to roll off a 5-3 victory over the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns. In trying to break out of their zone at time over the first 40 minutes, the Huskies were a bit too loose with the puck, which helped the visitors get some turnovers and get ahead.

            Early in the third, sophomore forward Josh Roach slipped home the equalizer for the Huskies to lock the score up at 3-3. With 3:57 to play in the third, the line of Roach, Michael Sofillas and Craig McCallum forced a turnover that resulted in McCallum’s winner.

            Matthew Spafford scored twice, while Zak Stebner had a single for the Huskies. Ryan Holfeld made 24 saves to earn the win in goal.

            Ryon Moser, David McMullen and Cason Machacek had singles for the Pronghorns, while Damien Ketlo turned away 35 of 39 shots suffering the loss in goal.

            The Huskies did a great job playing under control in the third period rally, but turnovers proved to be their undoing on Sunday at Rutherford, when the Pronghorns rebounded with a 5-2 victory.

            Lethbridge jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second, before forward Jesse Ross stopped the bleeding for the Huskies. Before the second ended, the Dogs had a glorious chance to cut the Pronghorns lead to one.

            Working on a two-man advantage, Huskies rookie forward Parker Thomas had a chance to tap in a pass from across the face the Pronghorns goal, but he misfired. That proved to be a key turning point.

            The visitors scored twice early in the third to go up 5-1, before McCallum netted the Huskies final goal. Jordon Cooke made 25 stops in goal.

            Warren Shymko made 39 stops to earn the win for the Pronghorns in net. Brandon Clowes had a hat trick, while Artsiom Kalashnikov and Cass Mappen had singles for the road side.

            The Huskies sit fourth in Canada West with a 9-10-1 record, while the Pronghorns are last in the eight-team loop at 4-16.

            While the split was disappointing, it was good to see defenceman Chad Suer return to the Huskies lineup after missing the first half of the season due to injury. The fourth-year veteran, who played five WHL seasons with the Moose Jaw Warriors and the Everett Silvertips, is a solid blue-liner on the ice and one steady team guys you need in the dressing room.

            It was way better seeing him on the ice than in the stands, even though he a fun person to sit with in the stands.

            The Huskies return to action this coming Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. both nights at Rutherford against the University of Calgary Dinos (13-7).

            The Huskies women’s hockey team hits the road this coming Friday and Saturday for their first action since the Christmas break traveling to Calgary to face the Dinos.

Stars shine at Mac’s

Sophia Shirley, right, of the Saskatoon Stars.

            The Saskatoon Stars midget AAA girls’ hockey team might be the coolest story on the Bridge City’s sports scene over the last 10 days.

            On New Year’s Day, the Stars won the female final of the prestigious Mac’s Midget Tournament downing the Calgary Fire 4-2 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. Sophia Shirley, who is a 15-year-old forward, had a hat trick for the Stars, while Kianna Dietz had a single. Karlee Fetch made 13 saves to earn the win in goal. Saskatoon was a perfect 6-0 at the Mac’s.

            After one day off, the Stars returned to Saskatoon and posted 3-1 and 3-0 victories respectively on Saturday and Sunday over the Battlefords Sharks at the Agriplace Arena. Saskatoon sits first overall in the Saskatchewan Female Midget Hockey league with a 16-1 record.

            The Stars also won the Mac’s title back in 2011, when they doubled up the Edmonton Thunder 4-2. In that contest, current University of Saskatchewan Huskies forward Lauren Zary had two goals and two assists for the Stars.

           

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