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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Momentum can change quickly in Stanley Cup final

Stars, Lightning all even at 1-1

A Nikita Kucherov card.

Old “Mo” seems to really fickle so far in the Stanley Cup final.

In the NHL’s best-of-seven championship series between the Dallas Stars and the Tampa Bay Lightning being played at Rogers Place in the bubble city of Edmonton, momentum seems to enjoy jumping from side to side in the first two games of the set.

The series is tied 1-1 after the Stars took Game 1 by a 4-1 final on Saturday and the Lightning rebounded with a 3-2 victory in Game 2 on Monday.

Game 3 of the series is set for Wednesday (6 p.m. Saskatchewan time, CBC and NBCSN).

The Stars 4-1 triumph in Game 1 was a solid one, but it appeared Tampa Bay might be able to rally in the third. Entering the third period trailing 3-1, the Lightning had a 22-2 edge in shots on goal in the frame as they pressed to get back in that game.

Stars centre Jason Dickinson sealed that contest with an empty-net goal with 78 seconds remaining in the third.

In Game 2 on Monday, both teams played a quiet opening 10 minutes before the Lightning exploded for three goals to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.

A John Klingberg card.

At the 11:23 mark of the first, elite Lightning right-winger Nikita Kucherov set up standout centre Brayden Point, who quickly wired home a power-play goal to go up 1-0.

After that tally, Kucherov proceeded to set up left-winger Ondrej Palat on a backdoor feed, and Palat potted his team’s second power-play goal of the contest to give the Lightning a 2-0 edge at the 14:22 mark of the opening frame.

Lightning skilled offensive-defenceman Victor Hedman also had assists on both of those first two goals.

Just 54 seconds later, solid defender Kevin Shattenkirk slid home the Lightning’s third goal from the point through a screen to increase Tampa Bay’s advantage to 3-0.

On top of holding a 3-0 lead, the Lightning held a 14-6 edge in shots on goal after 20 minutes, and it looked like they were going to roll like an unstoppable freight train.

Despite Tampa Bay’s great start, Dallas controlled the second period holding an 18-5 edge in shots on goal.

At the 14:43 mark of the second, the Stars gained some traction, when centre Joe Pavelski tipped home a point shot from defenceman John Klingberg for a power-play goal to cut the Tampa Bay lead to 3-1.

An Ondrej Palat card.

At the 5:27 mark of the third, Klingberg pinched into the Lightning zone and fed a backdoor feed to centre Mattias Janmark, who tapped the puck into the Tampa Bay goal to cut the Lightning lead to 3-2.

Right-winger Alexander Radulov had assists on both Stars goals.

Tampa Bay appeared to go ahead 4-2 near the midway point of the third on a goal by defenceman Mikhail Sergachev. The goal was disallowed after Dallas challenged that the play was offside via video review and the video review confirmed the play was indeed offside.

While the Lightning held a 12-5 edge in shots on goal in the third, the Stars chances to get the game to overtime.

With a minute remaining in the third, Stars veteran left-winger Jamie Benn was stopped from point-blank range in front of the Tampa Bay goal by Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy.

The Stars also had an offensive zone faceoff with 3.8 seconds remaining in the third, but Klingberg fanned on one final shot, which was ultimately blocked by a Lightning skater.

Vasilevskiy made 27 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Lightning. Anton Khudobin turned away 28 shots to take the setback in goal for the Stars.

An Alexander Radulov card.

Game 2 was a great one and the goalies on either side couldn’t be faulted for any of the five goals that were scored in the contest. All five goals were really good goals.

With the way the momentum has swung, credit has to go to Stars head coach Rick Bowness and Lightning head coach Jon Cooper for the adjustments they’ve made on the fly.

Wednesday’s upcoming Game 3 might be a big swing game. 

The team that falls in that contest will face more pressure than usual to win in Game 4 on Friday, because Game 5 follows up quickly one day later.

If either team falls behind 3-1 in the series, it might be hard to recover and win Game 5 with no off day between that contest and Game 4.

So far, the Stars and Lightning are giving a series that is well worth tuning for. 

Expect the momentum swings to continue as the Stanley Cup final goes on.

Massive outpouring for Ashe showed he was well loved

Dylan Ashe. (Photo courtesy Della Ashe)

The cliché that the good guys leave this world too early unfortunately played out this past weekend.

Early Sunday morning, 18-year-old Melfort Mustangs junior A team defenceman Dylan Ashe died in a single vehicle rollover on Highway 35 northeast of White Fox, Sask. Ashe was driving one of his family’s cars as his beloved 1984 Chevy truck parked for some repairs.

For anyone who has links to Saskatchewan’s hockey community, you knew that the news of Ashe’s passing was going to hit a lot of people hard. He was really well loved in Saskatchewan’s hockey community and in the hockey community of Lethbridge, Alta., as he was a prospects of the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Della Ashe, Dylan’s mom, broke the news of her son’s passing on a Facebook post on Sunday afternoon. Dylan had been driving out the lake country for a quick visit before returning home. He was planning to travel to Melfort on Tuesday to rejoin the Mustangs.

Since the creation of Della’s post, support and condolences messages have poured in for the family that is based out of Warman, Sask.

Numerous media outlets in Saskatchewan have produced tribute stories for Dylan Ashe.

Ashe played for the Sask Valley Vipers under-15 AA team in 2016-17 before splitting time in 2017-18 with his hometown Warman Wildcats under-18 AA team and the Tisdale Trojans under-18 AAA club.

He played for the Trojans for the entire 2018-19 campaign outside of a one-game call up with the Mustangs for an SJHL regular season contest. Ashe helped the Trojans win a bronze medal at the Telus Cup.

Ashe, who stood 6-foot-1 and weighed 185 pounds, was never selected in the WHL Bantam Draft, but he still signed a WHL Standard Player Agreement with the Hurricanes on April 10, 2019. He had a strong showing in training camp with the Hurricanes prior to the 2019-20 campaign before joining the Mustangs.

With the Mustangs last season, Ashe had two goals and four assists in 46 regular season games.

The Mustangs are sad to announce the passing of Defenceman Dylan Ashe. From our entire organization we would like to send our deepest sympathies and condolences to the Ashe family. You are in our thoughts and prayers. 💙💚 pic.twitter.com/efly9aDdwT

— Melfort Mustangs (@SJHL_Mustangs) September 20, 2020

On the ice, Ashe was known as a tough stay at home defensive defenceman. He was also a quiet but upbeat great character guy. He could walk into a room, flash his smile and the positive energy would go up.

The Trojans, Mustangs and Hurricanes have all passed on messages of condolence.

Della and her husband, Mike, have received numerous messages about how great of a person Dylan was.

Dylan cared a lot for his family, and he enjoyed hanging out with older sister Jordan, who was a tough as nails defensive defender with the Prince Albert Northern Bears female under-18 AAA hockey team from 2013 to 2018.

Dylan Ashe just graduated from high school this past June. He got to parade in his 1984 Chevy truck through the Wyant Group Raceway with Warman High School grad class. The track hosted the unique graduation ceremony as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic restrictions placed limits on regular graduation activities.

Ashe spent countless hours working on and refurbishing his 1984 Chevy truck.

His passing at age 18 and about two-and-a-half months since his high school graduation is a reminder of how life can be unfair. He should have been able to live out a rich array of experiences.

Over the next handful of years, he seemed ready to live out a few more of his hockey dreams.

Still, he was able to make a lot of people care about him for the years that he was here. The outpouring of emotions and messages since his passing is proof of that.

A GoFundMe campaign that was started on Sunday to help the Ashe family with funeral expenses has raised over triple its initial goal by late Monday night.

Dylan Ashe lived life on his own terms, and it was a well lived one.

We are saddened to learn of the passing of Hurricanes prospect, Dylan Ashe. Our deepest condolences to Dylan’s family, friends, and teammates. Rest In Peace, Dylan. ❤️💙 #AlwaysACane pic.twitter.com/vyDHxY9Nsn

— Lethbridge Hurricanes (@WHLHurricanes) September 20, 2020

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com. If you would like to donate to the GoFundMe campaign to help the Ashe family with funeral expenses, you can do so by clicking right here.

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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.

Contacts’ Korchinski making waves in hockey

Kevin Korchinski in action for the Contacts last season.

    You can add Hockey Canada prospect to the list of accomplishments of young Saskatoon product Kevin Korchinski.

    The 16-year-old from the Saskatoon Contacts under-18 hockey team has come up thought the game as an offensive-defenceman. As a result of having the skill set to play that role, Korchinski will be a sought after addition at the highest levels of hockey.

    After collecting 10 goals and 37 assists in 31 regular season games with the Saskatoon Generals under-15 club in the 2018-19 campaign, Korchinski found a WHL home being selected by the Seattle Thunderbirds in the first round and 10^th overall in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft.

    He proceeded to play his 15-year-old season with the Contacts as a rookie in Saskatchewan’s under-18 AAA hockey league. Korchinski posted seven goals and 19 assists for 26 points in 41 regular season games.

    He helped the Contacts finish third overall in the Saskatchewan under-18 AAA league with a 30-12-2 record. The Contacts swept the Prince Albert Mintos in a best-of-five league quarter-final series 3-0.

    Saskatoon proceeded to be swept by the Moose Jaw Warriors 3-0 in a best-of-five league semifinal series. The rest of the under-18 AAA playoffs were cancelled nationally on March 13 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
    Korchinski appeared in one WHL regular season game with the Thunderbirds in Seattle on Nov. 16, 2019. 

Kevin Korchinski put up 26 points with the Contacts last season.

    He posted a minus-two rating in the plus-minus department as the Thunderbirds downed the Portland Winterhawks 5-4 after a tiebreaking shootout.

    On Wednesday, Korchinski, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 154 pounds, found out he was one of 113 players named to Hockey Canada’s virtual under-17 development camp, which runs July 19-25.

    The players who are selected for this camp are on Hockey Canada’s radar to be placed on one of the three teams the sport body sends to World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. At the moment, the upcoming World Under-17 Hockey Challenge is slated for Oct. 31 to Nov. 7 for Charlottetown and Summerside, P.E.I., depending how the world situation unfolds related to COVID-19.

    While Korchinski won’t get to compete in a live camp, the fact he picked up this camp selection is a result of all the hard work he has put in through this point in his career. He has gotten to this point with little fanfare outside of folks in personnel departments from WHL teams.

    With all that noted, Korchinski has the making to be one of those players you hear about in the game for some time to come.
    Overall, Korchinski was one of six Saskatchewan product invited to Hockey Canada’s virtual under-17 camp. Weyburn product Dylan Ernst, who is a Warriors under-18 goalie, will also take part in that virtual event.

Kevin Korchinski will participate in a virtual Hockey Canada camp.

    Defencemen Hunter Mayo and Kalem Parker, who both played for the Saskatoon Blazers under-18 AAA team, are both tabbed for the virtual camp. Mayo is from Martensville, and Parker is from Clavet.

    Parker’s older sister, Mackenna, was a former member of Canada’s under-18 women’s national team.

    Regina product Kyren Gronick, who played for his hometown Pat Canadians under-18 AAA team, and Delisle product Jhett Larson, who played for the Notre Dame Hounds under-18 AAA team, cracked the virtual camp invite list at forward.

    Niall Crocker, who is prospect forward for the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders, and Brandon Lisowsky, who is a prospect forward for the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, earned virtual camp invites too.

    For Korchinski and the rest of those young players, the under-17 virtual camp invite by Hockey Canada is likely just the next step towards making their biggest strides in the game.

Meaningful games mark real return for a sport, other notes

Who knows when Cody Fajardo (#7) and the Roughriders will play again.

    When sport jumps into action for real, its return should considered real at that point in time.

    That means the sport has to be engaged in regular season or post-season action, where a championship is on the line.

    At the moment in North America, that would mean the NASCAR Cup Series, UFC and PGA can be officially returned to action during these COVID-19 pandemic times.

    The COVID-19 pandemic created massive shutdowns in the sports world in North America starting on March 11, when the NBA paused its season.

    Besides the NASCAR Cup Series, UFC and PGA actually getting into action, there have been a lot planning for other circuits to get back into action. The NHL, NBA and MLB have cemented return to play plans that are slated to be executed in late July or early August.

    Until any of these leagues actually have teams participate in a meaningful game, you can’t say those circuits are officially back in action.

    The same goes for any sports league in Canada. That goes for the CFL, CHL, U Sports, CJFL or any minor sports.

    As far as the CFL is concerned, you wonder if it will return. On Wednesday, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who are the flagship franchise of the circuit, announced they have $7.6-million in reserves and a stabilization fund, but all of that money is projected to be depleted by late fall.

    The Roughriders are projecting a loss of $10-million for 2020-21 fiscal year if the 2020 CFL regular season and playoffs for that year are indeed wiped out. The club posted a loss of $210,064 for the 2019-20 fiscal year, which included the club contributing just over $670,000 to the CFL for the management of the Montreal Alouettes.
    In Saskatchewan, minor baseball and softball games are planned for July. Until they play meaningful regular season games, those sports can’t be considered returned.

The return of Nolan Maier and the Saskatoon Blades is uncertain.

    Golf in Saskatchewan could be declared as returned as a Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour event was held Friday and Saturday at the Elmwood Golf Club in Swift Current.

    Still, there are no certainties on how sports will progress in Canada and North America. Over the past two weeks, it seems there have been a constant barraged of reports coming out of the United States of athletes testing positive for COVID-19.

    On Friday, the United States confirmed a record daily high for new COVID-19 cases at about 45,300. On Saturday, the state of Florida recorded a record of 9,585 new COVID-19 cases, which is a record for the state in a 24-hour period.

    Florida’s old record of 8,942 new COVID-19 cases was actually set one day earlier on Friday.

    Even the most powerful professional league in North America in the NFL showed cracks in its defiance of COVID-19 this week. NFL officials had given the impression the circuit would play a regular season that is close to normal.

    On Thursday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame cancelled the Hall of Fame Game set for Aug. 6 in Canton, Ohio, that was to feature the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony set for Aug. 8 has been postponed until August of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    That might foreshadow a sign of things to come for the NFL.

    The COVID-19 case spikes in the United States offers further confirmation how contagious the virus can be.

    In Canada where there has been a total of just over 103,000 COVID-19 cases so far this year, there seems to be a more general feeling that Canadian government and medical health officials are doing a better job of handling the pandemic than officials in the United States are.

    In Saskatchewan, Premier Scott Moe and Dr. Saqib Shahab, who is Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer, should be praised for their work. As of Saturday, there were just 103 active cases of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan.

Will Rylan Kleiter, left, and the Saskatoon Hilltops play in 2020?

    While some have worried Saskatchewan’s re-opening plan hasn’t gone fast enough, Saskatchewan was the first province to come out with a plan, and those in charge have stuck to their plan in following through on it.

    In comparison to the United States, Saskatchewan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been at an all-star level as events have unfolded. If there were doubts about this in early June, they have likely been erased now.

    Still looking at what is happening in the United States, you can expect that will cause more caution to be used regarding when various sports teams, leagues and minor sports bodies will return to play in Canada.

    At the moment, it appears caution is definitely the best course of action.

• On Tuesday, the Government of Saskatchewan announced contact sports were allowed in the province and spectators are allowed at sports games as long as they following physical distancing measures. Only outdoor sports facilities are permitted to be in action at the current time.
• On Wednesday, the Hockey Hall of Fame announced its 2020 class of inductees. They include players Jarome Iginla, Marian Hossa, Kevin Lowe, Kim St-Pierre and Doug Wilson. Ken Holland, who is a long time NHL executive and current Edmonton Oilers general manager, is going in as a builder.
• Theoren Fleury wasn’t elected to the Hall of Fame on Wednesday. Here is hoping the retired star right-winger from the NHL’s Calgary Flames will crack into the Hall, because he has a lengthy list of accomplishments in the game and his journey of perseverance on the mental health front has been incredible.
• Gregg Drinnan has been tracking the fallout from the lawsuit filed by Daniel Carcillo and Garrett Taylor against the CHL alleging various forms of abuse during their major junior careers. They are hoping to have the lawsuit certified as class-action. Drinnan rounded up various developments on that front in his Taking Note blog that can be found right here.
• The 2020 Canadian Final Rodeo slated for Nov. 3 to 8 in Red Deer, Alta., has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• On Friday, the Medicine Hat Cubs junior B hockey team announced it will not play in the 2020-21 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic and diminishing sponsorship revenues. The Cubs play out of the Heritage Junior Hockey League in Alberta.
• On Friday, the Saskatoon Blades hired Jeff Harvey as their new goaltending coach. The 37-year-old played goal in the WHL with the Kootenay Ice, Swift Current Broncos and Everett Silvertips from 2000 to 2004. Harvey suited up for five seasons in the U Sports ranks with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team from 2005 to 2010. Harvey replaces retired NHL goalie in 52-year-old Tim Cheveldae as the Blades goaltending coach.

    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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