Saskatchewan curlers take class to new heights

Rylan Kleiter releases a shot on January 1, 2020.

During these coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic times where there seems to be a lot of toxic talk on the local sports scene, the curling community in Saskatchewan has provided a breath of classy fresh air.

On Thursday, CurlSask announced the provincial men’s, women’s and mixed double curling championship tournament have all been cancelled due to government restrictions with the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, the Government of Saskatchewan extended existing Public Health Orders that include a ban on team sports until Jan. 29.

On Wednesday, CurlSask had its bubble proposal to hold provincial championship tournaments rejected by the Government of Saskatchewan.

As a result, CurlSask used points system taking account the performance of teams over a two season window to determine representatives for men’s and women’s nationals. The evaluations included roster changes on teams.

On the men’s side, the Regina foursome skipped by Matt Dunstone including lead Dustin Kidby, second Kirk Muyres and third Braeden Moskowy were picked as the provincial representative for the Canadian nationals - The Brier.

On the women’s side, the Saskatoon foursome skipped by Sherry Anderson including lead Breanne Knapp, second Chaelynn Kitz and third Nancy Martin were selected as the provincial representative for the Canadian nationals – the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

The Regina duo of Ashley Quick and Mike Armstrong, who won the 2020 provincial mixed double title, have been tabbed to represent Saskatchewan at the Canadian mixed double championship tournament. They actually never got to play in the 2020 Canadian mixed doubles tournament, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

All three of those nationals will be held in a bubble environment at the Markin MacPhail Centre in Calgary, Alta. The Scotties runs Feb. 19 to 28, The Brier is slated for March 5-14 and mixed doubles nationals are set for March 18 to 25.

Normally, you would expect teams that are left out in the cold to be crying foul with these announcements. The opposite happened when those teams took to social media after CurlSask came out with its announcement.

Team Kleiter’s Facebook page post on Jan. 14.

The Saskatoon foursome skipped by Rylan Kleiter including lead Matthieu Taillon, second Trevor Johnson and third Josh Mattern are in their first full season on the men’s circuit after winning four straight Saskatchewan provincial junior men’s titles.

On Thursday night, the Kleiter foursome put up a great post on team’s Facebook page saying they would be cheering for the Dunstone and Anderson rinks.

The Kleiter rink post also said, “It has been a difficult year for everyone, and we are thankful for the games we did get to play. We respect CurlSask’s decision knowing health and safety is a top priority.”

The grace and class by the Kleiter side was outstanding. Kleiter has shown great professionalism and sportsmanship on the football field helping the Saskatoon Hilltops win CJFL titles in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

The class was being shared by the big rival curling teams of the provincial representatives too. On the women’s side, the North Battleford foursome skipped by Robyn Silvernagle, including lead Dayna Demers, second Jessie Hunkin and third Kristen Streifel shared a very understanding post on their squad’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

The post that rink shared on Thursday started by extended best wishes to Anderson’s rink and went on to state, “This has been a very challenging year for CurlSask navigating through a pandemic, and we thank you for going above and beyond during this challenging time. Your efforts and hard work did not go unnoticed.

“We are all Team Sask, and we will be cheering hard as per usual!”

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A post shared by Team Silvernagle (@teamsilvernagle)

The team one would expect to be the most upset would be the Saskatoon foursome skipped by Colton Flasch, including lead Dan Marsh, second Kevin Marsh and third Catlin Schneider.

Those who follow curling were expecting the Dunstone and Flasch rinks to engage in old school hockey style throw downs.

The Flasch rink stated over the team’s Facebook and Twitter lines on Thursday, “Disappointing news today, but understandable. We are well aware it was difficult for CurlSask.

“Good Luck to Team Dunstone as Team SK!”

The Flasch rink’s posts finished stating fingers were crossed with regards that foursome could slide into a wildcard position.

Those posts concluded with the classic “so you’re telling me there’s a chance” gif.

Disappointing news today, but understandable. We are well aware it was very difficult for @CURLSASK . Good luck to @TeamMDunstone as Team SK! Fingers crossed we can slide into a wildcard spot... 🤞 pic.twitter.com/VCnRDEjoIG

— Team Flasch⚡️ (@TeamFlasch) January 15, 2021

Overall, the curlers showed great respect to their provincial sport governing body and were outstanding with the dignity they showed each other.

Saskatchewan’s curlers showed how those in sports should carry themselves in these pandemic times.

It would be great if those on all the other sporting bodies in Saskatchewan could follow that example. A lot are, but there are too many vocal ones that aren’t.

Sask. government gives funds to WHL and SJHL

The Blades and Pats in action on Feb. 5, 2020.

The Government of Saskatchewan appears set to do what it can to help the province’s five WHL teams and junior A Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

On Friday, the Saskatchewan provincial government announced it would give $600,000 to each of the provinces five WHL teams for a total of $3-million to help those clubs navigate their way through the COVID-19 pandemic.

The SJHL will receive $1-million in support, and that funding will be provided to the circuit.

The funding is being provided to help those WHL clubs and the SJHL offset revenue shortfalls due restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.

All of the SJHL teams are community owned.

Three of the five WHL teams in Saskatchewan are community owned including the Moose Jaw Warriors, Prince Albert Raiders and Swift Current Broncos.

The Regina Pats are owned by five local businessmen including Anthony Marquart, Todd Lumbard, Gavin Semple, Shaun Semple and Jason Drummond.

The Saskatoon Blades are owned by Mike Priestner, and his son, Colin, is the Blades president and general manager.

Of course, there were some over social media who showed displeasure about taxpayer money going to fund junior hockey teams.

I myself am fine with the Government of Saskatchewan giving financial help to those junior hockey teams get through something that no one can control.

The ownership group of the Pats and Blades owner Mike Priestner have gone beyond the call of duty over the years to make those teams go. I am good with them getting help in these unprecedented times.

The provincial funding won’t cure all the financial hurt these junior teams have absorbed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it will help.

Sask. hockey not expecting game action until March ends

The Saskatoon Stars and Prince Albert Northern Bears are on pause.

The Saskatchewan Hockey Association seemed to be getting grilled by some for being the messenger.

On Thursday, the Saskatchewan Hockey Association sent out a memorandum regarding a virtual call on Wednesday between all Saskatchewan sport governing bodies and Ken Dueck from the Provincial Government’s Business Response Team.

During that call, the provincial sport governing bodies were told there would be no consideration of return to play where you would see game action for at least four weeks and a return to game play before the end of March was unlikely due to how the COVID-19 pandemic was playing out.

Saskatchewan had a number of days this past week where in led Canada in active COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people.

The Saskatchewan Hockey Association said it was reviewing the state of the game and going to conduct zone meetings over the next two weeks.

Thursday’s development seemingly created a sizable uproar on social media from Saskatchewan residents regarding this development. It seemed a number of people wanted to return to game action the next day, if that could happen.

It should be noted that Saskatchewan Hockey Association general manager Kelly McClintock and his crew did a mountain sized pile of work to get game action going that did happen before November of 2020 came to a close. Even the best thought out plans can easily fail in these crazy COVID-19 pandemic times.

McClintock and his crew have been really transparent throughout the pandemic.

Also, the Saskatchewan Lacrosse Association put out a memorandum to its membership on Thursday, and that memorandum was fairly similar to the one the Saskatchewan Hockey Association released.

Bliss fireball heats up great WWE storyline

OH 🤬!#WWERaw @AlexaBliss_WWE @RandyOrton pic.twitter.com/cJ0GeSP3Ye

— WWE (@WWE) January 12, 2021

Action in the WWE is heating up literally these days.

I must admit I haven’t been the biggest WWE follower over the last 12 or so years. I did watch it a tonne growing up, and followed it fairly heavily in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

On Friday night, I found a couple of online media reports that said Randy Orton, who one of the all-time greatest heels in sports entertainment, received minor burns due to off timing on a stunt on the last Monday Night RAW.

In a cliffhanger ending of that episode of RAW, Orton was left rolling around the ring in pain after being on the receiving end of taking a fireball to the face from Alexa Bliss, who has become one of the top performers in WWE.

The stunt of Bliss shooting a fireball into Orton’s face looks very cool on video. Orton is expected to recover in short order from his minor injuries.

I noticed that Bliss was playing a very dark persona on that night, and she sold it hardcore. I ended up spending Friday night going through various videos on Youtube checking out Bliss’s storyline from the last seven months.

I knew she held multiple singles and tag team women’s championships in WWE and had been one of the company’s most popular performers that came on the scene in the last eight years.

Bliss has over five-million followers on Instagram, over two-million followers on her Facebook page and over 1.5-million followers on Twitter.

Over the past seven months, Bliss has been in a storyline with Bray Wyatt, who also goes by alter-ego persona “The Fiend,” and Orton.

The storyline contains a mix of darkness, scary disturbed stuff and humour. Like many storylines from the late 1990s and early 2000s, this one is all shades of grey as opposed to having clearly defined good guys and bad guys.

The villains that get a following ultimately become antihero types.

Bliss has kind of a persona like comic book villain Harley Quinn taken a step further on the evil spectrum. In the storyline, Wyatt at “The Fiend” pulled Bliss over to embrace the dark and evil side.

Together, Bliss and Wyatt can be playful and comical from a dark humous side and switch to being outright cool and ruthless. The storyline plays them out to being connected to the supernatural.

They feud with Orton, who still plays his classic egotistical legend killer persona to perfection. His character is always being cunning and manipulative looking to strike with a sneak attack at any time while being outright ruthless.

Orton actually sets Wyatt in his persona as “The Fiend” on fire in a late December pay per view. That of course eventually led to Bliss’s fireball attack this past Monday.

Overall, that whole storyline and feud has been the most enjoyable WWE storylines I’ve seen in the past 12 years. Usually over the past 15 years, I’ve found the main event performers in WWE to be enjoyable, but I’ve usually felt the rest of the company’s roster doesn’t have the depth it once had.

I found a lot of the storylines to be bland.

The Bliss, Wyatt and Orton storyline was a fantastic change from that.

For me, checking out that storyline from various clips on Youtube provided a night of great escapism.

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A post shared by Lexi Kaufman (@alexa_bliss_wwe_)

Hofmann featured in video on Young Bucs account

Logan Hofmann is getting some love from the communications crew of the MLB’s Pittsburgh Pirates.

On Thursday, Muenster, Sask., product was featured on a video placed on the Young Bucs Twitter account, which brings news and features on the young players coming up through the Pirates minor league system.

In the MLB Draft that was held on June 11, 2020, Hofmann was selected in the fifth round and 138^th overall by the Pirates. The right-handed pitcher, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 190 pounds, signed a rookie contract with the Pirates on June 27, 2020.

The 21-year-old has developed strong command of four pitches in his fastball, change-up, curveball and slider. He is good at getting to help out youngsters who are coming up through Saskatchewan’s minor baseball system, when he gets back to his home province.

Hofmann gives Saskatchewan lots of love in the video on the Young Bucs Twitter account. The video can be found below.

Signing on his back deck was peak 2020 for @lhofmann11. pic.twitter.com/iZCNXGMcGN

— Young Bucs (@YoungBucsPIT) January 15, 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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Saskatchewan Hockey Association has plan, ventures into uncertain COVID-19 future

Fingers crossed all goes well for sports body

A picture from the Saskatoon Contacts last game on March 12.

The Saskatchewan Hockey Association’s return to play plan has been green lighted by the Government of Saskatchewan, but the road forward is still not a certain one.

March 12 was the last day meaningful hockey games were played in the province. Hockey Canada cancelled all its sanctioned events on March 13 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

At that time, shutdowns were occurring across all sectors due to the pandemic, and all sports activities in Canada had basically been brought to a stop on March 13 outside of some recreations leagues that are not governed by sports bodies. Those recreation leagues would be halted too in the handful of days following March 13.

Hockey Canada lifted its national ban on sanctioned activities on June 4. That allowed the ball to get rolling for provincial associations to start working towards resuming game play.

In a media conference on Thursday, Dr. Saqib Shahab, who is Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer, talked about how important it was to work with organizations that promote physical activity and hockey will be treated like all other organizations that have returned to play with public health measures in place.

He said there have been sporadic cases from people playing hockey just like those that have occurred in schools and work places, but there hasn’t been any widespread transmission associated with sports. He credited everyone involved with sports in the province for following the guidelines and rules in place to help prevent widespread transmission of COVID-19.

The Moose Jaw Warriors and Saskatoon Contacts battle on March 12.

After that press conference was held, the Saskatchewan Hockey Association released its return to play plan that has been approved by the Government of Saskatchewan.

The 64-page document is pretty comprehensive, and it is obvious a lot of work was put into creating it.

Only evaluation and training had been allowed by the Saskatchewan Hockey Association until now. Under Phase 2 of the plan, exhibition games within a mini-league have been given a tentative start date of this coming Saturday.

Phase 3 will allow for regular season games to take place in a mini league starting tentatively on November 1. Phase 4 for league games with expanded mini-leagues have been set with a January 18, 2021 tentative start date.

Phase 5 for playoffs and provincial championships are still being determined.

The start dates for the under-11, under-9 and under-7 age categories are a little different. For the under-7 age category, exhibition games will tentatively start on Dec. 1, and regular season league games are slated to tentatively begin on January 1, 2021.

In the under-9 age category, exhibition games are set to tentatively start on Nov. 15, while regular season league contests will tentatively follow on Jan. 1, 2021.

For the under-11 age category, exhibition and league games are tentatively given a Nov. 15 start date.

The Saskatoon Stars and Regina Rebels battle last season.

A face covering policy has been put into place for all members of minor hockey including players, coaches, bench staff, on-ice officials, off-ice officials and parents and spectators until it is deemed safe to remove that policy.

Tournaments and out of province travel will not be allowed for teams this season.

Each team will have a designated safety person who will be responsible for ensuring guidelines and protocols are followed.

At the moment, spectator capacity for minor hockey games has been capped at 150 people provided there is enough room to maintain two-metres of physical distancing between extended household groups.

For junior, senior and under-18 AAA hockey games, assigned seating must be available. If assigned seating is not available, a maximum of 150 spectators are permitted.

Also for junior, senior and under-18 AAA hockey games, spectators are allowed to attend at up to 50 per cent capacity provided there is enough room to maintain two metres of physical distancing between household groups.

The junior A Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League announced in a release on Friday a start date was still being determined for that circuit once protocols and the abilities for arenas to handle fans are satisfactory to the Government of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Health Authority. The SJHL operates under the Saskatchewan Hockey Association umbrella.

The WHL, which includes five Saskatchewan teams in the Moose Jaw Warriors, Prince Albert Raiders, Regina Pats, Saskatoon Blades and Swift Current Broncos, is targeting to start on Dec. 4.

That circuit is facing the challenge of satisfying four provincial governments and four health authorities in Canada and two state governments and two health authorities in the United States along with issues regarding crossing the border between Canada and the United States.

The Prince Albert Mintos and Saskatoon Contacts go at it.

The WHL, OHL and QMJHL, which are all under the umbrella of the CHL, operate as entity separate from Hockey Canada and Canada’s various minor hockey organizations, but all those bodies do work in partnership with each other.

Looking at the Saskatchewan Hockey Association’s plan, it is a good one to get the sport rolling in a bigger way in the province.

Even with the best thought out and made plans, the spectre of the COVID-19 pandemic still hovers over everything.

In Saskatchewan, there was great joy when outdoor sports like auto racing, baseball, golf and softball were able to successfully hold modified seasons this past summer.

There is still trepidation when it comes to indoor sports and the possible transmission of COVID-19. Hockey is the one everyone is watching to see how it operates and handles difficulties.

Most sports bodies take a cue from what is done in hockey.

All it takes is a surge of cases somewhere to get the ball rolling to bring everything to a stop.

On Monday, Saskatchewan recorded a jump of 48 new COVID-19 cases, which is the largest jump seen since July 29 as 50 new cases were reported at that time. As of Monday, there are a total of 215 active COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan.

The provinces of Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick are bringing back in various degrees of shutdowns due to an increase of new COVID-19 cases. The Greater Toronto Hockey League has postponed all sanctioned activities until January 1, 2021.

The Saskatoon Stars celebrate a win from last season.

On Friday, the World Health Organization announced a new daily record high for COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour period at 350,766. Over the past week, a number of countries including Canada have set a daily record for COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour period.

The Saskatchewan Hockey Association has a good plan, but you still have to cross fingers and hope factors outside of the organization’s control will allow it to go forward. There are no guarantees that shutdowns will be avoided.

The Saskatchewan Hockey Association’s ‘Safe Guidelines’ document for a return to hockey will be a fluid one as restrictions are lifted or imposed. The latest version of that document can be found on the Saskatchewan Hockey Association’s return to play page, which can be found by clicking right here.

CJFL franchise explored for Lethbridge, other notes

The Hilltops and Huskies could have a new PFC foe.

Teams in the CJFL’s Prairie Football Conference could have a new rival in the summer of 2022.

On Friday, the PFC announced it had received an application to establish a junior team in Lethbridge, Alta. The Lethbridge Junior Football Club, which is led by Lethbridge area football enthusiast Anthony Parker, will be called the Vipers and will play out of the University of Lethbridge Community Stadium.

The next step in the expansion process will see the Lethbridge Junior Football Club develop a strong business plan, which will address the operations side of the organization, formalization of recruitment strategies and long term player, coach and organizational development plans.

The PFC will ensure that its expectations from all member teams for a high degree of social responsibility and community involvement from players, coaches and organizations can be met through granting a franchise to Lethbridge.

The Lethbridge Organizing Committee will continue to work on the expansion plan through the winter and is slated to give a presentation including a business plan at the PFC’s Annual General Meeting slated for March of 2021.

At that meeting, the membership will vote to accept the franchise, reject the franchise or put out a request for more information deferring a decision to a subsequent meeting.

The Lethbridge Junior Football Club is proceeding with the support of the City of Lethbridge, local MLA Nathan Neudorf and the Lethbridge Sport Council.

The Calgary Colts may play a new nearby rival.

The CJFL hasn’t had teams located in Alberta outside of the cities of Edmonton and Calgary since the Red Deer Packers were in operation from 1969 to 1978 and the Medicine Hat Rattlers existed from 1976 to 1979.

Lethbridge has a population of over 101,000 people and is located in an area of Alberta that has a high level of support for the sport football. The small city has two major post-secondary institutions in the University of Lethbridge and Lethbridge College.

Lethbridge’s economy is traditionally agricultural based, but it has diversified in recent years getting into businesses related to alternative energy including wind power, solar power and biofuel.

On paper, Lethbridge should be a strong candidate to land a CJFL expansion team.

The last time the PFC expanded was when the Winnipeg Rifles joined the circuit in 2002.

The PFC also includes the storied Saskatoon Hilltops, who have won the last six CJFL championships and 22 CJFL titles overall, Regina Thunder, Edmonton Huskies, Edmonton Wildcats and Calgary Colts. The CJFL as a whole is composed of 18 teams from across Canada.

The CJFL season was cancelled for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the circuit is aiming to hit the field in 2021.

• Last Tuesday at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, the Seattle Storm down the Las Vegas Aces 92-59 in Game 3 of the WNBA Championship series and swept the best-of-five set 3-0. The win marked the fourth time in team history the Storm captured the WNBA title. This one came playing in a hub facility format.
• On Wednesday night, the Prince Albert Raiders announced at their annual general meeting the team lost $331,895 for the 2019-20 campaign, which was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic cost the Raiders two home regular season games and home dates what would have come from the 2020 WHL playoffs had they been held. The Raiders lost out in shared revenue from the Memorial Cup that was to be hosted in Kelowna in May but cancelled due to the pandemic and a loss of money from Sportsnet’s CHL contract rights that didn’t come in due to cancelled games. The Raiders losses included their share of a settlement in a CHL-wide class action lawsuit that argued major junior players are employees and not student-athletes and were entitled to employment standard compensation. Lucas Punkari of the Prince Albert Daily Herald had a good breakdown of the story, and it can be found by clicking right here.
• I contributed two pieces to the Howe Happenings blog run by the Gordie Howe Sports Complex that went live on Friday. The entries had a “girl power” theme to them. I put together a piece on track star Michelle Harrison, which can be found by clicking right here. I created a piece on all the media attention Emmarae Dale has received since being added to the roster of the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops, and that piece can be found by clicking right here.
• On Saturday, the Texas A&M University Aggies drew an announced crowd of 24,079 spectators to Kyle Field at College Station, Texas, to see the hosts down the visiting University of Florida Gators 41-38 in contest in the top tier of NCAA football. The online story from The Dallas Morning News focused on how the crowd noise helped the Aggies win this game played during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several photos of the packed student section at Kyle Field circulated on social media. The Dallas Morning News reported A&M athletic director Ross Bjork tweeted a video message about Kyle Field protocols and safety on Friday urging fans to wear face coverings and stay in their assigned seats. There has been speculation over social media the Aggies drew more spectators than the attendance figure they announced.
• On Sunday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, the Los Angeles Lakers downed the Miami Heat 106-93 in Game 6 of the NBA Championship series. With the win, the Lakers took the best-of-seven series 4-2. The Lakers have won 17 NBA titles in team history and this was the first captured in a hub centre format. The NBA had no positive COVID-19 tests holding the final bit of its 2019-20 regular season and entire post-season at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
• In his Taking Note blog on Saturday, Gregg Drinnan outlined the difficulties the QMJHL was having in its restart with COVID-19, and there are a lot of them. That piece can be found by clicking right here.

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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Parker close to becoming SFMAAAHL’s second all-time leading scorer

Mackenna Parker is set to move to second in SFMAAAHL career points.

    Mackenna Parker is on the cusp of achieving a huge milestone, but the skilled centre will have to wait a bit to achieve it.

    The 17-year-old captain of the Saskatoon Stars is one point away for equaling Alyssa Wiebe for second all-time in career regular season scoring for the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League. Parker has 72 goals and 69 assists for 141 career points in 94 regular season games.

Wiebe piled up 74 goals and 68 assists for 142 points playing 55 regular games at forward for the Notre Dame Hounds from 2006 to 2008 in Wilcox.

    With the way the SFMAAAHL regular season schedule has worked out, Parker will have to wait a bit for her next chance to pass Wiebe. The Stars next regular season game is set for Dec. 16, when they travel to Swift Current to face the Diamond Energy Wildcats.

    The SFMAAAHL is in its 12^th season, so what Parker is about to do can be viewed as a significant accomplishment.

    It also provides an opportunity to reflect on some recent women’s hockey history.

Mackenna Parker has been on fire this season.

    Wiebe, who is from Saskatoon, played for the Hounds the first two seasons the SFMAAAHL existed. She played the first games Canada’s under-18 women’s team ever took the ice for in 2007 before moving on to the university ranks.

    She played four seasons in the National Collegiate Athletic Association with the now defunct University of North Dakota women’s hockey team at the Division I level piling up 49 goals and 66 assists in 141 overall games.

    Following her hockey days at UND, Wiebe returned home to Saskatoon and suited up for the Saskatoon Valkyries of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League for the past two seasons. She became a star receiver and helped the Valkyrie win a league championship in 2016. Wiebe was part of Saskatchewan’s team that won gold at Football Canada’s inaugural Senior Women’s National Championship tournament in July of 2016.

    Wiebe, who is now 27-year-olds, showed just insane athletic ability playing football for the Valkyries. That same athletic ability showed through, when he played high level hockey.

    Parker, who is playing out her final season of midget AAA eligibility, will pass Wiebe, but likely won’t catch Olivia Howe for the top spot as the SFMAAAHL’s career all-time leading scorer.

    Howe, who is from Moose Jaw, played forward for the Hounds from 2008 to 2012 and piled up 107 goals and 100 assists for 207 points in 106 career regular season games. She is the SFMAAAHL’s career leader in goals, assists and points and was a consistent high point producer in each season she played in the league.

Mackenna Parker will play for Canada’s under-18 team in January.

    Following her time with the Hounds, Howe, who is now 23-years-old, played four seasons with the Clarkson University Golden Knights women’s hockey team in the NCAA Division I ranks from 2012 to 2016 piling up 42 goals and 58 assists in 152 overall games. She helped the Golden Knights win the NCAA championship in 2014.

    Parker has been on a tear to start the season with the Stars. She leads the SFMAAAHL in scoring with 23 goals and 20 assists in 13 games played and needs one more point to match her career high in points set last season.

    Besides accomplishing huge milestones with the Stars, Parker will play for Canada’s women’s team at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Under-18 Women’s World Championships, which runs this coming January 6-13 in Dmitrov, Russia.

Dorsett had a great run through WHL and NHL

Derek Dorsett, centre, during down time at the 2007 Memorial Cup.

    Feisty forward Derek Dorsett decided retire from the NHL due to an injury issue with his back.

    About a year ago, the Kindersley, Sask., product underwent a cervical-fusion surgery to heal up a damaged disk in his back. About a week ago, Dorsett’s doctors in Los Angeles, Calif., discovered another herniated disk near the rebuilt section of his back, and he was advised to not play again. The NHL’s Vancouver Canucks officially announced Dorsett’s retirement on Thursday.

    Dorsett had gotten out to a great start with the Canucks netting seven goals and two assists in 20 regular season games. After spending his first professional season with the American Hockey League’s Syracuse Crunch in 2007-08, Dorsett started playing in the NHL on a full-time basis with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2008-09.

    He appeared in 515 regular season games with the Blue Jackets, New York Rangers and Canucks netting 51 goals, 76 assists and 1,314 penalty minutes. Over his hockey career, Dorsett, who stands 6-feet and weighs 192 pounds, became one of the game’s best agitators, but he was also viewed as one of the best teammates no matter where his career took him.

    You hated to play against him, but you would love it if he was traded to your team.

    At one time, it didn’t appear an NHL career would be in the cards for Dorsett. His services were offered to every team in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League, and only the Swift Current Legionnaires stepped up to take him.
    With the Legionnaires in 2003-04, Dorsett collected 19 goals, 34 assists and 132 penalty minutes in 42 regular season games. That season wasn’t enough at that time to ensure him a spot in the WHL.

    As a result, he started the 2004-05 campaign in the junior A ranks with his hometown Kindersley Klippers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

    Dorsett’s career path changed on Nov. 19, 2004, when he jumped on board the bus of the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers outside the 7-Eleven in Kindersley. He dressed for that night’s road clash with the Blades in Saskatoon and picked up an assist in a 6-2 Tigers victory.

    During his career in “the Gas City,” Dorsett recorded 49 goals and 79 assists in 180 regular season games. To this day, he still remains an all-time fan favourite among the Tigers faithful.

    Dorsett was a heart and soul player with the Tigers who agitated opponents, scored, blocked shots, fought guys that were much bigger than him and was still effective playing with injuries.

    He set the emotional tone and the intensity for the Tigers every time he stepped on the ice. Dorsett always gave his best.

    If something needed to be said in the dressing room to get the Tigers going, Dorsett was entrusted with being the guy that said something.

    Dorsett played a huge role in capturing the WHL championship in 2007 and advancing to the final of that year’s Memorial Cup championship tournament before falling 3-1 to the host Vancouver Giants.

    In the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, he was selected in the seventh round and 189^th overall by the Blue Jackets, which opened the door to his NHL career.

    Dorsett’s 31^st birthday is Dec. 20, so he has a big next chapter to live in life. Let’s hope he enjoys lots of great days with his wife, Allison, and their two young sons Dylan and Ethan.

SHA should rethink boundary changes for female game

    If you’re involved in female hockey in Saskatchewan, you’ve likely heard through mainstream media outlets that the Saskatchewan Hockey Association is intent on going ahead with plans to make Saskatoon and Regina geographical subdivisions for the 2018-19 campaign.

    Basically, girls from rural Saskatchewan will be unable to go to Saskatoon and Regina to play on those cities’ teams. The SHA is putting that rule in place to push rural minor hockey associations to create their own female teams and leagues.

    When girls become old enough to play at the midget AAA level, they can go play for any of the provinces eight female midget AAA programs.

    I normally try to avoid minor hockey arguments and minor hockey issues. In the past, I find involvement in minor hockey politics just tends to bring me down.

    This issue has been in the news a lot, so I figured I would say something.

    I can see what the SHA is trying to do in theory, and there is concern about getting numbers up in rural areas and allowing rural girls to play closer to home.

    Through all sorts of social media channels, I’ve seen great push back against this decision. Actually, it is hard to find a voice that agrees with the SHA.

    I’ve seen numerous former players, current coaches, family members of current coaches and players, and executives from minor hockey associations speak out against this. There have been a number of people I know speak out against this move, who I deeply trust when it comes to judgments about the female game.

    I saw the martial from the Saskatoon Comets regarding this decision. They noted from experience that next season rural Minor Hockey Associations won’t develop a female program of any kind and will welcome girls to join their boys’ teams. The Comets said girls will quit if the appropriate level of play in girls hockey isn’t available to them.

    The Comets said the rural Minor Hockey Associations cited a number of reasons for not starting a new female committee including too much work for too short of a deadline, shortage of available ice, don’t know where to start and no one on their current boards have an interest in female hockey. I can respect these arguments, because life in the current day is way more stressed than it has ever been.

    There is a big concern girls in rural areas will decide to quit and take up another sport or activity as opposed to playing on a boys’ team. When players get old enough that body contact is allowed, there are a lot of girls that don’t want to play on boys teams if hitting is involved.

    I saw one post from a mom that lives in Pilot Butte, which is just outside and almost now borders with Regina, be downright upset that her daughter would have to go to Weyburn to play next season, which is a lot further away. I don’t like the idea of cutting Saskatoon and Regina off from their suburb bedroom communities.

    I know long time veteran SHA general manager Kelly McClintock has taken a lot of heat over this.

    I feel comfortable siding with the large number of people in the female game that are against these changes. Since I moved to Saskatoon in the summer of 2014, I have been impressed with how much everyone involved with female hockey pulls in the same direction. People from rival teams have respect for each other and hope players from the rival side do well.

    You do not see that type of unity on the boys’ side of the game, and it is refreshing to see that unity in the female game.

    I trust the judgment with those involved with female hockey in Saskatchewan and hope the SHA will delay the border changes or rethink them entirely. At the moment, I believe these border changes will hurt the female game in Saskatchewan.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com. A special shout out thanks to the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats female midget AAA team, who provided the information about Dorsett’s one season with the Swift Current Legionnaires midget AAA team in 2003-04. That piece of information was missing in a previous version of this post, and it was great to include it.

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