The Transformers: The Movie brings out families

Saskatoon’s Landmark Cinemas increased showings

A VHS re-release of The Transformers: The Movie from 1995.

Sunday became my “Transformers Day” in Saskatoon.

Going by the show times that were originally announced for the 40^th anniversary showing for The Transformers: The Movie and juggling my work schedule, my plan was to see it today (Sunday). At first, the only Sunday showing was set for 10:20 a.m. at the Landmark Cinemas on the far east edge of the city. I live on the west side of Saskatoon, so the theatre that was showing the Transformers movie was one of the longest cross-city trips I could do.

Late Saturday night, I double checked the show times and noticed the Landmark Cinemas added more showings on Sunday including at 12:10 p.m. and 7:20 p.m. I saw in social media reaction from Transformers fans online that they were pleasantly surprised to be watching this movie in full theatres in various other communities.

In the local mainstream media outlets in Saskatoon and in numerous centres in Canada, there are pretty much no entertainment reporters or movie reviewers left. I had no idea what I would experience when I would head out to see this movie again in the theatre for the first time in 40 years.

For a quick history lesson about The Transformers: The Movie, it was produced with the budget of US$6-million, and it brought in US$5.9-million in its original 1986 box office run domestically to be considered a bomb. The Transformers: The Movie didn’t have many folks coming out for a repeat viewing due to the death of Optimus Prime, who was the heroic leader of the Autobots voiced by the late, great Peter Cullen - a product of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

A ticket for The Transformers: The Movie.

Back in 1986, it was not common to kill off main characters in animated series, and Optimus Prime is often remembered as the shocking first time this happened.

As the decades have gone on, The Transformers: The Movie developed a cult following with numerous physical media releases and various returns to theatres. The 40^th anniversary return has been dubbed “The Apology Tour” by Hasbro for killing off Optimus Prime in 1986.

It is followed by a 12-minute animated short called Optimus Prime: Awakening. That is the final time Cullen reprises his role as Optimus Prime.

The 40^th anniversary showing hit theatres this past Thursday with Cullen’s recent passing coming this past August 26 adding a new dimension to the experience. The voice acting great was the first and is destined to go down as the definitive voice of Optimus Prime.

When I arrived at the Landmark Cinemas at 12:05 p.m., I was surprised to see the parking lot in front of the theatre was pretty much full. The Transformers: The Movie was the only thing showing at the 10:20 a.m. and 12:10 p.m. time slots at that location.

The Landmark Cinemas in Saskatoon.

The people I saw at the theatre were like 95 per cent families. Lots of dads were coming with their kid or teenage sons, and lots of dads were coming with their kid or teenage daughters.

After I got out of my car in front of the parking lot at the Landmark Cinemas, I saw a dad getting out of a big pickup truck with two teenage daughters. By their appearance, they came from the rural area and likely came some distance as the daughters were putting comforter blankets away. The daughters gave off the vibes they were there doing something special with their dad.

When I walked into the theatre, the concession line was really long. It was filled with families hanging together in their family groups. There were a handful of geek/nerd types in the concession, but they were a really small minority.

I went to purchase my ticket to get into the showing, and I realized there were both a premier seat and a standard seat showing. The premier seat showing was sold out, so I got into the standard seat showing.

Classic animated Optimus Prime.

The theatre room I went into was packed. With family turnout, the majority of the folks in the standard seat room were young kids.

Right there, I was having flashbacks of seeing The Transformers: The Movie back in 1986. Back in 1986, I saw that film on the last day it was in theatres in Winnipeg thanks to my oldest sister taking me. While the repeat viewings weren’t happening at that time, the theatre had a decent crowd with a lot of kids in attendance when I went.

During the showing I went to at the Landmark Cinemas, you got the feeling everyone in the room had seen this movie at least two or three times. It did hit differently watching The Transformers: The Movie on the big screen, because you realized this was how this film was meant to be seen.

As the movie advanced on, there were a lot of times a voice in my head was mouthing all the characters’ lines. In my life, the only two movies I have likely seen more than The Transformers: The Movie are another 1986 release in Top Gun and Major League from 1989. At times, the lines from those flicks feel like they are burned into the memory.

Another thing it felt like I noticed watching The Transformers: The Movie this time around was how smoothly the film ran. The flow was noticeably better from my view compared to movies I have seen in theatre in recent years.

I was impressed to see most of the kids in the theatre were locked in watching the film from their seats. It kind of went against the preconceived notion that kids today have attention spans that are super short.

A promo photo of the late Peter Cullen.

I enjoyed the Optimus Prime: Awakening short. To me, the whole short was about Optimus Prime making his journey into the afterlife after dying in the 1986 movie.

On the crazy timing front, I thought it worked as a beautiful tribute to Cullen playing Optimus Prime and closing the book on that part of the history of the Transformers franchise. When Cullen was recording the lines for this short, I don’t think it was going through anyone’s mind that he would pass away shortly before this hit theatres. When the short ended, a tribute dedication was shown for Cullen.

I came away feeling good enough from this experience that I went down to 8^th Street Quentin’s Comics and Toys on 8^th Street in Saskatoon and picked up a couple of Transformers figures from the Studio 86 Series Line that is dedicated to The Transformers: The Movie.

I also attended the 7:20 p.m. showing in the premier seat theatre with my mom. She actually enjoyed the experience.

This time there were only about 50 per cent families in the crowd and a larger turnout from the geek/nerd crowd. It was still a great time.

This anniversary run for The Transformers: The Movie was originally supposed to wrap up on Monday in North America. The run at the Landmark Cinemas is running through to Wednesday.

An Optimus Prime from 1984.

At the moment, the film is set to show at 12:20 p.m. on Monday, at noon and 7:20 p.m. on Tuesday and at noon and 6:50 p.m. on Wednesday.

In my life, I was born eight years before Transformers made its debut in 1984 and most of my knowledge of the franchise’s story arc comes from the original Generation One line. 

It is pretty rudimentary of all the different iterations and story tellings that have occurred around the decades.

Thanks to life being busy, I am not able to consume and follow all the interpretations of Transformers as they come out. 

I have been able to see all the Michael Bay live action Transformers films along with the Transformers One animated picture.

When I went to the 40^th anniversary showing of The Transformers: The Movie, I realized there were a lot of folks similar to me in that way, and a number of people in my age group still have a fond place in their heart for the original 1986 animated movie. 

Yours truly at the Landmark Cinemas in Saskatoon.

To be able to share watching it in theatre with family was a priceless moment that was never conceived for the bucket list.

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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Cononavirus scare results in weird and eerie week

At work in the home office on Saturday night.

    If I need a quick reminder of how the world has changed, all I have to do is turn on my mobile phone.

    The first thing that comes up is an emergency services warning stating that due to the COVID-19 pandemic anyone who has returned to Saskatchewan from outside the country must mandatorily self-isolate for 14 days and failure to do so will result in a $2,000 fine.

    A short time ago back on Friday, March 6, I was covering a WHL regular season game that saw the host Saskatoon Blades down the Regina Pats 2-1 in overtime at the SaskTel Centre. Sophomore left-winger Kyle Crnkovic scored the winner 74 seconds into the extra session to allow the Blades to lock up a berth in the WHL playoffs.

    At that time, life was proceeding as normal.

    Tuesday, March 10 seemed like the last normal day. From that day until now, you will likely be able to find a number of posts on social media lines that didn’t age well due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
    Because of the scare it has created, most people in Saskatoon are virtually living in lockdown and self-isolating at the time I am making this post go live.

The Huskies sign autographs for little fan on March 11.

    Looking back at March 10, I suspect I’m not the only one who has made social posts that said things that didn’t age well. I stumbled on a CBC timeline story about COVID-19, and it showed a Saskatchewan provincial government press conference from Wednesday, March 11.

    During that press conference, it was said the party was on for the Juno Awards, which are Canada’s national music awards, slated for this past Sunday in Saskatoon. Words of reassurance were offered noting there was low risk in Saskatchewan with regards to COVID-19.

    The conference occurred before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and the NBA suspended play that same day.

    The Junos were cancelled the next day as cancellations and postponements poured in across the sports world.
    On March 11, there were a total of 110 COVID-19 cases in Canada and one death. At the time of making this post go live, there were 1,328 COVID-19 cases in Canada and 19 deaths.

    On March 12, the Saskatchewan government confirmed its first presumptive case of COVID-19. As of today, Saskatchewan has 25 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 19 presumptive cases.
    The Saskatchewan government declared a state of emergency this past Wednesday. Since that time, more and more measures have been taken to shut down society in the province, which has been mirrored in the rest of the country.

The Huskies pose for a picture at the March 11 rally.

    Over the past 10 days, it is safe to presume most in Canada have seen video of what has taken place in Italy, where that country of just over 60-million people has seen its health care system overrun by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    At the time this post went live, Italy leads the world in COVID-19 deaths at 4,825. In a 24-hour period on Saturday, Italy had 793 deaths due to COVID-19.
    The drastic measures in Canada and Saskatchewan have been taken to try and prevent the health system from being overrun like Italy’s has.

    In my view, we are faced with the options of bad and less bad. The decision makers in Canada have decided to go the less bad route and try and not let COVID-19 run wild through the country.

    When this scare does ultimately pass, it will likely leave behind a devastating economic toll. At the moment, we are all in this together, so we will all face that reality when it comes.

    Knowing how it seems a lot of people have short memories, I can already see people being upset when we are in economic shambles when the COVID-19 pandemic passes. The fact death was escaped all of sudden gets forgotten.

    If you search hard enough, you will likely find a person or two that prefers to die now than face life after the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The reality is the world will be a much different place after the COVID-19 pandemic passes. Still, it is unhealthy to dwell on what the future can be even a month or two down the road.

I made Thursday a hockey jersey day.

    As for me, I have really only started to full out process what has gone on since March 11 starting on Friday. I had to get caught up on work related projects that were started before all the craziness began to occur.

    Strange as it sounds, this past Monday and Tuesday were basically normal work days for me. I had been tracking the developments of closures and cancellations and new restrictions brought in by governments during those normal work days too.

    As of Thursday night after I was all caught up, I began to wonder what Friday would be like, when I had more time to think about what all has happened.
    My mind began to worry for old friends I made over my life who have gone into the nursing profession.

    I remembered how fun it was to attend the celebration rally for the U Sports national champion University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s basketball team at the Physical Activity Complex during the lunch hour on March 11. The gold medal winners from the Huskies track and field and wrestling teams were also honoured.

    All that occurred before the NBA suspended play.

    I do wonder what different things I would have done had the COVID-19 pandemic not happened. For a short time when cancellations or postponements happened, there were other things on the go that filled the time that was committed to what I was originally going to go to.
    On Saturday, March 14, I was to have been in Medicine Hat, Alta., to celebrate Bob Ridley calling his 4,000^th game as the play-by-play voice of the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers.

    Tonight was to have been a special night in Saskatoon, as the Blades were to honour their long time former head coach and general manager Lorne Molleken, who always treated my family unbelievably well. I had been looking forward to tonight at the SaskTel Centre.

I have been working out in my basement dungeon.

    I don’t think I have totally comprehended how odd and eerie the world is at the present time in the shadow of COVID-19.

    I have spent more down time with my mom. We took a drive to downtown Saskatoon, and it was unsettling to see that part of the city be basically abandoned.

    As downtown Saskatoon neared, there seemed to be less and less life out in the street.

    I’ve had moments where I was thankful I was no longer working in the mainstream media, because I know reporters would be working 18-hour days when something like the COVID-19 pandemic breaks out. The sports staffers all of sudden end up helping the news staffers.

    I’ve had moments where I’ve gone emotionally in the tank. I’ve had other moments where I have felt good thinking about all the special moments I have covered in my career covering sports.

    In a lot of ways, I have had way more good experiences than most will ever have in their lives.

    I am glad there are things that have run their normal course. The NFL has been business as usual with that league’s free agency period underway.

    I will note it feels uncomfortable to hear all-time great quarterback Tom Brady signed a two-year $50-million US guaranteed contact with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at age 42. You could divide that figure and give out $50,000 US to 1,000 persons in these challenging times and it would be more of a benefit to society than giving all that cash to one person to throw a football.

Some of my mementos that have been collected over the years.

    With that noted, the NFL is not immune to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sean Payton, who is the star head coach of the New Orleans Saints, has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, and he is self-isolating at home.

    At the moment, the only certainty is uncertainty.

    As I said before, all anyone can do is take things one day at a time and remember we are all going through this difficult time right now together.

    Hopefully by following self-isolation and other directions by the governments in Canada, we will get to the other end of this sooner than later.

Watson goes Rocky IV training in self-isolation, other notes

View this post on Instagram

Today I put my at home gym together in my family’s shop! Had to get creative with some of my exercises but I got the workout done! Currently I am in self-quarantine after traveling home last week and since all the gyms are closed I thought it would be a great time to finally buy/make the at home gym I always wanted. I’m still preparing and training no matter what happens. Sending love and positivity to everyone, let me know if you want more workout videos! ⁣ #higherlove #positivity #training #weights #athome #quarantine

A post shared by Sage Watson (@sagewatson) on Mar 17, 2020 at 6:02pm PDT

    One of the most inspiring videos I saw this week came from the Instagram account of elite Canadian track and field athlete Sage Watson.

    The 25-year-old, who holds the Canadian record for the women’s 400-metre hurdles, returned home to her family ranch near Seven Persons, which his just southwest of Medicine Hat in Alberta. Watson came back home after training in Arizona and has put herself in self-isolation for 14 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Watson is currently training to go to the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, which are slated to start on July 24 and run through to August 9.

    At her family ranch, Watson has been running on gravel roads and working out in a gym she created.

    She posted one of her gym workouts, which included doing box jumps on hay bales. That scene was reminiscent of the fictional character in boxer Rocky Balboa training in the snowy countryside of Russia in the movie Rocky IV.

    Watson does a great job of creating a lot of inspiring posts on her Instagram account, and I would encourage you to give her a follow @sagewatson like more than 55,300 others already have.

• When the SFMAAAHL handed out its league awards on March 13, Regina Rebels forward Neena Brick was named the winner of the league’s Hayley Wickenheiser Most Valuable Player award, the Kelly Bechard Top Scorer award and a first-team all-star. Brick piled up 30 goals and 28 assists for 58 points to help the Rebels top the SFMAAAHL regular season with a 27-2-1 record. The female midget AAA playoffs across Canada were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Saskatoon Stars graduating goaltender Arden Kliewer was named a second team SFMAAAHL all-star. On a young rebuilding Stars team, Kliewer posted a 6-10-1 record, a 2.78 goals against average, a .921 save percentage and one shutout. Over her four seasons with the Stars, Kliewer posted a 44-13-2 record, a 1.91 goals against average, .923 save percentage and 11 shutouts. She sits second in the history of the SFMAAAHL for career regular season wins. Kliewer helped the Stars win the SFMAAAHL title and appear in the Esso Cup national female midget AAA hockey championship tournament in 2018 and 2019. The 18-year-old will join the University of Regina Cougars women’s hockey team next season.
• With the WHL having cancelled the rest of its regular season game due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 18-year-old Spokane Chiefs left-winger Adam Beckman won the regular season scoring title. The Saskatoon product appeared in 63 games with the Chiefs piling up 48 goals and 59 assists for 107 points. He posted a plus-44 rating in the plus-minus department.
• The Dog’s Breakfast fundraiser for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team originally scheduled for April 30 has been postponed until Thursday, September 3 at Prairieland Park. The Huskies made the postponement announcement on Friday. Jim McMahon, who was the quarterback of the NFL’s famed 1985 Chicago Bears that won the Super Bowl, will be the guest speaker. Glen Suitor, who was a safety with the CFL’s 1989 Grey Cup champion Saskatchewan Roughriders, will be the master of ceremonies. Tickets for the Dog’s Breakfast can be found by clicking right here.
• Now graduated Saskatoon Hilltops left guard Ryder Klisowsky has elected to continue his post-secondary football career in the U Sports ranks joining the University of Manitba Bisons, Klisowsky, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 310 pounds, played with the Hilltops for the past five seasons helping the storied club win the CJFL national title in each of those campaigns. The Hilltops have won the last six straight CJFL titles overall.

    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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Underhanded work by Amigo’s Auto Wreaking - buyer beware?

My family’s old Cavalier in our driveway last Thursday.

    It is buyer beware, if you bought a red 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier in the last handful of days in Saskatchewan.

    If you are driving a red 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier with the VIN #1G1JC524927294381, you are driving a car that is not safe.

    That car was owned by my family. After an oil change back in April, the mechanic we took that Cavalier to at Empire Auto Service advised that the car be replaced.

The back end of the red Cavalier pictured last Thursday.

    The mechanic said the car’s frame between the back tire and back seat on both sides of the vehicle was rusting pretty badly. We were advised to replace the car before winter hit.

    I decided to get a second opinion. Through a contact with the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops football team, I received a recommendation to check out Perfection Paint and Body.

    I took the Cavalier to Perfection Paint and Body, and they came up with the same prognosis as the mechanic at Empire Auto Service.

    The staff at Perfection Paint and Body said it would be near impossible to find the replacement part at an auto wreaker to repair the rusted parts of the frame. 

The extra set of rims inside the Cavalier pictured last Thursday.

    Due to the car being built in 2002, staff said General Motors had long stopped making replacement parts for that car.

    Thanks to those recommendations, a hunt for a replacement car ensued and added extra stress to a busy life. A replacement car was found in the middle of September.

    I thought about trying to sell the Cavalier on my own as a car that could be stripped for parts. I planned to put the note on any ad that this car could only be purchased to be stripped for parts and wasn’t road worthy.

    I did some research to see what used 2002 Chevrolet Cavaliers were selling for in Saskatchewan. 

The VIN number of the Cavalier.

    I found five or six ads from across the province selling that type of car for $500.

    At that point, I decided it was best to get rid of that car through an auto wreaker. My mom saw an ad for Amigo’s Auto Wreaking in Clavet, which is a suburb town of Saskatoon where my family lives.

    I left a phone message at Amigo’s last Thursday and followed that message with an email to Amigo’s last Friday morning. In both messages, I relayed the safety situation of the Cavalier.

    A staff member at Amigos called in the afternoon of last Friday, and a deal in good faith was made. 

The Facebook Marketplace ad seen of the Cavalier last Sunday.

    In that conversation, I reviewed the safety situation with the car once again.

    A tow truck came to pick up the car about a couple of hours later, as it was no longer plated.

    As I had a cheque in my hand, I figured that was the last I saw of that red Cavalier, which had been in the family since it was purchased new from a dealership in Regina in 2003.

    Last Sunday, three cousins came over for a visit, and one informed me the red Cavalier had been listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace by someone from Clavet going by a Facebook profile name Leah Jane. The car was listed for sale for $1,800 and the listing said the car was sold.

The back end of the Cavalier on Facebook Marketplace ad last Sunday.

    The listing included the car’s VIN number, and sure enough, it was the same Cavalier that my family had owned that was sold to Amigo’s two days earlier.

    If the listed seller named Leah Jane received the price she had listed for the Cavalier, she would have made a significant profit. A profit that was made on a car that is not safe from the knowledge that I have.

    I performed a VIN search on SGI’s website last Sunday and discovered it has been insured to Nov. 28, 2019.

    For my part, my deal to sell the car to Amigo’s was done in good faith, and on my end, I passed on the necessary information they needed to know about the Cavalier.

The extra set of rims in the trunk in the Facebook Marketplace ad last Sunday.

    After Amigo’s picked up the car, it appears in my view that the red Cavalier was quickly flipped around and sold. 

    It is possible Amigo’s had another 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier in their yard and used parts from that vehicle to make the necessary repairs on the red Cavalier.

    You could work through the night on Friday into Saturday morning to do that. That still seems too tight of a timeline to get the repairs completed.

    The advice I had to replace the car was just that. I never had any SGI documentation that stated the car was no longer road worthy, so you could in theory sell it as a used car for driving, which is fairly underhanded.

The Cavalier’s VIN number seen Sunday in the Facebook Marketplace ad.

    In my view, whoever ultimately purchased the red Cavalier got taken.

    Looking back, I feel I did all the diligence on my part, when I sold the car. Seeing how things likely played out, I wouldn’t sell another vehicle off to Amigo’s.

    As a person that was trained as a journalist, I felt a duty to write this post as a word of warning.

    For the person that bought the red Cavalier, I believe whoever purchased that car will have learned a buyer beware lesson.

    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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Raptors NBA title win great for Canada in a big way, Saskatoon in a quaint way

Fans in Civic Square in Saskatoon celebrate the Raptors NBA title win.

    You almost wish those Jurassic Park parties for the Toronto Raptors would have been like the Energizer Bunny and kept going and going and going.

    On Thursday, the party came to an end in a joyous fashion across Canada. People all over the country were gathered in various Jurassic Park parties watching the Raptors capture the NBA title on big screens.

    In Game 6 of the NBA Finals at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., the Raptors edged past the two time defending champion and host Golden State Warriors 114-110 to take the best-of-seven series 4-2. The contest was the last NBA game to be played in the Warriors long time home facility.

    With the win, the Raptors ensured the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy would be going to a team based outside of the United States for the first time in history.

The party erupts in Civic Square when the Raptors win the NBA title.

    In a number of centres in Canada, the party went well into the night.

    In Saskatoon, a cozy gathering of about 300 people gathered at Civic Square in front of city hall. The viewing parties in Saskatoon were held over the last five games of the NBA Finals thanks to the efforts of the Saskatchewan Rattlers of the Canadian Elite Basketball League and the City of Saskatoon.

    The quaint gatherings in “The Bridge City” were a great thing. They brought together people from all sorts of different cultural backgrounds, and they were united in support of Canada’s only NBA team.

The fans at Civic Square cheer on the Raptors on Thursday.

    The event felt inclusive and fun.

    The watch parties had a similar vibe to when the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades host their annual “Welcome the World” game, where a large number of newcomers to Canada become Canadian citizens during a pre-game ceremony.

    During the three hours that the Raptors watch party took place, everyone got along and was happy.   
    With all the adversities that can happen in life, it was great to see a gathering where everyone can stay in a great frame of mind for a small but still lengthy stretch of time.

    Thursday’s game featured 18 lead changes and nine points when things were all tied up. Even when the Raptors were behind, there was never an overriding fear that the outcome wouldn’t go the Raptors way.

Fans at Civic Square watch the early second half of the Raptors game.

    Had the Raptors lost, it felt like there would have been an “aw-shucks” reaction.

    When the Raptors made big plays or jumped out ahead, the cheers exploded from the crowd.

    Everyone was glued to the screen for the game’s climax, when the Raptors were holding a 111-110 lead inside of the final 10 seconds. The Warriors had possession after a Raptors turnover.

    Warriors superstar guard Seth Curry had a good look at a three-point shot, and as his shot went up, you could see people in the crowd in Saskatoon were starting to think about returning for a series-deciding Game 7 watch party on Sunday.

Fans collect video of the NBA title trophy presentations for the Raptors.

    Curry’s shot missed resulting in a long rebound, which was gathered up by Warriors forward Draymond Green. Green called a timeout, but since the Warriors didn’t have a timeout, a technical foul was called against Golden State with 0.9 seconds remaining on the clock.

    At that point, the celebration in Saskatoon started to begin in earnest as it was almost impossible for Golden State to win.

    Raptors star guard Kawhi Leonard hit the free throw on the technical. He was quickly fouled on the inbounds pass and hit two more free throws to seal the final outcome.

    As the last bit of time elapsed, the crowd at the Saskatoon watch party broke into elation with people turning to hug others they just met that night.

    Leonard finished with 22 points and was named the MVP of the NBA Finals. He received big cheers when he was shown accepting his MVP honours.

A fan at Civic Square watches the Raptors during the trophy presentations.

    Big cheers went out when Raptors star guard Kyle Lowry was shown on screen as well. Lowry and forward Pascal Siakam led the way in scoring for the Raptors with 26 points each. Overall, the Raptors played a really strong team game.
    The crowd in Civic Square happily dispersed as the post-game trophy ceremony went on with a few hardcores stay until the broadcast ended at 10 p.m.

    After all the watch party viewers left, the Saskatoon Police officers who were on site proceeded to depart with big smiles on their faces. A few officers said they were happy there were no troubles and added to was great to see everyone had fun during a nice evening in “The Bridge City.”

    It was apparent they enjoyed themselves that night too.

    It was cool to see an NBA team in Toronto could provide good times in Saskatoon.

Ice ink top pick Savoie

BREAKING: Winnipeg ICE sign 2019 first overall draft pick Matthew Savoie to a WHL Standard Player Agreement.

DETAILS ➡️ https://t.co/KUpB0A7wVH pic.twitter.com/BSqRS8xngJ

— Winnipeg ICE (@WHLWpgICE) June 13, 2019

    The Twitter accounts of numerous persons from the WHL lit up with a big signing from the Winnipeg Ice.

    On Thursday, the Ice announced they had signed centre Matthew Savoie to a WHL Standard Player Agreement. Savoie, who is a 15-year-old from St. Albert, Alta., was selected first overall by the Ice in WHL Bantam Draft held in early May.

    Last season, Savoie played with the Northern Alberta Xtreme Midget Prep team of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League. He had 31 goals and 40 assists in 31 regular season games and posted three goals and nine assists in five playoff games as the Xtreme won the CSSHL Midget Prep Championship.

    Savoie captured MVP honours for the league.

    Savoie had verbally committed to join the University of Denver Pioneers men’s hockey team in the NCAA ranks in March, before changing his mind to join the Ice. The Ice brought Savoie and his family to Winnipeg to tour their training facilities at the Rink Hockey Academy shortly after the WHL Bantam Draft.

    Earlier this year, Savoie and his family applied to Hockey Canada looking to gain exceptional status for Matthew, which would have allowed him to play on a full-time basis in the WHL as a 15-year-old.

    The application was denied.

    Savoie is eligible to play five regular season games with the Ice before his club team has its season come to an end. Once the season ends for his club team, he can join the Ice on a full-time basis. He could also play games with the Ice on an emergency basis.

    In early April, the Ice acquired the WHL rights of 17-year-old left-winger Carter Savoie, who is Matthew’s older brother, in a trade with the Regina Pats.

    Last season, Carter posted 31 goals and 42 assists playing 58 regular season games in the junior A ranks with the Sherwood Park Crusaders of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. He was named the AJHL’s rookie of the year.

    Carter has committed to the U of Denver Pioneers and said in a tweet on Thursday he intends to honour that commitment and return to the Crusaders next season.

    Still, the fact Matthew Savoie has committed to the Ice is huge for that franchise going into its first season in Winnipeg after moving from Cranbrook, B.C.

    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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Recognizing and respecting triggers is key for mental health

I am spending time contemplating triggers in my home office.

    I almost despise it, but I realize I have to respect the word “trigger” when it comes to mental health.

    In mental health terms, a trigger can refer to anything that produces a memory of a past trauma you once went through. That memory forces you into a defensive style of self-protection and results in some type of reaction.

    A trigger can be anything from a word, an action, a smell, a place or even the face of a person who looked like someone that did something bad to you.

    Since November of 2012, I have known I have had issues dealing with anxiety. The issues rose due to a mental health issue I discovered in my workplace at the time, which was the Medicine Hat News. That resulted in a whole host of spinoff problems.

    There is still a stigma around mental health issues, and they are unfortunately still treated as the elephant in the room in too many circles. I try to make it a tradition every Bell Let’s Talk day to write about my experiences on the mental health front in the hopes it will help others.

    Now having lived about two-and-a-half years in Saskatoon, I still find it a battle to deal with triggers. Besides the difficulties I faced in the last three years I lived in the Medicine Hat, I believe there were battles that occurred actually for the last five years I lived in the Hat that sometimes affect me now. A trigger will put me in back into one of those battle or trauma moments, and I didn’t even realize it was a problem.

    I still can’t believe how quickly my emotions will switch, when I am triggered. I also hate how I react to others around me, when I am triggered.

    One spot I really have to be mindful of triggers is when I am watching the six o’clock news with my mom. When I am alone and the news is on, I watch it passively and my mind is shut off.

    My mom has a tendency to react at times to every story with a freaked out emotion. My mind ends up jumping back into a staff slashed newsroom during my final two years in the Hat. It seemed like a major story there broke every second week, and everybody was in a panic.

    There was a constant anxiety about getting all the information you needed to finish a story before a deadline. Reporters often got at each other, and depending on the story, some would freak out emotionally.

    When my mom reacts to the news on television, I jump up and freak out trying to explain how things likely played out like they did in the story. I constantly have to try and catch myself from going off and try to kindly let my mom know I want to passively watch the newscast.

Working a Tigers scrum in 2014.

    After my shifts as a sports reporter in the Hat, I actually didn’t watch any media type programs when I got home at around 11:30 p.m. To get calmed down, I usually passively watched Robot Chicken or Sex and the City reruns, which were on nightly at that time. Those program choices were so off the wall for me it allowed my mind to escape from everything.

    Triggers also show up in another way. When I have two or three projects on the go at one time that I am trying to get done on a deadline, my mind gets locked in a set plan of how I have to go about completing everything. I try to lock everything else out.

    Sometimes if someone approaches me with a request, I lash out because it is interfering with what I am doing. It would flash me back to the newsroom in Medicine Hat, where it seemed at times you were in a constant battle to stay on track and get places in a timely fashion in the sports department. You were ruled by the clock, and you freaked when you could feel time was slipping away or wasn’t being used constructively.

    One of the worst recent triggers for me came when a woman I would go long stretches without seeing in the local sports scene here in Saskatoon shut me down on all lines of communication in order to cut down on distractions. That triggered a traumatic memory from my time in Medicine Hat.

    In a situation that was 65 per cent similar, I got jumped in a night club by a boyfriend of a woman I knew that was involved in the local sports scene, who I only saw once every six months. The boyfriend was also involved in the local sports scene. They were having relationship problems, and unknown to me, I became part of the problem somewhere just for talking to her at some point in time.

    I didn’t see of the bad stuff coming due to lack of interaction with the two.

    When I lived in the Hat, I also had a high profile due to the fact I covered WHL’s Tigers for the daily paper. The incident occurred in December of 2009, so my life at the time was really upbeat. I learned that having a high profile when your life is going good can provide the combination to make you a target for someone who was having a rough spot in their life.

    Security took care of things fast, and I came away with just a couple of bruises. I went on social media when I when home that night and realize the woman I was jumped over shut me down on all lines of communication. We had never been romantically involved.

    A new boundary was also set up where we could never talk again for the rest of our lives. We still haven’t talked to this day.

    When I got shut down by the woman that was involved in sports in Saskatoon, I did have a panic attack, where I went home and shut down for the night. I thought what happened in the Hat was going to repeat itself despite the fact I have never had troubles with her sports involved boyfriend. Looking back, I shut down over nothing.

    Actually, if I feel I am getting cornered in a night club, my defence mechanisms will go off. I will move to areas where I am close to bartenders or security members I know, and I will constantly keep my head on a swivel and the “Spider Sense” up. That also comes from the night out difficulty I had in the Hat.

    With triggers, half the battle is recognizing the fact you have been triggered. Once you recognize you have been triggered, you have to work to catch yourself and take an emotional step back. From there, you try to get as many facts about what you are dealing with as possible to make a decision to move forward.

    Actually on the plus side, I get triggered a lot less than I did, when I first moved to Saskatoon. When I first came to the Bridge City, it seemed everything kind of freaked me back to my difficult times in the Hat.

    As for the present, my biggest trigger battle might be convincing my mom to maybe watch something different instead of the news when we eat together during the dinner hour. I guess I should find out if Sex and the City is on somewhere in the multichannel universe.

Back in the Express with K of C Games

Astrid Nyame, left, and Jared Olson have some fun at the fieldhouse.

    I was back in the Saskatoon Express this week with an article that leads up to the annual K of C Games.

    The piece features recent University of Saskatchewan Huskies track and field grad Jared Olson and current Huskies track standout Astrid Nyame, who is in her final season of eligibility. 

    Both talk about their experiences with annual K of C Games, which have been held for 52 straight years.

    There are also catch up tidbits with both athletes. The story can be found 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. My Bell Let’s Talk post from last year called “Feeling connected calms the mental health seas” can be found right here. A piece called “My Mental Health Story” can be found here. Another post I like that I wrote in February of 2015 about my mental health journey call “Huskies hockey was good for me” can be found here. The photo from the Medicine Hat Tigers media scrum in 2014 is courtesy of Dave Dawson

Wright doesn't expect UFC to make a quick return to Sask.

Tom Wright speaks to a crowd at Saskatoon's O'Brians Event Centre.

    The UFC’s first stop in Saskatchewan will likely be its only stop in the next number of years.

    Tom Wright, the UFC’s executive vice-president and general manager for Canada, Australia and New Zealand, wants to bring the promotion back to the “Wheat Province.” The premier professional circuit for mixed martial arts held UFC Fight Night 74 at Saskatoon’s SaskTel Centre on Aug. 23 before 7,202 spectators bringing in a gate of $949,000. Wright was pleased with the gate.

    Standing in the way of a Saskatchewan return is the fact the UFC brass has a lengthy list of Canadian communities they want to visit.

    “It will probably be a few years, because there are a bunch of other cities across the country that we’ve never been to,” said Wright. “We’ve never been to Windsor. We’ve never been to Edmonton. We’ve never been to Ottawa. We’ve never been to St. John’s. We’ve never been to Victoria.

    “There are a tonne of Canadian cities that we’d like to go to. When you are trying to schedule a global sport with a finite number of dates, there are a lot of different cities that want these events. A lot of depends on venue availability, it depends on the time of the year (and) it depends on what else is going on around the world.”

    With that said, Wright was happy with how well things went for the fight card in Saskatoon and with the various functions the promotion put on across the city in the three days leading up to Fight Night 74.

    “We’ve been planning to have this event for quite some time,” said Wright. “We came here last year with the UFC Experience, when we went to Regina. We were really well received.

    “We’ve always wanted to bring our sport to Saskatchewan. We know we have a lot of really engaged and knowledgeable fans here. It has been a great week so far.”

    Wright is keenly aware about how passionately people in Saskatchewan can get behind a sporting interest. From 2002 to 2007, he was the commissioner of the CFL and gained a lot of experience with how much emotion fans of the Saskatchewan Roughriders invest in their team.

Fans enjoyed checking out the UFC Experience outside the SaskTel Centre.

    When government of the province where the colours of green and white dominate passed the Athletics Commission Act in early March, it allowed "The Land of the Living Skies" to hold professional combat sporting events like mixed martial arts.

    In bringing the UFC to the province for the first time, Wright said the organization wanted to have a main event that would be a crowd pleaser. He believed a featherweight tilt between Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira would fit that need. Heading into that fight, Holloway was rated fifth in the UFC’s featherweight rankings, while Oliveira was seventh.

    The card experienced a bit of bad luck on that front, when Oliveira was forced to retire at 1:39 of the first round due to injury. After an exchange, the Sao Paulo, Brazil, product started to favour his right shoulder.

    Oliveira went down and the fight was stopped, giving Holloway a knockout victory.

The co-main event between Neil Magny and Erick Silva lacked action, but Magny managed to win by split decision.

    The 10 bouts leading to the main event matches were really good, so fans did get bang for their buck.

    The welterweight fight between Patrick Cote and Josh Burkman, which was given fight of the night honours, was a back and forth physical battle. It ended at 1:26 of the third round, when Cote, who is a fan favourite from Rimouski, Quebec, knocked out Burkman. The crowd at the SaskTel Centre rose to their feet to give their loudest ovation of the night.

    “I thought the evening was terrific,” said Wright. “The crowd was here early. Half the building was filled before the first fight.

    “They were loud. They were excited. They responded.”

Cote said he could feel the crowd’s passion during his stop in Saskatoon.

    “They are great fans here of mixed martial art,” said Cote. “For sure when you are from the country, you feel the support.

    “The same thing in Montreal. The same thing everywhere in Canada. When I fought in Quebec City, it was the same thing, and here that was just insane.”

    During the UFC’s stop in Saskatoon, the athletes were pretty engaging with the fans that they met. Cote was a huge fan favourite, and his opponent, the veteran Burkman, often spoke with a soft heart.

    “It is great, because there is still a lot of misconception about our sport,” said Wright about the athlete’s interactions with the fans. “There are myths that need to be dispelled and perspectives that need to be informed.

    “The best spokespeople are our athletes. They are engaging, they are intelligent, they are well-spoken and the vast majority have university degrees. These guys and girls are tough competitors, but they are very honourable competitors too.

    “It is the hallmarks of our sport.”

The UFC makes a donation to Special Olympics Canada in Saskatoon.

    During his five-plus years with the UFC, Wright said the organization has made big growth. The fact Fight Night 74 was held in Saskatoon marked another milestone for the promotion in Canada.

    “When we first started, we weren’t sanctioned in Ontario, we weren’t sanctioned in B.C., Saskatchewan,” said Wright. “We only held events in Montreal.

    “Since that five years, we’ve gone from one city and one province to this event will be the 19^th event in Canada in our eighth city and our seventh province, which is pretty cool.”

    Wright said there are a few differences between working as a high executive with the UFC and CFL. The differences include the fact Canadian professional football has been around for over 100 years, while the UFC has been around for just over 20 years and is a global sport.

    The similarities are numerous, which has made work for the UFC feel quite natural.

    “The Canadian Football League you are dealing with world class athletes who train hard and are committed to make sacrifices,” said Wright. “Mixed martial artists are no different. They are world class athletes, hard-working and they train like nobody else. The athletes are very similar.

    “Our fans are really passionate. They are smart, they are engaged (and) they are committed. I have a great team of people I work with here in Canada, and I had a great team in the CFL I worked with as well.”

Back in the Express with more UFC

    I was back in the Saskatoon Express this week writing a column about the UFC making a return to Saskatchewan.

    That column can be found right here.

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