“Seniors Era” Anderson rinks Hall of Fame bound again

Foursome to enter Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame

Larry Pavloff, left, and Sherry Anderson shake hands.

Sherry Anderson didn’t have to wait long to see her teams from her “Senior’s Era” continue to get Hall of Fame calls.

On Wednesday during a news conference at the Gordie Howe Sports Centre building on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds, Anderson’s senior curling teams from 2016 to 2023 were announced as inductees in the team category for the 2025 class going into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame. The rink includes Anderson at skip, Patty Hersikorn at third, Brenda Goertzen at second and Anita Silvernagle at lead.

The official induction dinner will take place on Saturday, November 1 at Prairieland Park.

Together curling out of Saskatoon’s Nutana Curling Club, they have won five Canadian Senior Women’s Curling titles coming in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. 

They also laid claim to three World Senior Women’s Curling championships coming in 2018, 2019 and 2023.

Previously, Anderson herself had entered the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame from a combination of teams that competed in the women’s play, her senior teams and as a solo athlete. Her senior’s teams have already gotten calls to the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame.

“When you compete and you play and you get a chance to win and you get a chance to travel all over the world like we did, that alone is pretty much the reward for playing well,” said Anderson. “It is certainly nice to get the accolades afterward and get into the (Canadian) Curling Hall of Fame and Saskatchewan and now the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.

“It is just nice to be recognized.”

Anderson, who is 61-years-old, has built a long and storied career in curling. On the women’s side, she has appeared in 10 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, and her first appearance came as a skip of a team from the Prince Albert Golf and Curling Club way back in 1994 and 1995.

Her last appearance at the Scotties came just a short time ago in 2021 skipping a squad out of the Nutana Curling Club.

While she was still having success in women’s curling, Anderson was looking for another competitive outlet when her senior women’s team got together.

Sherry Anderson, left, is seated at a press conference on Wednesday.

“When you get to that 49-50 age when you turn seniors, it is a little harder to compete with the young one coming up,” said Anderson. “I had known Anita (Silvernagle) for years because of the coaching she did, and of course, curling against her.

“I had asked her originally and said, ‘Do you want to play?’ Then, we ended up getting Patty (Hersikorn) and then Brenda (Goertzen). It just sort of mushroomed from there.

“You look for a team that wants to go and do the same kind of things, and that is how it just turned out.”

Anderson’s rink made the championship final of the 2016 Canadian Women’s Senior Championship falling to a Nova Scotia foursome skipped by another Canadian curling legend in Colleen Jones. 

After that loss, Anderson’s rink would win the Canadian Women’s Senior Championship the next five consecutive times it was contested.

Curling Canada didn’t hold any seniors championships in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that had gripped the world.

Over the years, Anderson said her squad enjoyed all the places they were able to see competing in the senior’s game.

“The travel was a lot of fun, and we had a lot of good times together,” said Anderson. “Being competitive as an athlete, everybody I think is competitive, but there are just different levels of it.

“It was a lot of fun being that together as a team.”

Brenda Goertzen, right, shakes hands with Jillian Gallays.

Over the years, Anderson herself was always popular wherever she went in the sport of curling, and she always enjoyed getting to meet people from all over the place through her travels in the game. That was something that carried on in the senior’s game.

“The sport is one thing, but it is not the whole package,” said Anderson. “Making friendships and socializing and getting to meet people from other provinces and other provinces and other countries, you get some lasting relationships and friendships from that.

“That is a lot of it.” 

Of course, Anderson and her rink enjoyed their Canadian and world championship wins and the opportunities those wins brought along.

“If you don’t win, you don’t get the chance to travel like we did,” said Anderson. “We went to some beautiful places across Canada and met some great people that volunteered and were part of the events.

“Winning the Canadians was another added bonus. Then, we got to travel outside of the country, and we got trips to Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and South Korea. They were places that I might not have ever gone to just travel, certainly not South Korea, so that was a real big added bonus for sure.”

While the Hall of Fame accolades are coming her way, Anderson has no plans to leave the sport. Going forward in curling, Anderson believes she will take on a different primary role.

“I actually think I’m going to turn to coaching, and that probably will be my future for the next while,” said Anderson. “I don’t know about playing.

“I don’t know how much I’m going to play next year. It is kind of all or nothing for me, so if I play, I’m going to play lots. If I don’t play, I’m not going to play at all, so we’ll see.

“I don’t know yet. It is still early. It is the summer, so I’ll wait and decide, but I think I am going to throw in my coaching hat and see where that takes me.”

Members of the 2025 class for the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.

A total of five athletes are heading to the Saskatoon Sport Hall of Fame as part of the 2025 class in Jillian Gallays in wrestling, Janet (Scott) Gattinger in track and field, Ryan Hvidston in track and field, Marcia (Porteous) Jackson in badminton, squash and tennis and Larry Pavloff in softball.

The three builders in the 2025 class include Don Hedman in track and field, Peter Loubardias in broadcast and media and Mark Millard in soccer.

The Hunter’s Fairhaven Teams in 5-pin bowling from 1998, 1999 and 2000 are also entering the Hall in the team category.

The Saskatoon Diving Club was named the Sports Organization of the Year.

Colborn featured in “Howe Happenings”

Cadence Colborn has had a spectacular last two years in softball.

Cadence Colborn was putting up big numbers as a softball freshman in the NCAA Division II ranks, so it seemed natural to feature her in the “Howe Happenings” blog.

On Monday, I went live with new content on the “Howe Happenings” blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a piece on Colborn, who had a spectacular first season with the West Texas University A&M Lady Buffs Softball Team in Canyon, Texas. She collected a trio of all-star awards helping the Lady Buffs put up a 56-8 overall record.

Colborn also turned heads last summer playing for the provincial champion Saskatoon Prairie Dog Selects, who took part in Softball Canada’s Under-19 Women’s Canadian Fast Pitch Championship Tournament that ran July 31 to August 4, 2024 at the diamonds on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds. She was named a tournament all-star after posting a .474 batting average and nailing three home runs.

Currently, Colborn is back in Saskatoon playing for the CT&V Selects U19A team. The “Howe Happenings” piece on Colborn can be found by clicking right here.

I also put together a photo roundup that features the return of the Saskatoon Berries playing their second WCBL season. It also features action from baseball, football, softball and track and field. The photo roundup 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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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!”

View this post on Instagram

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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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.