Happy Friday for WHL

East Division teams to play in Regina bubble

The Pats celebrate at goal at the Brandt Centre in 2019.

When a provincial Premier gets in on a big announcement, you know it is a huge day for a major junior hockey circuit.

On Friday near the end of the lunch hour, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe sent out a message on Twitter saying the WHL’s East Division has been granted approval to used Regina as a hub city for a shortened regular season starting on March 12.

Just two minutes after Moe sent out his tweet, the WHL sent out a tweet containing the release of the details regarding Regina becoming a hub city for the East Division.

The announcement was a big one for the major junior circuit as it now has plans approved to get three out of its four divisions back into action.

Back on March 12, 2020, the WHL paused its 2019-20 regular season before eventually cancelling the rest of the 2019-20 campaign due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world. The last games played by the league occurred on March 11, 2020.

The Central Division is set to begin regular season play on Feb. 26 with home-and-home series weekends involving the circuit’s five Alberta-based teams. The U.S. Division will begin play on March 19. Plans are still in the works to get the B.C. Division back into action.

Currently, the East Division is the only division that will use a bubble format. The East Division will contain the circuit’s five clubs based in Saskatchewan in the Moose Jaw Warriors, Prince Albert Raiders, Regina Pats, Saskatoon Blades and Swift Current Broncos along with the WHL’s two Manitoba-based squads in the Brandon Wheat Kings and Winnipeg Ice.

The WHL has been cleared by the Government of Manitoba to allow the league to bring its two Manitoba-based clubs to the Regina bubble.

Each team is scheduled to play 24 regular season games.

All of the regular season games will be played at the Brandt Centre, which is the Pats home rink. The schedule for those games will be announced at a later date, and no spectators will be allowed.

Chase Wouters will make a final run with the Blades.

Practices will be held at the Co-operators Centre, which is connected to the Brandt Centre thanks to some above ground corridors on the Evraz Place grounds.

Teams will be housed at the dormitories on the grounds of the University of Regina and Luther College.

WHL players and staff from Saskatchewan and Manitoba based teams will begin self-quarantining on February 20 and will report to the WHL hub centre in Regina on Feb. 27. Players and staff will be required to undergo COVID-19 testing upon arrival followed by an additional quarantine period.

Following that quarantine period, players and staff will undergo a second COVID-19 test before being permitted to engage in any team activity.

WHL clubs will provide private PCR testing through DynaLIFE Medical Labs in order to ensure no additional strain is placed on public health. Players will be tested upon arrival to their WHL team and once again before engaging in any team activity.

The major junior circuit will implement an ongoing weekly private PCR testing strategy.

If a WHL squad has one or more players or staff test positive for COVID-19 at any point in the season, the team will be required to suspend its activities for a minimum of 14 days.

There will be enhanced screening for all WHL players, team staff and officials that will take place on a daily basis including regular temperature screenings as well as symptom monitoring through the WHL Athlete RMS Mobile Application.

Masks must be worn by all WHL players at all times except when they are participating on ice for games and practices.

WHL coaches will be required to wear masks at all times including while conducting practice and while behind the bench during games.

Overall, this announcement got ultra-passionate WHL fans in Saskatchewan and Manitoba all tingly feeling with excitement. Many are waiting to hear details on the new live streaming service the WHL said was coming for games.

Following that announcement, the WHL kept rolling out the feel good news on Friday. The circuit announced the Central Division’s schedule for the first two weeks of play.

Max Paddock and the Raiders are Regina bound.

The Feb. 26 games to open play in the Central Division is scheduled to see the Medicine Hat Tigers travel to Red Deer to take on the Rebels, while the Lethbridge Hurricanes head to Edmonton to face the Oil Kings.

On Friday evening, the WHL announced it had conducted 245 COVID-19 tests on players and staff from the Central Division clubs from Feb. 6 to 12 and there were not positive test in that batch.

Of course, a wrench could still be thrown into any plans for games depending on how developments go on the COVID-19 front.

Still, Friday was a day players, staff and fans of the WHL’s East Division teams had been looking forward to for almost a year. At the moment, it really feels like game action will become a reality.

Rebels players living at rink is just too sweet, other notes

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The Red Deer Rebels made waves in the sporting world this week, when they revealed their players would live at their home arena during their shortened 2020-21 campaign.

On Tuesday, Greg Meachem, who has covered the Rebels for decades, wrote a piece for the club’s website detailing the plans to have the Rebels players live in the luxury suites at the Westerner Park Centrium.

The move was made in consultation with officials at Westerner Park, the City of Red Deer, suite holders, players and parents.

Rebels head coach, general manager and owner Brent Sutter thought having the players stay at the rink might be easier than living with billet families due to all the protocols WHL clubs have to follow playing in a world that is in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Their mental health is something that’s important to me,” said Sutter in Meachem’s piece. “I was concerned that the kids would have to be in their bedrooms at billet houses.

“If other people were in the house, they couldn’t be hanging around the house. They would have to be in their rooms. We have things set up on the (Centrium) concourse…. ping pong tables, basketball hoops, things like that.

“And, we’ve moved our gym equipment upstairs, because we can only have so many people in a room. We can’t put everyone in one room together. We have to use two or three dressing rooms.”

Since making that post on Tuesday on the Rebels website, many media outlets across Canada have done stories on the Rebels plans of having their players live at the Centrium. NBC Sports in the United States also did a piece on the living arrangements of the Rebels players.

Many of the Rebels billet families brought beds for the players to use, and the hockey club also received beds from others in the community.

The suites were all equipped with Wi-Fi, rooms were set up to allow players in school to work on their studies, and a few recreation rooms were built to allow players to watch television or movies.

Overall, the Rebels hit a homerun with this idea.

The Rebels players are now living at the rink, and you have to believe they will get a kick out of what is a unique experience at the moment.

·        If all goes well, Bob Ridley will call his 4,000^th game as the play-by-play voice of the Medicine Hat Tigers when they host the Red Deer Rebels on Feb. 27. At the moment, Ridley has called 3,998 Tigers games including action in the regular season, standings tiebreakers, WHL playoffs and the Memorial Cup tournament. No one in hockey has called more games as the play-by-play voice of one team as Ridley has.

·       On Thursday, the NBA’s Toronto Raptors announced they will play the rest of their home games at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. The Raptors had been hoping to play part of their home schedule in Toronto, but the team decided to remain in the United States after Canada increased its COVID-19 protocols when it comes to entering the country.

·        The University of Regina Cougars women’s hockey team and the Manitoba hockey community are grieving the sudden passing of Emily Middagh at age 22 on Sunday. Middagh, who is a Winnipeg, Man., product, played defence for the Cougars in the 2018-19 U Sports campaign. Middagh had mental health battles in her life, and she was often seen at the rink with her service dog, River, when she played with the Cougars. Carter Brooks of Game ON Hockey in Winnipeg wrote a heartfelt tribute piece on Middagh, which can be found by clicking right here.

·       You have to admire the fans that make up the WWE Universe. This week, they were able to uncover the identity of the online stalker that has been harassing WWE superstar Alexa Bliss and her fiancé, Ryan Cabrera. The issue with the stalker goes back to 2020, and authorities have been notified. On Thursday, Ringside News put together a story about the fans uncovering the stalker’s identity, which can be found by clicking right here. As of Thursday night, the last know Twitter account of the stalker had been removed by the social media platform.

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 trio finds welcome homes with CFL deals

Colton Klassen has been signed by the Alouettes.

They didn’t receive a Vince Lombardi Trophy on Sunday, but a trio of Saskatchewan products got to do some celebrating on the CFL front this week.

Three popular Saskatchewan products in Colton Klassen, Evan Johnson and Jon Ryan all cemented CFL homes for the potential 2021 campaign by signing contracts. While there is still legitimate worry about what the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world will do to the 2021 campaign after the CFL was unable to take the field in 2020, the signings provide a moment of joy, celebration and optimism.

On Monday, which was a day before free agency opened, the Alouettes announced they signed Colton Klassen, who is a star utility offensive player for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team in the U Sports ranks. The Alouettes selected Klassen in the eighth round and 69^th overall in the 2020 CFL Draft.

The 25-year-old had been looking forward to playing a 2020 campaign either in the CFL or using his final year of U Sports eligibility with the Huskies to show how well he has bounced back from a major injury.

On October 26, 2019, Klassen went down with a gruesome dislocated right ankle near the end of the first quarter of 22-9 victory over the University of Alberta Golden Bears at Griffiths Stadium. The contest closed the regular season for both sides, which meant Klassen wasn’t able to play in the Huskies two post-season games.

Miraculously at the beginning of March of 2020, he recovered to the point he was ready to attend CFL scouting combines.

At that point, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic took hold in North America causing massive shutdowns to occur starting on a big scale on March 11 and 12 of 2020, especially in the sports world.

Ignite Athletics held testing in late March of 2020 and Klassen ran the 40-yard dash in under 4.6 seconds which showed the incredible progress he had made.

During the Huskies eight regular season games in 2019, Klassen caught 37 passes last season for 456 yards and two touchdowns and was named a Canada West Conference all-star. 

Evan Johnson (#64) has signed with the Roughriders.

Before joining the Huskies in 2016, Klassen, who is a graduate of Saskatoon’s Holy Cross High School, was the offensive player of the year of the Prairie Football Conference with the CJFL’s Regina Thunder as a running back in 2015.

After joining the Huskies, Klassen made explosive plays as a running back, receiver and kick returner. The Alouettes will like the he can be used in various roles.

While Klassen got his deal done on Monday, the opening of free agency on Tuesday was a big day for U of S Huskies football grad Evan Johnson.

The 26-year-old offensive lineman and Regina product signed with his hometown team in the Saskatchewan Roughriders. After graduating from the Huskies in 2016, Johnson was selected in the first round and ninth overall in the CFL Draft by the Ottawa Redbacks.

With the Redblacks from 2017 to 2019, Johnson, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 280 pounds, played in 52 regular season games becoming a starter part way through his rookie campaign. He started games at left tackle, right tackle and left guard.

Johnson’s versatility as a starter will be the biggest asset he brings to the Roughriders. The graduate of Regina’s Campbell Collegiate is also the Tom Brady of offensive linemen in the looks department, so he might get some endorsement deals that could potentially attract causal fans and those that might not normally have an interest in football.

On Wednesday, the Roughriders announced they were bringing back all-time punting great Jon Ryan back for a second season signing him for the 2021 campaign.

The graduate from the University of Regina Rams football team in the U Sports ranks played for the Roughriders in 2019. He appeared in all 18 of the Roughriders regular season games punting the ball 107 times for 5,222 yards for an average of 48.8 yards per punt.

The 39-year-old is best remember for his time in the NFL where he played with the Green Bay Packers in 2006 and 2007 before spending 10 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks from 2008 to 2017. Ryan, who stands 6-feet and weighs 217 pounds, helped the Seahawks win Super Bowl XLVIII following the 2013 season.

With the Packers and Seahawks, Ryan appeared in 191 career regular season games punting the ball 914 times for 40,895 yards and averaging 44.7 yards per punt.

Before making the NFL, Ryan had two stellar seasons with the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2004 and 2005.

Jon Ryan (#9) has inked another contract with the Roughriders.

The graduate of Regina’s Sheldon-Williams Collegiate is still fondly remember for his time with the Rams from 2000 to 2003, where he handled all the team’s punting and place kicking duties and became a star receiver too.

In 2000, he helped the Rams get to the U Sports championship game, the Vanier Cup, where they fell 42-39 to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. 

In his final season with the Rams in 2003, Ryan was named the all-star punter in the Canada West Conference and a first team U Sports all-Canadian all-star averaging 45.9 yards per boot on 67 attempts. Ryan also had 27 catches in eight regular season games to lead the Rams with 501 receiving yards with four of those catches going for touchdowns.

While these current days in the COVID-19 pandemic often feel like tough sledding, it is great to have the chance to celebrate the signings of Saskatchewan products like Klassen, Johnson and Ryan.

Bucs don’t win Super Bowl without Brady

Tom Brady raising the Super Bowl on TV is a beautiful sight.

This past Super Bowl Sunday produced a regular beautiful sight on your television screen of Tom Brady raising the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Even the fact the world is in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t stop Brady from winning a seventh Super Bowl title. Of course, the big difference was Brady was quarterbacking the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 31-9 thumping of the Kansas City Chiefs, who were the defending Super Bowl champions at the time, at Raymond James Stadium.

Of course, Brady had a divorce from the New England Patriots following the 2019 season. After 20 seasons together, the Patriots decided they wanted to go in a different direction.

On March 20, 2020, Brady signed a two-year contract with the Buccaneers. He ultimately brought best friend in tight end Rob Gronkowski with him to Tampa Bay.

“Gronk” came out of retirement to rejoin the legendary signal caller on the field.

Brady convinced some other friends to join him with the Buccaneers. Running back Leonard Fournette signed a one-year deal with the Buccaneers in early September 2020 after being waived by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Brady was able to talk beleaguered receiver Antonio Brown into joining the Buccaneers on a one-year deal in late October of 2020. Brown had been cut in early 2019 by the Patriots.

The newcomers accounted for all the Tampa Bay touchdowns this past Sunday. Gronkowski caught two touchdown passes from Brady, and Brady hooked up with Brown for a third TD toss.

Fournette had a 27-yard touchdown run in the romp.

Before the arrival of Brady and company, the Buccaneers were a team on the rise. With a younger roster, they posted a 7-9 record in 2019.

The Buccaneers defence had a good mix of youngsters with some solid veterans.

Tampa Bay was looking for a way to get over the hump.

Buccaneers management decided they weren’t going to wait anymore for signal caller Jameis Winston to keep developing. In 2019, Winston played his fifth season for the Buccaneers at age 25 completing 380 of 626 passes for 5,109 yards, 33 touchdowns and 30 interceptions.

The turnovers from the quarterback position ultimately caused the Buccaneers to have a losing record in 2019.

In 2020 with Brady at age 43, the Buccaneers posted an 11-5 regular season record, and Brady completed 401 of 610 passes for 4,633 yards, 40 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

As the season went along, all facets of the Buccaneers team in offence, defence and special teams began to jell together that much better. They finished the regular season winning four straight and extended that streak to eight straight victories on the way to the second Super Bowl title in franchise history.

By the sounds of things, this Buccaneers team could return pretty much as a whole for next season. They have to be considered the favourites to repeat as Super Bowl champions.

Brady seems to have a good sense of humour when it comes to dealing with haters too. In the week leading up to the Super Bowl, he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to read some mean tweets, and in the process, Brady produced a classic piece of television.

#BellLetsCut aims at all-sports radio, other notes

It was a dream come true at 24 to get the phone call telling me I would be joining the team at TSN 1290. Can’t say I worked much since then...talking sports with all of you and sharing laughs in the studio wasn’t much “work” at all. Thank you all for the messages and kind words.

— Ryan Brandt (@Ryan_Brandt) February 9, 2021

TSN all-sports radio stations in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Hamilton are no more.

On Tuesday, TSN 1040 AM in Vancouver, TSN 1290 AM in Winnipeg and TSN 1150 AM in Hamilton went off the air while broadcasting their morning programming. All three stations are owned by Bell Media.

Later that day, Bell Media announced the Vancouver station is being converted to a BNN Bloomberg station covering business, innovation, technology and sports.

News also leaked out the stations in Vancouver and Winnipeg will be converted to comedy stations. That sounds like an interesting choice on that front considering it is harder to do comedy in the current day because you always have someone objecting to jokes saying they are offended, but I digress.

The Province newspaper story in Vancouver written by Scott Brown and Patrick Johnson listed a lengthy list of names of on-air personalities who lost their jobs due to the change at TSN 1040 AM.

The story stated TSN 1040 AM morning hosts Mike Halford and Jason Brough started their morning show like normal at 6 a.m. on Tuesday only for the show to get yanked at the start of the third hour to be replaced with U.S. radio programming from ESPN.

During those hours, the Twitter account for TSN 1040 AM was deactivated.

As Tuesday went on, there were more stories of staffers from the three stations in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Hamilton telling stories they found out they lost their jobs that day without any notice.

Included in the cuts was Ryan Brandt of TSN 1290 AM in Winnipeg. Before moving to Winnipeg, Brandt was a sports reporter for 650 CKOM in Saskatoon.

The cuts were done in a heartless way, and Bell is making a habit of making cuts.

The week prior, Bell Media made a huge number of layoffs, which included letting go 210 staffers at Bell outlets in Toronto and area.

Walking papers were given to four prominent TSN staffers in Brent Wallace, Dan O’Toole, Natasha Staniszewski and Tim Moriarty, who was best known as “Producer Tim.”

All those cuts came after Bell Media held its annual Bell Let’s Talk day fundraising campaign for mental health charities and to promote mental health awareness on Jan. 28.

Bell was also recently criticized by Ontario-based regional rival Teksavvy for taking more than $122-million in government aid through the form of wage subsidies during the COVID-19 pandemic even as it was raising its payout to shareholders and cutting jobs.

Last week, BCE Incorporated announced its quarterly profit rose to $889-million in the fourth quarter of 2020 up from $672-million the year before.

In the end, these cuts will ultimately hurt Canada’s sports scene, which will even less media coverage than it was getting before.

• In a bit of news that was missed, Tom Schnitzler, who is a defensive lineman and a graduate of the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops, signed with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Jan. 21. Schnitzler, who is 25-years-old, played for the Hilltops from 2013 to 2017 and spent the 2018 and 2019 campaigns with the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in the U Sports ranks. The Tiger-Cats are looking for Schnitzler to potentially become the team’s new long snapper. On Feb. 1, the Tiger-Cats released veteran long snapper Aaron Crawford, who signed a one-year deal with the Calgary Stampeders one day later.
• I helped produce new content for the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex early this week. The new content went live on Tuesday. I put together a feature on the Sentinels Lacrosse Club and a photo post that contains a number of my pictures around the complex. The Sentinels are an elite program that aims to expand the horizons of the sport for young players. The story on the Sentinels can be found by clicking right here, and the photo post can be found by clicking right here.
• Tickets are now on sale for the February jackpot for the Saskatchewan Amateur Football Mega 50/50 lottery. The funds from this 50/50 lottery will go to support the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder and the WWCFL’s Saskatoon Valkyries and Regina Riot. One prize will be drawn per month, and the remaining draw dates are Sunday, February 28, 2021, March 31, 2021, April 30, 2021 and May 31, 2021. Tickets can be purchased by clicking right here, and purchasers must be in Saskatchewan in order to buy tickets.
• On Monday, the World Curling Federation announced the 2021 women’s world curling championship was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was slated to be held March 19 to 28 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. This marks the second straight year the women’s world curling championship has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• On Tuesday, the Sask East Hockey League senior circuit announced it has cancelled the rest of the 2020-21 campaign due to time constraints caused by restrictions from Public Health Orders that have been put in to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. The circuit has decided to plan for the 2021-22 campaign. The league has been on pause since late November of 2020.
• On Wednesday, Hockey Alberta announced all remaining competitive seasons for junior and senior hockey in the province in the 2020-21 campaign were cancelled due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Alberta Junior Hockey League junior A circuit was exempted from that decision. The last competitive games on Alberta were played in November of 2020 before all circuits went on pause.
• In the realm of sports entertainment, a scary situation is unfolding involving WWE superstar Alexa Bliss, whose real name is Alexis Kaufman, having to deal with an online stalker since June of 2020. Authorities have been notified, but the situation with the online stalker, whose current Twitter account handle is @AlbertLittle666, is getting more and more disturbing. The stalker has threatened to kill Bliss’s fiancé, Ryan Cabrera, and made false statements claiming to be married to Bliss. The stalker account has made threats to visit Bliss’s home in Orlando, Florida, and threatened Bliss fan accounts that have been reporting and continue to report his online activities. Bliss didn’t make an appearance on WWE’s Monday Night RAW program this past week as the most recent disturbing messages poured in at times coming in five-minute intervals. On Wednesday, the offending stalker account sent a disgusting message to another female WWE star in Sonya Deville, who escaped a kidnapping attempt from a stalker in her own home in August of 2020. Deville’s attempted kidnapping incident is still being dealt with in court. It is easy to find the play-by-play of these stories from the media outlets that cover the WWE via a Google search. These celebrity stalker situations are a couple of the worst I’ve heard of, and I can’t believe things like this are allowed to happen. People like these stalker types need to be taken off the streets immediately and locked up forever.

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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Johnson would bring beauty to Roughriders OL

Evan Johnson (#64) locks up on a block in 2019.

Offensive linemen aren’t usually associated with the word “pretty,” but the Saskatchewan Roughriders offensive line would get a boost in the glamour department, if they could add Evan Johnson.

Johnson, who is a Regina product, has been a member of the Ottawa Redblacks since the Redblacks selected him in the first round and ninth overall in the 2017 CFL Draft. Before joining the Redblacks, the graduate of Regina’s Campbell Collegiate played four seasons with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team in the U Sports ranks from 2012 to 2016.

In his three complete CFL seasons, Johnson has dressed for 52 regular season games. He became a starter part way through his rookie campaign in 2017.

Since that time, Johnson, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 280 pounds, has shown his versatility starting games at left guard, right tackle and left tackle. During his career, He has been tasked with taking on defensive end quarterback sacking terrors like Charleston Hughes.

On Tuesday, Johnson could potentially become a free agent as his contract with the Redblacks will expire with the opening of the CFL’s free agency period. Canadian offensive linemen are gold in the CFL, and Johnson’s value due to his versatility is huge.

If he becomes a free agent, he would be a huge home product signing, if the Roughriders could ink him to a deal.

Dallis Johnson (#23) makes a tackle for the Valkyries in 2019.

Johnson comes with another bonus.

As far as the looks department goes, Johnson is the Tom Brady of offensive linemen.

Taking things a step further, Johnson and his wife, Dallis, are the Brady and Gisele Bundchen in the offensive linemen community.

When it comes to the looks department, Evan and Dallis Johnson are beautiful.

On top of that, they are your classic humble young Saskatchewan couple as Dallis hails from Canwood.

For another bonus, Dallis is a veteran defensive back with the powerhouse Saskatoon Valkyries of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League and owns two league championship rings. When Evan isn’t involved with team activities with his CFL club, he is one of the Valkyries offensive line coaches.

Together, Evan and Dallis have the overall package that those in Rider Nation have to fall in love with, if Evan signs with the Roughriders.

Of course, franchise quarterback Cody Fajardo and his wife, Laura, are the Roughriders rock star couple.

With that said, offensive linemen are the most likeable guys on any football team. There is room for Evan and Dallis to be in a bigger spotlight.

Evan Johnson, right, played three OL positions for the Redblacks.

If Evan signs with the Roughriders, companies in Regina and Saskatchewan would look stupid if they didn’t get Evan and Dallis endorse their products.

If you are business that sells men’s suits, you should be running out to get Evan wearing all the best suits that your business makes.

If you sell fancy dresses, you should be running out to get Dallis wearing all your best dresses.

If you make nice clothes for men and women, you should be doing your best to get Evan and Dallis to endorse you products and dress in your gear.

If you are a car dealer, you should be getting the young couple the best pimped out truck, car or any type of vehicle they might desire.

With their looks, all they have to do is flash their smiles and Roughriders fans will be buying up any product they make a pitch for.

As for the Roughriders team itself, the value of having a couple like Evan and Dallis representing your club in the community is priceless.

You can send them to all the high class functions. At those functions, they are going to look good, and they will make the team look good.

Dallis Johnson drops into coverage for the Valkyries.

You can send them to community fundraisers and people will be enamored with them, because they have a Saskatchewan folksy feel to them to go with their incredible looks.

Of course, the world is in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and how developments play out on that front will ultimately determine if there is a CFL season in 2021. The CFL was unable to get on the field for any games in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Still, the Roughriders would get a big boost, if they were able to have Evan Johnson on their roster when they begin playing games again. As a couple, Evan and Dallis bring an enormous potential to attract causal fans back to the team coming out of a stoppage.

So if Evan Johnson becomes a free agent, the Roughriders need to sign him to ensure he and Dallis are in Saskatchewan year round.

That development would look awe-inspiring good on all fronts.

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A post shared by Evan Johnson (@theofficialevanjohnson)

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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NLL makes the right moves, turns focus to 2021-22

The Rush celebrate an NLL title win in 2016.

The National Lacrosse League is making all the right moves during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

As a result, the circuit won’t be held down by an anvil of a huge debt when it does return to action.

When North America came under the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020, the NLL suspended its regular season on March 12, 2020 and ultimate cancelled the 2019-20 campaign.

For a 2020-21 campaign, the NLL was planning to hold an abbreviated season starting in spring. The league had been looking at playing in a bubble in Hamilton, Ont., in April.

On Wednesday, the 14-team circuit, which includes the Saskatoon-based Saskatchewan Rush, announced the plans for an abbreviated 2020-21 campaign have been cancelled due to uncertainties arising from the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

The NLL is planning for a traditional season start in fall. The exact start date for the full season will be announced at a later time.

During a normal season schedule, NLL off-season activities usually start heating up in September and regular season games usually start in late November.

The regular season runs through to the end of the following April with the bulk of the post-season taking place in May. The best-of-three National Lacrosse League Cup championship series usually runs in late May and early June.

As far as getting an abbreviated season going for 2020-21 was concerned, the NLL just couldn’t navigate travel and quarantine restrictions.

Mark Matthews is one of the star players on the Rush.

“We have gone through many scenarios including playing a bubble season in Canada in April, but the logistical challenges, including the recently announced tighter travel and quarantine restrictions across the Canadian border, have required us to pivot,” said NLL commissioner Nick Sakiewicz in a release. “While many of the factors we can control were moving along well, those outside of our control, especially pertaining to obtaining government approval as far in advance as we would have needed, are no longer feasible.

“All the efforts and innovations we were planning will now go towards a full season starting this fall and into next year. We thank our players, teams and board of governors, whose thoughts in this process were invaluable, and we now set our sights on getting lined up for a full NLL season starting in the fall. We also thank our fans for sticking with us – we will be back, and it will be even more exciting than ever before.”

The decision had the backing of the Professional Lacrosse Players’ Association.

“We appreciate the League’s extensive efforts to provide us the opportunity to play an abbreviated 2021 season in a safe and controlled environment throughout the changing landscape during this pandemic,” said PLPA president Zach Currier in a release. “While we are disappointed that it will not be possible to play this spring, we are even more excited and passionate about having a full 2021-22 season and are eager to get back on the floor this fall.”

The NLL was smart to cancel the action it already has and try to regroup to hold a full season at the earliest point it can. The circuit is a gate driven one, so to play in empty buildings doesn’t make sense from a financial standpoint.

When the NLL does get going, odds are high the game day experience will be as good as it was before the pandemic.

The Rush franchise knows how to turn a game day into an event. Rush fans in Saskatchewan found that out after the team moved from Edmonton to Saskatoon before the start of the 2015-16 season.

“Grandma Rush” is the Rush’s most passionate fan.

During Rush game days, the SaskTel Centre contained a party atmosphere. You could tell the Rush staff had mastered turning the game day experience into a must-see event.

Rush games contained everything from dance teams, a cool official mascot in Bruiser the Bulldog, a cool unofficial mascot in Rush Hulk, a jumping party zone, a D.J., various games for kids and an outstanding sports product on the turf.

The Rush captured an NLL title in 2015 based in Edmonton and added two NLL crowds residing in Saskatoon in 2016 and 2018.

The Rush party was going strong even when they played their last game on March 7, 2020 downing the Vancouver Warriors 17-7 at the SaskTel Centre.

The NLL will be able to keep launching great game day experiences thanks to not piling up a massive debt.

Due to television contracts, circuits like the NFL, MLB and NBA can operate in a healthy fashion.

The NHL, which doesn’t have a rich television contract and needs fans in the stands, is playing with financial fire playing a shortened 2020-21 campaign.

On January 11 in a Zoom conference call with league media, NHL commission Gary Bettman said his circuit was playing because the stakeholders on the circuit felt it was important for the game, and they hoped to give fans a sense of normalcy. NHL teams in Canada are playing games without fans and there are a few clubs in the United States playing in front of small limited crowds.

Bettman said it would be cheaper to shut the doors and not play. He said the NHL at the club and league level is going to lose more money by playing than not playing.

The Rush captured their third NLL championship in 2018.

“The magnitude of the loss starts with a ‘B,’” said Bettman. “We’re out of the ‘M’ range and in the ‘B.’”

In the United States, the NHL has had a number of games get postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests among team players and staffers, but the circuit is motoring along.

If the NHL and its teams as a whole go next season and future campaigns with a debt over the billion-dollar range, you have to wonder how the circuit will keep creditors away?

You could almost see a circuit like the NHL asking for a government bailout.

The NLL is smart to not going into the future dealing with that type of led weight. Also, the NLL marketing staffs are so good it is highly unlikely the issue of relevancy will be a problem.

When NLL game days return, the party will be on.

Hockey Canada cancels spring nationals

The Bears plans of hosting the Esso Cup were dashed again.

For the second year in a row, Hockey Canada has canceled its spring national championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Friday, Hockey Canada officially canceled the Esso Cup, which is the national female AAA under-18 championship tournament and the Telus Cup, which is the national male AAA under-18 championship tournament.

The Centennial Cup tournament to crown a national champion in the junior A ranks was also axed along with the Allan Cup tournament that determines a champion at the highest level of senior hockey in Canada.

All of those events were cancelled last year by Hockey Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Prince Albert Northern Bears were set to host the Esso Cup last year and this year before the event got cancelled.

As for the other 2021 host centres, Calgary, Alta., was supposed to host the Telus Cup, Penticton, B.C., was slated to hold the Centennial Cup and Dundas, Ont., was set to host the Allan Cup.

In a statement, Hockey Canada said it was left with no other option but to cancel these events due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the fact many regions in Canada aren’t playing organized hockey at the moment.

All hockey season in Saskatchewan were put on ice in late November 2020 due to government restrictions.

Hockey Canada is working on confirming host cities for these national championship tournaments in 2022.

Overall, Hockey Canada’s announcement on Friday did not come as a surprise.

Going forward, one of the big hurdles in holding these championship tournaments or championship tournaments governed by any minor sport body is travel.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the airlines have severely cut back their flights in Canada, and there are no guarantees air travel will return to what it was when the pandemic ends.

You also can’t get across Canada via passenger train, so teams might have to make long hauls via chartered busses. Of course, that would mean some teams would be traveling for days via a bus to get to a championship tournament.

Going forward, these championship tournaments might look different when they are eventually held compared to what they looked like in past years.

TSN axes some of the best, other notes

Had I known last night was my final show, I would have tried a little harder. Ahhhh, who am I kidding. I probably wouldn't have. It was a wild ride. If you got our show, then you laughed along with us. Thank you! Peace and love and let's raise a glass together once Covid is over.

— Dan O'Toole (@notontvotoole) February 4, 2021

TSN appears set to march on minus a few of its biggest names.

After holding their Bell Let’s Talk day fundraising campaign for mental health charities and to promote mental health awareness on Jan. 28, Bell Media has spent the past week making a huge number of layoffs.

Those cuts included letting go 210 staffers at Bell outlets in Toronto and area.

Walking papers were given to four prominent TSN staffers.

On Wednesday, Brent Wallace confirmed his 23-year run came to an end at TSN via Twitter. The in depth reporter was covering the NHL’s Ottawa Senators on a full-time basis when he was let go.

On Thursday, Dan O’Toole announced via Twitter that he had been cut, and he was no longer going to be co-hosting TSN’s nightly Sportcentre show with Jay Onrait. When they did Sportscentre, the show was called “SC with Jay and Dan.”

Late on Thursday, word got out that TSN ace anchor Natasha Staniszewski was let go after a 10-year run. She was popular in the Prince Albert and Saskatoon areas having worked with the CTV outlets in both centres from 2006 to 2009.

On Friday, word dropped that Tim Moriarty, who was known as “Producer Tim,” was also axed by TSN. Moriarty was a long time producer for Onrait and O’Toole. The trio was together at TSN from 2003 to 2013.

All three moved to FOX Sports 1 for a four-year run from 2013 to 2017 before returning to TSN in 2017 to a lot of fanfare.

Moriarty changed his Twitter account title to “The Artist Formerly Known as Producer Tim.”

The cuts of Wallace, O’Toole, Staniszewski and Moriarty show how cruel the mainstream media world can be. All four were still at the top of their respective games and the best in their lines of work.

I want to thank everyone sending kind words regarding my departure from TSN. It hasn’t been easy to digest but your support has helped lessen the sting and I appreciate it more than you know.
I feel nothing but love and gratitude for the 10yrs I had with the network. 1/2

— Natasha Staniszewski (@tvnatasha) February 5, 2021

Just my observation, it seems management at mainstream outlets starts looking for ways to get rid of talent once talent hits the age of 40. All four TSN veterans were over the age of 40.

Bell has also taken heat over the layoffs when it was recently revealed that the company had received $122-million in COVID-19 relief while increasing dividend payouts to shareholders.

Thanks to all the Bell Media cuts, young Victor Findlay, who is best known for covering action in U Sports men’s hockey, called his first NHL game on Thursday on TSN5, when the Ottawa Senators visited the Montreal Canadiens.

Findlay, who is in his mid 20s, is hard-working and accurate on details. He is also a good guy, and if he contacts me needing help on a story, I will try and help him.

When someone like Findlay gets a break, you are happy to see that happen.

When you connect the dots, it would be nice if that type of break didn’t come at the expense of veterans who did not deserve to get dumped.

• Tickets are now on sale for the February jackpot for the Saskatchewan Amateur Football Mega 50/50 lottery. The funds from this 50/50 lottery will go to support the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder and the WWCFL’s Saskatoon Valkyries and Regina Riot. One prize will be drawn per month, and the remaining draw dates are Sunday, February 28, 2021, March 31, 2021, April 30, 2021 and May 31, 2021. Tickets can be purchased by clicking right here, and purchasers must be in Saskatchewan in order to buy tickets.
• On Wednesday, the NWHL announced the remainder of the circuit’s season that was being played in a modified bubble with looser restrictions in Lake Placid, N.Y., was being suspended due to new positive COVID-19 tests and resulting concerns over player safety. The Metropolitan Riveters pulled out of the bubble on Jan. 28. The Connecticut Whale dropped out of the bubble on Monday leaving four teams including the expansion Toronto Six to try and continue the season at that point. The NWHL season was supposed to last two weeks in Lake Placid. The NWHL wasn’t able to play its Isobel Cup championship game last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Minnesota Whitecaps were supposed to meet the host Boston Pride in last year’s Isobel Cup title game.
• Late Friday night, the WHL announced its five-team U.S. Division is set to begin regular season play on March 19. The five clubs are expected to play a 24-game regular season schedule. The WHL said it received clearance to play in the state of Washington, which contains the Everett Silvertips, Seattle Thunderbirds, Spokane Chiefs and Tri-City Americans. There was no word on what was happening with the Portland Winterhawks, who are based in the state of Oregon. It is likely the Winterhawks will locate to the state of Washington for a shortened season. The WHL said no spectators will be permitted to enter WHL facilities. It was already announced the WHL’s five teams located in Alberta are slated to begin regular season play on Feb. 26. The league is still looking for clearance to allow competition to be held in the East Division and the B.C. Division.
• On Friday, the Boston University Huskies women’s hockey team blanked the visiting Merrimack College Warriors 6-0 in an NCAA regular season game broadcast on TSN. The Huskies roster contains two alums of the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA hockey team in Nara Elia and Mackenna Parker. Elia had an assist in the win, while Parker potted her first goal of the season. The Huskies improved to 3-3, while the Warriors fell to 1-12.
• On Friday, the University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team won their fifth straight slipping past the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers 4-3 in overtime in an NCAA regular season game in Minneapolis, Minn. The Badgers roster contains two alums of the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA hockey team in sisters Sophie and Grace Shirley. Sophie had an assist in the Badgers win. The Badgers improved to 9-2, while the Golden Gophers fell to 9-5.
• In the realm of sports entertainment, huge respect has to be given to Orangeville, Ont., product Adam Copeland for his performance in the WWE’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view last Sunday. Copeland, who is best known by his wrestling persona as Edge, won the men’s Royal Rumble match entering the rink as the first among 30 wrestlers taking part in the bout. Edge is one of the greatest performers the WWE has ever had. Edge is also 47-years-old, but even at that age, he was still in shape to perform for over an hour in the ring. While WWE is scripted entertainment, the talent that takes part in matches in the ring has to have incredible athletic ability to do all the stunts they do. The fact that Edge can still perform at a high level at his age is incredible. He also returned from a real neck injury that saw him step away from the company for a lengthy stretch from 2011 to 2020, which makes his story that much more amazing.

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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Sports world needs to continue to keep grinding

Motivation gets tougher as COVID-19 pandemic continues

A Prince Albert Raiders goal celebration from May 2019.

“Trust the process.”

For the majority of the sports world seemingly all over the world, that tried and true cliché seems to get harder and harder to follow.

As February of 2021 starts today, North America is just a short time away from observing the one-year anniversary of falling into the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In North America, the various shutdowns, restrictions and lockdowns had their start on March 11, 2020 when the NBA elected that day to pause its 2019-20 season.

That started the domino effect of various shutdowns, restrictions and lockdowns that continue to this day. Different parts of the world have already or are about to experience their respective one-year anniversaries of falling in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic between now and March 11, 2021.

In Canada, it seems all the sports world can do is keep plugging along with plans to play or resume action. Administrators and staffers will have to continue to keep drawing up and redrawing up plans to get back into action.

Coaches have to keep doing their best to plan for whatever a season may look like.

Athletes have to keep training attempting to prepare like a season could be around the corner.

Here in Saskatchewan at the moment, groups of athletes can practice in a team environment limited to groups of eight, if they are age 18 or under.

The Prince Albert Northern Bears last played Nov. 21, 2020.

The rest have to do their best to continue training individually to keep up their conditioning.

As the pandemic keeps dragging on, the longer the sports world goes without the return of regular competitions it gets harder and harder to keep the motivation up to continue on.

At this point in time in Canada if you are involved in sports in any way, you have likely asked yourself, “Why do I keep doing this?”

That goes for administrators, staffers, coaches and athletes across the board including if you play minor sports at the novice level, at the highest level in an age group or are playing in elite leagues like the WHL, CJFL, WWCFL, U Sports and the CFL.

As seasons keep getting pushed back and events get cancelled, you start to wonder what the point is.

In some circuits like the SFU18AAAHL, the SMAAAHL and the SJHL, teams got to experience regular season game action for a short time only to have the rug pulled out from under them. All of those circuits haven’t seen the ice for competitive games since late November 2020.

For the high performance athletes in Canada, you hit the point where you are lost.

These days once you reach Grade 9, high performance athletes in Canada mostly specialize in only one sport of choice.

About 20 years ago, that was the last era where top level athletes might play three or four sports throughout the year at a high level. Shortly after that point, year round sports specific training took off.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders last player in November of 2019.

Most in the general public believe the era from 20 years ago still exists, but that is far from the case.

High performance athletes commit to their sports like year-round 40-hour a week jobs. It does become a lifestyle.

As a result of this singular focus, high performance athletes don’t really dabble in other interests. You don’t pick up interests like playing musical instruments like a guitar, doing photography, dabbling in various artistic pursuits or even following a series on television.

When games and sport aren’t there, it does leave a hole and effects mental health.

Of course, there was optimism in December of 2020 when news arrived that vaccines were going to be rolled out for COVID-19. With that said, vaccine rollout takes time, and judging by the stories from mainstream media outlets, there appears to be some rollout delays as far as Canada is concerned.

There are stories of new variants of COVID-19, which adds another hurdle in the pandemic situation.

Like in society, the sports community has been wedged due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

You have people who believe playing sports outweighs the needs of the pandemic. You have others who believe the needs of the pandemic outweigh playing sports.

A third group also believes you have to put your best foot forward to get the sports world back into action, but if the health officials say you can’t go, you respect and follow the decisions of the health officials.

Outdoor sports like softball motored in Sask. in 2020.

Of course, some that are in the group that believe playing sports outweighs the needs of the pandemic get testy with people in the other two groups.

Patience is in short supply, but is it something that is needed.

 It is known that the virus does transmit easily, which is a big fear as far as health officials go. 

Worries of filling hospitals too fast continue to be there.

In the sports world, it seems as far as Saskatchewan was concerned that sports that were played outside in summer and fall weren’t as disrupted as when everything moved indoors when winter hit.

In summer, there was a panic if Saskatchewan hit 300 active cases. 

On Sunday, there were 2,534 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and there have been many days over the past two months where the active case count was over 3,000.

There is also still a real worry that COVID-19 is a “gain of function” experiment gone wrong. That theory has never been fully discounted.

In a “gain of function” experiment, a researcher takes a virus and makes it a superbug in a lab. The researcher proceeds to develop medical defences against this superbug.

It is viewed this type of research keeps humans one step ahead of nature. There are critics against this type of research, who often ask what happens if one of these superbugs escapes the lab?

Chase Wouters plays for the Saskatoon Blades on March 6, 2020.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology lab in the Jiangxia District, Wuhan, in China’s central Hubei province was working on “gain of function” type experiments. It is speculated COVID-19 escaped the lab in Wuhan, but it is highly likely the truth might never come out on that front.

That theory does help make all the shutdowns, restrictions and lockdowns that have happened around the world make sense.

For anyone involved in the sports world, all you can do is focus on controlling what you can control and administrators, staffers, coaches and athletes are all in the same boat.

All you can do is continue to put your best foot forward each day, have patience and “trust the process.”

Words of wisdom from Huskies’ Piok

Yol Piok in action for the Huskies in 2019.

Yol Piok, who is a sure handed receiver with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team, shared some pretty good words of wisdom on Bell Let’s Talk day this past Thursday.

Piok, who has used up four seasons of U Sports eligibility with the Huskies, has had his battle with mental health over the years dealing with severe anxiety.

The graduate of Regina’s Archbishop M.C. O’Neill High School has made huge strides in his mental health journey over the years. He has become an ambassador when it comes to speaking on the subject.

He put together a great video message that was just under one minute in length that was shared on all the Huskies social media channels. In a calming way, he talked patience as well as saying other calming words.

The video, which is below, is a good one to reflect on as time marches on.

📢 An important message that we all could use courtesy of @ypiok81 from @skhuskies. #BellLetsTalk pic.twitter.com/FLLWgloMn0

— Huskie Athletics (@HuskieAthletics) January 28, 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.