Number retirement fitting honour for Blades’ Wouters

Chase Wouters signs autographs for young fans in March of 2019.

In a final Zoom post-game press conference, general manager and president Colin Priestner ensured his outgoing captain Chase Wouters had a top tier moment with the Saskatoon Blades.

On Wednesday, Wouters had just helped the Blades down the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-2 in a contest that closed a shortened developmental WHL regular season for both sides. The Blades and Wheat Kings were two of seven clubs that participated in the WHL East Division bubble at the Brandt Centre in Regina, Sask.

The shortened season and the bubble in Regina were all brought on due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

Chase Wouters played in 280 career WHL regular season games.

Wouters, who is well known as one of the WHL’s best men in the faceoff circle, had the winning goal, an assist, was a plus-three in the plus-minus department and won 19-of-32 faceoffs that night. That win over Brandon was the 21-year-old centre’s final game in the WHL.

After media members fired questions Wouters way during a post-game Zoom press conference, Priestner jumped in at the end to deliver a career highlight to the product of Lloydminster, which is a centre that sits on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

“I’m so proud of you,” said Priestner. “You embody everything we want in a Blade.

“I want you to be the first to know that nobody is going to ever wear number forty-four for this club again. We can do ceremonies and stuff in later years. As far as I’m concerned, forty-four belongs to you for not only what you did on the ice but off the ice for our community, for the fans and for everybody.

Chase Wouters (#44) battles for the puck as a rookie in 2016-17.

“I couldn’t be more proud of you. I wish I was there to give you a big hug.”

Priestner thanked Wouters for everything he did for the team.

Wouters fought back tears in giving a response.

“Thanks Colin, I appreciate all the words,” said Wouters. “It was just an honour being drafted here when I was 14 there.

“It is just crazy how fast time flies by. I know we all wish we could be together right now.”

Chase Wouters on a rush as a rookie in 2016-17.

Wouters’s #44 will be the sixth number the Blades have retired in their history. The numbers the Saskatoon side has retired include the #7 of Brent Ashton and Gerry Pinder, #10 of Brian Skrudland, #12 of Bob Bourne, #15 of Bernie Federko and #22 of Wendel Clark.

It is a fitting tribute by the Blades to Wouters to retire his #44. Since being selected by the Blades in the first round and 19^th overall way back in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft, Wouters has been the perfect player you want representing the Blades on and off the ice.

Besides being talented on the ice, it doesn’t take you long to see he was raised well by his parents in father, Scott, and his mother, Janice. It would be safe to add in that older sister, Ally, played a role too in helping Chase become a humble, polite and classy young man.

Scott, Janice and Ally provided an outstanding support system for Chase.

Chase Wouters has been the Blades longest serving captain holding that role since the beginning of the 2018-19 campaign. On the ice, he has been perfect in that role as he never gets too high with the highs or too low with the lows.

Chase Wouters in action in 2017-18.

He always has a steady emotional tone, and that helps his teammates to not get too rattled when adversity hits during a game. During times that need a little extra emotional kick, Wouters is able to bring that kick when it is needed.

Off the ice, Wouters has seeming done every community appearance the Blades have asked of him. The Blades could have let Wouters permanently keep the team’s community service award and likely no one would put up an argument.

Wouters tenure will always be remembered for the time the Blades rose back to being one of the WHL’s better teams and for being the captain when the club entered these crazy COVID-19 pandemic times.

When Wouters was drafted by the Blades, they were still in the midst of a major rebuild from making a major trade to acquire Brayden Schenn in the 2010-11 season and making a number of deals to strengthen the team’s roster to host the Memorial Cup tournament in May of 2013.

The team also went through an ownership change following the 2012-13 campaign, when Jack Brodsky sold the club to Mike Priestner. Colin, who is Mike’s son, joined the team immediately as a minority owner and managing partner and became general manager before Wouters rookie campaign in 2016-17.

Chase Wouters jets up ice as a sophomore in 2017-18.

Wouters first two campaigns marked the first times in the rebuild that the Blades had a legitimate shot to make the playoffs. A late season slump in each of those campaigns saw the Blades just miss qualifying for the post-season having fallen out of a playoff position in March.

A day after the Blades season ended in March of 2018, Colin Priestner made a coaching change removing Dean Brockman as head coach and hired Mitch Love to fill the head coach role in May of 2018.

Even with the disappointments of missing the playoffs in 2017 and 2018 and the Blades going through a change at the head coach position, Wouters kept focused on controlling what he could control and continued to work to get better.

It would be human for Wouters to have some frustrations, but if he did have them, he didn’t show them. He handled himself professionally over that time period.

Chase Wouters became the Blades captain in September of 2018.

That likely caught the eye of Priestner and Love as Wouters was named captain before the start of the 2018-19 campaign, which turned into a dream season for the Blades.

In 2018-19, the Blades finished fourth overall in the WHL with a 45-15-8 record and made the post-season for the first since 2013. From wire to wire in 2018-19, the Blades were one of the WHL’s elite teams.

As the Blades continued to experience various successes they hadn’t seen in some time, Wouters didn’t get too high with the highs. With that said, he seemed to enjoy watching his teammates take in all the positives along with the Blades coaches, management and staff.

Chase Wouters (#44) and Max Gerlach (#9) enjoy an OT win.

Shortly after becoming captain, Wouters often displayed a best buddy type relationship with his teammates, and he seemed to soak in talking way more about his teammates than himself. Overall, the Blades had a great vibe.

In the Blades first post-season game of 2019, Wouters had a big highlight moment on the ice scoring the overtime winner on a backhand shot to give his Blades a 3-2 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. 

The crowd of 5,193 spectators at the SaskTel Centre was super engaged in that contest, and the noise they made on that overtime winner made you think the building was full that night.

You could tell in the eyes of the Blades players that this playoff thing was pretty cool. 

Chase Wouters celebrates a goal in January of 2019.

They would sweep the Warriors 4-0 in that best-of-seven opening round series.

The only problem for the Blades that season was the fact their arch-rivals in the Prince Albert Raiders were enjoying one of their best campaigns ever. 

The Raiders topped the WHL standings with a 54-10-2-2 record, and they faced the Blades in the second round of the playoffs due to the fact both clubs play out of the same division.

The rivalry between the sides fired up to new heights during that campaign. 

Janice, left, and Scott Wouters cheer a playoff goal from son, Chase.

The best-of-seven series was tied 2-2 after four intense contests.

The Raiders were just a little bit deeper and better and hit the gas to win the next two contests to take the series 4-2. Prince Albert moved on to capture the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions.

After going through a little bit more off-season player turnover than expected including losing star centre Kirby Dach to the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, Wouters led the Blades through what became a reloading year.

The Blades improved steadily as the 2019-20 campaign went on and had a second consecutive playoff berth clinched with a 34-24-2-3 record before the season was halted and the rest of the campaign was ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chase Wouters recorded 75 goals and 106 assists with the Blades.

With all the players in the WHL sent home, Wouters often took part in doing videos for the Blades social media channels offering positive vibes to fans and showing how he was training back in Lloydminster.

As the players seemed to wait and wait to see if there would be a campaign in 2020-21, Wouters stayed even emotionally as best he could and on course with his training.

When the Blades were confirmed to play a 24-game regular season in a bubble environment in Regina in March and April, Wouters returned for a last tour. 

He appeared in 21 games collecting 10 goals, 12 assists, a plus-12 rating and won 310-of-559 faceoffs.

The Blades finished third in the East Division with a 16-5-2-1 record to sit two points behind the second place Winnipeg Ice (18-5-1) and three points behind the division winning Brandon Wheat Kings (18-4-2).

Chase Wouters (#44) was well known for his faceoff skills.

Including two games he played as an associate player call up in February of 2016, Wouters appeared in 280 career regular season games with the Blades collecting 75 goals, 106 assists and a plus-22 rating.

It seem right that his final goal would be a game winner that came from tipping home a point shot from defenceman Rhett Rhinehart after winning an offensive zone faceoff clean back to Rhinehart. Wouters goal gave the Blades a 3-2 lead over the Wheat Kings with 1:22 remaining in the second period.

The Blades scored twice in the third to cement a 5-2 victory.

After Wouters sent appreciation Priestner’s in that final post-game Zoom press conference for the number retirement announcement, Priestner wrapped up the night perfectly with some great vibes sent back in Wouter’s direction.

Chase Wouters enjoys his playoff OT winner on March 22, 2019.

“I know everybody is thinking of you,” said Priestner. “You represented us so proudly and with class.

“You’re going to have a great career and a great and a great life ahead of you. Just keep doing what you are doing, because we are all so proud of you.”

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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WHL East Division bubble a smashing success

Wheat Kings take top spot, Blades, Raiders win closers

Braden Schneider and the Wheat Kings topped the East Division.

It was a unique final night in the WHL East Division bubble.

The Brandon Wheat Kings saw their seven game winning streak come to an end after a 5-2 setback at the hands of the Saskatoon Blades. At the end of Wednesday’s first contest played in a bubble environment at the Brandt Centre in Regina, Sask., the Wheat Kings were presented the Subway Cup for finishing first in the East Division and were proclaimed champions of the WHL Subway Hub Centre.

The seven straight wins the Wheat Kings posted before falling to the Blades allowed the Brandon side to lock up first place with a game to go. Brandon finished the developmental campaign with an 18-4-2 record to sit one point up in the standings on the second place Winnipeg Ice (18-5-1).

With the win on Wednesday over Brandon, the Blades exited the Regina bubble having won two straight to finish third with a 16-5-2-1 record sitting three points back of Brandon and two points back of Winnipeg.

In Wednesday’s late contest that closed all action held in the Regina bubble, the Prince Albert Raiders slipped past the Swift Current Broncos 6-5 in overtime.

The win allowed the Raiders to improve to 9-11-3-1 and leap over the Regina Pats for fourth in the East Division. The Pats finish one point behind the Raiders with a 9-12-2-1 mark.

The Moose Jaw Warriors placed sixth in the division with an 8-13-3 mark. The Broncos finished last with a 6-16-2 record but played very inspired hockey in their third season of a major rebuild after having won the WHL title in 2018.

Sharing the Subway Cup with the best fans in the @TheWHL 🖤💛#BWK 🌾👑 pic.twitter.com/IFoyhyoL7W

— Brandon Wheat Kings (@bdnwheatkings) April 29, 2021

Of course, the seven-team WHL East Division played inside of a bubble format due to the fact the world is still firmly in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The two-month schedule of games in Regina were not disrupted due to any positive COVID-19 tests. The WHL reported on Wednesday a total of 1,930 tests for COVID-19 were conducted during the time the East Division bubble operated, and no one tested positive for the virus.

As a result, each of the seven clubs in the bubble were able to complete their respective 24-game regular season schedules.

Huge credit has to be given to all seven teams, the referees and linemen, the off-ice officials, the game day staff at the Brandt Centre, the scouts and media that worked the games in Regina. They all did their part to ensure the successful completion of all contests in the Brandt Centre with no schedule disruptions.

The schedules of the WHL’s three other divisions in the Central Division, B.C. Division and U.S. Division have all seen minor disruptions due to positive COVID-19 tests. The teams in the Central and U.S. Divisions are playing games in their regular home rinks, while the B.C. Division is playing contests in a modified bubble in Kamloops and Kelowna.

Chase Wouters scored the winner in his final WHL game.

Most of the teams in those three divisions will fall short of playing 24 regular season games each. At the moment, the final WHL regular season games are scheduled for May 12.

In a COVID-19 environment where variants are creating more havoc on the world scene, the pure bubble environment used in Regina successfully allowed the East Division to complete all 84 total games.

All involved with the East Division bubble should feel very proud of their accomplishment.

In the clash between the Wheat Kings and Blades, the Saskatoon’s three overagers had a memorable final bow.

With the teams locked in a 2-2 draw, Blades overage captain Chase Wouters tipped home a point shot from defenceman Rhett Rhinehart for the winning tally with 1:22 remaining in the second period. Wouters won the faceoff clean back to Rhinehart at the point on the play.

The Blades added two goals in the third to round out the 5-2 victory.

Wouters had an assist and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department to go along with his goal, which was his 10^th tally of the season. The career member of the Blades also won 19-of-32 draws in the faceoff circle.

During post-game media Zoom press-conference, Wouters was told his #44 was going to be retired by the team from Blades general manager Colin Priestner.

Also in the Saskatoon win, Blades overage centre Caiden Daley had an assist and a plus-two rating, while overage rearguard Wyatt McLeod had a goal and a plus-three rating.

Nolan Maier made 35 saves in goal for the Blades.

Brandon Lisowsky, Colton Dach and Kyle Crnkovic all netted singles for the Blades.

Overage right-winger Lynden McCallum scored both Brandon goals to finish with 21 tallies on the campaign. McCallum’s 21 goals were a career high.

Brandon’s two other overagers in forwards Marcus Sekundiak and Reid Perepeluk weren’t able to post any points in their final WHL game.

Nolan Maier made 35 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Connor Ungar turned away 23-of-27 shots to take the setback in goal for the Wheat Kings.

In the night’s second contest and final game in the East Division bubble, Raiders star centre Ozzy Wiesblatt lifted a backhand shot past Broncos netminder Reid Dyck just 54 seconds into overtime to give Prince Albert a 6-5 victory.

Wiesblatt had an assist and plus-three rating to go with his goal.

The contest did have some controversy. With the Raiders holding a 5-3 lead, Prince Albert overage star netminder Max Paddock hit one of the Broncos with his blocker during a scrum around the Raiders goal with 11:59 remaining in the third.

Paddock was given a match penalty for attempting to injure and a game misconduct. Broncos centre Josh Davies was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the scrum.

Paddock left the contest having stopped 21-of-24 shots fired his way.

The Broncos got a power-play goal from rookie right-winger Mathew Ward with 9:07 remaining in the third to cut the Raiders lead to 5-4 as a result of the penalties to Paddock.

Ozzy Wiesblatt had the OT winner for the Raiders.

Broncos centre Cole Nagy, who is a former member of the Raiders, evened the score up at 5-5 potting the equalizer with 63 seconds remaining in the third.

That set the stage for the dramatics on Wiesblatt’s winner.

Overage left-winger Justin Nachbaur had a goal and overage centre Spencer Moe had an assist in their final WHL career game with the Raiders. Both were members of the team’s WHL championship team in 2019.

Reece Vitelli scored twice for the Raiders, while Terrell Goldsmith and Tyson Laventure had singles.

Broncos overage right-winger Michael Farren, who started his WHL career with the Blades, had three assists in the OT setback. Broncos overage defencemen Kaleb Bulych and Owen Williams weren’t able to pick up any points in their final outing in the WHL.

Raphael Pelletier, Bode Hagan and Carter Stebbings all had singles for the Broncos.

Raiders backup netminder Carter Serhyenko picked up the win in his relief appearance turning away 6-of-8 shots sent his way. Dyck turned away 32 shots to take the overtime setback in goal for the Broncos.

Wednesday night was a night to be celebrated in Regina.

All seven teams in the East Division bubble played 24 games each in a 2020-21 campaign that appeared highly likely of not happening at all for an extended time period leading up to the season.

Justin Nachbaur scored in his final game with the Raiders.

The games that took place in the bubble were beneficial for all involved.

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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Athletes should try to expand their identity

Ultimately competitive sports comes to an end for all

Tim Vanstone salutes Prince Albert Raiders fans after his last game.

Competitive sports will come to an end for all athletes.

Whether that end comes today, tomorrow or more than 20 years from now, all athletes eventually leave competitive sports. The end can come via injury, a health matter that pops up, a decision by a coach or manager or you ultimately get brought down physically by Father Time.

Father Time is undefeated, even though NFL greatest of all-time quarterback Tom Brady is trying to do his best to change that record.

When the end comes, the biggest hurdle athletes deal with is loss of identity. For athletes that compete at the highest level their sport has to offer, they have usually been life consumed by their sport to the point that they don’t have any other way to identify themselves besides being an athlete.

With sport specialization taking place at younger ages in Canada, that only adds to streamlining a person into seeing themselves as an athlete. Outside of school, the only people school aged athletes deal with are usually other athletes and coaches.

It gets to the point that the idea of going to a function like a school dance is laughable.

You are a hockey player, a football player, a baseball player, a softball player, a gymnast, a lacrosse player, a swimmer, a hurdler in track and field or a competitor in whatever sport discipline you pursue.

The Saskatoon Blades enjoy a win in December of 2020.

Back on June 8, 2015, Claire Hanna likely wrote the gold standard piece regarding athlete transition and identity on her personal blog, where she went through what it was like to be cut from Canada’s senior national women’s volleyball team. If you want to check that piece out, you can do so by clicking right here. It is well worth your time to read Hanna’s piece.

Now in 2021, it is crazy to think there are people out there that don’t even think of Hanna as a star volleyball player or know of her ties to the sport. They see her as a sports media personality for CTV Regina.

Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has clamped down the world since March of 2020, athletes have had to deal with the loss of identity issue in one form or another earlier than they had to.

In Canada, most athletes that are under the age of 18 have seen their lives in sports ground to a halt. The lucky ones have been able to train on a regular basis.

The extremely lucky ones have participated in a handful of competitions.

The unlucky ones have had to keep motivated training at home as they aren’t able to get into any sports facilities due to restrictions brought in via public health orders.

Athletes have had to deal with how these changes have impacted their mental health. It would not be an exaggeration to say some have taken the halt of sports a lot harder than others.

U of Saskatchewan Huskies football players enjoy a TD in 2019.

For a lot of athletes, it seems like they have lost the purpose for their very existence.

What seems to be forgotten is the root problem is that sports have become the thing that defines these athletes as a person. Sports become who you are versus what you do.

To think this can happen to a person under the age of 18 or like someone who is 11 or 12-years-old is crazy. They are only just starting out on the grand marathon of life.

For the athletes that have hit the point where sports defines them as a person, they got conditioned to think that way, because there is such an emphasis in sports specialization to pursue a chosen sport at all costs with tunnel focus.

This is often instilled in athletes even as young as age 11 or 12.

For these athletes, it is lost that they are also a son, a daughter, a grandson, a granddaughter or a student at the school they attend. These identifiers are not as sexy as being an athlete, but those identifications are there.

To be fair, even those in the adult working world can fall into that trap. If anyone is doing anything that consumes them, they can fall into that trap.

For athletes, the best way to manage the funk where sport becomes the thing that defines who you are is to find another interest. If an athlete is out of action due to restrictions that were put in place to combat COVID-19, now might be the opportune time to find another interest.

The Saskatoon Stars enjoy a win in 2020.

Finding another interest doesn’t have to mean finding a career, but you can do things like taking first aid training to maybe lean towards maybe working as a paramedic one day.

Interests could mean being a fan of a musical artist or band. You might even take up playing an instrument like a guitar or drums or you might become a singer.

You might get into things like following science fiction and get to know all the ins and outs of a franchise like Star Wars. You might take an interest in comic book heroes put out by D.C. or Marvel.

You might even get into following the sports entertainment spectacle of professional wrestling in the WWE or AEW. After I started following WWE and AEW a little more closely back in January, I found out talent like Alexa Bliss, Sasha Banks, Britt Baker, Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre have interacted with youngsters that are training to be just like them.

It should be noted this training does not include trying moves you see in WWE and AEW programming outside of a supervised training environment.

Besides those suggestions, you could also take up a hobby of making your own clothes or perfecting your cooking skills in the kitchen.

Come to think of it, high level athletes that come from farm or ranching families might have the advantage of being a bit more rounded, because they have been likely helping out with activities on the family farm or ranching operation at a very young age.

The U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey season end in 2020.

Overall, it will be beneficial for competitive and high level athletes if they can find ways to expand their identity even in a small way.

Even after the COVID-19 pandemic passes, the day will still come when competitive sports come to an end for all athletes.

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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Wheat Kings, Blades, Ice in final sprint for Subway Cup

WHL campaign to conclude at end of regular season

The Wheat Kings do their traditional head bump goal celebration.

For a second straight year, the WHL won’t be handing out the Ed Chynoweth Cup to a league champion.

On Monday, the major junior circuit announced its 2020-21 campaign will officially come to an end at the conclusion of its abbreviated regular season. The decision was made due to ongoing challenges presented by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which include navigating public health orders and restrictions on travel across international and provincial borders.

In the 2020-21 campaign, each team is playing a shortened 24-game regular season which is being held for developmental purposes. Due to some teams experiencing positive COVID-19 tests, nine out of 10 clubs in the B.C. and Central Division will play campaigns that are shorter than 24 games.

The Kelowna Rockets will play an even shorter season due to the fact they had nine games postponed after team activities were suspended due to a coronavirus outbreak. On Wednesday, the WHL announced only one of those contest will be made up meaning the Rockets will play a 16 game regular season.

The B.C. Division’s other four teams in the Kamloops Blazers, Prince George Cougars, Vancouver Giants and Victoria Royals will all play 22-games each.

On Wednesday, the Calgary Hitmen were cleared to return to play after undergoing a 14-day isolation period and a halt of team activities due to a positive COVID-19 test. All members of the Hitmen cohort have tested negative for COVID-19 in the latest round of testing.

The Hitmen had six games postponed. After the WHL announced rescheduled games on Wednesday, the Hitmen learned they will be able to make up three of their lost games meaning they will play 21 regular season contests.

The Hitmen return to play Friday, when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes. The Hurricanes will still get all 24 of their regular season games in.

The Edmonton Oil Kings, Medicine Hat Tigers and Red Deer Rebels will play 23 regular season games each.

The Tri-City Americans have been sidelined due to a positive COVID-19, and they have had five games postponed. No word has been mentioned on dates to make those games up, which means teams in the B.C. Division might not play a 24-game slate as well.

The WHL will still crown champions in each division.

For the East Division, that means the Brandon Wheat Kings, Saskatoon Blades and Winnipeg Ice are engaging in a final sprint for first place and the right to win the Subway Cup. Subway is sponsoring the East Division bubble at the Brandt Centre in Regina and championship trophy that will be given to the first place team.

The Blades have enjoyed a number of wins in the Regina bubble.

The seven clubs in the bubble in Regina have not had their schedules disrupted due to positive COVID-19 tests.

Currently, the Brandon Wheat Kings have the inside track to first place extending their current winning streak to five games with their 6-1 victory over the Swift Current Broncos on Wednesday.

Nolan Ritchie scored twice for the Wheat Kings, while Lynden McCallum, Rylan Thiessen, Brett Hyland and Vincent Iorio all had singles. Matthew Ward replied with a single for the Broncos.

Ethan Kruger made 17 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Wheat Kings. Isaac Poulter turned away 27 shots to take the loss in goal for the Broncos (4-16-1).

The Wheat Kings top the East Division with a 16-3-2 record. Brandon will lock up first place if it wins its final three straight games.

The idle Saskatoon Blades, who have a 14-3-2-1 record, sit three points behind the Wheat Kings for top spot with one game in hand.

The Winnipeg Ice also sit three points behind the Wheat Kings after posting a 6-5 overtime victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors on Wednesday.

Jakin Smallwood netted the winner for the Ice at the 1:46 mark of the extra session. It was his second tally of the contest.

Peyton Krebs and Skyler Bruce each scored twice for the Ice. 

Cade Hayes led the Warriors with a pair of goals and an assist. Riley Krane, Jagger Firkus and Daemon Hunt all had singles for Moose Jaw.

Brayden Yager picked up a pair of assists for the Warriors, while Krane had a helper to go with his goal.

Carl Stankowski made 24 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Ice. Boston Bilous turned away 37 shots to take the setback in goal for the Warriors (8-11-2).

The Ice improved to 15-5-1 with the win. They are playing their second campaign as the Winnipeg Ice after moving out of Cranbrook, B.C., following the 2018-19 campaign. The franchise was known as the Kootenay Ice, when it was located in Cranbrook.

The Blades have a game in hand on the Ice.

Saskatoon will face Winnipeg on Friday and go at it with Brandon on April 28.

The Regina Pats (8-9-2-1) Warriors and Prince Albert Raiders (7-10-2-1) will jockey for fourth, fifth and sixth place in the Division. The Broncos are locked into finish in the basement of the East Division.

Teams in the B.C. Division will play for the RE/MAX Cup sponsored championship trophy. Due to the fact teams in the B.C. and Central Divisions won’t play an equal amount of games, the WHL hasn’t announced how it plans to crown champions in those divisions.

The WHL also announced on Monday the season end WHL awards will recognize individual award winners from each division as opposed to the traditional celebration of conference-based award winners.

Peyton Krebs in action for the Ice franchise in November of 2018.

The WHL Awards, which will be celebrated digitally following the conclusion of the 2020-21 campaign, will culminate with honourees in each major awards category on a league-wide basis.

While the WHL did valiant work to ensure its member teams got on the ice, the major circuit, which plays under the CHL umbrella, has to be thankful luck fell its way too.

On Tuesday, the OHL cancelled its entire 2020-21 campaign without being able to play a single game. The COVID-19 pandemic never subsided enough in Ontario to create a situation for the OHL to get back on the ice.

Desjardins recaptures Tigers career wins record

Willie Desjardins works the Tigers bench in December of 2019.

Willie Desjardins is once again the all-time leader in career regular season head coaching wins for the Medicine Hat Tigers.

On Monday, the Tigers slipped past the visiting Red Deer Rebels 3-2 at Co-op Place. That victory marked the 376^th career regular season win for Desjardins as the Tigers head coach. The Climax, Sask., product is also the team’s general manager.

Desjardins collected his wins serving as the Tigers head coach from 2002-10 and since returning to the team in 2019.

Desjardins surpassed the 375 wins put up by Shaun Clouston, who served as an assistant and then associate coach with Desjardins from 2003 to 2010. Desjardins previously held the Tigers career record for regular season coaching win before Clouston became the team’s head coach.

Clouston picked up his initial head coaching wins with the Tigers from 2008 to 2010, when Desjardins was away involved with coaching duties with Canada’s world junior team. Clouston picked up the bulk of his wins serving as the Tigers head coach from 2010 to 2019 along with becoming the team’s general manager from 2012 to 2019.

Clouston was released from the Tigers following the 2018-19 season to allow Desjardins to return to the roles of head coach and general manager. Clouston has served as the head coach of the Kamloops Blazers since the split with the Tigers.

Desjardins’ career record with the Tigers sits at 376-198-64 with the third column accounting for ties, overtime losses and shootout losses. Clouston’s career record behind the Tigers bench is 375-241-46.

In the Tigers win on Monday over the Rebels, Medicine Hat never trailed in the contest getting singles from Ryan Chyzowski, Rhett Parsons and Oren Shtrom.

The Rebels replied with singles coming off the sticks of Dallon Melin and Chris Douglas.

Beckett Langkow made 27 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers (12-3-0-1). Chase Coward turned away 32 shots to take the setback in goal for the Rebels (2-15-2).

“It’s been an honour to be part of such a great organization,” said Desjardins to Adam Jones of TigersHockey.com. “I’d like to thank (Tigers owners) Darrell and Brent Maser for their support.

“I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by some great people over the years, and because of that, we’ve had some success. The players win the games. Without their hard work and determination, we wouldn’t be here.”

The Tigers return to action on Thursday, when they travel to Edmonton to face the Oil Kings.

Marleau tops NHL career regular season games list

A Patrick Marleau card.

It seems fitting that a special NHL milestone moment would go to Patrick Marleau

Taking the opening faceoff on right wing for the San Jose Sharks on Monday against the Vegas Golden Knights in Las Vegas, Nevada, Marleau became the NHL’s all-time leader in career regular season games played at 1,768 when the puck dropped.

The Aneroid, Sask., product, who is playing in his 23^rd NHL season, broke a record that was viewed at one time to be untouchable.

The previous mark of 1,767 career regular season games was held by the iconic “Mr. Hockey” in Gordie Howe, who was born in Floral, Sask., and raised in Saskatoon. The late Howe played 25 seasons for the Detroit Red Wings from 1946 to 1971.

He helped the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955.

Howe skated in one final NHL campaign in 1979-80 for the Hartford Whalers playing in all of the Whalers 80 regular season games turning 52-years-old near the end of that season. In his 1767 career NHL regular season games, Howe piled up 801 goals and 1,049 assists for 1,850 points.

On top of his time in the NHL, Howe played six campaigns in the now defunct World Hockey Association with the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers from 1973 to 1979. During those six seasons, Howe appeared in 419 regular season games posting 174 goals and 334 assists for 508 points.

He helped the Aeros win the Avco Cup as WHA champions in 1974 and 1975.

During the Sharks game on Monday, Marleau wasn’t able to pick any points as the Golden Knights posted a 3-2 victory after a tiebreaking shootout. Marleau was given a chance to try and score in the tiebreaking shootout, but he was unsuccessful.

He received a salute from both team following the game.

The 41-year-old Marleau has always carried himself with dignity and class. When Howe’s NHL record for career regular season games played fell, it was fitting that Marleau was the one to do it.

Before breaking into the NHL, Marleau played two seasons in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds from 1995 to 1997 appearing in 143 regular season games collecting 83 goals and 116 assists for 199 points.

After the Sharks 5-2 loss to the Golden Knights in Las Vegas on Wednesday where Marleau picked up an assist, he has appeared in 1769 regular season games posting 566 goals and 631 assists for 1,197 points.

CFL delays start of season to August 5

Andrew Harris rumbles up field for the Bombers in 2017.

The COVID-19 pandemic is still delivering huge hits to the CFL.

On Wednesday, the CFL announced it will be delaying the start of its 2021 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Training camps were expected to open in the middle of May and the first exhibition game was set for May 23.

Originally, the league planned to kick off the regular season on June 10, where each club would play a standard 18-game regular season campaign.

Now the CFL is targeting Aug. 5 for the start of the circuit’s regular season, where each club will play 14 regular season games each. The Grey Cup is being rescheduled for Dec. 12 as opposed to Nov. 21.

The CFL was unable to get a season off the ground in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last CFL game was played on November 24, 2019 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alta., and saw the Winnipeg Blue Bombers stomp the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-12 to win the Grey Cup.

In a released statement, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said the Aug. 5 date is a target date, because the league’s plans are subject to change due to the state of COVID-19 across the country.

In order to play on Aug. 5, Ambrosie said the CFL would need approval from public health officials across Canada of the circuit’s plans for protecting players, coaches and fans. The commissioner added the CFL would need permission from governments to host a significant number of fans in the stands in a significant number of venues at the start of the season and the rest of the venues soon after that.

Ambrosie said the CFL has contingency plans in place in case factors beyond the league’s control delay the start of the season beyond Aug. 5.

“The bottom line is we are optimistic we will have a season in 2021, culminating in a great Grey Cup,” said Ambrosie in a statement. “Everyone who loves the CFL can help us and their communities.

“Please, when it is your turn, get vaccinated. And please follow your local public health guidelines on measures including wearing a mask and social distancing.”

There was no work on where the CFL’s talks on working in partnership with the XFL were at. There was no mention about the CFL’s efforts to secure federal government funding in order to play in 2021.

The CFL failed to get government grants that would allow the circuit to hit the field in 2020.

Once again, CFL fans have to continue to hurry up wait to see if the league they love will be back in 2021.

Government of Nova Scotia nixes women’s hockey worlds

The Government of Nova Scotia dropped the axe on the women’s world hockey championship.

On Wednesday, Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin withdrew permission for the 11-day tournament citing concerns over increasing COVID-19 numbers and the circulation of COVID-19 variants.

Nova Scotia imposed new travel restrictions this week barring people from outside the province from entering unless travel is essential or the travels are permanent residents of Nova Scotia. People from Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador are exempted from the ban, which goes into effect at 8 a.m. Thursday Nova Scotia time.

The International Ice Hockey Federation and Hockey Canada were informed early Wednesday morning that the event was called off. Women’s worlds were scheduled to be held May 6 to 16 in Halifax and Truno, N.S.

Hockey Canada was holding its selection camp for the women’s worlds in Halifax, and Wednesday was supposed to be the final day of that camp. An intrasquad game that was supposed to close the camp on Wednesday afternoon ultimately wasn’t held.

Saskatoon products Emily Clark and Sophie Shirley were taking part in the selection camp.

The 2021 women’s worlds were first slated to be held in April but were pushed back to the May 6 to 16 dates before being cancelled. They were also supposed to be held in Halifax and Truno in March of 2020 before being called off due to COVID-19 concerns.

The IIHF will work with Hockey Canada told a women’s worlds later in 2021 but no commitment was made Wednesday to hold it in Nova Scotia.

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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Pats had epic night in 2017 series comeback win

Sam Steel celebrates his game opening goal.

For Regina Pats fans, April 17, 2017 marked one of the most joyful nights in recent memory to be supporter of the world’s oldest major junior franchise.

Before a raucous sellout crowd of 6,484 spectators at the Brandt Centre, the Pats faced the visiting Swift Current Broncos in a series deciding Game 7 in a WHL Eastern Conference semifinal set. The Pats scored twice before the game was five minutes old and rolled to a 5-1 victory.

The win allowed the Pats to return to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship series for the first time in 24 years. The Pats - a franchise that was founded in 1917 - also erased a 3-1 series deficit for the first time in team history.

As the final minute of that Game 7 victory against the Broncos ticked away, the Brandt Centre faithful stood and roared the entire time. The cheers grew louder and louder and hit a peak when the time left on the third period clock elapsed.

Filip Ahl (#61) battles in the corner for the Pats.

At that moment, I was standing in the Zamboni tunnel behind the Pats net shooting pictures of the scene that was unfolding. A few of the old Brandt Centre staffers were still around from when I lived in Regina from 1995 to 2001.

Back in that time, the staff made the Brandt Centre feel like one of the most friendly rinks on the WHL circuit. That friendly feeling extended to that game day and even the present day with the new staffers.

During the 2016-17 WHL campaign, I felt I established a pretty good rapport with the staff at the Brandt Centre.

Connor Hobbs had three assists in the win.

After the third period clock hit zero in that Game 7 win over the Broncos, I remember one of the staffers opening the Zamboni door behind the Pats net and telling me in a fun tone to get out there on the ice.

From the ice, I remember looking up at the crowd and thinking, “Holy (explanative)!”

That was the loudest I’ve ever heard the crowd at the Brandt Centre. I took a moment to soak in that site of pure joy.

While Regina loves the Pats, the thought was imbedded in my mind that fate wouldn’t allow the Pats to have a moment like that. The Pats had won three Memorial Cup titles in their history, but the last came back in 1974.

They hadn’t been to the WHL Eastern Conference Championship series since 1993 until beating the Broncos in Game 7 on that night at home in 2017. I was always convinced that something would happen to derail a good Pats season.

In 2016-17, the Pats were outstanding. They finished first in the overall WHL regular season standings with a 52-12-7-1 mark.

The Pats faithful cheer on their team at the Brandt Centre.

For much of the campaign, the Pats were rated first in the Canadian Hockey League’s top 10 rankings and topped the final rankings that were released on March 22, 2017.

The Pats swept the Calgary Hitmen 4-0 in a best-of-seven first round playoff series.

All of a sudden, it seemed like Regina’s magical run would come to an end at the hands of the Broncos.

The Broncos took a 3-1 lead in the series, and Pats star overage captain Adam Brooks went down with a knee injury in Game 2 of the series.

Nick Henry was one of the Pats key players.

If the Pats rallied, they would have to win three games in four nights beginning Friday, April 14, 2017. In an outstanding major junior playoff encounter, the Pats stayed alive with a 3-2 victory.

If you went out on the Dewdney Avenue strip after that Pats victory, you would have thought the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders were going to the Grey Cup or had won the Grey Cup. That was how good parties were after that Pats second round Game 5 win.

The Pats were far from out of the woods. Game 6 would be played the next night at the Credit Union i-Plex in Swift Current, and the Broncos faithful were gitty about holding a Saturday night celebration likes of which that small Saskatchewan centre hadn’t seen in some time.

Just 2:27 into the second period of Game 6, the Broncos scored twice to go ahead 3-1. After those tallies, Broncos captain Glenn Gawdin broke in on Pats netminder Tyler Brown on a breakaway and the sellout crowd of 2,890 at the Credit Union i-Plex rose to their feet expecting another goal.

Tyler Brown keeps focused on the action up ice.

Brown stoned Gawdin to the disappointment of the onlookers. Had Gawdin scored at that moment, it likely would have been lights out for the Pats in the 2017 WHL playoffs.

The Pats scored twice late in the second to even things up and 3-3 and skated away with a 5-3 victory.

Two nights later, the Pats skated into a series deciding Game 7 with all sorts of momentum.

Just 2:19 into Game 7, Pats star centre Sam Steel popped home the rebound on a shot taken from linemate Nick Henry to give the Pats a 1-0 lead. Pats import winger Filip Ahl followed that up with a breakaway goal at the 4:57 mark of the opening frame and the “Pats’ Regiment” was in a frenzy after that tally.

Swift Current did have an opportunity to get back into the contest closing out the final nine minutes of the opening frame with three power-play chances.

The Pats mob Tyler Brown after their series win.

Brown stoned Broncos star winger Tyler Steenbergen on a golden opportunity in close and robbed Broncos import rearguard Artyom Minulin with a huge glove save on a rocket shot through a screen from the point.

The Pats proceeded to pull away with a convincing win from that point. Offensive defenceman Connor Hobbs had three assists and was a plus-four in the plus-minus department in the romp.

During that 2017 playoff run, that night was the only time the Pats clinched a series win at home.

Following that big victory, the Pats won the WHL Eastern Conference title downing the Lethbridge Hurricanes in six games with Brooks returning to game action. Regina proceeded to fall in the WHL Championship series in six games to the Seattle Thunderbirds.

The Pats salute their fans at the Brandt Centre.

The Thunderbirds took Game 6 of the series with a 4-3 win in overtime in Regina after erasing a 3-1 deficit in the third period.

The Broncos wrote a good epilogue after falling to the Pats in Game 7 in 2017. Swift Current finished second overall in the WHL standings in 2017-18 with a 48-17-5-2 record and went on to win the WHL title in that campaign.

Still, Pats fans will never forget that Game 7 victory over the Broncos in 2017. When that victory happened, the realization of a long Pats playoff run was better than the dream.

Could WWE provide clue for normal times, other notes

Welcome to The New Era. @RaquelWWE @BiancaBelairWWE + @RheaRipley_WWE pic.twitter.com/sG7SwPMQkD

— WWE (@WWE) April 17, 2021

When the WWE tours again, is that a sign the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is over?

When the WWE does indeed start touring again, it will not be the sign the COVID-19 pandemic is either over or not. It will probably be a tangible sign that things are moving more to the direction of being normal.

The main driver of the sports entertainment company are the weekly televisions shows it produces like Monday Night RAW, NXT and SmackDown. A massive COVID-19 outbreak on the WWE roster would have a severe impact on the storylines that come out in weekly television programs, and those storylines build towards pay per view events.

WWE has made last minute adjustments at different moments during the past year due to positive COVID-19 tests.

For most of the last 13 months, RAW and SmackDown were filmed at an empty WWE Performance Centre in Orlando, Florida, or a virtual online video screen crowd venue set up the WWE calls the Thunderdome, which was held at Tropicana Field in Tampa.

NXT has been filmed at the Performance Centre since October in front of a virtual onscreen crowd and a small gather of fans. Before that, NXT was being filmed at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida without fans going back to March 2020.

Last weekend, the WWE had its first huge live crowds in over 13 months this past weekend hosting WrestleMania 37 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa this past Saturday and Sunday. The WWE maxed out the crowd they were allowed to have on each night at 25,675 spectators.

Before WrestleMania 37, the last major crowd WWE had for a weekly show was the episode of RAW that aired on March 9, 2020.

WWE wanted fans back at its showcase event in WrestleMania but hasn’t made public any plans to go back to touring full time or holding any other live shows.

WWE has moved its Thunderdome from Tropicana Field in Tampa to the Yuengling Center located at the University of South Florida in Tampa. The move was made due to the fact the Tampa Bay Rays, who are the main tenant at Tropicana Field, have begun their MLB season.

This past Monday’s RAW was filmed at the new Thunderdome location. The WWE plans to remain at the Yuengling Center while gauging when it would be prudent to return to a live weekly model.

In an interview with Joe Otterson of Variety for a story that went live on Wednesday, WWE president and chief revenue officer Nick Khan did open the door for the possibility of having more live in person events.

Khan said plans have been made and to stay tuned for announcements.

“But just know that once we’re back on the road, we’re on the road full time,” said Khan. “We’re not looking to do other one offs.

“Again, this was WrestleMania, and we felt it needed to be done for the fans. So look for news coming soon.”

When the WWE does return to touring, it will be interesting to see how that looks. The company could tour first in states in the United States that have removed a significant amount of COVID-19 protocols regarding large gatherings.

For a company that is used to touring all over the world, would touring in a handful of states equate to touring full time?

Outside of Khan’s quote, the WWE doesn’t seem to be in too much of a rush to leave the safe filming confines of the Thunderdome.

On Thursday, the WWE released 10 wrestlers including Samoa Joe, Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, Chelsea Green, Mickie James, Tucker, Kalisto, Bo Dallas, Mojo Rawley and Wesley Blake. The released talent was severely underused by the WWE.

If the WWE was going to return to touring any time soon, it would be hard to see all these cuts getting made.

A year ago around this time, the WWE released just over 20 people in the talent department. Those releases were part of the company’s initial reaction to a slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In current times, the WWE is still making major amounts of money and produces a massive profit.

• On Friday, organizers cancelled the Regina Folk Festival for the second straight year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s event was slated to be held Aug. 6 to 8 in Victoria Park in the Saskatchewan capital city. Organizers do hope to hold some type of summer programming.
• On Friday, the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings announced Doug Gasper will be the club’s new general manager. Gasper has been an assistant general manager for the Wheat Kings since 2019. He will replace Darren Ritchie, who is leaving the Wheat Kings to become an amateur scout with the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs. Ritchie became the Wheat Kings general manager in July of 2019. He will stay on with the Wheat Kings until they complete their current WHL regular season, which is being held for developmental purposes.
• On Friday, the NHL’s Ottawa Senators announced they signed 21-year-old winger Cole Reinhardt to a three-year entry-level contract that will start with the 2021-22 season. Reinhardt had been playing on an amateur tryout contract with the AHL’s Belleville Senators. He has three goals and four assists in 21 games this season in Belleville. Reinhardt played four seasons with the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings from 2016 to 2020 appearing in 252 career regular season games collecting 75 goals, 66 assists and a plus-11 rating in the plus-minus department.
• On Saturday, the WHL announced the Tri-City Americans have suspended all activities due to a positive COVID-19 test to a player. The Americans have had three games so far postponed including a Saturday clash with the visiting Spokane Chiefs. In a release, the WHL said it was working in consultation with the Washington State Department of Health regarding the situation with the Americans. Being located in the United States, the Americans situation will likely be dealt with differently compared to positive tests involving clubs located in Canada. The Americans last played this past Tuesday, when they fell 4-2 to the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash.
• Saskatoon products Emily Clark and Sophie Shirley are currently taking part in the selection camp for Canada’s senior national women’s hockey team in Halifax, N.S. The camp runs through to Thursday. The camp is the final opportunity to evaluate players for the women’s worlds, which are scheduled for May 6 to 16 in Halifax and Truno, N.S.
• On Thursday, Danny Austin, a Postmedia sportswriter in Calgary, stirred the pot tweeting out a letter from Alberta Health dated from April 9, 2021 regarding the return of crowds for performance events. The letter targeted late July for the removal of capacity restrictions for performance events in Alberta. The letter said the targets were contingent on how the COVID-19 pandemic plays out including progress on vaccinations. There had been talk this sort of letter existed, and Austin posted it after he got a copy of it. The reactions in the replies went all over the place. The tweet is shown below.

Interesting pic.twitter.com/B8HowG7Y6N

— Danny Austin (@DannyAustin_9) April 16, 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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