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| Zack Greer celebrates scoring for the Rush. |
For one of those rare moments in Saskatchewan, the CFL’s
Roughriders are going to be No. 2 in the sports scene, or at least in
Saskatoon.
As Roughriders training camp enters its early stages, the
provincial sports scene is dealing with season creep from a new source in the
Saskatchewan Rush of the National Lacrosse League. Unless you have been living
under a rock, you will know the Saskatchewan Rush, who are based in Saskatoon,
have been doing well in their first campaign in a province that boasts having
the “Land of the Living Skies.”
The Rush have drawn over 13,000 fans to each of their last
five home dates. That includes setting a SaskTel Centre record for attendance
at a sporting event with 15,192 people coming out to their last home outing on
May 21. On the record night, the Rush downed the Calgary Roughnecks 12-9 to
sweep the best-of-three West Division final 2-0.
Thanks to that win, the Rush advanced to the best-of-three Champion’s
Cup NLL championship series against the Buffalo Bandits.
Going into the league title series, optimism was high the
Rush could win it all again from the local supporters in Saskatchewan. The Rush
won the NLL title last season, when the franchise was still Edmonton. As the Saskatchewan Rush, they claimed Game 1
of the 2016 Champion’s Cup 11-9 last Saturday in Buffalo.
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| Fans take part in tailgating before the Rush game. |
If you haven’t been to a Rush home game, you have been
missing out. You can find tailgating going on in the SaskTel Centre parking lot
before games or just outside of the facility’s fences. Games really are one big
party, and the action of an NLL contest feels like it is non-stop.
Saturday’s game has the potential of being an even bigger
party. If the Rush win, the fans will be in a euphoric mood due to the fact a
league title will be claimed. Not many teams in Saskatoon have had a chance to
win something like the Champion’s Cup on home turf.
If the Rush win, people will pour out of the SaskTel Centre
and back into the city most likely looking to celebrate by drinking more
alcoholic beverages than former Major League Baseball pitcher David Wells did
after a World Series win.
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| Goalie Aaron Bold is favourite among Rush fans. |
The Roughriders, in contrast, will be a week into training
camp this coming Saturday. You might take in a bit of the festivities at their
Green and White day function that runs from 2 to 9 p.m. at Saskatoon Minor
Football Field before venturing off to the Rush game.
Roughriders season is really in its infancy, and you will
have plenty of opportunity to focus on them. Besides, their regular season doesn’t
start until June 30, when they host the Toronto Argonauts at 8 p.m. at Mosaic
Stadium, and CFL playoffs are way off in November.
For this week in Saskatoon, it is all about right now. The Saskatoon
city buses are driving around flashing “Go Rush Go” signs. Sports fans and
bandwagon jumpers alike want to see this story run to its finish.
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| Mark Matthews checks out the Rush fans celebrating a West final win. |
Even with that in mind, you don’t care if you live in
Saskatoon. Heck, the Roughriders themselves have probably heard news about the
Rush and would probably love to check out what all the fuss is about at the
SaskTel Centre on Saturday night.
Right now, the Saskatoon sports fan is thinking, “It is the
Rush’s time baby. Let’s go get this won and go crazy.”
Epic finish for Red Deer’s Memorial Cup, other thoughts
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| Fans show a sign to support Fort McMurray fire victims at Memorial Cup. |
The Rebels hosted a fantastic event, which saw fans pack the
Enmax Centrium for games and the neighbouring pavilions on the grounds of
Western Park for Fan Fest, the Hockey Hall of Fame display and the Molson
Hockey House. Off the ice, the Memorial Cup was going to be a success.
As what seem to be a just reward, the action on the ice
turned out to be memorable, when the tournament’s last three games rolled
around. In the final round robin game on Wednesday, the host Rebels eliminated
the WHL champion Brandon Wheat Kings from the tourney as Evan Polei netted the
winner in OT in a 2-1 victory. A total of 7,327 spectators packed the Centrium,
which is listed as having a capacity of 7,000 in the WHL guide and record book
for 2015-16.
The Rebels put on a strong fight in the tourney’s semifinal
contest but fell 3-1 to the QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 3-1. A total
of 7,562 spectators turned out for that contest.
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| Red Deer fans support their Rebels at the Memorial Cup. |
The lowest attendance figure for any of the event’s eight
games was 7,181, which came in the round robin clash that saw the Knights down
the Huskies 5-2 last Tuesday.
After closing with an epic championship game, the Memorial
Cup in Red Deer becomes a lofty standard bearer for future Memorial Cup
tournaments to be measured against. The OHL’s Windsor Spitfires and their
organizing committee have a lot to live up to in 2017.
- On Monday, former Medicine Hat Tigers great Tom Lysiak passed away at age 63 after a battle with leukemia. He played for the Tigers in their first three seasons of existence from 1970 to 1973 collecting 118 goals and 209 assists in 195 regular season games. He helped the Tigers win their first WHL title in 1973 and advance to play in that year’s Memorial Cup at the storied Montreal Forum. After his Tigers days were done, Lysiak went on to play 919 regular season games in the NHL with the Atlanta Flames and Chicago Blackhawks. When Lysiak passed, he likely took a huge amount of colourful and untold hockey stories with him from a time when the sport was a little more on the wild side. Tigers iconic play-by-play voice Bob Ridley said it best writing on Twitter, “The greatest Tiger ever Tom Lysiak, passed away this a.m. after a long fight with cancer. Condolences to the family.”
- On Sunday, the Saskatoon Valkyries (3-1) found
out they will open the Western Women’s Canadian Football League playoffs
against the Manitoba Fearless (1-3) on June 12 at Saskatoon Minor Football
Field in a Prairie Conference semifinal match. The other Prairie Conference
semifinal that day will see the defending league champion Regina Riot (3-1) host
the Winnipeg Wolfpack (1-3). The times of both games is still to be determined.
- On Monday, It was cool to see guard Laura Dally
sign a one-year professional contract to play professional basketball with BG ’89
Avides Hurricanes Rotenburg in Germany. Dally played her final campaign in the
Canadian Interuniversity Sport ranks this past season and helped the University
of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s team win their first national title. Dally, who
stands 6-feet, was named the most outstanding player in the Canada West
Conference, and she was a first team all-Canadian all-star. She has also been
selected to join Canada’s senior national team for a European exhibition
tournament in June.
- Switching to something not sports related, here is hoping a major music label signs Saskatoon rock group One Bad Son. I saw them play the Roughriders kickoff party on Friday night at O’Brians Events Centre, and they were amazing. They have to be the best young rock group I have seen in some time. Unfortunately, major labels still seem to push mainly pop acts. This foursome should be way bigger than they are.
- On front that was uplifting, Gregg Drinnan was a winner of a Paul Carson Broadcast and Media award on Thursday for his Taking Note blog. Taking Note was saluted as B.C.’s best sports related blog from outside Vancouver for a second straight year. Last year, Taking Note was an independent operation and it moved under the umbrella of TheCoachesSite.com last summer. Drinnan’s win is inspiring, and it proves there is life outside of the mainstream media. When it comes to covering the WHL, Drinnan is widely viewed as the best ever. Taking Note can be found right here.
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comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
