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| The Prince Albert Raiders logo in 2004. |
Tanner Shultz loved returning to his hometown of Prince
Albert as the villain when he played for the Saskatoon Blades.
Shultz, who used to be the pest/agitator for the Blades from
2002 to 2004, came to mind when Gregg Drinnan, who is “the man” when it comes
to covering the WHL, and Blades beloved play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk recently
made an appearance on the WHL Unfiltered podcast. Both Drinnan and Lazaruk told
some colourful stories from their time covering the circuit, and Shultz sprung
to my mind with a memory in regards to the rivalry between the Blades and the
Prince Albert Raiders.
When Shultz was a member of the Blades, he returned to
Prince Albert during the summer months to work and play on the city’s top
midget fastpitch team. One night after one of his fastpitch games in the summer
of 2003, we socialized and talked hockey. At the time, I was working as a
sports reporter for the Prince Albert Daily Herald.
Shultz, who stood 6-foot-1 and weighed 185 pounds, said that
I should call him and interview him at some point during the upcoming season
before the Blades were to clash with the Raiders. He said he would love the
chance to trash talk the Raiders and stir the pot.
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| The Saskatoon Blades logo in 2004. |
In January of 2004, I decided to pursue that idea. The two
teams were to meet in a home-and-home series opening with a clash on Friday,
Jan. 30 in Prince Albert and concluding Saturday, Jan. 31 in Saskatoon.
The Raiders were having a good season sporting a 29-16-4-3
record at that time. The Blades were last in the entire WHL at 6-34-11.
Shultz had built more than a nice reputation for being loose
lipped. I found out afterwards that before being fired earlier in season Blades
head coach Kevin Dickie told the pest centre to be silent. That order never
seemed to be followed.
Mike Jenkins, who is now the development and marketing
officer for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, was the Blades director of
marketing back then, and he was one of those who was always open to doing something
colourful to sell tickets. During Jenkins time with the Blades, the team held
tailgate type parties before some games at a time when that wasn’t a regular occurrence
in the WHL.
When the Raiders came to Saskatoon one night, he had a “Pound
P.A.” promo going, where fans could pay two-dollars to get a sledgehammer swing
at a car done up in Raiders markings. The money raised went to the Blades
education fund.
Before the January 2004 home-and-home series, I called
Jenkins up looking to talk to Shultz. Jenkins proceeded to give me Shultz’s
billet home phone number. While Jenkins might deny it, I am pretty certain he
knew the direction the interview would go on the colourful front, and it would
create interest in the games.
On a side note, Jenkins would likely get in big trouble if
he did something like this on the Huskies front in the current day.
Anyways, I get Shultz on the phone at his billet home, and
he did his part. He said he really loved to get under the skin of the Raiders and
he felt he could easily annoy Raiders left-winger Dane Byers and defenceman Chris
Schlenker, who now works in the NHL as a referee.
“I will try and get everyone (off of their game), but there
is a couple of guys I really don’t like,” said Shultz, who was 19-years-old
that season. “I will probably get in a couple of fights this weekend to make
the games a bit more interesting.
“Maybe Schlenker and Byers,” Shultz added with a chuckle. “I
really don’t like that Byers. Maybe he will be ready to go this weekend.
“I am always up for it. Sometimes, he bails out a bit. Maybe
he will step up this weekend.”
When he played at the Raiders home rink that was known as the
Comuniplex at that time, Shultz went on to say he was at his happiest when the
Prince Albert players, coaches, management, fans and maybe even the concession
workers are upset with him. Before playing for the Blades, Shultz gained
practice returning home to Prince Albert as the enemy playing midget AAA for
the Saskatoon Contacts, who are still huge rivals with the Prince Albert Mintos.
“Coming home, it is a lot more fun,” said Shultz. “You try
to get the crowd on you and stuff, and it is pretty fun.
“They are kind of harsh toward me, but that is the way I
like it. I am not going to really complain about it.”
After finishing the story, I decided the Raiders shouldn’t
be tipped off as to what was said. I figured it would be best to run the story
on the Friday the day of the first game and see what happens.
Greg Nicholson, who covered sports for an extended time in
Prince Albert and was a Daily Herald desker, edited and laid out my story that
night. He knew Shultz’s family well.
When he check out my story, Nicholson said, “I wonder what
his (Shultz’s) mother is going to say?”
At that time, the Prince Albert Daily Herald hit the streets
at 11 a.m., and on one of the coldest days and nights of the year, that story
was the talk of the town. From what I heard, one of the alums brought a copy of
the story into the Raiders coaches office for then head coach Peter Anholt and
assistant coach Dave Manson, who is currently an associate coach with the club,
to see. That happened shortly after the time the paper hit the streets.
On the weather front, the night was so cold that people
likely shouldn’t have been venturing out of their home, but 2,341 fans turned
out to the Comuniplex, which could seat 2,857 spectators in the old Smarty Box
seats that were in the building back then.
Just 47 seconds into the contest and right after the puck
was dropped for the game’s second faceoff, Shultz and Schlenker were on the
ice, dropped their gloves and took off their helmets to duke it out. That would
be classified as a staged fight and is no longer legal in the WHL. The two
combatants threw bombs at each other for a good 45 seconds until the officials
broke up the bout in what was one of the better fights of the season.
The Raiders won the game 4-0 to lock up a playoff berth with
Prince Albert netminder Rejean Beauchemin making 25 saves to collect the
shutout. The contest had six fights in total including a second confrontation
between Shultz and Schlenker and 138 minutes in penalties. Chris Savage was the
referee for that contest, and years later, he would be one of the big influences
that got Schlenker into officiating.
Anholt cut to chase right away in the post-game interview.
“Our guys read the paper and I think they understand some
things were said,” said Anholt. “I thought Schlenker really stepped up tonight
and showed a lot of leadership.
“I thought our team played real well tonight. I don’t think
(the fights are) that big a deal.
“We feel we have enough toughness on our team that we can
handle anything that comes our way. I don’t think we should blow things out of
proportion.”
Schlenker was ready for battle after reading my story.
“It is just incentive to fire another guy up,” said Schlenker.
“Since the pre-game meal, that was all that I was thinking about. I cut the
article out in my stall.
“I don’t really see any need for someone to do that. It
worked against him (Shultz). We pretty much took it to them out there tonight.”
Shultz was pretty proud he stirred up the pot.
“I know sometimes we come here, and it just feels like we
are playing a team in the B.C. Division,” said Shultz. “It shouldn’t feel like
that.
“I am real proud of the young guys at the end. I think we
had three 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old drop the gloves. It is about time.”
One of the undercard bouts saw rookie forward Devin
Setoguchi of the Blades and rookie defenceman Jeff May of the Raiders go at it. Setoguchi, who
had recently turned 17 at the time, was more known as a goal scorer and wasn’t
really a fighter during his WHL career that spanned four seasons closing with
one campaign with the Prince George Cougars in 2006-07.
He has played 516 NHL regular season games with the San Jose
Sharks, Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings.
May, who was 16-years-old at the time, was known more as a rearguard that could supply some offence during his five WHL
seasons, which concluded in 2008 with a short stint with the Lethbridge
Hurricanes. He went on to play in the minors and a couple of short stints in
France. May has been out of professional hockey for a year.
Courtney Gillies, who is the niece of former NHL standout
Clark Gillies, shot pictures of the game that night. My standout co-worker and partner
in crime on the sports beat in Prince Albert took some unreal photos of that
first fight between Shultz and Schlenker. The deskers that night elected not to
use them saying they were against promoting fighting in hockey, which was an
odd sentiment in Prince Albert considering the Raiders rough and tumble
traditional reputation.
With the turnover in staff and the cuts in budget, I am
pretty sure the photos from that night have likely disappeared into the abyss, which
from a historical perspective is too bad. Media outlets all across Canada have
dumped numerous pictures and rolls of video into the trash over the years due
budget cuts that have caused a reduction in storage space.
Shultz ultimately finished that season appearing in 69
regular season games with the Blades collecting six goals, four assists and 331
minutes in penalties. That was his last full season in the WHL as he concluded
his major junior career with a one-game stint with the Kamloops Blazers in
2004-05.
He eventually ended up in the U Sports ranks playing three
seasons for the University of Regina Cougars men’s hockey team from 2007 to
2010. Shultz last played professional hockey with the Pensacola Ice Flyers in
the Southern Professional Hockey League collecting 17 goals, 23 assists and 121
penalty minutes in 52 regular season games in 2010-11.
The Raiders downed the Blades 5-2 before 4,512 spectators in
what was then known as the Credit Union Centre to complete the home-and-home
series the next night in Saskatoon. There were four fights and 72 minutes in
penalties in that contest. Shultz and Byers had a bout in that game.
Nights like that home-and-home series used to be a more
common occurrence in the WHL. The league is more businesslike now as compared
to then, which is due to how the game evolved over the years.
With that said, it is still great to remember stories like
this, which get lost over the years. For the younger generation, it gives a
little glimpse of why the hockey rivalry between Saskatoon and Prince Albert at
all levels can still get intense.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
