Blades land veteran ‘D’ in Walford, deal Haden to Royals

Scott Walford, second from left, celebrates a Royals goal in 2017.

    Saskatoon Blades new communications manager Michael Morrissey didn’t have to wait long before being sprung into action.

    Morrissey, who was a Blades intern during the 2017-18 campaign, officially started work with the team in his new position on Monday, and on Wednesday, he was putting together a media release on a major trade.

    The trade saw the Blades deal overage left-winger Gary Haden, unsigned list forward Riley Gannon, who will turn 17-years-old later on this month, and fourth round selection in the 2022 WHL Bantam Draft to the Royals for overage offensive-defenceman Scott Walford and a seventh round selection in the 2020 Bantam Draft.

    “Scott is a big mobile defender, who plays in all situations and logs a lot of minutes,” said Blades general manager Colin Priestner in a release. “He is an all-around defender, who is adept in his own end but also contributes a lot offensively making use of an exceptional first pass and great vision.”

    This trade was one of those deals where both sides won.

    The Blades were looking for help on defence due to the fact four of their starting six defencemen from last season won’t be back this season. Dawson Davidson and Brandon Schuldhaus exhausted their major junior eligibility.

    Emil Malysjev elected to play at home in Sweden. Reece Harsch, who is set to be an overager, was traded to the Winnipeg Ice in May.

    Walford, who played four complete seasons with the Royals, was a huge addition for the Blades. Last season, Walford, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 198 pounds, posted nine goals, 38 assists and a plus-12 rating in the plus-minus department in 62 regular season games for the Royals.

Gary Haden became a fan favourite in Saskatoon.

    For his efforts, he was named a second team WHL Western Conference all-star.

    In 229 career regular season games with the Royals, Walford had 18 goals, 102 assists and a plus-11 rating.

    Way back in the 2014 Bantam Draft, Walford was selected in the first round and 18^th overall by the Royals. The Coquitlam, B.C., product was selected in the third round and 68^th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, but he is an NHL free agent after the Canadiens didn’t sign him earlier this summer on June 1.

    After going unsigned by Montreal, Walford attended the summer development camp of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets late last June.

    Walford, who was a Royals assistant captain the past two seasons, played for Team B.C. at the 2015 Canada Winter Games, Team Canada Black at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge and Team WHL last year as part of the Canada-Russia Series.

    Besides adding Walford, the Blades selected defencemen Libor Zabransky, 19, and Radek Kucerik, who will turn 18 in December, in the CHL Import Draft held late last June. Both are from the Czech Republic and Zabransky has 107 career regular season games with the Kelowna Rockets.

    Haden adds scoring depth to the Royals roster. Acquired in October of last year from the Medicine Hat Tigers, Haden, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 175 pounds, had a breakout season with the Blades.

    In 55 regular season games with the Blades, Haden piled up 30 goals, 32 assists and a plus-23 rating in the plus-minus department. Over 64 regular season games split between the Tigers and Blades last season, Haden recorded 31 goals, 34 assists and a plus-19 rating.

    He picked up the nickname “Uncle Gary” becoming a fan favourite.

    “‘Uncle Gary’ was a great Blade during his season in Saskatoon, and we wish him major success with the Royals in his 20-year-old campaign,” said Priestner in a release.

Gary Haden broke out offensively last season with the Blades.

    Gannon, who stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 145 pounds, played 46 regular season games last year in the junior B ranks with his hometown Nanaimo Buccaneers collecting 21 goals and 29 assists. He skated two games in the junior A ranks with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs but didn’t register any points.

    Later on Wednesday, the Blades added another body on defence. They acquired 18-year-old defenceman in Birtle, Man., product Parker Malchuk from the Royals for a conditional draft pick.

    Malchuk, who stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 161 pounds, appeared in 56 regular season games last season with the Royals recording an assist and a minus-23 rating.

    With Walford on their roster, the Blades are bringing four overagers to training camp, which begins Aug. 25, along with rearguard Nolan Kneen, left-winger Riley McKay and right-winger Ryan Hughes.

    The Blades have until Oct. 10 to cut down to the WHL’s limit of three overage players.

CFL weather delay left uncomfortable feel

Oct. 25, 1954: Riders were leading B.C. 15-9 in Vancouver when fog rolled in. Commissioner Sydney Halter eventually called the game, which had been suspended with 6:11 left in the fourth quarter, and awarded the victory to Saskatchewan.

— Rob Vanstone (@robvanstone) August 10, 2019

    Count me as one of those that doesn’t like the CFL’s new weather protocol.

    If you follow the CFL, you likely know by now that the regular season game held last Friday at Molson Stadium in Montreal between the host Alouettes and the Saskatchewan Roughriders was called with 2:41 remaining in the third quarter due to an hour long delay caused by lightning.

    The officials invoked a new weather protocol that was put into the new collective bargaining agreement between the CFL and CFL Players’ Association in the off-season. A game is considered official after the midway point of the third quarter and can be called for a weather delay of at least an hour.

    The Roughriders were ahead 17-10 at that point in time, and they were awarded the win.

    I wrote on Sunday as someone who cheers for the Roughriders I was happy they had won four in a row, and all that matters was they found a way to pick up the wins to improve to 5-3.

    When I step back and look at the situations objectively, that end result doesn’t give me a good feeling.

    Montreal fell to 3-4 with the setback that came in a game that was still up for grabs. At the moment, the Alouettes would earn a playoff position, if the regular season finished today finished second in the East Division.

    Still, they are ahead of the Ottawa Redblacks (3-5), but there is still a long way to go in the CFL season.

    As the campaign plays out, the standings tiebreakers might fall out of the Alouettes favour, and they could potentially miss the post-season due to the fact they didn’t win that contest with the Roughriders.

    For me, it doesn’t sit well on the objective front that the Alouettes were denied a chance to see if they could pick up the win.

    I understand the logistics of why the weather protocol was brought in. I would have liked to have seen them wait a total of two hours before deciding to call off the game.

    I would be opening to continuing the game the next day.

    With all that said, I have to give credit to the CFL for following through on this newly implemented rule.

    Also, kudos to Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post for coming up with the fact Friday’s game wasn’t the first regular season game that was called due to weather between two CFL clubs.

    Vanstone noted that on Oct. 25, 1954 the Roughriders defeated the British Columbia Lions 15-9 in a weather shortened game at Empire Stadium in Vancouver. With 6:11 remaining in the fourth quarter, Western Interprovincial Football Union commissioner G. Sydney Halter halted that contest with 6:11 remaining in the fourth quarter due to fog.

    The Lions were playing in their inaugural season and finished with a 1-15 record. The Roughriders finished second in the WIFU with a 10-4-2 mark.

    The 1954 game between the Roughriders and the Lions predates the modern creation of the CFL on Jan. 19, 1958 that ultimately resulted in the WIFU becoming the West Division and the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union becoming the East Division.

    In a CFL media release on Saturday, Steve Daniel, the league’s senior director, game information and statistics, said it was more than correct to conclude the 1954 regular season contest was the first to be called due to weather and Friday’s was regular season game to be called by weather.

Is Saskatoon’s sports scene too congested?

Rush star Mark Matthews raises the NLL Cup in 2018.

    As the years go on, it seems Saskatoon’s sports scene is getting more and more congested.

    At the moment, the question has to be asked if Saskatoon’s sports scene is too congested?

    It seems like any new leagues that want to establish themselves in Saskatchewan decide inevitably to locate in Saskatoon to avoid going head-to-head with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina.

    In 2014, the team in Saskatoon that likely had the biggest following and drew the largest average attendances was the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team, who drew an average of 5,177 spectators per game over five home dates between the regular season and playoffs.

    The WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, who were still at the beginning of a major rebuild, were still a fairly sizable draw. The Saskatoon Hilltops of the Canadian Junior Football League and the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team were traditional popular draws as well.

    On the women’s team side, the U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s basketball and hockey teams and Saskatoon Valkyries football team drew considerable attention for great campaigns too in 2014.

    The sports entertainment dollar options for people in Saskatoon increased, when the Rush franchise of the National Lacrosse League relocated from Edmonton to Saskatoon in 2015 in time for the start of the 2016 season as the Saskatchewan Rush.

    The NLL is an established professional league dating back to 1987, which helped give the Rush that much more backing as a legitimate force.

    The Rush won NLL titles twice since the move to Saskatoon in 2016 and 2018. The Rush finished their fourth season in May of this year, and they are still a force averaging over 13,000 spectators a game at the SaskTel Centre.

    They are the biggest draw in Saskatoon’s sports scene, and like the Roughriders, the Rush draw fans from all over the province branding themselves as a team for the whole province.

    This year, the Saskatchewan Rattlers began play in at the SaskTel Centre playing in the Canadian Elite Basketball League and the Saskatchewan Selects soccer team played a three-game SK Summer Soccer Series at Saskatoon Minor Football Field.

    The SK Summer Soccer Series was organized with the hope of one day bringing professional soccer to the province in the form of the Canadian Premier League.

    The Rattlers and Selects have drawn decent crowds to their games.

    One has to wonder when does the sports entertainment dollar in Saskatoon bottom out?

    Overall, it would be great if every sports team in Saskatoon experienced success and captured the public’s attention at one time or another.

    The Rush, Rattlers and Selects have engaged communities in their respective sports, which has attracted ticket buyers.

    On the Rattlers front, they scored a big ace card when Greg Jockims became the club’s head coach and general manager. Jockims is the former head coach of the U of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s basketball team, and he guided the Huskies to Canada West Conference and U Sports national titles in the 2009-10 campaign.

    The one area that can’t handle the influx of teams is the mainstream sports outlets in Saskatoon, which have sustained two decades worth of staff cuts. The mainstream outlets lack the pure staff numbers to be able to head out and cover everything.

    If a mainstream outlet has three sports staffers, it is extremely lucky in the current day. Those outlets usually carry one or two staffers as a norm.

    In the late 1990s, Global had a 30 minute long Sportsline show that ran six nights a week. CTV had long sports segments and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix had a sports staff of six to seven reporters.

    The scene now would have fit perfectly with the resources the mainstream outlets utilized back in the late 1990s.

    Back in those days, the Saskatoon Contacts and Saskatoon Blazers of the midget AAA ranks used to get fairly big play along with high school sports.

    The Contacts, Blazers and highs school sports scene are still around in the current day.

    The Saskatoon Stars female midget AAA hockey team has become a force that warrants coverage on the local scene.

    On top of that, the Blades, Hilltops, Valkyries and Huskies teams haven’t gone anywhere.

    In summer, the stock car tracks and drag strip draw big as well along with horse racing.

    In winter, curling makes its stamp on Saskatoon too.

    These are just some of the things I can think of.

    When you think of the enormity of Saskatoon’s sports scene, there is no way it can be adequately covered with small number of staffers that work at mainstream outlets. They are spread too thin.

Donlevy passes on leaving huge legacy

    The amateur football and hockey scene in Canada was saddened with the passing of Jim Donlevy earlier this month.

    Donlevy passed away at age 82 on Aug. 4 in the company of family at the Southwood Hospice in Calgary, Alta. His funeral was Tuesday in Okotoks, Alta.

    With Donlevy’s passing, it feels like amateur sport in Canada lost a link to its past.

    Most involved with the WHL over the past two decades will remember Donlevy as the league’s director of education services. He joined the WHL in 1992 and was instrumental in the creation and success of the WHL Scholarship Program.

    Before joining the WHL, Donlevy, who was born in McLennan, Alta., had a storied career as an amateur football coach that spanned decades in Edmonton, Alta. He coached at every non-professional level of the game in the Alberta capital.

    He was an assistant coach with the Edmonton Huskies when they won Canadian Junior Football League titles in 1962 and 1963.

    Donlevy became an assistant coach with the University of Alberta Golden Bears football team in 1965. He was an assistant under head coach Clare Drake in 1967, when the Golden Bears won their first Vanier Cup as U Sports national champions.

    Drake was better known for guiding the U of Alberta Golden Bears men’s hockey team to six University Cup title as U Sports national champions with the first coming in the 1967-68 campaign.

    Donlevy became the head coach of the Golden Bears football team in 1971 and held that position for 18 seasons. He guided them to five Canada West Conference championships in 1971, 1972, 1979, 1980 and 1981 and Vanier Cup titles in 1972 and 1980.

    He set up an exhibition game on Sept. 7, 1985 that saw his Golden Bears take on the Regina Rams, who were still in the CJFL at that time. The Rams won that contest, where both sides played their regulars, 22-17 at Taylor Field in Regina, Sask.

    Donlevy upset some in the university ranks for having his Golden Bears face a CJFL squad.

    I remember talking to Donlevy about that game. He said while it did upset some people he had no regrets about following through with that exhibition game.

    Another memory of Donlevy came when Kieran Block, who was a former utility player with the Medicine Hat Tigers, severely injured his legs in a recreation cliff jumping accident in the summer of 2007.

    Block graduated from the Tigers following the 2005-06 campaign and played the 2006-07 with the Golden Bears men’s hockey team before his accident happened.

    He was attending the U of A under the WHL’s Scholarship Program and contacted Donlevy with a special request that would allow him to take time off from school to heal up. Block was expecting to take a year off.

    Donlevy was more that accommodating noting unusual circumstances do happen that have to be accounted for. Donlevy asked Block if he needed to be off for two years.

    If Block did, Donlevy said the WHL scholarship money would still be waiting for him when he returned to school.

    Block was able to return to his school studies within a year.

    In Canada’s amateur sports world, Donlevy was a true gem.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

-------

    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.