Wednesday 28 August 2019

Huskies face next task – prove Hardy Cup win wasn’t a one off

LT Noah Zerr locks up RE Riley Pickett (#91).
    Are the University of Saskatchewan Huskies really the top dogs of the Canada West Conference with regards to football?
    Or, does the conference still belong to the U of Calgary Dinos or the Blake Nill coached University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.
    A year ago, the Huskies had a magical campaign going places they hadn’t gone in a long time. They finished third in the Canada West Conference with a 5-3, slipped past the Thunderbirds 31-28 in overtime in a Canada West semifinal and dumped the Dinos 43-18 in the Canada West final to capture the Hardy Cup as conference champions.
    The Huskies proceeded to travel to London, Ont., for a U Sports semifinal bowl game falling 47-24 to the U of Western Ontario Mustangs in the Mitchell Bowl.
Highly touted Mason Nyhus leads the Huskies at quarterback.
    U of S ended a one year absence from the post season, won a playoff game for the first time since 2009 and captured a conference title for the first time since 2006. The 2018 season was a resounding success for the Huskies.
    Now, they are faced with the challenge of trying to make these runs through the post-season more of a habit.
    Before last year’s playoff run, the Huskies had lost eight straight post-season games, and that skid is now an afterthought.
    Still, the Dinos have played in the last 11 Canada West title games and won eight of those contests. For three straight years from 2015 to 2017, the Dinos faced the Thunderbirds in the conference title game.
    The Thunderbirds took the 2015 Canada West championship and marched on to win the Vanier Cup as U Sports national champions.
    Since the start of the 2008 season, the Thunderbirds in 2015 are the only team in Canada West that has captured a national title.
    In the initial U Sports Top 10 rankings released on Tuesday, the Huskies were rated fourth, and they were the highest ranked team from Canada West. 
Carter Dahl, right, makes a touchdown grab for the Huskies.
    The Dinos were rated fifth and the Thunderbirds were 10th.
    In the Canada West football pre-season coaches poll released on Wednesday, the Dinos were rated first, the Huskies second, the U of Manitoba Bisons third, the Thunderbirds fourth, the U of Alberta Golden Bears fifth and the U of Regina Rams sixth.
    Nationally, it seems the Huskies have a touch more respect compared to how their conference rivals believe they will stand up. That should seem natural as the Huskies are a long way from matching the Dinos in consistently qualifying for the Canada West final.
    Also, the Dinos return star quarterback Adam Sinagra, who won the Hec Crighton trophy as the most valuable player in U Sports football and was a first team U Sports all-Canadian all-star.
    With all that said, the Huskies have the pieces to duplication and potentially go further than they did last season. They return 10 starters on offence and 10 starts on defence from last year’s squad.
RB Adam Machart is looking to have a big year as a starter.
    Mason Nyhus, who is in his third year of eligibility, takes over as the starting quarterback from Kyle Siemens, who has exhausted his U Sports eligibility. Nyhus is a highly touted recruit who has been waiting in the wings as a backup the past two seasons and as a redshirt in 2016.
    The Huskies still have star offensive utility player Colton Klassen in the fold, and he led the team last year in receiving yards (676) and all-purpose yards (981). They have other playmakers at receiver in Jesse Kuntz, Yol Piok and Carter Dahl.
    The running back position is in the sure hands of two former stars with the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops in Adam Machart and Josh Ewanchyna along with first-year runner Keagan White.
    As has been the tradition with the Huskies, their strength on offence likely runs through the offensive line. The Huskies have one of their best offensive lines in recent years return all five starters from a season ago in left tackle Noah Zerr, left guard Mattland Riley, centre Connor Berglof, right guard Tanner Secord and right tackle Nick Summach.
DT Evan Machibroda was a first team all-Canadian last year.
    Riley was a Canada West all-star and a second team U Sports all-Canadian a year ago.
    The defence is anchored by fifth-year defensive tackle Evan Machibroda, who had 14 total tackles and three sacks last season. Machibroda was a Canada West all-star and a first team all-Canadian all-star.
    He was selected in the fifth round and 41st overall in the CFL Draft held last May by the Edmonton Eskimos.
    Riley Pickett and Nicholas Dheilly can cause all sorts of havoc off the defensive end.
    Brothers Tom and Ben Whiting anchor the linebacking corps, while rookie Ramsey Derbas could be inserted to make big plays. Ben Whiting topped the Huskies with 44 tackles last season and was selected in the seventh round and 57th overall in the CFL Draft by the Montreal Alouettes last May.
    David Solie returns to the Huskies after helping the Hilltops win their 21st CJFL title last season, and he will likely take over the place kicking and punting duties.
HC Scott Flory and his staff give the Huskies strong guidance.
    Scott Flory, who is in his third year as head coach, has kept his solid staff intact.
    The Huskies are taking the right approach just worrying about getting better each day in the present and each game as it comes. They believe and live that approach too for real.
    This is a team that can take another step building off what happened last season. Off the field, they are a good group of respectable young men. They have a team you can rally around.
    The Huskies open the regular season on Friday in Winnipeg against the Bisons. U of S then returns home to host the Thunderbirds on Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. at Griffiths Stadium.
    A new golden age for Huskies football could very well be at hand.

Rattlers end first storybook season in style as CEBL champs


    It looks like the Saskatchewan Rattlers are carving their niche in the province’s sports scene.
    On Sunday at the SaskTel Centre, the Rattlers downed the Hamilton Honey Badgers 94-83 in the inaugural title game of the Canadian Elite Basketball League. The Rattlers finished third in the regular season standings of the six-team circuit with an 11-9 record and were the host team of the CEBL’s final four championship tournament at the SaskTel Centre.
    The Rattlers slipped past the second place Edmonton Stingers 85-83 in one of two semifinal games on Saturday. The Stingers had a 14-6 record in the regular season.
    The Honey Badgers, who finished fourth in the regular season at 10-10, upset the first place Niagara River Lions 104-103 in Saturday’s other semifinal. The River Lions had a 15-5 mark during the regular season.
    In the CEBL title game, the Rattlers jumped out to a 48-41 lead at halftime ultimate coming away with an 11-point win before 3,119 spectators. Guard Alex Campbell topped the Rattlers in scoring with 20 points.
    Saskatoon has seen its share of fly-by-night professional basketball leagues, and in the immediate aftermath of one season, it feels like the CEBL will be around for the longer term.
    The Rattlers gained instant credibility by bringing on Greg Jockims as head coach and general manager. Jockims rebuilt the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s basketball team into one of the strongest programs in U Sports as the squad’s head coach from 1998 to 2011.
    He guided the Huskies Canada West conference and U Sports national championships in the 2009-10 campaign.
    Jockims is well-respected in Saskatchewan’s basketball community and can coach the game in top form at any level.
    The Rattlers benefitted from having Lee Genier as team president. Genier also doubles as the president and chief operation officer, western operation for the CEBL.
    He is veteran sports management executive having stints with the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders, Bobsleigh Canada Skelton and the NLL’s Saskatchewan Rush. Genier seems to collect championship rings wherever he goes.
    Sunday’s title game was also the last competitive game played by hometown hero in 36-year-old guard Michael Linklater. Linklater has been a star and ambassador on Saskatchewan basketball scene for years. He was a member of the Huskies U Sports national championship team in 2009-10.
    Before the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters stop held this past July, Linklater said he would be retiring from competitive basketball after the Rattlers season ended.
    He scored four points and had one rebound and one assist seeing six minutes and 10 seconds of court time on Sunday.
    For this season, it is cheers to the Rattlers on a successful campaign. Hopefully this is the start of bigger things.

Thom Trojans football takes leave, stirs up media attention


    The Trojans football program at Regina’s Thom Collegiate hasn’t stirred up this much media attention since the heyday of Gerry Thompson’s era as head coach.
    On Tuesday, the Regina High Schools Athletic Association and Regina Public Schools announced Thom Collegiate will not be fielding its Trojans football team this season. The release said not enough students showed interest in playing football in the spring of the 2018-19 school year and in the fall of the current school year that is about to begin.
    Football Canada recommends high schools have at least 24 players to ensure player safety.
    Thom has taken a one-year leave of absence from the Regina Intercollegiate Football League.
    The Trojans football program has produced a number of players that have gone on to play with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders including Jim Hopson, Neal Hughes, Stu Foord, Kennedy Nkeyasen and Dan Clark.
    Thom students who wish to play football this season will be able to join the Winston Knoll Collegiate Wolverines. As of Tuesday, three students had decided to play with Regina Minor Football.
    While the development at Thom is disappointing, it has been crazy how much media coverage it has received from mainstream outlets.
    Arguably, the Trojans taking a leave of absence from the Regina high school league has received more coverage than the powerhouse Holy Cross High School Crusaders football team in Saskatoon has received combined in the past two years.
    While a number of reasons likely cause low registration for football at Thom, you could argue the Trojans would still be playing if high school football in Saskatchewan as a whole received the coverage that the Trojans received for taking a year leave of absence.
    There was a time mainstream media outlets had much larger sports staffs. In those days, the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix had sports staffers dedicated to covering high school sports and produced high school sports pages.
    It should be noted the high school beat traditionally results in the most sports coverage complaints usually revolving around one school, which is always winning, receiving more coverage than other schools. The top bosses at mainstream media outlets prefer to not spend any time dealing with those types of complaints and that is usually achieved by not covering high school sports.
    Of course when a football team stops playing due to low numbers, the spectre of fear involving concussion injuries often comes up. Because of the concussion fears, any time it is decided a football program stops operating becomes a story mainstream media outlets flock to. That is just the way it is.
    Add on top of that, North America is a changed world where people of all ages spend countless hours on mobile phones and social media.
    Hopefully, Thom’s football program, which is full of tradition, returns a year from now.

The great NFL Winnipeg ripoff, other notes


    I know this is beating a dead horse, but the NFL exhibition game held in Winnipeg, Man., between the Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders was a joke.
    Last Thursday, the Raiders beat the Packers 22-21 before 21,992 spectators at IG Field, which is home to the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
    The field was shrunk from 100 to 80 yards due to concerns on the part of the field where the CFL uprights are located for Bombers games. End zones were marked at the 10 yard line, and there were no kickoffs in the game.
    The Packers proceeded to announce they would not dress 33 players including two-time NFL MVP and Super Bowl XLV MVP Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers alone was the marquee draw for this game.
    The Raiders sat out starting quarterback Derek Carr and receiver Antonio Brown.
    The biggest lesson to come out of this game is that any event will flop, if it is overpriced. This one was priced to the point it was reasonable to ask ticket buyers, if they were out of their mind.
    A day before the game, mountains of tickets were available, but you had to shell out to get them.
    You could sit in Section 108P, row 12, seat 10, which was at midfield, but you had to pay $439.25 including fees and taxes for that seat.
    How about near midfield in the upper deck of the east side in Section 209, row 26, seat 22? That seat way up there would set you back $243.75 including fees and taxes.
    You could sit in the corner of one end zone in Section 143, row 4, seat 3. That ticket would cost you $266.75 including fees and taxes.
    In that same section, you could sit in the back in row 23, seat 15, and that seat would cost you $94.25 including fees and taxes.
    The $94.25 price point was the lowest I could find the day before the game. Most tickets were over $240.
    Winnipeg is known as a frugal town, and most football followers there know you could travel to Minneapolis, Minn., and see a Minnesota Vikings NFL regular season game for $240 including travel expenses. There have been tour companies offering that type of package for years.
    The Packers also play in Minneapolis once every season, so you could see Rodgers play for four quarters in a game that counts for the price you paid to see the Winnipeg pre-season game.
    The Winnipeg NFL pre-season game was a dud, and those that paid money to see it received the lemon they deserved. When you saw the inflated ticket prices, that already stamped bad vibes on the game.
  • The Saskatoon Blades opened camp this week, and star centre Kirby Dach wasn’t there. The 18-year-old was selected in the first round and third overall in the NHL Entry Draft last June and has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blades and their fans have to figure that this might be a bigger sign that Dach will likely make the Blackhawks and not be rejoining the Blades this season.
  • The Blades signed their two picks from last June’s CHL Import Draft in Czech defencemen Libor Zabransky and Radek Kucerik before training camp started on Sunday. Both are expected to play key minutes this season.
  • Feisty forward Riley McKay has looking outstanding in a series of team scrimmages on Monday and Tuesday played in a tournament format called the Kirkness Cup. McKay, who is a 20-year-old left-winger, took part in the tournament final with Team Holtby. McKay, who arguably the WHL’s best agitator, had a pair of goals, including the double overtime winner, and an assist to power Team Holtby past Team McLellan 4-3. Could McKay be the Blades version of Derek Dorsett, when Dorsett played for the Medicine Hat Tigers?
  • On Monday, the defending WHL champion Prince Albert Raiders signed 17-year-old forward Ivan Kechkin to a WHL standard player agreement. The Raiders selected the Russian in last June’s CHL Import Draft. Raiders training camp opens on Friday at the Art Hauser Centre.
  • Saskatoon hockey fans will get to see former Blades in centre Josh Paterson and offensive defenceman Dawson Davidson pass through town in enemy colours in the U Sports ranks. Both have signed on to play with the University of Alberta Golden Bears men’s hockey team. Paterson finished last season as a member of the Portland Winterhawks after being dealt there before the WHL trade deadline on Jan. 10.
  • Former U of Regina Rams linebacker Jon Cormier passed away over the weekend suddenly from natural causes. Cormier was from Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, and he played for the Rams in 2000, when they appeared in the U Sport national title game the Vanier Cup, through to 2003. He was a popular player amongst his teammates during his time with the Rams. The 40-year-old was a police officer with the RCMP.
    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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