“Two claps and a Ric Flair” – Filteau’s memory lives on with Huskies

Justin Filteau in action with the Huskies in 2016.

    It is a cheer that has extra meaning with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team.

    When they are on the field for practice and during games, someone will yell, “Give me two claps and a Ric Flair.”

    The players on the field clap their hands twice and follow that up with a loud, “Woo!”

    The cheer was brought to the team by linebacker Justin Filteau in 2015, when he came over to the Huskies from the Saskatoon Hilltops, who are a powerhouse in the Canadian Junior Football League.

    Filteau did that cheer in Saskatchewan’s judo scene, which he was heavily involved in.

    Filteau played for the Huskies in 2015 and 2016 and helped the coaching staff in 2017, when he suffered a season ending injury in training camp tearing his pectoral muscle. He departed from the team after the 2017 campaign.

Justin Filteau pursues a play in 2016.

    On June 1 of this year, Filteau died tragically in a plane crash at age 26.

    The Huskies have continued doing the Ric Flair cheer this season, and its extra meaning isn’t lost on anyone with the team.

    “It is fun,” said fourth-year utility offensive star Colton Klassen. “It gets the guys going.

    “That is the main reason we do it. Justin used to love to do it with the defence. He did it when he did judo, so that was definitely one of the reasons it carried over.

    “It is just another little subtle thing that just continues over for what Justin did and how he impacted the program. He is still in our thoughts, and he is still in our prayers, so that is the main reason we do it.”

    The cheer will be something spectators hear when the Huskies (0-1) host their home opener on Friday at 7 p.m. at Griffiths Stadium against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (0-1). The contest is the Huskies annual homecoming game.

    Besides doing the cheer, the Huskies are wearing #45 decals on their helmets this season in memory of Filteau, because #45 was the number he wore with the Huskies and the Hilltops. A number of players on the Huskies current roster were teammates with Filteau.

Justin Filteau (#45) and the Huskies defence purse a ball carrier in 2016.

    Klassen was a member of Huskies for two of Filteau’s seasons. They coached inner city six-man youth football together.

    The skilled pass catcher still thinks about Filteau’s passing. Filteau, who was from Moose Jaw, was in Medicine Hat along with Moose Jaw residents Jim Wilk and Kerry DePape for a bachelor party. The three were flying back to Moose Jaw in a small plane shortly after takeoff.

    “It is definitely on the back of everybody’s mind,” said Klassen. “It is definitely something none of us are going to forget.

Colton Klassen coached minor football with Justin Filteau.

    “We’re dedicating this season a lot to Justin too. We have a 45 on our helmets this year. I only played two years with Justin, but he would have done anything for this team.

    “If that meant playing, if that meant being on the scout team, Justin did anything that he was asked.”

    Filteau seemed to anything that was asked of him from the football community in the province. After his playing days wrapped up, he coached minor football at different levels, the Bishop James Mahoney High School Saints and the Saskatoon Valkyries of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League.
    Filteau was planning to meet up with the Valkyries for a WWCFL regular season game on June 2 against the Riot after landing in Moose Jaw on the night of his ill-fated fight. The Valkyries dedicated the rest of their season to their defensive position coach winning the WWCFL title going 9-0 overall in their 2019 campaign.

    Huskies fifth-year defensive tackle Evan Machibroda was around for all of Filteau’s years with the team.

Evan Machibroda (#54) said the Huskies talk a lot about Justin Filteau.

    Machibroda, who was a first team U Sports all-Canadian all-star last season, said his team knows how special Filteau’s efforts were in giving back to the game.
    “He is definitely still talked about in the locker room,” said Machibroda. “I don’t think he ever won’t be, because he was just a really influential guy in Saskatoon and the football community in Saskatchewan as well.

    “You can’t have a bad word to say about the guy.”

    Machibroda thinks about Filteau every time his team does the Ric Flair cheer.
    “It is just a way to remember him,” said Machibroda. “That would be a little way of doing it.”

    Huskies defensive coordinator Warren Muzika said the Ric Flair cheer has extra meaning for the team now, because everyone thinks about Filteau. 

Huskies DC Warren Muzika had a tough time with Justin Filteau’s passing.

    Muzika believes the Huskies players are still at different stages in dealing with Filteau’s passing.

    “A few guys in the locker room have a #45 tattooed on their bodies in different places,” said Muzika. “Filteau meant a lot to a lot of people.

    “The guys cared a lot about Justin, and they felt really obviously just terrible when it happened. We think positively of him all the time, and we are reminded of him often around here.”

Justin Filteau in action for the Saskatoon Hilltops in 2014.

    When Muzika became the Huskies defensive coordinator in 2017, he said Filteau was big in helping him coach the other players.
    Filteau suffered his season ending injury in the Huskies 22-10 exhibition loss to the McMaster University Marauders in Hamilton, Ont., on Aug. 25, 2017 but he elected to be around the team as much as possible looking for ways to help.

    “He was at every practice once he was done his surgery,” said Muzika. “He helped us with scripts.

    “He was almost like an assistant coach that year. He was just a tremendous help and a positive energy around the room.”
    Before joining the Huskies, Muzika was an assistant coach with the Hilltops for a lengthy stretch and was their defensive line coach and specialty teams coordinator during Filteau’s first four years with the team from 2010 to 2013.
    Filteau graduated from the Hilltops following the 2014 campaign earning four CJFL championship rings.

Justin Filteau ready for action in 2016.

    Muzika, who played five seasons in the CFL from 1999 to 2003 with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers, enjoyed coaching Filteau. 

    The defensive coordinator, who built a reputation as one of the toughest players to step on a football field in Saskatchewan when he was a linebacker with the Hilltops and Huskies, said he had a tough time with Filteau’s passing.

    “It is always terrible when you see young people pass too soon,” said Muzika. “It’s a tremendous loss, but at the same time, we focus on the positives that he brought to the world and try to emulate the way Justin lived his life.”

    In conjunction with remembering Filteau, Klassen said doing the Ric Flair cheer gives the Huskies extra jump. 
    So when the breaks are beating the Dogs, it is time for “two claps and a Ric Flair.”

    “You definitely have it in the back of your mind a memory of Justin doing it,” said Klassen. “The nice thing is you know about Justin is he is watching down.

    “He is watching over us. He is happy we are doing it. He is happy that it passed over.

A  “J.F #45” sticker on a helmet of a Huskies player.

    “We’re just hoping to keep doing it, and we hopefully can give him a good winning season.”

    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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