Didn’t realize significance of last U Sports, WHL moments

The Huskies celebrate winning the Canada West title on Feb. 29.

    Have I seen my last U Sports and WHL games for an undetermined lengthy stretch?

    That question has passed through my mind the last four days or so. With the world in the grip of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it has crossed my mind it could be some time before I see action in either circuit.

    When they resume, life might take me to a point, where I won’t have involvement in either circuit. It is possible life could take me out of the city of Saskatoon.

    Actually, I try not to think about what the mid to long term future might look like, because I find I engage in mental gymnastics that eats up time and raises the anxiety.

    With that said, it seems pretty obvious the sports scene in Canada will look a lot different and potentially unrecognizable when the pandemic ends. If the shutdowns and restrictions in North American last to next year and even just two years, you can already see a number of teams, leagues and minor sports organizations fold.

Levi Cable scored twice for the Huskies in their Canada West title clincher.

    Add in all the businesses that are struggling and closing, it is hard to conceive there would be enough government money to hand out to keep everything afloat. All of these entities would be healthy, if it wasn’t for the COVID-19 pandemic which can cripple daily revenue streams by 50 to 90 per cent.
    While the province of Saskatchewan is undergoing phases of a reopening plan, I had an eerie feeling all is still not well, when I stopped at an intersection between the Saskatoon Inn and Heritage Inn on Saturday.

    At each hotel, I saw just two cars in the parking lot. This has gone on for three months. I know that is not a good sign.

    Usually, those hotels are starting to rock with the wedding season in summer.

Even with the shutdowns and restrictions that have been in place since the middle of March, there has already been unprecedented damage done to the economy, and things won’t be what they were for a very long time.

    Unfortunately, the only options to navigate the pandemic are all bad and difficult.

    There is a great and legitimate fear about how contagious and how fast COVID-19 can spread.

    One of the most recent reminders came Monday when reports surfaced a number of members from the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texas tested positive for COVID-19 including Cowboys star running back Ezekiel Elliott.

Carson Stadnyk scored in the Canada West title clincher.

    The government and medical health officials are trying to find the least crappy option through all this, but there isn’t a good option.

    Still, the mind drifts back to a naïve time that was not that long ago.

    Back on Feb. 29, I was at Merlis Belsher Place when it was still serving its original purpose of being a hockey rink as opposed to a COVID-19 field hospital in waiting.
    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies downed the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 3-1 in Game 2 of the Canada West Championship series in men’s hockey before a record crowd of 2,667 spectators. The Huskies swept the best-of-three series 2-0 to capture the title.

    Levi Cable scored twice for the Huskies, and Carson Stadnyk had a single in the win. Netminder Taran Kozun, who would be named the U Sports player of the year and goaltender of the year in March, made 17 saves to earn the win in goal.

    The crowd at Merlis might have been the loudest it had ever been for a Huskies game in the new facility. The Huskies moved to Merlis before the start of the 2018-19 campaign.

    No one at the Huskies Canada West title winning game envisioned U Sports coming to a halt. There will be no national championships in fall or no to possibly limited action in three conferences.
    If hockey gets off the ground, it won’t be until January of 2021, and the Huskies men’s and women’s hockey teams will have to play in different digs.

A crowd of 2,667 saw the Huskies win the Canada West title at Merlis.

    If that Canada West title win was the last time I potentially work a Huskies game, at least the departure was a memorable one.

    In dealing with U Sports since moving to Saskatoon in the summer of 2014, I realize there is a political spectrum you have to accept and deal with on that circuit that wasn’t always fun and did in some years make me not want to hang around on that sports body.

    I found I had a good natural chemistry dealing with the Huskies football team the past two seasons and the Huskies men’s hockey team this past season that brought the fun back.
    I know my February playoff rivalry pieces regarding the Huskies women’s hockey team and the Thunderbirds women’s team weren’t the most popular things I typed out. After the Huskies women’s team was swept 2-0 falling twice in extra sessions, I know I wasn’t the most liked person with some in that camp.

    I have passed a couple of email messages with graduated captain Brooklyn Haubrich and graduated star defender Leah Bohlken since that time.

    With all that has happened in the world over the last three months, those rivalry pieces don’t even look like that big of a thing to me anymore.

Aliaksei Protas and the Raiders rolled to an 8-3 win on March 3.

    Overall, I regained my joy being on the U Sports circuit, and just when that happens, it stalls out because of factors beyond the circuit’s control.

    March 3 marked the last time I was in the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert. The defending WHL champion Raiders hammered the visiting Calgary Hitmen 8-3 before 2,481 spectators.

    The Raiders sat first in the WHL’s East Division, and there was optimism in “Hockey Town North” about there being another long playoff run.

    I remember the post-game interview with Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid rolled really great that night. Prince Albert products and Huskies women’s hockey team members Morgan Willoughby and Jessica Vance were saluted before that contest during the ceremonial puck drop.
    No one envisioned the Raiders would only play three more games in the 2019-20 campaign before the COVID-19 pandemic halted the season.

    March 6 marked the last time I worked a live WHL game as the Regina Pats faced the Saskatoon Blades at the SaskTel Centre. Just 29 seconds into overtime, left-winger Kyle Crnkovic scored off a backdoor setup from Tristen Robins to give the Blades a 2-1 victory before 4,478 spectators.

    That win officially locked up a WHL playoff berth for the Blades, and the mood was upbeat and vibrant on the Saskatoon side during post-game interviews. Little did anyone know, that would be the Blades final home game for the 2019-20 campaign.

Kyle Crnkovic celebrates his OT winner for the Blades on March 6.

    About eight days later, the Blades players were bound for their off-season homes as the shutdowns started to occur due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    During the Huskies Canada West title winning game, the last Raiders game I was at or that final Blades home game, it never occurred to me to soak in the night, because it was going to be awhile before these things happened again.

    Today, the WHL put out a release targeting Oct. 2 as a potential start date for the 2020-21 campaign with hopes each team will play a standard 68-game regular season. Due to the league’s 22 clubs playing in four provinces and two states in the United States, I realize there are a lot of hurdles to go before any meaningful hockey games are played on the circuit.

    For now, at least my final recollections of being at home games involving the Huskies men’s hockey team, the Raiders and the Blades were good ones. If that is the end of chapter for me, at least it went out on a high.

Money crunch hammers U of Alberta athletics, other notes

Trevor Cox and the Golden Bears won’t be on the ice in 2020-21.

    It was a move that will send shock waves through not just the scene in U Sports but Canada’s national sports scene as a whole.

    On Wednesday, the University of Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas athletics program announced it will not be participating in men’s and women’s hockey, volleyball and basketball in the upcoming 2020-21 U Sports season due to a lack of financing.

    The U of A athletics program is viewed as one of the greatest in all of U Sports. The Golden Bears and Pandas teams in men’s and women’s hockey, volleyball and basketball have combined to win a total of 43 U Sports national titles.

    Back on June 8, U Sports cancelled all of its fall national championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    On top of those announcements on June 8, the conferences of Atlantic University Sport and Ontario University Athletics announced all varsity sports will shut down for the remainder of 2020.

    Also on June 8, the Canada West Conference, which U of A plays out of, cancelled play in all team sports through to the end of 2020. Canada West will determine the fates of conference championships in men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s cross-country running and men’s and women’s swimming to be held in fall by July 15.

    Men’s and women’s hockey, men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s volleyball are targeted to start in early January of 2021. A decision on the fate of those sports will be made by Oct. 8.

Kirsten Chamberlin and the Pandas won't play in 2020-21.

    Due to a budget crunch, the U of A athletics program decided to pull the plug on those programs now.

    In a release, the Golden Bears and Pandas program cited cuts to the Campus Alberta Grant, the demand from the Government of Alberta that universities balance their budgets and reduce expenditures in year and the reduction to the University of Alberta Athletics and Recreation student fee in causing a major shortfall.

    The University of Alberta Athletics and Recreation student fee was completely waived for the spring and summer semesters.

    “This scenario has brought most of our diverse revenue streams to a complete halt, and the athletics budget is no longer able to support participation for the 2020/2021 season,” said U of A athletics director Ian Reade in a release. “While this is an extremely hard decision for us, it is in the best interest of the student-athletes that we make this decision now, so their future is somewhat more clear.”

    Reade said the U of A athletics department will remain committed to those student-athletes who have written commitments to receive Athletic Financial Assistance.

    At the moment, the Golden Bears and Pandas teams still plan to participate in tournament sports including wrestling, cross-country running, track and field, rugby sevens, curling and swimming at the Canada West Conference level.

    U of A is slated to host the U Sports nationals for men’s and women’s wrestling on Feb. 26-27, 2021.
    In an interview with The Gateway, which is the U of A student newspaper, Reade said the school’s athletic programs is budgeting for University of Alberta Athletics and Recreation student fee will be reduced by 70 per cent for the fall term by the U of Alberta Students’ Union due to an expected reduction of access because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cole Sanford created lots of excitement for the Golden Bears.

    Reade told the student newspaper U of A athletics lost $1-million, when it couldn’t run its summer sports camps due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    He told The Gateway he expects an estimated $1.2-million loss in base funding for the U of A athletics program.

    Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it would have been hard to imagine the Golden Bears and Pandas sitting out a sports season.

    The Golden Bears have won the most titles in U Sports national titles in men’s hockey at 16 and the Pandas are the all-time leaders in most national championships in U Sports women’s hockey at eight.

    The Golden Bears men’s volleyball team has captured eight U Sports national titles, and the Pandas women’s volleyball team has won seven U Sports national championships.

    The Golden Bears men’s basketball team has earned three U Sports national titles, and the Pandas women’s basketball team has won one U Sports national crown.

    The Golden Bears and Pandas teams are so storied you would think their unofficial theme songs would be “The Best” by Tina Turner and “We are the Champions” by Queen.

    Their exploits alone should cause Edmonton to restore the “City of Champions” signs at all entrances to the Alberta capital.

    Overall, the Golden Bears and Pandas student-athletes have the right type of good confidence and swagger. Along with winning a lot, the Golden Bears and Pandas team member carry themselves well.

    They epitomize winning with class and losing with class.

Autumn MacDougall of the Pandas led Canada West in scoring last season.

    If the U of A teams aren’t able to go in 2020-21 due to financial reasons, one wonders how many other U Sports programs might decide to pack it in and not play during that campaign as well.

    Across Canada, a number of teams, leagues and minor sports organizations are having talks regarding decisions to play or not to play, and if those teams, leagues and minor sports organizations do play, those bodies have to figure out if they will be throwing good money after bad money.

    Despite all that gloom, the U of A athletics program is aiming to return to regular participation in U Sports in 2021-22.

    Reade and the U of A decision makers are doing their best to ensure the Golden Bears and Pandas teams will add to their epic exploits in the future after the 2020-21 campaign.

• On Monday, Golf Canada cancelled all of its amateur competitions for the duration of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It previously announced the cancellation and postponement of a number of its junior and amateur competition scheduled through mid-June.
• On Wednesday, Golf Saskatchewan announced it will go ahead with eight individual championships but will not host the Women’s Rosebowl or the Mixed Championship, which operate in shotgun start formats. The first event is the 102^nd Saskatchewan Women’s Amateur Championship set for the Willows Golf and Country Club in Saskatoon from July 9 to 11. The dates for all the tournaments can be found by clicking right here.
• On Sunday, the Assiniboia Southern Rebels junior B team announced they had requested and been approved of a one-year leave of absence from the Prairie Junior Hockey League. The Rebels cited uncertainty created due to the COVID-19 pandemic as reason for the move.
• On Tuesday, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies announced their Dogs’ Breakfast fundraiser set for Sept. 3 has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event is an annual fundraiser for the Huskies football team. Those who bought a ticket can donate the purchase to the Huskies football team, defer the ticket to the 2021 Dogs’ Breakfast, receive a partial refund or a full refund. More info on how to deal with a Dogs’ Breakfast ticket can be found by clicking right here.
• On Tuesday, Medicine Hat Tigers right-winger Lucas Svejkovsky was invited to the United States World Junior Summer Showcase slated for July 24 to Aug. 1 in Plymouth, Mich. In 52 regular season games split with the Vancouver Giants and Tigers last season, Svejkovsky, who will turn 19 in November, netted 18 goals, 20 assists and a plus-27 rating in the plus-minus category. The camp is used by the United States to evaluate players for the upcoming world juniors slated to start Dec. 26, 2020 and run to Jan. 5, 2021 in Edmonton and Red Deer. Svejkovsky came to the Tigers from the Giants last season via a trade.
• On Tuesday, Prince Albert Raiders defenceman Kaiden Guhle was invited to be part of Hockey Canada’s virtual national junior team development camp, which runs July 27 to 31. Prince Albert product Braden Schneider, who plays defence with the Brandon Wheat Kings, will also take part in the virtual camp. The virtual camp also includes two Saskatoon products in Adam Beckman, who plays left wing with the Spokane Chiefs and Connor Zary, who plays centre for the Kamloops Blazers.
• On Tuesday, Saskatoon Blades head coach Mitch Love was named an assistant coach for Canada world junior team for a second straight year. Love helped Canada win gold at last season’s tournament.
• On Wednesday, the Saskatoon Blades released popular utility player Randen Schmidt, who is set to enter his overage season. Schmidt played three season for the Blades appearing in 129 regular season games collecting three goals, 17 assists and a plus-one rating.
• Over recent weeks, I know there has been a call for police departments across North America to do better. I believe any local calls from Saskatoon to defund the Saskatoon Police Service are misguided. I do have family and friends who are members of the Saskatoon Police Service. If you ask members of the police service, they would agree more funds should go into social programs, because it would prevent the chances of those growing up in not the best social circumstances cycling into the justice system as an offender. Defunding the police right now would create a lot of problems. While you can always improve, all one needs to do is talk to retired Saskatoon Police Service sergeant Ernie Louttit about how much the Saskatoon police have improved from the 1980s until now. Also, the Saskatoon Police Service put out this music video back in September of 2018, which allows people in Saskatoon to say their police service is better than yours.

    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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