 |
| The Wyant Group Raceway opens its season on Saturday. |
On Saturday, the green flag is ready to drop to start an
abbreviated season at the Wyant Group Raceway. Normally, the stock car racing
season in Saskatoon starts near the last weekend of May.
Of course, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic wreaked havoc
on the local automotive racing season like it has the entire sports world.
The SSCRA has had a racing season of some sort every year
since 1954, and that streak will go on despite the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The front gates are set to open at 4 p.m. on Saturday and
the national anthem and invocation will follow at 6 p.m. to kick off the
night’s main program.
Racing is slated to take place in the super late model,
bandolero, sportsman, baby grand and mini cup classes.
Due to Government of Saskatchewan COVID-19 pandemic
regulations, the SSCRA was only able to sell 150 tickets for Saturday’s race
program, and those tickets were all scooped up a short time after going on sale
on Tuesday.
The fans won’t have any problems when to comes to physical distancing as the Wyant Group Raceway has a capacity of 3,319 spectators, and the track also has 15 corporate chalets that act as box seating.
The fans won’t have any problems when to comes to physical distancing as the Wyant Group Raceway has a capacity of 3,319 spectators, and the track also has 15 corporate chalets that act as box seating.
 |
| Racers from the sportsman class head down the front straightaway. |
Still, those in attendance will likely be excited to once again
take in one of Saskatoon’s long time summer traditions. The tradition goes back
to 1954, when the unincorporated Saskatoon Stock Car Racing Club, which became
the SSCRA, operated on the 8th Street Racing Oval called the
Motordrome.
The track
moved to the grandstand area at Prairieland Park for a couple of years in 1970
and 1971. The action shifted to the Bridge City Speedway from 1972 to 2005
before the City of Saskatoon annexed that land to build the residential
neighbourhood of Evergreen.
Since 2006,
the Saskatoon Stock Car Racing Association has called the immaculate Wyant
Group Raceway home. For those that have never been there, Wyant Group Raceway
feels like a piece of race car heaven, and you almost can’t believe a stock car
racing facility that nice is located in Saskatoon.
When the
COVID-19 pandemic isn’t on, the Wyant Group Raceway hosts an annual NASCAR
Pinty’s Series stop. The NASCAR Pinty’s Series is a minor league circuit that
prepares drivers to compete one day at NASCAR’s top level – the Cup Series.
Still, the
racing in Saskatoon’s local classes is top notch and gets the adrenaline
pumping. SSCRA supporters will once again be able to see the exploits of
various standout drivers in local classes like Aaron Anderson, Neil Schneider,
Kevin Dyck, Lachlyn Anderson, Sam Howlett, Blake Erb, Mike Rea, Matthew Shirley
and Jim Gaunt.
 |
| The super late model class produces tonnes of thrilling races. |
Some of the
Saskatoon drivers have been entertaining fans online with a series of iRacing
virtual events. While the broadcasts of the virtual events are cool, they can’t
replace the feel of live action.
The
shortened SSCRA race season is schedule to run over seven spread out over
August and September.
Considering
it seemed possible there wouldn’t be a race season at all in these pandemic
times, the 2020 SSCRA season is a special and much welcomed gift.
Could the Saskatoon Field House come back to
action?
 |
| The front entrance of the Saskatoon Field House. |
In early April, the Saskatchewan Health Authority said the
Saskatoon Field House was going to be used to stage staff for the field
hospital that has been built inside neighbouring Merlis Belsher Place for a
surge of COVID-19 cases.
Merlis Belsher Place was opened on the University of
Saskatchewan campus on October of 2018 mainly to serve as the home of the
University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s and women’s hockey teams. Housing two
hockey rinks, Merlis Belsher Place was also home to the Saskatoon Contacts
under-18 AAA hockey team and the Saskatoon Stars under-18 female AAA hockey
club.
At the moment, Merlis is a “Linus blanket” field hospital in
waiting, and for those that have seen the surge of COVID-19 cases in the United
States, it is likely a good thing Merlis is a field hospital in waiting.
It is well known in the Saskatoon sports community that
Merlis won’t be available to be a sports facility for the 2020-21 campaign, and
it is uncertain when it will ever serve as a sports facility again.
With that noted, it appears the Saskatoon Field House might
escape having to serve the field hospital at Merlis.
I went biking through that area on Sunday, and there is no
Saskatchewan Health Authority signage on the Saskatoon Field House. There are
still signs on the doors of the Saskatoon Field House from the City of
Saskatoon stating that sports facility is still closed.
When you go to the back of the Saskatoon Field House, it feels
kind of abandoned as some of the weeds by the back door are about three feet
high.
The City of Saskatoon’s website says the Saskatoon Field
House is still closed and there are no notes about when it possibly could
reopen. Most of Saskatoon’s leisure centres are close with the exception of the
Lakewood Civic Centre and the Shaw Centre, which are partially open.
The Saskatoon Field House in the main practice facility for
the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s and women’s track and field teams
and for the local track and field community. If it isn’t being reserved to
assist with the field hospital at Merlis, the optimism that the Saskatoon Field
House could be opened for sports purposes at some point in the future has to
increase.
The outside of Merlis has various Saskatchewan Health
Authority signs placed all over it. The main entrance has a label for staff to
enter and door for couriers bring packages to the building.
The back side Merlis has a pair of doors labeled for
patients to enter, and both doors lead to the hockey rink area.
While Merlis won’t be a sports facility for some time, it
would be a huge bonus for the Saskatoon sports community to get the Saskatoon
Field House back.
Softball Saskatchewan cancels provincials,
other notes
 |
| Saskatchewan softball players will just play in local area leagues in 2020. |
On Wednesday, the minor sport governing body cancelled all
of its provincial championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While most minor
sport governing bodies that oversaw teams sports during the spring and summer
hand cancelled their respective provincials some time ago, Softball Saskatchewan was holding out hoping some positive developments would break with
regards to the pandemic.
Softball Saskatchewan cited Government of Saskatchewan
restrictions and guidelines for the cancellation. The Government of
Saskatchewan still has a ban regarding tournament play for team sports due to
the pandemic.
Only Golf Saskatchewan was able to run provincial
championship tournaments this summer due to golf being an individual sport.
Softball Saskatchewan and Baseball Sask were allowed to get
game action going in city and house leagues starting in early July. Those games
are continuing throughout August.
While it is disappointing Softball Saskatchewan won’t be
able to host provincial championship tournament, the crew with that
organization should be commended for the work they did to try and make those
title events a reality.
- On Tuesday, the AHL announced it has cancelled the AHL All-Star Classic for the 2020-21 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Laval Rocket was set to host the AHL All-Star Classic on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 in 2021. Laval will host the event for the 2021-22 campaign on dates that are still to be determined. The AHL hopes to start its 2021-22 regular season on Dec. 4.
- On Tuesday, the Saskatoon Blades announced former captain Ralph Klassen passed away at age 64. Klassen, who is from Humboldt, Sask., played 300 regular season games at centre over five seasons for the Blades from 1970 to 1975 piling up 81 goals and 194 assists for 275 points. Following his time with the Blades, Klassen skated for nine seasons in the NHL from 1975 to 1984 playing for the California Golden Seals, Cleveland Barons, Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Blues. He appeared in 497 career NHL regular season games collecting 52 goals and 93 assists for 145 points. Klassen passed away after a battle with cancer.
- On Wednesday, the OHL announced it hopes to start its regular season on Dec. 1. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the OHL is reducing the length of its regular season from 68 games to 64 games for each team. The OHL plans to hold playoffs in a 16-team format slated to start on April 29, 2021. The OHL hopes to host the Memorial Cup tournament to crown a CHL champion from June 17-27, 2021 in either Oshawa with the Generals as hosts or Sault Ste. Marie with the Greyhounds as hosts.
- On Wednesday, Phil Andrews announced via Twitter he was remaining with the WHL’s Regina Pats as the team’s director of media and communications. He was set to step down from that post on July 31. Andrews said he will be remaining with the Pats to bridge the gap in that position until the WHL season starts.
- On Thursday, the WHL announced it is moving the start of its regular season for the 2020-21 campaign to Dec.4 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The circuit is still planning to play a full 68 game regular season for each team and four rounds of playoffs.
- On Thursday, the CJFL cancelled its entire 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The venerable Saskatoon Hilltops have won the last six straight CJFL titles and have taken the league crown in nine of the last 10 years. The Regina Thunder had the lone other CJFL title win during that span of time coming in 2013.
- On Thursday, the University of Alberta Golden Bears men’s hockey team and the University of Alberta Pandas women’s hockey team were reinstated as members of the Canada West Conference for the 2020-21 U Sports season. On June 17, the U of Alberta athletics program suspended play in a number of sports for the 2020-21 season due to financial constraints brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Golden Bears and Pandas hockey teams requested to be reinstated following new financial support from donors. At the moment, regular season play in the Canada West Conference is slated to start in Jan. 2021 depending how the COVID-19 pandemic plays out. The Golden Bears have won the most U Sports national men’s titles with 16, and the Pandas have won the most U Sports national women’s titles at eight.
- Gregg Drinnan continues to do solid work tracking how the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the sports world in his Taking Note blog. His post from Thursday can be found by clicking right here.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
-------
