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| Kirby Dach in action for the Blades in 2018-19. |
In Canada, it is an annual Christmas holiday season tradition to watch the world junior hockey championships on television and cheer for Team Canada. It can be argued the Christmas tradition really took flight when the entire province of Saskatchewan hosted the tournament from Dec. 26, 1990 to Jan. 4, 1991.
At the time, world juniors was an eight-team event played in round robin format. TSN took over as the television rights holder that season and went full steam ahead with top level coverage.
The Canadian team contained the likes of Eric Lindros, Mike Craig, Patrice Brisebois, Kent Manderville, Mike Sillinger, Pat Falloon, Scott Thornton, Kris Draper, Scott Niedermayer, Trevor Kidd and Felix Potvin.
On the final day, Canada faced the Soviet Union at the rink then known as Saskatchewan Place in Saskatoon. The winner would take the gold medal with the way the event played out.
The Soviets could capture top spot with a tie as no overtimes were played in world juniors at that point in time.
The teams were locked in a 2-2 tie in the third period when defenceman John Slaney would step up to forever be a household name in Canada. Slaney fired home the winning goal from the point with 5:13 remaining in the third period as the then capacity crowd of 11,312 spectators did their best to blow the roof off at the fairly new facility as Tina Turner’s “The Best” played over the sound system.
Slaney’s goal stood up as the winner allowing the host side to capture a storybook 3-2 gold medal victory.
From that moment, world juniors forever became must-watch television in Canada.
This year the tournament is being played in a bubble format at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alta., and it will likely be that much more of a must watch event for Canada.
With North America being in the grips of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic for over nine months, world juniors are going to be shown on TSN across Canada to pretty much a captive audience.
While the games at Rogers Centre will be played without fans, most parts of Canada have moved to observe more strict type lockdown measures in order to combat COVID-19. With the majority of people in Canada glued to stay in their homes, this might be one of the most watched world juniors ever.
Canada is a big favourite to win gold led by a leadership group that all has WHL ties. Saskatoon Blades alum and centre for the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks Kirby Dach is the captain.
As soon as Dach makes one or two hero type plays, even the fans of the Prince Albert Raiders, who are the Blades archrivals, will be cheering for him.
Lethbridge Hurricanes centre Dylan Cozens and Vancouver Giants offensive-defenceman Bowen Byram are the assistant captains. Both helped Canada win gold at last season’s world juniors in Ostrava in the Czech Republic.
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| Kaiden Guhle in action for the Raiders last season. |
It would be cool to see Guhle possibly paired with Prince Albert product and Brandon Wheat Kings rearguard Braden Schneider.
Saskatoon product and Kamloops Blazers centre Connor Zary is another player that has the potential to step in the spotlight in the clutch.
The Canadian roster is loaded including the likes of Cole Perfetti and Ryan Suzuki, who are both of the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit, and Peyton Krebs of the Winnipeg Ice at forward, Yorkton, Sask., product Kaedan Korczak of the Kelowna Rockets on defence and Dylan Garand of the Blazers and Taylor Gauthier of the Prince George Cougars in goal.
The pressure will be on as this is a gold medal or bust team. That always seems to be the case for Canada at this event.
Canada will benefit from the fact some of the other top squads at this year’s 10-team tournament will be weakened from players being disqualified due to testing positive for COVID-19.
Sweden arrived in the Edmonton bubble without four players including Albin Grewe, William Wallinder, Karl Henriksson and William Eklund. Eklund, who is an 18-year-old forward, is viewed as a top prospect for the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
The United States arrived in the bubble minus five players due to positive COVID-19 tests in Robert Mastrosimone, Alex Vlasic, John Beecher, Thomas Bordeleau and goalie Drew Commesso.
Germany showed up in the Alberta capital city without four players due to positive COVID-19 tests in Lukas Reichel, Nino Kinder, Elias Lindner and netminder Tobias Ancicki.
In Edmonton, Germany had eight players test positive for COVID-19 and later one staff member, while Sweden had two staff members test positive. That resulted in the exhibition schedule shrinking from 10 games to four contests.
Canada plays its lone exhibition game on Wednesday against Russia (5 p.m., Saskatchewan time). Russia might be the hardest team Canada plays, because we all know how much Russian President Vladimir Putin likes to win at hockey.
The tournament’s preliminary round starts on Christmas Day and Canada’s first preliminary round game is Saturday against Germany (5 p.m., Saskatchewan time).
While some hardcore fans might say the field at world juniors isn’t as strong as it should be due to the pandemic and put the tournament down, it will be a feeling limited to those hardcore fans.
For the millions - and millions - of fans in Canada that will be cheering for the Canadian side watching on television, most just want to see victory, and they won’t care how it comes. A Canadian gold medal win would bring a much needed release for all those in “The True North strong and free.”
Wiesblatt outdoor rink incident shouldn’t
have heated up
Ocean Wiesblatt outdoor rink arrest incident shouldn’t have gone as far as it did.
Since Saturday, video went viral on Facebook and Twitter saw Calgary police executing an uncomfortable looking violent takedown arrest of Wiesblatt that was fit for a drug dealer at an outdoor community rink in that centre on Thursday. Wiesblatt had been playing shinny hockey with some friends.
Police said more than 40 were using the area when Calgary’s Bylaw Services were called to enforce Public Health Orders to combat the COVID-19 pandemic specifically regarding the size of the outdoor gatherings. The police said they were called after Bylaw Services ran into non-compliance issues.
The police said Wiesblatt was asked multiple times to leave and was issued ticket. The police said after Wiesblatt refused to provide his name or identification the arrest was made.
Wiesblatt was charged with resisting arrest, obstruction and breaking a Public Health Order. The Public Health Order ticket is $1,200. The resisting arrest and obstruction charges are both criminal code infractions.
The 21-year-old Wiesblatt just finished up a playing career in the junior A ranks with the Portage Terriers in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. He has three younger brothers who have all played in the WHL.
His 18-year-old brother, Ozzy, is a star with the Prince Albert Raiders and is a first round NHL Entry Draft selection of the San Jose Sharks and has signed an NHL entry-level contract with the Sharks.
The four Wiesblatt brothers have been raised by their mother Kim White, who has been deaf since birth. White has been a single mom since 2014.
The Rebel News Network, which is a far right-wing political and social commentary media outlet run by Ezra Levant, went to town on that story. A staffer interviewed Ocean Wiesblatt on Saturday and posted lengthy video story on Sunday on The Rebel News Network site.
In the piece, Wiesblatt said he and his friends talked to the bylaw officers once. He said a bunch of people left and he stuck around with four other guys.
Wiesblatt said when the police arrived they were talking to some children, and he decided to see what was going and provide the presence of an older person. Wiesblatt said he started talking with the police, and it was at that point he was told he was breaking a Public Health Order.
Of course, The Rebel News Network is going to slant their piece to paint the police in an evil picture. The piece said Calgary police exaggerated and inflated the number of people that were at the outdoor rink in their original report.
On a gut judgment, I believe Wiesblatt when he said went over to check on the police talking to some children and his talks with the police there developed to the police telling him he was breaking a Public Health Order causing things to escalate.
Knowing Ozzy and knowing the background of the Wiesblatt family, my gut tells me that Ocean is not a violent criminal. I think the police could have been feeling pressure to make arrests to set the tone for the Public Health Order.
If someone isn’t used to dealing with the police feeling under pressure which is most of the general public, it leads to the potential of things escalating. Those thoughts are influenced from years of talking to court reporters during my time in the mainstream media.
In the video of the arrest, Ocean Wiesblatt asks why he is being arrested, and he never gets a straight answer in the video.
Those that took videos and posted those videos to social media likely did that, because they felt in their gut something wrong was going down. It also appeared at one moment early in the video the friends were succeeding in convincing Wiesblatt to leave.
Due to all of reaction from these videos, Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw clarified on Monday that outdoor hockey is not allowed under the Public Health Orders if players are not from the same household.
Overall, I think the situation with Wiesblatt should not have gotten this far, and it is unfortunate court time and taxpayer money will tied up with this situation as it goes forward.
Blades hold distanced “Teddy Toss,” other
notes
So blessed to have the best.#BladeCity | #TeddyBearToss pic.twitter.com/BzRdR5xaBv
— Saskatoon Blades (@BladesHockey) December 19, 2020
The COVID-19 did not stop the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades from holding their annual “Teddy Bear Toss.”
When times are normal, the “Teddy Bear Toss” promotion usually happens during a regular season game in December, where the spectators throw stuffed animals on to the ice after the Blades score their first goal of that contest. The stuffed animals are collected and given to charities.
On Friday night at the SaskTel Centre parking lot, the Blades held a modified “Teddy Bear Toss” for the pandemic. People were able to drive into the parking lot and throw stuffed animals into large inflatable tubs.
The Blades delivered the stuffed animals to the Salvation Army in Saskatoon on Tuesday.
It seems the last week has been full of developments in the sports world with a mix of good and bad. Here is a quick rundown.
- On Dec. 16, Softball Saskatchewan said they will allow sanctioned activities that follow provincial guidelines including those for sports and activities. The notice was put out due to Public Health Orders changing on a continuing basis with regards to COVID-19. Athletes in Saskatchewan in any sport are allowed to train currently in groups of eight.
- On Dec. 16, the Saskatchewan Hockey Association announced it had cancelled provincial playoffs for the 2020-21 campaign and carded team programs. I got confirmation that the cancellation does not include playoffs for the male and female under-18 AAA leagues in the province. The Saskatchewan Hockey Association is still holding out hope playoffs will still happen in those leagues, but the first concern is just resuming regular season play.
- Last Thursday, Saskatoon Stars 17-year-old defender Kalli Hiebert committed to joining the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds women’s hockey team in Fredericton, N.B., for the 2021-22 U Sports campaign. Hiebert has two assists in the two SFU18AAAHL regular season games the Stars have played. She spent two seasons from 2017 to 2019 with the Battlefords Sharks.
- Last Thursday, the Canada West Conference in U Sports announced the cancellation of its conference track and field and its conference swimming championships for the 2020-21 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All Canada West competitions for 2020-21 have been cancelled due to the pandemic except for curling. A decision on the conference championship for curling will be made at a later date. No meaningful games or competitions have taken place in Canada West for 2020-21. All U Sports nationals for 2020-21 have already been cancelled due to the pandemic.
- Last Thursday, Medicine Hat Tigers 19-year-old forward Lukas Svejkovsky gamed his side to winning the inaugural Memorial eCup video game tournament. Svejkovsky and the Tigers finished the event with a perfect 8-0 record. In the best-of-three Memorial eCup final against Riley Bezeau of the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs, Svejkovsky swept the series 2-0 with victories of 10-0 and 4-1. The CHL made a $1,000 donation to a charity of Svejkovsky’s choice, and Kia Canada provided $1,000 gift card to the winner. Svejkovsky donated the gift card to charity too. Svejkovsky chose to support the Medicine Hat Santa Claus Fund and the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter.
- On Sunday, the NHL and NHLPA announced a plan has been put in place for the upcoming season. The regular season is now slated to start Jan. 13, 2021 and will be 56 games long. All seven Canadian teams will play in one division. Playoffs will be a more typical 16-team format with all series being best-of-seven. Of course, all these plans could change again due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The upcoming NHL season was originally slated to start Jan. 1, 2021.
- On Monday, Lynn Moe was drawn as the winner of the 50/50 jackpot for the Hockey Harvest Lottery, which supports the player scholarship funds of Saskatchewan’s five WHL teams in the Moose Jaw Warriors, Prince Albert Raiders, Regina Pats, Saskatoon Blades and the Swift Current Broncos. Moe, who son Spencer is a Raiders centre, took home $185,365.
- On Monday, the 2021 Saskatchewan Summer Games, which were to be held in Lloydminster, were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They were slated to be held in July. Originally, those games were supposed to happen July 26, 2020 to Aug. 1, 2020 before being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- On Monday, the WHL announced the WHL Bantam Draft will now be known as the WHL Draft, and the 2021 WHL Draft has been moved from May to a date to be determined in December of that year. With most minor hockey shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHL made the move to give teams a better chance to scout draft eligible players.
- On Monday, the WHL announced the league’s board of governors approved the Winterhawks Sports Group as the new owners of the Portland Winterhawks effective Jan. 1, 2021. The Winterhawks Sports Group is led by Michael Kramer and Kerry Preete, who will be managing partners. The Winterhawks Sports Group has also acquired the operations of the Winterhawks Skating Center in Beaverton, Or, and all Winterhawks junior hockey programs. The Winterhawks were previously owned by William Gallacher, who is a Calgary based oil man.
- On Tuesday, the Notre Dame Hounds female under-18 AAA team announced forward Emma Thomas has committed with the Nipissing University Lakers women’s hockey team in North Bay, Ont., for the 2021-22 U Sports Campaign. Thomas has six goals and one assist in four SFMAAAHL regular season games the Hounds were able to get in during the current campaign.
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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