Huskies flood 2026 class for Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame

Dean Bertoia shakes hands with Kent Kowalski, right.

The announcement of the 2026 class for the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame turned out to be a banner day for alums from the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

On Thursday during a news conference at the Gordie Howe Sports Centre building on the Gordie Howe Sports complex grounds, five athletes, three builders and one team were named to the 2026 class for the Hall. The Hall also named the Saskatoon 60+ Hockey League as the Sports Organization of the Year. The official induction dinner will take place on Saturday, November 7 at 5:30 p.m. at Prairieland Park.

The Huskies alums entering the Hall in that athletes category include Dean Bertoia in track and field, Terry Johnson in wrestling and Kent Kowalski in soccer. The lone team inductee for the 2026 class is the 2003-04 Huskies Men’s Volleyball Team that captured Canada West Conference and U Sports championships. Back in 2003-04, U Sports was known as Canadian Interuniversity Sport.

Kowalski played five seasons as a keeper for the Huskies Men’s Soccer Team from 1988 to 1992 picking up one second team all-Canadian all-star award and one first team all-Canadian all-star nod. Following his Huskies playing days, Kowalski has served as an assistant coach for the Huskies soccer program for most of the last 25 years. He was pumped to find out he was going to be part of the 2026 class for the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.

“It is a great honour,” said Kowalski. “If you look at a lot of the faces and names that are in the Hall, it is nice to be considered as part of that group.

“Saskatoon has had so many great athletes over the years. I’m just happy to be considered. It is always an honour to be recognized for your past achievements.”

The 2003-04 Huskies Men’s Volleyball Team will get to have their third big reunion in the last four years. In 2023, they were inducted to the University of Saskatchewan Athletic Wall of Fame, and they entered the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 2024. Brian Gavlas, who is the head coach for the 2003-04 Huskies squad, said everyone with that team was pretty happy to get the nod to join the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.

“It is a great honour,” said Gavlas. “There are a lot of outstanding athletes, builders and teams that are in the Hall.

“Being able to join that group and then also to join some of the groups that have been successful in our sport as well, I think it is a good honour and something that all of our guys and our team and hopefully the university is very proud of.”

Kowalski had a lengthy playing career in soccer that wrapped around his time with the Huskies. He played in the 1989 Canada Summer Game as a keeper for Saskatchewan’s provincial team.

Bob Reindl shakes hands with Brian Gavlas, right.

Kowalski played professionally for the Winnipeg Fury in the now defunct first Canadian Soccer League for three years. He helped the Fury win the Mita Cup in 1992 as CSL champions, which turned out to be that circuit’s final campaign of operation.

In 2012 at age 41, Kowalski played his final game as a keeper at the Canadian’s men’s amateur soccer championship helping the Huskie United Soccer Association of Saskatoon win bronze. Those experiences created a tone of lasting impressions.

“My biggest memories were with the Huskie days just getting lots of work and action,” said Kowalski. “The team at that time was so critical to development.

“I certainly remember some of the games in the Canada Games, because that was sort of a launching point for me in my career. My first start in the Canadian Soccer League I’ll always remember more than any other game in my career. And then, honestly, the final game at age 41 at nationals and playing it.

“I’m not sure I had the skills at that point, but they believed in me enough to play me, and it was a good way to finish my career.”

In the Fury’s CSL championship season in 1992, Kowalski backed up Pat Onstad, who is a member of the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame. The Fury faced the Vancouver 86ers in a two-game series in the CSL final.

In Game 1 in Winnipeg, the Fury posted a 2-0 victory, and they sealed the series win with a 1-1 draw in Game 2 in Vancouver. Kowalski holds that campaign close to his heart.

“I was fortunate at the time I came through to be on that team,” said Kowalski. “Those first two years there were a little bit rougher.

“Then halfway through that 92 season if you look back at the quality of that team, I’d say the majority of those players ended up playing for Canada’s national team and were part of that Gold Cup winning team (in 2000). Even if you watch a lot of the Canadian soccer games now, a lot of those players are still mentioned. It was incredible, and to beat Vancouver at home in that final (home) game, it is hard to overlook having that opportunity at that age.”

The 2003-04 Huskies Men’s Volleyball Team was playing in an era where they were constantly battling the University of Manitoba Bisons and the University of Alberta Golden Bears for top spot in both Canada West and U Sports as a whole. The Huskies finished third in the Canada West regular season standings with a 14-6 mark behind both Alberta and Manitoba.

The Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame presser attracted a good gathering.

U of S proceeded to sweep the Trinity Western University Spartans 2-0. In the Canada West Final Four hosted by the University of Manitoba, the Huskies got past the Golden Bears in the semifinal 3-1 and slipped past the Bisons 3-2 in the conference final. The Bisons were both the defending Canada West and U Sports champions entering the 2003-04 campaign.

At the U Sports Championship Tournament hosted by the Universite Laval in Quebec City, the Huskies downed Universite de Sherbrooke Vert et Or 3-0 in a quarter-final and took down the Spartans 3-0 in a semifinal. That set up a gold medal match against the Golden Bears.

In the championship final, the Huskies prevailed 3-2 by set scores of 27-25, 25-21, 19-25, 22-25 and 16-14. In the fifth set, the Huskies closed out the match scoring the championship point on a monster block from middle Darren Dove and outside hitter Adam Ens.

Ens took home honours at the U Sports Men’s Volleyball Player of the Year and was named the BLG Award as the U Sports Male Athlete of the Year. 

Outside hitter Andrew Lockhart claimed the Dale Iwanoczko TSN Award for commitment to academics and the community. Outside hitter Joel Ens, who is Adam’s brother, was named the MVP of the U Sports Championship Tournament.

“It is a good memory,” said Gavlas. “The previous year with very close to the similar team we lost a tough semifinal in five sets to Manitoba.

“The guys who returned came back pretty hungry. The biggest joy I have out of that group is the knowledge that four of our starters were red shirts (at one point in their careers), so that means that they weren’t real great coming in. They had to develop.

“They had to get better and to compete with the best in the country was a really tough task. The fact that those guys did that and evolved and developed and were able to succeed is a significant accomplishment. The fact that we had probably the best player in the country at the time didn’t hurt either.”

When the 2003-04 Huskies were inducted into the University of Saskatchewan Athletic Wall of Fame in 2023, Gavlas told his players they might have the chance to get together for a couple of more induction ceremonies. 

Part of the 2026 Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame class sits together.

That is going to materialize as the Huskies went into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 2024 and will enter the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame officially this coming November 7.

“We were a pretty good team, a group of Saskatchewan kids that played pretty hard and evolved,” said Gavlas. “We’re looking forward to getting together again, and hopefully, we get a good turnout and have a bit of a reunion again.”

Also heading to the Hall in the athlete category are Colin Coben in golf and Rob Scheller in softball. The three builders in the 2026 class include Gabriel Brecht in bowling, Bob Haver in rowing and Gary Loy in ringette.

Regier, Wildeman featured in “Howe Happenings”

Sam Regier takes part in pole vault at the SSSAD championships.

Sam Regier’s and Charlotte Wildeman’s high school track and field careers may have wrapped up, but they plan to be part of the sport’s local scene for some time to come.

The Grade 12 students from Aden Bowman Collegiate have committed to joining the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Track and Field program in the fall. On Tuesday, I went live with new content for the “Howe Happenings” blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a feature on Regier and Wildeman, who have been regulars training at the Track and Field Track on the Complex’s grounds as members of the Saskatoon Track and Field Club.

Regier missed pretty much all of his Grade 11 year with a hamstring injury. He returned to write a memorable conclusion to his high school career.

At the Saskatoon Secondary Schools Athletic Directorate’s Bob Adams City Track and Field Championship that ran May 27 to 28 at the Track and Field Track, Regier captured gold in the senior boys’ 100-metre hurdles and silver in the shot put and pole vault.

At the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association Track and Field Championships that ran last Friday and Saturday at the Track and Field Track, Regier picked up a pair of silver medals. He took second in the senior boy’s pole vault with a vault of 4.15 metres and second in the 100-metre hurdles with a time of 13.93 seconds.

Charlotte Wildeman won four high school provincial titles in pole vault.

In her final appearance at the SSSAD’s Bob Adams City Track and Field Championship, Wildeman claimed gold in the senior girls’ pole vault and 80-metre hurdles and took home bronze in the long jump. At the SHSAA’s Track and Field Championships, she captured silver in the senior girls’ 80-metre hurdles in a time of 12.19 seconds.

Wildeman’s biggest highlight came when she took home gold in the pole vault with a vault of 3.00 metres. That marked the fourth straight year that Wildeman won a gold medal in pole vault at a Saskatchewan high school provincial championship meet. The victory gave Wildeman a special wrap up to her high school career.

The piece on Regier and Wildeman can be found by clicking right here.

I also put together a photo roundup that is anchored by images from the Saskatoon Berries WCBL home opener and has pictures from all sorts of outdoor sports. The photo roundup 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.

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Huskies in transition period

Expect more changes to come from U of S athletic program

The Huskies football team storms out to the field for a game in September.

    The winds of change are blowing through the University of Saskatchewan Huskies athletic program, and an educated guess makes one suspect the changes haven’t finished just yet.

    In stepping back to take a look at the bigger picture, it appears the wheels were in motion to make changes at the storied Huskie Athletics program long before high profile departures were announced this month. The departures include the retirement announcement by athletic director Basil Hughton on Dec. 5 that becomes effective June 30, 2017 and the announcement that after 33 years Brian Towriss was stepping down as the head coach of the football team on Dec. 19.

    News of Towriss’s departure was taken with quite a bit emotion from alums, current coaches, current players and supporters of the football program. The shock was also felt from alums and current players from the other Huskies teams as well.

    The overriding emotion was one of being upset because of a feeling that Towriss was being pushed out. I know for myself my gut tells me it was a force out too.

    Signs that the Huskies were heading in a new direction appeared five years ago, when the Sheaf – the student newspaper at the University of Saskatchewan - produced a feature in October of 2011 questioning the association local businessman, philanthropist and Huskies football alumnus David Dube had with the football program. 

    In a well-constructed piece, the Sheaf story explores the question of Dube’s influence going beyond being a sponsor and having influence on the team’s direction.

    Fast forward to April 1 of this year, the Huskies were celebrating a very successful 2015-16 campaign during the Huskie Salute annual awards night. During the 2015-16 campaign, the Huskies claimed Canada West titles in men’s track and field, men’s wrestling, men’s hockey, women’s basketball and a national championship from women’s basketball.

    The whole night felt very warm, cozy and inviting. It seemed like everything was in a state of being great.

Basil Hughton, right, announced he will retire as Huskies athletic director.

    Then in July, two of the program’s elite coaches announced they were taking a professional leave of absence for the 2016-17 campaign first in men’s volleyball head coach Brian Gavlas followed by women’s hockey head coach Steve Kook. The announcements were made within six days of each other.

    Joel Dyck is the interim head coach of the men’s volleyball program, while Robin Ulrich is the interim head coach of the women’s hockey team. Both are former players and had been assistant coaches for their respective teams.

    Normally if one head coach goes on a leave of absence for a season, no one blinks. It is a bit unusual for two coaches to depart at relatively the same time and during a period that is getting a little late in the off-season and makes you slightly feel like something is up. With that said, Kook has attended a few women’s hockey games and has been present at announcements for the Home Ice Campaign, which is raising funds for a new hockey arena on campus.

    The big news came down on Sept. 13, which Huskie Athletics entitled a “New Direction For Huskie Athletics At U of S” on a website release. It was announced that on Nov. 1 a Board of Trustees will advise and guide Huskie Athletics.

    The board consists of six community members and five representatives from the university. Dube, who is also a member of the U of S Board of Governors, was appointed as the chairperson. The board reports to U of S president Peter Stoicheff.

    When the board was announced, Dube made it clear change was overdue when he said, “Do you have the same cellphone as 20 years ago? I doubt it. I’m sure you don’t fly in a 100-year-old airplane, or a 100-year-old car. This was a 100-year-old governance model.”

    Usually, something like the creation of the Huskies board of trustees is a process that comes over a period of a number of months. When you consider when the board was announced and remember the mandate for change, you start connecting the dots regarding the moves that were made in July and the ones that came in December along with the formation of the board.

Brian Towriss’s resignation shocked the majority of Huskies backers.

    You start to wonder how much influence the Board of Trustees or a single person on that board really has.

    Will Gavlas and Kook be back? Only time will truly answer that question.

    Greg Jockims took his professional leave of absence after leading the Huskies men’s basketball team to Canada West and national titles in 2010. A year later, he resigned his post in order to spend more time to help raise his young family.

    Will other aspects in Gavlas’s and Kook’s lives move them to consider a similar choice?

    For now, you start to wonder what will be the next major move made by Huskie Athletics?

    The next move might be delayed given the fallout from when Towriss stepped down. The vocal minority that sat in the one corner of Griffiths Stadium heaping criticism on Towriss in recent years seems really small these days.

    The amount of alums that have come forward saying how important the veteran bench boss has meant to their lives has been staggering. A few fans are suggesting they won’t renew their season tickets for the football team.

    Even when I went shopping on Boxing Day just a week after Towriss resigned, I had three people come up to talk to me about him. It even distracted me on a visit I had with a family member.

    Overall, the prestige of Huskie Athletics on the national stage did take a negative hit with how Towriss’s situation played out. The athletic department overall is successful, so how much change does one want to make?

    I am sure there members of the university’s communications department who are choked that the company message track that it was Towriss’s choice to step down was widely rejected. When Towriss fumbled a bit with that question at his departure news conference, the optics showed something else was going on due to the fact Towriss had a long standing tell it like it is reputation.

    There are some, who seem like the minority, who agree with the moves that have been made on the Huskies front. On the football front, there are some that say the Towriss move was the right one looking at the team’s eight straight post-season losses.

    Some want the Huskies to make moves like a professional team or a WHL one if wins or not enough wins are coming. You make a change to go in a different direction and move on.

The Huskies have won a lot of recent trophies and championship banners.

    When the Huskies teams that are still in action resume play in the new year, all of this will be a slight distraction. Due to the pressures of managing basically two full time jobs of being a university student and a university level athlete, players are used to taking things day by day. If romantic relationships are happening, that just increases the day-to-day focus.

    When each team reaches the end of its season, then the future will be more of a distraction.

    At the end of 2016, the Huskies are looking different from the start of the year. Change might be the only consistent as the 2017 calendar year plays out. If the Huskies pile up the championship banners after the changes are made, a lot of the hurt feelings will likely go away.

    NOTES – Saskatoon Express editor Cam Hutchinson was at the press conference when Towriss announced his resignation. Hutchinson’s piece on the matter can be found right here.

    The Sheaf’s 2011 story on Dube’s influence on the football program can be found here.

Message from Stoicheff and Towriss

    It is likely a coincidence, but a message was posted from Stoicheff and Towriss on the Huskies website and communicated along Facebook and Twitter lines about an hour after this blog was originally posted.

    In the joint statement, Stoicheff publicly apologized for how the news regarding Towriss’s resignation was handled. In an eloquently written comment, Towriss said he appreciated the apology from the university president.

    Huskie Athletics has taken heat from a number of different sources about how Towriss’s departure was handled since the news came down on Dec. 19.

    My initial reaction is this will help heal things over time. Initially, there have been some immediate disappointment reactions on social media. With that said, the statement was a step in the right direction and the best course of action the U of S could take at this time.

    The statement from the Huskie Athletics site can be found 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.