Warriors top players even series with Ice 1-1

Brayden Yager had three points for the Warriors on Saturday.

The Moose Jaw Warriors top guns got their series with the Winnipeg Ice all even at 1-1.

On Saturday playing before 1,872 spectators at the Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg, the Warriors stormed out to a 4-0 lead and downed the host Ice 5-3 in Game 2 of their best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. With the win, the Warriors even the series at 1-1.

Games 3 and 4 go Tuesday and Wednesday respectively at 7 p.m. both nights at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.

Saturday’s Game 2 battle was a wild one that had an edge to it as well. By the 9:31 mark of the opening frame, the Warriors built a 4-0 off a pair of goals from Brayden Yager and singles from Ryder Korczak and Martin Rysavy.

The Ice pulled star starting goaltender Daniel Hauser after the first period with him having stopped 7-of-11 shots fired his way taking the setback in net for the host side. Mason Beaupit, who is a 19-year-old veteran backup, played the rest of the way in relief turning away all eight shots he faced.

The teams proceeded to play through a scoreless second. In third, the Ice struck for three straight goals to cut the Warriors lead to 4-3. Zack Ostapchuk netted a goal 67 seconds into the frame, Connor McClennon tallied at the 13:09 mark and Carson Latimer scored at the 16:10 mark. Latimer was playing in his first game since suffering an injury in the Ice’s 8-1 victory over the Oil Kings in Edmonton on February 26, 2023.

The Ice weren’t able to complete the comeback. With 2.4 seconds remaining in the third, Josh Hoekstra scored into an empty net to cement the 5-3 win for the Warriors.

Ryder Korczak had a goal and an assist for the Warriors.

Connor Ungar, who is the Warriors star overage netminder, stopped 33 shots to pick up the win in the Moose Jaw net.

Yager had an assist to go with his two goals. Korczak had an assist to go with his marker. Atley Calvert had a pair of assists for the Moose Jaw side.

Matthew Savoie had a pair of assists for the Ice.

Saturday’s contest had its share of rough stuff. Ice 18-year-old right-winger Evan Friesen was given a major penalty for checking to the head and a game misconduct at the 7:45 mark of the opening frame. The infraction will trigger an automatic review by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

The Warriors scored three goals on the power play resulting from Friesen’s infraction accounting for the final three tallies of the four-goal surge in the opening frame. The second power-play goal came on a five-on-three advantage due to Ice star centre Zach Benson being given a high-sticking minor.

At the 14:01 mark of the first, McClennon engaged in a fight with Warriors defenceman Marek Howell. The fight occurred after McClennon hit a Warriors player from behind. McClennon was given a checking from behind minor and a fighting major, while Howell received an unsportsmanlike conduct minor and a fighting major.

Calvert proceeded be given a double minor for slew-footing at the 15:07 mark of the first. That infraction will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

Warriors defenceman Matthew Gallant left Saturday’s game and didn’t return after being on the receiving end of Friesen’s head shot. Moose Jaw played the third period without defenceman Logan Dowhaniuk, who was hit from behind by Ice overage left-winger Owen Pederson in the second period. Pederson was given a minor for checking from behind on the play.

The two squads combined for 53 minutes in penalties on Saturday.

Atley Calvert had two assists for the Warriors on Saturday.

Last year, the Ice eliminated the Warriors in an Eastern Conference semifinal with a 4-1 series victory. That series ultimately set up the rivalry for this year’s series as both squads returned a large number of players from a season ago.

In the 2022-23 regular season, the Ice finished first overall with a 57-10-1 mark and were rated third in the final CHL Top 10 rankings. The Warriors finished seventh overall in the WHL with a 41-24-03 mark. The Ice and Warriors split their six regular season encounters with each side claiming three wins with one Winnipeg victory coming in overtime.

The Ice took Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal between the two sides 5-3 on Friday at the Wayne Fleming Arena.

Odds are high there will be more twists and turns in this series as it goes along.

Adventures in officiating part one

A referee waves off a Regina goal in Game 3 of Blades versus Pats.

It seems like the officials have been challenged in these WHL Playoffs so far as much as the players and coaches of the teams have.

One of the first challenging situations that occurred in this post-season that I saw came in Game 3 of the first round series between the Regina Pats and Saskatoon Blades playing at the Brandt Centre in Regina on April 4.

With 3:55 remaining in the first period, Pats 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard drove home a midrange shot to give the Pats what appeared to be a 3-1 lead. The goal went to a video review, and it was disallowed due to the Saskatoon net being dislodged.

The Pats did go up on the Blade 3-1 in the third before the visitors rallied back to take the contest 4-3 in overtime.

A lot of people thought Bedard’s disallowed goal should have stood up, because officials should have had the discretion to estimate where the net was, if it was slightly ajar.

The video review showed the net had been ajar for a lengthy stretch before Bedard scored. Due to the net being off for an extended period, the goal had to be disallowed.

By league rules, the officials got this call right after video review. They did their job and showed what that situation can look like when it plays out on the ice.

It can be argued that rule can be changed. If a team in the offensive zone has puck advantage and the defending team’s goal is slightly off, it can be argued officials should have discretion to allow play to continue until the defending team touches the puck. That will allow the offensive squad to have a scoring chance until losing possession of the puck.

With that noted, that is an item for discussion in league meetings for off-season rule changes.

Adventures in officiating part two

Pats fans react to a goal review going in their team’s favour in Game 6.

The second big challenging situation I’ve seen for the officials in the current WHL Playoffs comes from the double review.

This one came in Game 6 of the first round series between the Saskatoon Blades and host Regina Pats at the Brandt Centre on April 8.

With 8:36 remaining in the third period, Pats centre Zackary Shantz scored to increase the host side’s lead to 5-3. The tally came when a pass from Pats left-winger Riley Ginnell deflected off Shantz’s skate into the Saskatoon net.

The officials went to a video review and waved off the goal saying it was kicked in. Access Communications, which is based in Regina, was showing the game to their provincial network on television on their own channel.

Tim Tisdale was the WHL supervisor for that contest, and he asked Access Communications if they had more angles than the WHL video review booth had of the play in question. After seeing the Access Communications video, the officials changed their ruling to saying Shantz’s goal was good.

Access Communications put their video of that goal on Twitter, and it was clear from the overhead shot Shantz didn’t kick the puck in and the goal was good. The 5-3 score in favour of the Pats held up as the game’s final outcome.

How the video review process went down here didn’t sit well with some Blades fans.

In this situation, credit has to be given to Tisdale for thinking outside the box to find a way to get that call right.

With that said, the WHL policy of using television network feed for video review is something that should be revisited in league meetings in the off-season. I myself have to admit I am not sure what the WHL’s exact policy is regarding using television network video for video reviews.

For a lengthy stretch, WHL games in the regular season and post-season were shown on Shaw on a regular basis. Shaw pulled out of its TV contract with the WHL following the end of the 2016-17 campaign. Since it has been so long since WHL games were shown on a regular basis on a television network, I’m not even sure what the rules are and assume some policy has to be in place from when WHL contests were shown on Shaw.

Thanks to Access Communications, the Pats are the only team that gets regular television exposure even with it being limited to the geographic region in Saskatchewan that Access Communications provides service for. Their volunteer camera crew did well to get the footage that showed definitively that Shantz’s goal was good.

With that noted, Pats have more of a replay advantage due to the fact a number of their games are shown by Access Communications due to more camera angles being available. The decision makers in the WHL will have to decide if video reviews for all games are limited to the same camera angles supplied by the league for video review or if television angles will be allowed for the minority of contests shown on television networks.

Again, that is another thing that has to be discussed in off-season league meetings. I should note this was the first time I saw a double video review happen in a game for the same aspect on one play in the 24 seasons I’ve covered the league.

Adventures in officiating part three

The third biggest challenging situation in officiating I’ve encounter in the WHL Playoffs is recent one.

This one came on Friday in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Red Deer Rebels and host Saskatoon Blades played at the SaskTel Centre.

With 9:21 remaining in the first period, the officials were trying to determine of the Rebels were guilty of a high-sticking infraction. When play was stopped in the Red Deer end, the officials had a conference in the corner with a lineman bringing up the observation of a high-sticking infraction, when Blades utility player Spencer Shugrue went down.

After a few seconds, one of the referees made the high-sticking penalty infraction call. The problem was they appeared to not know what Rebels player to call the penalty on.

Since the high-sticking penalty was linesman call, officials go to video review to determine if a high-sticking infraction did happen.

The stoppage to discuss the possible penalty lasted about 10 minutes and saw the officials place Rebels import right-winger Frantisek Formanek into the penalty box and then let him out of the box a couple of minutes later. Formanek looked visibly confused through the whole situation.

When play resumed with no penalty being called, an announcement went up in the building that there was no penalty for high sticking, because a Blades player high sticked himself. After the contest, the coaching staffs of both teams said they were given the same explanation by the officials.

On Saturday, a Blades fan Twitter account put up a still photo from the WHL stream video broadcast of the game of the play in question. It showed Rebels right-winger Jhett Larson had his stick high on Shugrue. It is possible Larson’s stick misses Shugrue and goes over top his head from what was shown on the still image.

When I was at this game, I missed part of the play and just saw Shugrue go down. I’d have to see the full replay of the play to make any determinations about it. The replay was shown quickly twice on the SaskTel Centre scoreboard, and I missed those looks keeping my eyes on the officials conference.

One issue on this play was that if a lineman saw a high stick he didn’t get the number of the offending player. You can kind of deduct that is what happened with the decision to put Formanek in the box and then let him out of the box.

In this situation, I suspect an error was made, and that is going to happen with officiating. This was the first time I’ve seen this sort of situation occur in the 24 seasons I’ve covered the league.

Outside of that instance, I thought the officials’ crew did a really good job in Game 1. I know there are ultra-passionate fans who will disagree and that opinion is fine to have too.

From this situation, the officials’ crew just review that play at game’s end to go over positioning to see what they can do better. Officials’ crews always do that after WHL games.

Svozil’s Pats days could be done, other notes

Stanislav Svozil’s time in the WHL appears to be done.

It appears Stanislav Svozil’s days with the Regina Pats have come to an end.

On Wednesday, it was announced Svozil would be joining the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets for their final two regular season games. The Blue Jackets added offensive-defenceman from Czechia to their roster after the Pats were eliminated from the WHL Playoffs with a 4-1 loss in Game 7 of their first round series against the host Saskatoon Blades on Monday.

Svozil, who has a signed NHL entry-level contact, made his Blue Jackets debut as they hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday at Nationwide Arena. Svozil picked up an assist on the Blue Jackets goal that created a 2-2 tie with 3:25 remaining in the third period and ultimately forced overtime. The Blue Jackets claimed a 3-2 victory in overtime on a goal by Johnny Gaudreau.

Svozil finished with that one helper and an even rating in the plus-minus department skating for 19 minutes and 13 seconds of total ice time.

On Friday, the Blue Jackets concluded their season dropping a 5-2 decision to the visiting Buffalo Sabres at Nationwide Arena. Svozil wasn’t able to collect any points and posted a minus-three rating in 21 minutes and one second of total ice time.

Following that contest, the Blue Jackets assigned Svozil to their AHL affiliate in the Cleveland Monsters in time for their clash on Saturday with the host Rochester Americans. He recorded two assists in the Monsters 4-3 victory.

With the Pats in 2022-23, Svozil, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 182 pounds, had an outstanding season collecting 11 goals and 67 assists for 78 points to go with a plus-23 rating in 56 regular season games. In the Pats seven post-season contests, Svozil recorded four goals and nine assists for 13 points to go with a plus-seven rating.

Svozil, who turned 20-years-old on January 17, helped Czechia win silver at this past world juniors held in Halifax, N.S., and Moncton, N.B. He had one goal and seven assists in seven games at that event.

Since Svozil will be 20-years-old in the 2023-24 campaign, the Blue Jackets can keep him on their roster or assign him to their minor league affiliates.

• Is it me or are the Saskatoon Blades attracting challenging officials’ calls in some weird and spooky supernatural way in the WHL Playoffs?
• Over the past 13 year, the mainstream media has all but eliminated full time WHL beat writing positions. Sometimes, that will cause some confusion regarding the interpretation of WHL rules. Back in the day, it was common for some of those writers to interview WHL vice-president of hockey Richard Doerksen about rule changes that were being brought in for an upcoming campaign right before a season starts. While pieces on rules are often dry and were housekeeping style pieces, people did read them.
• On Wednesday, the WHL fined both the Saskatoon Blades and Regina Pats $250 each for warmup violations before Game 7 of their first round playoff series on Monday at the SaskTel Centre. The Blades took that contest 4-1.
• On Saturday, Regina Pats forward and Prince Albert product Tanner Howe, Spokane Chiefs centre and Saskatoon product Berkly Catton and Kelowna Rockets defenceman and Saskatoon product Caden Price were named to Canada’s roster for the upcoming world under-18 men’s hockey championship. That event will be played from April 20 to 30 in Basel and Porrentruy, Switzerland.
• On Saturday, the Washington Capitals announced left-winger Alexander Suzdalev had been assigned to their AHL affiliate the Hershey Bears for the remainder of the season. Suzdalev, who turned 19-years-old on March 5, had 38 goals and 48 assists for 86 points to go with a minus-four rating in 66 regular season games with the Pats in 2022-23. He picked up three goals and seven assists to go with a plus-two rating in their seven post-season contests. Suzdalev has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Capitals.
• On Saturday, the Seattle Thunderbirds and Kamloops Blazers took 2-0 leads in their respective best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series. The Thunderbirds defeated the visiting Prince George Cougars 5-1 in Game 2 of their series at the ShoWare Centre. The Blazers blanked the visiting Portland Winterhawks 5-0 in Game 2 of their series at the Sandman Centre.
• On April 9, I had new content appear on the Howe Happening blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a piece on Donovan Dale, who is a popular Ignite Athletics coach and a former member of the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops and U Sports’ University of Saskatchewan Huskies Football Team, taking up weightlifting to get back into competitive sports. That piece can be found by clicking right here. I also created a piece on the Western Canadian Baseball League returning to Saskatoon with a team to start playing at Cairns Field on the Complex grounds in May 2024. That piece 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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Dorsett will always have a home with Tigers

Former feisty forward forever a hero in Medicine Hat

Derek Dorsett at the Memorial Cup in 2007.

Derek Dorsett will forever be a hero in Medicine Hat.

For three seasons from 2004 to 2007, the product of Kindersley, Sask., was a high energy right-winger for the Medicine Hat Tigers. He was the ultimate competitor who was a heart and soul member of the team.

Dorsett played a huge role in helping the Tigers win their fifth WHL title in team history in 2006-07 along with advancing to the title game of the Memorial Cup tournament, where they fell 3-1 to the host Vancouver Giants.

In the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, Dorsett was selected in the seventh round and 189^th overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets. He graduated to the professional ranks playing in the AHL in 2007-08 for the Syracuse Crunch.

Dorsett became a full-time regular in the NHL in 2008-09 and appeared in 515 career regular season games over 10 seasons posting 51 goals, 76 assists and 1,314 penalty minutes with the Blue Jackets, New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks.

He was forced to retire from the NHL due to a cervical disc herniation near a previously treated neck injury. Dorsett made his retirement announcement on November 30, 2017 having started the 2017-18 campaign posting seven goals, two assists and 74 penalty minutes in 20 games with the Canucks.

Last Friday, Dorsett came home to Medicine Hat becoming an assistant coach with the Tigers. The 34-year-old was behind the bench when the Tigers downed the visiting Calgary Hitmen 4-1 in a WHL regular season clash at Co-Op Place in Medicine Hat.

He will remain with the Tigers through the end of the regular season. The Tigers (9-3-0-1) return to action Friday when they travel to Lethbridge to face the Hurricanes (3-6-2).

It just feels right that Dorsett got to rejoin the Tigers. He has the biggest heart and cared deeply about the team.

When Dorsett became a regular with the Tigers as an 18-year-old rookie in 2004-05, he never looked back.

In 180 career regular season games with the Tigers, Dorsett posted 49 goals, 79 assists and 593 penalty minutes. During his final season in “the Gas City” in 2006-07, he appeared in 61 regular season games posting 19 goals, 45 assists and 206 penalty minutes.

Standing 6-feet and weighing 192 pounds, Dorsett wasn’t the biggest player on the ice, but he didn’t back down from anyone. When he engaged in a fight, it seemed to always be against a player that was bigger than he was.

Dorsett was the agitator who knew what to say on the ice to get opponents off their game. 

The front of a Derek Dorsett Medicine Hat Tigers jersey.

You also always knew his work ethic would be at an extremely high level and unmatched by anyone else game in and game out.

Dorsett would throw hits, block shots and do all the gritty things that were needed to help the Tigers win games. He seemed to have the knack for getting points at key times too.

His biggest clutch goal for the Tigers came in their final preliminary round game at the 2007 Memorial Cup, where he had the lone tally in a 1-0 victory over the host Giants. That win gave the Tigers first place in the preliminary round and a bye straight to the Memorial Cup championship game.

If something needed said to spark the Tigers during pre-game or intermission, Dorsett was the one that would get fired up and say what needed to be said.

He was also the best teammate too. On the ice, it was always visible that Dorsett would stick up for his guys. Dorsett had a good sense of humour as well and would be able to say something that would break up the room, if levity was needed.

He would go the extra mile off the ice too.

During his 19-year-old season in 2005-06, Dorsett’s billet home was only about a couple of blocks away from the billet home of 16-year-old rookie right-winger Tyler Ennis, who is best known as an NHL regular these days.

Back in 2005-06, Ennis was a list player who was able to crack a strong Tigers roster standing 5-foot-8 and weighing 140 pounds at the time. While Ennis deserved the roster spot due to a strong training and play in pre-season, there was still a little uncertainty about him being with the Tigers due to his small size.

On top of adjusting to major junior hockey, Ennis had to worry about his Grade 11 high school studies too.

That season, Dorsett picked Ennis up every morning and drove him to Medicine Hat High School for school. After classes were done, Dorsett picked up Ennis to bring him to practice at the Tigers old long time home in The Arena. During those drives, the two had great personal visits.

Dorsett wanted to ensure Ennis was comfortable in his new junior hockey home. If Ennis needed anything, Dorsett told the rookie forward to give him a call.

The back of a Derek Dorsett Medicine Hat Tigers jersey.

In the grand scheme of things, Dorsett didn’t have to do those things for Ennis. The fact that he did helped Ennis feel like he truly was part of the Tigers family and was in the right junior hockey home.

Ennis would have a star career with the Tigers that saw him be selected in the first round and 26^th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

Dorsett left a legacy in Medicine Hat that will last for decades with everything he did as a Tigers player. It is fitting he gets to add to that legacy now as an assistant coach, even if it is ultimately for a short time.

Canucks confirm 25 test COVID-19 positive

A Bo Horvat card.

Facing whirlwinds of speculation, the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks released a statement on Wednesday regarding how bad the coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected the team.

The Canucks announced 25 individuals from the team had tested positive for COVID-19 including 18 roster players, three taxi squad players and four staff members. The Vancouver club added that one additional player is considered a close contact.

The statement said the source infection is a confirmed variant and the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control will need to do a full genome sequencing to determine the specific type.

The Canucks added in the statement, “An ongoing investigation by Vancouver Coastal Health and club contact tracing staff attributes the source infection to a single individual obtained in a community setting, which has since been identified by public health as a public exposure location.”

With the world stuck in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, it doesn’t come as a surprise the source infection came from a single individual in a community setting.

The Canucks said all players and staff currently remain in quarantine.

The statement concluded saying, “This is a stark reminder of how quickly the virus can spread and its serious impact, even among healthy, young athletes.”

The Canucks COVID-19 troubles began on March 30, when centre Adam Gaudette was pulled from practice after next day results from the previous day’s testing came back positive for COVID-19.

On March 31, defenceman Travis Hamonic found out he had tested positive for COVID-19 from testing done the previous day after he participated in a morning skate. The Canucks ultimately held two on ice sessions with infected players.

That resulted in the March 30 NHL regular season game between the Canucks and the visiting Calgary Flames at Rogers Arena being postponed 90 minutes before puck drop.

The COVID-19 outbreak with the Canucks escalated from there with stars like Bo Horvat going on the NHL’s COVID protocol list.

The Canucks last played at Rogers Arena when they fell 5-1 to the visiting Winnipeg Jets on March 24.

At the moment, the Canucks are slated to play again this coming Monday against the Oilers in Edmonton. As it stands right now, the Canucks have postponed six games.

The Canucks have played 37 of their 56 regular season games for the current campaign posting a 16-18-3 record. They sit eight points back of the Montreal Canadiens for the final playoff berth in the all-Canadian North Division.

Due to privacy issues surrounding health care in Canada, it becomes harder to get information in situations like the Canucks have encountered with COVID-19. As a result, there were reports that varied regarding the extent of the situation.

Kudos can be passed on to the Canucks for releasing the information that they did on Wednesday.

Traditionally, hockey teams and leagues can be sketchy when it comes to transparency regarding illness and injuries.

On the reporting front, TSN’s Darren Dreger nailed the Canucks positive test number spot on before the club released its statement.

Overall, it is good the Canucks themselves provided the clarity they could on Wednesday.

From what the Canucks provided, the team is still far from getting out of the woods as far as COVID-19 is concerned, but the club’s situation is being taken seriously.

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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Being content can become a mental health challenge

The Hilltops 2015 CJFL title win was a good day for me.

    I wish it was simple to be content and accept things as they are, but memories of a good part of my past keep getting in the way.

    Since 2012, I have known I have battled with issues dealing with anxiety. One of the hardest things for me is to be content in the here and now. I figured this would be my subject for what has become my traditional post for Bell Let’s Talk day.

    There is still a stigma around mental health issues, and they are unfortunately still treated as the elephant in the room in too many circles. I write about my experiences on the mental health front in hopes it will help others.

    I often stress over what I haven’t accomplished or what I don’t have. I sometimes dwell too much wondering if what I haven’t accomplished will happen in the future.

    There are times a song by the rock group Queen keeps ringing in my head called, “I Want It All.”

    I can hear the chorus line loud and clear, “I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now.”

    I remember that song ringing out in the dressing room when I played football in high school. It blared out when playoffs started. The song was about a young man who was set to head out into the world and accomplish all his goals and nothing was going to stop him from doing just that.

    I can’t seem to find that place of being content due to the fact there was a lengthy period of time everything seemed to fall into place for me. That period of time occurred before I discovered I dealt with issues dealing with anxiety.

    When I started school at the University of Regina in the fall of 1995, I was set that I was going to be a sports reporter. I remember young me saying I was going to do this, or I was going to die. That seems kind of heavy, and looking back, it might not have been healthy.

    I remember I constantly had doubters. There were people that said I would never get into the University of Regina’s School of Journalism and Communications. I would never see the press box of a CFL stadium or an NHL rink.

All set for a U of Regina athletics awards night in 2001.

    I was wasting my time coming out to Regina and should go back to Winnipeg, Man., where I graduated high school and find some other path in life.

    The media cut era was just beginning, so that would provide another obstacle.

    Some of my biggest critics were other reporters and journalists. Consequently, I have found in life my relationships with reporters and other journalists was divided into becoming great friends with half the people I met and finding I was despised by the other half that didn’t want to talk to me.

    The ones that didn’t like me really showed it in a snobby sort of way like they were above me. It was natural for an industry that contains a lot of ego. I didn’t care.

    I found my best friends came from the University of Regina Cougars and Rams athletic teams. I covered them and helped them on the media front as well.

    I became involved with the Rams when they were still in the Canadian Junior Football League, and I ended up practicing with them when injury troubles struck in the 2000-01 university season, when the Rams appeared in the Vanier Cup.

    The U of R athletes were my positive support group that believed in me. Due to those friendships, my self-confidence grew immensely.

    All of a sudden, I went on a run where I seemed to be able to jump over all the hurdles and kick all the doors down.

    I went from being a sports reporter and then the sports editor at the U of R student newspaper, the Carillon. I got into the U of R School of Journalism and Communications and graduated, which was something I wasn’t supposed to do. I ended up in Prince Albert becoming a sports reporter for the Daily Herald, and I did sports television spots for CTV and Shaw.

Leah Levy (#10) and Jana Linner (#7) were part of a great U of R group.

    During my stop there, I entered a CFL press box for the first time in a working capacity. I wasn’t supposed to do that.

    From there, I moved on to the Medicine Hat News to become the beat writer that covered the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers. That became the first moment of my life I made a comfortable living doing what I did. I saw that as a real moment where I made it.

    On my birthday on March 4, 2008, I stepped into an NHL press box for the first time for a regular season game at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary as the host Flames played the Columbus Blue Jackets. I was there to do catch up pieces with Tigers grads Kris Russell and Jason Chimera.

    Being in the press box that night, I remembered the doubters. I had pride in a huge sense of accomplishment. I heard the Queen song in my mind.

    “I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now.”

    When I saw Russell that night, I thought it was only a matter of time before I saw my bud on a regular basis on the NHL beat. Away from the rink and a few months after that NHL game, action was developing on the romantic front. I thought the family thing was going to happen, which was something I subconsciously wanted too.

    Then, it all changed following the end of the 2008-09 season.

Hanging out in Vancouver, B.C., in 2007.

    What seemed like the continual tough times followed. The budget cut era in the Canadian media industry hit with huge force. The News was sold and unexpected mental health challenges started in the work place, which sparked my battles with anxiety issues.

    I thought all I had to do was work hard and everything would work out like it had in the past. I thought working hard would continue to earn respect and the doors would keep opening.
    If problems rose up, my voice would be heard, because by this time I had built up street cred in what I was doing.

    I could control everything in my life just with my effort.

    I was wrong on all fronts especially with regards to influencing those that held the strings of power. That was part of the 30 reasons I chose to leave Medicine Hat and move to Saskatoon to be closer to family in the summer of 2014. I had some supports in Medicine Hat, but without any family there, the support network wasn’t strong enough to keep me in that centre to deal with the challenges I faced.

    For the longest time, I kept asking myself why wasn’t I heard when problems rose up at the News or what I could have done differently. It wasn’t until I covered the Saskatoon Hilltops winning the Canadian Bowl at home in November of 2015 where I came to a place where I was content and at peace with the last years of my life in Medicine Hat.

The Hilltops 2015 Canadian Bowl win was good day for me.

    I hit that point where I ended up hugging Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant post-game, and he said, “Thanks for everything you’ve done for us.”

    I felt I was making a difference with what I was doing covering sports in Saskatoon, and with that feeling, I turned the page and accepted the final years of my life in Medicine Hat on an “it is what it is front.”

    You can’t go back and change the past.

    These days I struggle with being content on other fronts. I will look at Facebook and often compare my life with my friends from my university days. I often ask why my life didn’t mirror theirs on the career and family fronts.

    They always seem to never experience setbacks in their careers, were married, had kids and were happy in their family lives.

    One of the things that bugs me to this day is my romantic relationships from the past never turned out to be for the real long term.

    I even compare my life to the young adults on the Saskatoon Hilltops, University of Saskatchewan Huskies teams and the Saskatoon Blades and often wish I could turn back the clock and be back in my younger days. I keep thinking at their young ages they are getting way ahead of me in life.

    When I was at their stage in life, it seemed like I had all the answers, and life always seemed to play out like I did have all the answers. Now I struggle to find the answers. I realize now how much happens that I can’t control in life.

Me hanging out with Peter Loubardias after Game 6 of the 2017 WHL final.

    I go through moments where I wonder why things haven’t worked out for me like they did for a stretch that lasted about 15 years. I feel I work as hard as I did then, but the doors don’t open anymore.

    I will have times where I will go do something and wonder if I should be doing something else. An example of that would be tossing up going and covering one sporting event like a Blades hockey game as opposed to a Huskies hockey game.

    When I am covering sporting events, those are the moments when I find I am at my best focusing on the day for that day. I find at that moment I am content.

    I struggle with being wiser on the political front. I find I don’t react well when someone tells a white lie to me. I have worked at coming to a better understanding why someone would have their reasons for not telling me the whole truth.
    I find telling white lies seems to be a norm in way too many facets of life and overall people aren’t as accountable as they once were. I find you get penalized if you are accountable and tell the truth, and that is unfortunate. I see way too many spots where people progress by lying and not being accountable.
    I have worked to learn when to pick my battles on this front and accept when a situation is an “it is what it is thing.”
    Sometimes the best way to react to a situation where there are too many lies is to leave it.
    I don’t have the total answer for how I overcome all the other things I battle with as far as being content is concerned. I find I equal being content with giving up. That is also something I battle.

I rediscovered the joy of getting out to the lake last summer.

    My best comfort comes from the fact I have tools to deal with this. I will resort to breathing exercises or I will meditate. Over last summer, I rediscovered other things that helped make me content or settle me down like going to a movie or packing my bike to go for a ride at the lake.

    I find I am getting better at accepting things as they are.

    While that helps me be content in the here and now, I still find there is a part of me that refuses to settle. That Queen song come back into my head.

    “I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now.”

    I have accepted it is all a work in progress.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com. My Bell Let’s Talk post from last year called “Recognizing and respecting triggers is key for mental health” can be found right here. A piece called “Feeling connected calms the mental health seas” can be found right here. A piece called “My Mental Health Story” can be found here. Another post I like that I wrote in February of 2015 about my mental health journey call “Huskies hockey was good for me” can be found here.

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