Three star selections evoke passion in WHL, hockey

Should they be objective on merit or a promotional tool?

Sloan Stanick in action for the Raiders earlier this season.

I underestimated how much passion could come up around the end of game three star selections in hockey.

For myself, I’ve long considered the three star selections to be a promotional tool. I basically see them as a showy thing for the home teams to use to give pats on the backs of the host side’s players.

I used to see them as an objective thing given out on merit for the happenings in that night’s game. That view is pretty much reserved for NHL contests these days. For any other hockey league in North America including the WHL, they are a promotional tool.

On Saturday night, I posted the sentiment on social media that the three star selections in the WHL don’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things and are just showy things for the home team. I made that same post on Facebook, Instagram and Platform-X (formerly Twitter) with a screenshot of the top of the box score of the Prince Albert Raiders 4-3 overtime victory over the Hurricanes in Lethbridge on Saturday. All of the three star selections that night came from the host Hurricanes.

Those posts started attracting messages in the comments sections and direct messages poured in. All sorts of views came in about overall observations on three star selections, and the passion was there.

This column of mine appeared in the Prince Albert Daily Herald. To read the full article, feel free to click right here.

A wacked and loony week for social media

Sometimes it is best to not check out those lines

The Blades are doing their part to make Saskatoon a better place.

Social media never seems to disappoint with how crazy it can be in the worst way.

Just when you think social media can be cool, all of a sudden it hits the sewer worse than you ever remember happening before. Out of all the social media lines, it feels like Twitter hits the sewer the fastest and hardest.

For me, the high note of the week on social media came in the early morning hours last Sunday. I got home after covering a WHL regular season game in Prince Albert on Saturday, January 22, where the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers downed the host Raiders 6-4.

Before I went to bed, I decided to check my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Both lines were filled with posts of people saying they were happy to be at the Saskatoon Blades WHL regular season home game on January 22, when they dumped the Winnipeg Ice 7-2.

The majority of the comments focused on the great job the Blades did with their Pride Night theme. The Blades rocked pretty sweet special jerseys for that contest to honour the LGBTQ+ community.

The Blades drew 3,585 spectators to the SaskTel Centre that night, which was their largest crowd since returning from their WHL Christmas break.

I went to bed feeling upbeat about the Blades having done something really positive for inclusion.

Even though I didn’t make that Blades game, it felt like they were able to show that a sports team can truly bring all parts of a community together.

Those feelings were genuine too, because Blades general manager Colin Priestner and his wife, Alanna, live and breathe those values.

Unfortunately, social media started to go south one day later this past Monday.

That was the day the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks announced Emilie Castonguay would be the team’s new assistant general manager. She would become the first female to hold that job title in the history of the Canucks and only the second female ever in the history of the NHL to be named an assistant general manager.

There was a lot of praise that came with that move.

Unfortunately, I came across cringe worthy comments too.

I came across a Twitter account that had just over 100 followers and stated the account holder was based in Alberta.

That account hold wrote a post responding to this announcement that women and gays have no place in hockey.

I was freaked out and felt sad and upset someone would say that so boldly on a public line.

I found a Twitter troll that said women don’t belong in hockey.

That same account said something that was unflattering to a Saskatoon Blades team post about the team’s Pride Game night.

That offending account got pushback from others, with some noting the offending account reinforced negative stereotypes for people from Alberta.

While that offending account that was saying those crazy things wasn’t interacting with my account, I decided to block it just because that offending account was that stupid.

I proceeded to take a look at the accounts the Blades have on various social media lines to check out their Pride Night posts. I found a handful of awful responses in the comments sections of those posts.

On Tuesday, the Blades proceeded to put a story on their website titled, “Saskatoon Blades score one for Pride.”

It was a beautifully crafted post about how great the team’s Pride Night was. If you are curious, that post can be found by clicking right here.

The Blades organization’s reaction to the negative comments was an outstanding one.

Unfortunately, I would continue to encounter rough social media waters in different areas.

Wednesday was Bell Let’s Talk day, which is Bell Canada’s annual mental health awareness and fundraising day.

It felt like the regular fundraising initiatives held over social media lines didn’t get the traction like past years. I traditionally write a post on Bell Let’s Talk day discussing my own mental healthy journey, and my post this year got by far the fewest views in comparison to my Bell Let’s Talk day posts of past years.

I figured that might happen, because I expected there to be a push back against Bell Canada after making huge jobs cuts in less than a week after last year’s Bell Let’s Talk day.

Bell Canada has become a company that talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk when it comes to mental health. However, any negativity towards Bell Let’s Talk day would not be the craziest thing that would be seen this week over social media.

Wednesday was the first day I started to notice posts from the truckers’ convoy that was heading to Ottawa, Ont., to converge on Parliament Hill to call an end for coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine mandates and other public health restrictions.

Truckers and other protestors made it to Ottawa on Saturday for their protest.

Starting on Wednesday, I saw way too many posts from the radicals in this group on the far right that made me cringe. Even posts that weren’t cringe worthy made me shake my head.

One shake my head post came from the “Truckers Freedom Convoy 2022” Instagram account on Saturday. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe put out a letter on his social media accounts thanking truckers, and it called for an end to the cross-border ban on unvaccinated truckers that travel between Canada and the United States.

Twitter is likely the most loony social media line.

Moe’s letter also stated in the not too distant future the Government of Saskatchewan would end its proof of vaccination or negative test requirement policy.

The “Truckers Freedom Convoy 2022” account said Moe’s letter was a step in the right direction, but immediate action was wanted right now. The post also used the hashtag #WeTheFringe.

Of course, you could find numerous posts including cringe worthy ones from the far left condemning those associated with the convoy.

To me, all of this devolved into absolutism that has been present since the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world in March of 2020.

There was lots of my way or the highway rhetoric.

So far during the COVID-19 pandemic, differing views regarding it have been the deal breaker on many friendships and associations and often it has been the only deal breaker.

Ultimately, I don’t think this convoy is going to accomplish much except drown out the voices of people who are reasonable and still have common sense. Any ill feelings will only be intensified.

While the truckers’ convoy dominated the news cycle in Canada, the news cycle in the United States was dominated by escalating tensions between that country and Russia over Russian massing near 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine. Anything related to the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t seem to be top of mind.

Finally on Saturday, social media jumped in a tizzy over a subject that was less serious in nature. Early in the afternoon, news broke that Tom Brady, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback and arguably the NFL’s greatest ever player, was retiring only for that story to be shot down seemingly about an hour later.

Brady’s company TB12sports put out a tweet that indicated Brady was retiring, but that was later deleted.

The NFL put a story on its website that Brady was retiring and put out an announcement on Twitter saying the retirement was happening.

Reactions poured in from around the world congratulating Brady on his career.

Later Saturday afternoon, news came out Brady called Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht to say he had not made a decision yet on his football playing future. Brady, who is 44-years-old, is under contract to play for the Buccaneers in 2022.

With all that has gone on this week, the mix up regarding the story if Brady had made up his mind about retiring from his playing career ended up being a humourous one.

A Saturday afternoon screenshot of NFL.com of a story in error.

In the end, all one can do with these crazy social media waves is roll with the punches as best you can. If you can try to pause, take a deep breath and think critically without emotion about what you are seeing, it could potentially help you navigate those seas.

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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When COVID-19 restrictions are announced, social media is not the place to be

Facebook can be a really crappy place at times.

It appears it was a great week to be a rageaholic.

The rageaholics came out of the woodworks this week anytime new restrictions were announced to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

On Tuesday, rageaholics went off the rails in Alberta, when new restrictions were brought forward in that province.

On Wednesday, it was Saskatchewan’s turn to be a rageaholic stomping ground.

Of course, new restrictions are being brought in because the number of new COVID-19 cases are spiking across Canada. Just for Alberta and Saskatchewan alone the cases have been rising at an incredible rate.

As of Friday, there were 14,217 active COVID-19 cases in Alberta and 3,263 active cases in Saskatchewan.

Back on Nov. 1, there were 5,172 active COVID-19 cases in Alberta and 798 active COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan.

Back on Oct. 1, there were 1,596 active COVID-19 cases in Alberta and 144 active COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan.

When new restrictions get announced, social media is not the place to be. On Facebook and Twitter, it is quite easy to find posts full or rage, hate and piss and vinegar.

Of course you get the side that goes off that the restrictions are too tight. You also have the side that hammers down the restrictions don’t go far enough.

Looking at all the social media posts, you come away with the impression that everyone in society in general is some sort of version of former NFL diva receiver Terrell Owens.

When Owens used to play in the NFL, one of the common acts to imitate him was to go on a rant and say, “It is all about me. Me! I’m the greatest. Me! Team is spelled M, E. Me!”

In general, it is safe to say all humans are selfish to a certain extent. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it feels like the selfishness of humanity has hit new levels. We are definitely not in this all together.

I hate to say it, but some loud people in the sports world - that includes some in Alberta and Saskatchewan - seem to have abandoned preaching the importance of team and seem to be saying things that makes them symbolize all those “me” traits Owens used to show off.

The urge to play in an effort to stay relevant seems to be the most important thing in the world to those people.

Starting on Friday in Alberta, all sports in that province have been cancelled for a three-week restriction period, but exceptions may be granted.

Hockey Canada’s selection camp for its world junior team is going on at the moment in Red Deer, but the sport body announced on Wednesday that players, coaches and staff had entered a 14-day quarantine retroactive to Monday. All camp activities are paused until Dec. 6.

The Bears won’t enjoy any more wins for a bit.

The shutdown came after the confirmation that two players at the camp have tested positive for COVID-19. A staff member had tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 21.

A new batch of restrictions took effect in Saskatchewan on Friday. All team sports and group activities are suspended.

Athletes and dancers 18-years-old and under may keep practicing in groups of eight or fewer if they use masks and physical distance three metres from each other. Fitness activities of groups of eight or less are still allowed as long as masks are worn and there is three metres of physical distance between participants.

Capacity at casinos, bingo halls, arenas, live theatres, movie theatres, performing arts venues and other facilities that had a capped capacity of 150 people will be restricted to 30 people.

Indoor gatherings such as banquets, weddings, funerals, conferences will also have a limit of 30 people and food and beverage service will be prohibited.

All places of worship must reduce capacity to 30 people, and no food or drink can be served.

Restaurants and licensed establishments are limited to seat four at a single table.

Mandatory non-medical mask wearing was extended to more areas. That includes all students, employees and visitors at schools, all employees and visitors in common areas in business and workplaces and all residents, employees and visitors in all common areas in provincial and municipal correctional facilities.

These new measures and public health measures that were all ready in effect in Saskatchewan will remain in effect until December 17.

On Wednesday, the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League junior A circuit announced it won’t be playing any games from Friday through to Christmas.

As sports got going again during the pandemic, it felt like there were some in minor sports bodies and with teams that acted like sports would not be shut down again, and it seemed like that message filtered to some players and parents.

If anyone really believed that, they were delusional, because what happens with the pandemic is out of anyone’s control. Everyone in any sports organization should know that the risk on going ahead with play in these current pandemic times is that games and competitions can be scrapped and sports organizations and teams can lose substantial amounts of money by playing.

It felt like there were some out there that knew the risks, weren’t truly honest about them and got burned by them.

There are also a large number of sports organizations and teams that are honest with their players.

Actually, there have been a number of coaches that have done admirable work in being honest with their players.

Special shout outs go to Saskatoon Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant, University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team head coach Scott Flory, Prince Albert Northern Bears head coach Jeff Willoughby, Saskatoon Stars head coach Robin Ulrich, University of Regina Cougars women’s hockey team head coach Sarah Hodges and University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team head coach Steve Kook.

Those special shout outs come from interactions with the players on those teams as well as the coaches themselves.

There won’t be any Stars victory celebrations for a while.

That list could be expanded, if it wasn’t for limited interactions due to the pandemic. I know I have left a large number of good coaches out.

Still, it feels like society in general is not in this all together when it comes to dealing with the pandemic. The sports world is not immune to this.

It seems the only way out of this is to hope the mainstream media stories that there are at least three COVID-19 vaccine candidates out there that could possibly be rolled out in 2021 becomes reality. That could optimistically return everything to normal by September of that year.

Relying on humanity as a whole to get on the same page to battle the COVID-19 pandemic right now looks to be a non-starter.

The mystery of Rangers’ Maracle, other notes

So were there Indigenous hockey players in the NHL before the late Fred Sasakamoose?

It appears there was a least one for sure. It also appears that it took some painstaking work a journalist to uncover that one, which might add some historical snapshots of time.

The one Indigenous player that came before Sasakamoose was Ayr, Ont., product Henry Elmer “Buddy” Maracle.

Maracle played 11 regular season games at left wing for the New York Rangers in 1930-31 collecting one goal and three assists and was held pointless in four playoff games. He was a member of the Mohawk tribe.

Irene Schmidt-Adeney, who is a reporter at the weekly Ayr News, has spent a tonne of work uncovering Maracle’s history.

He was born in Ayr, Ont., on September 8, 1904 and passed away on June 20, 1958 in Dallas, Texas. Schmidt-Adeney said Maracle passed away due to a kidney disorder. He was a produce truck driver at the time of his death.

She added that stories about Maracle during his hockey career often had racist headlines. His final season of hockey was with the minor league San Diego Skyhawks in 1943-44.

After his hockey career finished, Schmidt-Adeney said Maracle became a United States citizen. According to her research, Maracle gave up his Mohawk status in 1955.

His Texas death certificate from 1958 said his color or race was “white.”

Historical archives and newspaper archives were able to show facts on Maracle. They help paint a snapshot in time.

At the point in time Maracle lived, it was likely more advantageous to renounce your Indigenous status. The fact he did that likely made it harder to track down his cultural background.

As a result, Sasakamoose, who is from the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, is often recognized as the NHL’s first Indigenous player with treaty status when he played 11 regular season games for the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1953-54 campaign. Sasakamoose passed away on Tuesday after being recently hospitalized for COVID-19.

Sasakamoose will always live on as a legend, because he did a tonne of work to help better the lives for Indigenous athletes. He always identified with his culture and will always be viewed as a hero.

On Maracle’s front, you can’t fault him for choices he made with the facts that have been uncovered in his life. He was a product of his point and time in history.

• On Wednesday, Softball Saskatchewan announced it was suspending all sanctioned activities until January 15, 2021 due to the rise of COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan.
• On Wednesday, the WHL announced that the WHL Cup tournament was cancelled for the 2020-21 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event features the under-16 teams from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
• On Wednesday, a Saskatchewan Amateur Football Mega 50/50 lottery was announced to support the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder and the WWCFL’s Saskatoon Valkyries and Regina Riot. One prize will be drawn per month, and the draw dates are December 31, 2020, January 31, 2021, February 28, 2021, March 31, 2021, April 30, 2021 and May 31, 2021. Tickets can be purchased by clicking right here, and purchasers must be in Saskatchewan in order to buy tickets.
• On Friday night, the 50/50 jackpot for the Hockey Harvest Lottery sat at $220,520. The lottery is being used to raise money for 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. Tickets can be purchased by clicking right here, and purchasers must be in Saskatchewan in order to buy tickets.
• On Friday, the University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team opened their NCAA regular season schedule falling 3-2 to the Ohio State University Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio. Sophie Shirley, who is an alumna of the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA hockey team, had an assist for the Badgers. The Badgers roster contains Sophie’s younger sister, Grace, who is also an alumna of the Stars.

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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Dale is the real deal, deserves spot with Hilltops

Emmarae Dale practises with the Hilltops on Thursday.

The praise and attention has continued to pour in since the Saskatoon Hilltops announced linebacker Emmarae Dale has joined the storied and historic CJFL club, and all the accolades are deserved.

The Hilltops announced Tuesday morning Dale has officially been added to their roster. Since that time, the social media posts the club put out about the announcement have gone viral.

At the time this post went live, the Hilltops post on Dale’s announcement on Facebook has drawn 944 reactions and has been shared 726 times. The Twitter post has been retweeted 504 times and like over 1,700 times.

The Instagram post has been liked over 1,100 times.

The subsequent posts others have created about Dale being added to the Hilltops roster have attracted countless likes and shares. The Western Woman’s Canadian Football League powerhouse Saskatoon Valkyries, who Dale played for from 2016 to 2019, have seen their congratulatory Facebook post draw 266 reactions and be shared 167 times.

Emmarae Dale is the first female to make the Hilltops roster.

Since Tuesday morning’s announcement, Dale has been on seemingly a barnstorming tour doing media interviews across Western Canada.

One thing that shouldn’t be lost amongst all the media attention is Dale deserves this opportunity.

The Hilltops have won 22 CJFL championships in their history and the last six CJFL titles in a row. This isn’t an organization that needs to do a publicity stunt like this.

Legendary Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant, who is the all-time leader in amateur post-secondary wins in Canada, and defensive coordinator Jeff Yausie aren’t the type of people who will put players on the team as a novelty.

They put players on the team they believe will be able to play and contribute in games. 

Emmarae Dale has done a tonne of media interviews this week.

In bringing on board the first female players the Hilltops have ever had on their roster and the first female player to be in the CJFL, both Sargeant and Yausie are aware enough that they will not put someone in a position where they will fail or not be able to handle things.

Dale is a very mature young woman at the age of 22. She is an elite athlete with special gifts in the speed, power and strength departments.

On top of her natural athletic abilities, Dale is an experienced football player. She hit the field for four seasons as a middle linebacker with the Saskatoon Valkyries from 2016 to 2019 helping them win WWCFL titles in 2016 and 2019.

Yausie was the Valkyries head coach in Dale’s first year with the team and defensive coordinator in Dale’s second year with that squad. As a result, Yausie has a strong idea of what Dale can do as a player.

Emmarae Dale (#45) makes a tackle for the Valkyries in 2016.

Dale was voted the Valkyries most outstanding defensive player in 2017 and 2019.

She has been a dominate player in the WWCFL since stepping on the field as a rookie. Dale is a fireplug standing at 5-foot-6, and she can flat out fly to the ball.

She has a natural instinct to know where the ball is going on the football field, and her ability to read plays is second to none.

Even with the handful of workouts she has had with the Hilltops veterans, Dale has shown the ability to understand and breakdown plays, when the Hilltops have done non-contact offense versus defence sets.

Dale’s football knowledge is aided by the fact two of her older brothers in Anthony and Donovan played for the Hilltops in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Anthony played on the offensive line, while Donovan suited up on the defensive line.

Emmarae Dale (#45) makes a hit in 2019 for the Valkyries.

Besides the exploits in football, Emmarae Dale has been a member of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s track and field team in the U Sports ranks for the past four seasons. Specializing in throws, Dale has helped the Huskies win the Canada West women’s team title in each of the past three seasons.

That adds to showing the well-roundedness of her athletic ability.

On top of her athletic abilities, Dale has other intangibles that make her a good fit for the Hilltops. She has worked out at Ignite Athletics for a number of years, and most of the Hilltops players do their off-season training there.

She already knows a large number of players on the team, and they have seen firsthand how hard she works to get herself in the best shape possible. A respect tangible already exists.

Emmarae Dale (#45) tracks down a QB in 2019.

Dale is also one of the best and most modest and humble first rate persons you will find anywhere.

She approaches life in a mature and good confident way and is very well spoken. Those traits have shown through in the various media interviews she has done over the past week.

Dale has the make up to handle the spotlight and the extra attention that will come her way in the right way.

The best part is the news of her making the Hilltops roster has been warmly received seemingly everywhere. Over social media, you will still find a couple of crank negative comments, which you have to expect will surface in today’s world, but those types of comments have been few and far between.

Thanks to the CJFL ruling that players who were supposed to be 22-years-old this year will be able to play at age 23 next year, Dale will have one season to enjoy her time as member of the Hilltops assuming the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic stops throwing wrenches into how the world operates.

Emmarae Dale and the Valkyries enjoy their 2019 WWCFL title win.

Even with just being on the Hilltops roster, Dale has already accomplished something really special. It is an accomplishment she has earned and deserves.

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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If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Hilltops show it is possible to do things in the right way

Hilltops’ Jesse McNabb shares the Canadian Bowl at the Santa Claus Parade. 

    For people of Saskatoon, the venerable Saskatoon Hilltops provide a security blanket.

    No matter how messed up things seem to get in the world – all you have to do is check social media feeds on Twitter or Facebook to see that – the Hilltops are still that one local institution that has the image where good things can come to good people when they do things right.

    On Saturday at McLeod Stadium in Langley, B.C., the Hilltops claimed an 11-6 victory in a defensive slugfest over the host Rams in the CJFL championship game – the Canadian Bowl. For the Rams, that was their only loss of the 2019 campaign as they finished with a 12-1 overall mark.

    For the Hilltops, that marked the sixth straight time they have won the CJFL title, and they claimed the league crown for the ninth time in the last 10 years.

    This run of title wins is the byproduct of the Hilltops always doing things right. The same goes with the other impressive feats that this team has on the go.

Tyler Hermann (#12) have a big final campaign for the Hilltops.

    Those feats include winning an impressive 22 CJFL championships in team history, winning 31 straight games in a row, winning 29 straight games in a row on the road and claiming victory in a CJFL record 20 straight post-season games.

    It is highly likely the Hilltops current overall and road winning streaks are CJFL records too.

    The Hilltops finished the 2019 campaign with a 12-0 overall record and have posted perfect seasons in back-to-back campaigns.

    The perfect season in 2019 is particularly impressive on the coaching front, as the Hilltops dealt with a high turnover in starters from the previous season. They had contests where they looked vulnerable over their first four regular season games, but they still found a way to win.

    That included downing the Huskies in Edmonton 24-22 on Sept. 1 and getting past the Regina Thunder 28-21 on Sept. 7 at Saskatoon Minor Football Field. The Hilltops entered the fourth quarter trailing on the scoreboard in both contests before pulling out victory.

Riley Keating led the Hilltops in tackles.

    Legendary head coach Tom Sargeant added a pair of incredible milestones. He picked up his 200^th career win and has compiled a 210-30-2 career record in the CJFL’s regular season and post-season to become the all-time leader in head coaching victories in Canada’s amateur post-secondary football ranks.

    He surpassed retired Regina Rams head coach Frank McCrystal for that distinction.

    McCrystal had a 208-104-2 record in the regular season and post-season in both the CJFL and U Sports. He was the head coach of the Rams from 1984 to 2014, and they played 15 seasons in the CJFL and 16 campaigns in U Sports over that time as the University of Regina Rams.

    On why the Hilltops succeed, you earn your spot on the field through hard work and respect is given to the veterans that have put in their time. As a result, the Hilltops under Sargeant always talk about playing for their fifth-year players and helping them graduate from the CJFL as league champions.

    The fifth-year veterans also go out of their way to make the newcomers feel like part of the team/family and pass down lessons they learned.

    The Hilltops know that how they act on and off the field is important, and they always do their best to carry themselves with dignity, humility and respect. The individual discipline in the world away from football always seems to carry itself on the field.

    The team and individual players set goals and work their hardest to achieve those goals. The coaches always seem to provide a great road map to help the team and individual players get to their goals.

Hilltops HC Tom Sargeant upped his career wins total to 210.

    The Hilltops have always lived up to all these intangibles.

    That is why it becomes extra sweet when someone like fifth-year quarterback Tyler Hermann takes over the starting role in his final year with the team and has a solid campaign. He had to work off some rust when it came to being a regular since his Grade 12 year with Saskatoon’s Holy Cross High School Crusaders football program.

    After the Hilltops eight regular season games, Hermann posted solid numbers completing 123-of-192 passes for 1,908 yards, 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He graduates from the Hilltops sporting a 12-0 overall record as the team’s starting quarterback, with all of those starts coming in 2019.

    The same goes for middle linebacker Jadyn Pingue and outside linebacker Riley Keating, who both played out their respective fifth years of eligibility. Both played special teams and substituted in on defence during their first four seasons with the club.

    They both had incredible fifth years in their only full campaigns as starters. Pingue was the CJFL’s most outstanding defensive player and Keating topped the Hilltops with 46 total tackles during the regular season.

Jadyn Pingue was named the CJFL’s most outstanding defensive player.

    The Hilltops are conscious when it comes to passing on their tradition. When former linebacker Justin Filteau passed away tragically in a plane crash in early June, the coaches ensured they would teach the current team why Filteau was the quintessential Hilltops player.

    Filteau’s final season with the Hilltops was in the CJFL championship campaign in 2014 that started the current run is six straight title wins. He was a CJFL all-Canadian all-star that year.

    Since none of the current Hilltops ever played with Filteau, the coaches had to explain to the current generation of players how much Filteau, who played with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team as well, meant to the provincial football scene and how much time he put in giving back to it.

    Noting how the enthusiastically and loudly the current Hilltops did Filteau’s Ric Flair cheer after their final home practice before going to the Canadian Bowl, it was obvious the lessons about Filteau’s impact were successfully passed on.

    While the Hilltops have been who they are for decades, it is reassuring in today’s world to see how their great traits haven’t changed.

Rylan Kleiter (#7) made a number of clutch kicks for the Hilltops.

    In today’s world, it is easy to be dragged down by the bad. To note, the Hilltops completed their perfect season during a time when a very toxic federal election campaign went down that created the term #Wexit and arguments that Western Canada - specifically Alberta and Saskatchewan - needs to form its own independent state and separate from the country.

    In the last 10 days, you had the fallout from Hockey Night In Canada’s split with Don Cherry, and the messages that hit social media or any type of media were arguably way more toxic than those that came from the federal election.

    When it comes time for the Hilltops to get to work on football, Sargeant refers to any outside distraction like that as “noise.”

    Still, society as a whole seems to get dragged into these stories like the federal election and Cherry. It is naïve to think these things don’t affect young men in their late teens and early 20s who play football and are starting out in the working world.

    If things like this are really affecting the players, the coaches often fill the role of one-on-one sounding board, when that time comes.

Ben Abrook piled up the rushing yards as a workhorse power back.

    In today’s world, the biggest lessons the Hilltops program can pass on to the current players are perseverance and learning how to figure things out as you go.

    Hilltops offensive line coach Donnie Davidsen might be the best at figuring things out as you go. He can host seminars on why you need to teach the 6-foot tall offensive lineman different techniques than the 6-foot-5 offensive lineman in order to allow both to be successful.

    If you talk to Davidsen on that front, you can tell he self-learned from a lot of different areas and put together a course of action to make his players better.

    When the current Hilltops players graduate, they will face a working world or real life world in the current day where it seems honour no longer exists and you could be fired on any day for actually doing your job. You saw that right. In today’s world, you could be fired on any day for actually doing your job.

    If you think about that point, you can see why there are so many breakdowns in the current world on a work or personal front.
    It is common in today’s world to do everything right on a work and personal front and still fail. Those are moments where the lessons of perseverance come through.

The Hilltops are celebrated in Saskatoon for doing things the right way.

    That is why in Saskatoon it always feels reassuring when the Hilltops once again go on a run to win another CJFL title, because you know they are doing things the right way.

    Even if you don’t follow the team in an ultra-passionate way, it still feels good knowing they had another successful season that resulted in a league title.

    It is also way more fun to have messages and pictures of those moments fill our social media feed.

    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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Instagram is insta-crack

Instagram on my phone.

    I tried to resist as much as possible, but bit by bit I am getting taken down by the power of Instagram.

    Due to working in media and communications, I find I pile up way too much screen time dealing with the social media platforms of Facebook and Twitter. I long resisted going on Instagram.

    I constantly see people in their late teenage years and early 20s buried on their phones even during nights out to the nightclubs and Instagram was the platform they were usually hooking into.

    I started my account in late 2014 and didn’t really actively start using it until about a year ago.
    I found it to be a useful platform to share my action shots from sports.

    I have found I am taking more selfies, which is something I don’t really do a lot of.
    I try to use Instagram the way veteran colourful hockey executive Brian Burke uses Twitter and follow virtually nobody.
    I have slowly worked my way to following 13 different entities due to the fact you can follow people and organizations.

Sage Watson’s Instagram profile on my phone.

    I am still in the process of studying how people and organizations conduct themselves on that platform.

    I check out how people conduct themselves that don’t have a big public profile to those in the other end of the spectrum in Canadian track and field star Sage Watson.
    She caught the attention of the tabloid and paparazzi type media in Europe since the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, due to her extremely attractive looks.

    Watson is an old friend I have known a long time from Medicine Hat, Alta., and it amazes me how she gets glamorously portrayed in the tabloid press in Europe causing her to have over 51,000 followers on Instagram.

    Recently, I have found the charm to Instagram at least for myself.

    Out of all the social media platforms, Instagram is the one I find I am most often triggered in a good way.
    I constantly see pictures of people in happy times at least when I have gone on the account.

    Besides pictures of high moments in sports, I see pictures with people in happy settings like parties, a night out, going to the beach, attending weddings, graduations and a whole host of other fun activities.

The Instagram news feed on my phone.

    I used to see an influx of these photos on Facebook around a back of years from 2007 to 2014.
    People used to use simple digital point and shoot cameras and download their photos from fun times to their accounts.

    However, the cameras on mobile phones have become so good people in recent years just post their photos to the Instagram account.
    Instagram is so easy to use on your phone too.

    As for how good cameras on mobile phones have become, my phone takes normal portrait and set up shots better than my digital SLR camera I used to shoot sports action with.

    I can see how going through photos on Instagram can give people constant Dopamine hits. \   Dopamine is a neurochemical in the brain that provides people with a sense of pleasure.

    In recent years, I find people are placing less of their photos from fun times on their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
    As a result, you get left with a host of written posts were people are giving their two cents regarding the news of the day be it Donald Trump, school shootings, Roseanne Barr or Canadian Politics.

An  Instagram picture on my phone.

    When you engage in debates on any of those subjects, it seems all you do is go down a toxic road.
    Besides getting into verbal fights with people you know, you end up spending way too much time in verbal altercations with people you only know online. It seems like people won’t agree to disagree and want to keep on fighting.

    I know for myself there have been way too many times I can’t stand looking at my news feeds on Facebook or Twitter, because it triggers me into moving emotionally into a negative space.

    On Instagram, I haven’t seen anyone one pushing political or social justice agendas looking for a confrontation.
    People can write hurtful things under the comments sections in pictures, but you have to click into them to see them.

    The fun photos make Instagram a more upbeat place to be than Facebook and Twitter, which seems devoid of fun photos these days.

    Here is hoping Instagram can be a more fun escape type place in the future.
    Judging by the numbers that use it, it is a social network you have to be on these days.

Return of Cougars wrestling teams should always be open

The Carillon after the Cougars men’s wrestling team’s second national title.

    I knew it was coming, but it still felt strange to see the dropdown menus eliminated on the University of Regina’s athletics website for the Cougars men’s and women’s wrestling teams.

    The two storied programs along with the University of Regina Cougars men’s volleyball team were eliminated without warning on April 30 due to a budget crunch felt by the athletics department. The dropdown menu for the men’s volleyball team is no longer there too.

    In about a week after the cuts came down, Global News in Regina produced a story off a confidential recording of a meeting between Harold Riemer, the U of R dean of the Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies, and members of the U of R women’s wrestling team.

    That story reported that in 2016-17 campaign the administration in the athletic department was told they needed to raise $580,000 in fundraising and fell about $220,000 short. During that fiscal year, Riemer said in the Global story that the U of R athletics department had expenses totally $3.1-million and with $2.7-million coming in to support the department, there was a deficit of $400,000.

    Out of the $2.7-million brought in to support athletics, $2.3-million comes from the recreation and athletics fee that is charged to students and is split between the universities teams and other recreation programs. The athletic teams only collected $445,000 in gate revenue, sponsorships and Sask. Sport Inc.

    Riemer said the U of R didn’t want to rely on fundraising to operate the teams.

    There has been a lot of push back against this decision. An online petition has been started to bring back the wrestling programs.

A couple of items of Cougars wrestling gear.

    If there were thoughts that the athletes would go away quietly when these programs were cut, the administration at the U of R was mistaken.

    With that said, a month has passed and the reality of next school year is approaching. The next three months will fly by.

    Athletes that were with the cut U of R programs are actively exploring their options, because they have to.

    When I was covering the Memorial Cup in Regina, I met personable and talented Regina Leader-Post photographer Troy Fleece. Fleece did a compelling photo essay following the life of Sara Tokarz, who just finished her rookie season with the Cougars women’s wrestling team and is trying to figure out the next move in her life.

    Her older brother, Paul, was with the Cougars men’s wrestling team, and he is searching for another program to join.

    This past season at U Sports nationals, the Cougars women’s team finished fifth in the team standings, while the Cougars men’s team placed eighth. At the school’s athletic awards night in April, Lucas Hoffert of the Cougars men’s wrestling team was named the winner of the U of R’s highest individual honour in the President’s Award for outstanding achievement in athletics and academics.

    Cutting the Cougars wrestling teams is a major blow to the identity of the U of R’s athletics department. You can’t just go and erase those programs storied histories.

    At Memorial Cup, I wore my University of Regina Cougars Wrestling team T-shirt under my suit and tie for a round robin game and the title game at the CHL championship tournament as a show of support to bring back those programs.

    The post I wrote about the U of R Cougars Wrestling team cuts being startling is my fourth all-time most viewed post with over 5,800 page views. In another development since the U of R team cuts were made, my old post of Brock Lesnar of UFC and WWE fame coming to the U of R to compete against the Cougars was rediscovered.

    I originally wrote that post when a UFC card was held in Saskatoon in August of 2015, and it was at 1,000 views at the end of April. It is now my sixth all-time most viewed post with over 5,400 views.

    Those numbers show there is a sizable amount of people that care about the U of R Cougars Wrestling teams. The U of R will face the inevitable of having to induct wrestlers and wrestling teams to its U of R Sports Hall of Fame.

    Due to the fact the athletes from the U of R programs attend all sorts of academic faculties, hopefully, the school can find a way to spread the costs of the athletics program throughout the institution.

    Here is hoping the pressure continues to bring these programs back.

    The online petition to bring back the Cougars Wrestling teams can be found here.

    Troy Fleece’s photo essay on Sara Tokarz can be found here.

    My May 3 post on the Cougars Wrestling teams can be found here.

    The August 21, 2015 post of Lesnar competing against the Cougars can be found here.

Leschyshyn signs with Golden Knights

Jake Leschyshyn has signed an NHL contract with the Vegas Golden Knights.

    Saskatoon product Jake Leschyshyn took another step towards one day playing full time for the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights.

    On Friday, Leschyshyn, who just completed his third season playing centre for the WHL’s Regina Pats, signed a three-year NHL entry-level contract with the Golden Knights.  The 18-year-old returned to the Pats lineup early on this past season after recovering from tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee on February of 2017.

    During the 2017-18 campaign, Leschyshyn, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 188 pounds, appeared in 64 regular season games with the Pats collecting 18 goals and 22 assists. He added three goals and two assists in seven WHL playoff games, and he scored one goal in five games at the Memorial Cup.

    The Golden Knights selected Leschyshyn in the second round and 62^nd overall in last year’s NHL Entry Draft.

Blades sign prospect, trade for another prospect

    The Saskatoon Blades signed a prospect and traded for another prospect on Thursday.

    The Blades signed 15-year-old defenceman Marek Schneider to a standard WHL standard players’ agreement. The Prince Albert, Sask., product was selected in the second round and 30^th overall in the WHL Bantam Draft held this past May.

    Last season, Schneider, who stands 6-feet and weighs 176 pounds, appeared in 30 regular season games with the bantam AA Raiders collecting three goals and 19 assists. He also dressed in six regular season games with the Prince Albert Mintos midget AAA team. Schneider expects to play next season with the Mintos. He isn’t eligible to make the Blades full time out of training camp until September of 2019.

    On the trade front, the Blades acquired 17-year-old prospect forward Nakodan Greyeyes from the Seattle Thunderbirds for a conditional sixth round selection in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft.

    Greyeyes, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 175 pounds, netted 24 goals and 29 assists appearing in 36 regular season games with the Rink Hockey Academy midget prep team in Winnipeg. He also played two games in the junior A ranks with the Dauphin Kings of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

    Greyeyes is eligible to make the Blades this coming season.

    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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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.