Wingate rises up to be key playmaker on Valkyries defence

Saskatoon to host Storm in WWCFL semifinal

Jamie Wingate (#47) is a playmaker on defence for the Valkyries.

Jamie Wingate is filling a need for the Saskatoon Valkyries that wasn’t seen at the start of the season.

When the 2022 WWCFL campaign began, the 25-year-old alumna of Saskatoon’s Holy Cross High School was penciled in as a starter at linebacker for the Valkyries. Wingate was entering her third season with the team and second season as a starter.

She didn’t expect to be veteran presence in the Valkyries linebacker corps. That was the role Wingate found herself in as the injury bug started taking chunks out of the Valkyries defensive unit.

Star outside linebacker Beth Lalonde, who has played for the Valkyries since their inaugural season in 2011, was injured before the 2022 campaign began and has yet to dress for a game. Star middle linebacker Emmarae Dale was injured during the Valkyries second game of the season and has been kept off the field until returning to practice this week.

Star defensive back Shay De Jong is still out with a leg injury and various other players have been in and out the Valkyries defence with various dings.

Wingate along with defensive tackle Jaime Lammerding, who has been with the Valkyries since their inaugural season in 2022, have often been the two to offer the veteran presence on a defence that has usually consisted of first or second year players or veterans that have converted over from offence.

“That was kind of a shock for me,” said Wingate, who has mainly played middle linebacker as the injuries piled up. “I’m still learning every practice and every game too.

“We’ve had so many injuries just hit every position. Everyone just has to work together, and we just try to make it as best as we can with who we have on the field. Obviously, we can tell we are missing them (the injured defensive players).

Jamie Wingate has taken her game to a higher level.

“That is one thing I feel like this year we did great at is just like overcoming those things and being able to still come together as a team and still pull off a ‘W’ and everything.”

Even with the constant changes on defence, the Valkyries finished the WWCFL regular season with a 4-0 record. 

After the Winnipeg Wolfpack forfeited their WWCFL quarter-final to the Saskatoon side, the Valkyries (5-0 overall) are set to host a WWCFL semifinal against the Edmonton Storm (3-1) on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Saskatoon Minor Football Field.

The other WWCFL semifinal takes plays on Saturday in Calgary as the host Rage (3-1) take on the Winnipeg based Manitoba Fearless (4-1 overall). The Fearless downed the Regina Riot 20-13 in a WWCFL quarter-final contest held this past Sunday in Winnipeg.

The semifinal winners advance to the WWCFL champion game slated for Saturday, June 25 at 7 p.m. at SMF Field.

Wingate played a big role helping the Valkyries close their regular season schedule winning both games of a home-and-home series against the Riot. On May 28 at SMF Field, Wingate made an interception and had two total tackles helping the Valkyries post a 46-7 victory.

On June 4 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Wingate piled up 8.5 total tackles helping the Valkyries post a 33-14 victory over the Riot.

Valkyries head coach Pat Barry said Wingate has helped the Valkyries defence stay steady through adversity.

Jamie Wingate has taken on a leadership role on defence.

“When you think what our linebacking corps was going to look like at the beginning of the year, it is amazing with what Jamie (Wingate) has done for us,” said Barry. “She has stepped up.

“She has been a leader. She has so much fun out here. She is really starting to get it, and she is playing so well.

“It is something that is super exciting to how she has been for our linebacking corps.”

During her final two years of high school at Holy Cross, Wingate played in the Rush high school female flag league. Valkyries quarterback Alex Eyolfson was her teammate on those flag teams at Holy Cross.

Wingate played hockey, basketball and volleyball growing up, and basketball became her main sport at Holy Cross. Eyolfson and Wingate were teammates on the Holy Cross Crusaders senior girls’ basketball team and won a 5A Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association title in 2015.

Following her graduation from Holy Cross in 2015, Wingate played for the Medicine Hat College Rattlers Women’s Basketball team in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association ranks for a season and a half before deciding to end her competitive playing career.

She continues to coach basketball both at Holy Cross and in Saskatchewan’s provincial team system.

While she was coaching, Wingate wanted to get back into playing a sport competitively, but she didn’t want play through a sport that had a lengthy season. 

With the Valkyries playing all their games usually inside a three-month time period, Wingate decided to give tackle football a try. She had always wanted to play with the Valkyries since her high school days.

Jamie Wingate, right, loves the physical aspect of football.

Wingate joined the Valkyries after they had already played their first game in the 2019 season. She saw action in two regular season games and all of the team’s playoff contests helping them win the WWCFL title.

Wingate took to the sport immediately and enjoyed the fact everyone on the Valkyries were best friends. She found the contact side of the game fun too.

“Hitting people is very nice,” said Wingate. “You can ask anyone who played basketball against me or with me they know I’m a very aggressive person.

“I feel like it was just very suiting for my temperament. That is the one thing I like too is basically I don’t get in trouble for any of the stuff that I used to do in other sports that I would get in trouble for. It is also different than any other sport that I’ve played as well.”

During the second half of that 2019 season, Wingate remembers she tried to be there to help her teammates emotionally after defensive position coach Justin Filteau died in a plane crash on June 1 of that year. 

She was proud her team was able to win the WWCFL title that season after dedicating that campaign to Filteau’s memory.

Beating the host Riot 25-3 in the title game at Mosaic Stadium in Regina on June 29, 2019 will always be a highlight for Wingate.

“Being there with everyone was like super awesome,” said Wingate. “It was like great just like being on the Mosaic Field.

Jamie Wingate is good reading opposing offences.

“Just to have that experience was crazy to me. With Alex Eyolfson on the team, me and her we’ve won provincials and stuff in basketball. To be in a big CFL stadium like that was crazy, and the competition was really good too.

“It was just like a totally different game honestly than any other games that we played.”

Following the 2019 campaign, the 2020 and the 2021 WWCFL seasons were cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that gripped the world. The Valkyries managed to get on the field in 2021 playing a three-game exhibition series against the Riot winning every one of those contests.

In the second game of that series, Wingate returned an interception 35 yards for a touchdown in a 42-7 victory at SMF Field on July 16, 2021.

Barry said Wingate has improved a lot since she first joined the Valkyries. When she first game to the team, Barry said the coaches through she would be a great fit at linebacker.

“She is a big fearless and physical athlete,” said Barry. “That is sort of the definition of linebacker.

“That is why she excels in that position.”

Wingate is looking forward to play the Storm on Sunday. When the regular season came to a close, Wingate said you could feel the level of play in practice has gone up a notch now that the playoff are here.

Jamie Wingate (#47) and the Valkyries aim for playoff success.

“It just seems like our intensity is up, and we’re really trying to focus and get everything down and make sure that we’re prepared for this game,” said Wingate. “Another big thing is like we’re not thinking about what is after this.

“We’re really focusing down on the team ahead of us and making sure we have them under control. Once we have that handled, then we can move on to the next team. It will be good.

“With the playoffs, obviously, we are a little nervous, but hopefully, we will be able to shake it off and take it to them.”

Former Valkyries star Chan makes homecoming with Storm

Ehjae Chan (#24) celebrates an interception in 2019.

Sunday’s WWCFL semifinal game at Saskatoon Minor Football Field will be a homecoming for Ehjae Chan.

Chan will be playing for the visiting Edmonton Storm when they take on the host Saskatoon Valkyries at 1 p.m. at Saskatoon Minor Football Field. Before joining the Storm, Chan starred at linebacker and defensive back for the Valkyries for six seasons from 2014 to 2019 helping them win three WWCFL titles in 2014, 2016 and 2019.

Chan had an interception in the 2016 WWCFL Championship game when the Valkyries hammered the Storm 81-6 at the University of Lethbridge Community Stadium in Lethbridge, Alta.

In the 2019 WWCFL Championship game, Chan recorded two interceptions and three tackles helping the Valkyries down the host Regina Riot 25-3 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. The Valkyries dedicated that 2019 campaign to the memory of defensive position coach Justin Filteau, who passed away in a plane crash before Saskatoon’s final regular season game.

Filteau was on Chan’s mind, when she took part in a large post-game media scrum.

“This feels unreal, especially with everything that has happened this year, the adversity our team has experienced and overcome on this field,” said Chan. “It means so much like more than words can even express.

“For us to be here to have played in this game and pulled through, we really felt coach Filteau here today. This game was 100 per cent for him. I think for us it just felt fitting.”

Chan moved to Edmonton after the 2019 campaign came to a close. She is helping coach minor football in the Alberta capital along with returning to action and playing for the Storm this season.

Ehjae Chan (#24) celebrates the Valkyries 2019 WWCFL title win.

No matter where life takes her, she will always be part of the Valkyries family.

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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“Babs” coming home to coach Huskies and it is good

Mike Babcock pictured in a Sports Illustrated from 2010.

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies blew up the Internet and some social media lines early Saturday afternoon.

As the lunch hour started in Saskatchewan, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that all-world coach Mike Babcock was expected to be announced as the new head coach for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team in the coming week.

Just short of an hour later, Huskie Athletics put out a release that Babcock, who grew up in Saskatoon and is a graduate of Saskatoon’s Holy Cross High School, will indeed become the Huskies next head coach.

Babcock will lead the Huskies on a full-time volunteer basis for the next two seasons.

Babcock will be taking over for legendary Huskies head coach Dave Adolph, who announced on Dec. 7, 2020 that he would be retiring. Adolph, who holds the U Sports career record for coaching victories at 488, will officially retire on May 1, and Babcock will take over the head coach role from that point.

In an interview with Kevin Mitchell of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Babcock said he was a transfer coach and his goal was to work with Dave King, who is still the greatest coach the Huskies men’s team has ever had, and a hiring committee to find a new long-term head coach for the program.

Babcock, who has been working as a studio analyst for NHL broadcasts produced by NBC Sports, also stressed to Mitchell that he wants to win in the short term.

Babcock’s coaching career is long and distinguished. It began back in 1988, when he was head coach of the Red Deer College Kings men’s hockey team that plays out of the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association.

The highlights of the 57-year-old’s time behind the bench include guiding the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings to a Stanley Cup title in 2008.

Mike Babcock shown in a Sports Illustrated from 2010.

He coached Canada’s men’s hockey team to gold medal wins at the Winter Olympics in 2010 and 2014. In 2018, Babcock became a member of the Order of Hockey in Canada.

Babcock played one season on defence for the Huskies way back in 1981-82 and received an honourary doctor of Laws from the U of S in 2016.

As impressive as all those accomplishments are, Babcock’s best work as a coaching likely took place during the 1993-94 season, when he was the head coach of the now defunct University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s hockey team.

With the Pronghorns not having that much success in their history, Babcock guided them to a first place finish in the Canada West Conference with a regular season record of 19 wins, seven losses and two ties. The Pronghorns moved on to down the University of Guelph Gryphons 5-2 in the U Sports national championship game to capture the David Johnston University Cup at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

Babcock and his wife, Maureen, have often returned to Saskatoon and visited the Emma Lake area during summer months in the off-season. The bench boss was often involved in community fundraisers including one for the Leslie & Irene Dube Urology Centre of Health at St. Paul’s Hospital in 2014 and the One Voice fundraiser to raise money for the Neural Health Project at the U of Saskatchewan in 2015.

The hope of the Neural Health Project is to develop a more complete approach to the treatment of mental illness through a combination of conventional and alternative therapies. Babcock had a big hand in helping raise over $1-million at the One Voice fundraiser held on July 24, 2015 at TCU Place.

Collin Shirley is tabbed to return to the Huskies.

When Babcock comes back to town to take over the Huskies, it is safe to say the residents in Saskatoon and area and dare I say the province of Saskatchewan will be treating the return like a homecoming.

It was also noticeable that the last team Babcock coached in the NHL was the Toronto Maple Leafs for four complete seasons and a partial fifth campaign from 2015 to 2019. The Leafs fired Babcock on Nov. 20, 2019 with the team having lost six straight games to sit at 9-10-4.

In the aftermath of the firing, media reports came out that Maple Leafs right-winger Mitch Marner was asked to rank his teammates in order of how hard he though they worked back in his rookie campaign in 2016-17 by Babcock. Babcock later revealed the list to Marner’s teammates.

Babcock confirmed that report, expressed regret asking Marner to participate in something like that wasn’t a good idea and apologized to Marner at the time.

Shortly after the situation with Marner’s rookie season became public, Swedish right-winger Johan Franzen, who played for Babcock in Detroit, accused the bench boss of verbally abusing him. Chris Chelios, who is one of the all-time top defencemen to play in the NHL and one of Franzen’s former teammates, said the verbal abuse to Franzen did happen.

Chelios believed Babcock didn’t treat some of the Red Wings veterans well and dropped criticism there.

Within 50 minutes of the Huskies posting a Twitter post on Babcock’s hiring, the post attracted 65 responses and 151 quote retweets. Most of the responses had harsh words for the hiring, but most didn’t appear to come from Twitter handles from Saskatoon and area.

Evan Fiala is expected to return to the Huskies back end.

Some of the handles seemed to campaign to get Babcock fired before he even arrives in Saskatoon.

Other harsh responses were troll type comments putting down the quality of play in U Sports. On that front, the truth is U Sports is indeed a high-quality league when it comes to competition and the level of play in men’s and women’s hockey is quite outstanding.

Usually in most cases, Huskie Athletics might get five replies at most to a Twitter post.

The quote retweets on the Babcock post were more split in reaction.

On the Huskies Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, a sizable number of the likes were from accounts I recognize from Saskatoon and Saskatchewan.

I personally believe those situations that were talked about in the aftermath of Babcock’s firing from the Maple Leafs are not that big of a deal. I believe a lot of the troll comments are from ultra-passionate Maple Leafs fans who can’t get over the fact their team hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967.

Babcock apologized in the Marner case and it is impossible for any coach to be liked by every single player he or she has coached.

In the case of Chelios, he built a reputation for running his mouth over his hockey career, so him not having anything nice to say is not new.

On a personal front, Babcock has always been great to me. I moved to Saskatoon in the summer of 2014, and we had lengthy visits at the fundraiser for St. Paul’s Hospital in 2014 and the One Voice fundraiser in 2015.

Our talks mostly revolved around stories regarding mutual friends in hockey. Even in our first meeting, I was comfortable enough to talk with him about the issues with anxiety I dealt with, when they arose when I worked as a sports reporter with the Medicine Hat News in 2012.

Layne Young was a breakout forward with the Huskies in 2019-20.

When I first met Babcock, I didn’t talk to a lot of people about that subject. He was very empathetic and understanding, which led to me attending the One Voice fundraiser.

The One Voice fundraiser in 2015 was one of the best and most positive energy nights out I’ve ever had in my life.

For anyone that battled mental health issues, that night at the One Voice fundraiser was basically the night out we needed.

I believe Babcock has come to help the Huskies out of the goodness of his heart.

Let me repeat myself, I believe Babcock has come to help the Huskies out of the goodness of his heart.

Saskatoon is a community he cares a lot about, and he has a lot of ties to this community. He wants to help get the Huskies going with some positive momentum, when U Sports returns from its pause that started in March of 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The ultra-passionate fan type trolls elsewhere can say what they want, but I am confident enough to say that view isn’t shared by most of those in Saskatoon or Saskatchewan as a province.

Babcock coming to coach the Huskies is a great homecoming moment for “The Bridge City.”

When he gets here, I believe he will enjoy working with some quality returnees and high-character players like Collin Shirley, Evan Fiala and Layne Young. It should be noted the last time the Huskies skated on home ice they won the Canada West Conference title back on Feb. 29, 2020 at Merlis Belsher Place.

The Huskies celebrate their 2020 Canada West title win.

Right now, all that needs to be said on Babcock’s front is, “Welcome home coach, and we wish you the best of luck.”

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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Anything is possible at Ignite Athletic Conditioning

Local company makes big impact on Saskatoon sports scene

Nolan Brudehl does resistance training at Ignite Conditioning.

    At Ignite Athletic Conditioning, the goal of the staff is to make the impossible possible for the athletes who train there.

    The Saskatoon-based company is co-owned by former athletes Jordan Harbidge and Joel Lipinski, who both made an impact on the provincial sports scene. Harbidge played football and basketball at Saskatoon’s Holy Cross High School before enjoying a strong five-year career with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s basketball team from 2003 to 2008.

    Lipinski, who is from Regina, played post-secondary football with the University of Regina Rams (2004-2006), the Vancouver Island Raiders of the Canadian Junior Football League (2007) and the St. Mary’s University Huskies (2008). The star defensive back moved on to enjoy short CFL stints with the Saskatchewan Roughriders (2009) and the Edmonton Eskimos (2011).

Michael Linklater works out on the squat rack at Ignite Conditioning.

    Having lived lives as elite-level athletes, both wanted to train athletes and help them achieve their dreams.

    “It is pretty cool to have a job where you get to work with like local athletes, and you just kind of like wish something like this was around when you were that age,” said Harbidge. “It is pretty cool to offer something like that to local kids around here and give them the opportunity to try to reach their athletic potential or dreams.”

    “If it is just making like their high school football team or making their U-18 team or if it is like playing post-secondary or even later like play pro, all those like small goals along the way are just like huge milestones that are just cool to see,” said Lipinski. “This job is honestly one of the best jobs you could ever possibly have.”

    Ignite was formed as company in 2010 and trained a small group of about eight athletes at the start. 

Nolan Brudehl pushed a sled training at Ignite Conditioning.

    Fast forward to today, the company is run out of its own facility on the 400-block of Lauriston Street just south of 33^rd Street, and between 600 to 700 athletes train with Ignite.

    To help with training, Ignite recently hired Donovan Dale, who wrapped up his football career graduating from the U of Saskatchewan Huskies after this past season.

    Originally, the company was founded by former U of S Huskies football stars Ryan Gottselig and David Stevens. Both had decorated careers with the Huskies in the early to the middle of the 2000s and were well known in Saskatoon.

    In 2011, Gottselig moved to Moose Jaw after accepting a teaching job there, and he established an Ignite branch in that centre. Stevens joined the City of Saskatoon’s fire department, but he still owns a small part of the Saskatoon branch.

    Lipinski and Stevens became friends while playing for Canada’s team at the International Federation of American Football senior tackle world championship in Austria in 2011. 

Michael Linklater lifts a dumbbell at Ignite Conditioning.

    Lipinski ended up settling in Saskatoon after that tournament and bought into the company.

    Harbidge joined Ignite in 2012 after returning to Saskatoon having been an educator and an assistant strength coach at a private boys’ school in Vancouver.

    As Stevens’ firefighting career took off, Harbidge and Lipinski bought majority ownership of the Saskatoon branch. In order to allow Harbidge and Lipinski to take off with the company, Stevens worked hundreds of hours for free at the beginning.

    As a result of Stevens’s efforts, Harbidge and Lipinski ensured the elusive and speedy former running back still had a part ownership stake in the branch.

    In running Ignite, Harbidge said there have been times the sense of accomplishment has come in unassuming ways.

    “Originally, we were all kind of like we want to train pros,” said Harbidge. “We want to train a lot of the high level athletes.

    “A lot of the most rewarding things for us have been like last year we had a kid in eight weeks lose 35 pounds and get stronger. It is little things like that where you can actually change someone’s life that was pretty rewarding.”

    Ignite has programs for athletes aged 11 and younger where the focus is on building agility, balance and coordination through game-type activities.

Nolan Brudehl works on his movement at Ignite Conditioning.

    Training programs are catered to athlete development at various progression levels all the way up to more sports specific training for professional athletes.

    The Saskatoon Hilltops of the Canadian Junior Football League were one of the first massive groups that trained with Ignite. The staff at Ignite has worked with 40 Hilltops player per year in each of the last three years.

    The Saskatoon Valkyries of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League were one of the first large female groups to train out of Ignite. At the moment, female athletes make up 40 per cent of Ignite’s clientele.

    When Ignite started, most of the other elite training companies in Saskatoon focused on hockey, so Ignite built a reputation training athletes in all other sports outside of hockey.

    Ignite has training contracts with U of S Huskies women’s soccer, Huskies men’s basketball and Huskies football. Harbidge is the strength and conditioning coach for the Huskies men’s basketball team, and Lipinski is the strength and conditioning coordinator and defensive assistant coach with the Huskies football team.

Michael Linklater works on a resistance machine at Ignite Conditioning.

    Besides the university teams, Ignite trains athletes from numerous sports groups like Basketball Saskatchewan, Ringette Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Minor Football, Canoe and Kayak Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Badminton Association and the local elite volleyball academy in Saskatoon.

    Along the way, Ignite is starting to pick up a handful of Western Hockey League players as well.

    “Everyone kind of tried to get hockey and train hockey, and we just went for everything else,” said Harbidge. “We started with a niche which was football. Now we’ve kind of expanded to everything even hockey.

    “We try to really rebrand ourselves as athletic trainers not just football specialists, which was kind of our brand early on. It has been such a crazy dynamic, but it has been pretty cool.”

    Lipinski said the staff at Ignite tries to take an interest in an athlete’s life outside of sports as well. It was a trait he, Harbidge and Dale all learned from the respective coaches they had along the way in their careers as athletes.

Joel Lipinski is one of the co-owners and coaches at Ignite Conditioning.

    “You end up talking about things that are actually more than like obviously just sport,” said Lipinski. “You figure out what is going on in the athlete’s life.

    “You end up kind of almost being like a councillor at this position here too. To be honest, we end up like enjoying that aspect of it like just as much as the actual training side.”

    Harbidge said it has been great to find a niche to give back to the local sports scene, and in his case, his hometown.

    “I was originally planning to be a teacher, but now I am just like a specialist teacher,” said Harbidge. “I teach every day, but I get to teach what I am passionate about.

    “I feel very fortunate. Coming home from Vancouver, I get to work with the community I grew up in, which is pretty cool too.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.