Didn’t realize significance of last U Sports, WHL moments

The Huskies celebrate winning the Canada West title on Feb. 29.

    Have I seen my last U Sports and WHL games for an undetermined lengthy stretch?

    That question has passed through my mind the last four days or so. With the world in the grip of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it has crossed my mind it could be some time before I see action in either circuit.

    When they resume, life might take me to a point, where I won’t have involvement in either circuit. It is possible life could take me out of the city of Saskatoon.

    Actually, I try not to think about what the mid to long term future might look like, because I find I engage in mental gymnastics that eats up time and raises the anxiety.

    With that said, it seems pretty obvious the sports scene in Canada will look a lot different and potentially unrecognizable when the pandemic ends. If the shutdowns and restrictions in North American last to next year and even just two years, you can already see a number of teams, leagues and minor sports organizations fold.

Levi Cable scored twice for the Huskies in their Canada West title clincher.

    Add in all the businesses that are struggling and closing, it is hard to conceive there would be enough government money to hand out to keep everything afloat. All of these entities would be healthy, if it wasn’t for the COVID-19 pandemic which can cripple daily revenue streams by 50 to 90 per cent.
    While the province of Saskatchewan is undergoing phases of a reopening plan, I had an eerie feeling all is still not well, when I stopped at an intersection between the Saskatoon Inn and Heritage Inn on Saturday.

    At each hotel, I saw just two cars in the parking lot. This has gone on for three months. I know that is not a good sign.

    Usually, those hotels are starting to rock with the wedding season in summer.

Even with the shutdowns and restrictions that have been in place since the middle of March, there has already been unprecedented damage done to the economy, and things won’t be what they were for a very long time.

    Unfortunately, the only options to navigate the pandemic are all bad and difficult.

    There is a great and legitimate fear about how contagious and how fast COVID-19 can spread.

    One of the most recent reminders came Monday when reports surfaced a number of members from the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texas tested positive for COVID-19 including Cowboys star running back Ezekiel Elliott.

Carson Stadnyk scored in the Canada West title clincher.

    The government and medical health officials are trying to find the least crappy option through all this, but there isn’t a good option.

    Still, the mind drifts back to a naïve time that was not that long ago.

    Back on Feb. 29, I was at Merlis Belsher Place when it was still serving its original purpose of being a hockey rink as opposed to a COVID-19 field hospital in waiting.
    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies downed the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 3-1 in Game 2 of the Canada West Championship series in men’s hockey before a record crowd of 2,667 spectators. The Huskies swept the best-of-three series 2-0 to capture the title.

    Levi Cable scored twice for the Huskies, and Carson Stadnyk had a single in the win. Netminder Taran Kozun, who would be named the U Sports player of the year and goaltender of the year in March, made 17 saves to earn the win in goal.

    The crowd at Merlis might have been the loudest it had ever been for a Huskies game in the new facility. The Huskies moved to Merlis before the start of the 2018-19 campaign.

    No one at the Huskies Canada West title winning game envisioned U Sports coming to a halt. There will be no national championships in fall or no to possibly limited action in three conferences.
    If hockey gets off the ground, it won’t be until January of 2021, and the Huskies men’s and women’s hockey teams will have to play in different digs.

A crowd of 2,667 saw the Huskies win the Canada West title at Merlis.

    If that Canada West title win was the last time I potentially work a Huskies game, at least the departure was a memorable one.

    In dealing with U Sports since moving to Saskatoon in the summer of 2014, I realize there is a political spectrum you have to accept and deal with on that circuit that wasn’t always fun and did in some years make me not want to hang around on that sports body.

    I found I had a good natural chemistry dealing with the Huskies football team the past two seasons and the Huskies men’s hockey team this past season that brought the fun back.
    I know my February playoff rivalry pieces regarding the Huskies women’s hockey team and the Thunderbirds women’s team weren’t the most popular things I typed out. After the Huskies women’s team was swept 2-0 falling twice in extra sessions, I know I wasn’t the most liked person with some in that camp.

    I have passed a couple of email messages with graduated captain Brooklyn Haubrich and graduated star defender Leah Bohlken since that time.

    With all that has happened in the world over the last three months, those rivalry pieces don’t even look like that big of a thing to me anymore.

Aliaksei Protas and the Raiders rolled to an 8-3 win on March 3.

    Overall, I regained my joy being on the U Sports circuit, and just when that happens, it stalls out because of factors beyond the circuit’s control.

    March 3 marked the last time I was in the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert. The defending WHL champion Raiders hammered the visiting Calgary Hitmen 8-3 before 2,481 spectators.

    The Raiders sat first in the WHL’s East Division, and there was optimism in “Hockey Town North” about there being another long playoff run.

    I remember the post-game interview with Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid rolled really great that night. Prince Albert products and Huskies women’s hockey team members Morgan Willoughby and Jessica Vance were saluted before that contest during the ceremonial puck drop.
    No one envisioned the Raiders would only play three more games in the 2019-20 campaign before the COVID-19 pandemic halted the season.

    March 6 marked the last time I worked a live WHL game as the Regina Pats faced the Saskatoon Blades at the SaskTel Centre. Just 29 seconds into overtime, left-winger Kyle Crnkovic scored off a backdoor setup from Tristen Robins to give the Blades a 2-1 victory before 4,478 spectators.

    That win officially locked up a WHL playoff berth for the Blades, and the mood was upbeat and vibrant on the Saskatoon side during post-game interviews. Little did anyone know, that would be the Blades final home game for the 2019-20 campaign.

Kyle Crnkovic celebrates his OT winner for the Blades on March 6.

    About eight days later, the Blades players were bound for their off-season homes as the shutdowns started to occur due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    During the Huskies Canada West title winning game, the last Raiders game I was at or that final Blades home game, it never occurred to me to soak in the night, because it was going to be awhile before these things happened again.

    Today, the WHL put out a release targeting Oct. 2 as a potential start date for the 2020-21 campaign with hopes each team will play a standard 68-game regular season. Due to the league’s 22 clubs playing in four provinces and two states in the United States, I realize there are a lot of hurdles to go before any meaningful hockey games are played on the circuit.

    For now, at least my final recollections of being at home games involving the Huskies men’s hockey team, the Raiders and the Blades were good ones. If that is the end of chapter for me, at least it went out on a high.

Money crunch hammers U of Alberta athletics, other notes

Trevor Cox and the Golden Bears won’t be on the ice in 2020-21.

    It was a move that will send shock waves through not just the scene in U Sports but Canada’s national sports scene as a whole.

    On Wednesday, the University of Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas athletics program announced it will not be participating in men’s and women’s hockey, volleyball and basketball in the upcoming 2020-21 U Sports season due to a lack of financing.

    The U of A athletics program is viewed as one of the greatest in all of U Sports. The Golden Bears and Pandas teams in men’s and women’s hockey, volleyball and basketball have combined to win a total of 43 U Sports national titles.

    Back on June 8, U Sports cancelled all of its fall national championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    On top of those announcements on June 8, the conferences of Atlantic University Sport and Ontario University Athletics announced all varsity sports will shut down for the remainder of 2020.

    Also on June 8, the Canada West Conference, which U of A plays out of, cancelled play in all team sports through to the end of 2020. Canada West will determine the fates of conference championships in men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s cross-country running and men’s and women’s swimming to be held in fall by July 15.

    Men’s and women’s hockey, men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s volleyball are targeted to start in early January of 2021. A decision on the fate of those sports will be made by Oct. 8.

Kirsten Chamberlin and the Pandas won't play in 2020-21.

    Due to a budget crunch, the U of A athletics program decided to pull the plug on those programs now.

    In a release, the Golden Bears and Pandas program cited cuts to the Campus Alberta Grant, the demand from the Government of Alberta that universities balance their budgets and reduce expenditures in year and the reduction to the University of Alberta Athletics and Recreation student fee in causing a major shortfall.

    The University of Alberta Athletics and Recreation student fee was completely waived for the spring and summer semesters.

    “This scenario has brought most of our diverse revenue streams to a complete halt, and the athletics budget is no longer able to support participation for the 2020/2021 season,” said U of A athletics director Ian Reade in a release. “While this is an extremely hard decision for us, it is in the best interest of the student-athletes that we make this decision now, so their future is somewhat more clear.”

    Reade said the U of A athletics department will remain committed to those student-athletes who have written commitments to receive Athletic Financial Assistance.

    At the moment, the Golden Bears and Pandas teams still plan to participate in tournament sports including wrestling, cross-country running, track and field, rugby sevens, curling and swimming at the Canada West Conference level.

    U of A is slated to host the U Sports nationals for men’s and women’s wrestling on Feb. 26-27, 2021.
    In an interview with The Gateway, which is the U of A student newspaper, Reade said the school’s athletic programs is budgeting for University of Alberta Athletics and Recreation student fee will be reduced by 70 per cent for the fall term by the U of Alberta Students’ Union due to an expected reduction of access because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cole Sanford created lots of excitement for the Golden Bears.

    Reade told the student newspaper U of A athletics lost $1-million, when it couldn’t run its summer sports camps due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    He told The Gateway he expects an estimated $1.2-million loss in base funding for the U of A athletics program.

    Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it would have been hard to imagine the Golden Bears and Pandas sitting out a sports season.

    The Golden Bears have won the most titles in U Sports national titles in men’s hockey at 16 and the Pandas are the all-time leaders in most national championships in U Sports women’s hockey at eight.

    The Golden Bears men’s volleyball team has captured eight U Sports national titles, and the Pandas women’s volleyball team has won seven U Sports national championships.

    The Golden Bears men’s basketball team has earned three U Sports national titles, and the Pandas women’s basketball team has won one U Sports national crown.

    The Golden Bears and Pandas teams are so storied you would think their unofficial theme songs would be “The Best” by Tina Turner and “We are the Champions” by Queen.

    Their exploits alone should cause Edmonton to restore the “City of Champions” signs at all entrances to the Alberta capital.

    Overall, the Golden Bears and Pandas student-athletes have the right type of good confidence and swagger. Along with winning a lot, the Golden Bears and Pandas team member carry themselves well.

    They epitomize winning with class and losing with class.

Autumn MacDougall of the Pandas led Canada West in scoring last season.

    If the U of A teams aren’t able to go in 2020-21 due to financial reasons, one wonders how many other U Sports programs might decide to pack it in and not play during that campaign as well.

    Across Canada, a number of teams, leagues and minor sports organizations are having talks regarding decisions to play or not to play, and if those teams, leagues and minor sports organizations do play, those bodies have to figure out if they will be throwing good money after bad money.

    Despite all that gloom, the U of A athletics program is aiming to return to regular participation in U Sports in 2021-22.

    Reade and the U of A decision makers are doing their best to ensure the Golden Bears and Pandas teams will add to their epic exploits in the future after the 2020-21 campaign.

• On Monday, Golf Canada cancelled all of its amateur competitions for the duration of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It previously announced the cancellation and postponement of a number of its junior and amateur competition scheduled through mid-June.
• On Wednesday, Golf Saskatchewan announced it will go ahead with eight individual championships but will not host the Women’s Rosebowl or the Mixed Championship, which operate in shotgun start formats. The first event is the 102^nd Saskatchewan Women’s Amateur Championship set for the Willows Golf and Country Club in Saskatoon from July 9 to 11. The dates for all the tournaments can be found by clicking right here.
• On Sunday, the Assiniboia Southern Rebels junior B team announced they had requested and been approved of a one-year leave of absence from the Prairie Junior Hockey League. The Rebels cited uncertainty created due to the COVID-19 pandemic as reason for the move.
• On Tuesday, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies announced their Dogs’ Breakfast fundraiser set for Sept. 3 has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event is an annual fundraiser for the Huskies football team. Those who bought a ticket can donate the purchase to the Huskies football team, defer the ticket to the 2021 Dogs’ Breakfast, receive a partial refund or a full refund. More info on how to deal with a Dogs’ Breakfast ticket can be found by clicking right here.
• On Tuesday, Medicine Hat Tigers right-winger Lucas Svejkovsky was invited to the United States World Junior Summer Showcase slated for July 24 to Aug. 1 in Plymouth, Mich. In 52 regular season games split with the Vancouver Giants and Tigers last season, Svejkovsky, who will turn 19 in November, netted 18 goals, 20 assists and a plus-27 rating in the plus-minus category. The camp is used by the United States to evaluate players for the upcoming world juniors slated to start Dec. 26, 2020 and run to Jan. 5, 2021 in Edmonton and Red Deer. Svejkovsky came to the Tigers from the Giants last season via a trade.
• On Tuesday, Prince Albert Raiders defenceman Kaiden Guhle was invited to be part of Hockey Canada’s virtual national junior team development camp, which runs July 27 to 31. Prince Albert product Braden Schneider, who plays defence with the Brandon Wheat Kings, will also take part in the virtual camp. The virtual camp also includes two Saskatoon products in Adam Beckman, who plays left wing with the Spokane Chiefs and Connor Zary, who plays centre for the Kamloops Blazers.
• On Tuesday, Saskatoon Blades head coach Mitch Love was named an assistant coach for Canada world junior team for a second straight year. Love helped Canada win gold at last season’s tournament.
• On Wednesday, the Saskatoon Blades released popular utility player Randen Schmidt, who is set to enter his overage season. Schmidt played three season for the Blades appearing in 129 regular season games collecting three goals, 17 assists and a plus-one rating.
• Over recent weeks, I know there has been a call for police departments across North America to do better. I believe any local calls from Saskatoon to defund the Saskatoon Police Service are misguided. I do have family and friends who are members of the Saskatoon Police Service. If you ask members of the police service, they would agree more funds should go into social programs, because it would prevent the chances of those growing up in not the best social circumstances cycling into the justice system as an offender. Defunding the police right now would create a lot of problems. While you can always improve, all one needs to do is talk to retired Saskatoon Police Service sergeant Ernie Louttit about how much the Saskatoon police have improved from the 1980s until now. Also, the Saskatoon Police Service put out this music video back in September of 2018, which allows people in Saskatoon to say their police service is better than yours.

    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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U Sports fall cancellations a blow for Canadian sport

QB Mason Nyhus won’t get to throw the ball in 2020 for the Huskies.

    Shortly after getting a push forward by Hockey Canada, U Sports makes Canada’s sports scene take a big step backwards.

    These are the types of realities that play out in the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Last Thursday, Hockey Canada resumed its national sanctioning of all events conducted under its umbrella. The sport body has suspended sanctioning events back on March 13 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    With Hockey Canada giving its stamp of approval for hockey events, it was expected many other sports bodies would follow suit. Due to the resources Hockey Canada has at its disposal to make decisions, most other minor sports bodies in Canada look to the national hockey body for cues on how to move forward on unexpected difficulties like a pandemic.

    On Monday, U Sports ventured down a different path cancelling all of its 2020 fall national championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The championships included women’s field hockey, men’s and women’s cross-country running, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s rugby and football.

    The football cancellation includes the Vanier Cup national title game and the semifinal contests in the Mitchell Bowl and Uteck Bowl. The Vanier Cup had been contested in every year starting with 1965.

Adam Machart won’t get to run the ball for the Huskies in 2020.

    U Sports cited uncertainty with student-athlete health and safety, travel and public health restrictions and different curriculum delivery models being delivered for the 56 member universities that make up the circuit.

    “Although the Canadian sport system is working together to create evidence-based return to training, practice and competition protocols, it is not currently feasible or safe due to the COVID-19 pandemic for U Sports to be able to offer fall championships given the academic realities of student-sport,” said U Sports chief medical officer and representative on the Own the Podium Return to Sport Task Force Dr. Taryn Taylor in a release.

    “We continue to work with public health officials across the country to examine possibilities for return to play for the winter 2021 term.”

    On top of those announcements, the conferences of Atlantic University Sport and Ontario University Athletics announced all varsity sports will shut down for the remainder of 2020.

    The Canada West Conference cancelled play in all team sports through to the end of 2020. Canada West will determine the fates of conference championships in men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s cross-country running and men’s and women’s swimming to be held in fall by July 15.

Nicholas Dheilly (#99) won’t be in action for the Huskies in 2020.

    Men’s and women’s hockey, men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s volleyball are targeted to start in early January of 2021. A decision on the fate of those sports will be made by Oct. 8.

    Student-athletes without U Sports national championships this season will not be charged eligibility and will remain eligible for athletic scholarships.

    The Reseau du sport etudiant du Quebec (RSEQ) is the only U Sports conference still contemplating plans for the 2020-21 campaign.

    The University of Saskatchewan Huskies teams and the University of Regina athletics programs play out of Canada West.

    With the U Sports release raising safety concerns, it will put pressure on other leagues and sports bodies to follow suit.

    For a lot of people involved in the minor sports world, a lot of confusion has been created.

    While the cancellations have occurred in U Sports, you have gyms and elite sports training centres opening in Saskatchewan to clients on Monday. Ice has been installed in some hockey rinks that have fitness centres attached to them and players have been taking part in on-ice skill sessions.

    It does create questions about how you can have different messages coming from various sports bodies.

Nelson Lokombo won’t make interceptions for the Huskies in 2020.

    In U Sports, the underlying reality is the decisions made likely fall back to an issue of funding.

    Back in April, University of Alberta athletics director Ian Reade put out a letter to coaches, sponsors, donors, volunteers and alumni that his athletics program could be short $2,500,000 for the 2020-21 fiscal year because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Most university programs have major revenue shortfalls in not being able to hold summer sports camps or dinner or breakfast type fundraisers due to restrictions against mass gatherings. Sponsorships have dried up due to the economic uncertainty created by the pandemic.

    A lot of institutions will have students studying online for the fall semester, which means the recreation fees that are collected to help fund the varsity athletic teams will be cut.

    It should be noted that most sports teams and sports organizations in Canada are dealing with challenges presented by dried up revenue streams causing major fiscal shortfalls. A lot of sports teams and organizations will face major “play or not to play” decisions, and those decisions will revolve around funding.

There won’t be Huskies TD celebrations in 2020.

    Leagues that have teams that travel between provinces will have the biggest difficulties in returning to play, because those travel expenses add up quick.

    It has been bantered about in Saskatchewan sports circles that pandemic travel protocols medical health officials want to see from teams includes each player, coach and team staffer having their own hotel room on the road and only 15 people allowed per bus.

    It is likely sports leagues and teams that play regionally inside a province will return to action.

    As the COVID-19 pandemic has no end in sight, sports teams, leagues and minor sports organizations will be focused to just try and stay alive until the decisions makers in the medical fields and governments say an unrestricted return to play is OK.

Time to rethink U Sports football age rule, other notes

Colton Klassen was set to go into his fifth year with the Huskies.

    With the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havour on U Sports football, it might be time to rethink the age cap rule for the sport.

    On Monday, U Sports cancelled its Vanier Cup national championship game and its two semifinal bowls. Play has been nixed in three conferences including the Canada West Conference, Atlantic University Sport and Ontario University Athletics.

    The Reseau du sport etudiant du Quebec (RSEQ) is the only U Sports conference still contemplating plans for the 2020-21 campaign.

    U Sports said student-athletes without U Sports national championships this season will not be charged eligibility and will remain eligible for athletic scholarships.

    Football is the only athletic pursuit under the U Sports umbrella that has an age cap. Players in football have seven years upon graduating from high school to complete their five-year eligibility.

    The rule is designed to limit the age of athletes in football to under age 25.

    The age cap rule resulted from a period of time in the late 1990s to the early to mid 2000s that saw players play five years in the Canadian Junior Football League and then proceed to play five seasons in U Sports. That created a situation where teams that won the Canada West Conference were often veteran heavy in their starting ranks with players aged 26 to 27.

    Teams in Atlantic University Sport had some older powerhouse squads too due to recruiting hard from the CJFL.

    Some of these older squads looked like semi-professional teams.

QB Darryl Leason (#8) played for the U of Regina Rams at age 27.

    It was often joked that the 2007 Vanier Cup winning University of Manitoba Bisons, who were a perfect 12-0 overall that season, were an older team than the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who fell 23-19 to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Grey Cup.

    There were cries of foul from Ontario and Quebec over teams stocking up with older veterans from the CJFL. That resulted the first change in the eligibility rules for U Sports football, which saw players playing in another post-secondary league in Canada charged with a year of U Sports eligibility for every season playing in that other league beyond year two.

    That meant a player going into his third season in the CJFL would burn a year of U Sports eligibility. The current age cap rule was introduced in 2014.

    Due to the fact the COVID-19 pandemic has eliminated the 2020 U Sports football season for three conferences and the Vanier Cup championship game, it might be time to eliminate the age cap rule. It might be time to allow players in football the freedom to use up their eligibility like any other sport in U Sports.

    There is total uncertainty how sports in Canada will look like after the COVID-19 pandemic including football.
    Depending how long health officials and governments in Canada limit mass gatherings, it is entirely possible the CFL could fold.

Clovis Lumeka (#18) is set to enter his fifth year with the Huskies.

    During the final week of April, news came out that the CFL was looking for $30-million in Canadian funds now to manage the impact of COVID-19. The circuit is asking for additional assistance for an abbreviated regular season and up to another $120-million in Canadian funds for a completely lost season.

    In other words, the CFL is looking for $150-million in financial assistance if its nine teams are unable to play the 2020 regular season and playoffs.

    The earliest the CFL is expected to kickoff is September, and that scenario is entirely in doubt.

    If that circuit can’t play in 2020 and ceases to exist, it is a real possibility that it could fold.

    If that occurs, Canada’s top level of football would be U Sports football.

    At the moment, the nixed football season at the U Sports level will make some players hang up the cleats. Eliminating the age rule might keep a few more of them in the game, which will be looking for a big rebound when the COVID-19 pandemic ends.

• On Monday, Dustin Wolf of the WHL’s Everett Silvertips was announced as the winner of the CHL’s goaltender of the year award. Wolf, who played in his 18-year-old season with the Silvertips, posted a 34-10-2 record, a 1.88 goals against average, a .935 save percentage and nine shutouts in 46 regular season games in the 2019-20 campaign.
• On Tuesday, Prairieland Park announced the 2020 thoroughbred horse racing season at Marquis Downs has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Marquis Downs is the only live thoroughbred track in Saskatchewan.
• On Wednesday, the Saskatchewan Health Authority posted an online story that said the field hospital at Merlis Belsher Place will include 125 beds for COVID-19 patients if needed. Original plans for the field hospital announced in early April said it would have 250 beds.
• Time to pass on good luck wishes to Ken Wiebe, who was one of 46 people laid off by The Athletic last Friday. Wiebe had been with The Athletic for nine months and was previously with the Winnipeg Sun for 19 years. He had been a beat writer who covered the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets since the franchise relocated to the Manitoba capital from Atlanta, Georgia, in 2011. Wiebe is one of the great guys in the media industry, and he took time to write personal direct messages to a large number of people that wished him well. Now that is an example of pure class from my former University of Regina School of Journalism and Communications classmate.

    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.