Rush in driver’s seat in chase for first in NLL

Captain Ryan Keenan and the Rush sit first overall in the NLL.

For anyone who hasn’t heard, the good days are back for the Saskatchewan Rush.

Last season, the Rush finished second overall in the NLL posting a 13-5 record. That ended a reload stretch for the Rush where they just missed the post-season posting respective 8-10 records for three straight campaigns.

In the 2025 NLL Playoffs, the Rush advanced to the best of three NLL Championship Series where they fell 2-1 to the Buffalo Bandits, who claimed a third straight league title and their record seventh NLL championship in team history. In the series-deciding Game 3 on May 24, 2025 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y., the Rush trailed 7-6 at halftime only to see everything go the Bandits way in the second half outscoring the Saskatchewan side 8-0 to roll to a 15-6 victory.

After returning to the NLL final in 2025 since last winning the league championship in 2018, the Rush entered the current campaign with the belief that it will be a special season. They jumped out to a 10-1 start thanks to a nine-game winning streak.

Their last two outings were heartbreakers. On February 27, they fell 11-10 in overtime to the three-time defending NLL champion Bandits in Buffalo, and one night later, the Rush came out on the wrong end of a 13-12 overtime decision to the Knighthawks in Rochester.

Still, the Rush still sit first overall in the NLL with their 10-3 record. They are holding off the Colorado Mammoth and Vancouver Warriors, who are both 9-4 and the Georgia Swarm, who are 8-4.

Going into the final stretch of the NLL regular season, the Rush are sitting in a good place when it comes to the race for top spot as they play four of their final five games in the friendly confines of their home venue in the SaskTel Centre. The Rush are 5-0 at home this season.

On Saturday, the Rush begin that final sprint when they host the San Diego Seals (6-6) at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. The Seals are battling for their post-season lives sitting in a tie for seventh and eighth overall in the league with the Bandits. The top eight teams in the NLL’s overalls standings qualify for the post-season.

Robert Church has 67 points for the Rush so far this season.

The Rush last played at home on February 14, when they slipped past the Warriors 9-8 in overtime before a season-high crowd of 7,319 spectators at the SaskTel Centre. That should set the anticipation appetite for the upcoming clash with the Seals.

Leading the way for Saskatchewan are two of the team’s legends in Ryan Keenan and Robert Church. Keenan, who is the team’s captain, sits sixth in league scoring with 74 points coming off 31 goals and 43 assists. Church, who debuted with the Rush when the franchise was still in Edmonton back in the 2013-14 campaign, is ninth in league scoring with 67 points coming off 24 goals and 43 assists.

Veteran forwards Zach Manns and Austin Shanks are both having big years again for the Rush. Manns has 63 points coming off 29 goals and 34 assists, while Shanks has 57 points coming off 23 goals and 34 assists.

Long time transition player Mike Messenger and grizzled defender Matt Hossack have made their presence known. Messenger sits fifth in the NLL collecting 109 loose balls and third in blocked shots at 19. Hossack is tied for fourth in the NLL with caused turnovers at 20.

Young transition player Jake Naso continues to be a battler when it comes to faceoffs winning 203-of-301 faceoffs for a 67.4 per cent success rate.

In net, reliable star goalie Frank Scigliano leads the NLL with 10 victories posting a 10-2 record, a 9.08 goals against average and a 80.0 per cent save percentage.

Back on January 2, NLL icon Derek Keenan, who is the co-head coach and general manager of the Rush, became the first person in the history of the league to coach in his 300^th game. Along with co-head coach and associate general manager Jimmy Quinlan, the Rush have no worries when it comes to coaching.

The Rush have a real shot to win their fourth NLL title in team history and first championship since 2018. If anyone hasn’t been on the Rush bandwagon for some time, now is the time to get back on.

Title run for Huskies women’s hoopsters impressive

Gage Grassick and the Huskies are U Sports champs once again.

The U Sports women’s basketball championship trophy – The Bronze Baby – is finding a regular home on the University of Saskatchewan campus grounds.

On Sunday at the Amphitheatre Desjardins-Universite Laval in Quebec City, Quebec, the fifth-seeded Huskies took the title game of the U Sports Championship Tournament 77-68 over the second seeded University of New Brunswick Reds. That marked the second straight year the Huskies have won the U Sports title.

The Huskies have now won four U Sports titles in their team history with the first championship coming in 2016.

In Sunday’s win over the Red, Huskies fourth-year star guard Logan Reider led all scorers with 19 points, which included making 4-of-9 shots from three-point range. Fifth-year forward Ella Murphy Wiebe recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Fourth-year guard Maya Flindall fired home 17 points, while superstar point guard Gage Grassick posted 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.

The Huskies were up 52-50 after three quarters before pulling away for the win.

Murphy Wiebe was named the tournament MVP and a tournament all-star, while Grassick, who was named the Canada West Conference player of the year in each of the past two seasons, was also named to the tournament all-star team.

In 2025, the Huskies downed the Carleton University Ravens 85-66 in the U Sports title game in Vancouver. Those two squads met in the 2024 U Sports championship game in Edmonton, where the Ravens prevailed 70-67. That was the Ravens second straight U Sports title win.

The Huskies went through the 2025-26 U Sports regular season with a perfect 20-0 record to finish first in the Canada West Conference. Dating back to the 2024-25 campaign, the Huskies put together a program record 51-game overall winning streak.

Their winning streak came to an end on February 21, when they fell 61-58 in a Canada West semifinal to the University of Calgary Dinos on home court at the Physical Activity Complex on the U of S grounds. The Dinos went on to win the Canada West title.

The Huskies were awarded an at-large wildcard berth to the elite-eight U Sports Championship Tournament. In a quarter-final on March 5, they downed the fifth-seeded University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 71-55. In a semifinal on March 7, the Huskies grinded out a 55-43 victory over the eighth-seeded and tournament host Universite Laval Rouge et Or.

That set the stage for the title game victory over the Reds.

After that win, Grassick, Murphy Wiebe, forward Tea DeMong, guard Andrea Dodig and guard Anna Maelde all exhausted their respective U Sports eligibilities completing their fifth-years at that level. Going into the off-season Huskies iconic head coach Lisa Thomaidis will be faced with a reload.

With that said, the Huskies have set an impressive positive culture, so the reload might not take that long.

Last medal hurrah for Canada at Winter Olympics? Other notes

A Canadian flag.

For the sixth straight Winter Olympics, Canada won 20 or more medals, but one has to wonder if it will be the end of the line for that string of success.

At this past Winter Olympics that ran February 6 to 22 in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Canada collected a total of 21 medals including five gold, seven silver and nine bronze. First, I have to say I was proud of all the athletes who represented Canada, and I enjoyed watching those games.

With that said, I wonder if these most recent Winter Olympics will mark the last time Canada gets 20 or more medals at those games.

Back in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., Canada had the most gold medal wins at those games at 14 and the third most total medals at 26. The highlight, of course, was winning gold in both women’s and men’s hockey.

The performance at those games could be credited to the Own the Podium program running in strong form. While you can pick apart the horrible parts in the world of politics, I always felt like sports was a priority when Stephen Harper was the prime minister of Canada and the Conservatives ruled at the federal government level.

At this point in my life, the last prime minister I actually liked for Canada was Paul Martin and the Liberals under his watch, and they were last in power in early 2006. Actually, the last time core federal funding was increased for Canada’s 62 federally funded national sport organizations was in 2005 under that federal government.

When Harper was the prime minister, it did feel like there was an attitude from the federal government of wanting to win. Under the current federal government with the ruling Liberal party that is not like the Liberal party under Martin’s watch, it feels like the attitude is to just be in the mix and be a try hard nation when it comes to sports.

While I understand current Prime Minister Mark Carney has more than enough issues to occupy his time, it has felt like the Liberals have had the just be in the mix and try hard attitude for sports for some time.

Even after the Liberals became the ruling party at the federal level in 2015, Canada posted its highest metal total win at a Winter Olympics in 2018 at Pyeongchang, South Korea, with 29 medals including 11 gold, eight silver and 10 bronze. It seemed like those totals were a residual result from the push that happened in 2010 in Vancouver.

The total medal count has decreased in each of the next two Winter Olympics for Canada. For the Winter Olympics that just wrapped up, it seemed like a large number of athletes who won medals for Canada were in their 30s. While that is cool to see, you start wondering if those athletes will be part of the picture in four years time and wonder when the younger generation is going to come in.

As far as the Olympics go in either the Summer or Winter games in Canada, it seems the bulk of the country is on the bandwagon when Canada is winning medals. If Canada isn’t winning medals, there is apathy unless gold medal wins are not coming in women’s and men’s hockey.

I do believe there is a desire to get more young people into sports in Canada playing more of a recreation fashion, and I am all for that. Actually, I am all for getting people of all ages involved in all sorts of activities that gets them away from screen time on phones, computers and televisions. I believe the amount of time people spend on those devices is ridiculous.

If there is no new core federal funding for sports or no new avenues for funding for sports in Canada, I can’t see any want in the sports realm getting satisfied. At this point, I am expecting to see another drop in total medals won by Canada at the 2030 Winter Olympics to be held in the French Alps in France from February 1 to 17 of that year.

• The Prince Albert Raiders and the Medicine Hat Tigers are engaged in a sprint for first overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. Both teams have 100 standings points with the Raiders sporting a 47-10-5-1 mark, while the Tigers have a 46-10-5-3 record. The Raiders have a game in hand on the Tigers and currently hold the standings tiebreaker due to having more wins.
• With teams having anywhere from four to six games remaining on their respective regular season schedules, the WHL’s four division winners have been determined. At the moment, they all sit in the top four of the circuit’s overall standings. The U.S. Division champion Everett Silvertips (52-7-2-1) are first, the East Division champion Prince Albert Raiders (47-10-5-1) are second, the Central Division champion Medicine Hat Tigers (46-10-5-3) are third and the U.S. Division champion in the first-year Penticton Vees (41-13-5-4) are fourth. If those squads remain in the top four, it will mark the first time the WHL’s division winners have occupied the top four spots in the overall standings at the end of a season since the 2021-22 campaign.
• Medicine Hat Tigers star twin forwards Markus and Liam Ruck could finish in the top two of the WHL scoring race. At the moment, Markus leads the WHL scoring race with 98 points coming off 19 goals and 79 assists. Liam is second with 97 points coming off 41 goals and 56 assists. Both turned 18-years-old on February 21 and are expected to be high-level picks in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.
• A salute has to go to Saskatoon Blades manager Tanner Chubey for overseeing the great production his team puts on for their Victory Plus online home broadcasts. Chubey hosts a pre-game show as well as segments during both intermissions. He has done catch up interviews with a number of Blades alums on those broadcasts including alums that are coaches or managers with other WHL teams. The Blades home broadcasts I have seen have looked really good on Victory Plus. On top of doing that, Chubey coordinates all the post-game interviews and all the website and social media updates that the team needs done at game’s end too. A lot of that work ends up being really thankless, but the fans benefit the most when it is done.
• Naim Cardinal put together an outstanding piece on the Indigenous Rookie Cards site making the case that Prince Albert Raiders icon forward Dan Hodgson should be on the CHL’s Top 50 Players List for top 50 players in the last 50 years that was announced on February 10. The list attempts to weigh the impacts a player had in both his CHL days and professional days. Part of Cardinal’s case includes giving Hodgson’s professional accomplishments in Europe more weight. It is a great piece to check out, and it can be found right here.
• Due to battling illness over the last 10 days of February, I wasn’t able to get this teased earlier. On February 9, I had new content appear on the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a story on pitcher Garrett Hawkins heading to Spring Training as a member of the San Diego Padres MLB 40-man roster. Hawkins earned that opportunity after coming back from injury and having a great season in the minors in 2025 .The piece on Hawkins can be found by clicking right here. I also put together a photo roundup that is anchored by images of familiar local area football faces playing in the Saskatoon Adult Flag Football League. That post can be found by clicking right here. I also put together a post that saluted forever Saskatoon StarPhoenix sportswriter Darren Zary heading into retirement on the blog. That piece can be found by clicking right here.
• On March 9, I had my most recent new content appear on the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a feature on Nicole Ostertag making a triumphant return to track and field. In the piece, Ostertag talked about how she almost quit the sport after a rough couple years on the injury and illness front. The piece on Ostertag can be found by clicking right here. I also put together a photo roundup that is anchored by images of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Football Team doing off-season training at the Indoor Training Centre. That post can be found by clicking right here.
• On Friday, I am going to have another back to the future moment with the independent Prince Albert Daily Herald. I’ve been back in the pages of the Daily Herald for some time including writing a regular WHL column for the longtime outlet since 2021. I was the main sportswriter there from 2001 to 2004 before moving on to the Medicine Hat News. On Friday night, I will be doing my first Prince Albert Raiders game story for the outlet since an exhibition contest in September of 2004. The Raiders host the Moose Jaw Warriors at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Art Hauser Centre. With the Raiders busy schedule, the gamer is going to be just online from my understanding. I might bring back my “Stanks’ Three Stars” for that night from my days with the News, which I did for WHL game stories for that outlet. I just never thought of doing that in my run with the Daily Herald from 2001 to 2004. Anyways, feel free to check the Daily Herald site on Saturday morning for my Raiders gamer, which can be found by clicking right here.

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

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Normal playoff time makes U Sports absence even more eerie

The Huskies enjoy a players series OT win in 2019.

While whole world has been in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic for a little more than 11 months, it doesn’t prevent getting a weird feeling due to the absence of events that occur regularly on the calendar.

In Canada’s sports scene, post-season action in U Sports would normally be well underway right now. Sports like football, rugby and soccer would normally play their nationals in the fall semester, so everyone with connections there would have felt that absence.

The winter semester usually sees sports conclude that run year round. Sports like basketball, hockey, track and field, volleyball and wrestling would have started their post-season paths.

Usually by this time of year, first round action would have taken place in basketball, hockey and volleyball. 

Kirsten Chamberlin tightly identifies with the Pandas.

Playoff fever would be well in the air and it would usually wrap up around the middle of March, when the last scheduled national championship tournaments are played.

At the moment, U Sports arenas and gyms sit empty across Canada on regular post-season game days.

On the grounds of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, the Butterdome multi-purpose sports complex is a field hospital in waiting. It was recently turned into a field hospital in waiting due to urgency created due to a big spike of new COVID-19 cases and COVID-19 hospitalizations in Alberta.

On the grounds of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, the twin pad hockey rink facility in Merlis Belsher Place, which has two basketball courts, has been a field hospital in waiting for a number of months. It is being used to help process COVID-19 tests and be a centre to administer COVID-19 vaccinations.

Those are the realities of the pandemic, which in Canada has pushed U Sports to the backburner.

While some will argue how relevant U Sports is on Canada’s overall sporting scene, the truth is it still has sizable relevance.

Golden Bears players have deep links to their team.

Just ask members of the University of Alberta Golden Bears men’s hockey team and the University of Alberta Pandas women’s hockey team how deeply imbedded their identification is to their programs along with the alums of each squad. Wherever those players go, they will be Golden Bears and Pandas for life.

In Saskatoon, current players and alums have strong identifications with the U of Saskatchewan Huskies programs on campus. It seem like you could always find someone wearing gear with the Huskies logo on it anywhere in Canada or seemingly around the world.

Over the last decade, it has become common for the Huskies men’s and women’s basketball and hockey teams to host home playoff games. At the start of the post-season, there was always great anticipation when the first of these contests came around.

Right now, the start of that playoff fever is missing. It is noticeable because this is the time the intensity level gets dialed up another notch.

The Huskies claimed a U Sports women’s basketball title in 2020.

Over the past 10 years, the Huskies women’s basketball team and the Huskies men’s hockey team have hosted a number of Canada West Conference championship games and series.

On February 28, 2020, a standing room crowd of 2,515 saw the Huskies women’s basketball team down the Pandas 62-51 in a winner take all Canada West Championship game at the Physical Activity Complex. 

No one at that game figured that would be at the moment the last time they saw a Huskies basketball team play at home.

Of course guided by their brilliant head coach Lisa Thomaidis, the Huskies women’s basketball team advanced to win the U Sports title. 

Levi Cable came up big for the Huskies in the 2020 post-season.

The Huskies thumped the Brock University Badgers 82-64 in the U Sports title game at TD Place in Ottawa, Ont.

Following that win, the Huskies returned home to enjoy an on campus victory rally on March 11, 2020 right before shutdowns and restrictions started to take root to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

On February 29, 2020, a record standing room crowd of 2,667 watched the Huskies men’s hockey team down the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 3-1 in Game 2 of the Canada West Championship series to sweep the best-of-three set 2-0.

As the Huskies raised the Dr. W.G. Hardy Trophy as Canada West champions, no one at Merlis that night could have imagined that was the last time to this day they would see a Huskies hockey team play at home.

The Huskies were able to play their quarter-final game at the University Cup in Halifax, N.S., before the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Fans cheer the Huskies at Merlis Belsher Place on Feb. 29, 2020.

With a number of players legitimately down with the flu, the Huskies fell 3-2 to the University of Western Ontario Mustangs.

No one knew that would be the last contest Dave Adolph would work as the Huskies legendary and one of a kind character head coach. 

Adolph will officially retire as Huskies head coach on May 1 of this year.

Willie Desjardins, who was the captain of the Huskies men’s hockey team that won the U Sports national title in 1982-83, said as head coach and general manager of the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers on a frequent basis that legends are made in the playoffs.

In 2020-21, there were no opportunities for legends to be made as there is no U Sports action at all due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Huskies celebrate a Canada West title in 2020.

Anyone with attachments to U Sports has to hold on to hope that things will be different in 2021-22.

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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Honours keep coming to Kozun

Netminder named Huskies male athlete of the year

Taran Kozun was named the Huskies male athlete of the year.

    Taran Kozun might have to expand where his trophies are displayed at his place.
    The star netminder for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team has collected an array of honours over his three full seasons in the U Sports ranks. On Wednesday, the 25-year-old product of Nipawin, Sask., added another accolade to his already lengthy list.

    Kozun was named the winner of the E. Kent Phillips Trophy as the male athlete of the year for Huskie Athletics for the second straight year.

    The Huskies held their Huskie Salute and announced their Major 7 Awards in a series of social media posts on Wednesday. The original Huskie Salute was scheduled for last Friday, but it was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    The puck stopper collected a lengthy number of awards this season. Kozun, who stands 6-feet and weighs 175 pounds, won the Senator Joseph A. Sullivan Trophy as the U Sports player of the year, and he took honours as the U Sports goaltender of the year.

    He became the first player in U Sports history to claim both awards in the same season. On top of those honours, the graduate of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers and Seattle Thunderbirds was named a U Sports first team all-Canadian all-star.

Taran Kozun was the U Sports player of the year for men’s hockey.

    Kozun also captured honours this season as the Canada West Conference player of the year, Canada West goaltender of the year and a first team Canada West all-star.

    He had an outstanding campaign for the Huskies appearing in 22 regular season games posting a 17-3-2 record, a 1.87 goals against average, a .931 save percentage and five shutouts. He also became the second goalie in the history of the Canada West Conference to score a goal as well during those regular season appearances.

    Kozun was first goal goalie in the Canada West Conference to be awarded a goal after shooting the puck into the net.

    He topped the Canada West Conference in wins and save percentage, while posting the lowest goals against average. His five shutouts equalled a record for regular season play in Canada West which he set last season along with U of Alberta Golden Bears goalie Zach Sawchenko.

    Thanks to Kozun’s efforts, the Huskies finished second in the Canada West Conference with a 22-4-2 record.

Taran Kozun was the Canada West Conference player of the year.

    In the Canada West playoffs, the Huskies swept the University of Calgary Dinos in a best-of-three semifinal series 2-0 and pulled out the brooms again for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds taking the best-of-three Canada West Championship series 2-0.

    Kozun won all four of those starts posting a 1.84 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.

    At the David Johnston University Cup held in Halifax, N.S., the second seeded Huskies fell in a 3-2 upset to the seventh seeded University of Western Ontario Mustangs in a quarter-final match on March 12. The rest of that event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic later that same night.

    Last season, Kozun was named both the Canada West goaltender of the year and the U Sports goaltender of the year as well as a U Sports first team all-Canadian all-star and a first team Canada West all-star.

    Kozun beat out a tough field to be named the Huskies male athlete of the year. 

Taran Kozun scored a goal in the 2019-20 campaign.

    The three other nominees included defensive back Nelson Lokombo from the Huskies football team, who was the U Sports defensive player of the year, Hunter Lee from the Huskies men’s wrestling team, who won gold medals at the Canada West Conference tournament and the U Sports nationals, and Huskies men’s track and field team sprinter Karson Lehner, who was named the Canada West Conference and U Sports male track athlete of the year.

    At the Canada West Championships, Lehner ran the 300-metre race in a meet record time of 33.07 seconds breaking a 35-year-old record set former Huskies track athlete Cyprian Enweani, who ran 33.50 seconds in 1985.

    Michelle Harrison of the Huskies women’s track and field team claimed the Mary Ethel Cartwright Trophy as the female athlete of the year for Huskie Athletics. Harrison was named the U Sports female track athlete of the year.

    She won gold medals in the 60-metre hurdles at the Canada West Championship and U Sports nationals. Harrison set a new U Sports nationals record in the 60-metre hurdles running in a time of 8.15 seconds and was named the female athlete of the meet.

Evan Machibroda was named the all-around male athlete for the Huskies.

    Evan Machibroda, who is a fifth-year defensive tackle with the Huskies football team, was named the winner of the Rusty MacDonald Cup as the all-around male athlete for Huskie Athletics. The award is given to the male Huskie athlete that shows excellence in sport, the classroom and citizenship.

    Machibroda piled up 22 total tackles, five sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery helping the Huskies football team post a 5-3 regular season record.

    Fifth-year guard Megan Ahlstrom of the Huskies women’s basketball team took home the Valerie Girsberger Trophy as the top all-around female athlete for Huskie Athletics. The award is given to the female Huskie athlete that shows excellence in sport, the classroom and leadership.

    Ahlstrom helped the Huskies women’s basketball team win U Sports national titles in 2016 and this past season.

    Wrestler Carson Lee took the Howard Nixon Trophy as the male athlete of the year for Huskie Athletics. He was named the Canada West and U Sports rookie of the year for men’s wrestling. Lee captured gold in the 82-kilogram weight class at the Canada West Championships and U Sports nationals.

Megan Ahlstrom, left, was the Huskies top all-around female athlete. 

    Halle Krynowsky from the Huskies women’s soccer team won the Patricia Lawson Trophy as the female rookie of the year for Huskie Athletics. The defender scored a pair of goals and was named to the Canada West Conference all-rookie team.

    The Colb McEwon Trophy as the coach of the year for Huskie Athletics went to Huskies women’s basketball team head coach Lisa Thomaidis. Thomaidis led the Huskies women’s basketball team to their fourth Canada West title in the past five years and second U Sports national title in team history.

    She led the Huskies women’s hoopsters to their first U Sports national crown in 2016 as well.

    The Dr. Walter Hader Award as student trainer of the year went to Ben Taylor from the Huskies track and field teams and cross country teams.

    The 2019-20 campaign was a great season for the Huskie Athletics program that included four Canada West team championships and one U Sports national title.

Lisa Thomaidis was named the coach of the year for Huskie Athletics.

    The Huskies captured conference titles in men’s wrestling, women’s track and field, men’s hockey and women’s basketball. The women’s basketball team captured the Bronze Baby Trophy as U Sports national champions.

    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.

Veterans power Huskies to second Bronze Baby win

U Sports national women’s basketball title returns to U of S

Sabine Dukate hit eight three-pointers for the Huskies.

    The veterans ensured the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s basketball team would reach the ultimate U Sports high.

    On Sunday at TD Place in Ottawa, Ont., the Huskies road huge performances from fifth-year guard Sabine Dukate, fourth-year post Summer Masikewich and fourth-year guard Libby Epoch to post a convincing 82-64 victory over the Brock University Badgers in the title game of the U Sports elite-eight women’s basketball national championship tournament.

    The win marked the second time the Huskies captured the Bronze Baby as U Sports national champions with the first title coming in 2016 with an 85-71 victory over the Ryerson University Rams in Fredericton, N.B.

    Way back in 2016, Dukate was a rookie who made her presence known. The Latvian point-guard hit four shots from three-point range recording 22 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals in the first U Sports national title victory over the Rams.

    On Sunday as a fifth-year veteran, Dukate had one of those amazing outings that you start to wonder how much the Huskies will miss her.

    She nailed 8-of-12 shots from three-point range and led the Huskies in scoring with 24 points. 

Summer Masikewich scored 20 points for the Huskies.

    Dukate also collected three rebounds, three assists and one steal to be named the tournament MVP and a tournament all-star.
    Dukate, guard Megan Ahlstrom and forward Vera Crooks all graduate from the Huskies program as U Sports national champions.

    Masikewich, who was a first-team all-Canadian all-star, posted 20 points, nine rebounds, three assists and one steal.

    Epoch was on the court for almost the entire game. She collected nine points, nine rebounds that were all defensive, seven assists and two steals in her contribution to the winning effort.

    Third-year guard Katriana Philipenko came off the bench to chip in 11 points to the Huskies cause.

    Forward Samantha Keltos topped the Badgers with 21 points.

    The Huskies once again got to this point under the guidance of head coach Lisa Thomaidis, who you could make a strong argument is the best coach in any sport in Canada. She is also the head coach of Canada’s senior national women’s basketball team.

Libby Epoch was dynamic for the Huskies.

    Under Thomaidis, the Huskies have always hit the court with a driven, hard working, fun and likeable group. The personalities of the Huskies players that have played for Thomaidis are so warm and welcoming that you can’t help but cheer for them.
    When the Huskies host the Canada West championship game, the team’s alums flock back to the Physical Activity Complex in big numbers like on Feb. 28, when the Huskies downed the University of Alberta Pandas 62-51 in the conference title game.

    This season, the Huskies posted a 30-2 overall record that includes an 18-2 mark in the regular season and a 6-0 record in the post-season.

    At the U Sports championship tournament, the Huskies downed the Carleton University Ravens 73-59 in a quarter-final contest on Thursday and thumped the Universite Laval Rouge et Or 76-57 in a semifinal on Saturday.

    The Huskies women’s basketball team under Thomaidis leadership has always been great ambassadors representing the U of S and Saskatoon as a city on the national stage. They are a treasure to be taken to heart.

    Once again, you have to love it when good people become national champions, and the Huskies deserve to stand on the U Sports mountaintop.

The Bronze Baby is coming back to the Bridge City.

The Huskies are @USPORTSca National Champions for the second time in school history!@HuskieAthletics 82, Brock 64#HuskiePride pic.twitter.com/j7tFX4rnr6

— Huskie Athletics (@HuskieAthletics) March 8, 2020

Bears, Stars to collide in first round of SFMAAAHL playoffs

Jessie Herner, left, and Brooklyn Anderson will mean business in playoffs.

    It seems like the Prince Albert Northern Bears and the Saskatoon Stars are destined to meet in the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League playoffs.

    After the results came down from the final day of SFMAAAHL regular season play on Sunday, a Bears versus Stars match up in the post-season was cemented for the fourth time in six years.

    The clubs closed the regular season playing each other at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert on Sunday. The Stars were cemented into fifth place in the SFMAAAHL standings regardless of the outcome of that clash.

    The Bears had an opportunity to vault into third place with a regulation win, which would negate a match up with the Stars.

    In the SFMAAAHL, teams receive three points in the standings for regulation wins, two points for extra time wins and one point for extra time setbacks.

    The Bears got an early first period goal from 16-year-old forward Paris Oleksyn to go ahead 1-0. For the longest time, it appeared Oleksyn’s tally would be the only goal of the contest.

    With 53.7 seconds remaining in the third period, 16-year-old defender Bridget Rezansoff netted the equalizer for the Stars to force a 1-1 tie.

    Knowing they needed a regulation win to finish higher in the standings, the Bears pulled their goalie for an extra attacker looking for the go-ahead marker. The 1-1 tie held up as the third period expired causing the game to go to overtime.

    With their goalie back between the piles for the extra session, the Bears scored in overtime to claim a 2-1 victory off a wraparound goal by captain Brooklyn Anderson.

The Bears have won four straight games.

    Dani Day made 22 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Bears, who will host the Esso Cup female midget AAA national championship tournament from April 19 to 25. Kaitlyn Cadrain turned away 34 shots to take the extra time setback in goal for the Stars.

    Prince Albert won all five head-to-head regular season meetings with Saskatoon.

    The win was the fourth straight for the Bears, who finished the regular season with a 15-13-2 record. They had an identical record with the Notre Dame Hounds, but the Hounds took third place having won all five head-to-head regular season meetings with the Bears.

    The Stars finished with a 12-14-4 regular season record. Saskatoon has won the last two straight SFMAAAHL title, but Stars roster and coaching staff underwent a massive turnover at the end of last season.

    Unlike past years when SFMAAAHL playoff series were contested in best-of-five formats, all SFMAAAHL post-season series will be contested in best-of-three formats starting this season.

    The Bears will have home ice advantage for a best-of-three SFMAAAHL quarter-final series against the Stars. The dates and times of those games are still to be announced.

CBC Sports vows commitment to gender balanced coverage

    CBC Sports likely raised an eyebrow or two over the weekend.

    In an online story released on the CBC Sports website on Friday, the network said it was committing to gender balanced coverage across all its platforms. The hope of the network is to give more exposure to women’s sports, which are extremely under-covered in Canada.

    In 2016, the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity released a study regarding the connection between women and sport in Canada. A couple of facts revolved around media coverage.

    An analysis was done on Canada’s primary national sports networks in English and French in 2014. The study said only four per cent of the coverage on those networks was dedicated to women’s sports and over half of that number was dedicated to coverage of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

    A study was done on the Saturday sports section front page in two of Canada’s highest circulated national newspapers from June 2008 to May 2010 and June 2013 to May 2015. Over those time frames, 5.1 per cent of the coverage was dedicated to women’s sports.

    Of course, that study only considered a small sampling size of the print industry.

    It can be argued since that time the coverage of women’s sports in Canada has decreased thanks to massive cuts in the mainstream media, which has often targeted sports departments. Sports coverage seems to get more and more focused on just the NHL, which causes everything else in the sports scene to be out of luck.

    What CBC is trying to do isn’t unheard of. Way back when I covered sports for the University of Regina student newspaper, the Carillon, in the late 1990s and a short time into 2000, that outlet followed a policy of dedicating the same amount articles and space to men’s and women’s sports.

    If I remember correctly, that was tried in a number of university student media outlets.

    In Regina, the University of Regina Cougars women’s basketball team rose to new heights of popularity due the massive amounts of coverage they received from all media outlets in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Cougars won the U Sports national title in 2000-01.

    CBC’s venture is a noble one, and it is highly unlikely the rest of Canada’s mainstream media outlets will follow that venture. Some in those outlets will likely note CBC didn’t talk specifics of how it will reach this idealistic hope.

    With Sunday having been International Women’s Day, here is hoping CBC’s initiative finds traction and creates change for the better. The announcement story from CBC Sports can be found by clicking right here.

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

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Huskies women’s hoopsters are set for a bright future

The Huskies pose for a team photo with their U Sports national silver medals.

    You almost forget how young the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s basketball team actually is, because they play so well.

    On Sunday, the Huskies appeared in the championship game at the U Sports national championship tournament in Regina falling 69-48 to the top seeded Carleton University Ravens. The Ravens had a 29-0 record between the regular season and playoffs and a 38-2 overall record for the 2017-18 campaign when exhibition matches were added in.

    It was obvious the Huskies fell to a formidable foe.

    The Huskies had a successful season posting a 25-7 overall record. They finished second overall in the Canada West regular season registering a 17-3 mark.

Summer Masikewich (#11) has become a star post for the Huskies.

    In the Canada West playoffs, they won two elimination contests and made it to the conference championship game falling to the host University of Regina Cougars 75-55 on March 2.

    At the U Sports championship tournament, the Huskies turned the tables on the Cougars prevailing in a semifinal encounter 74-71 on Saturday.

    There shouldn’t be any disappointments for the Huskies this season. It is obvious to point out that if you reverse the results of just two games - the Canada West Conference title game and the U Sports national championship game - the Huskies would be feeling over the moon about the 2017-18 campaign.

    When you step back and look at the big picture, it is amazing to see what the Huskies accomplished this season.

    Back in 2016, the Huskies won the title game at the U Sports national championship tournament held in Fredericton, N.B., over the Ryerson University Rams by a score of 85-71. Following that game, the Huskies graduated fourth players in their fifth-years of eligibility in Laura Dally, Dalyce Emmerson, Kelsey Trulsrud and Taya Keujer.

Guard Sabine Dukate has piled up the points for the Huskies.

    Dally and Emmerson go down as two of the greatest to ever play for the Huskies.

    Fourth-year guard Desarae Hogberg also left the team to focus on life after basketball following that U Sports title win. All five of those players provided the heart of the Huskies team that also claimed the Canada West title in 2015-16.

    It was expected the Huskies would go through a reloading stage and have a drop off.

    In the two seasons since that national title win, the Huskies won a Canada West title in 2017, appeared in the conference final this past season, and made two trips to nationals winning a silver medal on Sunday.

    The Huskies have made 10 trips to nationals over the last 11 years. Their status as a powerhouse is cemented.

Point guard Libby Epoch, right, has become the Huskies floor general.

    They graduated fifth-year veterans in guard Madeline Humbert and forward Megan Lindquist but are loaded with stars who were in their first and second years of eligibility.

    Two of those stars played with significant injuries at nationals in Regina. Third-year shooting guard Sabine Dukate, who is the only remaining starter from the 2016 U Sports national championship winning team, will need shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum, but she was still a threat to score at all times.

    In the semifinal win over the Cougars, she hit 5-of-11 shots from three-point range to lead the Huskies with 20 points.

    Sophomore point guard Libby Epoch, who stands 5-foot-7, was hampered by a bad ankle, but she still played 114 out of the 120 minutes of total court time the Huskies saw at nationals. She had eight points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals in the loss to the Ravens.

Guard Megan Ahlstrom has been key at both ends of the floor.

    When you talk to Epoch, you wouldn’t have guessed she is just 19-years-old, because she speaks and acts with a maturity well beyond her years. The Moose Jaw, Sask., product, who has been a member of Canada’s national team system, has already become one of the key public faces in representing the entire Huskie Athletics program. She is the person you want representing your entire athletics program.

    Sophomore post Summer Masikewich, who has also been part of Canada’s national team program, has done a remarkable job is being a star successor to Emmerson.
    Third-year guard Megan Ahlstrom has been a sound contributor at both ends of the floor.

    Sophomore guard Kelsey Lalor has a bunch of untapped potential and rookie forward Kyla Shand improved drastically as the campaign progressed joining the Huskies from Saskatoon’s Holy Cross High School.

Guard Kelsey Lalor will play a bigger role for the Huskies in the future.

    The Huskies played well beyond their years thank to the work of their coaching staff led by head coach Lisa Thomaidis, who is one of the best you will find in any sport in Canada.

    The only time youth caught up to the Huskies was against the Ravens. Leading 25-24 at halftime, the Huskies struggled in the second half rushing shots when the composed Ravens were pulling away.

    The Ravens started three fifth-year and two fourth-year players and substituted in another fifth-year player from the bench. Those six veterans accounted for 50 of the Ravens 69 points, and they stayed steady when the waves were rough in the early going for their team.

    With that said, the Huskies are still playing in conference and national championship games as a young team.

The Huskies are poised to be a U Sports powerhouse for some time to come.

    You know their players are going to put in the work to be that much better in the off-season, and Thomaidis and her staff have to be excited to see what everyone will look like when they all return to school in late August.

    That alone has to get you excited for the upcoming 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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Huskies women’s hoopsters aim for more post-season glory

Head coach Lisa Thomaidis, left, and her Huskies continue to impress.

    It has become a special late February to the middle of March tradition in the sports scene of Saskatoon.

    Guided by head coach Lisa Thomaidis, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s basketball team is winning games in the post-season, and they will make a serious push for a Canada West Conference title and a U Sports national title. It seems like every generation that plays for the Huskies is hard working, talented and extremely likable.

    Fans can take the current generation of players to heart like group that won the program’s first U Sports national title in the 2015-16 campaign headed by fifth-years Laura Dally, Dalyce Emmerson, Kelsey Trulsrud and Taja Keujer. The same goes for the generations of players that came before the national title win under Thomaidis’s watch.

    Last year, the Huskies were supposed to take a step back due to having a younger squad with the turnover of the fifth-years that powered the team’s first national championship win. After posting a 15-5 record in the regular season in 2016-17, the Huskies won a second straight Canada West title, which wasn’t expected by most observers outside of the program.

    This season, the Huskies 17-3 regular season record was good enough to ensure the team was the seeded second in the Canada West playoffs. The Huskies are also rated seventh in the U Sports Top 10 rankings.

    In a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series against the University of Winnipeg Wesmen held at U of S’s Physical Activity Complex, the Huskies took Game 1 last Thursday 76-58 but were given a slight scare after the Wesmen took Game 2 a day later 93-85.

Guard Sabine Dukate (#5) can do it all for the Huskies.

    In a series deciding Game 3 last Saturday, the Huskies showed the scare was minimal. They jumped out to a 28-14 lead after the first quarter and stormed to a 52-29 edge by halftime. The Huskies cruised to a 97-64 victory.

    Third-year guard Sabine Dukate, who is the only remaining starter from the national championship team, hit 6-of-11 shots from three-point range to lead the Huskies with 21 points. Star sophomore post Summer Masikewich added 17 points to aid the host side.

    Third-year guard Megan Ahlstrom and fifth-year forward Megan Lindquist chipped in 11 and 10 points respectively. Standout sophomore point guard Libby Epoch dished out eight assists to round out a strong night from the starting five.

    Third-year guard Maya Olynyk came off the bench to pitch in 12 points for the Huskies. Rookie post Kyla Shand and sophomore guard Kelsey Lalor added eight and seven points respectively play reserve roles as well for the host side.

    Teams that go far in the post-season usually get key contributions from everyone at different times, and the Huskies seemed to get contributions from everyone they dressed to prevail by a convincing margin in an elimination game.

    It is believed the win was the 400^th overall victory for Thomaidis as head coach of the Huskies in matches against U Sports opponents. The Huskies have won five Canada West titles with Thomaidis as head coach.

    In players like Dukate, Epoch, Masikewich, Lalor, Ahlstrom and Shand, the Huskies have a core that is going to be good for two to three more seasons.

Kelsey Lalor (#12) is one of the many stellar young players on the Huskies.

    While the Huskies core is young, the future is now for this team as well.

    Their next task is to get past the Trinity Western University Spartans in a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series. The Spartans will provide a big test finishing the regular season with a 16-4 record, and they are rated ninth in the U Sports Top 10 rankings.

    Game 1 of that series is set for this coming Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Physical Activity Complex on the U of S campus. The Huskies and Spartans split their two regular season meetings.

    If the Huskies win that series, they will advance to the Canada West title game for a fifth straight year and earn a berth at U Sports nationals for a fifth straight year.

    Odds are high that the Huskies will add to what is becoming a storied playoff legacy.

Playoff opponents set for Huskies hockey teams

The Dinos and Huskies men’s hockey teams will meet in the playoffs.

    The U of Saskatchewan Huskies hockey teams found out who their respective playoff foes will be over the weekend.

    Both Huskies squads earned byes to host best-of-three Canada West semifinal series thanks to respective second place finishes in the conference standings.

    On the men’s side, the Huskies, who were 20-7-1 in the regular season, will take on the U of Calgary Dinos, who had a 12-13-3 regular season record to finish fifth in Canada West. The Dinos forfeited their first six games in October due to using an ineligible player, which they self-disclosed as an error on their part.

    The Huskies took three out of the four head-to-head meetings with the Dinos, and none of those results came via forfeit.

    Game 1 of the series between the Huskies and Dinos is set for Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the ancient Rutherford Rink. Game 2 will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Rutherford, and if necessary, Game 3 is set for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Rutherford.

The T-birds and Huskies women’s hockey team will meet in the playoffs.

    The Huskies women’s hockey team will battle the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series in what should be a heated rivalry type encounter. This will mark the third time in the last five years the Huskies and Thunderbirds have met in the post-season.

    The Huskies posted a 19-7-2 record for 58 points in the standings to sit second in Canada West, while the Thunderbirds recorded a 19-5-4 record for 56 points in the standings to sit third in Canada West.

    In the Canada West women’s hockey standings, teams earn three points for regulation wins, two points for extra time wins and one point for extra time losses. The Huskies earned their 58 points on 18 regulation wins, one extra time win and two extra time losses. The Thunderbirds earned their 56 points on 14 regulation wins, five extra time wins and four extra time setbacks.

    Game 1 between the Huskies and Thunderbirds is set for 1:30 p.m. at the Rutherford Rink. Game 2 is slated for 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at Rutherford, and if necessary, Game 3 will be held on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Rutherford.

    The winners of the Canada West semifinals will advance to their respective best-of-three Canada West Conference championship series and earn berths in their respective U Sports national champion tournaments.

Kustra delivers OT win in Edmonton to Blades

Jake Kustra had the overtime winner for the Blades on Monday night.

    Jake Kustra ensured his Saskatoon Blades concluded their four-game road trip on a winning note and with a winning record.

    On Monday night in Edmonton, the 18-year-old defenceman scored at the 1:37 mark of overtime on a beauty setup pass by overage winger Braylon Shmyr to lift the Blades to a 3-2 victory over the host Oil Kings in a WHL regular season match before 9,913 spectators at Rogers Place. The tally was Kustra’s fourth goal and second game-winner of the season.

    Shmyr scored late in the third period and centre Chase Wouters tallied at the 7:20 mark of the third to give the Blades a 2-0 lead.

    The Oil Kings received singles from Kobe Mohr at the 11:58 mark of the third and Trey Fix-Wolansky at the 16:44 mark of the third to force a 2-2 tie and send the contest to overtime. That set the stage for Kustra to come through with his heroics.

    Nolan Maier turned away 13 shots to pick up his 22^nd win of the season in goal for the Blades.

    Todd Scott turned away 18-of-20 shots starting in goal for the Oil Kings. He was forced to leave the game after being injured trying to stop Wouters’ goal. Josh Dechaine turned away two-of-three shots in relief for the Oil Kings, who saw their record move to 18-33-6-2.

    The Blades won three out of the four games on their road trip. They improved to 31-27-2-1 to hold the second wildcard spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with an eight-point edge over the Prince Albert Raiders (23-25-9-2). The Raiders have two games in hand on the Blades.

    Saskatoon is two points behind the Brandon Wheat Kings (31-23-3-2) for the first wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. The Wheat Kings have two games in hand on the Blades.

    The Blades have 11 games remaining on their regular season schedule, and they will play seven of those games at home. They return to action taking on the Memorial Cup hosting Regina Pats at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre on Friday.

    A fundraising effort is underway to have Blades play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk sing the national anthem before that encounter with the Pats. Funds being raised will be donated to the Saskatchewan Red Cross to support Pink Day, which is set for February 28, and the anti-bullying initiatives backed by that program. Anyone looking to support that cause can do so by clicking here.

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

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    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.