Not all backburner items done in pandemic times

A Roughriders scoreboard clock that has never been used.

Maybe my Saskatchewan Roughriders scoreboard clock needs to be more out of sight out of mind.

Every time I open my closet, I look up to the top shelf, and it just seems to stare down at me. The scoreboard clock was a Christmas gift I received around 2010, when I was still living in Medicine Hat, Alta, working as a sports reporter for the Medicine Hat News.

Back at my old home in Medicine Hat, it sat in its box in my closet unused. I always vowed I was going to hang it up somewhere, but that never seemed to happen with my busy schedule in “the Gas City.”

In the summer of 2014, I moved to Saskatoon to be closer to family. That scoreboard clock has sat on the top shelf of my bedroom closet of my Saskatoon home since that time.

I actually don’t have a place in Saskatoon to hang it. As a result, my plans for the scoreboard clock changed.

One day, I was going to take the time to actually plug it in to see if it still worked. If it still worked, I was going to put it for sale on Facebook Marketplace or eBay.

I figured it would be worth $20 to someone.

Before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit, I was visiting a sports memorabilia store at Market Mall in Saskatoon. I was talking with the store owner, when he answered a phone call.

The phone call was a quick one, where the store owner told the person on the other end of the line he didn’t have what that person was looking for. After hanging up the phone, the store owner told me the caller was looking for a Saskatchewan Roughriders scoreboard clock.

My old basement fun room in Regina back in 2000.

If the store owner took that person’s name and number, I could have sold that person the one I had.

When the restrictions for the COVID-19 pandemic started to increase in intensity in March of 2020, I made a list of things I wanted to do in my head as my schedule got lighter.

The list in my head including a number of backburner projects along with revisiting some old fun pastimes I haven’t engaged in for years.

I have been able to tackle some backburner projects and revisit some old fun pastimes.

With that said, I have been able to keep busy during the COVID-19 pandemic with my work as the communications coordinator with the Gordie Howe Sports Complex and writing stories and columns for this blog.

Sports related freelance reporting opportunities still pops up here and there too.

Before the pandemic hit, I would say I was at a state where I was life-consumed busy.

These days, I am comfortably busy, which does allow me to have free time.

Even with the free time, I haven’t had a chance to tackle all the backburner projects or old fun pastimes.

One backburner project is dealing with the Roughriders scoreboard clock. Actually looking in my basement, I have a whole bunch of old sports collectables I really should clear out.

Some of the collectables are old posters and pictures that used to line the walls of my basement fun room, when I lived in Regina and went to school at the University of Regina.

Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby in collectable form.

One of the posters is like a wall sized one of Joe Montana from the 1980s, when he played for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ERS. That hasn’t seen the light of day in two decades.

Other collectables I need to find a new home for include an extra Mario Lemieux bobblehead doll from when Canada’s men’s hockey team won gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics, an extra McFarlane figure of Sidney Crosby celebrating his golden goal for Canada’s men’s hockey team at the 2010 Winter Olympics and extra Roughriders gear from their Grey Cup wins in 2007 and 2013 as CFL champions.

I have a handful of old toys I should try and clear out too.

Of course, the Transformers I have from the 1980s stay.

I should make time and set up posts for one or two items just to get started.

When the pandemic ends, it is possible some of those items could be donated to be used as silent auction items for sports fundraisers.

If I had to, I know of stores in Saskatoon that could resell those collectables. The worry is always there about dealing with a move all of a sudden, which would mean selling those items off at 10-cents on the dollar.

I understand business. Those stores have to cover overhead somewhere. Best part is they are run by good people.

On the fun pastime side, I still haven’t fired up the old Sega Genesis to play NHL 94. I even have the adapter to allow four players to play the game at once, when the Public Health Orders change to allow friends to gather inside homes again.

An NHL 94 cartridge.

I actually have two cartridges for NHL 94, because I fried the memory on my original due to playing it so much back in the day.

Of course, Teemu Selanne is in that game and his attributes were based fresh of his NHL record 76-goal rookie season with the Winnipeg Jets. Of course, I would use the Jets.

When I want to beat friends, I would usually use the Montreal Canadiens. While that game was made fresh off the Canadiens winning the 1993 Stanley Cup, they weren’t the most talented team in the game outside of the fact Patrick Roy was a cheat code in goal.

I did get really good with using the Canadiens and being able to set up one-times with every line on that team. When I played against friends, I usually won when I used the Canadiens.

As the pandemic goes on, who knows if I will revisit these items. If I had already revisited these items, it would have meant my work front was really dead.

In the grand scheme of things for me, it is good to be comfortable busy.

Shortened WHL season to show off players, other notes

Chase Wouters has been a career member of the Blades.

It appears a shortened 2020-21 WHL campaign might just be a showcase event for the players.

Late Friday night, the WHL announced that the circuit’s board of governors has made a commitment to play a 2020-21 WHL regular season. The start date for the 2020-21 regular season has been pushed back a number of times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Currently, a start date for the 2020-21 WHL campaign hasn’t been made due to current restrictions the four provinces in Canada and two states in United States have in place to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2020-21 WHL regular season will consist of 24 games for each team. Competition will be limited regionally inside each of the circuit’s four divisions.

Starting on Monday, various executives in the WHL have been making the rounds on the media circuit to talk about the potential 2020-21 campaign.

Pat McKay of CTV Saskatoon talked with Saskatoon Blades general manager Colin Priestner for a story that appeared on Monday on CTV’s web platform.

Priestner said there won’t be any fans in the stands. Following the regular season, Priestner said there could be a divisional playoff, but he couldn’t see a post-season that would see the Ed Chynoweth Cup handed out to a league champion.

The Blades GM added nothing has been decided on the post-season front and noted there are a lot of other variables that still need to be worked out including protocols, safety, insurance, logistics, roster sizes and what happens if things get shut down after starting up.

Gregg Drinnan put out a couple of media round up pieces on his Taking Note blog regarding the developments around the WHL at the start of this week. On Tuesday, Drinnan came across a report from Travis Lowe of CHBC-TV in Kelowna, B.C.

Lowe had interviewed Bruce Hamilton, who is the general manager and owner of the Kelowna Rockets and the chairman of the WHL’s board of governors. Hamilton said the new season probably wouldn’t get started until the end of February or early March.

Drinnan also wrote he heard from a source the Prince George Cougars could play the season out of Kamloops, while the Victoria Royals could play their campaign out of Kelowna. The league is looking at cutting down on travel in B.C.

Cole Sillinger in action for the Tigers in 2020.

There were also a couple of other developments.

On Tuesday, the Lethbridge Hurricanes sent out a release saying they will be issuing full refunds to everyone who purchased season tickets for the 2020-21 campaign.

On Wednesday, the Medicine Hat Tigers announced they were releasing their star NHL Entry Draft eligible 17-year-old centre Cole Sillinger to the Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL. Sillinger is slated to return to Medicine Hat the conclusion of the 2020-21 campaign.

Last season, Sillinger had 22 goals, 31 assists and a plus-19 rating in the plus-minus department in 48 regular season games with the Tigers.

“Each situation is unique and with Cole having dual citizenship, it was felt that this option would give him the best ability to showcase his talent for the upcoming NHL Draft,” said Tigers general manager and head coach Willie Desjardins in a release.

If the WHL does pull off a 2020-21 season, it will basically allow players to put their talents on display for NHL clubs or put together film for other professional opportunities or to show off for U Sports teams.

It would also allow players like Blades 20-year-old captain Chase Wouters to give the circuit and his team a farewell. Wouters has been with the Blades for his entire WHL career becoming a full-time member of the club as a 16-year-old.

At this point in these pandemic times, the WHL is trying to salvage something for the 2020-21 campaign.

• Drinnan had two great round-up pieces regarding the developments in the WHL on Taking Note. His post from Monday can be found by clicking right here, and his post from Tuesday can be found by clicking right here.
• On Monday, the Red Deer Rebels announced Cam Moon, who has been the team’s play-by-play voice since 1998, has joined the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers as their radio announcer for the 2020-21 campaign. Moon’s first game will be Thursday, when the Oilers host the Vancouver Canucks for a second straight night. Moon called the Rebels 2001 Memorial Cup title win, and he held the role as the team’s director of broadcasts and media. Greg Meachem wrote a farewell piece on Moon for the Red Deer Rebels website, which can be found right here.
• On Monday, Skate Canada cancelled its 2021 National Skating Championships and Skate Canada Cup due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Skating Championships were slated to run Feb. 8-14 in Vancouver, B.C. The Skate Canada Cup was planned to be a virtual event in replacement of pre-novice and novice competitions at the 2021 Skate Canada Challenge.
• On Monday, defenceman Jay Bouwmeester announced his retirement from playing hockey in an interview he gave Pierre LeBrun of the Athletic. The 37-year-old Edmonton, Alta., product played 17 seasons in the NHL from 2002 to 2020 for the Florida Panthers, Calgary Flames and St. Louis Blues. He appeared in 1,240 regular season games collecting 88 goals and 336 assists for 424 points. Bouwmeester was a member of the Blues Stanley Cup winning team in 2019. Before joining the WHL, Bouwmeester starred for the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers from 1998 to 2002 appearing in 194 regular season games posting 40 goals and 111 assists for 151 points. Nearly a year ago, Bouwmeester collapsed on the Blues bench during a game due to a cardiac episode. He had surgery to install a defibrillator to restore his heart’s normal rhythm.
• I went live with a couple of posts for the Howe Happenings blog, which promotes the Gordie Howe Sports Complex, on Saturday. I wrote a post about the Saskatoon Short Mat Club moving to the facility, and that piece can be found by clicking right here. I included a piece on the Going Yard Training Centre, and it 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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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.

NHL post-season brings much needed fun and entertainment

A Matthew Tkachuk card.

    It feels so great to be hooked into the NHL hockey world now more than ever.

    On July 28, the NHL resumed its 2019-20 campaign after being on pause since March 12 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic with three exhibition tilts. Skating in the hub cities of Edmonton and Toronto with no fans in either building, NHL teams played a short exhibition schedule to prepare for post-season action.

    On Aug. 1, the NHL post-season opened in those hub cities with 16 teams taking part in a qualifying round that consisted of eight series that were best-of-five in length.
    As those games went on, eight clubs that comprised the top four overall spots in the regular season standings in the Eastern and Western Conferences played round robin games for seeding.

    The eight qualifying round series gave fans the NHL playoff fix they needed in spades. It was so easy to get wrapped up in storylines.

    Calgary Flames left-winger Matthew Tkachuk shined as the punk type pest as the Flames took out the Winnipeg Jets in four games in Edmonton.

    The Jets came unglued in the first game of the series, when their star centre Mark Scheifele was injured on a hit attempt from Tkachuk.

A Mark Scheifele card.

    Tkachuk was trying to finish a check and Scheifele turned awkwardly, avoided most of the contact and was lost for the rest of the series with an Achilles injury.

    After the Flames won Game 1 by a 4-1 score, Jets head coach Paul Maurice went off on Tkachuk saying the Flames forward tried to kick at Scheifele’s Achilles.
    Maurice was pulling classic gamesmanship, because even though Tkachuk is a punk, it is hard to imagine he would have time to even think about intentionally injuring Scheifele on that play with a kick.

    The posturing by Maurice led to the Jets pulling out a 3-2 win in Game 2. However, it seemed the Jets continued to be too distracted by Tkachuk and combined with the injuries piling up on the Winnipeg side, the Flames sealed the series with respective 6-2 and 4-0 victories.

    What makes Tkachuk more infuriating to play against is he puts up good statistics on top of being an agitator. He had a goal and an assist and was a plus-three in the plus-minus department in four games against the Jets.

    Tkachuk appeared in 69 regular season games with the Flames in 2019-20 piling up 28 goals and 38 assists.

A Connor McDavid card.

    The time off the NHL had from March to July provided some unpredictability when the post-season got underway too. That resulted in two of the NHL’s biggest names in Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby getting eliminated in the qualifying round.

    In McDavid’s case, you also expected deep down the superstar centre would have a good series, but his Edmonton Oilers would still get knocked out of the playoffs.

    The Oilers proved they are the modern day “weak-kneed wimps” and couldn’t be saves by McDavid piling up five goals and four assists. They were eliminated by the 12-seeded Chicago Blackhawks in four games.

    In a normal season, the Blackhawks, who were the final Western Conference team placed in the post-season, wouldn’t have a sniff of the playoffs. Still, they had been improving during a reloading year with steady star veterans and young guns that were ready to take off.

    On the veteran side, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane showed a pedigree that allowed the Blackhawks to win three Stanley Cup titles in the 2010s. Chicago netminder Corey Crawford rounded back into his post-season best form.
    Young 19-year-old centre Kirby Dach established that he could be a force with the Blackhawks piling up four assists and a plus-three rating. 

A Sidney Crosby Card.

    The graduate of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades threw some big hits and executed tough defensive assignments against the Oilers biggest stars.

    Crosby and his Pittsburgh Penguins were done in by a tough goalie in Montreal Canadiens netminder Carey Price.

    Price stopped 126-of-133 shots fired his way for a .947 save percentage as the Canadiens, who were the 12^th seed in the Eastern Conference, took out the Penguins in four games.

    Crosby did collect a pair of goals and an assist for the Penguins in the series loss.
    Then there was the Toronto Maple Leafs. Loaded with young stars, they still couldn’t find a way to produce a long playoff run playing a back-and-forth qualifying series with the Columbus Blue Jackets that went to a series deciding Game 5.

    The Maple Leafs series with the Blue Jackets was the only qualifying series to go the distance. In that Game 5 that was played Sunday in Toronto, Blue Jackets netminder Joonas Korpisalo made 33 saves in his team’s 3-0 shutout win to take the series 3-2.

    For haters of the Maple Leafs, Sunday was an annual day of joy and celebration.

    Overall, the qualifying round of the NHL playoffs allowed the mind for a few hours to get immersed in the familiar ritual of following hockey playoffs.

    No matter who you follow, it was fun to have that back in life again, and here is to the rest of the NHL playoffs going off without a hook.

Hurricanes are good for the NHL playoffs, other notes

We the North Carolina pic.twitter.com/qxiwgkg2t8

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) August 5, 2020

    It is so great to have the Carolina Hurricanes in the NHL playoffs.

    The staffers that work in their communications, social media and marking departments are the best. The Hurricanes swept the New York Rangers 3-0 in a best-of-five qualifying series. Before taking Game 3 of the set 4-1 on Aug. 4, the Hurricanes put up a beauty tweet on Twitter.

    Playing in the hub city of Toronto, the Hurricanes on Aug. 4 walked past the lighted up sign of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors to get to the ice surface. The Raptors won last year’s NBA title.

    Hurricanes Twitter showed video of their players walking by that Raptors sign and put up the caption, “We the North Carolina.”

    It was funny.

    Of course, it played off the Raptors slogan, “We the North.”

    Still, it is those type of little things from Hurricanes Twitter that make the NHL playoffs that much more fun.

The Hurricanes made David Ayres famous.

    The Hurricanes have hit a few homers in the last couple of years. They made emergency backup goalie David Ayres famous after he dressed for the Hurricanes on Feb. 22 and entered their regular season game after both regular Carolina netminders went down with injury.

    The 42-year-old Ayres turned away eight of 10 shots sent his way picking up a regular season win as the Hurricanes beat the host Maple Leafs in Toronto 6-3.

    Following that contest, Ayres went on seemingly a hero’s tour across North America.

    Last season, the Hurricanes advanced to the Eastern Conference Championship series and sold a tonne of T-shirts with a “bunch of jerks” written on them after long time hockey commentator Don Cherry used that line to describe that hockey club.

    As the playoffs move along, you wonder what the Hurricanes office crew will come up with next.

• Phase 2 of the confusing 2020 NHL Draft Lottery goes Monday at the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, N.J. The first overall pick for the NHL Entry Draft tentatively scheduled for Oct. 9 and 10 is still up for grabs. Left-winger Alexis Lafreniere of the QMJHL’s Rimouski Oceanic is expected to be the first overall selection.
• On Friday, the NHL’s Washington Capitals loaned centre Aliaksei Protas to Dinamo Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League to start the 2020-21 campaign. Last season, Protas topped the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders in scoring with 31 goals and 59 assists for 80 points in 58 regular season games. He had a plus-37 rating in the plus-minus department. Protas is eligible to return to the Raiders for his 19-year-old season. The start of the WHL’s regular season has been pushed back to Dec. 4 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Protas is expected to be recalled when activities start for the 2020-21 season in the NHL or WHL.
• I had a pair of stories appear on the newly created Howe Happenings blog that was created for the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. The post “Aiming for new future heights building on a storied past” about the evolution of the Gordie Howe Sports Complex Management Corporation can be found by clicking right here. The story “McCullough’s day at Bob Van Impe” about Devon McCullough’s glorious win at softball worlds in 2015 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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    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.

Does a reality check wait as pro sports ramps up in N.A.?

A Sidney Crosby card.

    Business is hitting a higher gear for pro sports in North America as we are only days away from seeing Sidney Crosby and the NHL crew play actual games.

    Actually, we are just three days away from that moment. On Tuesday, Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins face their archrivals the Philadelphia Flyers in an exhibition tilt in Toronto, which is the NHL’s hub city for all Eastern Conference action.

    Following that contest, the Toronto Maple Leafs will battle the Montreal Canadiens in Toronto.

    Out in Edmonton on Tuesday which will be the hub city for Western Conference teams, the Edmonton Oilers take on their archrivals the Calgary Flames.

    The post-season official begins on Aug. 1 with five contests that will open the play-in round, which contains eight series that are best-of-five in length.

    The NHL was last in action with five regular season games on March 11. On March 12, the league suspended play due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    Now about four-and-a-half months later, the 2019-20 NHL campaign is set to resume with games played in arenas without fans in Toronto and Edmonton. The players and team staffs are being kept in nice hotels away from the general public in a bubble type situations.

    The NHL isn’t the only circuit that has gotten going. Major League Baseball held its opening day on Thursday with a pair of games. The New York Yankees downed the Nationals in Washington 4-1 in a game that was shortened to six innings due to weather and the host Los Angeles Dodgers thumped the San Francisco Giants 8-1.

A Carey Price card.

    In Canada on Friday, there was some excited online chatter as the Toronto Blue Jays slipped past the Rays in Tampa Bay 6-4 in the opening regular season game for both those clubs.
    The Blue Jays will be playing the majority of their home games at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, N.Y., after they were unable to get approval from the Government of Canada to get around COVID-19 restrictions to host games in Toronto.

    The WNBA regular season tipped off Saturday with six games at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. That circuit is set to play its entire campaign at that facility.

    The Canadian Elite Basketball League started its month long Summer Series tournament with a pair of games at the Meridian Centre in St. Catherines, Ont., marking the first professional sports action in Canada since March 11. The entire CEBL tournament will take place at the Meridian Centre.
    On July 30, the NBA resumes its regular season with a pair of games at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida.

    NFL players are slated to report to training camps on Tuesday.

A Bo Horvat card.

    The NASCAR Cup Series season and UFC cards have been going full speed ahead since May.

    Those in the amateur sports world in Canada and United States will have their figures crossed looking to see how life unfolds in North America’s pro sports world.

    If these pro sports circuits can finish their seasons with as few hiccups as possible, it increases the optimism the amateur sports world can get going more in full swing.

    In Saskatchewan, sports like golf, baseball and softball are taking part in meaningful competitions on the amateur side.

    If action in the North American pro sports circuits gets derailed by a surge of positive COVID-19 tests, that scenario could cause action that is already going on the amateur sports world to get rolled back. A surge in positive tests is possible as the amount of new COVID-19 cases in the United States seems to increase by an average of 60,000 a day at the moment.

    In Germany, the pro soccer Bundesliga restarted on May 16, and Bayern Munich won an eighth straight league crown. The Bundesliga officially wrapped up on July 6, when Werder Bremen played Heidenheim to a 2-2 draw in a relegation game and avoided being knocked out of Germany’s top professional tier.

    The Bundesliga proved what could be done if focus is maintained regarding virus testing and medical protocols.

    Even with the success the Bundesliga had and the momentum the pro sports circuits in North America have, there is still uneasiness on the amateur side of sports in North America.

A Brendan Gallagher card.

    This past Monday, the Southwestern Athletic Conference postponed all fall sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic including football, and it is an NCAA Division I conference. The SWAC still aims to get football going with a seven-game conference schedule for football starting with an eight-week training period in January 2021.
    The QMJHL has started to adjust its plans for the 2020-21 campaign. That circuit will shorten its regular season from 68 to 60 regular season games with the regular season slated to start Oct. 1. The league’s 18 teams will be split into three divisions of six clubs each and squads will only play in-division games.

    At the moment, fans of professional sports in North America have to be pumped action has already started to happen or will happen. In Canada, there will be lots of excitement for the NHL as the Oilers, Flames, Leafs, Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets will all be part of the play-in round.

    Still, could there be a COVID-19 reality check waiting around the corner that could bring everything to a halt?

    That is the big fear as things play out.

Winterton will always be linked to Raiders, other notes

View this post on Instagram

The Raiders are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former Team President and Wall of Honour inductee Doug Winterton. The organization offers its condolences to Doug's family and friends.

A post shared by Prince Albert Raiders (@paraidershockey) on Jul 22, 2020 at 1:41pm PDT

    It is hard to imagine going to a Raiders hockey game in Prince Albert without Doug Winterton in attendance.

    Whenever the Raiders do resume playing home games with fans at the Art Hauser Centre in a world that is caught in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, Winterton won’t be sitting his is seat located in the first row of the west end of the facility a couple of sections north of goal on that side of the building.

    He sat in that spot of the Art Hauser Centre next to his wife, Joan, for as long as anyone can remember.

    This past Monday, Doug Winterton passed away of natural causes at age 91. He was born on December 23, 1928 and moved to Winnipeg at age 21, where he met Joan.

    They lived in Manitoba and Alberta before settling in Prince Albert in 1972.

    Upon arriving in Prince Albert, Winterton became involved with the Raiders, who were still playing in the Junior A ranks in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League at that time, and the Cooke Municipal Golf Club.

    Winterton served as the Raiders secretary for seven years and was the club’s president from 1978 to 1980. He was a charter member of the Raiders booster club, and he and Joan were billets for a lengthy stretch during the club’s time in the SJHL.

    Doug Winterton’s involvement and support of the Raiders continued when the club moved to the major junior hockey ranks joining the WHL in 1982.

    This past season, Winterton could still be found volunteering his time to help out in the media and scouts lounge even after he celebrated his 91^st birthday. He was inducted to the Raiders Wall of Honour on September 27, 2013.

    Winterton could tell you stories about the Raiders recalling the team’s entire history for hours and hours. While he had fond memories of the Raiders past, he was really proud of the players coaches and staff of the organization in recent years.

Doug Winterton enjoyed watching the Raiders win the WHL title in 2019.

    When Brayden Pachal, Sean Montgomery, Parker Kelly, Cole Fonstad, Spencer Moe, Zack Hayes, Max Martin and netminder Ian Scott first began playing together in 2016-17 going through growing pains as youngsters posting a 21-44-5-2 regular season record, Winterton saw something special.

    During that 2016-17 season, he would tell anyone that came into the Raiders media and scouts lounge about how much he enjoyed watching how hard that group worked and how much that group was improving as the campaign went on. Winterton said he believed that group of players could do something special.

    On May 13, 2019, Winterton was in his seat to see that core group of eight players help the Raiders as veteran team members win the WHL title. The Raiders claimed Game 7 of the WHL Championship series with an epic 3-2 overtime win over the Vancouver Giants with Dante Hannoun scoring for the Prince Albert side in the extra session.

    Doug and Joan were on their feet cheering and stayed to witness the on-ice post-game celebrations with the Ed Chynoweth Cup for a lengthy amount of time.

    Doug Winterton will be remembered as one of the Raiders most passionate supporters. In spirit, you get a sense he will still be a fixture at their games.

• On Thursday, the Prince Albert Raiders announced they have signed CHL Import Draft selection Uladzislau Shyla to a WHL Standard Player Agreement. Shyla, who is from Minsk, Belarus, was selected by the Raiders in the first round and 45^th overall in the CHL Import Draft held on June 30. The 17-year-old, who stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 147 pounds, had 10 goals and nine assists in 55 games for Belarus’s under-18 team this past season.
• Veteran Regina Leader-Post sports columnist Rob Vanstone was featured in a CTV story in his quest to lose weight and improve his health. CTV’s sports reporter Claire Hanna produced an uplifting piece and that story can be found by clicking right here.
• On Thursday, 15-year-old Brooklin Fry won the Saskatchewan women’s amateur golf championship at The Legends Golf Course in Warman. The Shell Lake product posted a 7-over-par 223 to take the title. Fry, who is set to enter her rookie season with the Prince Albert Northern Bears female under-18 hockey team, had won the Saskatchewan junior girls’ golf title on July 16 in Swift Current. The Saskatchewan men’s mid-amateur golf championship also wrapped up at The Legends Golf Course on Thursday with Danny Klughart of Prince Albert taking that title for a second straight year. On Friday, Saskatoon product Ty Campbell captured the Saskatchewan men’s amateur golf championship at The Legends Golf Course.
• On Friday, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who is from Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que., announced he was opting out of the NFL season due to the COVID-19 pandemic via Twitter. The 29-year-old is the starting right guard for the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. He has played for the Chiefs since 2014. Duvernay-Tardif graduated from McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine in May 2018 with a doctor of Medicine and a master of surgery. He began working at a long-term care facility in April in Montreal and remained in that role through June. Duvernay-Tardif has decided to continue to work in the health care system and is waiting for another role. Before joining the Chiefs, Duvernay-Tardif played in the U Sports football ranks for the McGill University Redmen.
• Gregg Drinnan continues to do an ace job rounding up how the COVID-19 pandemic has hammered the sports world in his Taking Note blog. His latest offering 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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    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.

My love-hate relationship with the NHL playoffs

The Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks battle on television.

    Oh NHL playoffs, you are so good to me and so bad to me.
    I love your day to day drama. I can't get enough of seeing the reaction from everyone over the P.K. Subban slash on Mark Stone.
    That line brawl between the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night had me full awake as the 11 p.m. hour neared here in Saskatoon. I couldn't get enough of the shenanigans between Derek Dorsett and Deryk Engelland.
    As I watch Detroit play Tampa Bay as I write this blog post, I perked up during a first period line scrum.
    I also loved seeing the New York Rangers jump out to an early 2-0 lead on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night and hold on for a 2-1 victory. I was compelled by how ordinary Sidney Crosby looked only recording one shot on goal and finishing at a minus-one in the plus-minus department. I wondered if this could be the end of the Penguins being considered a serious contender in the present and in the future.
    Kris Russell blasting home a late winner for the Flames in their 2-1 victory over the Canucks in Game 1 of their series was cool to watch. So was Alex Galchenyuk's overtime goal celebration for the Montreal Canadiens in their Game 2 victory on Friday over the Ottawa Senators.

    Unfortunately NHL playoffs, there is a drawback. You are starting to take up too much of my time.

Petr Mrazek looks shocked on television during a Detroit loss to Tampa Bay.

    For the first time in about 14 years, my evenings have been cleared of work. I am plunking myself in front of the television and watching you all the time.
    The weather for most of the past week in Saskatoon has been good. I should have tuned up my bikes and gone for a ride. I should have gone out for a walk or a run on the Meewasin Trail.
I should be trying to set up visits with family or friends. You distract me as I try to work out, and as a result, I am planning my workout schedule around you.
    Due to the fact you are on television so much, you are preventing me from doing a pile of other tasks I should be doing in my day to day life.
    But, you are able to catch my attention like the way you notice someone as beautiful as Carrie Underwood walking down the street. Actually, you are able to bring her into my living room too as she watches husband Mike Fisher play for the Nashville Predators. Those camera crews show those lovely pictures of Underwood in her Predators gear to keep me further hooked in.

Derek Dorsett fight Deryk Engelland on television.

    Oh NHL playoffs, you also tease me with the fact that five Canadian based teams are among the 16 clubs battling for the Stanley Cup. As a topper, I get to watch the Winnipeg Jets compete in an NHL post-season for the first time in 19 years.
    The Jets are my favourite team, and I have dug out old items from the past for this year's "Whiteout." I have proudly worn my 1980s white Dale Hawerchuk jersey and my 1990s white Keith Tkachuk jersey. My current era white Jets jersey is a Dustin Byfuglien beauty.
    I was so crushed when their 2-1 lead over the Anaheim Ducks disappear and turn into a 4-2 setback in Game 1 of that series on Thursday night. In defeat, I did appreciate how gifted Ducks forwards Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf were in combining for three goals and four assists.
    As a fan, I do see Perry as a little punk, but he is a likable little punk. If Perry played for the Jets, I would be doing the big fist pump and would be super happy he played for my team.
    When the games go on, I also find myself making comments both serious and humourous on the games, and one like or retweet is enough to keep me going. Seeing Theo Fleury's comments about the Flames also keeps me engaged.

I am all set to watch the Winnipeg Jets play on television.

    Yes NHL playoffs, you are becoming an addition. On the plus side, I am good at recognizing behaviours that become an addition, and you are the type of addition I can put on the shelf with a snap of a finger.
    But right now, I don't want to. Please keep teasing me NHL playoffs and keep holding my attention with all your dramas. You are a great distraction.
    And if you could, please allow my Winnipeg Jets to win tonight. That would be really good.

    If you have any comments about this blog, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.