Raptors two-year elite run was good for the soul

One missing link makes difference in NBA

A Kawhi Leonard card.

    The Toronto Raptors had a great run over the past two seasons, but even they weren’t immune to the difference one special player can make.
    On Friday, the Raptors 2019-20 campaign came to an end when they fell 92-87 to the storied Boston Celtics in Game 7 of an NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Celtics took the best-of-seven set 4-3 with all games being played in the NBA bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida.

    The Raptors were unable to repeat all their exploits from the 2018-19 campaign.

    During the 2018-19 campaign, the Raptors had the second best record in the NBA regular season with a 58-24 mark. In the 2019 playoffs, they went on to win their first NBA title in team history.

    The Raptors first hit the court in the 1995-96 NBA season.

    As the Raptors advanced through the 2019 post-season, there were massive watch parties held across Canada including quaint gatherings of 300 people that packed Civic Square in downtown Saskatoon for Games 5 and 6 of the NBA final.

    On June 13, 2019, the Raptors knocked off the powerful Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 of the NBA final at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., to capture the NBA title winning the best-of-seven series 4-2.

    The Warriors had a championship pedigree having won the NBA crown in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
    The Raptors did all that with star guard Kawhi Leonard in the fold, who is considered one of the top five players in the league and its best defensive player.
    After that one season in Toronto, Leonard decided he wanted to return home to Los Angeles and signed as a free agent with his hometown Clippers. Leonard had arrived in Toronto in a blockbuster trade with the San Antonio Spurs on July 18, 2018.

A Kyle Lowry card.

    In that deal, Leonard and guard Danny Green were sent to the Raptors in exchange for small forward DeMar DeRozan, centre Jakob Polti and a protected 2019 first round NBA Draft selection.

    After Leonard moved to L.A., many wondered if the Raptors would remain one of the NBA’s elite clubs and continue to contend for a league championship.

    Of course, no one could imagine how crazy the 2019-20 season would be due to the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Raptors completed the bulk of their regular season schedule, when the NBA decided to pause its campaign on March 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    That was the first domino that saw the rest of the sports world in North America follow suit.

    The NBA resumed play in August, and when the dust settled, the Raptors again had the second best regular season record in the league at 53-19. The team’s regular season schedule was ultimately shortened by 10 games.

    The last eight games of the Raptors 2019-20 regular season was played in the NBA bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort.

    Still, the Raptors finished first in the Atlantic Division for the sixth time in last seven seasons, and they won 48 or more games in each of the last seven campaigns.

    Into the NBA playoffs the Raptors went, where they promptly swept the Brooklyn Nets 4-0 in a best-of-seven first round series.

    The Raptors were riding all sorts of momentum going into their next series, which was the set with the Celtics. The Celtics won the first two games to go up 2-0, but the Raptors showed their championship heart.

    In Game 3, Raptors star point guard Kyle Lowry fired a smart pass to small forward OG Anunoby, who hit at three-point shot at the fourth-quarter buzzer to give the Raptors a 104-103 victory and a new life.

An OG Anunoby card.

    The Raptors tied the series up 2-2 with a victory in Game 4. After the Celtics posted a convincing 111-89 victory in Game 5, the Raptors evened the series at 3-3 taking Game 6 in overtime 125-122 last Wednesday.

    In Game 7 on Friday, the Raptors led 68-67 with 1:45 to play in the third quarter. The Celtics proceeded to get momentum and built an 88-78 lead with 4:45 remaining in the fourth quarter.

    The Raptors went on a 9-1 run to cut the Celtics edge to 89-87 with 1:21 remaining in the fourth. Toronto had one possession to try and tie the contest but couldn’t. The Celtics closed the 92-87 victory on free throws.

    During the series, the Celtics were more consistent than the Raptors in executing in the half-court game. Too often in key moments, the Raptors would get the ball offensively, spread the floor and settle for a jump shot. 

    That scenario played out in Friday’s Game 7 loss.

    If the Raptors still had Leonard in the fold, they likely would have won the series against the Celtics. Offensively, Leonard draws double teams which cause more favourable match ups for his teammates on the floor.

    Defensively, Leonard causes all sorts of havoc when the opposing side tries to execute offensively.
    Leonard is a special type of player you can’t replace, and in the game of basketball, your team’s chances of winning a championship increase greatly when you have a special player like Leonard.

    Still, the Raptors had a great campaign in 2019-20, but one wonders if this is the end this particular chapter of success in team history.

    Other key players like guard Fred VanVleet, centre Marc Gasol and forward Serge Ibaka are all set to enter free agency. An end of an era might be coming for the Raptors.

Fans in Civic Square in Saskatoon enjoy the Raptors NBA title win in 2019.

    For basketball fans, the rest of the NBA playoffs are intriguing. The best-of-seven Eastern Conference championship series between the Celtics and Miami Heat sees two clubs looking to add another league title to their storied past histories.

    The Los Angeles Lakers with all-time great in forward LeBron James have a berth in the Western Conference championship series. They will face the winner of a Tuesday Game 7 Western Conference semifinal series encounter between Leonard’s Clippers and the Denver Nuggets.

    No matter how the NBA post-season plays out, the Raptors left their mark on Canada. Over the past two seasons, the Raptors drew support from people of all cultures.

    Their ability to be a unifying force should not be overlooked, and it was great they could perform that role for a short time.

Huskies lucky to have Hardy for time they did

Dave Hardy.

    The ageless Dave Hardy is someone who could be involved in Saskatoon’s sports scene at a high level forever if he so desires.

    With that said, the 73-year-old, who doesn’t seem like he should be that old, has well earned the right to do whatever he chooses in his life.

    Last Wednesday, the University of Saskatchewan announced a search had started to find Hardy’s successor as the chief athletics officer for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies athletic program. Hardy will stay on as the CAO until his replacement is found.

    He officially stepped into the role on August 12, 2019 for a term of up to two years that could possibly be extended. Of course, the changes in the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic played a part in this decision.

    “The world has changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and university athletics was by no means spared,” said Hardy in a release. “The road to recovery is going to be a long one, and I feel it is in the best interest of Huskie Athletics to have long-term leadership in place.

    “I have been proud to have had the chance to contribute to the university’s storied athletic program during these challenging times, however I feel that it is the right time to begin the search for a new CAO.”

    Hardy has a storied career in the Saskatoon school system as a teacher, principal and school superintendant. He is a former president of Vancouver College, and he led that institution to new heights in academic and athletic excellence.

    That included facilitating a capital fundraising campaign that exceeded $20-million.

    In Saskatoon, Hardy is widely remembered for guiding the Saskatoon Hilltops as head coach for 10 seasons from 1988 to 1997. The Hilltops won two Canadian Junior Football League titles in 1991 and 1996 under Hardy’s guidance.

    Hardy posted a 70-18-1 regular season record guiding the Hilltops as head coach. In 1995, Hardy was named the coach of the year for the entire CJFL.

    When he departed from the Hilltops, Hardy was at that time the team’s longest serving head coach.

    He is an alumnus of the Huskies men’s basketball team and coached basketball for extended stints during his time in the Saskatoon School system.

    To use a cliché, Hardy has done his part for king and country. If he decided to continue to play a part in Saskatoon’s sports community, everyone in Saskatoon’s sports community would be better for it.

    The Huskies were blessed to be able to have him on board for a little over a year. Even Huskies football head coach Scott Flory, who has been able to draw from a lot of mentors, said he has learned a lot from Hardy.

    Still, these COVID-19 pandemic times have been hard on the sports world in Canada. The sports world in Canada is likely at the start of a major reset.

    At the U of Saskatchewan, Huskie Athletics will likely be trying to navigate waters on how it will keep all 15 of its varsity teams. Preserving teams is likely a concern for every program across U Sports as multiple sources of revenue dry up that normally wouldn’t dry up due to the pandemic.

    The U of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s and women’s hockey teams don’t have a home as Merlis Belsher Place has been taken over by the Saskatchewan Health Authority and turned into a “Linus blanket” COVID-19 field hospital in waiting.

    The Huskies hockey teams are currently operating out of the SaskTel Centre, which is home to the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades and the NLL’s Saskatchewan Rush.

    Merlis Belsher Place will not be available as a sports facility for the 2020-21 sports campaign, and it is highly possible it won’t be a sports facility for some time after that. Even if it was green lighted for use as a sports facility in 2021-22, there are rumblings it is going to needed some decent work to rebuild the inside for it to become a sports facility again to undo modifications that made it a field hospital.

    Those are just some of the things the incoming CAO for Huskie Athletics will have to navigate through.

    Of course when Hardy became the CAO for Huskie Athletics in August of 2019, no one expected a pandemic would throw the world into flux.

    With all that considered, Hardy has done mammoth world in the sports world in Saskatoon. If he decides to go into retirement, he deserves to enjoy all the perks that part of life offers.

Huskies football to hold passing showcase

    The U of Saskatchewan Huskies football team is planning to hold a passing showcase.

    The Huskie Football Passing Showcase is open to all high school students in Grades 10 to 12. 
    The showcase runs from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on five Saturdays including September 19 and 26 and October 3, 10 and 17 on Fields 10 and 11 north of the Education Building.
    The sessions include practices and games.
    The passing showcase is for quarterbacks, receivers, running backs, linebackers and defensive backs.

    Anyone looking to sign up for those camps can do so by clicking right here.

Hilltops to hold evaluation camp

    This coming Saturday, the Saskatoon Hilltops are holding an evaluation camp for players who recently graduated high school and are under the age of 22.

    The Hilltops, who have won 22 CJFL titles, will run the camp from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. this coming Saturday at their clubhouse. All current COVID-19 protocols the team has put in place will be followed.

    The camp is also free to all who register.

    All the players need to bring to the camp is a helmet. Registrations are being accepted by Wednesday, and those looking to register are asked to email allisonwalker1616@gmail.com.

    There are a limited number of spots available for the camp.

Valkyries to hold fall camp, new players welcomed

    The Saskatoon Valkyries of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League are slated to hold a one-day fall camp this coming Saturday for new and returning players.

    The camp is slated to run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Saskatoon Minor Football Field. The cost to attend the camp is $50 and all the equipment that is required are running shoes or cleats and a water bottle.

    Those looking to register for the camp can do so by clicking right here. All questions can be sent via email to saskatoonvalkyries@gmail.com.

Pats’ phenom Bedard going to train in Sweden

    Connor Bedard is going to Sweden – just to train.

    On Monday, the WHL’s Regina Pats announced the 15-year-old phenom forward from North Vancouver, B.C., is heading to Sweden to train and practice with the HV71 junior program until the start of the 2020-21 WHL campaign.

    Bedard is the first player in the history of the WHL to be granted exceptional status, which allows him to play in the major junior ranks as a 15-year-old on a full-time basis. The Pats selected Bedard first overall in the WHL Bantam Draft that was held last April.

    “I’m really looking forward to this unique opportunity,” said Bedard in a release. “I look forward to being able to develop in Sweden with HV71 and prepare myself for when I arrive in Regina.

    “Hopefully, we can be playing in front of the fans in December.”

    Bedard, who stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 165 pounds, played for West Vancouver Academy’s under-18 team this past season in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League. He piled up 43 goals and 41 assists for 84 points in 36 games.

    For his efforts, Bedard was named MVP of the CSSHL’s under-18 division.

    At the moment, the WHL’s start date is slated for Dec. 4 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On a side note, Sweden is the only country in Europe that has not enacted any COVID-19 lockdown measure.

    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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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.

CFL needs to walk the talk in removing cheap shots

Lawrence suspension a small step forward, more work needed

Zach Collaros throws a pass at Roughriders training camp in June.

    The message isn’t getting through regarding cheap shots in the CFL.
    In the league’s regular season opener last Thursday between the visiting Saskatchewan Roughriders and host Hamilton Tiger-Cats, two obvious dirty hits went down in the first six plays of the game. For a league and a CFL Players’ Association that talked lots in the off-season about player safety, the start of the regular season opener showed there wasn’t any more respect for player safety on the field than there was last year.

    On just the fourth play of Thursday’s contest, Roughriders quarterback Zach Collaros ran for a seven-yard gain and gave himself up on a feet first slide.

    Tiger-Cats linebacker Simoni Lawrence dove and drove his left shoulder into Collaros’s head. Collaros left the game and didn’t return after he failed to pass the CFL’s concussion protocol.

    Lawrence received a Grade 2 roughing the passer penalty resulting in a 25-yard gain for Saskatchewan.  

    Two plays later, Roughriders backup quarterback Cody Fajardo overthrew a sideline pass to running back William Powell.

    After the ball had long sailed over Powell’s head, he was decked by Tiger-Cats defensive back Delvin Breaux. Breaux received a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty.

    The hits thrown by Lawrence and Breaux didn’t need to be delivered. They were both plays that were brainless and needless.

    The Roughriders would score a touchdown on that opening series and ultimately lost the contest 23-17.

    In the aftermath, the Roughriders moved Collaros to the six-game injured list on Sunday. While the Roughriders didn’t confirm what Collaros’s injury was, he does have a history of concussion injuries, and it is pretty easy to draw an educated guess on what his exact injury is.

    On Monday, the CFL suspended Lawrence two games for his hit on Collaros. Commissioner Randy Ambrosie stressed the importance of player safety in Monday’s press release sent out by the league regarding Lawrence’s suspension.

    Lawrence can appeal the CFL’s ruling under the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the players. The 30-year-old hasn’t been previously suspended or fined for dangerous play since joining the league in 2012.

    First, I will admit the suspension is a good start, if it holds up. As a general observation on how these situations were dealt with in past seasons, it always felt like discipline handed out by the CFL was toothless.

Brandon Bridge was a head shot victim last season.

    There would usually be a one-game suspension, which would disappear after an appeal was made. It always seemed more weight was thrown behind ensuring an offending player didn’t miss a game paycheque.

    It seems like the only way to get discipline is to handle things an old school way, where your offensive line basically act as enforcers.

    In the old days of football, it was common for an offensive team to run a running play at a defensive player that threw a cheap shot. The focus of the play wasn’t to gain yards but to go after and hurt the defensive player that threw the cheap shot.

    In the modern era, I’m not sure how that type of tactic would be received, if it was utilized.

    The officials in Thursday’s game between the Roughriders and Tiger-Cats called those penalties as they should. They could have elected to eject Lawrence from the game, and that is the only other thing they could have done.

    Still, the CFL as a league and the players have to make it a priority amongst themselves to get the cheap shots out of the game.

    One way the CFL could do more is adopting a targeting penalty that is used in the United States by the football teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

    The penalty in the NCAA is 15-yards with an automatic ejection from the game. If the penalty occurs in the second half of a contest, the offending player is automatically suspended for the first half of the next game.

    With the CFL field being larger, the yardage for the penalty could be 25-yards with those ejection stipulations.

    Amateur football in Canada has a targeting rule that contains a 25-yard penalty, but there are no automatic ejections. In U Sports, the infraction is automatically reviewed for further discipline, and if the targeting infraction is upheld, the offending player is suspended for his squad’s upcoming game.

    A number of pundits were calling for Lawrence to be suspended for three to five games. The CFL and its players have to look at these longer suspensions too.
    There are likely some Roughriders fans looking for the old school enforcer response. Going back to last season, Saskatchewan has gone three straight games losing its starting quarterback in a game due to a head shot.

    In a 23-18 West semifinal playoff loss on Nov. 11, 2018 to the Bombers, Roughriders starting quarterback Brandon Bridge was hit helmet to helmet on the game’s second last play by Bombers defensive lineman Jackson Jeffcoat. Bridge was knocked out of that contest.

    During the Roughriders final regular season game in 2018 on Oct. 27, Collaros was lost as starting quarterback due to a helmet-to-helmet shot from British Columbia Lions defensive lineman Odell Willis in a 35-16 Saskatchewan victory.

    The needless cheap shots need to go in the CFL. Unless is a steady enforcement of ejections and suspensions for those fouls, they will always remain a major problem in the game.

Is CFL football overpriced?

Fans at the 2013 West final in Calgary.

    Is there a lack of interest or a pricing problem, when it comes to CFL football?

    Since at least the start of the 2016 season, it seems a lot of fans show up at CFL game dressed as empty seats. It seems like there are a lot of no shows in the stadium even when a strong attendance figure is announced.

    Announced attendance figures from Week 1 weren’t anything to write home about. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats announced 22,287 spectators attended their 23-17 victory over the visiting Saskatchewan Roughriders at the 23,218 seat Tim Hortons Field.

    On Friday, the Edmonton Eskimos attracted 25,263 announced spectators to their 32-25 victory over the visiting Montreal Alouettes at the 55,819 seat Commonwealth Stadium.

    On Saturday, the Calgary Stampeders drew 26,301 announced spectators to their 32-28 setback to the visiting Ottawa Redblacks at the 35,400 seat McMahon Stadium.

    Also on Saturday, The British Columbia Lions drew an announced crowd of 18,058 spectators to their 33-23 setback to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at the 54,500 seat B.C. Place stadium in Vancouver.

    None of those figures are even close to what those clubs could draw in their heydays.

    Way back in 1972, the Tiger-Cats drew an average of 32,129 spectators to each of their regular season home games, and that mark still stands as a team record.

    The Eskimos set their team record for average regular season attendance in 1982, when they attracted 57,899 spectators for each of their regular season games.

    The Stampeders team record for average regular season attendance isn’t that old. Back in 2009, the Stampeders drew an average of 36,502 spectators in each of their regular season home games.

    The Lions record for average regular season attendance came back in 1986, when they attracted 46,526 spectators per game.

    While numerous factors have to be considered for why fans stay away, one wonders how big of a factor ticket prices play.

    If you are looking to purchase single game tickets in the lower part of each team’s stadium between the 20 yard lines, be prepared to shell out. Those are the sections you can see the most on television and often they seem empty.

    Thanks to Ticketmaster information, here is what you can expect to play for single game tickets in the following eight CFL markets, if you sit in the lower sections between the 20 yard lines. All of these prices come before fees and taxes.

• Calgary - $99 to $120.25.
• Edmonton - $66.75 to $99.75.
• Hamilton - $95 to $110.25.
• Ottawa - $55 to $131.
• Saskatchewan - $106 to $127.
• Toronto - $57.25 to $76.25.
• Vancouver - $90 to $94.
• Winnipeg - $99 to $155.

    I couldn’t find single game ticket sales online for the Montreal Alouettes. Using calculations from their regular season pricing plans on their website, it will cost you $54.37 to $88.91 to sit between the 20 yard lines in the lower sections at Alouettes home games before fees and taxes.

    For the casual fans that attend games, it is safe to say these prices are too high to make an impulse decision to go to a game. You could sit in the end zones or the upper decks where the cheaper tickets are, but casual fans are more tempted to pass on that.

    If it becomes popular to head to a game to be seen, then casual fans will pay higher ticket prices.

    In cities like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, CFL clubs have to compete against other options for the sports entertainment dollar like Major League Soccer. Also, weather conditions will influence a ticket buyer, and those prices will drive people away from bad weather games.

    Even for ultra passionate fans, one wonders how close the CFL is to pricing itself out of the market.

Clouston joins Blazers as head coach

Shaun Clouston, centre, is the new Kamloops Blazers head coach.

    It didn’t take long for Shaun Clouston to resurface in the WHL.

    On Monday, the Kamloops Blazers announced Clouston would be the team’s new head coach and Darryl Sydor, who was a Blazers assistant coach last season, has moved up to the role of associate coach. Sydor is one of the Blazers part owners.

    Clouston was the head coach and general manager of the Medicine Hat Tigers, but he and the Tigers parted ways on May 30.

    One day later, the Tigers announced Willie Desjardins had returned to the team to retake his former roles of head coach and general manager, which he left being in 2010 moving up to the professional ranks.

    Clouston has been with the Tigers for 16 seasons. He joined the club as an assistant coach before the start of their WHL title winning campaign in 2003-04.

    The Viking, Alta., product was promoted to associate coach before the start of the 2005-06 campaign and helped the Tigers win another WHL in 2006-07.

    He became the club’s head coach in 2010 and took on the role of general manager in August of 2012.

    Clouston became the all-time leader in regular season head coaching wins with the Tigers. The 51-year-old put together a stellar 375-241-46 regular season coaching record with the team.

    The Tigers reached the WHL Eastern Conference championship series in 2011 and 2014 with Clouston as head coach.

    Adding in his time as head coach of the Tri-City Americans from the 2002-03 season, Clouston has 391 career regular season victories as a head coach.

    The Tigers put up a solid 35-27-4-2 record last season under Clouston despite suffering some key injuries down the stretch. They fell 4-2 in a best-of-seven first round playoff series to the Edmonton Oil Kings.

    The Blazers parted ways with former head coach Serge Lajoie in April after one season. Under Lajoie, the Blazers posted a 28-32-6-2 record in the regular season and won a standings tiebreaking game 5-1 over the Kelowna Rockets to make the playoffs.

    Kamloops fell in a best-of-seven first round playoff series 4-2 to the Victoria Royals.

    Sydor played defence for the Blazers when they won the WHL and Memorial Cup titles in the 1991-92 campaign. He also played his first games in the NHL ranks that season with the Los Angeles Kings.

    Sydor is best remember for his time in the NHL playing 1,291 career regular season games from 1991 to 2010 recording 98 goals and 409 assists with the Kings, Dallas Stars, Columbus Blue Jackets, Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues.

    He won the Stanley Cup with the Stars in 1999 and the Lightning in 2004.

    Under Clouston, you can be sure the Blazers players will be hearing a lot about playing as a unit of five in all three zones on the ice. In a team press release, Clouston said his family is planning to make Kamloops their new home.

Raptors celebration looked crazy

Speechless. #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/Ulb7MtDnK9

— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) June 17, 2019

    The NBA champion Toronto Raptors held their victory parade in the Ontario provincial capital on Monday, and the images show on television and social media looked pretty crazy.

    It is estimated over two-million people turned out to see the parade in downtown Toronto. The Raptors clinched their first NBA crown downing the two time defending champion Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals last Thursday in Oakland, Calif.

    The images of the celebration showed Toronto engulfed by a mass of humanity. The pictures and video showed people from all sorts of cultures getting along together and being happy.

    Unfortunately, the celebrations were marred by a shooting that left four people wounded and three people were taken into custody.

    Hopefully, the good the Raptors did in bringing people together with their run will outlast an idiotic incident.

    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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Raptors NBA title win great for Canada in a big way, Saskatoon in a quaint way

Fans in Civic Square in Saskatoon celebrate the Raptors NBA title win.

    You almost wish those Jurassic Park parties for the Toronto Raptors would have been like the Energizer Bunny and kept going and going and going.

    On Thursday, the party came to an end in a joyous fashion across Canada. People all over the country were gathered in various Jurassic Park parties watching the Raptors capture the NBA title on big screens.

    In Game 6 of the NBA Finals at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., the Raptors edged past the two time defending champion and host Golden State Warriors 114-110 to take the best-of-seven series 4-2. The contest was the last NBA game to be played in the Warriors long time home facility.

    With the win, the Raptors ensured the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy would be going to a team based outside of the United States for the first time in history.

The party erupts in Civic Square when the Raptors win the NBA title.

    In a number of centres in Canada, the party went well into the night.

    In Saskatoon, a cozy gathering of about 300 people gathered at Civic Square in front of city hall. The viewing parties in Saskatoon were held over the last five games of the NBA Finals thanks to the efforts of the Saskatchewan Rattlers of the Canadian Elite Basketball League and the City of Saskatoon.

    The quaint gatherings in “The Bridge City” were a great thing. They brought together people from all sorts of different cultural backgrounds, and they were united in support of Canada’s only NBA team.

The fans at Civic Square cheer on the Raptors on Thursday.

    The event felt inclusive and fun.

    The watch parties had a similar vibe to when the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades host their annual “Welcome the World” game, where a large number of newcomers to Canada become Canadian citizens during a pre-game ceremony.

    During the three hours that the Raptors watch party took place, everyone got along and was happy.   
    With all the adversities that can happen in life, it was great to see a gathering where everyone can stay in a great frame of mind for a small but still lengthy stretch of time.

    Thursday’s game featured 18 lead changes and nine points when things were all tied up. Even when the Raptors were behind, there was never an overriding fear that the outcome wouldn’t go the Raptors way.

Fans at Civic Square watch the early second half of the Raptors game.

    Had the Raptors lost, it felt like there would have been an “aw-shucks” reaction.

    When the Raptors made big plays or jumped out ahead, the cheers exploded from the crowd.

    Everyone was glued to the screen for the game’s climax, when the Raptors were holding a 111-110 lead inside of the final 10 seconds. The Warriors had possession after a Raptors turnover.

    Warriors superstar guard Seth Curry had a good look at a three-point shot, and as his shot went up, you could see people in the crowd in Saskatoon were starting to think about returning for a series-deciding Game 7 watch party on Sunday.

Fans collect video of the NBA title trophy presentations for the Raptors.

    Curry’s shot missed resulting in a long rebound, which was gathered up by Warriors forward Draymond Green. Green called a timeout, but since the Warriors didn’t have a timeout, a technical foul was called against Golden State with 0.9 seconds remaining on the clock.

    At that point, the celebration in Saskatoon started to begin in earnest as it was almost impossible for Golden State to win.

    Raptors star guard Kawhi Leonard hit the free throw on the technical. He was quickly fouled on the inbounds pass and hit two more free throws to seal the final outcome.

    As the last bit of time elapsed, the crowd at the Saskatoon watch party broke into elation with people turning to hug others they just met that night.

    Leonard finished with 22 points and was named the MVP of the NBA Finals. He received big cheers when he was shown accepting his MVP honours.

A fan at Civic Square watches the Raptors during the trophy presentations.

    Big cheers went out when Raptors star guard Kyle Lowry was shown on screen as well. Lowry and forward Pascal Siakam led the way in scoring for the Raptors with 26 points each. Overall, the Raptors played a really strong team game.
    The crowd in Civic Square happily dispersed as the post-game trophy ceremony went on with a few hardcores stay until the broadcast ended at 10 p.m.

    After all the watch party viewers left, the Saskatoon Police officers who were on site proceeded to depart with big smiles on their faces. A few officers said they were happy there were no troubles and added to was great to see everyone had fun during a nice evening in “The Bridge City.”

    It was apparent they enjoyed themselves that night too.

    It was cool to see an NBA team in Toronto could provide good times in Saskatoon.

Ice ink top pick Savoie

BREAKING: Winnipeg ICE sign 2019 first overall draft pick Matthew Savoie to a WHL Standard Player Agreement.

DETAILS ➡️ https://t.co/KUpB0A7wVH pic.twitter.com/BSqRS8xngJ

— Winnipeg ICE (@WHLWpgICE) June 13, 2019

    The Twitter accounts of numerous persons from the WHL lit up with a big signing from the Winnipeg Ice.

    On Thursday, the Ice announced they had signed centre Matthew Savoie to a WHL Standard Player Agreement. Savoie, who is a 15-year-old from St. Albert, Alta., was selected first overall by the Ice in WHL Bantam Draft held in early May.

    Last season, Savoie played with the Northern Alberta Xtreme Midget Prep team of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League. He had 31 goals and 40 assists in 31 regular season games and posted three goals and nine assists in five playoff games as the Xtreme won the CSSHL Midget Prep Championship.

    Savoie captured MVP honours for the league.

    Savoie had verbally committed to join the University of Denver Pioneers men’s hockey team in the NCAA ranks in March, before changing his mind to join the Ice. The Ice brought Savoie and his family to Winnipeg to tour their training facilities at the Rink Hockey Academy shortly after the WHL Bantam Draft.

    Earlier this year, Savoie and his family applied to Hockey Canada looking to gain exceptional status for Matthew, which would have allowed him to play on a full-time basis in the WHL as a 15-year-old.

    The application was denied.

    Savoie is eligible to play five regular season games with the Ice before his club team has its season come to an end. Once the season ends for his club team, he can join the Ice on a full-time basis. He could also play games with the Ice on an emergency basis.

    In early April, the Ice acquired the WHL rights of 17-year-old left-winger Carter Savoie, who is Matthew’s older brother, in a trade with the Regina Pats.

    Last season, Carter posted 31 goals and 42 assists playing 58 regular season games in the junior A ranks with the Sherwood Park Crusaders of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. He was named the AJHL’s rookie of the year.

    Carter has committed to the U of Denver Pioneers and said in a tweet on Thursday he intends to honour that commitment and return to the Crusaders next season.

    Still, the fact Matthew Savoie has committed to the Ice is huge for that franchise going into its first season in Winnipeg after moving from Cranbrook, B.C.

    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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All for Raptors party in Canada

Fans watch the Raptors post-game on a big screen in Saskatoon on Monday.

    The Toronto Raptors are the epitome of “if it feels good, go with it” right now in Canada.

    In a few hours, people from coast-to-coast will be huddled around television sets or fancy big screens to watch the Raptors attempt to win their first NBA title in team history, when they play the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Tonight’s game (7 p.m. Saskatchewan time, ABC and TSN) will be the final contest to be held at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., which is the long time home of the Warriors.

    Toronto leads the best-of-seven series 3-2 and dropped 106-105 heartbreaker on home court at the Scotiabank Arena in Game 5 on Monday. Guard Kyle Lowry missed a shot to win the game at the buzzer.

The crowd in downtown Saskatoon for the Raptors watch party on Monday.

    In Toronto and the cities that surround that metropolis in Ontario, the Raptors will always have a hardcore following.

    During their run through the post-season, the hype surrounding the Raptors has captured the imaginations of followers across Canada. Some of the following comes due to the fact the Raptors are the only NBA team in Canada.

    Whoever thought over 13,000 would turn up to watch a Raptors game at Mosaic Stadium in Regina to watch the hoops game on the big screen there. The photos of the watch party made up an article on the website for Sports Illustrated.
    A watch party will be held at Mosaic Stadium again tonight in Regina.

Fans watch the final moments of Monday’s Raptors game on a big screen.

    It starts by showing the Saskatchewan Roughriders season opener in Hamilton against the Tiger-Cats at 5 p.m. and follows with the Raptors game at 7 p.m.

    For myself, I am not going to live or die on the fan front if the Raptors win or lose. I am enjoying the spectacle of the many people in Canada rallying around and getting into this team.

    If a large majority of people in Canada will be happy for a short spell if the Raptors can capture the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy, I am all for it.
    It has been cool to see people from all cultures gather for watch parties in downtown Saskatoon to see Raptors game. Kudos to the Saskatchewan Rattlers of the Canadian Elite Basketball League for making those parties happen.

    I haven’t kept the greatest tabs on the Raptors. I knew they were doing well again this season, and I knew they had finished first in the Atlantic Division.

A raptor was set up at the Raptors watch party in Saskatoon on Monday.

    I didn’t realize they finished second overall in the NBA with a 58-24 record, and they finished ahead of the Warriors, who were third overall in the league at 57-25.
    I knew Kawhi Leonard and Lowry were the team’s big stars. I didn’t realize Leonard had a big run with the San Antonio Spurs, where he was named the NBA Finals MVP when the Spurs took the title in 2014.

    I never knew Leonard was the defensive player-of-the-year in the NBA in 2015 and 2016.

    If the Raptors win the NBA title today or in Game 7 in Toronto on Sunday, Leonard will forever be a celebrity in Canada. Decades after his career concludes, he will be able to still go across the country for speaking engagements to promote basketball like Roberto Alomar does for baseball long after he helped the Toronto Blue Jays win the World Series in 1992 and 1993.

The big screen set up at the Raptors watch party in Saskatoon on Monday.

    After watching the Raptors play a handful of games, you start to realize Marc Gasol, Danny Green, Serge Ibaka and Pascal Siakam are all good players.

    Trying to find the jerseys for sale of the current Raptors in retail sports stores in Canada is challenging right now. Those items are pretty much sold out at most places.

    On social media channels following the Raptors loss in Game 5, you could be swept up in talk about whether Lowry should have taken the last shot or debate how head coach Nick Nurse used or didn’t use his timeouts in the contest’s final minutes.

    For myself, I haven’t paid this much attention to the Raptors since Vince Carter won the slam dunk contest in 2000 in the festivities leading up to the NBA all-star game.

People pack up following the watch party in Saskatoon.

    During that time, I remember working as the music man for a University of Regina Cougars men’s hockey game and checking out the highlights of Carter’s dunks on the big screen in the sports bar at the Cougars home rink. There were a lot of astonished faces back then.

    I do remember the Raptors struggling as an expansion franchise in 1995-96 going 21-61 with Damon Stoudamire being the team’s first star.

    Right now, it is the Raptors time in the national spotlight. Like Joe Carter’s walk off home run in the 1993 World Series for the Blue Jays, here is hoping the Raptors can cap a title win with an equally epic moment.

Ryan highlights Roughriders preview for The Canadian Press

 

Jon Ryan (#9) joins the Roughriders after 12 seasons in the NFL.

  I was alive nationwide again this week typing out the season preview story on the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders for The Canadian Press.

    The Roughriders open their season tonight, when they travel to Hamilton to take on the Tiger-Cats (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN).

    The story focused around Regina born-and-raised punter Jon Ryan settling in with his hometown CFL team after spending 12 seasons in the NFL from 2006 to 2017 with the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks.

    Ryan vaulted to star status with the Seahawks and was a member of their 2013 Super Bowl winning team.

    The piece included quick outlooks on offence and defence. The story is on the Globe and Mail’s website and can be round by clicking right here.

    The story can also be found on the Saskatchewan Roughriders website by clicking right here.

Celebration of life set for Filteau

Justin Filteau in action for the Hilltops in 2014.

    A celebration of life will be held Saskatoon Hilltops and University of Saskatchewan Huskies football alum and Saskatoon Valkyries position coach Justin Filteau on Friday.

    The celebration of life will start at 3 p.m. at Circle Drive Alliance Church in Saskatoon. People are invited to wear sports jerseys or jackets for the service, if they would like to do so.

    Filteau, who stood 5-foot-9 and weighed 214 pounds, died in a plane crash just east of Medicine Hat late on the night of June 1 at the age of 26.

    He was born and raised in Moose Jaw and became a high school football star at A.E. Peacock Collegiate.

    After graduating from high school, Filteau moved to Saskatoon and played five seasons at linebacker for the storied Saskatoon Hilltops of the Canadian Junior Football League from 2010 to 2014.

    He helped the Hilltops win four CJFL titles in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014. Filteau was a CJFL all-Canadian all-star in that final championship campaign.

    When Filteau exhausted his eligibility with the Hilltops, he joined the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team in the U Sports ranks for three seasons from 2015 to 2017.

    Filteau first joined the Valkyries coaching staff as a linebackers coach in 2017. He was coaching the squad’s defensive line this season.

    At the celebration of life, people will have the chance to write their best memories of Filteau in a memories book.

    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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