2020 – The year that was truly inconceivable

Rylan Kleiter, right, gives out a big cheer after a clutch final shot.

My 2020 started off on fire.

I never imagined 12 months ago 2020 would be a year most wish would go up in flames.

On December 31, 2019, I decided I wasn’t going to go out and celebrate New Year’s Eve, which was my annual norm. Instead, I planned to stay home because I wanted to be fresh to cover the Saskatchewan junior men’s curling championship tournament game to be played the next day at the Sutherland Curling Club.

Rylan Kleiter’s foursome, which contained lead Matthieu Taillon, second Joshua Mattern and third Trevor Johnson, was going for a fourth straight junior title in their home rink.

Kleiter is a good guy and had always been one of my favourites with the CJFL’s venerable Saskatoon Hilltops powerhouse squad, which had won the last six straight league titles. Kleiter is a receiver and kicker with the Hilltops.

Up to that point in time, I hadn’t seen him take part live in a curling game, and I that was on my list of things to do. I figured covering the game where he was going for a fourth straight provincial title was the ample to time to get that done.

Kleiter rink supporters cheer their team’s a provincial title win.

In another added bonus, I hadn’t covered a curling event since my time working as a sports reporter for the Medicine Hat News, which came to an end on June 30, 2014, so this was pretty unique for me.

On January 1, 2020, Kleiter’s squad downed another Sutherland Curling Club foursome skipped by Daymond Bernath 7-6 in a classic game. With the two sides locked in a 6-6 tie, Kleiter made a draw to the four-foot with the hammer in the 10^th end to win the game.

A huge amount of jubilation followed with the large contingent of supporters Kleiter’s team had at that contest. Bernath’s side had a large following too, and his side was congratulated for a strong effort.

The few times I have covered curling I have actually seen a number of dramatic finishes be it at a Continental Cup or a Canada Cup of Curling.

I chuckled that the first curling game I’ve worked in years ended up being a classic like the fourth straight provincial junior men’s championship win was for Kleiter’s team.

I told Kleiter after the game that the new year wasn’t yet 24 hours old and I already had something for my list of cool things I saw in 2020. 

Kleiter team supporters signal a four-peat as provincial champs.

I had been creating an annual list of cool things I saw in that calendar year that I usually posted in late December of that year since I moved to Saskatoon in the summer of 2014.

After that day, I thought 2020 was going to rock as a year.

Little did I know, I don’t think anyone in the world could have seen how 2020 was going to play out.

On January 1, 2020, most could not foresee that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was going to grip the world and there would be massive restrictions and shutdowns everywhere. It is safe to say most of the world’s population would like to see 2020 disappear and never come back again.

In 100 years from now, 2020 will be a year that will be studied in the history books to analyze how the people on Earth dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. World leaders in the current day will be judged by historians in 100 years from now on the way they handled life unfolding in our current times.

For those that live in North America, it feels like 2020 can be divided into two parts.

Jared Dmytriw made the U Sports all-rookie team in 2019-20.

The first part was from January 1, 2020 to March 10, 2020. During that part, life in North America unfolded like it normally would on an annual calendar.

The second part went from March 11, 2020 and is still proceeding in the current day. March 11 marked the first day shutdowns and restrictions started to occur, and they have continued to this day in different forms.

When I look back at posts on my blog, it feels like anything that happened from January 1, 2020 to March 10, 2020 came from a different lifetime.

I look back at pictures I took on February 29, 2020 of a record 2,667 spectators packed into Merlis Belsher Place to watch the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team down the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 3-1 in Game 2 of the Canada West Championship series, and I almost can’t believe that game happened this year.

That win allowed the Huskies to sweep the best-of-three series 2-0 to capture the Canada West title. When I look at the crowd pictures from that game, I keep thinking they are from an alternate universe.

I look at a hockey round up post I created on March 10, 2020, and there is no mention of the words “coronavirus” or “COVID-19.” I remember that as being the last day the world was playing out as it normally does.

A crowd of 2,667 watched the Huskies win a Canada West title. 

On that day, I was looking forward to going to Medicine Hat on March 14, 2020 to take part in the festivities of a cool friend in Bob Ridley calling his 4,000th game as the play-by-play voice of the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers.

On March 11, 2020, my post noting that Huskies goaltender Taran Kozun was named the U Sports player-of-the-year and U Sports goalie of the year didn’t mention the words “coronavirus” or “COVID-19.” That posted added that Kozun was a U Sports first team all-Canadian all-star and Huskies fifth-year right-winger Levi Cable took home the U Sports most sportsmanlike player award.

It also said Huskies centre Jared Dmytriw was named to the U Sports all-rookie team.

On that day, the COVID-19 pandemic was in the back of my mind as the NBA had paused its season that night. Word started to circulate that sports cancellations were going to come in hot and heavy.

On March 12, I wrote a post that the Huskies had been upset in the U Sports national championship tournament in Halifax, N.S., falling 3-2 to the University of Western Ontario Mustangs in a quarter-final match.

The Huskies celebrate their Canada West title win.

The post said that nationals along with the U Sports women’s national elite eight national championship tournament going on in Charlottetown, P.E.I., had been called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That post added the Saskatoon Contact had fallen 5-3 to the Moose Jaw Warriors in the last meaningful hockey game at Merlis Belsher Place, which was Game 3 of an SMAAAHL semifinal series. The Warriors swept the best-of-five series 3-0, but the rest of the national midget AAA playoffs were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That marked the first time the words “coronavirus” and “COVID-19” were used in this blog. They have been contained in almost every post since that time.

Also on that day, the WHL season was officially paused, and I cancelled my hotel reservations for my trip to Medicine Hat, as the Tigers home game on March 14, 2020 wasn’t going to happen. Ridley currently sits with 3,998 games called as the play-by-play voice of the Tigers.

From March 11, 2020 to March 13, 2020, the entire sports world in North America was shut down. I still can’t believe how fast that all happened.

Members of the Contacts at Merlis on March 12, 2020.

These days Merlis Belsher Place sits as a field hospital in waiting for possible COVID-19 patients. While it hasn’t seen patients yet, it is still being used by the medical community in the battle against COVID-19.

Originally, my March 14, 2020 trip to Medicine Hat marked what was supposed to be an unusually packed social calendar for myself linked with weddings and one-of-a-kind celebrations that never happened.

I did take part in a drive by wedding celebration for Huskies men’s hockey team alumnus Garrett Thiessen and bride Danielle Empey. They actually got married at the same spot my parents got married at outside of the fact my parents were married at the original version of Mayfair United Church, and Garrett and Danielle were married at the modern version of that same facility.

I had thought about writing a “Top 10 cool things I saw in 2020” post to try and give a positive spin to what was a forgettable year for the world.

I decided against that hokey idea thinking it would be disingenuous to what happened this year.

Garrett Thiessen, right, and Danielle Empey, centre, got married.

Even just a couple of days ago, my mind wandered to think about old friends from Medicine Hat who had committed suicide during the pandemic. My mind was glued to thinking about two friends I spend a lot of social time with.

The next time I go to that centre I might have to spend two weeks there, because I know the emotions of those passings will hit me in a different way when I am there.

There have been a couple of passings in the sports community here in Saskatoon due to suicide too.

With that noted, the danger of the COVID-19 pandemic is real. Early on, I know I wrote things in posts that didn’t age well. Back then, I didn’t grasp how easily this virus can spread.

I just had a family member get over this virus and have had three or four people I know deal with testing positive for COVID-19.

I had been doing updates of statistics from Worldometer, which is really accurate, relating to deaths from COVID-19 and other factors on a periodic basis. This one will be the last one for this year.

According to Worldometer at the time this post went live 1,824,384 people have died so far this year in the world due to the coronavirus even with varying restrictions that have been imposed around the world.

Downtown Saskatoon sits empty on March 22, 2020.

Also this year, Worldometer has reported 1,684,540 people in the world so far this year have died of HIV/AIDS, 1,352,688 died by road traffic accidents, 1,074,566 died by suicide, 843,851 people have died by water related diseases, 491,083 died by seasonal flu, and 309,729 mothers have died during birth.

The skeptics of the COVID-19 pandemic always want to know the deaths from cancer it seems. Worldometer said 8,229,960 people have died of cancer this year.

I should add from various world statistical sites I have check out that the deaths this year by HIV/AIDS appear to be at a high for the past 10 years.

While vaccines are rolling out for COVID-19 around the world, there will likely still be many bumps in the road and a lengthy haul before this is over, even though it appears there is an end in sight.

I’ve only covered two live hockey games since March 12, 2020.

An oxygen producing complex next to Merlis pictured in May 2020.

The road forward in the future still has clouds over it. I can’t even guarantee what my involvement will be in the sports world, and I’ve covered sporting events going back to my start with the University of Regina student newspaper, The Carillon, back in September of 1996.

The pandemic had made me a little more jaded when it comes to dealing with people in general. I view a few more people in the general population as always being out to satisfy their selfish needs, or they basically are trying to be their best versions of Professional Football Hall of Fame diva receiver Terrell Owens.

Like life has been since March 11, 2020, you just try to adjust to whatever life throws your way the best you can. I have gotten into old pastimes I didn’t have time for before like playing Madden football or watching old animation episodes of G.I. Joe, Robotech and Transformers from the 1980s.

I have also learned a new appreciation for having quite weekends at home on Friday and Saturday nights.

Facemasks became regular clothing in 2020.

Still, whatever life brings, life brings. I try to purge as many emotional attachments as possible to try to things about things with a clear head in order to try and react in the best way possible.

I look forward to the day I can see you all in person again without restrictions.

Until that day comes, I hope you all have a Happy New Year and are able to stay healthy and safe.

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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Team Kleiter junior curling dynasty in Sask. grows to four

Rylan Kleiter, right, gives a big cheer after making a clutch final shot.

    Rylan Kleiter knows the way to Langley, B.C., and he hopes that journey will result in a national title win in curling like it did in football.

    On Wednesday afternoon at the Sutherland Curling Club, Kleiter skipped his foursome to a 7-6 victory in the title game of the Saskatchewan junior men’s curling championship tournament over Daymond Bernath’s foursome. The men’s title game, which turned into a New Year’s Day classic, happened to be a battle between two rinks from the Sutherland.

    The win marked the fourth year in a row Kleiter’s rink, which includes lead Matthieu Taillon, second Joshua Mattern and third Trevor Johnson have won the Saskatchewan junior title.

    The latest title win didn’t come easy.

Kleiter rink supporters cheer their team’s provincial title win.

    Kleiter’s foursome entered the 10^th end locked in a 6-6 tie with Bernath’s rink. Bernath’s side was sitting counting one in the house, and Kleiter had to make a draw to the four-foot with hammer to win the game.

    The 21-year-old delivered with precise final shot. As the Kleiter’s final throw began to slow to a halt on the button, the handshakes between the two sides began.

    “This one is something special,” said Kleiter. “To come down to the last rock just makes it feel that much more better.”

    With the win, Kleiter’s rink earns a berth to the Canadian Junior Curling Championships, which run Jan. 18-26 in Langley, B.C.

Kleiter’s rink lifts the provincial championship trophy.

    It will be the final trip to the junior nationals for the Kleiter foursome as all the members of the squad are playing through their final years of junior eligibility.

    Kleiter was in Langley last Nov. 16 helping the Saskatoon Hilltops win a sixth straight Canadian Junior Football League title. In that contest, Kleiter, who is a Hilltops receiver and kicker, made 3-of-4 field goal attempts to push the venerable Saskatoon football club to an 11-6 victory over the host Rams.

    Looking ahead to the Canadian junior curling nationals, Kleiter hopes it is a good omen that he will be returning to Langley, where he enjoyed a huge moment in football.

    “It is going to be pretty exciting,” said Kleiter, who has been on the Hilltops last four CJFL title winning teams. “Hopefully, I have another Canadian championship in Langley.”

    Still, the only focus for the members of the Kleiter squad was on Wednesday’s Saskatchewan final, and they had their hands full in that contest.

Daymond Bernath and his foursome came out on fire.

    Kleiter’s side took a 1-0 lead in the first end, but the Bernath foursome, which contains lead Brayden Grindheim, second David Baum and third Bradley Moser, scored a deuce in the second end and a single in the fourth end to take a 3-1 lead.

    Kleiter’s side responded with a deuce in the sixth end to tie things up at 3-3, but Bernath’s rink scored a deuce in the seventh to jump in front 5-3.

    In the eighth end, Kleiter made a hit and stick shot to score three to allow his squad to go ahead 6-5.

    Bernath’s foursome scored on in the ninth to even things up at 6-6, but the score gave the hammer back to Kleiter’s rink.

Kleiter third Trevor Johnson follows one of his shots down the ice.

    Kleiter proceeded to come through with his big draw for the win in the 10^th.

    Johnson said the mindset of the Kleiter rink was calm going into the last shot.

    “I made sure to clean the path, so the rock has a nice clean path to get there,” said Johnson, who as the third measured out the ice with the target broom in the house for the final shot. “I just said the line was good all the way, and the other guys did their job.”

    Johnson said the fact this provincial title win came down to the end makes it a game that will always be remembered.

    “It does make it that much more special,” said Johnson. “The close games are the best, when you come out on top.”

Brayden Grindheim, left, and David Baum sweep a Bernath rock.

    Wednesday’s victory adds to an unprecedented run of success for Kleiter’s rink at the provincial level. On top of winning the last four straight junior titles, Kleiter’s foursome captured the under-18 men’s provincial title three straight years from 2015 to 2017 before aging out at that level.

All seven of those championships were won with the same foursome.

    “They are saying we are breaking all the records,” said Johnson. “I don’t know if any team across Canada has had the exact same four members doing four years in a row.

Joshua Mattern, left, and Matthieu Taillon sweep a Kleiter rock.

    “It is definitely something special that I will always remember.”

    Kleiter’s rink finished junior provincials with a perfect 9-0 record, which included seven wins in preliminary round play and two playoff victories.

    Bernath’s rink finished with a 3-4 record in preliminary round play and needed to win three playoff games to make the final.

    Kleiter said past experience helped make the comeback his side made on Wednesday afternoon possible.

    “We knew that if we got down we would be able to battle back, if just do what we know we can do,” said Kleiter.

    The Sutherland Curling Club also hosted the junior women’s provincial tournament and the banner day for the club extended to that competition as well.

Rylan Kleiter, centre, delivers his game-winning shot.

    In the women’s final on Wednesday morning, the Ashley Thevenot rink from the Sutherland downed the Skylar Ackerman foursome from the Nutana Curling Club 7-5. The Thevenot side, which includes lead Mary Engel, second Paige Engel and third Rachel Erickson, and the Ackerman squad, which includes lead Abbey Johnson, second Taylor Stremick and third Emily Haupstein, both had 6-1 records after the preliminary round.

    The Ackerman rink took first place with a head-to-head win in the preliminary round between the two sides.

Rylan Kleiter, centre, visits with family and friends.

    In the one-two page playoff game on Tuesday afternoon, Thevenot’s rink posted a 6-4 victory.

    In a semifinal contest on Tuesday night, Ackerman’s squad down the Krystal Englot foursome from the Callie Curling Club in Regina 11-6 to advance to face Thevenot’s rink again in the women’s championship game on Wednesday morning.

    Looking forward, Kleiter said his rink would love to come through with a national title in their final try at the junior level. The foursome’s best showing at juniors was falling in a semifinal contest to Manitoba at last year’s event held in Prince Albert, Sask.

Kleiter team members signal a four-peat with the provincial title trophy.

    Kleiter’s side finished that nationals with an 8-3 overall record.  

    “It definitely means that much more to us just knowing that we are going to be finished after this,” said Kleiter. “We’ll just be going in with level heads into the Canadians.”

    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.

Kleiter refines identity with Hilltops, stands out in curling

Rylan Kleiter dashes home on a 50-yard touchdown reception.

    Rylan Kleiter knew he would go through a feeling out process playing for the Saskatoon Hilltops in 2018.

    Last season as a 19-year-old sophomore, Kleiter started the campaign handling all the Hilltops punting and kickoff duties and had a regular role as a receiver. His campaign came to an almost literal crashing halt after he suffered a major knee injury in a 29-26 loss to the Regina Thunder on Sept. 9, 2017 at Saskatoon Minor Football Field.

    After missing four regular season games and three playoff contests, Kleiter managed to heal up enough to play in the Canadian Junior Football League championship game – the Canadian Bowl – on Nov. 11, 2017. He hit a 37-yard field goal in the Hilltops 56-11 thrashing of the host Windsor AKO Fratmen as the venerable Saskatoon side won a fourth straight CJFL title.

    Entering this season, Kleiter was still bothered by some lingering effects from his knee injury causing him to miss the Hilltops first three regular season games.

    “It has been a long journey, and a lot of hard work just in the gym making sure my strength is back up and keeping that knee strong and also mentally getting comfortable with using my knee again,” said Kleiter. “I was itching to get back out there.

    “As soon as the football equipment came out, I was ready to go on and get back out there.”

    He returned to action on Sept. 15, when the Hilltops romped over the Colts in Calgary 79-7. In his return, Kleiter caught three passes for 46 yards, returned two punts for 25 yards and kicked four punts for a 35.2 yard average.

    The 20-year-old was ecstatic to be on the field.

    “It was pretty exciting,” said Kleiter, whose Hilltops (8-0) host a Prairie Football Conference semifinal playoff contest against the Winnipeg Rifles (3-5) on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Saskatoon Minor Football Field. “At first, it was a little edgy kind of.

    “I wanted to get into the hitting. Once I got that first hit, then I was ready to go.”

Rylan Kleiter boots a punt downfield for the Hilltops.

    While Kleiter was ready to go, he wasn’t sure what his identity would be with the team. Due to the fact he missed a total of 10 regular season and post-season games due to injury over the past two years, receiver John Brown emerged to cement himself as the Hilltops main punter.

    David Solie, who has been kicker for Football Canada’s national team program, joined the Hilltops this season and assumed the kickoff duties Kleiter used to handle. The Toppers also cycled through a number of receivers on offence, so Kleiter wasn’t sure what his role would be there.

    He was determined to get on the field and was open to pursuing every avenue to make that possible, which included playing multiple positions.

    “It took some time,” said Kleiter, who stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 165 pounds. “I’m still just practising making sure I am ready to go if coach ever needs me to fill in.

    “Other than that, I just kind of keep on grinding to get back in there.”

    Last Sunday in the Hilltops 48-7 regular season ending victory over the Rifles at SFM Field, Kleiter had arguably his most memorable game of the season. The graduate of Saskatoon’s St. Joseph High School Guardians football team hauled in a 50-yard catch and run touchdown reception from star quarterback Jordan Walls, ran back two punts for 21 yards and punted the ball four times for a 32.5 yard average.

    The touchdown catch was the obvious highlight of the day.

    “It was pretty exciting,” said Kleiter. “I got the blocks up front with my receivers, which left a wide open lane for me.”

    Away from football, Kleiter has built another big identity as a star curler. He skips a junior team out of Saskatoon’s Sutherland Curling Club that includes third, Trevor Johnson, second Joshua Mattern and lead Matthieu Taillon.

Rylan Kleiter, left, returns a punt for the Hilltops.

    Together, Kleiter’s team has won the last two Saskatchewan junior men’s provincial curling championships.

    “It has been busy between curling, football and school,” said Kleiter, who is a business student at the University of Saskatchewan. “My first few months are real busy.

    “Curling kind of sits to the back the first few months and then picks up later on after football season is over.”

    Last weekend, Kleiter’s foursome played in the Saskatchewan Curling Tour’s men’s bonspiel at Saskatoon’s Nutana Curling Club. This weekend, they are playing in the Curl Saskatoon Junior Classic, which started Friday and runs through to Sunday at the Granite and CN Curling Clubs in Saskatoon.

    Kleiter loves the busy weekends when he plays with his curling team in bonspiels and with the Hilltops in football.

    “It is fun,” said Kleiter. “I’m not usually at home very much.

    “I just take whatever down time I can get, rest up and be ready mentally as well.”

    Of course, football and curling are quite different, but he said the two sports complement each other when it comes to building mental toughness.

    “I’d say for sure mentally both ways,” said Kleiter. “Out here on the field when you are not making plays, you have to be able to get yourself out of that groove.

    “Both sports kind of combine with that to help me learn how to face that.”

Rylan Kleiter is set to make more good memories in the playoffs.

    On the football field, Kleiter is pumped the CJFL playoffs have rolled around. As a rookie in 2016, Kleiter had a huge highlight moment with the Hilltops catching two touchdown passes in the team’s 43-31 victory over the Colts in the PFC final played at SFM Field.

    He wants to help create some more memorable moments in this year’s playoff run and noticed things have hit a higher gear at the team’s practices this week.

    “It is pretty exciting,” said Kleiter. “I am just excited to get out there.

    “It is a little bit different feel even at practice. It is a little more higher tempo and just be ready to go.”

    NOTES – Hilltops playoff game tickets can be purchased at all Mac’s and Circle K convenience stores in Saskatoon and the team’s web site at www.saskatoonhilltops.com. Sunday’s other PFC semifinal sees the Regina Thunder (5-3) travel to Edmonton to face the Huskies (6-2).

    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.