Yager’s Warriors future is now

Contacts’ grad begins WHL journey with bonus time

Brayden Yager in action with the Contacts in 2019-20.

Brayden Yager is embarking on some bonus time in the WHL.

The skilled forward, who turned 16-years-old in early January, will suit up with the Moose Jaw Warriors, when they begin their 24-game regular season playing East Division foes in a bubble environment at the Brandt Centre in Regina.

The Warriors start off action in the Regina bubble taking on the Brandon Wheat Kings on Friday at 4 p.m. Saskatchewan time.

Yager, who stands 6-feet and weighs 160 pounds, came up through the minor hockey system in Saskatchewan as highly touted player. He was so highly touted that he became a candidate for exceptional status to play in the WHL on a full-time basis as 15-year-old.

While he has a maturity that is beyond his youthful years, Yager wasn’t able to obtain exceptional player status.

The only player in the history of the WHL to earn exceptional player status is phenom forward Connor Bedard. The North Vancouver, B.C., was taken first overall in the last WHL Bantam Draft that was held in late April of 2020.

Centre Riley Heidt, who is a longtime friend and teammate of Yager’s, went second overall to the Prince George Cougars. Heidt was also a candidate for exceptional player status, but he wasn’t able to land that tag.

Yager went third overall to the Warriors.

Bedard, Heidt and Yager provided an unbelievably strong top three to lead off the last WHL Bantam Draft.

Yager and Heidt played the 2019-20 campaign as 14-year-old underage players with the Saskatoon Contacts of the Saskatchewan Male Under-18 AAA Hockey League (SMAAAHL).

Yager appeared in all 44 of the Contacts regular season games piling up 18 goals and 24 assists for 42 points. Heidt, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 161 pounds, also appeared in all 44 of the Contacts regular season games recording 17 goals and 20 assists for 37 points.

Brayden Yager went third overall in the last WHL Bantam Draft.

In normal times, Yager and Heidt would be trying to help the Contacts enjoy a long playoff run in the respective sophomore seasons with that club. Due to the government restrictions that have been brought in place to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world, the Contacts haven’t played since Nov. 20,2020, when they fell 4-3 to the Saskatoon Blazers at the SaskTel Centre.

No team in the SMAAAHL has hit the ice for game action since Nov. 22, 2020.

Yager and Heidt helped the Contacts get out to a 5-1 start. Yager had four goals and seven assists for 11 points in those contests, while Heidt posted three goals and seven assists for 10 points over that same period.

With the Telus Cup male under-18 AAA national hockey championship tournament having been cancelled for a second straight year and the SMAAAHL campaign getting called off on Feb. 26, Yager and Heidt were able to join their respective WHL teams.

The Cougars open their season on March 27 taking on the Kamloops Blazers at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops playing out of the two-city bubble used by the B.C. Division. Prospera Place in Kelowna will also hold B.C. Division games.

While Yager and Heidt are highly touted prospects, this shortened WHL campaign is house money time for both players.  They weren’t expected to be in major junior hockey on a full-time basis at this point in time.

The shortened 24-game regular seasons they will play allow them to get a first taste about what playing in the WHL will be like. It does give them a key opportunity for development playing against older players they wouldn’t normally have.

They will be that much more ready to play in the league in what should be a longer campaign in 2021-22 in their regular 16-year-old seasons.

Yager will have more eyes on him due to being a Saskatchewan product playing on a Saskatchewan team.

His Warriors have a longstanding rivalry with the Pats, which is often viewed as major junior hockey’s greatest rivalry.

Brayden Yager is expected to be a star in Moose Jaw.

When the Warriors and Pats go at it, those battles will have the added dynamic of being Yager versus Bedard clashes. The first of which will take place this coming Tuesday at 8 p.m. Saskatchewan time at the Brandt Centre.

In regular times, these meetings should have likely first taken place in the 2021-22 season.

While spectators won’t be allowed into WHL rinks for the shortened 2020-21 campaign, you can bet there will be a little more interest in seeing online streams of games between the Warriors and Pats due to the Yager versus Bedard aspect.

If Yager is able to outperform Bedard, you will likely get Warriors fans smack talking Pats supporters on the lines of, “Our young star is better than your young star.”

To be honest, the smack talk is all good.

Yager’s future is now with the Warriors, even with it coming a little earlier than expected.

Blades play for Kirkness in Regina, other notes

The Saskatoon Blades will carry Bobby Kirkness in their hearts, even though the team’s long time volunteer dressing room attendant can’t be with them in person.

The Blades are slated to begin their WHL regular season on Saturday taking on the Swift Current Broncos in the WHL’s East Division bubble located at the Brandt Centre in Regina at 4 p.m. Saskatchewan time. The East Division teams are playing in a bubble environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the world.

Kirkness wasn’t able to join the Blades in Regina, because he was recently diagnosed with stage 4 liver and pancreatic cancer.

Back in 2016, Kirkness won his first fight against cancer, when he had leukemia. This time around, things are a little more serious.

Kirkness’s liver and pancreatic cancer can’t be operated on.

Doctors presented Kirkness with two options. He could take chemotherapy treatments, which would give him an estimated nine to 12 months to live, or he could opt out of chemotherapy and have an estimated six to nine months to share with family and friends.

After discussing things with family and friends, Kirkness elected to try an alternative treatment. The treatment is not covered, and it will cost Kirkness and his family about $1,000 per month.

Being his positive self, Kirkness vows he will win this battle with cancer too.

He is so beloved by the Blades the team created “The Kirkness Cup” after he returned to the club after beating leukemia in 2016. The winning squad in the Blades training camp tournament consisting of teams of players looking to make the main roster is presented with “The Kirkness Cup.”

If you are hanging around the Blades dressing room area, the first person you usually see is Kirkness offering a big smile and a warm “hello.”

This season, the Blades are wearing special “BK” decals on their helmets. The decal includes a purple ribbon and the Blades classic blue and gold Pac-Man logo.

Tyler Wawryk, who is the Blades director of business operations, and Brennan Kirkness, who is Bobby’s son, set up a GoFundMe page to help the Kirkness family with expenses.

The page has already passed its $10,000 goal by raising $18,000. If you would like to contribute to the GoFundMe campaign, you can do so by clicking right here.

• Tickets are on sale for the March jackpot for the Saskatchewan Amateur Football Mega 50/50 lottery. The funds from this 50/50 lottery will go to support the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder and the WWCFL’s Saskatoon Valkyries and Regina Riot. One prize will be drawn per month, and the remaining draw dates are Wednesday, March 31, April 30 and May 31. Tickets can be purchased by clicking right here, and purchasers must be in Saskatchewan in order to buy tickets.
• The WWCFL’s Saskatoon Valkyries are morning the passing of former player Nichole LaVallee. On Sunday, LaVallee, who was 26-years-old, died in a two-vehicle collision driving a small car on Highway 3 between Weldon and Birch Hills. She played on the Valkyries from 2016 to 2018 as a receiver and on the defensive line. LaVallee helped the Valkyries win a WWCFL title in 2016. She could brighten any room she entered. Her obituary notice can be found by clicking right here.
• I helped produce new content for the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex that went live on Tuesday. I put together a story that focuses on the off-season work Saskatoon Minor Softball League’s A-programs are doing right now at the Indoor Training Centre and a photo post that contains a number of my pictures around the complex. The softball story can be found by clicking right here, and the photo post can be found by clicking right here.
• On Tuesday, it was announced the RBC Canadian Open has been nixed from the PGA Tour schedule for a second straight year due to issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Canadian Open was scheduled for June 7-13 at St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto, Ont., with the nearby Islington Golf Club acting as the practice facility. 
• On Wednesday night, Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reported Shaun and Gavin Semple have reached a tentative deal to buy out their partners and become the sole owners of the WHL’s Regina Pats, and the WHL is set to review that deal. The Pats are the world’s oldest major junior hockey franchise. Harder’s story can be found by clicking right here.
• I was checking out the memories part of my Facebook page from a year ago today. I had a few posts that didn’t age well with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those posts show I originally didn’t think the pandemic would be as problematic as it turned out to be. One of the posts showed dismay over the fact people were hording toilet paper. Those old posts look so naïve, when you look back on them now.
• James Shewaga, who was the former standout Brandon Sun sportswriter who wrote about the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, wrote about how Merlis Belsher Place will play a role as a mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic for University of Saskatchewan communications. Shewaga’s piece can be found right here.
• The Canadian football world and definitely the football world in Saskatchewan was shaken up on Wednesday when both the CFL and XFL revealed they’re poised to begin serious discussions about a potential partnership. Of course, many have speculated this could be the beginning of the end for the three-down game. Had I been working at a mainstream media outlet, I could have seen myself having to run around and localize the story for Saskatoon. That would have meant tracking down University of Saskatchewan Huskies football head coach Scott Flory, Saskatoon Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant, officials from Football Saskatchewan and officials from Saskatoon Minor Football on what they thought of that CFL and XFL development. You would be also asking all those parties how they would be affected, if football in Canada at the professional level was played with United States rules. I admit I am happy I didn’t have to do any of that. At this point, it is likely too early to play the speculation game.

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

-------                                     

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.

Blades need to continue community efforts

Chase Wouters, right, signs autographs at a post-game skate with the Blades.

    The Saskatoon Blades can’t get complacent when it comes to being involved in the community.

    In a fickle market like Saskatoon that is becoming more and more saturated with sports teams, you have to keep doing the school visits, appearances at community functions and having game themes that involve the community to keep your team’s brand in the minds of the people.

    The Blades ended the 2018-19 campaign on a high note. They returned to the WHL playoffs for the first time since 2013 posting a WHL’s fourth best regular season record at 45-15-8.

    Their roster was filled with numerous likable players like captain Chase Wouters, Kirby Dach, Nolan Maier, Max Gerlach, Riley McKay, Dawson Davidson, Brandon Schuldhaus, Gary Haden, Ryan Hughes, Kyle Crnkovic, Randen Schmidt and Dorrin Luding.

Riley McKay, right, has fun with a young fan at a skate with the Blades.

    Saskatoon won its first WHL playoff series since 2011 sweeping the Moose Jaw Warriors 4-0 in a best-of-seven first round series.

    That set up a showdown with their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders, who finished first overall in the regular season standings with a 54-10-2-2 mark.

    The Blade fell in an intense six-game series. The Raiders advanced on to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions.

    Saskatoon’s season ended with a 6-3 loss to Prince Albert in Game 6 of that second round clash. That contest was played at the SaskTel Centre and drew 10,521 spectators.

    While the Raiders had a large contingent of fans following their team down from “Hockey Town North,” it would be safe to say 70 per cent of the people in that crowd were out to support the Blades. Over five playoff home games, the Blades drew an average of 7,428 spectators per contest.

The Blades are active with school visits like this one in January of 2018.

    Saskatoon averaged 3,911 spectators per game over 34 regular season home dates in 2018-19, which was an increase from the 3,851 spectators per game the club drew in 2017-18 for 36 home dates.

    A surge at the gates late in the regular season in 2018-19 helped the Blades show a small improvement in average attendance. The most uplifting sight was the fact the Blades drew attendance figures of 4,270, 4,555, 4,454 and 9,188 in each of their respective final four home regular season games.

    The positive momentum the Blades had built by the end of the campaign can potentially create a false sense of security or the perception that the good times are about to roll.

Some of the performers that are seen at the Blades’ First Nations night.

    In Saskatoon’s sports scene, it seems like a team can fall of the cliff and lose all its positive momentum about 10 times faster than it took to build it up.

    Going into the 2019-20 campaign, the Blades need to continue their community ground game they have had since Edmonton product Mike Priestner became the owner of the team before the start of the 2013-14 campaign.

    Steve Hogle was the brains behind a lot of the community and game day initiatives the Blades put forward, when he became the team’s president before the 2013-14 campaign.

People take their citizenship oath at the Blades’ “welcome the world” game.

    Two of the most memorable are the when the Blades hold their First Nations night game and their “welcome the world” game. The latter sees about 45 newcomers to Canada become Canadian citizens.

    While both of those nights usually involve a tonne of moving parts, they create a feeling of inclusion, which helps attract new fans.

    Hogle stepped down from the president’s role after the Blades were eliminated from the 2019 WHL playoffs but will continue to be an alternate governor with the Saskatoon franchise. Hogle’s new role will allow him to live back in Edmonton, where he and his wife, Cathy, will be closer to family.

Steve Hogle was behind lots of the Blades community and game day events.

    Cliff Mapes, who is a veteran WHL executive, stepped down as the Blades vice-president of business operations after the team was eliminated from the playoffs. He has since joined the staff of the rival Raiders as their executive director of business operations.

    With Hogle residing more in Edmonton and Mapes departing to Prince Albert, the youngsters are left to execute the community and game day initiatives for the team.

    Blades general manager Colin Priestner has taken on the president’s role. Tyler Wawryk was promoted from being the team’s manager of communication to director of business operations.

    The club’s business operations staff is filled with young faces like Kim Varty, Maclean Nelson, Eric Anderson, Allie Lindal, Caitlyn Gray and Mat Lukash.

The Blades community involvement helps bring out the fans.

    Ryan Lafontaine, who is the Blades director of finance and administration, is a long time office veteran, but he is still on the younger side of the age spectrum.

    Overall, I think the youngsters are ready to run and continue what Hogle and Mapes did.

    Going into the 2019-20 season, the Blades will return popular players like Wouters, Maier and Crnkovic. Dach could end up playing in the NHL for the Chicago Blackhawks, who selected him third overall in June’s NHL Entry Draft and have signed him to a three-year NHL entry-level contract.

    If Dach returns, he becomes another good person the Blades can have in the community.

Blades right-winger Ryan Hughes sends a stick to the fans last season.

    Actually, head coach Mitch Love has the potential to be another person that can become enduring in the community. He has always become popular in his previous WHL stops most notably as a player and coach with the Everett Silvertips, but also as a player with the Moose Jaw Warriors and Swift Current Broncos.

    Blades have always been strong when it comes to community and game day initiatives since Mike Priestner became the team’s owner.

    For the Saskatoon club, this is a “do not fix what isn’t broken” spot and something that needs to continue in the future.

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

-------

    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.

Blades grad Shynkaruk would be great add to hockey Huskies

Jesse Shynkaruk (#14) celebrates scoring a goal for the Blades last season.

    Jesse Shynkaruk and the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team would be a great match for each other, if that ultimately comes to pass.

    The 21-year-old centre exhausted his WHL eligibility last season playing for his hometown Saskatoon Blades. He had a breakout year netting career highs in goals (31), assists (25) and points (56) in 58 regular season games. Shynkaruk came through in the clutch as 10 of his tallies ended up being game winners.

    In his first three major junior seasons split between the Kamloops Blazers and Moose Jaw Warriors, Shynkaruk appeared in 196 regular season games recording 23 goals and 25 assists.

    Recently, Tyler Wawryk, who is the Blades manager of communications and community relations, caught up with Shynkaruk and inquired if the speedy forward was going to join the Huskies. Shynkaruk said he was one of three players battling for two spots on the Huskies.

    It would be great if both Shynkaruk and the Huskies could make things work out. Shynkaruk did so well last season with the Blades you almost wish he had one more season to play in the major junior ranks.

    With that said, a number of factors come into play when it comes to a major junior player joining a U Sports team. Thanks to two strong recruiting classes from the past two seasons, the Huskies have a fairly deep team. They came up just short of winning a Canada West title and dropped a 5-3 decision to the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds in the U Sports championship game.

    Shynkaruk, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 171 pounds, would bring a number of good intangibles to the Huskies. One is the fact he would likely really appreciate being on the team. Heading into training camp last season, Shynkaruk was without a major junior home after being released by the Warriors.

    Had he not made the Blades as a walk on player, the likelihood was high Shynkaruk’s time in major junior hockey would have been over.

Jesse Shynkaruk (#14) sets up for a scoring chance for the Blades.

    With the Blades, Shynkaruk rediscovered some of offensive touch from his final midget AAA season, when he netted 22 goals and 29 assists in 43 regular season games with the Saskatoon Contacts in the 2012-13 campaign. Shynkaruk helped the Blades make a serious push for a playoff berth.

    The Blades ultimately finished ninth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and five points back of a playoff berth with a 28-35-7-2 record. Shynkaruk became a fan favourite, and he was also a good representative for the team at community events.

    When the Blades were on the road, he consistently left a good impression with the media that worked in other WHL cities. That has to be viewed as impressive, because Shynkaruk doesn’t get to interact with media members in other WHL centres on a regular basis like he does with the media members in Saskatoon. He always left a good impression with the hometown media members as well.

    After his final home game on March 17 when the Blades downed the archrival Prince Albert Raiders 5-3, Shynkaruk gave a heartfelt final post-game press scrum to the media in attendance. From that press scrum, it was easy to tell Shynkaruk generally cared about what was going on.

    Under the WHL scholarship plan, Shynkaruk doesn’t have to play with a U Sports team to use the four years of paid post-secondary schooling he has earned. If he wanted to, he could just attend a post-secondary institution and focus just on classes.

    For every season a player plays in the WHL, that player receives a scholarship package that sees all his tuition, compulsory fees and textbooks paid for a school year. Shynkaruk has four school years of paid tuition, compulsory fees and textbooks to use.

    As it stands, Shynkaruk would be a great addition to the Huskies or any other U Sports team. The hometown fans have to hope he will wear the “green and white” in the fall.

Blades pump out Monday updates

    For a little over a month the Saskatoon Blades have been pumping out Monday updates on their website, and they have been pretty well done.

    Tyler Wawryk, who is the team’s manager of communications and community relations, has been crafting the updates. The writing part reflects a style you once saw in WHL notebooks, which were commonly produced in mainstream media outlet newspapers. With these outlets often being cut to one or two staffers, the WHL notebook is rarely seen these days.

    The Blades update gives a roundup of various happening with the team and the club’s alums. The notebook points are usually accompanied by graphics.

    With most mainstream outlets in Canada having undergone severe cuts, the pressure falls on teams like the WHL’s Blades to do more coverage on themselves through their own website and social media platforms. The same holds true for every high level competitive sports program in Canada that is not an NHL franchise.

    Ultimately, Canadian sports leagues need to follow the lead of NFL teams, which have been covering themselves on a league and individual franchise basis for at least two decades. The NFL was pretty much the first league that did a lot of media coverage on itself on the Internet in the late 1990s.

    While most to almost all Canadian elite sports teams or groups do not have anywhere near the money the NFL brings in, the cold reality is they have to cover themselves, if they want to have a bigger presence in the public. Fans will read and view what is posted.

    The Blades have done a good job in trying out different tweaks on their website and social media platforms. The Monday update is a nice addition. I imagine creating all this content makes Wawryk extremely busy, so here is hoping he can keep it up.

    The last Monday update can be round here.

Love the vintage look

The date for our home opener is set! Friday, September 22nd vs the @SCBroncos #RiseWithUs pic.twitter.com/MxFBQSDc2x

— Saskatoon Blades (@BladesHockey) June 26, 2017

    When the Saskatoon Blades put out their Twitter post announcing their home opener against the Swift Current Broncos, you had to love the graphic that contained the classic logos.

Braylon Shmyr looks to make a pass for the Blades.

    Actually during the off-season, the Blades have gone full out using their vintage blue and goal “Pac-Man” logo that was the team’s primary look through the 1980s and early 1990s. The team’s website was changed to use the retro blue and gold colour scheme as a primary look as well.

    The Blades have used the retro jerseys with the old “Pac-Man” logo as an alternate for some time. Among the team’s fans, that has always been the most popular look, and there has been a longing to make the retro jerseys the club’s full-time look once again.

    While official word hasn’t come yet, it seems with all the hints this will come to pass.

    Actually over the last decade, a number of pro teams in all sports and major junior teams have reverted to a past look, which has been received with a lot of praise. The Blades face one of those teams opening the regular season against the Broncos on Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

    Before the start of the 2014-15 campaign, the Broncos ditched their black and blue modern looking jerseys for their classic blue, green and white look with the horseshoe, bucking bronco logo. The Broncos had this look when the franchise returned to Swift Current in 1986 after spending 12 seasons in Lethbridge. The switch to the retro look has been popular with Broncos fans.

Tyler Steenbergen zips into the offensive zone for the Broncos.

    This past season, the look was part of many pieces coming together for a Broncos revival. Other things that have powered the revival is the fact Sheldon Kennedy, who was the captain of the Broncos 1989 Memorial Cup winner, has been back to Swift Current a number of times in recent years and labelled as a real Canadian hero for his public work on the child advocacy front over the years.

    The small city also built a beautiful monument to remember players Trent Kresse, Scott Kruger, Chris Mantyka and Brent Ruff who died in a team bus crash on Dec. 30, 1986.  The monument is located near the crash site on the outskirts of town.

    All of these things have come together to give the Broncos a new level of support the team likely hasn’t seen in some time. The Credit Union i-Plex, which is the Broncos home rink, was likely the loudest building in the WHL playoffs last season. Swift Current advanced to the second round and lost a heartbreaking seven-game series to the Regina Pats.

    It is always cool when a team brings a popular past look back into the future.

Brooks showing small guys can still play

Adam Brooks signed with the NHL’s Maple Leafs

    Recently graduated Regina Pats captain Adam Brooks had a moment which seemed at one point in time it might not come to pass.

    On Thursday, Brooks signed a three year NHL entry-level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 21-year-old Winnipeg product was selected in the fourth round and 92^nd overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft by the Leafs.

    Brooks graduated from the Pats as one of the club’s most beloved heart and soul players. Over five seasons, he played in 317 regular season games collecting 119 goals and 216 assists. His 335 career regular season points make him the 10^th all-time leading scorer in Pats history.

    The skilled centre stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 175 pounds, and for a while, it seemed like the NHL started drifting away from players that didn’t stand at least 6-feet in height and be at least 200 pounds in weight.

    Brooks topped the WHL in scoring as a 19-year-old in 2015-16 netting 38 goals and 82 assists playing in all 72 regular season games. Despite his stellar season and being arguably one of the top three forwards in the league, it was conceivable Brooks might not be drafted. The fact the Leafs picked him was a big milestone.

    He returned to Regina to captain the Pats as an overager collecting 43 goals and 87 assists to finish a point behind teammate Sam Steel for the WHL scoring lead. Brooks helped the Pats top the WHL’s overall standings at 52-12-7-1 and advance to the WHL Championship series, where they fell 4-2 in a best-of-seven set to the Seattle Thunderbirds.

    The fact Brooks signed NHL contract is another big milestone. With the Leafs having Mike Babcock as head coach, Brooks a real look to one day make the NHL.

    His story has to give confidence to other players that are short in stature. In this year’s NHL Entry Draft, the Edmonton Oilers selected Spokane Chiefs winger Kailer Yamamoto in the first round and 22^nd overall. Yamamoto, who turns 19 in September, stands 5-foot-7 and weighs 146 pounds. Despite being small, he piled up 42 goals and 57 assists in 65 regular season games this past season with the Chiefs, who are his hometown WHL team.

    The winger established himself as one of the WHL’s most exciting players. He might get to duplicate his accomplishments in the professional ranks one day.

Getting Semenko a piece of video history

Dave Semenko, back row centre, in an old Oilers team picture.

    The world let along the sport of hockey lost one of its best characters on Thursday when famed Edmonton Oilers enforcer Dave Semenko passed away from pancreatic cancer at age 59.

    I never met Semenko, but I was still sad to hear of his passing. I also got a chuckle remembering the various colourful interviews he did over the years.

    In a round-about way, I helped contribute indirectly of getting him a piece of hockey history. During my first year living in Medicine Hat cover the WHL’s Tigers in the 2004-05 campaign, I met former Tigers and Winnipeg Jets standout Morris Lukowich at an old timers’ charity game.

    I had a VCR copy of the last contest ever played in the history of the World Hockey Association, when the host Winnipeg Jets defeated the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the WHA title series to win the Avco Cup. Lukowich was a member of that winning Jets team.

    When I handed him the tape in order to get the cover autographed, he asked if that tape really had a copy of the game on it. I said it did, and he asked if I could mail him a copy of that tape to his place. I made a copy of that game and sent it to Lukowich.

    Later on that season, I ended up calling Lukowich for a throwback story for the Medicine Hat News. When the interview was done, we ended up talking about that tape. Lukowich thanked me for sending it to him.

    Having a few video machines at his place to use for coaching, Lukowich told me he made copies to send to all his former Jets teammates and coaches. He then told me he made a copy and sent it to Semenko, who was on that Oilers team that lost to the Jets.

    I laughed and couldn’t believe it. The Jets won that contest in a 7-3 romp at the old Winnipeg Arena, and I thought Lukowich might have been trying poke some fun at the legendary pugilist.

Lukowich laughed and said they were good friends. He added Semenko scored the final goal in that contest, which was the final goal ever in the history of the WHA. Lukowich thought it would be a nice keepsake.

    With that knowledge, I contributed to delivering a memory to Semenko about one of his historic hockey moments.

Huskies duo completes Banff Marathon

Congrats to @willowtree92 and @lilmisskittylik on completing the Banff Marathon 42.2 KM Full Marathon in a time of 4:25:30. pic.twitter.com/DAhapYUOXV

— UofS Women's Hockey (@HuskiesWHKY) June 21, 2017

    Lauren Zary and Kaitlin Willoughby showed their athletic prowess isn’t limited hockey, and they went to Banff to display that fact.

    Back on June 18, the pair completed the Banff Marathon. Zary, who just exhausted her eligibility with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team, crossed the finish line in four hours, 25 minutes and 30 seconds, and Willoughby, who is a star centre entering her final season with the Huskies, finished officially one second back of Zary.

    For anyone to complete a race that is 42.2 kilometres in length is impressive, so a big congratulations is passed on to the pair. Both Zary and Willoughby accomplished something most people in the world won’t do. As an added bonus, they did it in the scenic mountain terrain of Banff.

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