Memorial Cup drought for WHL hits new distinction

Remparts blank Thunderbirds 5-0 in CHL final

The WHL’s drought for winning the Memorial Cup hit an unwelcome milestone for the major junior circuit.

On Sunday, the QMJHL champion Quebec Remparts blanked the WHL champion Seattle Thunderbirds 5-0 in the title game of the Memorial Cup tournament played at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, B.C. The Remparts skated away as CHL champions for the second time in team history with the first Memorial Cup championship win coming in 2006.

Since the WHL came into existence in the 1966-67 campaign, it is going through its longest drought of not winning the Memorial Cup and that includes times when the circuit was ineligible to compete for the storied championship trophy. In three of the first four seasons the WHL existed, the circuit wasn’t eligible to compete for the Memorial Cup as the circuit was originally viewed as an “outlaw league” by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association that governed the game in Canada at that time.

The WHL didn’t have any Memorial Cup victories in its first seven seasons of existence, and that winless run came to an end when the Regina Pats won storied trophy for the third time in team history to conclude the 1973-74 campaign. Clubs from the WHL became eligible to play for the Memorial Cup on a regular basis in the 1970-71 campaign.

The WHL’s current drought spans seven seasons including the tournaments played from 2015 to 2019, 2022 and 2023. The Memorial Cup tournament wasn’t contested in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The current drought matches the drought the WHL had at the beginning of its existence that included seasons the league wasn’t allowed to compete for the trophy that was first awarded in 1919. Including the two years the Memorial Cup tournaments that were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHL is in its longest drought for winning major junior hockey’s biggest prize when it comes to considering how much time has elapsed since the last win.

The Edmonton Oil Kings were the last team from the WHL to win the Memorial Cup, and that victory came back in 2014. Edmonton captured the WHL and CHL titles that year playing to honour the memory of former player Kristians Pelss, who was with the Oil Kings 2012 WHL championship team and passed away in June of 2013 due to a recreation diving accident.

In the championship game of the 2014 Memorial Cup tournament played in London, Ont., on May 25 of that year, the WHL champion Oil Kings downed the OHL champion Guelph Storm 6-3. It has been nine years since a WHL team last captured the Memorial Cup.

On the other end of the spectrum, teams from the QMJHL have won the Memorial Cup the last four times the CHL’s championship tournament was held. That included the Saint John Sea Dogs winning the event as the host squad last year after being eliminated in the first round of the QMJHL Playoffs.

This year’s WHL champion in the Thunderbirds was the deepest squad the circuit sent to the Memorial Cup since the Oil Kings championship win in 2014. The Thunderbirds and Remparts were two of the CHL’s top clubs throughout the 2022-23 campaign.

Kyle Crnkovic was a Memorial Cup tournament all-star.

The Thunderbirds topped the WHL’s Western Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 54-11-1-2 record. The U.S. Division champions were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Seattle’s 54 wins and standings points total of 111 points are new regular season club records.

In the WHL Playoffs, the Thunderbird proceeded to win the league title posting a 16-3 mark.

The Remparts finished first overall in the QMJHL regular season standings with a 53-12-1-2 record and were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. In the QMJHL Playoffs, the Remparts proceeded to win the league crown posting a 16-2 mark.

Both clubs were 2-1 in the round robin portion of the tournament, and the Remparts took first place and earned a bye to the tournament final with a 3-1 victory in a head-to-head meeting with the Thunderbirds on May 29. The Thunderbirds downed the OHL champion Peterborough Petes 4-1 in a semifinal contest to advance to the final.

It was expected the Memorial Cup title game between the Thunderbirds and Remparts would be a heavyweight tilt. It was apparent in that contest Remparts head coach and general manager Patrick Roy and his staff used the four days off between their last round robin game and the title contest to ensure their team was ready for the final.

The Memorial Cup win just added to more to Roy’s hockey legend and his image as an all-time hero in the province of Quebec rightfully nicknamed “Saint Patrick.”

At the 6:31 mark of the first period, Remparts import defenceman Vsevolod Komarov fired a shot to the top right corner of the Seattle net converting a beauty pass on a two-on-one break from Remparts left-winger Kassim Gaudet to open the game’s scoring.

The Remparts pushed their advantage out to 2-0 at the 8:50 mark of the second as star right-winger James Malatesta fired home his fifth goal of the tournament converting a tick-tack-toe passing play involving star centre Theo Rochette and Komarov. Malatesta’s tally came during a stretch were the two sides were playing four skaters versus four skaters due to off-setting penalties.

Seattle appeared to have a big chance to mount a comeback after Remparts centre Mikael Huchette was given a minor penalty for cross-checking sending the Thunderbirds to the power play with 8:58 remaining in the third. On the Thunderbirds power play, the Remparts scored a short-handed goal to go up 3-0 that proved to be a backbreaking tally to the hopes of the WHL champs.

In the Remparts zone, Thunderbirds star centre Brad Lambert had a shot blocked by Remparts defenceman Nicolas Savoie. The puck deflected right to Remparts star centre Justin Robidas who quickly transitioned down the right-wing on a two-on-one break with Gaudet.

Robidas passed the puck across the front of the Seattle net to Gaudet, who buried the short-handed marker to give the Remparts their three-goal lead with 7:39 remaining in the third. Gaudet’s goal ultimate brought an end to the competitive part of the contest.

Zachary Bolduc tallied on the power play and Charles Savoie scored at even strength for the Remparts to round out the 5-0 final.

William Rousseau stopped all 32 shots he faced to pick up the shutout win in goal for the Remparts. Thomas Milic turned away 30 shots to take the setback in goal for the Thunderbirds.

Malatesta took the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as the MVP of the Memorial Cup tournament. He was named to the tournament all-star team along with teammates Rochette and Rousseau. Rousseau claimed the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy as the event’s most outstanding goaltender.

Thunderbirds star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic and standout defensive-defenceman Nolan Allan were also named to the tournament’s all-star team.

While the Remparts on the scoreboard posted a convincing win, the Thunderbirds did have chances to change their fate. After the Remparts got ahead 1-0 and increased their edge to 2-0, the Thunderbirds were never able to find a traction moment to change the complexion of the contest.

Had the Thunderbirds scored in the game’s first 50 minutes, it could have changed how that whole contest played out. The Remparts did make a handful of mistakes that resulted in scoring chances for the Thunderbirds.

The Thunderbirds weren’t able to score off those mistakes, and it ended up being a no harm and now foul situation for the Remparts.

Before the Remparts netted their first goal, Lambert had a chance in alone in the Quebec zone to score for the Thunderbirds, but he as stoned by Rousseau. Late in the first period with the Remparts holding a 1-0 lead, the Thunderbirds forced the Remparts to turn the puck over in their own zone resulting in a scoring chance for Crnkovic, whose backhand shot was swallowed up with some juggling by Rousseau.

Nolan Allan was a Memorial Cup tournament all-star.

A short time after that scoring chance, Crnkovic created another scoring opportunity. He intercepted a pass by a Remparts player behind the Quebec goal. After getting the puck, Crnkovic fed a pass to the front of the net to Thunderbirds captain Lucas Ciona. Ciona quick shot was swallowed up by an alert Rousseau.

About eight minutes into the second, Thunderbirds offensive-defenceman Jeremy Hanzel had a point blank chance to score, but Rousseau turned that shot away with a pad stop.

Had the Thunderbirds scored on any of those early chances, it might have created some doubts for the players on the Remparts.

The Remparts were able to make the Thunderbirds hesitate and second guess what they were able to do with the puck thanks to structured play. Quebec created a number of Seattle turnovers.

Lambert had his struggles turning the puck over at least on three occasions with backhanded passes that resulted in turnovers and offensive zone rushes for the Remparts. Thanks to Milic, the Remparts didn’t score on any of those turnovers.

Lambert, who is 19-years-old, was selected in the first round and 30^th overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft and has a signed entry-level contract with the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets assigned Lambert to the Thunderbirds in January from the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, and Lambert looked like a future NHL star in his half season with the Thunderbirds.

If he makes turnovers like he did in the Memorial Cup title game at the NHL level, Lambert won’t be in the NHL for very long. He is already under the microscope by Jets followers, so you can be sure his turnovers in the Memorial Cup title game were noticed.

Had the Thunderbirds scored on the third period power play they received due to Huchette’s cross-checking minor, a goal at that point could have changed how the Memorial Cup title game played out.

Still, the Remparts were 27-3 overall in their last 30 contests, so they flat out deserved to win the Memorial Cup and soak in all the praise that comes their way.

For the WHL as a league, maybe the “Curse of the Drop” still lingers.

For the superstitious types, that event took place on May 25, 2008 after the WHL champion Spokane Chiefs downed the host Kitchener Rangers 4-1 in the Memorial Cup tournament’s championship game. After receiving the trophy, Chiefs captain Chris Bruton had the Memorial Cup fall apart in his hands as he attempted to give it to veteran defenceman Trevor Glass.

Since that drop, the WHL has only won the Memorial Cup once coming with the Oil Kings win in 2014.

Going forward, one has to wonder how long the WHL’s Memorial Cup drought will continue, and how much the hands of fate will play a part in extending that drought.

Bedard makes history at CHL Awards

Connor Bedard collect three honours at the CHL Awards.

Regina Pats 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard continues to make history even when he isn’t skating in games on the ice.

On Saturday, Bedard cleaned up at the CHL Awards held in Kamloops, B.C., as part of the Memorial Cup tournament that is held to crown a CHL champion. Bedard claimed the David Branch Player of the Year Award, the CHL Top Draft Prospect Award and the CHL Top Scorer Award.

The North Vancouver, B.C., product became the first play to win all three awards since the CHL Top Scorer Award was first introduced in 1994.

In 57 regular season appearances for the Pats, Bedard, who is the Pats captain, piled up 71 goals and 72 assists for 143 points to go with a plus-39 rating in the plus-minus department. In the WHL Playoffs, Bedard had 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points to go with a plus-eight rating as Regina fell in a tough seven game first round series to the Saskatoon Blades.

Bedard is rated number one among North American skaters in the final ranking released by NHL Central Scouting. Barring something unforeseen, Bedard will be the first overall selection in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft set for June 28 to 29 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, and he will be skating in the NHL next season as an 18-year-old with the Chicago Blackhawks, who hold the first overall selection.

At this past world juniors held in Halifax, N.S., and Moncton, N.B., Bedard set numerous Canadian team records helping Canada take the gold medal final 3-2 in overtime over Czechia this past January 5 in Halifax.

Bedard was named the most valuable player at world juniors along with picking up accolades being named the event’s best forward and a tournament all-star.

His tallies for assists (14) and points (23) were new Canadian records for a single world juniors along with setting a new record for points in a tournament by any player aged 18 or younger. In 16 career games played at world juniors, Bedard set new Canadian career records at the event for goals (16) and points (36).

Bedard’s own brand skyrocketed following world juniors. He sold out rinks or set attendance records at arena across the WHL in most games he played in following world juniors.

Connor Bedard had 143 points in 57 regular season games in 2022-23.

It likely won’t be long when Bedard is in his NHL career that a new appreciation hits fans and followers of the WHL circuit that he played his entire major junior career on that circuit. There are probably some fans out there who are kicking themselves they didn’t get out to see Bedard in his 16-year-old season in 2021-22.

In 2021-22 when the WHL clubs started playing in their home rinks in front of fans after big shutdowns due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, WHL teams drew an average of 3,205 spectators per game for 748 regular season dates. This past season, WHL squads drew an average of 3,895 spectators per game for 748 regular season date.

At some point in time, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Bedard maybe one game become a sports cultural icon in Chicago like the late Walter Payton with the NFL’s Bears and Michael Jordan with the NBA’s Bulls.

In making the rounds on the interview trail around Game 2 of the NHL’s Stanley Cup final in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Monday, Bedard looked poised. He also displayed a cool and confident strut when he was on an NHL on TNT panel with Wayne Gretzky, Anson Carter, Henrik Lundquist and Paul Bissonnette.

You have to think it is going to be fun watching Bedard’s NHL journey play out.

Besides the continuing excitement with Bedard, Olen Zellweger was the other winner at the CHL Awards from the WHL. The Kamloops Blazers star defenceman claimed the CHL Defenceman of the Year Award.

Nathan Darveau of the QMJHL’s Victoriaville Tigres claimed the CHL’s Goaltender of the Year Award, Maxim Masse of the QMJHL’s Chicoutimi Sagueneens took home the CHL Rookie of the Year Award, Dave Cameron of the OHL’s Ottawa 67s captured the Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award, Evan Vierling of the OHL’s Barrie Colts won the CHL Sportsman Player of the Year Award, Colby Barlow of the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack claimed the CHL Scholastic Player of the Year Award and Dalyn Wakely of the OHL’s North Bay Battalion took home the CHL Humanitarian of the Year Award.

On Sunday, Zellweger picked up another honour as he was named an all-star on defence for the Memorial Cup Tournament following the Quebec Remparts 5-0 championship game win over the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Connor Bedard will be selected first in the NHL Entry Draft.

Blazers star captain Logan Stankoven picked up a pair of Memorial Cup tournament awards. Stankoven captured the Ed Chynoweth Trophy as the event’s top scorer and George Parsons Trophy as most sportsmanlike player. The skilled centre topped the Memorial Cup tournament with nine points coming off two goals and seven assists in four games.

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’s Battle of Alberta is great sports entertainment

Oilers, Flames run it back in “old school” series

Hockey cards of Connor McDavid and Matthew Tkachuk.

After two games of the Battle of Alberta, we’ve learned Connor McDavid can skate on water and Matthew Tkachuk is working his way to sainthood.

On the ice, McDavid, who is the captain of the Edmonton Oilers, seemingly has the ability to turn water into wine filling highlight reels with the two goals and four assists he has collected in two outings. Tkachuk, who is the high-scoring agitator of the Calgary Flames, showed he does have a heart of gold during a hat trick performance offering to give Oilers pest Evander Kane a few bucks after hearing Kane might be having some money problems.

In an era of sports where rivalries are really lackluster and just rivalries in name only, the Oilers and Flames are seemingly turning back the clock to the 1980s with their best-of-seven NHL Western Conference semifinal series.

Over the first two games of the set at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, the Oilers and Flames have done their best to shoot out the lights on the scoreboard. The Flames took a wild Game 1 on Wednesday by a 9-6 final and the Oilers rebounded with 5-3 come-from-behind victory in Game 2 on Friday.

The two sides combined for 23 goals and were one tally shy of equaling the NHL record for most combined goals in the first two games of a playoff series at 24 set in the 1981 post-season by the Boston Bruins and Minnesota North Stars in a first round tilt.

There have been four other post-season series that have opened with a combined 23 goals in the first two games, and all of those sets were played in the 1980s with Wayne Gretzky’s high-octane Oilers being involved in three of those series.

There have been hard hits, scrums, heated exchanges and one-on-one personal rivalries are developing right before the eyes of all onlookers.

With Oilers and Flames meeting in the NHL post-season for the first time since 1991, fans of both teams were hoping to get a rivalry series that lived up to the five playoff encounters the teams had between 1983 and 1991, but there was probably a guarded expectation of realism that likely wouldn’t happen. To the surprise of supporters of both teams, the Oilers and Flames are giving them a Christmas gift in May.

Game 1 of the series has the feeling of chaos. The Flames built a 6-2 advantage only for the Oilers to even the score a 6-6 early in the third period.

A Johnny Gaudreau card.

Calgary closed things out scoring the final three goals of that contest, which included Tkachuk scoring his team’s eighth and ninth tallies to complete a hat trick night. Flames star left-winger Johnny Gaudreau had three assists in the win as well.

On top of the goals, Game 1 of the series had so many side plots happening you could miss something with a blink of an eye.

One of those included Tkachuk trying to get under Kane’s skin regarding reported money troubles the Oilers’ left-winger was facing. In January of 2021, Kane filed for bankruptcy after accruing more that US$26-million in debt.

In Game 2, the Flames took a 3-1 lead early in the second before the Oilers closed the contest scoring four straight goals. McDavid had a goal and an assist, while his high-scoring partner in centre Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists.

Like McDavid, Draisaitl has two goals and four assists after the first two games of this series.

In the Game 2 win, the Oilers received a key goal by veteran defenceman Duncan Keith and timely singles from defenceman Evan Bouchard and left-winger Zach Hyman.

As far as personal battles go, Tkachuk is having his aforementioned clash with Kane. Power forwards Zack Kassian of the Oilers and Milan Lucic of the Flames appear to like crossing paths and exchanging pleasantries.

Lucic played for the Oilers before being traded to the Flames before the start of the 2019-20 campaign.

Kane also appeared to have his with issues Lucic too. Near the end of the first period of Game 1, Lucic laid a massive hit on McDavid, and Kane immediately skated in to confront the Flames aggressor.

Overall, this series has been the overall tonic needed to pull in the casual fans. Even here in Saskatoon, the Oilers and Flames jerseys are seemingly popping up everywhere as closet fans continue to emerge.

Often those fans will be sporting jerseys that done of the names of Oilers and Flames players from years gone by.

So far, the Oilers and Flames are delivering great “sports entertainment,” and their games have become must watch television. Concerns for normal strategies and tactics of the game have been thrown out the window.

Instead, we are getting jokes from Flames fans about how difficult it is for Oilers fans to count to nine with regards to Calgary goals scored in Game 1, and Oilers fans joking back they are surprised Flames fans can count past one referencing how many Stanley Cups the Calgary side has won. The Oilers have won the Stanley Cup on five different occasions.

A Leon Draisaitl card.

Now the series shifts to Rogers Place in Edmonton for Game 3 on Sunday, which will on CBC at 6 p.m. Saskatchewan time.

Even people that don’t cheer for either team are going to be tuning in to see what happens next.

In the current day, the Oilers and Flames are showing sports rivalries can still be fun and colourful. That is important to remember, because too many people involved with professional sports forget that pro sports are a part of the entertainment industry.

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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Reacting peacefully to sports scene is wise in COVID-19 times

The Cougars had 18 players and staff test positive for COVID-19.

There are moments during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic you want to tell some in the sports scene or some fans of the scene to go take a valium or go smoke some medical marijuana.

It seems like any time there is a change with the sports scene that people want to lash out emotionally. It is almost like you get some sort of high by being triggered. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there are lots of opportunities to get triggered by changes in the sports scene.

Those people don’t seem to settle down, step back and think thinks out with a calm mind.

When you look at the sports world, it can be understandable. In the sports world, it seems society loves to see their sports figures be emotional, passionate and show heart. The same goes for the fans.

The emotion, passion and heart show you care about the sport and care about the team you are playing for, work for or cheer for.

What sometimes gets forgotten is sport rewards those who can control their emotion and passion and can conduct themselves in a cerebral and professional manner.

Joe Montana, who built a Pro Football Hall of Fame career playing for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, was known by one of his nicknames as “Joe Cool.”

Why was Montana known as “Joe Cool?”

Montana was “Joe Cool,” because no matter how big the stakes were in a game, or what adversities were faced in the contest he was playing, he never lost his cool.

He always shut out the noise and acted in control. He formulated a plan in his mind that this is what you had to do to get things done, and he would go out and execute those things to win the game.

You could find those types of qualities in most of the best athletes like hockey icon Wayne Gretzky and basketball icon Michael Jordan.

A lot of times, you don’t even need to look at the top levels of professional sports to find those qualities.

The Prince Albert Raiders displayed those qualities during the 2018-19 campaign when they finished first overall in the WHL and won the WHL title. As a unit, the players didn’t lose their cool and were focused on what needed to be done in the game they were playing that day.

Provincials in 2021 are mostly no in Man., uncertain for Westman Wildcats.

Even if scrums or fight situations developed and one of the Raiders showed great passion at that time, that player was still in control and knew what he was doing.

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the world is a different animal. In North America, there have been some sort of restrictions in place to battle COVID-19 for a little over the past eight-and-a-half months.

As new case numbers have spiked throughout November in North America, restrictions have been reintroduced at different levels everywhere.

There have been situations that society has never dealt with as a collective in its history. One of those points came in late March and early April when pretty much all non-essential services in the world were stopped.

The last time the world experienced a pandemic that paralleled what is happening with the current COVID-19 pandemic was the Spanish Flu pandemic that ran from 1918 to 1920. Shutdowns did happen during the Spanish Flu pandemic, but only a handful of people in today’s world were alive back then and most would have been too young to have recollections of the Spanish Flu.

The Spanish Flu pandemic was caused by an H1N1 influenza A virus, and vaccines created by medical science in the current day have kept influenza viruses under control.

Still as a collective, society in the current day doesn’t have experience dealing with something like what the COVID-19 pandemic has presented.

In the sports world, the natural reaction is to act emotionally when a change occurs. At times, people that are lashing out need to step back and really look at what they are reacting to.

They have to ask themselves is it really worth ranting and raving over what they are reacting to or triggered from.

If you are ranting and raving over something immediately, that usually is a sign that you have been triggered.

In the current sports climate, the changes and the breaking news isn’t going to stop coming. That has been true even in the past couple of days.

On Monday, Hockey Manitoba announced all minor hockey provincials for the 2021 have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those tournaments would have run across the province throughout February and March of 2021.

An opening was still in place to allow provincial leagues to name a provincial champion in Manitoba.

The Acadie-Bathurst Titan and QMJHL are off until Jan. 2021.

On Monday, it was also announced that 18 members of the Mount Royal University Cougars men’s hockey team had tested positive for COVID-19. The positives tests included both players and staff members. The team is in isolation and due to Alberta public health orders, the Cougars won’t be training again until next year.

Also on Monday, the QMJHL announced all league activities are suspended starting on Tuesday and running through to Jan. 3, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

If that wasn’t enough, Brady Lang of 650 CKOM reported on Monday the City of Saskatoon pulled all hockey nets off outdoor community rinks due to the provincial public health orders that are in place. Those restrictions are currently set to be in place until Dec. 17.

To different degrees, you could find people raging on any of these topics. At the end of the day, does that rage really help anything outside of blowing off steam?

You could also react too far in joyful way when good news appears to occur.

On Tuesday, Curling Canada announced the 2021 Scotties, the Brier, the men’s world curling championship and the Canadian national mixed doubles will all be hosted at the Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alta., in a bubble city format. The official dates of these events are still to be announced.

When this bit of news dropped, there were those that acted like life was going to return to normal starting tomorrow.

The Curling Canada announcement was great news, but you do have to take the news knowing that there is a risk those four events still might not happen.

There is also great optimism about the four vaccine candidates that mainstream media outlets have done a number of stories on the past handful of days. The expectation of what might happen in those stories still has to be tempered.

For myself when I hear those vaccine stories, I have moments where I envision everything returning to normal by September of 2021. I realize the game isn’t over and there are still a lot of steps that have to be taken to get to that point.

I don’t try to set a date for those things and try to let it play out as it will play out and react the best I can to the developments.

With all that said, I am not against athletes having a good cry or being upset session, if their season comes to an unexpected end. If they can do that with a friend or teammate and even talk those feelings out with a teammate, that type of action is even better.

The 2019 WHL champion Raiders were cool even in emotional times.

The up and down waves of emotion are going to continue to come during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here is hoping everyone in society can find a way to ride those waves out as evenly as possible.

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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Ayres NHL story shows people identify with the regular guy

David Ayres, left signs an autograph for a young fan.

    It might not be an exaggeration to say that David Ayres is the most famous goaltender in North America at the moment.

    After appearing in just one half of one NHL regular season game, Ayres is arguably more well-known than Vegas Golden Knights star netminder Marc-Andre Fleury or even retired Hockey Hall of Fame member Patrick Roy, who won four Stanley Cup rings in his NHL career.

    Ayres’ tale proves how much fans of sports and the general public still identify with the ordinary guy. His story is still seemingly getting more and more cemented in the collective conscious of the public.

    The Whitby, Ont., product became famous on February 22 for having to enter an NHL regular season game to play goal for the Carolina Hurricanes against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. 

The line was long to see David Ayres, left, on Friday night.

    After the Hurricanes starting and backup goalies were injured, the 42-year-old Ayres fulfilled his role as the emergency backup entering the contest in the second period with the visitors holding a 3-1 edge.

    He allowed goals on the first two shots he faced and turned away the next eight shots in a 6-3 victory for the Hurricanes. With that result, Ayres became the first emergency backup goaltender to earn an NHL win.

    At age 42 years and 194 days, he became the oldest goaltender to win his NHL regular season debut.

    He is the operations manager for the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Ont., and is best known for being a Zamboni driver.

    Ayres had a kidney transplant in 2004, which has allowed him to live his life to the fullest. His mother, Mary, was the donor.

David Ayres, right, is pictured with some minor hockey players.

    While he has been a practice goalie with the Leafs and the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, Ayres basically lived out the story of being the regular guy to come in off the street to play a sport at the highest professional level and earn success against people who play every day in “The Show.”

    The general public gravitates to that story. Over most of the time professional sports have existed, fans have often carried that illusion that they too could be on that athletic stage if only they caught a break.

    It recalls a lengthy period of time when professional athletes showed up to training camp to get in shape. Often during the off-season, athletes would let themselves go and either lounge on a beach or go party and socialize.

    In a past era that wasn’t really that long ago, professional athletes often held another occupation in the off-season to pay the bills to go along with the income they made playing their sport. This used to include players in the NHL.

David Ayres speaks at the press conference on Friday in Saskatoon.

    Back in that not so long ago but seemingly forgotten era, professional athletes seemed more connected to the general public, and the general public could make a connection of seeing a professional athlete as an everyday person.

    That perception changed in the early 1990s when year-round training started to come into vogue for both professional athletes and elite amateur athletes. On the professional side in leagues like the NHL, MLB, NBA and NFL, the million dollar contracts most of those athletes were seemingly making by the end of the 1990s seemed to put those athletes in a position where they don’t connect to the general public like they once did.

    In the current era of about the last 10 years, elite amateur athletes feel intense pressure to specialize in one sport. When they do that, it further shrinks their circle of friends and contacts.

Professional athletes and elite amateur athletes in the current day work at their sports like full-time professionals.

Saskatoon’s media outlets flocked to David Ayres’ press conference.

    The general public, at least in North America, can’t identify with those professional and elite amateur athletes, because most in the general public have never put that type of work into a sport. Most in the general public still view sports in one respect as children’s games.

    At the moment, that is the biggest problem sports in North America faces because the general public can’t truly identify with the highs and lows professional athletes and elite amateur athletes experience. A sizable disconnect is there resulting interest and attendance challenges for most sports.

    When a professional athlete or an elite amateur athlete equates winning a major championship to being a life highlight like a wedding day or the birth of a child, those in the general public can’t understand that.

Sarah Ayres has kept her husband, David, on schedule.

    People in the general public understand weddings or child births. Those are experiences most in the general public commonly share.

    People in the general public can’t identify with the significance of what it is like to win a major championship, because an extreme few have been in that position or have put in the work to be in that position.

    Most people in the general public have played some sort of sport at the recreational level, and they can identify with the story of Ayres. That is why Ayres’ story has taken off, and he is now making appearances seemingly everywhere.

    His wife, Sarah, is tasked with planning out her husband’s schedule.

    David Ayres went to Raleigh, North Carolina, where the Hurricanes are based. He was made an honourary citizen of the state and Feb. 25 was named “David Ayres Day” in Raleigh.

    On Friday and Saturday, Ayres appeared in Saskatoon to great fanfare.

    A Friday afternoon press conference event at Wendel Clark’s Classic Bar and Grill attracted representation of pretty much all the media outlets in Saskatoon. In the current budget cut era Canada’s mainstream media outlets are working under, that is an accomplishment.

    Ayres looked like a person who was in shape standing six-feet and a cut 201 pounds, so that spoiled the notion he might be a Homer Simpson like looking dude.

David Ayres waves to the SaskTel Centre crowd on Friday.

    Still, his following was there. When Ayres signed autographs at the Saskatoon Blades WHL game during the first intermission on Friday night, the lineup circled around a third of the concourse of the SaskTel Centre.

    The autograph seekers acted like they encountered Wayne Gretzky or Mark Messier when they played for the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s.

    On Saturday, Ayres took part in practice for the NLL’s Saskatchewan Rush stepping into the net to play goal.

    He proceeded to take part in festivities at the Rush game that night.

    Due to the fact he was the recipient of a kidney transplant, Ayres is trying to use his newfound fame to raise awareness of organ donation.

    It was fitting the Blades game on Friday was their Suits Up, which was used to raise proceeds to donate to Saskatoon’s Kidney Foundation Branch.

David Ayres, second from right, appears at Friday’s ceremonial faceoff.

    Among the newfound fame that is seeing book and movie deals come his way, Ayres continues to hold down the stereotypically image of being the well-mannered and polite Canadian.

    At some point, the excitement over Ayres story will run its course, but it should still serve as a lesson for current professional and elite amateur athletes.

    That lesson is you still need to be connected to the general public in order to make your sport grow. The fans, ticket buyers and merchandise buyers from the general public ultimately make it possible for you to do what you do.

Jack of all trades pic.twitter.com/vWPhsytZh3

— 🇨🇦Sarah Ayres🇨🇦 (@35Ayres) March 7, 2020

    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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Oilers will always have a big following in Saskatchewan

The Oilers mingle at their bench during a timeout.

    The Edmonton Oilers will always have a sizable following in Saskatchewan.

    During Wednesday’s 4-0 NHL pre-season victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, a large gathering of 10,387 spectators were on hand at the SaskTel to see captain Connor McDavid and his Edmonton bunch. The Oilers star attraction didn’t disappoint netting a pair of goals and an assist to send almost all of a partisan crowd, who were mostly decked out in Oilers gear, home happy.

    The Oilers following in Saskatchewan has been entrenched for a few decades. The team build a huge fanbase during the 1980s and early 1990s, when the Oilers captured the Stanley Cup five times in seven years from 1984 to 1990.

    During that time, the Oilers were often labeled Western Canada’s team. Due to hitting the ice with players the likes of hockey icons Wayne Gretzky, who was part of the Oilers first four Stanley Cup wins, and Mark Messier, it was easy to identify with the team that was on television on a regular basis every April and May thanks to those championship playoff runs.

    Oilers netminder Laurent Brossoit enjoyed seeing the support his team gets from Alberta’s eastern provincial neighbour.

    “That is nice to have a couple of provinces that considers us their home team,” said Brossoit. “It is definitely a nice feeling. It is a lot of support for us.”

    Saskatoon product and rugged defensive defenceman Eric Gryba has always enjoyed his homecomings during his NHL career, and he noted there is a bit of an extra attachment when he returns home as a member of the Oilers.

    “Any time I come home and play in my hometown (before) a lot of friends and family is always a special thing,” said Gryba. “Obviously, the crowd is excited to have the Oilers in town.”

The Oilers and Hurricanes get set for a faceoff.

    While the Oilers haven’t won a Stanley Cup title in 27 years, a lot of fans in Saskatchewan still have an attachment to the team’s glory days. When the club is in a down stretch, the jerseys will sometimes be placed in the closet, but they are always ready to be brought out for that next memorable playoff run.

    Oilers fever hit a high pitch in the province in 2006, when the team advanced to the Stanley Cup finals only to fall 3-1 in a series deciding Game 7 to the Hurricanes. During that playoff run, many fans that weren’t alive to see the Oilers 1990 victory got to indulge in what appeared to be a team of destiny out of nowhere run.

    Edmonton proceeded to miss the post-season for the next 10 straight years.

    Last season, the Oilers returned to the playoffs posting a 47-26-9 record in the regular season. They eliminated the San Jose Sharks 4-2 in a best-of-seven first round series and fell 2-1 in a series deciding Game 7 to the Anaheim Ducks in the second round.

    Thanks to that run where they came up a win short of qualifying for the NHL’s Western Conference championship series, the support for the Oilers is gaining momentum again. With McDavid under contract for the next nine years, hope is high the new cast of characters that make up the current Oilers can bring home another Stanley Cup championship win.

    During a public autograph session that was part of the Royal University Hospital Foundation’s Celebrity Golf Classic last June, the players that received the most autograph requests were Gryba and Oilers starting netminder Cam Talbot. You could tell the run in the 2017 NHL playoffs was fresh on the minds of the fans.

    In Saskatchewan, there will always be strong followings for the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs due to the NHL’s historic Original Six days.

    Thanks to the Stanley Cup runs from 1984 to 1990 and the sprinkling of playoff marches that have occurred since, the Oiler will always have a big backing locked down too in “the Wheat Province” too.

Other thoughts from Wednesday’s NHL stop in Saskatoon

The Oilers skate off the ice after saluting the fans at the SaskTel Centre.

    The fans that attended Wednesday’s NHL pre-season game at the SaskTel Centre got to see a good show.

    While a 4-0 score in favour of the Edmonton Oilers might say otherwise, the Carolina Hurricanes had a number of solid chances to score. After outshooting the Oilers 13-4 in the second period, Carolina looked poised to rally from a 2-0 deficit. Connor McDavid scored twice inside of the final 10 minutes of the third to seal Edmonton’s victory.

    I have seen the NHL pre-season games that have been held in Saskatoon annually for the last four years. Last year’s game that saw the Ottawa Senators down the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime was the most exciting of the four.

    The games that have been held each of the past two years were far better than the ones I saw in 2014 and 2015. The contests the past two years were held late in the pre-season, and teams hit the ice with lineups that more resembled the ones that would be used in the regular season.

    The games in 2014 and 2015 definitely weren’t worth paying ticket prices ranging from $59.50 to $112 including fees to go see.

·         Hurricanes defenceman Haydn Fleury looked like an all-world player during his WHL days with the Red Deer Rebels, which wrapped up following the 2015-16 campaign. The sophomore pro looked ordinary trying to defend McDavid on a one-on-one rush on the Oilers fourth goal on Wednesday. McDavid seemed to toy with Fleury and cause the rearguard to move into position where he screened netminder Cam Ward. Fleury isn’t the first and won’t be the last player to look ordinary going against McDavid.

·         Wednesday’s attendance of 10,387 was quite a bit higher than the 7,541 that saw the Oilers play in Saskatoon in 2015. McDavid suited up for that 2015 contest, picking up an assist in a 3-0 win over the Minnesota Wild. Back then, McDavid was going through the paces of his rookie campaign.

·         Defenceman Eric Gryba of the Oilers and Trevor Carrick of the Hurricanes engaged in a late third period fight. Carrick managed to get some decent shots in, but the bout ended quickly after it started when the pair slipped down to ice.

·         Way less media from Edmonton attended Wednesday’s game compared to past years, when the Oilers came to Saskatoon. Outside of the crew putting together contest for the Oilers website, only one Edmonton based reporter was present during post-game interviews. In past years, a number of members from the Edmonton media were on hand. There were no appearances this year by legendary Edmonton sportswriters Jim Matheson and Terry Jones, who are both first class guys. It was another sign of Canada’s worse than skeleton crew media cut era. On the bright side, all of Saskatoon’s local outlets were represented.

·         I covered Wednesday’s game for The Canadian Press. My story for that wire service can be found right here.

Anthem protests didn’t have to happen

Some fans have burned their NFL gear over anthem protests.

    The sports world, especially the professional sports world, has been overwhelmed with protests regarding the United States national anthem, and the recent wave didn’t need to happen.

    A year ago, Colin Kaepernick, who was then the quarterback of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, at first sat and later kneeled during the playing of the U.S. national anthem to protest social injustice – primarily inequality and police violence against blacks. Issues involving race have always been a huge elephant in the room in the United States. Canada has its racial issues too, but arguably, they are not as wedge oriented as those in the United States.

    A number of other players joined Kaepernick when he started doing his protest, but the story really died down to the point it was pretty much off the radar at the start of the current NFL season.

    That changed last Friday, when U.S. President Donald Trump made a speech to supporters in Huntsville, Ala., and attacked players who kneeled in protest of the U.S. national anthem.

    Trump said, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’”

    He followed with a storm of inflammatory tweets. When NFL games rolled around on Sunday, there were massive protests that included over 200 players sitting or kneeling during the U.S. national anthem. Most teams locked arms in standing for the U.S. national anthem.

    In the CFL on Sunday, the Saskatchewan Roughriders locked arms during the Canadian national anthem before their 15-9 loss to the Calgary Stampeders at Mosaic Stadium as a show of support to the NFL players in the U.S.

    Since Trump’s speech last Friday, the anthem protest story seems to rise again with each passing hour with another story containing a different angle. It really feels like this is a story that is out of control. Had Trump not said what he said last Friday, life in the professional sports world and the overall sports would have gone on as normal.

    Now, you have two camps. You have those that kneel and lock arms to peacefully protest during the U.S. national anthem for Kaepernick’s original cause of protesting social injustice and police violence against minorities.

    You have the other camp that believe the peaceful protests during the U.S. national anthem show disrespect for the United States flag and military. The peaceful anthem protests were never about the United States flag or military.

    That same scenario goes for Canada and the Canadian flag and military.

    The two sides seem to keep escalating each other up, where you have fans burning jerseys or other team gear. The fact Trump, who started all this in the first place, keeps stoking the fire on this subject also doesn’t help.

    For myself, I will support anyone that feels moved to the point they believe it is necessary to make a peaceful protest during the national anthem in the United States or Canada like what has happened in the last five days. If someone wants to just stand at attention during the national anthem in the United States or Canada, I support that action too. Freedom of expression is a right in both countries.

    In the amateur sports world, I know a large number of teams who are serious when it comes to standing at attention for the national anthem, and it has become part of something those teams have always done. If they do anything else, it feels weird. Those teams should feel free to continue what they have always done.

    Had Trump not stoked the subject up last Friday, the divisiveness that followed would not have happened.

RIP Hugh Hefner (1926-2017)

A 2010 documentary on Hugh Hefner.

    On Wednesday, Hugh Hefner, who was the founder of Playboy magazine, died at the age of 91 at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, California.

    Due to Hefner’s age, his passing isn’t a shock. It still feels surreal due to the impact he had on culture in North America and the world during his life. It seems everyone likes to relive the joke that they checked out Playboy for the articles as opposed to the naked female centerfolds, but Hefner’s life impact expanded beyond that publication.

    Before Playboy was published, talking about sex in North America was locked in the puritan sense in that you didn’t talk about or acknowledge it at all. He helped society break free from that where the attitude toward sex became more free.

    What often doesn’t get discussed is that Hefner had a huge impact in advocating for free speech, civils rights and social justice causes, and he was way ahead of his time in advocating for those things on a number of fronts.

    Back in 2010, filmmaker Brigitte Berman produced the documentary entitled, “Hugh Hefner Playboy, Activist and Rebel.”

    The film does a fantastic job of telling the story of Hefner’s life. The majority of the interviews are with his supporters, but there are also interviews from his detractors and went into detail about the adversities he faced.

    Hefner spoke freely about his adversities. His supporters note Hefner always carried himself like a gentleman.

    The best part of the film was it was shot when Hefner was in his mid-80s, and he was still really vibrant. Judging from social media posts from people that were close to him, age finally caught up to Hefner on the health front in recent years. If you find a copy of Berman’s documentary, it is a must to check out in my opinion.

    I believe Hefner made the world a better place and did a great job in living life to the fullest.

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

Howe's legend will always be larger than life

The Gordie Howe statue that sits outside the SaskTel Centre.

    Gordie Howe.

    When you mention the late hockey icon’s name, you almost don’t know where to start.

    Along with Maurice “The Rocket” Richard, Howe was one of those first hockey stars that was idolized by children. Due to the fact he played 32 seasons in the NHL and WHA, children that idolized “Mr. Hockey” grew up to be parents and watched their children also look up to Howe.

    Growing up in the 1980s, I remember getting into debates and arguments with my late father about who was the greatest hockey player of all-time. For me, the obvious answer was Wayne Gretzky due to the scoring records and ridiculous offensive point totals he was putting up at that time with the Edmonton Oilers.

    My dad would always say I was wrong, and that Howe was the best. Howe was my dad’s childhood hero. The debate always turned to the fact that Howe played most of his years with the Detroit Red Wings in the “Original Six” era of the NHL where the competition wasn’t as watered down as a league that contained 21 teams like the 1980s NHL did.

    Also, no other player had the offensive grace and toughness that Howe possessed, which gave the “Gordie Howe hat trick” life of getting a goal, an assist and a fighting major in the same game.

    Sunday will be “Thank You, Mr. Hockey Day” in Saskatchewan. During a private family ceremony in the morning, the ashes of Gordie and his late wife Colleen Howe will be interred at the Gordie Howe statue that sits outside the SaskTel Centre.

    Gordie, who was born in a farmhouse in Floral, Sask., and moved to Saskatoon at age 9, passed away earlier this year on June 10 at age 88. Colleen passed away on March 6, 2009 at age 76.

    After the ceremony, Howe’s family will make their way to the newly built Circle Drive South Bridge, which has been renamed the Gordie Howe Bridge.

    From there, everything shifts back to the SaskTel Centre, where Howe will be honoured in a pre-game ceremony at 2 p.m. before the Saskatoon Blades hit the ice for their WHL regular season home opener against the Swift Current Broncos.

A Gordie Howe card from the 1980s.

    A tailgate party starts in the parking lot at 12 p.m. and the doors to the rink open at 1 p.m.

    It should also be noted the WHL’s Vancouver Giants will also be honouring Howe in a pre-game ceremony before their home opener on Friday against the Everett Silvertips. Howe was a former minority owner of the Giants, and his family members will be in Vancouver before making the journey to the right-winger’s hometown area.

    Both the Giants and Blades games will be shown on Shaw.

    There will be a lot of emotions on both nights. It seems everyone has a Gordie Howe story to tell.

For me, my father’s stories of Howe danced in my head the first and only time I interviewed him.
    The interview occurred in December of 1999, when I was an intern general assignment reporter for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. I was working with fellow interns Jillian MacPherson and Vanessa Lee compiling a list of what Saskatchewan’s movers and shakers were doing to ring in the new millennium.

    When I got on the phone with Howe, I was so nervous. I had to keep from freaking out that I was actually talking to Gordie Howe. It was one of the rare times I was caught being in awe of the celebrity of a person.

    The quote I used from Howe was, “Well, we won’t be doing a heck of a lot of anything. If our grandson is playing on New Year’s, I’ll go watch him play. And that’s Nolan Howe. That’s Mark’s son.

    “Nothing concrete. We’re just laid back, like we were in Saskatchewan.”

    To me, the quote was cool, because it came from Howe.

    The other time I encountered Howe was at the 2007 Memorial Cup tournament, when I was a beat writer covering the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers for the Medicine Hat News. At that time, I wasn’t awestruck, but I felt it was cool to see Howe at the tournament.

    My big memory came from the CHL awards ceremony that year. A bunch of the high rollers that sponsored the Memorial Cup were in attendance. They were nice to talk to, but the mingling had an upper class feel to it.

    I looked at Howe, and he looked like the lost prairie boy. He was being polite and courteous to everyone, but you almost could see a vibe that he wasn’t with his crowd. I totally identified with him at that moment, because I was feeling that way too.

A Gordie Howe card from the 1990s.

    The thing that put Howe over the top for being great was the fact he was ordinary. He did all these limitless spectacular things on the ice, but off of it, he was that kind next door neighbour.

    The public viewed him as being like “you and me.”

    Over the years, I have heard a number of other cool stories featuring Howe. A couple of my favourites were told to me by former NHL players Morris Lukowich and Bryan Maxwell. Those I will pass on via word of mouth otherwise this column would go on forever.

    While hockey took Howe all over the map, he always managed to return to Saskatoon. His last public appearance was at the 55^th annual Saskatoon Kinsmen Sports Celebrity Dinner back in February 2015, when a huge number former hockey stars flocked into town.

    It just seems fitting that Howe’s remains will be laid to rest in his hometown area.

    The Blades are expecting 61 members of Howe’s family to be in Saskatoon on the weekend. There will never be a better chance locally to give a heartwarming salute and thanks for all the good things Howe did in his life and the recognition he brought for Saskatoon and Saskatchewan.

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