Showing posts with label Willow Slobodzian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Willow Slobodzian. Show all posts

Saturday, 28 November 2020

The Stars most memorable night at Agriplace Arena

First provincial title won in March of 2015

Kianna Dietz celebrates scoring for the Stars.
It might have been one of the most hyper championship celebrations of all time.

On March 25, 2015, the host Saskatoon Stars blanked the Prince Albert A & W Bears 2-0 in Game 3 of the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League championship series. With the win, the Stars swept the best-of-five set 3-0 and captured the Fedoruk Cup.

After the game’s final seconds ticked away at the Agriplace Arena, the Stars poured off their bench in a highly energetic celebration. They were bouncing all over the walls like young kids on a sugar rush the day after Halloween.

The pure excitement like came from the fact the Stars roster was young. The Saskatoon side had six players in their 15-year-old years and five players skating in their 14-year-old underage years.

Sophie Shirley controls the puck in the offensive zone.
Anna Leschyshyn dressed in that championship winning game as a 13-year-old associate player call up. Grace Shirley had also been playing regular season and post-season games as a 13-year-old associate player call up too.

The image of the Stars engaging in just pure and unfiltered joy was actually quite entertaining and even cute to watch. That win marked the first time the Stars won a provincial title on a circuit that is now known as the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League.

They beat their tradition rival to do it as well in a Bears side that is now known as the Prince Albert Northern Bears.

Nara Elia gets set to dangle past the Bears defence.
Looking at the Stars players, you could see they knew they did something special.

Going into that title winning game, there weren’t any thoughts about post-game celebrations on the Stars side. The focus was on beating the Bears.

The Bears had 17-year-old veteran Jessica Vance in goal who is still the SFU18AAAHL’s all-time leader in regular season goaltending wins. They had a couple of talented 17-year-old veteran forwards who could put up the points in Madison Casavant and Tylor Lindsey.

They had a 15-year-old offensive defender in Brooke Hobson, who had a shot that seemed to be given to her as a gift from the heavens and was a skilled power-play quarterback. 

The Stars celebrate a title winning goal from Jordyn Gerlitz.
Captain Morgan Willoughby, who was a 17-year-old veteran defender, was playing with grit returning halfway through the season from a serious knee injury.

Prince Albert had younger players who might be X-factors too in 14-year-old rookie underage defenders Hannah Koroll and Jordan Ashe along with 13-year-old rookie underage forward Abby Soyko.

The Bears were guided by head coach Jeff Willoughby, who was already a league veteran and two-time league coach of the year at that point in time.

The Stars countered with the two best players in the league in centre Sophie Shirley, who is Grace’s older sister, and winger Nara Elia, who were all-world talents skating in their 15-year-old sophomore years.

Captain Paige Michalenko was a steady veteran presence.
Elia scored the double overtime winner in Game 1 of the championship series with Sophie and 15-year-old winger Abby Shirley picking up assists.

In Game 2 of the series in Prince Albert, Sophie had two goals and an assist as the Stars blanked the Bears 3-0. In the Stars eight games of their post-season run to that point in time, Sophie had an incredible 12 goals and 12 assists.

The Stars were leaning on the talented Emma Johnson, who was a 15-year-old sophomore, to deliver in goal.

The five players the Stars had playing as 14-year-old underagers were already performing like veterans in forwards Mackenna Parker, Kianna Dietz, Jordyn Holmes and Jordyn Gerlitz along with supremely talented offensive defender Willow Slobodzian.

Goalie Emma Johnson keeps the Bears at bay in the third.
While the Stars were young, they were steadied by the presence of 17-year-old veterans in defender and captain Paige Michalenko, forwards Courtney Cormack and Brittany Heuchert and netminder Karlee Fetch.

Jenna Nash was having a strong season playing defence in her 17-year-old season until a knee injury brought her campaign to an end shortly before playoffs started. Nash was still around offering support to her teammates.

Danielle Nogier, who was a 16-year-old centre, did a thankless job as a tight checking defensive shutdown forward. Hollie Coumont, who was a 16-year-old defender, provided points while being a colourful character who had character.

Hollie Coumont was a character who had character.
Julia Rongve, who was played in her 15-year-old sophomore season, usually skated on the top line with Sophie Shirley and Elia and fulfilled any role the team asked of her.

 The Stars depth was rounded out by 16-year-old defender Danielle Girolami, 15-year-old defender Rayna Jacobson and 15-year-old utility player Kalista Senger. All three played important minutes at different points in the campaign.

Veteran hockey coach Greg Slobodzian took on the duties as Stars head coach that season and shared the league’s coach of the year honours in that campaign with Chad Kish, who was the head coach of the Weyburn Southern Range Gold Wings.

Anna Leschyshyn picked up an assist on the Stars second goal.
The crowd was squished into the Agriplace Arena for the Game 3 clash for the league title between the Stars and Bears on that March day in 2015.

Vance and Johnson took centre stage in the opening 20-minutes with the Stars holding a slim 8-7 edge in shots on goal. Sophie and Elia were working their magic, but weren’t able to get the host side on the scoreboard.

The Stars supporting cast stepped into the spotlight in the second period and made the ultimate difference in the contest.

At the 7:31 mark of the frame, Dietz set up Gerlitz for the tally that put the Stars up 1-0. Gerlitz, who was a speed and high energy forward, would go down as first player to score an SFU18AAAHL championship winning goal for the Stars.

The Stars begin celebrating their league title win.
Again, Gerlitz and Dietz were playing in their 14-year-old rookie underage seasons for the Stars.

Just 14 seconds later, a net scramble occurred in front of the Prince Albert net. A sprawling Vance and Morgan Willoughby couldn’t stop Dietz from popping home the all important insurance goal.

Dietz immediately raised her arms in the air and she was mobbed by her teammates on the ice. While she was a rookie, Dietz had already established herself as the glue gal in the Stars dressing room. She had a deep love for her teammates and team.

Leschyshyn picked up a helper on that tally.

The Stars raise the Fedoruk Cup.
The Bears attempted to battle back but the damage was done.

Johnson slammed the door the rest of the way officially making 22 saves to pick up the shutout win in goal. Vance turned away 20 shots taking the setback in net for the Bears.

The Stars forward unit of Nogier, Cormack and Heuchert performed a perfect shutdown job on the Bears in the final minute of the third period.

When time expired, the Stars were finally league champions.

In 2010, 2011 and 2012, the Stars made the league final but came up empty handed against Olivia Howe and her Notre Dame Hounds dynasty team.

Brittany Heuchert, left, and Hollie Coumont kiss the Fedoruk Cup.
The 2014-15 campaign was the time everything came through for the Saskatoon side in a magical season.

The Stars advanced to the Esso Cup female under-18 AAA national championship hosted that year in Red Deer, Alta., in April of 2015. Saskatoon fell to the host Red Deer Chiefs in a semifinal game 2-1 after a tiebreaking shootout.

The Stars rebounded and won the bronze medal game 5-1 against the Central Plains Capitals from Portage la Prairie, Man.

Overall, the Stars posted a 45-5 record in 2014-15.

Still, the most memorable night was winning the league championship at Agriplace.

The Stars pose for a team picture after winning the Fedoruk Cup.
Due to the fact a soldout concert wrapped up at the neighbouring SaskTel Centre, the Stars and their families were trapped by traffic at Agriplace following the championship win, and that was a good thing.

After the Stars players got showered and changed, the celebration continued for 90 minutes in the lounge area at the facility. It provided the opportune time for fellowship.

The memories made by all those with the Stars that night were ones that last for a lifetime. They truly were “the Shining Stars of Saskatoon.”

Shirley hits milestones with Badgers

Sophie Shirley added a couple of big milestones to her already well-decorated hockey resume over the past couple of days.

On Friday, the gifted centre, who is in her junior year, picked up an assist as her University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team fell in their NCAA regular season opener 3-2 to the Ohio State University Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio.

The helper was Shirley’s 100th career NCAA point.

On Saturday, the 21-year-old Saskatoon product scored twice to power the Badgers past the Buckeyes 5-0 in the second clash of a two-game series in Columbus, Ohio.

Shirley’s first tally was her 50th career NCAA goal. In 79 career games with the Badgers, Shirley has 51 goals and 51 assists for 102 points.

During her rookie campaign in 2018-19, Shirley piled up 20 goals and 18 assists for 38 points in 41 games helping the Badgers win an NCAA national championship.

Last season, Shirley recorded an incredible 29 goals and 32 assists for 61 points in 36 games for the Badgers. She was a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top player in NCAA women’s hockey.

The Badgers weren’t able to complete their post-season run in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

Shirley played two complete seasons for the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA team and three games as an associate player call up in the 2012-13 season. In 58 career regular season games with the Stars, Shirley piled up 41 goals and 27 assists for 68 points.

At the moment, the Badgers are set to return to action this coming Friday, when they are scheduled to travel to Minneapolis, Minn., to play the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Clark celebrates 25th birthday on Saturday

Emily Clark meets her fans at the SaskTel Centre in Nov. 2018.
Emily Clark, who has made her mark as one of Saskatoon’s all-time hockey greats, celebrated her 25th birthday on Saturday.

Clark, who is a member of Canada’s senior national women’s hockey team, played three seasons for her hometown Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA hockey team from 2009 to 2012. The supremely talented forward appeared in 82 regular season games for the Stars piling up 45 goals and 46 assists for 91 points.

During her final campaign with the Stars in 2011-12, Clark set the team record for most points scored in one regular season at 60. She piled up 26 goals and 34 assists for 60 points in 26 regular season games.

Her Stars record for most points in one regular season was matched by centre Mackenna Parker in the 2017-18 campaign, when Parker piled up 33 goals and 27 assists for 60 points in 23 regular season games.

Emily Clark, centre, with her old Stars teammates in Dec. 2019.
Clark’s number 13 was retired by the Stars in December of 2019.

Clark won two gold medals representing Canada at the women’s under-18 world hockey championships in 2011-12 and 2012-13.

She was a member of Canada’s women’s hockey team that won a silver medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Clark played four seasons with the University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team from 2014 to 2019 posting 70 goals and 76 assists for 146 points in 147 career NCAA games. She helped the Badgers win an NCAA national championship in her final season with the team in 2018-19.

In all her hockey stops, Clark has been popular with all her teammates. She continues to be one of the game’s top role models.

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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Friday, 13 November 2020

Sask. sports community dodges COVID-19 bullet, for now

The Prince Albert Mintos and Saskatoon Contacts can keep playing.
In Saskatchewan, the games will go on.

The question remains for how long?

On Thursday, new restrictions became active in Manitoba to battle the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and those restrictions are slated at the moment to last four weeks. Recreational centres have to remain closed in the province during those restrictions bringing sports in Manitoba to a halt.

On Friday, Alberta added new restrictions to battle the COVID-19 pandemic that are slated to last two weeks at the moment.

Alberta suspended indoor fitness programs and team sports. Sports restrictions are specifically for recreational teams or group activities that occur indoors. Outdoor sports are not affected and neither are individual sports or exercise.

Junior, collegiate, university and professional sports are also exempted.

Those restrictions have caused the slowdown in that province’s sports scene.

At 11:30 a.m. on Friday, the Government of Saskatchewan held a press conference to introduce new restrictions. You can bet the sports community in Saskatchewan was wondering if there would be any clamp downs in the sports scene.

During that press conference, it was announced new restrictions were coming in Monday and would remain in place for 28 days.

A mandatory indoor mask rule that was already in place for Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert was expanded to all communities with populations over 5,000.

The Saskatoon Stars can stay in action.
Communities that surround Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert are included in the mask mandate, even if their populations are less than 5,000.

Licensed liquor establishments will have to stop serving alcohol at 10 p.m. and consumption must end by 11 p.m.

The use of hookah and water pipes in lounges won’t be allowed.

Gyms and fitness centres can stay open, but group aerobic classes are limited to eight people, and they must maintain at least three metres of distance between each other.

Saskatchewan high schools with at least 600 students were recommended to move to level three of the province’s Safe Schools plan. The amount of in class learning is reduced at that level.

At the press conference, Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said the government has considered sports restrictions, and some could come next week.

It was noted the spread of COVID-19 during sports activities has been low risk unless someone is participating who is sick. Shahab said virus transmission usually spreads before and after games when people are socializing.

Saskatchewan also reported it had 81 new COVID-19 cases on Friday with 108 recoveries. The province’s active case count dropped from 1,459 on Thursday to 1,427 on Friday.

From the press conference, it was apparent the Government of Saskatchewan is sticking to its plan in dealing with the pandemic. The provincial government is trying to balance battling the pandemic, while trying to keep the economy going.

By the sounds of things, it is looking more and more that “Linus blanket” field hospitals in waiting like the converted Merlis Belsher Place sports facility might be put more into action. Merlis Belsher Place and the field hospital at Evraz Place in Regina have some minor action with regards to the pandemic.

The Prince Albert Northern Bears can keep rolling.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority announced Thursday it will reopen its emergency operations centre, and that reopening will go into action on Monday. The emergency operations centre coordinated the health system’s pandemic response in spring.

For now, the Saskatchewan sports community dodged a bullet. Minor hockey and junior A hockey games will continue to be played in the province.

Activities in various other sports will be able to continue as well.

It should be noted that those in Saskatchewan’s sports community have been doing their best to follow public health guidelines and protocols.

If the games, practices and training sessions do indeed stop, it might be something that is ultimately out of the control of the sports community.

Huskies’ Humbert picked for coach mentorship program

Emily Humbert serves for the Huskies in 2015.
The University of Saskatchewan Huskies brought a sweet ray of sunshine to the day on Friday.

The Huskies announced that Emily Humbert, who is an assistant coach with the Huskies women’s volleyball team, was chosen for the University Female Coach Mentorship program, which is run by the Coaching Association of Canada.

The program aims to support the increased recruitment and retention of female coaches through financial and human resource support.

Besides being a coach, Humbert played five seasons for the Huskies women’s volleyball as a middle blocker from 2012 to 2017.

“It is truly and honour to be part of a program that aims to increase the presence of female coaches in the Canadian university system,” said Humbert in a release. “Throughout my time as a U Sports athlete, I was fortunate to learn from incredible female coaches such as Tiffany Dodds-Little, Lindsey Mehler and Shelly Dodds.

“The impact these women had on my development as a player and person was incredible. I hope I can have a similar impact on the athletes that I coach.”

During her time as a Huskies player, Humbert, who stands 5-foot-10, ranks in the top 10 in modern program history in kills, aces, blocks and points. The Saskatoon product received U Sports academic all-Canadian honours multiple times during her playing career.

Humbert took on an assistant coaching role with the Huskies Volleyball Club program in 2013. She went on to head coaching roles with the Huskies Volleyball Club program and at Bedford Road Collegiate.

Humbert currently teaches and Bedford Road and coaches the school’s senior girls volleyball team.

Before the start of last season, Humbert joined the Huskies women’s volleyball team as an assistant coach under head coach Mark Dodds. In the 2019-20 campaign, the Huskies finished sixth in the Canada West Conference with a 14-10 record and earned a playoff berth for the first time in 18 years.

The Huskies fell 2-1 in a best-of-three opening round playoff series to the University of Alberta Pandas, who won a silver medal in the conference post-season.

Humbert is a deserving choice for the University Female Coach Mentorship program.

Ivy League cancels winter sports

Willow Slobodzian skates during a summer session in 2019.
On Thursday, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Ivy League cancelled all winter sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ivy League had already cancelled its fall season for the 2020-21 campaign.

That means the men’s and women’s NCAA Division I hockey teams at Brown University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University and Yale University won’t take the ice for any meaningful games in 2020-21.

The Rochester Institute of Technology had previously cancelled its 2020-21 campaigns for its NCAA Division I men’s and women’s hockey teams.

The Cornell University Big Red women’s hockey team features three grads of the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA hockey team.

They include senior defender Willow Slobodzian, rookie defender Ashley Messier and rookie forward Kaitlin Jockims.

All Ivy League competition has been officially halted until March 1, 2021.

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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Tuesday, 1 September 2020

U Sports, NCAA athletes make tough choice to head back

Josiah Joseph, left, and the U of Calgary Dinos were 2019 U Sports champs.
    If you go, odds are high you might not play.
    Even if you do play, there is a chance your season might still not get completed and even then you are playing a shortened campaign. You will also spend a lot of money in the process.
    These are the realities that face athletes in U Sports in Canada and the NCAA in the United States for the 2020-21 campaign due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Even with that in mind, athletes on both sides of the border have flocked back to many of their campuses to train for a campaign that has a big risk of not happening.
    Even for teams whose sport or season has been cancelled for the 2020-21 campaign, athletes have returned to many campuses to resume training.
    For the top level of NCAA football, the season is still a go, but many conferences have cancelled play for the fall. The Big Ten, Pac-12, Mid-America Conference and Mountain West are some of the conferences that have cancelled fall play.
    However, CBS was reporting Tuesday that United States President Donald Trump talked to Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren about reversing course and getting football back on the field in that conference in fall.
    The conferences and independents that are already committed to playing are doing so with various start times and various modified schedules. A pair of top level NCAA football games are slated for Thursday and a number of NCAA football contests are set to take the field on Saturday.
Willow Slobodzian missed her friends at Cornell.
    Back on Aug. 13, NCAA president Mark Emmert said there won’t be any fall NCAA championships because there are not enough schools participating due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision impacts 22 championships not including the Football Bowl Subdivision or the top level of NCAA football.
    Before that announcement was made, the NCAA had already said all fall championships in Division II and Division III had been cancelled and would not be rescheduled for spring.
    In U Sports in Canada, the Reseau du sport etudiant du Quebec is still pushing to get fall sports back in action including football. There is a hope football will start in the middle of September but work is still going on with provincial health officials in Quebec to bring post-secondary sports back to action with September 14 targeted as a potential decision day.
    U Sports has cancelled all its fall national championships. Atlantic University Sports and Ontario University Athletics conferences have shut down all varsity sports for the remainder of 2020.
    Canada West Conference has cancelled all fall sports with a couple of exceptions. The Canada West Golf Championships are still slated for Oct. 2-4 to be hosted by UBC Okanagan in Kelowna, B.C.
    The Canada West Swimming Championships were to be hosted by the University of Calgary in November, but that event is being pushed back to a date to be determined in early 2021.
Colton Klassen enjoys seeing his Huskies teammate at Ignite Athletics.
    The biggest plus for the athletes that get back together is it does improve mental health, and it even helps the mental health of the coaches and support staffs.
    Many of these groups haven’t been together for six months.
    Clavet, Sask., product Willow Slobodzian returned to train with the Cornell University Big Red women’s hockey team in Ithaca, New York. The star defender, who is eligible to play one more NCAA campaign, desperately wanted to see her friends from her team again.
    In Saskatoon, members of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team that live in town have been doing workouts at Ignite Athletics on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds since June 8. Those gatherings have boosted optimism and positivity.
    Huskies star offensive utility player Colton Klassen said training at Ignite Athletics has helped his well-being in a big way.
    Despite the plus of seeing all your teammate, there are a few other drawbacks that go along with the potential of not playing.
    The top drawback is cost.
    Even with scholarships that get paid on both sides of the border, athletes and their families will be dropping some cash to return to their respective institutions, especially if they live out of town.
    While the NCAA Division I ranks are stereotypically viewed as the place that gives full scholarships and takes care of all accommodations, that isn’t always the case. There are a number of cases where athletes are only getting partial scholarships and they and their families have to spend money on living expenses.
Nelson Lokombo (#25) was the 2019 U Sports defensive player of the year.
    In U Sports, all the athletes and their families are responsible for their own living expenses. For those who are hoping to see their basketball, hockey or volleyball seasons start in January of 2021, those campaigns still have a high likelihood of being cancelled. That means dishing out eight months of living expenses for no season.
    Most U Sports institutions are conducting classes online unless you have to head to campus for a lab, so the living expenses are a big factor. In Saskatchewan, most buildings at the U of Saskatchewan and University of Regina are still locked up.
    On the scholarships front, there are a number of partial scholarships in U Sports, which means athletes and their families and paying on that front too.
    For Canadian athletes that head back to NCAA schools, they have another hoop. They likely won’t return for Christmas break, because they will have to self-isolate for 14 days upon returning from the United States to Canada.
    The other peril NCAA athletes have to dodge is the temptation to go to off-campus parties. Many NCAA school brought back their entire student bodies, which meant there were a lot of options to go out and party.
    On Aug. 16, The Daily Tar Heel, which is the student newspaper for the University of North Carolina, wrote an editorial condemning the school for bringing students back and went so far to use the word “clusterf*&%.” The editorial said there were numerous reports of parties on the first weekend after the first full week of school.
Summer Masikewich helped the Huskies win a U Sports title in March.
    On Aug. 18, the U of North Carolina announced it would not hold in person classes after about 130 students tested positive for COVID-19.
    There have been constant reports of positive coronavirus tests within NCAA teams and one of the themes sees these positive tests get traced back to parties.
    Of the most notable cases here came on Aug. 7, when the University of Louisville dismissed three members of its men’s soccer team and suspended three others for hosting a party that lead to the spread of COVID-19.
    The Auburn University Tigers were slated to resume practice today and were without 16 players due to COVID-19 concerns. Multiple practices were cancelled at Auburn last week.
    Parties were not linked to any COVID-19 concerns in this case.
    Things on the NCAA landscape keep changing so much that ESPN is running a ticker on developments, and the latest ticker can be found by clicking right here.
    The COVID-19 concerns aren’t going away in the United States any time soon.
    As of Tuesday night, Worldometer, which gives pretty accurate statistics, said the United States has had over 6.2-million COVID-19 cases this year. That means 1.8 per cent of the United States population has had COVID-19 at one time this year.
    In Canada, U Sports athletes will be the only groups of students that will get together on a regular basis due to the focus of online classes. Getting COVID-19 at parties is less of a concern in Canada as 0.3 per cent of the population has tested positive for the virus this year according to Worldometer.
    Still, try and tell those in the 18 to 24 age group to not party seems like an impossible task.
The U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s basketball team on March 12.
    For the U Sports and NCAA athletes, it is an enormous decision to return to campus to train. Overall, the biggest risk is a lot of money will be spent to not play.
    When the dust settles, it all comes down to how the athletes and their families want to spend their money and if they are comfortable with the unique factors that have risen up in these current times.
    If you can navigate all those variables, the athletes are free to do as they please.

    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.
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Wednesday, 24 June 2020

Sask. products stay on radar for Hockey Canada female teams

Willow Slobodzian takes part in a skating session in July of 2019.
    Being a virtual invite to a summer camp for one of Hockey Canada’s women’s teams is a huge thing in these coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic times.
    On Monday, Hockey Canada announced seven Saskatchewan products were among 109 players to earn invites to a pair of virtual camps with Canada’s National Women’s Program.
    Forwards Sophie Shirley and Grace Shirley along with defenders Brooke Hobson, Ashley Messier and Willow Slobodzian are among 50 players who will meet weekly on a virtual basis as part of Canada’s national women’s development team summer camp. These meeting will continue until these athletes return to university in the fall.
    Forwards Neena Brick and Baylee Kirwan are among the 59 players who will meet weekly on a virtual basis as part of Canada’s national women’s under-18 summer camp. These sessions will run until the 2021 under-18 women’s worlds.
    The upcoming under-18 women’s worlds are slated to run Jan. 5 to 12, 2021 in Linkoping and Mjolby, Sweden.
    Normally, these players would physically get to skate in a camp that is usually held in August in Calgary.
    This year, these players wouldn’t have the chance to impress Hockey Canada brass with an in-person performance. Due to the shutdowns that occurred in North American due to the COVID-19 pandemic starting in earnest on March 11 and 12, most of these players missed playing time in the post-season resulting in another lost chance to turn heads of Hockey Canada decision makers.
Grace Shirley in action for the Stars in the 2018-19 campaign.
    No national championships were won in NCAA women’s hockey, U Sports women’s hockey and in Canada’s female under-18 AAA ranks, because they were all cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
    If you are a player who is taking part in these virtual female camps run by Hockey Canada, you have accomplished a big thing. You have done enough to remain on Hockey Canada’s radar despite some lost opportunities to turn heads.
    Sophie Shirley, who has been in Hockey Canada’s female national team system since 2015, had an impressive sophomore season with the defending NCAA champion University of Wisconsin Badgers.
    In 36 overall games, the star forward and Saskatoon product piled up 29 goals, 32 assists and a plus-36 rating in the plus-minus department.
    Sophie was named a second team Western Collegiate Hockey Association all-star and was named a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the NCAA’s top female collegiate hockey player.
    Grace Shirley, who is Sophie’s younger sister, finished up her rookie campaign with the Badgers. With the Badgers, dynamic forward went through a learning year netting one goal and four assists in 36 overall games.
    Grace helped Canada win gold at the under-18 women’s worlds in 2019.
Brooke Hobson in action for the Bears in April of 2017.
    Prince Albert product Brooke Hobson had a solid junior season controlling the blue-line for the NCAA’s Northeastern University Huskies. Hobson posted six goals, nine assists and a plus-22 rating in 30 overall games, and she has been named the Huskies captain for her upcoming senior season.
    Messier, who is Wilcox, played for the Selects Hockey Academy in Rochester, New York, for her Grade 12 year. In November of 2019, Messier helped Team Saskatchewan win silver at the National Women’s under-18 Championship, which features provincial all-star teams.
    This past January, the slick offensive-defender helped Canada take home silver at the under-18 women’s worlds.
    Slobodzian, who is from Clavet, finished her junior season with the NCAA’s Cornell University Big Red. She appeared in 31 overall games posting two goals, 15 assists and a plus-28 rating.
Slobodzian’s 15 assists, 17 points and plus-28 rating were career highs.
    The Shirley sisters, Messier and Slobodzian are alums of the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 team. Hobson is an alumna of her hometown Prince Albert Northern Bears female under-18 team.
    As for the under-18 camp invites, Brick had an impressive 16-year-old campaign helping her hometown Regina Rebels finish first in the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League with a 27-2-1 record. She was the SFU18AAAHL’s top scorer piling up 30 goals and 28 assists for 58 points.
    Brick was named a first team SFU18AAAHL all-star and claimed the circuit’s Hayley Wickenheiser Most Valuable Player award and the Kelly Bechard Top Scorer award.
Neena Brick was the SFU18AAAHL’s most valuable player last season.
    Kirwan, who is a Gull Lake product, had a spectacular 16-year-old campaign helping the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats finish second in the SFU18AAAHL with a 22-7-1 record. She finished third in SFU18AAAHL scoring with 29 goals and 12 assists for 41 points.
    Kirwan was a second team SFU18AAAHL all-star and claimed the circuit’s Fiona Smith Most Sportsmanlike Player award.
    All seven of these players with Saskatchewan roots have already made waves in the game. They have the potential to be playing hockey at an elite level for a lengthy number of years to come.

    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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Friday, 5 June 2020

Young ones leaders in protests against racism in Saskatoon

Protesters march at the “Justice for George Rally” on Thursday in Saskatoon.
    “I understand that I will never understand. However, I stand.”
    I wish I could say I thought that up.
    That is a message I’ve seen on a handful of social media accounts of young friends usually aged 18 to 24 over the last handful of days as protests against racism continue across North America and dare I say the world.
    The demonstrations were triggered due to the death of African-American George Floyd on May 25 after he was arrested by police in Minneapolis, Minn.
    Video of the arrest showed Floyd being pinned on the ground with a police officer identified as Derek Chauvin driving his knee into the back of Floyd’s neck.
Young adults made up most of the crowd at the “Justice for George Rally.”
    Four officers were fired over the incident including Chauvin, and at first, Chauvin, who is Caucasian, was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter over Floyd’s death. The charges against Chauvin were increased to second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter on Wednesday.
    The three other officers - Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao – were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
    Being a middle aged person who can get jaded from time to time due to seeing my share of bad happening to good people in this world, I thought this would be another one of those things that would blow over, which is awful to admit. I didn’t think it would get the momentum that it did.
Some of the protesters who took a knee at Kiwanis Park - North.
    That changed on Tuesday after I opened up my person Instagram account in the morning. The first thing I saw on my newsfeed was a post from Ryan Fontaine, who was a star goalie for the Prince Albert Northern Bears female under-18 team from 2015 to 2018.
    Her post was a blacked our screen with the hashtag phrase #blackouttuesday.
    The next thing that crossed my mind was, “Wow, I didn’t know she was engaged with that.”
    Right after seeing that posts, I saw similar posts from Parker Kelly, who is an alumnus of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders and forward with the AHL’s Belleville Senators, and Tristen Robins, who is a star centre with the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades.
A protester with a bike takes a knee at Kiwanis Park - North.
    As I continued to go through all my social media accounts, I found similar posts from current players from the Raiders, Blades, six time defending CJFL champion Saskatoon Hilltops, defending WWCFL champion Saskatoon Valkyries, members of various teams of the SFU18AAAHL, from the various University of Saskatchewan Huskies teams in U Sports and Saskatchewan based players who play in the NCAA.
    At that point, I decided to follow the lead of my young friends on my social media accounts hoping to be a show of support that they were doing the right thing.
Thursday’s “Justice for George Rally” in Saskatoon had a massive turnout.
    Clavet product Willow Slobodzian, who stars on defence for the Cornell University Big Red women’s hockey team, was constantly upgrading her Instagram story feed with education items regarding racism and news items about what various people were trying to do to address the issue.
    One of the best social media posts came from Jadyn Pingue, who finished up his five-year career playing linebacker for the Hilltops being named the CJFL’s most outstanding defensive player. On Thursday, Pingue, who is African-American, put together a well written post about black men building up other black men.
    The post included a strong portrait type picture of Pingue.

    I found out later on Thursday the care and passion for this issue wasn’t limited to young athletes on my social media feed.
The crowd at the “Justice for George Rally” begins to march again.
    At 6 p.m., I saw two different newscasts doing live video of a rally against racism, where everyone was gathered at Saskatoon City Hall. I decided to head downtown to check things out.
    When I got to downtown, I met up with the rally as it had moved to the Saskatoon Police Station. I was floored by how many people I saw.
    A couple of reports said the gathering included about 2,000 people, but it seemed larger than that. The next thing I noticed was how young the crowd seemed to be.
    I estimate that at least 95 per cent of the people at the rally were aged 18 to 24, and it seemed like a lot of those were U of Saskatchewan students and students from out of town universities, who were home for the summer.
Thursday’s “Justice for George Rally” contained a diverse cultural crowd.
    I noticed some in the crowd were members of Huskies teams. It was visible to see the crowd contained high school students too.
    I later found out the rally was organized by Braydon Page, who is an African-America young man, and the rally was called the “Justice for George Rally.”
    On a Facebook page, Page invited people from all cultural backgrounds to attend. Canada has had challenges to say the least with racism issues with First Nations, and there were a number of signs in the crowd that referenced that fact too.
    The crowd that gathered was as culturally mixed as I’ve seen from any gathering in Saskatoon.
The protesters at the “Justice for George Rally” near Saskatoon City Hall.
    The young ones were passionate too, and it was obvious they believed they could make a difference.
    They had a Kevin Garnett “Anything is possible!” feeling to them.
    It was a feeling I could relate to thinking back to my university days at the University of Regina from 1995 to 2001.
    Most in the crowd were wearing protective masks due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has engulfed the world and certainly North America since around March 11.
    The crowd knelt at the police station for eight minutes and 46 seconds, which was the time Floyd was pinned on the ground before he died.
The crowd at Saskatoon City Hall shouts a number of chants.
    The crowd proceeded to do a march looping south to Midtown Plaza before heading east on 22nd Street to Kiwanis Park – North. Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark marched with the young crowd too.
At the park, the crowd once again took a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
    After that knee, the march returned to city hall, where the people took another knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
    The rally continued for a bit with speeches and chants including “black lives matter,” “I can’t breathe” and “no justice, no peace.”
At least 2,000 turned out for Thursday’s “Justice for George Rally.”
    The whole event was peaceful. The Saskatoon Police Service ensured streets were blocked off, when the crowd marched.
    A few police officers took a knee with the protesters at the police station. I think they came away being impressed with the youngsters too.
    When it comes to the issue of racism, it felt like the young adults and the teenagers that took part in the “Justice for George Rally” were the adults in the room.
    All of us in the older generations bluntly haven’t got the job done on this front, if the past two weeks have shown us anything.
    For myself, I am ill-equipped if I tried to put together a column regarding racial issues.
In Saskatoon, the young generation leads in the protests against racism.
    Back in my university days, I saw my friends from different races and cultures as buds. Looking back, I think I had a naïve quality that everyone would somehow live together in harmony.
    The protest that took place on Thursday night in Saskatoon was ultimately a civil rights type rally.      In my lifetime, that was the first time I saw one of those live and in person.
    It was cool to see the young people take the initiative to lead the way. The rest of us would be wise to follow.

    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.
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