Buckle up – we’re still in for a long pandemic ride in 2021

Circuits like the SFU18AAAHL are in a holding pattern.

We’re only nine days into the new year, but it already feels like the bloom has come off the 2021 rose.

When the calendar changed from 2020 to 2021, there seemed to be big celebrations among the general public and high hopes with a symbolic new beginning. Most couldn’t wait for the year 2020 to be over.

Of course, 2020 will always be the year that will be associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that saw massive restrictions and lockdowns take place all over the world. That resulted in numerous annual events getting canceled along with special festivities like weddings.

Along with the cancellations, annual events like high school graduations didn’t occur in traditional fashion. The sports world was thrown into havoc with seasons being cancelled, while some sports played modified seasons.

North America got caught firmly in the grips of the coronavirus on March 11, 2020, when the NBA elected to pause its season and domino effect of shutdowns began to occur in all walks of life.

Due to the upheaval created by the COVID-19 pandemic, most could wait to kiss 2020 goodbye.

A stick tape job to cover an event in a pandemic.

The only problem was the pandemic didn’t go away when the calendar flipped over to 2021. As the days go on, it seems like the people who test positive for COVID-19 are starting to become more and more people I know.

Vaccines for COVID-19 started to roll out in December of 2020, but the rollout is still a long way away from returning society to a pre-pandemic state.

When vaccines appeared, it seemed to be a realistic optimistic expectation that things might return to normal by September of this year.

With that said, there were media reports this week that vaccination of the general population in Alberta and Saskatchewan might not start until September of 2021.

According to Worldometer over the last three days, the United States had a 24-hour period where it experienced 279,204 new COVID-19 cases and 4,245 deaths due to COVID-19 and a following 24-hour period that saw 307,579 new COVID-19 cases and 4,010 deaths due to COVID-19.

In Saskatchewan, there were still 3,186 active COVID-19 cases as of Saturday. Alberta still had 14,437 active COVID-19 cases on Saturday and detected Canada’s first case of the South African variant of COVID-19.

On Thursday, Alberta announced its tight COVID-19 restrictions would stay in place until Jan. 21, and British Columbia extended its gathering restrictions until Feb. 5.

Over the first nine days of 2021, there has been so much noise coming on the COVID-19 front that it still feels like 2020.

A house decorated for Christmas in Saskatoon.

Despite the pandemic, good feelings from the Christmas holiday season in 2020 did come into existence, but it feels like those happy holiday feelings are already long gone.

Besides the noise around the COVID-19 pandemic, we haven’t even gotten into the coup insurrection attempt that happened in the United States on Wednesday, when supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

Before the calendar flipped from 2020 to 2021, any realist would know that 2021 was going to be far from a normal year. It is already playing out as being far from a normal year.

People all over the world are still going to have to navigate the daily noise that has occurred for almost the last 10 months during the COVID-19 pandemic possibly through the entire calendar year of 2021.

The challenge seems to get tougher and tougher for individuals to focus on what they can control and try not to go overboard emotionally with the news that comes out on a daily basis. People are still going to have to self-regulate the amount of time they spend consuming the news or the seemingly continuous toxicity that occurs on social media.

In the sports world, you can expect constant changes and will likely continue to see governance decisions that have no consistency.

The NFL is in playoffs, the NBA has started a regular season and the NHL is slated to begin a regular season this coming Wednesday on Jan. 13.

A classic movie viewing during the pandemic.

In the United States, some NCAA sports have resumed including regular season action involving the University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey that features Saskatoon sisters in forwards Sophie and Grace Shirley. Both are alums of the Saskatoon Stars female under-18 AAA hockey team.

The Badgers were only able to play two regular season games before Christmas due to positive COVID-19 tests on the team.

In Canada, most sports have been mothballed unless you play NHL hockey. In Saskatchewan, sports teams and groups can conduct training in groups of eight, but there are provinces that have been shut down on that front all together.

This past week in Saskatchewan both the 53^rd Bedford Road Invitational Tournament in Saskatoon and the 69^th Luther Invitational Tournament in Regina have been cancelled for 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both are extremely prestigious events on the high school basketball calendar in Saskatchewan.

Late Friday night, the WHL announced a renewed commitment to play the 2020-21 campaign with each club playing 24 games. A new start date still hasn’t been announced for the season.

The start date for the 2020-21 WHL campaign has already been pushed back a handful of times.

There has been speculation in hockey circles that major junior and junior A leagues might be willing to push campaigns back to the point games will be played in June or July in order to get playoff champions crowned.

Each WHL team hopes to play a 24 game regular season.

Who knows how well that will go over as there could potentially be huge season creep with spring and summer sports like baseball, golf, softball and soccer. That just scratches the surface with sports schedule conflicts that could happen, and there are a number of other sports that get going in spring and summer.

There has also been speculation that all hockey seasons in Canada that aren’t NHL campaigns might not ultimately continue their 2020-21 campaigns.

For myself, I covered two Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League games this past November. Those are the only two live hockey games I’ve covered since March 12, 2020.

Going forward, I will continue to try let things develop as they develop without putting any expectations on them. Whenever sports do get going again, I will start feeling my way through when it comes to covering or just being involved with events again.

I was in the process of doing that with the two SFU18AAAHL games I got out to this past November before the season got halted.

As hard as it is, I will try not to immediately act emotionally to how events evolve around me. I find for myself dealing with others acting out emotionally to evolving events makes it harder to take things as they are.

I hope those in society will try and take deep breaths before reacting to how the world unfolds moment by moment.

Me pictured at the Art Hauser Centre on Nov. 21, 2020.

I have also accepted people in general are selfish. In general, most in society expect the world to bend to their selfish needs. I also have to remember that humanity as a collective never learns from past mistakes.

However the cards get dealt my way, I just have to play them the best I can and hope one or two others do the same.

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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WHL pushing back start date was to be expected

Spencer Moe and the Prince Albert Raiders wait for action.

With the way the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was going in Western Canada and the United States, it seemed inevitable that the WHL was going to have to push back the start of its 2020-21 campaign.

Coming into this week, both Manitoba and Alberta were engaged in strict lockdown measures to battle the pandemic that are at the moment slated to last until January 8, 2021 and January 10, 2021 respectively.

On Monday, the Government of Saskatchewan announced current pandemic restrictions would be extended to January 15, 2021 and added some new tweaks that come in on Thursday at 12:01 a.m. The tweaks include limiting all private indoor gatherings to members who live in the same household and limiting all outdoor private gatherings to 10 people.

On Tuesday, British Columbia Premier John Horgan was vowing there would be tighter enforcement for the strict lockdown measures in that province.

The measures that are in place in all four Western Canadian provinces have prevented games and competitions in the sports world from happening at all. Where athletic activities can occur, training has been limited to groups of eight.

New COVID-19 case numbers are still rising at a concerning rate in both Canada and the United States.

On Tuesday, the WHL announced that due to public health restrictions in place across Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest U.S., the major junior hockey circuit is not in position to begin its upcoming regular season on January 8, 2021.

All Brandon Wheat Kings head bump celebrations are on hold.

The WHL announced that following further consultations with regional health authorities the league’s board of governors will meet in January to consider potential start dates. The circuit said it would continue to work with governments and health authorities in the region it operates out of to consider schedule options for the 2020-21 campaign.

“We continue to make every effort to get our season started, but our first priority has always been the healthy and safety of our players and everyone associated with the WHL,” said WHL commissioner Ron Robison in a release. “Given the public health restrictions that are currently in effect, we are not in a position to determine a new target date for our season.

“We will continue to consult with health authorities to determine when it is safe and responsible to get our season started.”

Of course, vaccinations for COVID-19 have started in Canada on a very limited scale. It is expected vaccination rollout for the general public won’t happen until at least April of 2021.

If all goes well on the vaccination front, there is optimism that things could be back to normal by September of 2021. Again, that assumes everything goes well.

Still, the world is well in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic in the current day. According to Worldometer, which is pretty accurate in accumulating daily totals on COVID-19 cases and deaths, the United States went through a 24-hour period within the past two days experiencing 246,996 new COVID-19 cases and 3,486 deaths.

Kyle Crnkovic and the Saskatoon Blades are still sidelined.

If those weren’t new highs for a single 24-hour period in the United States, they are in the top 10 for the worst daily totals that country has faced so far in this pandemic.

As a result, it is unclear what will happen to major junior hockey for the 2020-21 campaign or how all other levels of hockey and winter sports will get going in the 2020-21 campaign.

At the moment, the only junior hockey that will be played will be the action from the upcoming world juniors in Edmonton, Alta., which will be played in a bubble environment at Rogers Place.

Unless you are a big money professional circuit or the top tier of the NCAA, most winter sports in North America might be wise to throw in the towel for 2020-21 and start gearing up for the 2021-22 campaign.

Politicians can’t win in pandemic, other notes

Politicians like Scott Moe can’t escape criticism.

Politicians can’t win in the COVID-19 pandemic.

No matter where on the political spectrum you sit, politicians who make decisions during these COVID-19 pandemic times will be criticised for either doing too much or not doing enough. No matter what decision is made, it seems both types of criticism inevitably come.

It seems like you don’t have to work hard to find people on social media crapping on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The same goes for Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe.

Actually, you likely can find all sorts of venom directed at any provincial premier in Canada on social media.

Too much of the venom is downright hateful and personal.

Of course, there was one clown who fired off remarks that were racist towards Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab at a so-called “freedom rally” on Saturday in Regina.

When you see all the vile comments, it makes you ask, “Why would anyone get into public service or become a politician?”

Even when the COVID-19 pandemic hits a conclusion, I don’t think anyone would want to be rushing to get into public service of become a politician due to the garage that would come their way. No matter what you do, you are never going to get a break on anything and people are going to take out a personal hate on you.

During the pandemic, it seems politicians of all political stripes can only do wrong.

The COVID-19 pandemic is definitely the worst time to be a politician.

• As of Wednesday night, the 50/50 jackpot for the Hockey Harvest Lottery sat at $297,520. The lottery is being used to raise money for the player scholarship education funds of Saskatchewan’s five WHL teams in the Moose Jaw Warriors, Prince Albert Raiders, Regina Pats, Saskatoon Blades and the Swift Current Broncos. Tickets can be purchased by clicking right here, and purchasers must be in Saskatchewan in order to buy tickets.
• As of Wednesday night, the December jackpot for the Saskatchewan Amateur Football Mega 50/50 lottery sat at $5,650. The funds from this 50/50 lottery will go to support the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder and the WWCFL’s Saskatoon Valkyries and Regina Riot. One prize will be drawn per month, and the draw dates are December 31, 2020, January 31, 2021, February 28, 2021, March 31, 2021, April 30, 2021 and May 31, 2021. Tickets can be purchased by clicking right here, and purchasers must be in Saskatchewan in order to buy tickets.
• From what I can tell, the start date for the NHL’s upcoming season is still January 1, 2021. There have been speculation stories that said that start date has been moved to January 13, 2021 for a little over a week now. With that noted, I can’t find anything official from the NHL saying the start date has been pushed back. In reality, it doesn’t seem likely the NHL can actually start its upcoming season on that January 1, 2021 date.
• I haven’t done this in a while, so I figured I would add these again for a marker to look back on. According to Worldometer at the time this post went live 1,655,282 people have died so far this year in the world due to the coronavirus even with varying restrictions that have been imposed around the world. Also this year, Worldometer has reported 1,616,515 people in the world so far this year have died of HIV/AIDS, 1,298,066 died by road traffic accidents, 1,031,175 died by suicide, 809,776 people have died by water related diseases, 471,051 died by seasonal flu, and 297,221 mothers have died during birth. The skeptics of the COVID-19 pandemic always want to know the deaths from cancer it seems. Worldometer said 7,897,603 people have died of cancer this year.
• On Tuesday, Gregg Drinnan had some ponderings about the COVID-19 pandemic in his Taking Note blog. The ponderings made good points, but they were of the sad variety. Even though they were of the sad variety, they were still good points to ponder. That piece can be found by clicking right here.

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

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If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

WHL rolls out some plans, still lots out of major junior circuit’s control in return to play

The Medicine Hat Tigers soak up an extra time win on Jan. 25.

The WHL is taking some baby steps when it comes to a return to play.

While some progress has been made, the major junior circuit still has to do a lot of work and hope for some luck when it comes to going ahead with a 2020-21 season with the world in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Most sports leagues are in the same boat, but the WHL has some unique hoops to navigate.

First, the WHL has to try and get four provincial governments and four provincial health authorities in Canada and two state governments and two state health authorities in the United States to pull in the same direction for a return to play to occur. The WHL has 17 teams located across Western Canada and five clubs located in the states of Washington and Oregon in the United States.

Second, the WHL has to navigate the issue of the border between Canada and the United States being closed to non-essential travel. At the moment, the border is slated to be closed through to this coming Wednesday.

This past Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated in an interview with a Winnipeg radio station the border would remain closed until the United States can get its COVID-19 case count under control.

Isaac Poulter and Broncos are going to the East Division.

At the time this post went live, Worldometer, which gives really accurate statistics, reports there have been 8,342,665 COVID-19 cases and 224,282 deaths due to COVID-19 in the United States this year. On most days since the start of September, the United States usually surpasses 50,000 new COVID-19 cases a day.

Over the last four days, the United States added 71,688 new cases in one 24-hour period and 66,132 new cases in another 24-hour period.

With new COVID-19 case numbers trending upward in Western Canada along with Ontario and Quebec over the past week, it is safe to assume the border between Canada and the United States won’t be open any time soon.

Also, Ontario and Quebec have increased lockdown measures over the past week.

In this current climate, the WHL is trying to do what it can to get back on the ice. On Wednesday, the circuit announced January 8, 2021 as the start date for the upcoming regular season.

The WHL had two previous tentative start dates originally slated for October 2 and then December 4 of this year.

Connor Zary in action for the Kamloops Blazers.

The league said all regular season games will be played exclusively within the boundaries of each of the four divisions. Under this set up, the Swift Current Broncos will be moved out of the Central Division to the East Division to play the WHL’s other four Saskatchewan teams and two clubs located in Manitoba.

All the WHL players are slated to report to their teams after the Christmas break. They will train in preparation for the opening of the regular season.

Also on Wednesday, the WHL announced Dr. Dhiren Naidu of Edmonton has been appointed as the league’s chief medical advisor. Dr. Naidu served as the NHL’s medical director for that league post-season hub location in Edmonton.

On Thursday, WHL commissioner Ron Robison held an online media conference to expand on Wednesday’s announcements.

Robison said the January 8, 2021 regular season start date is a firm one, and the regular season will run through to May 2, 2021. That scenario would allow each club to play a maximum of 50 games in the regular season.

During a normal campaign, WHL teams play 68 regular season games each.

Tristen Robins in action for the Saskatoon Blades.

Details of the format for the WHL playoffs would be announced at a later date.

Robison said there are no plans for teams to play in a bubble environment, which the NHL and NBA did to finish their 2019-20 campaigns.

There are hopes the Memorial Cup tournament to determine the CHL champion can be held in the middle of June of 2021 either in Oshawa or Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

Robison added the league is currently working with public health agencies on how to manage the entry of players from the United States and Europe to cross back into Canada.

At the moment, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is the only circuit under the CHL that has started to play regular season games, and that return has been a rough one since the regular season started on Oct. 2.

The Blainville-Broisbriand Armada encountered at least 18 COVID-19 cases and the Sherbrooke Phoenix had at least eight COVID-19 infections. Both teams had to suspend team activities.

This past Wednesday, the QMJHL announced the 12 teams located in the province of Quebec have had their games postponed until October 28. At the time of that announcement, six of those clubs in Quebec were located in red zones that have been shut down by government restrictions.

Bowen Byram in action for the Vancouver Giants.

As for the six teams in the Maritime provinces, the Moncton Wildcats weekend games have been postponed due to government authorities in New Brunswick declaring Moncton an orange zone. The Wildcats are limited to practising.

The OHL is still targeting Dec. 1 as tentative date for their regular season to start.

The WHL’s plan to have teams concentrate playing regular seasons in regional areas is a good one. As the consistency between governments and health authorities in handling the pandemic is all over the map, it was easier to get sports going in some areas as opposed to others.

At the Junior A level of hockey, the Manitoba Junior Hockey League has been playing regular season games.

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League announced on Friday that teams can play exhibition games immediately with attendance capped at 150 people. Everyone inside arenas for SJHL games has to wear face masks.

The SJHL is targeting to start its regular season on Nov. 2, and is still working on how many spectators will be allowed into arenas for those contests.

Still, circuits like the MJHL and SJHL are mainly focused on playing games inside the boundaries of one province.

The Prince Albert Raiders celebrate a goal on March 3.

The WHL covers multiple regions, and it is uncertain how many fans that circuit will be allowed to have for games when the regular season does start. The WHL needs to have fans in the stands or the teams on that circuit will experience monumental losses.

There are no guarantees the WHL will hit the ice for any games.

At the moment, WHL has given as much clarity as it can about its future. It is a future the circuit as well as all other sports leagues have no control over due to these COVID-19 pandemic times.

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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U.S. President gets COVID-19, QMJHL plays, mixed messages are maddening

The Acadie-Bathurst Titan celebrate a Memorial Cup win in 2018.

Maybe The Onion will go out of business?

The satirical media company has to be challenged to come out with stories that are more outrageous than what real life presents.

As life goes on currently in the world, one keeps constantly asking themselves, “Is this real thing?”

The frequency that question keeps getting asked in one’s head seems to increase as the second, minutes and hours swiftly move on.

Late Thursday night or early Friday morning depending on what time zone you live in, news broke that United States President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania tested positive for COVID-19. On Friday, Trump was moved to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., just outside of Washington, D.C.

At some point on Friday, Trump received a dose of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ duel antibody, which is an experimental antibody cocktail.

Since the middle of March, the world has been caught in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Trump has downplayed the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic for months and hadn’t be taking precautions to avoid getting COVID-19.

Even with all that in mind, it still seemed surreal that that whole COVID-19 situation with Trump was playing out the way it currently is.

You were asking yourself, “Is this actually real?”

While the Trump situation was playing out in the United States, up in Canada the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League kicked off its 2020-21 regular season.

Six games were played in centres in the province of Quebec without fans on Friday night. This is happening at time when the province of Quebec is increasing lockdown measures to combat COVID-19.

On Friday, provincial authorities in Quebec announced the province had 1,052 new cases of COVID-19. On day earlier on Thursday, Quebec officials announced the province had 933 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths due to the virus.

Still, they are playing major junior hockey, which is the most elite of the junior hockey levels.

With all that noted, two QMJHL games were played in the province of New Brunswick on Friday with limited but sizable crowds. As a Friday, New Brunswick reported there were only five active COVID-19 cases in the province.

In Bathurst, N.B., the host Acadie-Bathurst Titan slipped past the Saint John Sea Dogs 4-3 in overtime before 1,372 spectators at the Centre Regional K.C. Irving, which holds 3,524 spectators for hockey.

The Oil Kings are second in the CHL Top 10 rankings.

In Moncton, N.B., the host Wildcats dropped a 4-2 decision to the Charlottetown Islanders before 2,278 spectators at the Avenir Centre, which seats 8,800 spectators.

Oh, the Quebec provincial government is considering subsidizing the 12 QMJHL clubs based in that province with $20-million. Last week, Quebec education minister Isabelle Charest said she would like to see the circuit ban fighting before the province gave any money.

On Wednesday, the QMJHL did roll out tougher rules with regards to fighting. Anyone involved in a fight gets a five-minute major and a 10-minute misconduct as opposed to just the major penalty alone. After accumulating three fights in a season, a player will get a one-game suspension and receive another one-game suspension for each additional fight.

There is still no word if the QMJHL squads received any money from the Quebec government.

Also on the hockey front back on Tuesday, the Spengler Cup hockey tournament, which is held annually in Davos, Switzerland usually from Dec. 26 to 31, was cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When you look at all those developments, you ask yourself, “Can this all be happening at close to the same time?”

To add to the craziness of the current time, the Canadian Hockey League announced its pre-season Top 10 rankings. The CHL is the umbrella the three major junior circuits of the WHL, OHL and QMJHL play under.

At the present time, the WHL and OHL aren’t slated to take the ice for regular season action until December.

The Sherbrooke Phoenix of the QMJHL checked in at the top spot. The WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings, Kamloops Blazers and Portland Winterhawks were listed second, sixth and ninth respectively.

The Brandon Wheat Kings and Prince Albert Raiders were honourable mentions. That isn’t bad considering none of those WHL clubs have held a practice for the 2020-21 campaign.

On the statistical front, Worldometer, which keeps really accurate number counts, stated there were 1,033,330 deaths due to COVID-19 in the world this year at the time this post went life. In comparison, Worldometer states there have been 1,271,167 deaths in the world this year due to AIDS/HIV, 1,020,751 deaths due to road traffic accidents, 810,877 suicides, 741,715 deaths due to malaria, 636,778 deaths due to water related diseases, 369,614 deaths due to seasonal flu and 233,724 deaths due to mothers giving birth.

There are still some out there who say as many people die of the seasonal flu as have died of COVID-19, but someone COVID-19 deaths worldwide surpass those of the season flu by over 640,000 so far this year.

Also, most of the world is taking precautions to combat COVID-19 and a death total of over 1-million has still occurred. Who knows what that total would be if there were no precautions noting how easily COVID-19 is transmitted, and the lingering health issues some have continued to have after their battle with COVID-19.

The Raiders are an honourable mention in the CHL rankings.

The skeptics do ask what about deaths due cancer. There have 6,210,397 deaths worldwide due to cancer, but a person can’t be infected with cancer interacting with a person that has that disease.  COVID-19 can be transmitted person to person through interaction.

Overall, the mixed messages that keep coming out from all walks of life in the current world are maddening.

In order to combat a pandemic like COVID-19, you need most of the public to be on the same page. 

At the moment, society is not in this together, and these crazy surreal moments that have occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely destined to continue.

Canada West delays January start decision, other notes

Will Evan Fiala and the Huskies return to action in January 2021?

Teams that are hoping to jump into action for the winter semester in the Canada West Conference will have to wait a little longer to find out if there will be a season.

Originally, the conference, which plays under the U Sports umbrella, was expecting to announce on Oct. 8 if there will be regular season play in the winter semester starting in early January of 2021. On Friday, the Canada West Conference announced the final decision to play during the winter semester has been pushed back to November 2.

The sports that are looking to resume play in January of 2021 include men’s and women’s basketball, hockey and volleyball along with rugby women’s 7s. Canada West Championships are still planned in the winter semester for men’s and women’s curling, swimming, track and field and wrestling.

All fall team competitions in the Canada West Conference were cancelled in June, while the conference championships for cross-country running and later golf were subsequently cancelled. All the cancellations are due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Canada West Conference golf championships, which were slated to start Friday in Kelowna, B.C., were the last fall sport that got cancelled with that announcement coming down on Sept. 22.

The Canada West Conference included the University of Saskatchewan Huskies program and the University of Regina Athletics program.

• On Tuesday, the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos announced at their annual general meeting that the community owned franchise lost $791,000 for the 2019-20 campaign. Steven Mah of the Southwest Booster has the story on the breakdown of the Broncos losses and that piece can be found by clicking right here.
• On Tuesday, the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors announced at their annual general meeting that the community owned franchise lost $391,299 for the 2019-20 campaign. Randy Palmer of MooseJawToday.com has the story about those losses and that piece can be found by clicking right here.
• On Wednesday, Hockey Edmonton announced Steve Hogle will be that organization’s new general manager. Hogle served as the president of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades from 2013 to 2019. He still serves as an alternate governor for the Blades.

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.

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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Tournament, interprovincial travel ban clamps down Sask. summer sports season

There is no interprovincial travel for minors sports teams in Saskatchewan.

    It will be all about house leagues and city leagues, if competitive sports are played in any form this summer in Saskatchewan.

    After Saskatchewan entered Phase 3 of its reopening plan on Monday, minor sports organizations and teams waited to hear announcements for dates of when the first and second parts of Phase 4 would occur.

    The reopening plan was created to start returning Saskatchewan to action in a world that is in the grip of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    In the first part of Phase 4, sports and recreational activities for children and adults may resume including activities taking place on soccer fields, volleyball and basketball courts, baseball diamonds, lawn bowling greens and football fields.

    The second part of Phase 4 will see indoor pools, indoor rinks, libraries, museums, galleries, movie theatres and casinos and bingo halls open to the public.

    Full contact sports like tackle football, rugby, wrestling, boxing, martial arts and ice, ball and field hockey with checking will not be allowed during any part of Phase 4. Athletes can do conditioning and skills training in those sports, but won’t be able to engage in competitions with the way these plans unfold at the moment.

    During a press conference on Thursday, the Government of Saskatchewan said it plans to announce a date for the first part of Phase 4 early next week.

    At that same press conference, deputy premier and minister of education Gord Wyant said kids’ sports and activities will go ahead this summer. He proceeded to add there would be no tournaments or interprovincial travel for sports teams and no handshakes.

    The big bomb there was the fact tournaments and interprovincial travel for sports teams was nixed. It would be safe to say most sports organizations likely weren’t expecting that to come down the pipe.

    It is safe to say minor sports bodies were hoping to conduct competitions within the province including provincial championships.

    The Government of Saskatchewan did not define the length of this tournament and interprovincial travel ban for sports teams. One has to wonder if it will extend into September, October, November or December, when the weather turns cold and the winter sports season usually starts up.

    On Tuesday, Baseball Sask announced it was cancelling all of its provincial championship tournaments citing it couldn’t wait any longer for a date to be announced for the first part of Phase 4.

    Softball Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Soccer Association haven’t announced what the fate will be of the provincial championship tournaments each of those bodies run.

    The tournament and interprovincial travel ban will likely end the hopes of Saskatchewan Rugby hosting provincial championships as well.

    Golf Saskatchewan annually hosts a pile of provincial championship tournaments in junior, men’s and women’s amateur, men’s and women’s mid-amateur and men’s and women’s senior amateur play. All of those have sizable followings, and all of those events have to be thrown into doubt.

    Since golf is an individual sport, it might be able to get around the tournament and interprovincial travel ban, because groups of players traveling together wouldn’t be considered teams. Still, the Government of Saskatchewan didn’t provide any clarity on this front.

    On the summer hockey front, it is considered a contact sport and there is a tournament and interprovincial travel ban, so it is likely the rinks won’t see any sort of games this summer.

    The announcement of the tournament and interprovincial travel ban was skillfully tucked in with announcements regarding grad ceremonies and places of worship on Thursday.

    Outdoor grad ceremonies can have 30 graduates for class and 150 in attendance overall.

    Places of worship will be allowed to have one-third of the seating capacity of a building or a maximum of 150 people whichever is less.

    Those two announcements drew the bulk of the attention on Thursday. Concerns about graduations or attending places of worship actually far exceed concerns people have about returning to the world of sports.

    As for the provincial sports scene, it is possible that the Government of Saskatchewan and the medical officials could make new decisions making a return to play more of a possibility for even contact sports.

    Still, there are a tonne of questions about the tournament and interprovincial travel ban for sports teams. Hopefully, more details about the travel ban will emerge sooner than later.

Third Saskatoon Black Lives Matter rally draws 1,000

Protesters take a knee at Saturday’s Black Lives Matter rally in Saskatoon.

    Saskatoon seems to have the magic touch when it comes to hosting peaceful anti-racism rallies which have been held across the world to support the Black Live Matter movement.

    The third such rally occurred in downtown Saskatoon on Saturday and around 1,000 people turned out. The rally ran from noon to about 4 p.m.

    The march started at Kiwanis Memorial Park, moved to the police station, cycled down to city hall and finished up back at Kiwanis Memorial Park. The protesters in the march filled the air with chants and a number of people carried signs.

    There were speakers who took centre stage addressing the crowd at each stop of the march. At the police station, the protesters at the rally took a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds to remember George Floyd and other minorities who lost their lives unjustly at the hands of police.

    These demonstrations were triggered due to the death of Floyd, who is African-American, 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.

    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 on June 3.

    The three other officers - Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao – were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
    The crowd at the Saturday rally in Saskatoon was about 60 per cent between the ages of 18 to 24. The rest of the crowd encompassed various age backgrounds.

    The rally seemed to attract a number of families too. A wide variety of cultures were present as well.

    The rally wasn’t as big as the one held in Saskatoon on June 4, which was called the “Justice for George Rally.”

    It is now estimated the crowd at the June 4 rally contained around 4,000 people. About 95 per cent of the people at that rally were age 18 to 24.

    The one noticeable difference was the presence of the Saskatoon Police Service. At the June 4 rally, members of the Saskatoon Police Service mingled with those at the rally, which include posing for pictures.

    The Saskatoon Police members did a great job of blocking off streets to allow the June 4 march to happen without any hiccups.

    Since that time, a number of other stories have come out in the mainstream media regarding police clashes with minorities and a couple of high profile cases in Canada involving interactions with police and people of First Nations decent.

    Some of the stories include clashes between those attending Black Lives Matter rallies in Montreal and the police service in that centre, where protesters were tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed.

    The organizers of Saturday’s rally asked for the Saskatoon Police Service to not have a presence at that rally. The Saskatoon Police members kept their distance and efficiently blocked off streets to allow Saturday’s march to take place.

    There were calls at the Saturday rally to defund the police in order to transfer money into social programs to deal with issues of racism and mental health. The “defund the police” line originated in the United States due to the continuing racial turmoil in that country.

    The people in the Saturday rally in Saskatoon made their voices heard, and everything went off in a peaceful way.

    If the rallies continue to happen in a peaceful way, it will help those organizing the rallies to get their anti-racism message out.

New heights for COVID-19 frustration, other thoughts

People in the COVID-19 pandemic want to get after each other like this.

    One has to wonder if frustration over the COVID-19 pandemic is reaching new heights at least in Saskatchewan.

    Over social media lines, it seems there are a large number of people that want the province to start returning more to normal due to the low number of COVID-19 cases in the province. As of Saturday, there were 23 active cases in Saskatchewan including one person in intensive care in Saskatoon and one receiving in patient care in the northern part of the province.

    Between the four western Canadian provinces in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, there are a total of 67 hospitalizations as of today due to COVID-19 with nine of those cases needing intensive care.

    There are a lot of people on social media lines who want restrictions to be relaxed, and they do not want society to be held down by those low hospital rates. These people want to be out and about and live their lives like normal.

    There are still others who view the COVID-19 pandemic as a serious crisis and believe restrictions are being relaxed too quickly and everything should be locked down. Those people fear leaving their homes.

    There are a handful of people who look at the Worldometer statistics to try and determine how dangerous COVID-19 is. Worldometer seems to be extremely accurate in counting deaths in real time.

    At the time this post went live, Worldometer stated 432,475 deaths due to COVID-19 this year. Worldometer also stated so far this year there have been 3,711,624 deaths by cancer, 2,259,154 deaths caused by smoking, 1,130,291 deaths caused by alcohol, 759,706 deaths by HIV/AIDS, 484,615 deaths by suicide, 443,281 deaths by malaria, 220,187 deaths by seasonal flu and 139,684 deaths from mothers giving birth.

    It should be noted that HIV/AIDS has been a pandemic for decades.

    The Worldometer also stated at the time this post went live there was over $180,792,000,000 spent on illegal in the world so far this year.

    No matter where you sit in belief on how dangerous COVID-19 actually is, it does seem people only look at the situation from their own person perspective. There doesn’t seem to be much empathy for those who see things differently.

    If you have a job in an industry that is keeping you financially sound at the moment, it seems some in that situation don’t care if others slip to poverty due to the fact those others work in an industry that could totally collapse due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    It is almost, “I’m glad that is not me, and tough luck to the other person.”

    It is safe to say chronic stress regarding this situation that has no end date is affecting a lot of people.

    If everyone could find a way to a touch more kind and empathic, that would help.

• Blake Nill, who is the head coach of the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds football team, agrees with the cancellations of the fall sports seasons announced by U Sports, the Canada West Conference, Atlantic University Sport and Ontario University Athletics that were announced on Monday. Nill told J.J. Adams of Postmedia for a Tuesday article, “Ultimately, universities have to provide leadership. They have to set an example. And this is absolutely about that.” Adams’s story can be found by clicking right here.
• On Thursday, multiple media reports out of Regina stated late University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team running back Samwel Uko tried to seek help for mental health issues from a Regina hospital twice on May 21, which was the day he died. The 20-year-old died of an apparent suicide by walking into Wascana Lake. Overall, this is just a horrible thing to hear about.
• Gregg Drinnan, who was the best ever when it came to covering the WHL, posted a lengthy column on his Taking Note blog on Friday about the various difficulties the sports world is encountering with the COVID-19 pandemic. That piece can be found by clicking right here.
• A year ago today on June 13, 2019, the Toronto Raptors downed the Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. With the win, the Raptors took the best-of-seven series 4-2 to capture the first NBA title. There were huge watch parties across Canada including in downtown Saskatoon to view that win. Right now, there are likely a lot of people in the country who would want to go back to that moment.
• On the uplifting front, big congratulations go out to Muenster, Sask., product Logan Hofmann. On Thursday, the 20-year-old right-handed pitcher was selected in the fifth round and 138^th overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the MLB Draft. Hofmann played this past season with the Northwestern State University Demons baseball team in the NCAA Division I ranks. With the Demons in a shortened season, Hofmann pitched 28 innings without allowing an earned run. He won all four of his starts striking out 38 batters earning second-team all-American honours. Hofmann will turn up from time to time to train at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex here in Saskatoon.

    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.

COVID-19 pandemic pushes people’s limits

Ultimate test in being comfortable with being uncomfortable

Looking into downtown Saskatoon back on March 22.

    The cliché “learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable” has been stretched to the limit in the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
    Over social media lines, the battleground of people confronting each other regarding how the pandemic is being handled gets so toxic at times that I am almost afraid to write a column on the subject. You begin to wonder if it is even worth sharing your feelings or opinions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

    It seems if you do, you have to be prepared to fight someone physically in a UFC octagon ring.

    The whole shutdown of all non-essential services and activities across most of the world is something the world has never seen before in its history, and a number of other pandemics have ripped through the world in its history. In North American, we have been facing this reality since shutdowns started to occur on March 11.

    Sweden and Brazil are just two places that haven’t observed lockdown measures so far.

    Even as I write this piece, I wonder if I should be putting out how I feel. I am not even sure it will help in the discussion.

    I have taken to the idea that the COVID-19 pandemic is a traumatic event, and everyone will deal with how they react to this event differently. The only thing I can equate the pandemic too is a death in the family, where everyone in the family reacts to the death in their own way.
    There are people out there who believe the world’s reaction to the pandemic is a complete overreaction. There are others that believe we all need to stay locked up in our homes and avoid interacting with all other humans for the next four years.

    You have predictions from some we should be over this in six weeks or two months, and that includes a handful of medical professionals who say we should start getting back to normal.
    You have other health officials, who seem to be in the main seats of influence, at first saying at the start of the pandemic this will go on for 18 months to two years. 

Merlis Belsher Place functions as field hospital in waiting.

    Now, it seems those same people are saying this could go on for three to four years, and they seem to have a total disregard for the economy and a whole host of other spinoff health problems that will result if we live in shutdowns for that long.

    It feels like the there is a major battle going on between the health officials and the economists. At the moment, it feels like World Health Organization as a body rules most of the world and has free reign to dictate what the world does.

    No matter what happens, the reality for myself and likely most who read this piece is we do not control the strings of power. All we can do is roll with the punches and do our best on a day-to-day basis to make our way in this crazy world.

    You just try to put your head down and stay in your lane as best you can while the world sorts itself out.
    That was the truth before the pandemic. That is a more pronounced truth now.

    While I myself have no power to influence anything, I still believe there needs to be accountability in every facet of life. Of course, people and organizations do earn leeway when they conduct themselves in a responsible matter over a period of time.

    That includes health officials and people in political power that make decisions.

    I should give background about why I say health officials just so it is out front that what I write may be coloured.

    As I grew up, my experiences with family doctors weren’t the greatest. It seemed from the time I was born up through my university years, I would often get sick often due to bronchitis, and all the family doctors would do is give me prescriptions that didn’t work.

    It felt like I often had to fight off any illness on my own. Over my life, I have made friends here and there, who have admitted to basically firing their family doctor after experiencing the same sort of thing.

    That all changed when I moved to Medicine Hat, Alta., when Bill Ruzycki became my family doctor. Ruzycki was also the team doctor for the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers, who were the WHL team I was covering as a beat writer for the Medicine Hat News.
    Any time I needed a prescription or wasn’t well when I lived in Medicine Hat from 2004 to 2014, everything Ruzycki prescribed to me worked. I also didn’t get sick with a physical illness that often during my time in the Hat too.

Signs like this are visible at Saskatoon facilities.

    The thought crossed my mind, “Why is he so much better than any other medical doctor I’ve ever had?”

    I just hoped he would never retire.

    Since moving to Saskatoon in the summer of 2014, the doctor I have seen at one specific medical clinic has been fine. I haven’t had to see him for anything serious.

    Still, I have kind of kept in the back of my mind which doctors I would see in Saskatoon if I “really” got sick. Those doctors also happen to work as doctors for sports teams I have covered.

    I also have had some family members who have felt the pitfall of “mistakes” from the medical system where no one was held accountable. Because doctors get cleared of some mishaps doesn’t mean the mishap never happened.

    Unfortunately, that has coloured my view of the medical system.

    No matter what arguments are presented to me about why we need to do what we do in this COVID-19 pandemic, I am still always asking in my head, “Are we doing the right thing?”

    For one, I always think any new data that might have been collected on this thing over the last two months isn’t being used. It feels like the first apocalyptic models are viewed as the only correct way to interpret things.

    It also feels like anyone that raises a different view from the medical profession gets discredited right away. When that happens, I draw parallels to dealing with the “mistakes” that have occurred to members of my family who were in the medical system dealing with an ailment.
    Did a mistake happen somewhere regarding COVID-19?

    It is also human nature that once people obtain power they don’t want to give it up, and I believe that could include people calling the shots in the medical community. It seems fear about how easily COVID-19 can be transmitted is being weaponized for political motives.

    I should also note I don’t have any trust for United States President Donald Trump either. It seems like anyone even thinks about questioning the direction we are headed in is automatically slated as a Trump supporter.

    It is possible to question both and wonder if both are doing bad jobs.

    To me, it feels like the whole story with this COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t come out yet. I believe it is a threat. Where it fits in with other threats, the true information on that front may never come out.

    As we deal with this chronic stress situation that has no end date, it feels like there are people out there that believe once the pandemic passes life with return in North America to what it was on March 10. Due to the fact the world has gone into a self-imposed recession that might already be a depression, we won’t see that world from March 10 for a very long time.

    Also, it seems like people believe governments will just take care of society as we sit in our homes and wait for this to pass. I almost laugh at that thought.
    When this is over, the tax rates are going to go through the roof at least with all the bailout programs rolled out in Canada.

Malls reopened in Saskatoon this week including Midtown Plaze seen here.

    For those starting out in the current world, you need to be a police officer, firefighter or health care worked to be ensured of always having a job with a reliable steady income.

    This whole situation is not easy and is uncomfortable.

     It will be interesting to see how the world looks back on this period of time two or three years down the road.

    Since almost all of us are not in position to call the shots, all we can do is look after our mental well-being on a day-to-day basis and remain in the present as much as possible.

    Along the way, we should try our best to be nicer to each other too including to those that see things from a different viewpoint.

Chiefs’ Beckman takes WHL player of the year honours

    After going on that long winded diatribe, it is time for a quick tidbit on the sports front.

    On Thursday, Saskatoon product Adam Beckman was named the winner of the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as the WHL player of the year. The left-winger, who played through his 18-year-old season with the Spokane Chiefs, topped the WHL in goals (48) and points (107) appearing in 63 regular season games. He had a plus-44 rating to go along with his point totals.

    Last year, Beckman, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 174 pounds, was selected in the third and 75^th overall by the Minnesota Wild in the NHL Entry Draft, and he has signed an NHL entry-level contract with the Wild.

    During his career in the WHL spent entirely with the Chiefs, Beckman has appeared in 132 regular season games posting 80 goals, 89 assists and a plus-63 rating.

    The WHL had been rolling out its league awards via an online format, and Beckman’s player of the year award win concluded that rollout.

    For Saskatoon Minor Hockey, it has to be cool to see one of their products take the WHL’s top individual honour.

    Beckman’s Chiefs had a 41-18-4-1 record before the last bit of the WHL regular season and the entire major junior post-season was nixed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The asshole stats and final thought

    The next part of this post will be what I call are “I’m an asshole” statistics.

    I believe I will be viewed as an asshole by a number of people for reporting these statistics.

    I just hope in the future the source these statistics come from doesn’t get shut down. If it does, mainstream outlets will be hooped too, because I believe this is the source they draw COVID-19 numbers from.

• Since I have typed what will be viewed as a mainly unpopular post, here are some statistics compiled by the Worldometer, which seems to be extremely accurate in counting deaths in real time around the world. At the time this post went live, there were 344,019 deaths due to COVID-19 this year. Also so far this year, Worldometer report there have been 3,239,260 deaths by cancer, 1,971,663 deaths caused by smoking, 986,459 deaths caused by alcohol, 663,030 deaths by HIV/AIDS,  422,947 deaths by suicide, 386,872 deaths by malaria, 192,051 deaths by seasonal flu and 121,909 deaths from mothers giving birth. Just putting that out there.
• One crazy statistic Worldometer reports in there has been over US$157,691,000,000 spent this year on illegal drugs in the world. Just putting that out there.
• At the time this post went live, there were six hospitalizations in the province of Saskatchewan due to COVID-19. In Saskatoon, there are 1,266 hospital bed set aside for COVID-19 patients including 250 beds in the field hospital in waiting at Merlis Belsher Place. Just putting that out there.
• For what it is worth, I like the reopening plan the Government of Saskatchewan has laid out and is following. With all the items I have written in this post that will be disliked, I think Saskatchewan Scott Moe and Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab are doing a good job navigating this whole COVID-19 pandemic. To me, they seem to be the most real out of any of the leaders dealing with this. Of course, not every decision that is made will be the greatest, but I feel fortunate I am living in Saskatchewan through this. Even with what I just wrote, I suspect there will be people that don’t like the fact I wrote this point.

    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.