A DECADE OF CHANGES
Looking back at 10 years in sports
It sure was a noisy decade.
Noisy from a sports perspective, anyway, if you live in Saskatoon. One of the noisier ones.
Ten years of hammering, upgrading, sawing and pounding. Ten years of heavy machinery, mixed with the occasional thunderous celebration (hello, Rush). Saskatoon’s sports scene today is not the sports scene we awoke to — in various stages of lucidity — on Jan. 1, 2010.
Back then, it looked something like this:
The world junior hockey championship was running hot and heavy at the place we then called Credit Union Centre.
Saskatoon’s own Mike Babcock had just, two days earlier, unveiled the Canadian Olympic team roster during a press conference in his home city. A few months later, he’d coach that team to a gold medal, cementing his hot-stuff status.
Derek Keenan was preparing for his first season at the helm of the National Lacrosse League’s Edmonton Rush, who would have absolutely nothing to do with Saskatoon for another half-decade.
Gordie Howe Bowl was a big pile of muck.
Rutherford Rink was a big pile of rust.
The Saskatoon Hilltops’ Tom Sargeant had won a mere four national championships as head coach, while working out of a clubhouse structure that no longer exists.
Saskatchewan Roughriders fans were a mere month into 13th man nightmares.
Graham Delaet’s PGA debut was 13 days away.
Gordie Howe was alive, relatively well, and making travel plans to return to Saskatoon for an appearance with Wayne Gretzky and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the 50th annual Kinsmen Sports Celebrity Dinner.
And so on, and so on, and so on, which takes us to where we are now:
Howe is gone, after a spirited and well-lived life. His ashes, and those of wife Colleen, rest at the base of his statue, which has moved to a fresh locale as part of a fascinating life cycle.
The NLL’S Saskatchewan Rush turned the local sports scene on its ear when they arrived in 2016 and proceeded to pack Sasktel Centre. They reintroduced Saskatoon to professional sports, after a lengthy hiatus.
Pro basketball is back, too, in the form of the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s Saskatchewan Rattlers, and soccer’s knocking at the door.
There’s a new arena, Merlis Belsher Place, on the U of S campus, and a Gordie Howe Bowl you would not recognize — partly because it’s now Saskatoon Minor Football Field, and mostly because it’s been fixed up so well the place is now one of pride rather than embarrassment.
Women’s hockey continues to surge, with Saskatoon’s Emily Clark and Sophie Shirley coming off the 2019 NCAA title in Wisconsin, and Shaunavon’s Hayley Wickenheiser (awarded an honorary degree by the University of Saskatchewan) in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Saskatoon Blades are still slugging along, as always, but with new ownership and management. Huskie Athletics is still Huskie Athletics, albeit with freshened facilities and new faces.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders run annual training camps here again, after several years away.
The Hilltops have won six Canadian titles in a row.
U of S Huskies’ basketball coach Lisa Thomaidis is the national team women’s head coach and is shooting for a second Olympics appearance at the helm, while Saskatoon’s Ja’shon Henry played in March Madness this past spring.
Chatter has broken out about replacing Sasktel Centre.
And then there’s this, just like always: Some of Saskatoon’s great athletes and builders of the future were born in these last 10 years. Some of Saskatoon’s past great athletes and builders died.
Sports, overall, is bigger in this city than it was 10 years ago, just because there’s more options.
Facilities are better, overall, and professional sports have made a comeback after previous pratfalls.
Fan support will be something worth watching over the next decade, as will the ongoing viability of various sporting options in the city.
The Blades, despite a breakout 2018-19 season, continue to struggle at the gate.
The Rush — while again leading the NLL in attendance — drew nearly 1,200 fewer people per game last season than they did the year before.
Then there’s the surging U of S Huskies football team, which drew just 1,191 onlookers for a Canada West semifinal football game on a clear and temperate afternoon. The game before that, they drew 1,105, and finished with an average 2,783 spectators ( both playoff and regular season).
To contrast, they drew 3,528 in 2018; 4,531 in 2017, and 5,696 in 2016.
The challenge, for everybody, is how to get more people into the seats.
They’ll all tell you that it’s not an easy one to figure out, and they’re right, but that doesn’t make the goal any less worthy.
In the meantime, when we wake up on Jan. 1, 2020, it’ll be a different world than the one we (hopefully) wake up to Jan. 1, 2030.
Much happens in 10 years — always has, always will, and we might as well settle back and enjoy the ride as much as we can.
Sports-wise, at this moment in time, Saskatoon’s in a better place than it was 10 years ago.
And that’s something worth toasting on the eve of a new and unpredictable decade.
Much happens in 10 years — always has, always will, and we might as well settle back and enjoy the ride.