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| The Huskies women's basketball team's fifth year players and coaches. |
The 2015-16 campaign saw the Huskies capture four Canada
West championships coming from men’s track and field, men’s wrestling, men’s
hockey and women’s basketball. The women’s hoops team capped the campaign
claiming a national championship, when they downed the Ryerson University Rams
85-71 for a Canadian Interuniversity Sport title on March 20 in Fredericton,
N.B.
On Friday, the current class of all the Huskies teams gathered
together at TCU Place to celebrate their accomplishments at the Huskie Salute,
where the U of S athletics program hands out its seven major team awards.
Members of the women’s basketball team took three of the
honours. Lisa Thomaidis, who is one of the best bench bosses in any sport in
Canada, was named the coach of the year, guard Laura Dally was the female
athlete of the year and post Dalyce Emmerson was named the all-around female
athlete of the year. Wrestler Kiera Prior took home honours as the female
rookie of the year.
The men’s awards included one individual from each of the
Canada West title winning teams. CJ Gavlas was named the male rookie of the
year, goaltender Jordon Cooke took home honours as the male athlete of the year
and Jared Olson of the track and field team was the all-around male athlete of
the year.
The trainers of the year were Lisa Rystephanuk from Huskies wrestling and Stephen Hutton from Huskies track and field.
The trainers of the year were Lisa Rystephanuk from Huskies wrestling and Stephen Hutton from Huskies track and field.
The team awards were a capper to a campaign that saw 17
individuals win major CIS awards or be named all-Canadians along with members
of the men’s 4 X 200-metre and 4 X 400-metre relay teams, who won CIS championship gold medals. The Canada West
honours on top of that were big time numerous.
The gathering at the Huskie Salute is one of those rare
opportunities where all the athletes from all U of S teams can assemble in one
place. All the teams on campus are elite programs and a lot times athletes can
get locked into their own world of their own sport and their studies.
During the season, players are good at getting out to see
and support their peers on other clubs, but there usually isn’t a whole lot of
time to get to see each other on a social basis. With how advanced year-round
training has become for elite athletes, it is likely harder and more time
consuming right now to be a CIS athlete than it ever has been compared to the
past.
Before the Huskie Salute, a large number of the athletes
attended the school’s athletic wall of fame reception. The University of
Saskatchewan Athletic Wall of Fame inductees included athletes Andrew Spagrud
from men’s basketball and Karlyn (Serby) Wells from track and field, the
1998-99 CIS champion Huskies men’s volleyball team, and builders Michael PJ
Kennedy and Gil Wist. Kennedy wrote two editions of the history book on the
Huskies hockey teams and Wist spent over 30 years supporting the wrestling
program.
The main message echoed by all of those inductees was how
much they enjoyed their time with the Huskies and how time has gone by so fast.
During the Huskie Salute, the fifth-year athletes that won
awards told the younger athletes to enjoy their time with the teams, because it
goes by too fast. In the end, the athletes, coaches and staff will remember all
sorts of other memories that occurred around practices and games. Those
memories are the things that always stick with you.
While the Huskie Salute was a time to celebrate, it was also
a moment of finality. What the athletes might not realize that starting now
there is a chance years and even decades may pass before they see some of the
of the faces they saw on Friday night again. That was the last moment the
2015-16 Huskies would be together in one place.
Before the awards were handed out, a moment of silence was
held for former Huskies men’s hockey player Cody Smuk and former wrestling
coach Todd Hinds, who both passed away last June. That was a small reminder of
how finite life can be.
When an athlete looks to join a post-secondary program, they
are looking for a place where they feel they can belong. The Huskies over the
decades have managed to accomplish that. Their athletes were and still are
making memories they will carry with themselves forever.
Catching up with Clark for the Express
I caught up with Saskatoon product Emily Clark, who is
playing forward for Canada at the women’s world hockey championships on right
now in Kamloops, B.C. At age 20, Clark is the youngest player on Canada’s
senior national women’s team.
Clark joined the Canadian team right after her University of
Wisconsin Badgers women’s team fell 3-2 in overtime to the University of
Minnesota Golden Gophers in a National Collegiate Athletic Association
semifinal game.
She was also once a star on the Saskatoon Stars female
midget AAA team. The story on Clark can be found right here.
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comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
