What’s old is new again
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It was the 1980-81 University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey season. Wanting to be a sports broadcaster of any kind, I inquired about being a commentator on the Huskies’ games on the campus radio station…CJUS-FM. I lucked out. At 16 years old I stood beside school legend Bruce Gordon, who did play-by-play. I served as analyst. (Who better to second guess the coaching techniques of hockey genius Dave King, then a 16 year old from Pleasantdale, Saskatchewan who skated on his ankles.) It was my first time on the radio air waves. I will never forget how The Intensely Vigorous College Nine brass band came over and played the Hockey Night In Canada intro in to our microphones before we started. I will never forget watching great players such as Willie Desjardins, Peter Anholt, Dave Adolph and many more in the seasons that followed. I will never forget how gracious Bruce Gordon was and what friends we became. (Bruce passed away in May of 2020, and I don’t walk in to Merlis Belsher Place without thinking about him.) If that wasn’t enough, my first paying job in broadcasting was in 1983 in Estevan, in part to a reference from the one and only Dave King.
The first time many of my sports journalism colleagues in Saskatchewan saw the Skydome (now Rogers Centre) was in 1989. The Riders defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Grey Cup game. If you are a sports fan you know the story. My first trip to Skydome was the year following. In 1990 The University of Saskatchewan Huskies, who lost in the Vanier Cup the year before, were out to right a wrong. Standing in the way of the Huskies winning their first national university football championship was a talented team from St. Mary’s. With Saskatchewan up 24-21, but St. Mary’s on the move with less than half a minute to go in the fourth quarter, Don Bristow hit quarterback Chris Flynn feet away from where I was standing to help the U of S preserve the victory. I will never forget interviewing Brian Towriss at mid-field after the game. He stopped the interview and said, “I have to see this.” It was the Huskies raising the Vanier Cup for the first time in school history. I witnessed school history.
This sports/journalism career, that officially started in 1983, has given me so many great moments. I’ve had opportunities to interview Wayne Gretzky, Terry Bradshaw, Ernie Whitt, be on national television, and see parts of this country I would not have seen otherwise. However, a moment that equals, and in some cases surpasses those moments, was the chance to call the first ever goal scored at the state of the art Merlis Belsher Place. Leah Bohlken scored in a 1-0 shutout over Alberta in October of 2018. I was the play-by-play commentator on the streaming broadcast. That goal is so significant because, in my mind, it was the official good-bye to Rutherford Rink, and hello to the state of the art arena that several Huskies’ sports teams now call home. I was there for it, and it ranks right up there with the great moments of my career.
Now HuskieFAN. A digital hub where great Huskies Athletics content will exist. I’m honoured to be the Senior Producer, Host & Partnership Coordinator of HuskieFAN. A portal where a team of people including me will be fortunate enough to call games, interview athletes, and tell stories about all things Huskies. Over four decades later, who would have thought that another first would yet again involve the storied University of Saskatchewan Huskies.
