Like it or not…hockey season starts Sunday!
The Saskatoon Blades will be on the ice Monday at SaskTel Centre after officially opening training camp Sunday with off-ice testing. When the Bridge City Bunch hit the ice Monday for training camp scrimmages, the 80 or so players will be split into four teams for the Kirkness Cup. The four teams are named after Blades’ alumni…Wendel Clark, Braden Holtby, Glen Gulutzan and Todd McLellan. The Kirkness Cup is named after former long-time SaskTel Centre employee and rink attendant Bob Kirkness. Nowadays, he helps out in the Blades’ dressing room…but was forced into stepping away from the club in 2016 after being diagnosed with leukemia. Kirkness defeated the disease after stem cell treatment and was able to return to the rink for training camp in 2016 and the inaugural Kirkness Cup. Following is the news release from the Blue and Gold…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saskatoon, SASK – The Saskatoon Blades’ 2019 Training Camp is set to begin at 12:00pm on Sunday the 25th of August. Camp will open with registration, measurements & photos at the Elite PROformance Centre in Saskatoon, followed by fitness testings.
The camp will then move to SaskTel Centre for Monday August 26th and Tuesday August 27th, with fans invited to view the 2019 Edition of the Blades’ Pre-season Tournament, the Kirkness Cup.
All players attending camp will be split into four teams, each named after Blades’ Alumnus Braden Holtby, Wendel Clark, Glen Gulutzan, and Todd McLellan. The four teams will then do battle for the 4th annual Kirkness Cup.
The tournament opens at SaskTel Centre on Monday morning with Team Holtby vs Team Clark on the ice at 10:30am and closes with the final being played at 4:00pm on Tuesday evening.
Ice sessions are open to the public on both tournament days and admission is free at SaskTel Centre. Team rosters will be made available later in the week and at SaskTel Centre during on-ice sessions.
The Frozen Pond will be open during camp with select items on sale. The Frozen Pond’s hours during camp are 10:00am to 7:30pm on Monday and 9:00am to 5:30pm on Tuesday.
###
