Category: Team

The sport of football in Prince Albert started in the mid 1950’s. PACI, Riverside Collegiate and St.Mary all started 6-man programs with very little equipment. PACI would have a total of 6 helmets, of which 2 were leather, to share among players in the first days of the program. The Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association recognized the need for more protective equipment and made helmets and pads available to the schools.

PACI would play their first game at Riverside in 1957 with one of the teachers volunteering to be the referee. In subsequent games, former player Al Olander would volunteer to be the official and recruit others, to form the first referee’s association.

In 1957 the PACI team would compete in the Provincial final where they were edged by Yorkton in the two game total point series. In 1958, eight players from that team were joined by 5 others to form a very strong Golden Bear team.

In the 2 game northern final they would take on Lloydminster, losing the first game 46-35, but would rally a week later for a convincing 47-6 win at PACI to advance to their second straight provincial final.

That final was played against Wynyard with PACI winning both games handily to give Prince Albert its first ever Football Title – the Saskatchewan 6-man High School crown!

The success of the 6 man format would be modified to 8-man the following year and in 1961 converted to 12-man.

Carlton Comprehensive High School broke through as first time Provincial 4A Girls Soccer Champions in 1993 then followed up with another Saskatchewan title in 1994.

15 years after the inception of a 4A Girls High School Saskatchewan Champion, the Crusaders won their first title in 1993 taking the Gold Medal match in Saskatoon 302 over Bishop Mahoney of the host city. They had defeated Lanigan 3-0 in the semi final. Toles was assisted by Jim Nicholson, Elaine Machnee and Bob Gibson in guiding the 19 Carlton students to their first title.

In 1994, 6 holdovers from the ’93 championship team would lead the Crusaders to another stellar season highlighted by their second 4A Crown. The Crusaders hosted by the University of Saskatchewan in their first visit to the high profile tournament.

The Crusaders did not allow a goal in their march through Provincial Playoffs, beating St. Mary 2-0, Warman 6-0 and Tisdale 7-0 to advance to the Regina tournament. At the 4A’s Leanne Radcliffe scored in overtime to give the Crusaders a 3-2 semi final win over Regina Campbell to send them to a rematch of the 1993 Gold Medal game against Saskatoon Bishop Mahoney.

The 1994 final saw the Crusaders trailing 1-0 with just 10 minutes remaining. Erin Hammett would tie the game with 6 minutes left, then senior Sara Sinclair scored a dramatic goal with just 3 minutes to play to give the Crusaders their second straight crown.

These two teams produced a number of players that went on to complete at higher levels including 11 on a Provincial team, 17 on SSA Age Classification Celtic teams that won Provincials, 4 to the University of Saskatchewan, 3 to the Canada Summer Games team and 1 to the World University Games team.

Women’s softball in Prince Albert was established as a power house in the 1960’s with the Key Realettes. Early in the 1970’s the sponsorship changed, but the will to win was transferred to the Browne Motors Dusters who won the Saskatchewan Commercial Women’s softball championships in 1972 and 1973. The Dusters, coached by Audrey Sandbeck and Roy Martin, did not compete in a league during this time relying on tournaments and exhibition games to prepare them for Provincials.

In 1972 the host Dusters had to win the Saskatchewan title the hard way, losing their first game to the Saskatoon Steelers but fought through the B side and defeated the Steelers twice to win the crown. They won B side games 4-3 over Swift Current, then blasted the Regina Aces 26-6 in the B final to get another crack at the Steelers whom they would have to beat twice.

The Dusters prevailed 4-2 and 605 over the Steelers in the A-B final to capture the Saskatchewan crown. Ida Birkland was the work horse for the Dusters starting every game of the Provincials and was the winning pitcher in both final games. 14 year-old Brenda Basaraba was the closer in the final game limiting Saskatoon to just 2 hits and no runs in the final 2 innings. Birkland was also the hitting star in the final with a triple and game winning solo home run in the 6th.

In 1973 with 5 new faces in their lineup the Dusters did not miss a beat winning the 8 team Provincial Final in Saskatoon, this time going undefeated. It was not an easy road to their second title through as the Dusters had to go to extra innings in their first two games to beat Moose Jaw 7-5 and the Saskatoon Steelers 7-6. Their only easy game was in the A final when they hammered the Regina Acres 16-5.

The 1973 Championship game pitted the Dusters against the Regina Gamblers. The Gamblers took the early lead in the 2nd inning on PA’s only error of the contest. In the 5th Bonnie Kutzan and Brenda Basaraba led off with singles. Ellen Grewcock, who came through with clutch hits throughout the tournament singled to tie the game followed by a double from Lois Gruending to score the game and championship winning run.

They were only together one season, but it was a season to remember as the Prince Albert Blue Jays Ladies Softball team made history in 1950. They become the first Prince Albert team to bring home the Ladies Senior B Provincial title.

Lead by their manager/ coach Arnold Barsky and coach Sam Tadman, the Blue Jays took their step to provincials by winning the city championship.

Then it was on to the Northern Saskatchewan play downs and a best of five series with Borderick. Broderick started off strong winning the first game against the host P.A. side. The Blue Jays battled back, taking the next three games including two straight in Boderick.

They then moved on to the Northern Saskatchewan finals easily defeating the Meadow Lake Stampeders in a best of three series outscoring their opponents 31-9 total in two games.

That set up a showdown with the Estevan Imps in a best of five series for Provincial honours. After a slow start in the first game, the Blue Jays lost 8-1. They turned it around in the second game with a 18 inning thriller, coming out on top 3-2. Terry Bremner was the pitcher of record in the first two games for the Jays.

After the marathon Game 2, the Blue Jays never looked back taking the next two games against Estevan by scores of 3-1 and 501 led by the pitching of Lou Logan in both becoming the first team from Prince Albert to win a Saskatchewan Ladies Senior B Softball title.

To go undefeated through one season at the city and provincial levels is of note.  But when it happens in back to back seasons with primarily the same team it is special.  The Prince Albert Anavets accomplished this feat in Mosquito baseball in the 1983 and 1984 seasons.  The team was so dominant they were named the Saskatchewan Baseball Team of the Year in 1984.

In 1983 under the leadership of Coaches Tom Ross and Doug Nelson, the Anavets captured the Mosquito A city title, then traveled to Yorkton to pick up the Saskatchewan title.  They won four games at the tournament, committing only five errors total.  Their closest game was a 5-4 triumph over Weyburn when they scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth.

The 1984 Mosquito A Provincial championship tournament was hosted at Dents Park.  The Anavets advanced with a 4-0 win over the Saskatoon Optimists to win the PA Minor Softball Association title. With Bob Linner moving up to be the coach after managing the team in ’83 and with the assistance of Barry Dutchak, again the Anavets went 4-0 through the round robin to cap two undefeated seasons.  The feat was acknowledged by SaskBaseball as they received the associations top award – Team of the Year.