Sportsnet today announced it has reached a six-year agreement with Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), the national governing body of university sport in Canada, for the multiplatform rights to an all-encompassing portfolio of sports across television, online, and mobile.
The agreement, which begins this season and runs through the 2018/19 school year, features expanded coverage of men’s and women’s CIS sports, headlined by the Vanier Cup and including the following marquee events: Football (Mitchell Bowl and Uteck Bowl), Men’s and Women’s Hockey Championships; Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, and more to be announced at a later date.
Coverage for the 2013-14 season features 13 events, beginning with men’s football later this year. Sportsnet’s The Score will be one of the main hubs of CIS coverage, continuing its strong tradition of broadcasting university sports and amateur athletics, which began in 2002. Broadcast details will be announced in the coming weeks.
“CIS athletes have proven they can compete at world-class levels, and now they will receive the world-class coverage they deserve,” said Navaid Mansuri, Vice-President, Programming, Sportsnet. “The CIS is a highly-valued, long-term partner, and we look forward to working with them to significantly increase the profile of Canadian university sports and expose the country to some of our best athletes and stars in the making – along with sharing the game-day excitement from campuses across Canada. The sky is the limit from here.”
“This is a historic day for university sport in Canada,” said Pierre Lafontaine, Chief Executive Officer of CIS. “This expanded, long-term partnership with Sportsnet will help elevate the CIS brand and provide our 11,000 student athletes, 700 coaches and 54 member institutions the recognition they deserve. It will serve to shine a light on the many outstanding accomplishments of our student-athletes who will move on to become future leaders in this country and around the world.”
In addition to the various men’s and women’s events, Sportsnet now becomes the exclusive home of the Vanier Cup, the historic championship football game played each season between the winners of the Uteck Bowl and the Mitchell Bowl. This year, the 2013 Vanier Cup will take place on Saturday, Nov. 23 on the campus of Université Laval in Quebec City. The Vanier Cup will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2014.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Conacher Out, Cameron In
The Regina Pats Hockey Club announced today that Pat Conacher has resigned his position as Head Coach after two seasons behind the bench of the Queen City squad.
“After much discussion and deliberation with family, on Friday April 26, 2013, I delivered to Chad Lang my letter of resignation to step down as the head coach of the Regina Pats,” commented Conacher. “I would like to thank the Parker family, the Pats organization and their terrific support staff, Greg Mayer, all the players who gave all they had the last two years, and the media who were always fair and a pleasure to work with. Last but not least, the city of Regina and the fans, thank you for your support. It has been a great two years for my wife Susan and I. I wish nothing but health and success for the Pats and their fans now and in the future.”
“As Pat had another year on his contract his resignation certainly caught us off guard,” said Pats General Manager Chad Lang. “We would like to thank Pat for his commitment to the Regina Pats organization for the past two years and wish him and his family all the best in the future.”
Malcolm Cameron has been promoted and will now assume the head coaching reigns after spending the past two years as the Pats Assistant Coach and the previous nine seasons coaching professional hockey in the East Coast Hockey League.
“When we put together our staff two years ago we wanted to have a succession plan in place to maintain continuity if and when any of our coaches moved on,” added Lang. “Malcolm is a quality coach and we did not even consider looking anywhere else. We are excited to move forward with Malcolm and we feel very fortunate that we had a top notch person and coach ready to step right in without us missing a beat as an organization.”
In his nine seasons as a head coach in the ECHL, Cameron never missed the playoffs in those years while twice taking teams to the conference finals. Three All-Star Games and a runner-up for Coach of the Year three times highlight his coaching career in the ECHL. In 699 games coaching in the ECHL, Cameron registered a record of 410-203-86 including back-to-back 52 win seasons with the Texas Wildcatters.
Cameron joined the Regina Pats prior to the 2011-12 WHL Regular Season as an assistant coach and helped the Pats to a 37-27-6-2 record that season and a berth in the 2012 WHL Playoffs.
“I am very humbled and proud to become the next Head Coach of the Regina Pats,” commented Cameron. “I would like to thank the Parker family, General Manager Chad Lang for their support in giving me this opportunity and lastly former coach Pat Conacher for helping me prepare to be a successful head coach in the WHL. The opportunity to coach the oldest franchise in the CHL is one I look upon with great pride and honor, and I hope to be able to add to the tradition of our proud franchise. I look forward to working with the returning staff Josh Dixon, Rob Muntain and Greg Mayer, as well as the returning players, and look forward to the challenge of grooming the new players into proud Regina Pats.”
The first duties for Cameron as the new Head Coach will be May 31th – June 2st when he participates in the Pats Spring Camp at the Cooperators Centre. All of the Regina Pats recent draft picks and prospects will be in Regina for the annual three day orientation and evaluation session.
(Courtesy Daniel Fink--Pats Media Relations)
Hockey Alberta Takes Risky Step
Hockey Alberta, acting on a decision made by its Board of Directors, is
eliminating body checking from the Peewee division beginning in the 2013-14
season.
“Our players’ safety is the foundation in making this decision,” said Hockey Alberta’s Chair of the Board, Rob Virgil. “There is overwhelming evidence that body checking is the single most consistent risk factor for injuries and concussions in youth ice hockey.”
In 2012, the Board of Directors established a Body Checking Review Committee and tasked them with reviewing relevant scientific research, member feedback from past AGMs and a recent survey and the positions of other Hockey Canada branches as they developed recommendations on options for body checking in Minor Hockey.
Over the course of the past year, the Committee debated and decided upon the following recommendations which were recently presented to and approved by the Board:
The Board of Directors felt strongly based on the research and information presented that the organization make this policy level change without delay.
“Hockey Alberta should be commended for taking a leadership role in creating a safer playing environment for our youth,” said Dr. Brian Benson, director of the Sport Concussion Clinic at the University of Calgary Sport Medicine Centre. “Recent evidence suggests removing body checking at the Peewee level will reduce players' risk of concussions and injuries overall by more than three-fold."
Starting next season, the rules of play for the Atom age category will also apply to the Peewee age division. There will be no body checking in all categories of Peewee hockey, and there will be a penalty assessed for players who body check. Coaches will still be required to take the Checking Skills Program in Peewee and encouraged to teach safe checking skills in a practice environment.
“Our players’ safety is the foundation in making this decision,” said Hockey Alberta’s Chair of the Board, Rob Virgil. “There is overwhelming evidence that body checking is the single most consistent risk factor for injuries and concussions in youth ice hockey.”
In 2012, the Board of Directors established a Body Checking Review Committee and tasked them with reviewing relevant scientific research, member feedback from past AGMs and a recent survey and the positions of other Hockey Canada branches as they developed recommendations on options for body checking in Minor Hockey.
Over the course of the past year, the Committee debated and decided upon the following recommendations which were recently presented to and approved by the Board:
1. Create an overall Player Safety Strategy that
includes a focus on the reduction of serious injuries in the game at all
levels.
2. Continue to work within the guiding principles
of the Long Term Player Development (LTPD) and allow these principles to frame
the decision-making process around player development programs at all
levels.
3. Remove body checking from all categories of the
Peewee age group (11-12 years old).
The Board of Directors felt strongly based on the research and information presented that the organization make this policy level change without delay.
“Hockey Alberta should be commended for taking a leadership role in creating a safer playing environment for our youth,” said Dr. Brian Benson, director of the Sport Concussion Clinic at the University of Calgary Sport Medicine Centre. “Recent evidence suggests removing body checking at the Peewee level will reduce players' risk of concussions and injuries overall by more than three-fold."
Starting next season, the rules of play for the Atom age category will also apply to the Peewee age division. There will be no body checking in all categories of Peewee hockey, and there will be a penalty assessed for players who body check. Coaches will still be required to take the Checking Skills Program in Peewee and encouraged to teach safe checking skills in a practice environment.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
J-A Happ Takes A Comebacker Off The Head
If I have said it once, I will say it again. One of these nights, a pitcher will be killed when a ball comes right back at him hitting him in the head. Is it going to take a death for baseball to make pitchers wear helmets. Here's the latest ugly scene involving Toronto's J-A Happ...
Carrie Underwood Replaces Faith Hill On Sunday Night Football
NBC selected six-time Grammy Award-winner and multi-platinum recording artist, Carrie Underwood, to perform “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night,” the opening theme for primetime television’s No. 1 program, Sunday Night Football on NBC. Country music superstar Underwood, the season-four winner of American Idol, makes her Sunday Night Football debut on Sunday, September 8 on NBC’s first SNF broadcast of the 2013 NFL season, a heated NFC East rivalry game when Dallas Cowboys host the New York Giants. The opening theme will continue each week kicking off Sunday Night Football every Sunday night throughout the NFL season on NBC.
“I am thrilled to be a part of NBC’s Sunday Night Football and am so honored they asked me,” said Underwood. “I have always loved football season, and it is so exciting to now become part of it every Sunday night!”
Since winning American Idol and releasing her debut album in 2005, Underwood has sold over 15 million albums, and placed 17 No. 1 singles on the charts. Her recent album, Blown Away, made history by debuting at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums Chart, making Underwood only the second country artist in the 47-year history of the chart to have each of their first four albums debut at No. 1.
“Carrie Underwood was our first and only choice to perform the Sunday Night Football opening,” said SNF producer Fred Gaudelli. “She’s one of America’s most popular entertainers and the perfect fit for our show.”
The now platinum-selling Blown Away album also debuted at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, making Underwood only the second country artist in history to have three consecutive albums debut at No. 1. She is a six-time Grammy winner, a two-time Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year, a three-time Country Music Association and ACM Female Vocalist winner, and a proud member of the Grand Ole Opry.
“Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” is set to the original Joan Jett song, “I Hate Myself for Loving You” and marks Underwood’s first production with NBC Sports. From 2007-2012, the song was performed by music superstar Faith Hill and in 2006, the inaugural season of Sunday Night Football, Pink performed the open.
Underwood is currently headlining and selling out arenas across North America on her “Blown Away Tour.” The tour, which launched last June, has played in the United States, Canada, the U.K., Ireland, and Australia, and will perform a total of 112 dates by the time is wraps on May 23 in Abbotsford, BC, Canada.
Sunday Night Football, which averaged 21.8 million viewers in the 2012 season, is primetime television’s No. 1 program.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Big Day For The U of R Rams
Led by second-round selections Stefan Charles and Brett Jones, the University of Regina Rams had a total of four players selected on Monday in the 2013 CFL Draft.
Charles was the first University of Regina player off the board. Named a first-team All-Canadian at defensive tackle following the 2011 season, Charles was taken with the first selection of the second round (9th overall) to the Edmonton Eskimos. Charles, who checked in at 6-5, 324 lbs. at the CFL Combine earlier this spring, finishes his three-season CIS career ranked in the U of R's all-time top five in career sacks.
Jones, a four-year starter on the offensive line for the Rams, was then taken 17th overall by the Calgary Stampeders. Jones has piled up a litany of impressive credentials while with the U of R, as he's a two-time first-team All-Canadian, a two-time Canada West Russ Jackson Award nominee as the conference's top student-athlete, and was named the conference's J.P. Metras Award nominee as Canada West's top lineman following the 2012 campaign.
Despite coming into Monday's draft having never selected a University of Regina player, the Eskimos then selected their second and third Rams of the day in the third and fourth rounds. Offensive lineman Chris Mercer went 26th overall to Edmonton, which then took long snapper Jorgen Hus with the 31st overall selection.
Only Saint Mary's, Calgary, and McMaster had more players taken than the Rams on Monday. The four picks are the second most in a single draft for the Rams, who have now had a total of 24 players selected in the CFL Draft since ascending to the CIS level prior to the 1999 season.
NOTES: The only time the Rams had more selections in a CFL Draft was in 2009, when a total of five University of Regina products were taken.
Courtesy U of R Cougars
Charles was the first University of Regina player off the board. Named a first-team All-Canadian at defensive tackle following the 2011 season, Charles was taken with the first selection of the second round (9th overall) to the Edmonton Eskimos. Charles, who checked in at 6-5, 324 lbs. at the CFL Combine earlier this spring, finishes his three-season CIS career ranked in the U of R's all-time top five in career sacks.
Jones, a four-year starter on the offensive line for the Rams, was then taken 17th overall by the Calgary Stampeders. Jones has piled up a litany of impressive credentials while with the U of R, as he's a two-time first-team All-Canadian, a two-time Canada West Russ Jackson Award nominee as the conference's top student-athlete, and was named the conference's J.P. Metras Award nominee as Canada West's top lineman following the 2012 campaign.
Despite coming into Monday's draft having never selected a University of Regina player, the Eskimos then selected their second and third Rams of the day in the third and fourth rounds. Offensive lineman Chris Mercer went 26th overall to Edmonton, which then took long snapper Jorgen Hus with the 31st overall selection.
Only Saint Mary's, Calgary, and McMaster had more players taken than the Rams on Monday. The four picks are the second most in a single draft for the Rams, who have now had a total of 24 players selected in the CFL Draft since ascending to the CIS level prior to the 1999 season.
NOTES: The only time the Rams had more selections in a CFL Draft was in 2009, when a total of five University of Regina products were taken.
Courtesy U of R Cougars
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