From the ice, to the gridiron, to the pool and beyond, 2024 was a historic year for several Saskatchewan teams and dozens more athletes who gave their all to achieve victory.
With the calendar flipping over to 2025, here’s a look at five of the top sports stories from athletes spanning all corners of the province.
Moose Jaw Warriors win historic first WHL championship
When the Winnipeg Warriors moved to the city of Moose Jaw in 1984, few could have predicted a championship drought for the organization that would last four decades.
That streak finally came to an end on May 15, 2024 at the Moose Jaw Events Centre with the host Warriors defeating the Portland Winterhawks 4-2 to complete a sweep of the WHL Championship Series to win the franchise’s first Ed Chynoweth Cup.
“This was our goal from Day 1,” graduating forward Atley Calvert said on the ice post-game. “I knew it was going to be a special year, we had a special group and we’re going to be brothers forever.”
Earning series wins over the Brandon Wheat Kings and Swift Current Broncos to begin playoffs, the Warriors were matched up against the Saskatoon Blades in the Eastern Conference final, which would go down as one of the most remarkable series in WHL history.
With six of seven games requiring overtime, Moose Jaw would end up the victor in Game 7 overtime with a Lynden Lakovic series winner to send the Warriors through to the WHL finals.
What followed was a clinical effort by the Warriors against Portland to seal a historic first championship. While they would be eliminated in the semifinal of the Memorial Cup, it was a season that will go down as the most memorable for fans in the Friendly City.
“This is unbelievable,” Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary said after the final buzzer versus the Winterhawks. “I just love this group, everything that they’re about. Even when I’m mad at them I love them. To have the opportunity to do this at home is just so special.”
Saskatchewan Roughriders return to relevancy
On the field, the Saskatchewan Roughriders made good on their promise to return to the CFL‘s playoffs after two straight years sitting on the sidelines.
With first-year head coach Corey Mace at the helm, the Roughriders endured an up-and-down regular season, which included a 5-1 record out of the gate and a seven-game winless streak through the heart of the season.
Finishing the year with a 9-8-1 record, Saskatchewan earned the second seed in the West Division and hosted its first playoff game since 2021, which saw the Riders come away with a 28-19 victory over the BC Lions.
The Roughriders would fall the following week to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 38-22 in the West Division Final, seeing their season end one win shy of playing for a Grey Cup.
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“It’s very exciting to know the stability of the foundation that’s been set in place in the first year,” Mace said the day after their playoff elimination.
Saskatchewan’s biggest question mark heading into the off-season was answered in early December, with 38-year-old quarterback Trevor Harris signing a one-year contract extension to return for a third season in green and white.
“It was a no-brainer for me,” Harris said in a December media availability. “As soon as I knew that I felt like I had multiple years left in the tank, this is where I want to be.”
Medal haul for Saskatchewan athletes at Olympics and Paralympics
Across the ocean, a few dozen athletes from Saskatchewan got to live out their dreams in Paris competing at the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics for Team Canada.
In total, five medals were brought back to Saskatchewan, with Waldheim native Carissa Norsten winning silver alongside Canada’s national women’s rugby sevens team as part of a magical run to the gold medal game, where they fell 19-12 to New Zealand.
At the Paralympics, Midale cyclist Keely Shaw claimed her second career Paralympic bronze medal in the women’s 3,000-metre C4 individual pursuit to capture Canada’s third medal of the Games.
That was followed by successive bronze medals on the volleyball court and in the pool, with Melfort’s Julie Kozun and Saskatoon’s Shelby Newkirk reaching the podium with Canada’s women’s sitting volleyball team and in the women’s 100-metre S6 backstroke.
Meanwhile, Pike Lake product Rylan Wiens and his partner Nathan Zsombor-Murray brought Canada a bronze medal in men’s 10-metre synchronized diving.
“Definitely nervous the whole time from start to finish,” Wiens said in Global studios after his return home. “Especially when we started to realize that we had a real shot at it later in the competition, but we both held our composure and I was able to do my dives really good in the moment.”
Wiens’ win was a historic one for the Canadian team, bringing home Canada’s first-ever medal in the event.
“It’s a pretty amazing feeling being the first and kind of making Canadian history,” Wiens said. “To be able to bring a medal home from the Olympics is a pretty surreal experience.”
Saskatchewan quartet launch inaugural PWHL season
Women’s hockey took a long-awaited step forward in 2024 with the launch of the Professional Women’s Hockey League on New Year’s Day, finally providing a stable league for the best professional female athletes in the world.
Saskatoon native and Olympic gold medalist Emily Clark was one of the first signings to Ottawa’s PWHL franchise, now known as the Ottawa Charge, while fellow Saskatoon AAA Stars alumni Sophie Shirley and Prince Albert product Brooke Hobson were drafted by the Boston Fleet and New York Sirens, respectively.
A fourth Saskatchewan woman in Prince Albert’s Kaitlin Willoughby was also able to break into the league with the Toronto Scepters as a free agent signing, a feat she replicated ahead of the 2024-25 PWHL season.
An additional honour was bestowed on Clark and Shirley, as the pair were named to Team Canada’s roster for the 2024 Rivalry Series against the United States, with a pair of games played in February in Saskatoon and Regina.
“I know first-hand all it takes is a few seconds and an autograph and it can fuel a dream for a lifetime,” Clark said. “I’m really proud that my community got to experience that today.”
For Shirley, it was her debut with the national women’s senior team, getting the opportunity to hit the ice wearing the maple leaf in front of friends and family.
“Growing up in this area, (I was) able to put myself in their shoes like I was at one point,” Shirley said. “To now be on the ice and be at this level is a pretty cool feeling for me.”
Team McEwen makes magical run at Regina Brier
The Brandt Centre in Regina was home to curling’s biggest party in March and a run that sent fans across the province into hysterics.
Hosting the 2024 Montana’s Brier, the hometown crowd was treated to a memorable performance out of the Team Saskatchewan rink, consisting of skip Mike McEwen, third Colton Flasch and twin brothers Kevin and Dan Marsh.
Team McEwen finished top of its pool in the round-robin and played its way to the Brier final, where it aimed to end Saskatchewan’s 44-year championship drought dating back to Rick Folk’s win in 1980.
The clock struck midnight on the home-province rink, however, as Saskatchewan fell to Brad Gushue’s Team Canada rink 9-5, giving Gushue his record-breaking sixth Brier title.
“Really being accepted by the province, that was something that was very special and I’ll remember,” McEwen said, recapping his year. “That will be one of the very big highlights of my entire career.”
Following its run at the Brier, Team McEwen was able to keep that momentum rolling with several semifinal appearances on the Grand Slam of Curling tour and a tournament victory at the 2024 PointsBet Invitational in Calgary.
“To see what was happening in front of me with the Marsh brothers and with Colton Flasch was very exciting about opening up doors and what is actually still possibly playing at more of the tail end of my career,” McEwen said.
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