Riderville.com
Day two of the northern Saskatchewan tour had three stops. It began by waking up in Stony Rapids. Even in the winter time, it is breathtaking landscape, even outside your hotel window.
There were a couple of stops before Neal Hughes, Brendon LaBatte, the great folks from Cameco and members of the media headed to Stony Plain Community School. First was to the rapids
Even with the -40 conditions throughout the winter, the rapids flow so fast, the Fond du Lac River doesn’t freeze in some spots…so Neal tested out how far they could go.
As you can see…not too far.
This is how far north one can get in Saskatchewan, just shy of the 59th parallel. This has its limitations, but also its advantages. One of them is a tight knit community.
And the Stony Rapids Community school is one of the hubs. With the extreme temperatures, many didn’t travel to school, but those who did were in for a treat.
With the remoteness of the community, the school is just kindergarten to grade nine. From there, students have to finish high school in either Prince Albert or Saskatoon.
Even time for players to clown around a bit as Neal, photobombs Chief Ricky Robillard’s interview.
From there, it was off to Pinehouse and visit the great folks there.
It was a fantastic lunch of fresh pickerel and bannock with the Pinehouse football team. Neal and Brendon spoke to the team before the huge assembly
Over 500 people gathered at the Pinehouse Community School gymnasium to see the Grey Cup and listen to Neal and Brendon.
The Pinehouse Lakers 6-man football team won the Northern Football League championships over Charlebois Islanders from Cumberland House in a game played in the snow in late November.
The northern tour finished in Buffalo Narrows. Yet another big crowd all dressed in green and white came to see the Grey Cup and the pair of Rider players at Twin Lakes Community School. They toured the classrooms then came back to the gym to sign autographs and get pictures taken.
Twin Lakes also fields a 6-man team in the Northern Football League. This league doesn’t have full SHSAA accreditation, but when it does, traditional Saskatchewan 6-man teams like Ituna, Lemberg and Watrous better look out. There are a lot of great athletes up here.
That was it…5 communities, 2100km’s, and 31 hours. Most importantly, the Saskatchewan Roughriders were able to bring some Green and White cheer to those who rarely, or never have had the opportunity.
Thank you so much to the great people from Cameco, who do so much for the communities in northern Saskatchewan. Also big thanks to Pat McKay from CTV Saskatoon, Joel Senick from Global Saskatoon and Michelle Berg from The Star Phoenix for the outstanding coverage.
