The Melfort Mustangs won the SJHL's Canalta Simulation on Monday night. The SJHL put the simulation together to try and have some fun with fans during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Twitter/SJHL)

By Mat Barrett

Don't It Feel Good

Virtual Champions: Mustangs win ‘SJ Canalta Simulation’

May 19, 2020 | 9:11 AM

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) captured many people’s attention with the “SJ Canalta Simulation”, and it came to a close on Monday.

The COVID-19 pandemic stopped play for the SJHL Playoffs on March 13, leaving fans without any hockey to watch. Then on April 21, the league announced they would be starting up a virtual playoffs to fill a void that was left with the cancellation of hockey, and sports in general.

Alex “Moneyball” Watson of the SJHL was a major mastermind behind the project and spent dozens upon dozens of hours creating the seven teams that remained, and trying to make them as real, and fair as possible for fans to enjoy. On top of that, the SJHL brought in various broadcasters from the province to host the games and provide play-by-play for viewers on Twitch.

On the virtual ice, it was the Melfort Mustangs who prevailed in five games over the Yorkton Terriers in the “Virtual Canalta Cup Final.” Melfort disposed of Estevan in five games (only one game in the simulation), and then downed the Flin Flon Bombers in the semi-finals, before meeting Yorkton in the final round.

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Melfort Mustangs Head Coach Trevor Blevins joined the show post-game on Monday and gave credit to all those who worked to make the simulation a reality, including Tanner Goetz of Munz Media.

“It was great entertainment,” Blevins said. “And I really like the backstories a lot of times, it was good to get all the players, and [commissioner] Bill [Chow], and people involved in hockey with the interviews. I just thought very good job by everyone and very proud of the SJHL and what everyone has done here.”

Numerous players were involved in the Twitch stream chat, including many Melfort Mustangs chiming in about their virtual selves, or their teammates. Blevins said it was good to see the comradery between the players. He said it was a great group, no matter how the season had ended.

“It’s something to look back on,” Blevins said.

“They won’t forget this one either.” _{-Mustangs Head Coach Trevor Blevins}

There was also some fun between coaches. Blevins said there are hopefully some bragging rights for him, as well as a few bets that are coming his way from the victory.

“Its fun, it’s nice,” he said. “We’ll see if I can get a few rubs in and a few digs in at the [SJHL Annual General] Meetings at the start of June, that’ll be fun.”

The simulation took about a month for the SJHL to conduct after the teams were put together and play began on April 23.

SJHL Commissioner Bill Chow said maybe seeing the virtual Canalta Cup might help put the game of hockey into perspective.

“Maybe that’ll put a lot of fun back into the game for a lot of people and a lot of parents, and a lot of players,” he said.

Things started a bit rocky for the SJHL as the simulation garnered a bit of backlash due to some confusion that the league was going to actually hand out the Canalta Cup and named a champion. However, once that was cleared up and it was clear the league wasn’t actually going to award the championship, it started to gain traction.

The streams almost always did well on the EA Sports NHL 20 streams on Twitch and even got some notice from national media. Chow said when they knew there wasn’t going to be any SJHL playoff hockey played this season, they had a fun idea, and it turned out well.

“That became the reality and this became something fun to get invested into and to have,” Chow said. “And to let the guys run with and see where it would take us and obviously it’s taken us to some good places.”

Each game of the finals was also put on demand on SaskTel Max for viewers who may have not caught the Twitch Stream. At its peak on Monday night, the stream had well over 200 viewers.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6