Saskatoon Blades’ game day 50/50 supporting youth sports in the community
Via Tanner Chubey, Saskatoon Blades
Jennafer Klemmer was sitting in Wendel Clark’s Goal Line Lounge at Friday’s Saskatoon Blades game while she and her husband were faced with a common decision at sporting events; stay for the final horn, or leave early to beat the traffic.
It was at that point in the third period when Klemmer heard her number read as the winning 50/50 ticket by public address announcer, Jeff Hayes.
“Honestly, I kind of went silent,” said Klemmer. “My friend Alesha looked at me and said like, ‘What?’ It kind of took me some time to process. I said, ‘Can we just look at this again? Can you read it out again?’ So, we read it out again, and all I could do was whisper. I kind of went numb a little bit and was like, ‘I think we won.’ Alesha cried, and I just went silent. I didn’t even know what to do.”
Friday night’s 50/50 jackpot against the Red Deer Rebels wasn’t your run-of-the-mill amount. It was $5 Night inside SaskTel Centre, which kicked off with a guaranteed jackpot of $55,555. Blade City’s contributions helped the total jackpot climb past $83,000, a prize of $41,572.50 for Klemmer and her family.
Klemmer says she couldn’t believe what was happening and blocked out all distractions until she could confirm she had won.
“We wanted to know we had the winning ticket, so I just kind of found a 50/50 person. I was like, ‘We think we have the winning ticket.’ She was so lovely. She’s like, ‘Well, first of all, congrats. Secondly, let’s like take you this way.’ She gets to the office there. They were counting the money, and they just wanted to confirm the ticket and kind of make it all legit. Then we actually saw who sold us the ticket and had this conversation. We kind of like hugged and screamed, and it was good. That’s I think my first realization of this is happening.”
Klemmer, a clinical instructor in the University of Saskatchewan (USask) College of Nursing, has three kids who play in Saskatoon Minor Hockey at the U15AA, U13AA, and U11 levels. Klemmer says she and her friend Alesha plan to use the winnings to cover the hockey fees for their five kids who share a love for the sport.
“To have that covered for this year, and then kind of have that little extra on the side where we’re like, ‘Hey, let’s do something as a family that we cannot contemplate,’ that’s kind of neat.”
“We’re pleased to finally start sharing how we have reshaped our 50/50, establishing the SEG Youth Sport Fund in partnership with the Saskatchewan Community Foundation,” said Blades Vice President of Team Operations, Tyler Wawryk. “The 50/50 proceeds from all Blades games, as well as Saskatchewan Rush and Saskatoon Berries games, will now all go back into our community, with a focus on youth sports. Already this year, we have contributed to upgrading minor baseball diamonds with new dugouts, supporting officiating clinics for minor hockey to enable kids to sign up without having to pay fees, and funding to Saskatoon Box Lacrosse to help grow their program.”
“Our sellers are 100% volunteer-based, which also provides an opportunity for other charitable organizations within our community to raise money,” said Wawryk.
Klemmer says the new SEG Fund and partnership with the Saskatchewan Community Foundation is important for youth sports in the community.
“Honestly, I can say, you know, from a parent perspective, our kids in sports and the people that we’ve met has created core memories that will last a lifetime.”
Fans can skip the line and purchase their Blades game day 50/50 tickets online at sask-5050.ca/ or in-person at Blades games throughout the season. To read more on other impact stories like Klemmer’s CLICK HERE.
Join us for back-to-back nights of action inside SaskTel Centre next weekend! Celebrate our local heroes on First Responder’s Night on Friday, Oct. 9 vs. the Moose Jaw Warriors, followed by Friendsgiving the following night against the Regina Pats. Puck drop for both games is 7:00 p.m. MT. Fans can purchase tickets HERE today.
