Family ties cement Blackburn in football

Receiver playing out final high school season with Bears

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Ben Blackburn is one of Saskatoon high school football’s best players.

Football is all in the family for Aden Bowman Collegiate Bears star receiver Ben Blackburn.

His father David was a receiver for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Football Team from 1989 to 1994, which included being a member of their 1990 Vanier Cup winner as U Sports champions. Ben’s older brother Brady is currently a receiver for the Harvard University Crimson.

Ben’s oldest sibling in sister Lucie is a flag football player and was a member of the U of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Track and Field Team. Ben’s mother Lariene is also an alumna of the U of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Track and Field Team.

Looking at his family tree, it comes as no surprise that Ben is the sure-handed Grade 12 pass catcher with the Bears and arguably one of Saskatoon’s best high school players at the moment. When asked who might be the best football player in the family, Ben quickly sided with the women.

“I want to say me, but Lucie is pretty good at football,” said Ben, who can make magic returning kicks as well. “I bet if my Mom tried to play football, she’d be pretty good too.

“It is probably one of the girls, honestly. It is probably one of the girls.”

While football runs deep in his family, it wasn’t the sport Ben played seriously at first. Once Brady began playing football, Ben wasn’t too far behind.

“We were all the hockey family,” said Ben, who stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 170 pounds. “Brady started playing football, and I was like, yeah, I want to play football too.

“I’ve played football since Grade 7 and just fell in love with it ever since.”

Ben said one of the things he liked most about football was there was always an opportunity to become an even better player than you are in the present day. He also loves the relationships he has built with his teammates over the years, especially the players on the Bears.

“The team, the guys are so great,” said Ben, who will turn 18-years-old on November 9. “We had a great team this year and all years past.

“It is just so fun to be around.”

One of Ben’s biggest early highlights playing for the Bears came when he got to be part of the senior team as a Grade 9 student in 2023. That was the one high school season Ben got to play alongside Brady, who was in his Grade 12 campaign that year for the Bears. The pair made lots of great plays on the Saskatoon Minor Football Field turf located at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.

Ben Blackburn (#4) listens to instructions on the sidelines.

“It was super fun honestly,” said Ben, who along with Brady helped the Bears win a 5A city title in 2023. “All his guys really made me feel at home.

“I was just a youngin. It was just great energy. It was a battle every practice.

“And just having him on the team, it really helped me just like with my confidence and him just showing me the way.”

Now suiting up as a Grade 12 senior, Ben’s ties to the Bears have become deep.

“It has been amazing,” said Ben. “It is just a family at this point.

“The coaches, it is not like they’re freaking 60 and just kind of bossing us around. It is really super cohesive and lots of energy. They focus us.

“They want us to get better every practice and just push us to be the best we can.”

Bears head coach Will Redl has been a long-time teacher at Aden Bowman, and one of his blessings has been working with Ben and his family members over the years.

“Well, Ben is like the third Blackburn I’ve had the opportunity to teach and coach,” said Redl. “I had his sister and his brother and him being the youngest of all.

“He is just another Blackburn to me. He is really driven. He has a desire to be the best at whatever he does, and I think he has obviously proved it.”

Redl said Ben does lots of things well when it comes to the sport of football.

“I think as an individual, obviously, his speed,” said Redl. “He works a lot at it.

“To be as fast as he is doesn’t just happen. His desire to catch every ball and to work like that. Albeit, he is a smaller player, but he plays bigger than his size.

“I think as a teammate though that is what stands out even more is that he is not secluding himself from his teammates or trying to distance himself. He wants to be a part of things, and he leads in that way too.”

Away from the game, Redl said Ben and his family are outstanding.

“All the Blackburn kids are great kids,” said Redl. “They’re wired the right way.

“They understand sport and that it is not always going to go their way. They have to still be good people off the field or court. I think it comes a lot as a family and Ben (Blackburn) just does that every day.”

Ben Blackburn (#55) is part of Aden Bowman’s track and field program.

Along with playing for the Bears football team, Ben has been a member of Aden Bowman’s track and field program throughout his high school days along with playing basketball in Grades 9 and 10. While track and field is also in his family’s background, Ben said being part of the track and field program has helped him in football.

“I think it is really beneficial,” said Blackburn. “I think I can see my speed translating onto the football field.

“It is just another thing to push myself and just try to win. You’ve got some buddies on the track team, and it is just a great time. I know in the past my long speed wasn’t great, but then track really helped.

“I just kind of put it all together and still hope I can get faster.”

As the 2026 high school football season enters its final weeks, Ben said it doesn’t seem real that his time with the Bears is nearing an end.

“It is crazy,” said Blackburn. “It seems like yesterday it was that Grade 9 team.

“It is sad in a way, but it gets to this time. We’ve just got to go as far as we can.”

He is pumped his family has been with him for his whole journey in the sport and naturally credits them as being his biggest influences in helping him along the way.

“My brother, his work ethic is like no one else,” said Ben. “He has really instilled that in me.

“Just the support I get from my parents and my sister, it just really pushes me. I think it just makes me a better person overall.”

As for playing football beyond high school, Ben said at the moment he prefers to soak in everything living in the present.

“We’re just going to ride out this season,” said Blackburn. “We’re waiting on a few things.

“Hopefully, I’ll be playing football somewhere next season.”

Redl believes Ben will get his chances to continue the sport after high school and will be in the game for a longer term of time.

Ben Blackburn (#4) wants make a few more end zone visits this season.

“He has some opportunities coming next year that will lead into things a lot more down the road,” said Redl. “I think Brady’s experience down in the States has aided him (Ben) with how well Brady has done.

“I think he (Ben) will reap some of the benefits of that.”

To see the 2026 schedule for high school football, check out the Saskatoon Secondary Schools Athletics Directorate site at sssad.net/schedule/.

Bears’ Grabowski brings throwback approach to football

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Mason Grabowski motors downfield for the Bears.

When you ask Mason Grabowski about what his strengths are as a football player, he sounds like a throwback to an era when George Reed, Jim Brown and Mike Ditka rumbled down the field.

“I’m strong, physical, fast and I like to like punish people,” said Grabowski.

The Grade 12 running back, receiver and punter for the Aden Bowman Collegiate Bears Football Team has developed into one of the province’s best high school players. He helped Saskatchewan reach the gold medal game of the Football Canada Cup held this past July in Edmonton, Alta.

The gold medal game between Saskatchewan and Quebec was ultimately not played due to air quality concerns caused by the smoke from forest fires from B.C. and Alberta. On August 4, Football Canada declared Saskatchewan and Quebec would receive gold medals as co-champions of the event.

With all that noted, Grabowski’s words of sounding like a physical throwback are backed up by his Bears head coach in Justin Loshack.

“He (Grabowski) is a warrior,” said Loshack. “He has been playing through some injuries too.

“He is just honestly getting better every week and healthier every week. He just brings a physical dimension to our game that you don’t see very often in high school.”

The 17-year-old Grabowski said he has loved the game for pretty much as long as he can remember. The love for the sport was passed down through his family.

“On my dad’s side of the family, they’re just like big football fans,” said Grabowski, who stands 6-feet and weighs 190 pounds. “My dad played.

Mason Grabowski makes an acrobatic catch for the Bears.

“We’re all big (Saskatchewan) Roughriders fans. It is all what I grew up with. I started playing since when I was young and just kept with it.”

Grabowski started out playing flag football under programs offered by Saskatoon Minor Football and progressed to suiting up to play tackle in the Kinsmen Football League making him a frequent visitor to Saskatoon Minor Football Field. He said his father, Trevor, who played for the 1986 CJFL champion Regina Rams, was his biggest influence in helping him out in the sport. The Rams joined the U Sports ranks in 1999.

“He (Trevor) has just been around the game,” said Grabowski. “He can help me.

“He tells me what to do better.”

Going into Grade 9 in 2020, Grabowski didn’t get to participate in any type of high school football game action as the SSSAD didn’t hold any competitions during the 2020-21 school year due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that had gripped the world. Shutdowns and restrictions were in place in various areas of life at that point in time.

Full high school football action returned to the province in 2021, and Grabowski found himself on the Bears senior team playing safety, receiver and a little bit of running back. He discovered playing at the high school level was a bit of an adjustment, but elected to rely on playing the game how he knew best.

“Coming into Grade 10, everyone was so big,” said Grabowski. “I’ve been physical all my life and just fast, and I let my physical play be just how I play.”

Loshack said Grabowski has been outstanding on and off the field during the years he has played for the Bears. The sideline boss has noticed his young star player has taken more of a leadership role as a Grade 12 senior.

“He (Grabowski) has always been good,” said Loshack. “His play on the field has never changed.

Mason Grabowski (#11) enjoys the physical part of football.

“He played in Grade 10 and played in Grade 11 and again this year. His leadership this year, you can tell as a Grade 12 he has grown into that for sure right from the start of the year. His leading by example has been huge for us.”

Loshack said Grabowski has benefitted from playing in SMF’s North Sask Academy League in the spring and with Football Saskatchewan’s provincial team program in the summer.

“I think it has helped for sure,” said Loshack. “Football is becoming the next hockey kind of thing.

“There is opportunity to play a whole lot more, and it has helped players for sure. I would say for Mason (Grabowski) this year the challenging thing has been the way he plays. His body takes a beating.

“We’ve been trying to manage some of those things too. I think he is getting healthier and healthier. The way he plays he’s always going to give it all that he has, and he takes some beatings because of that for sure.”

Looking back at this past summer, Grabowski said he was disappointed the gold medal game of the Football Canada Cup was called off. He believes his Saskatchewan side would have beaten Quebec in the title game.

So far during his final high school season, Grabowski has helped the Bears start 5-0. He said he doing everything he can to help the Bears win a provincial title.

“That has been our goal all year,” said Grabowski. “It has been our goal since Grade 10.

“Every game that I’m playing, I just want to leave everything I have out on the field.”

When it comes to playing at the post-secondary level, Grabowski said he has been talking to some Canadian universities, but he hasn’t made any commitments about where he might potentially play.

Loshack believes Grabowski could have a lengthy playing career in the future that extends to the professional level.

Mason Grabowski battles his way through a pack of defenders.

“At the next level, I see him to continue the way he did in high school which is to make a team impact right away and work his way into a dominant player at the next level,” said Loshack. “To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if five years or six years from now you see him two levels beyond high school.”

Grabowski isn’t looking that far ahead and is focused on doing the best in the season he is playing in right now for the Bears. With that noted, he is pleased to know he will have the chance to continue playing the sport beyond high school.

“It is good knowing I’m going to keep growing as a football player and just keep playing at the next level,” said Grabowski.“I just want to keep playing and keep balling out and keep winning.”

ZONE homecoming happy one for Jahnke

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Dan Jahnke started at ZONE Sports Physiotherapy in March.

Dan Jahnke likes homecomings so much he did it twice.

Back in 2018, Jahnke finished up a four-year career playing baseball for the Newman University Jets, which is an NCAA Division II program in the United States in Wichita, Kansas. He completed his bachelor of science in biology at Newman University and moved back to Saskatoon to pursue his master of physical therapy at the University of Saskatchewan.

In December of 2020, Jahnke completed his master of physical therapy degree. At the start of this year, he began working as a physiotherapist in Cold Lake, Alta.

Jahnke saw a job posting for ZONE Sports Physiotherapy back home in Saskatoon. He applied for it, and at the end of this past March, he was back home working at the ZONE location inside the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.

“It was really nice to be able to come back,” said Jahnke. “This is where lots of my family is.

“I have lots of friends here obviously growing up here. It is home. It is just where I like being.”

The 25-year-old is a recognizable face not just in Saskatoon’s baseball community but in the city’s much larger sports community.

Jahnke played hockey along with baseball growing up. As a goalie in hockey, Jahnke suited up for the Saskatoon Blazers under-18 AAA for two seasons from 2010 to 2012 before joining the now defunct Beardy’s Blackhawks under-18 AAA squad for the 2012-13 campaign.

In his Grade 12 year in high school, Jahnke became a member of the Aden Bowman Collegiate Bears football team. On top of enjoying rounds of golf, Jahnke said his senior year in high school was the time he tried to soak in playing as many sports as he could.

“I just liked doing anything where I could move around and hit things and throw things – just have fun playing around and competing,” said Jahnke, who stands 6-feet and weighs 190 pounds. “It got me involved in a lot of different sports growing up.

Dan Jahnke playing for Newman University. (Photo Courtesy Dan Jahnke)

“Throughout high school, I was playing hockey and baseball mostly with the (under-18) AAA level there. I decided hockey wasn’t in my future competitively at least. I had a Grade 12 year after that.

“I figured I would try out everything I missed out on for the rest of high school. In that high school year, I did football, badminton, wrestling and track and field. I was just trying to do everything I could.”

During his high school years, Jahnke played for the Saskatoon Diamondback under-18 AAA baseball team. He credited his Diamondbacks coach, Matt Kosteniuk, as being a big influence on helping him enjoy baseball to the point he wanted to play it at the post-secondary level.

“I had really good experiences in baseball,” said Jahnke. “I had always been part of good teams growing up.

“We were good on the field and good off the field. In (under-18 AAA), I was lucky enough to have Matt Kosteniuk as my coach. He is a great guy. I still really enjoy hockey, but the competitive hockey I just decided wasn’t for me in the future.

“I wanted to keep playing something, and I loved baseball. I had a lot of fun with it. I figured it was a good way to keep competing and keep pushing myself while getting an education.”

At Newman University from 2014 to 2018, Jahnke played numerous positions with the Jets. He mainly played at first base and third base, spent a season in the outfield and was a backup catcher at one point in time.

Jahnke had such a good experience at Newman University that it did feel tough leaving the people he knew in Wichita to come home.

“Kansas is so similar to here in a lot of ways,” said Jahnke. “It is definitely different in some ways too.

“It is very similar in quite a few. I made a lot of good friends down there, so that kind of sucked leaving the friends behind. Coming back, I just got thrown right into the fire with physio school.

Dan Jahnke’s Jets promo picture.

“When you’re busy, it kind of helps you transition back into things. It forces you to get back in pretty quick.”

Once he returned to Saskatoon, Jahnke found it was a smooth transition to resume life where he grew up.

“I guess it was relatively easy,” said Jahnke. “I had been back every summer.

“I still knew everybody around here. I didn’t have any real issues.”

Jahnke said one of the obvious perks to becoming a physiotherapist is it allows you to stay involved in sports. That was just part of the reason he became a physiotherapist.

He had a larger interest in helping people function better physically.

“I obviously love sports,” said Jahnke. “I’ve played a lot of sport in my life.

“I’ve always been really interested in how people perform better and what makes people perform better from a physical perspective. That led me kind of into the biomechanics of things. Physio just seemed to fit that really well like combining biomechanics.

“You have the sport aspect of it. I thought if I was lucky enough to get to that area it would be great and here we are. It just kind of ticked all the boxes.”

Jahnke has enjoyed working alongside Mitch Dahl and Brad Spokes at the ZONE clinic at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. Jahnke had been one of Dahl’s clients for years when it came to rehabbing from various sports injuries.

“Mitch (Dahl) and Brad (Spokes) are both awesome,” said Jahnke. “I have a lot to learn from both of them.

“It is interesting. I think back even two years ago I was coming into this clinic for physio to see Mitch as a client. It is kind of cool to be able to hang out and say ‘hi’ to somebody that helped you through that much when you were growing up and helped you keep playing and do what you want to do.

“I feel like I am getting to learn from one of the best crews around.”

This year, Jahnke began helping the Saskatoon Valkyries of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League as a trainer. He would like to be involved with more teams in the future and wants to learn and grow as a physiotherapist at ZONE.

Dan Jahnke enjoys being at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.

When he sees clients, Jahnke believes the fact that he took part in numerous sports growing up aids in his career now.

“I think it helps,” said Jahnke. “It is nice to know when somebody comes in that I can say I was doing something in this sport.

“It is nice to know what they mean. It is good for talking points. It is easy to make conversation with people, especially with a few of the people from (The Going Yard Training Centre) that we might say high too and people over at Ignite (Athletics).

“We are all into sports and performance and just general fitness. It is kind of what we are doing here. The variety of sport definitely adds to that for sure.”