Scutchings’ focus on fun opens doors in speed skating

Lions member skates at Canada Games, ready for home meet

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Melissa Scutchings enjoys skating fast on the oval track.

Melissa Scutchings discovered that zeroing in on fun still opens big doors in the world of speed skating.

At age five, Scutchings followed her older brother Matthew into the sport joining the Saskatoon Lions Speed Skating Club. At age 15, Scutchings was one of the youngest skaters taking part in the Canada Winter Games that ran February 18 to March 5, 2023 across Prince Edward Island. She took part in the long track speed skating competition at the Halifax Oval in Halifax, N.S., during the first week of the games.

“It was a little intimidating,” said Scutchings. “I remember on the first day on the very first practice I fell.

“I remember being kind of embarrassed, because I fell in front of these like national skaters, and they are all like these 20-year-old really buffed guys. I was like, ‘Oh.’After I kind of got over that, it was really fun.

“I had a lot of fun at the Canada Winter Games. There was a lot of community stuff like a lot of team building. I thought that was really fun.”

With being one of the youngest skaters at that multi-sport event, Scutchings was there to soak in the experience. While she didn’t win any medals, she skated lots taking part in the female 500-metre, 1,000-metre, 1,500-metre, 3,000-metre, mass start and team pursuit races.

In getting used to being at the Canada Winter Games, Scutchings said it helped she was there with a large contingent from the Lions including veteran skaters Luca Veeman and Serena Dallaire. Veeman won five medals and Dallaire captured a pair of medals at the Canada Winter Games. Scutchings said there is a good family feeling with the Lions club, which was a big plus going into a multi-sport competition.

“I feel like it is easier to go to a new competition, if you have someone you already know like someone you can warm up with and like skate warmup with,” said Scutchings. “I feel like it is easier than going there, and be like, ‘Oh. I don’t know anyone else. I am here by myself.’”

This season, Scutchings, who is now 16-years-old, finds herself as one of the older skaters at the majority of Lions practices as Veeman and Dallaire are both attending first year university in Calgary and training at the Olympic Oval. While Scutchings is a veteran skater with the club, she still focuses on having fun and enjoying the sport.

The Lions will be hosting their annual the John Sands Classic Long Track Meet on January 20 and 21 at the Clarence Downey Speed Skating Oval, and Scutchings has been a regular skating at that competition over the years. She has a pretty high comfort level when it comes to skating at events at home.

“It is just a lot of fun,” said Scutchings. “You are just competing against people you’ve know for like forever.

Melissa Scutchings skates at the Oval on February 28, 2023.

“It is really easy going. I think it is just a lot of casual fun.”

When she was younger, Scutchings saw the older skaters as being really fast and really cool and was always watching her brother. Now that she is older skater, Scutchings enjoys watching the skaters in the Lions younger age groups take to the track in events like the John Sands Classic Long Track Meet.

“I think they are just really cute,” said Scutchings.“They are really short, but they’ve got these big, long speed skates, and they are skating.

“I think it is really funny and they are cute.”

Chris Veeman, who is the Lions head coach and president of Speed Skating Saskatchewan, said it has been enjoyable to coach Scutchings over the years. Back in January of 2021, Scutchings was presented the Robb Family Olympic Trophy, which is the Lions club award that goes to the most improved female skater as shown by improvements in skating times as compared to previous years and faithful and consistent attendance at practices.

“She is great to have in our group,” said Veeman. “She is now one of the older women in the group.

“She has been with Group 4 for a number of years. She is a quiet personality, but I think you can tell that she really likes skating. I think at this point that I try to tell her that her focus should really be on enjoying the sport and getting to enjoy the movement.

“It can be an activity that you do your whole life. That is what I hope that she is getting out of it at this point.”

Veeman thought it was big for Scutchings to be able to take part in the Canada Winter Games as one of the youngest skaters in the field.

“It is a great opportunity, because there is not a lot of pressure,” said Veeman. “If you are 15 or 16 skating against 19-year-olds, you’re not expected to win medals or anything like that.

“It is more about enjoying the event – the multisport aspect of it where you get to meet all kinds of different people. It is a really big production with all the uniforms and that sort of thing. I feel like she made the most of it.”

Melissa Scutchings enjoyed being at the Canada Winter Games.

Scutchings looks up to Isabelle Weidemann who was a speed skater for Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. Weidemann, who stands 6-foot-2, won gold in Team Pursuit, silver in the women’s 5,000-metre race and bronze in the women’s 3,000-metre race.

“I like watching her skate, because you can always tell really clearly which one she is when she is skating like the team relays and the team pursuits just because she is so tall,” said Scutchings, who stands 5-foot-7. “I really like the way she skates.

“She makes it look really easy.”

Scutchings said the biggest influence in helping her in the sport was long time Lions head coach Tim Comfort, who retired at the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign. She said Comfort cared about how she was doing as a person asking if things were going OK and how she was doing.

“A lot of the way the practices went and a lot of the repetitions and stuff like that it came from Tim (Comfort) mostly,” said Scutchings. “I feel like we got pretty close, and it was fun traveling with him to Canada Winter Games.

“He was pretty encouraging and supportive.”

Scutchings said the current season, which is the Lions first campaign without Comfort as a coach, has been going well. She said Veeman, Jason Warick and Olivier Larocque have been doing well as a collective coaching unit.

Due to the fact there is no Canada Winter Games to prepare for this season, Scutchings said the competitive aspect has felt more relaxed and there has been more of a focus on the craft of skating. She believes it benefits the skaters coming into the Lions top competitive skating level in Group 4 to get their feet wet with that higher tier of competition.

Away from skating, Scutchings is completing her Grade 11 year at Walter Murray Collegiate. She has been on the honor roll throughout her time in high school.

Scutchings is looking forward to continue skating with the Lions during her high school years, but isn’t sure what she will do with the sport once she graduates.

Her family is still well connected with the sport as her father Roland Scutchings in a member at large on the board of directors for Speed Skating Saskatchewan, and her mother Carina Ong-Scutchings is the director of finance for the Lions.

Melissa Scutchings, left, enjoys skating with her Lions teammates.

When it comes skating after graduating from high school, Scutchings said she will decide what she wants to with the sport when that time comes.

“I might not do it after high school just because of university,” said Scutchings. “I might not go to Calgary.

“If I do, I think it will be a lot of fun. It might be a little bit of a struggle finding somewhere to live close to the Oval, because everyone wants to live near the university. I might just stay here with the club and go to university here, so I guess we will see.”

For more information about the Saskatoon Lions Speed Skating Club, feel free to check out their website at www.slspeedskating.com.

User groups pumped to use K+S Potash Canada Multi-sport Centre

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

The K+S Potash Canada Multi-sport Centre.

The K+S Potash Canada Multi-sport Centre is bringing in good reviews.

The newest building on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds first started earnestly housing user groups inside its doors during the start of this past winter’s skating season. The Saskatoon Lions Speed Skating Club was the first user group that got to take advantage of the new structure.

Lions President Chris Veeman said the storied speed skating club enjoyed settling into the new stomping grounds.

“We’re getting used to this new home, and so far, so good,” said Veeman. “The upstairs viewing area and the timing rooms are really fantastic.

“We’ve been able to run some meets pretty easily, because it is has been easy for us to set up electronic timing. It has meant that our kids can have some races where we don’t have to have a whole army of volunteers, so that has been really good. The change rooms and all of that are nice and new and functional.

“That has worked out well.”

The Multi-sport Centre replaces the old grandstand at Cairns Field, which was torn down in April of 2018. The old grandstand was used by both the baseball and the speed skating communities.

The new building, which has 20,000 square feet of space on its two floors, will be used by the baseball and speed skating communities along with the track and field community. The Clarence Downey Speed Skating Oval that is located to the west of the Multi-sport Centre during the winter months converts into the Track and Field Track during the summer months.

The Track and Field Track was first used in 2019.

A timing and announcer booth overlooks the Oval.

The Lions were the initial group to use the new dressing rooms in the Multi-sport Centre along with the features on the building’s west side that included the outdoor stands, the second floor indoor spectator viewing area, and the timing and announcer booths.

Along with those features, the Lions and those that came out for public skating were able to use an indoor sitting area that was made to allow people to change into skates.

For the maintenance staff, they made great use of the comforts of a new Zamboni garage located on the building’s south side.

On the ice, the Lions usually held practices four nights a week from December to February and often hosted club speed skating meets on Saturday mornings. Challenges with the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic didn’t allow the club to host any competitive meets this past season.

During speed skating and track and field meets, the west side of the Multi-sport Centre can seat 1,850 spectators and can be expanded to seat 3,500 spectators with temporary seating.

The Lions put the new electronic timing booths to good use at club meets, and that was a feature the club couldn’t believe it went without in the past.

“It is a lot easier to run an event,” said Veeman. “In the past, we had a couple of huts that were outside, and that is where our timers would be.

“They would be crowded into a little kind of a wooden hut. It was challenging to set up the electronic timing equipment, because you basically had to haul it between the two huts for different distances. It is hard on the equipment, and it just slows things down.

The official’s lounge at the Multi-sport Centre.

“This going to be a lot more time efficient when we have a big competition plus the volunteers don’t have to be outside and running around outside during the day, so it will be easier on the volunteers too.”

Jason Reindl, who is the Head Coach of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Track and Field teams, said the track and field community is looking forward to using the Multi-sport Centre.

“It is just a huge addition to how we are able to kind of orientate our practices and our track meets,” said Reindl, who is the Head Coach for Athletics Canada’s under-20 team along with holding a number of other elite coaching positions. “Any time you can offer meeting rooms and officials spaces and a timing booth that can withstand inclement weather, they are all benefits to just kind of increase the professionalism of hosting a track meet in Saskatoon at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.”

Reindl was pleased to hear the speed skating community was happy with the timing booths, and he said the track and field community is looking forward to using that feature of the Multi-sport Centre.

“It really just provides a stable environment for our timers,” said Reindl. “So much of track meets operates on very tight schedules, and when they can just sit in a nice warm room and don’t have to worry about rain or wind or any of those things, it just goes a long way to providing a great environment.”

The east side of the Multi-sport Centre serves the Cairns Field baseball park. By the end of the 2021 baseball season, user groups were able to utilize the new stands that ran along the Cairns Field baselines and inserted on the second level of the Multi-sport Centre behind home plate.

The east side of the Multi-sport Centre also contains a new scorers and statistics booth, a new media booth and an events office to serve users of Cairns Field. There is also an official’s lounge on the second floor that can be used by all sports groups.

“It is going to be great knowing that fans have a place to sit,” said Greg Brons, who is the High Performance Director for Baseball Sask. “The dressing rooms are going to be nice.

An area to change into skates at the Multi-sport Centre.

“The kids won’t have to dress in the parking lot. The umpires had to dress in the parking lot. It is going to be nice to have a clean bathroom as opposed to the porta potties.

“We’re really looking forward to those facilities for sure.”

The new Multi-sport Centre will allow the baseball, speed skating and track and field communities to hold bigger competitions and potentially nationals.

Reindl said the new building will be a huge benefit in going after national track and field championship meets.

“That is going to be the primary reason why that will happen,” said Reindl. “The bid process to secure championships is quite competitive across the country.

“With this venue, we’re now able to actually able to put our name in the hat and try and secure some of these larger scale events and bring hundreds and thousands of people to Saskatoon and bring tourism dollars and let them know that we have a great city, and especially in the summer, you definitely want to take advantage of all that the city has to offer.”

Brons said the Multi-sport Centre makes it more possible to bring the Baseball Canada Cup and potentially other national events to Saskatoon.

“It will help quite a bit, especially because we need meeting space,” said Brons. “We need areas for fans to sit.

“I think it will be an ideal spot for the Canada Summer Games in the future or any national tournament maybe another Baseball Canada Cup, because we hosted it back in 2015. I think the most important thing is just a good playing surface is one of the most important things when it comes to hosting a nationals or a Canada Games more than anything.

“It is going to be a real nice bonus to have a good building.”

A look at the Multi-sport Centre from Cairns Field.

Veeman said the COVID-19 pandemic is still causing difficulties in scheduling for speed skating. He said the local club will have a good chance to get some of those bigger events, but he was cautious about the wheels going in motion on that front.

“Having this new facility, I think it would be attractive to the people that are awarding those competitions,” said Veeman. “The big competition that we have is a brand new indoor oval in Quebec City that was just finished.

“Once there are more meets, because COVID has still cancelled almost all the meets this year, I think we will have a good chance to host some of those big ones again for sure.”

Speed skating a tradition for Veeman family

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Luca Veeman leads a pack, and Chris Veeman follow at the rear.

Luca Veeman never thought he would lead his family back into the sport of speed skating.

About nine years ago, Luca was convinced by a friend to give the sport a try. At the time, it wasn’t on the forefront of Luca’s mind that his father, Chris, had skated with the Saskatoon Lions Speed Skating Club for a lengthy stretch while growing up.

Luca knew that his father was a speed skater in his youth, but that actually didn’t have any bearing on why Luca got interested in the sport. He thought it would be fun thing to try with his friend.

“I joined kind of along with him,” said Luca, who is one of the top skaters with the Lions at age 16. “I probably would have gotten involved regardless, but I guess that started a bit sooner than I would’ve without my friend joining.

“I think it has always just been fun from the beginning. As of like now, I can say I really like how the sport works in trying to get better times and the passing and skating fast. When I started, it was mostly just a fun weekday activity with my friends.”

Chris said the reason speed skating hadn’t been a big topic of discussion for his family was due to the fact he had forgotten about the sport for a long time. He first started in the sport when he was really young, because his parents were worried he was too skinny to play hockey and would get physically beat up in that sport.

As an alternative to registering for hockey, it was decided that Chris would sign up for speed skating. Growing up, he skated and trained with future Canadian Olympic superstar Catriona Le May Doan at the Clarence Downey Speed Skating Oval.

Around the time Chris was in Grade 11, he got into cycling at first as a way to cross train to help out with speed skating. Chris ended up liking cycling so much he quickly decided to focus on it as his main sport and stepped away from speed skating.

The idea of getting back into speed skating never crossed Chris’s mind until Luca decided to join the sport and sign up with the Lions Speed Skating Club.

“I think because I had a skating background the club kind of roped me in pretty quickly to coaching and getting involved with administering the club and stuff like that,” said Chris. “Since I am on the ice, I decided I might as well skate.”

Luca Veeman is one of the Lions top speed skaters.

In 2017, Chris decided in masters aged skating competitions. The masters age class is for skaters aged 30 or older, and skaters can keep taking part in those competitions as long as they feel they are able to.

These days, Chris, who is 48-years-old, is a masters class long track speed skater, a Lions coach and the president of the Lions Speed Skating Club. He has enjoyed getting the chance to take part in the sport as a skater once again at the masters level.

“It is a good group of people,” said Chris. “It is mostly older people, obviously.

“There aren’t that many people in their 30s and 40s in Canada that do it. It kind of seems to be more of thing you do maybe when you retire, especially the ones I met in Holland (Netherlands) and the northern European countries. They are all kind of retired professionals it seems like.

“No one takes it too seriously at that age. There are still some pretty competitive people. You get to pretend like you are an athlete again.”

As the years have gone on, the Veeman family presence in the sport and at the Clarence Downey Speed Skating Oval continued to grow. Currently, Luca’s younger 13-year-old brother, Mikko, and younger 11-year-old sister, Lena, are also members of the Lions program.

Luca is happy so many of his family members have gravitated to the sport. He said one of his best memories looking back now was getting paired against his father in a race.

Luca admitted that at the time he wasn’t thrilled about the end result of that race.

“I can remember one race in Calgary, where we were paired together in a long track race, and he came out on top,” said Luca, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 140 pounds. “I wasn’t so happy.

“Thankfully, now I think I’m a bit ahead now, which is nice. It is super fun to be able to like go out and skate with my dad and not just have him cheering from the sidelines.”

Chris Veeman skates, coaches and is president of the Lions.

Chris immediately chuckles when the subject of that race was brought up.

“I mostly remember the look on his (Luca’s) face afterwards,” said Chris, who stands 6-feet and weighs 190 pounds. “I think he really thought he was going to get me that time.

“We haven’t raced each other since then, but it wouldn’t even be close now. Back then, I would beat him by two-tenths of a second maybe. Now, he is about three seconds faster or maybe four seconds faster.”

In long track, both Chris and Luca skate in the 500-metre, 1,000-metre and 1,500-meter distances. Luca also takes part in five-kilometre races in long track and competes in short track. Chris coaches in the short track discipline.

At the Canadian Youth Long Track Championship held in early February of 2020 in Red Deer, Alta., Luca finished third in the 500-metre and second in the 1,500-metre distances in the division for all 14-year-old male skaters.

Luca felt like he making a name for himself nationally on a competitive level before the 2020-21 season was wiped out due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world. This season is Luca’s first at the junior level, and he said he is adjusting to going against a large pool of fast skaters.

“I’ve been making steady steps,” said Luca, who is a Grade 11 student in the French immersion program at Walter Murray Collegiate. “The year before COVID it was a bit of a breakout year.

“I had some good results at bigger competitions. I think this year coming back I kind of skipped the last year of an age group. Now in a sense, I’ve been dropped off in the deep end of a larger age group being junior.

“I like to think I am still skating well and doing well. There are a lot less podiums and standing on top. That is just how it works.”

Luca said veteran Lions coach Tim Comfort and his father have been his biggest influences in helping him out in the sport. As for the future in the sport, Luca expects to pursue speed skating for as long as he can and plans to go to university in Calgary and skate there.

Chris, left, and Luca Veeman enjoy being in speed skating.

Chris said he will support Luca and all his kids in anything they choose to do. Chris added that Luca is an accomplished cyclist who finished sixth at junior men’s road nationals this past September in Saint-Georges, Quebec.

Chris said that Lena is really interested in soccer along with the sport of speed skating.

“For now, for all of us, we just really like speed skating, so we are going to stick with it,” said Chris. “It will be fun to watch what Luca gets up to in the next few years.

“The others are coming up behind him too.”

For more information about the Saskatoon Lions Speed Skating Club, feel free to check out their website at www.slspeedskating.com. The photo of Chris and Luca Veeman together is courtesy the Veeman family.