“Howe Happenings” features Ignite coach Dale

Written by Gordie Howe Sports Complex staff


April 9, 2023



Donovan Dale’s profile photo at Ignite Athletics. (Submitted by Donovan Dale)

WCBL’s return highlighted in monthly blog update

It can be argued Donovan Dale of Ignite Athletics has the biggest smile and is one of ultimate top good guys on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds.

Dale is the head of strength and conditioning at Ignite Athletics located inside the Indoor Training Centre, and he is well remembered for his lengthy career in football. He was a star defensive lineman with CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops, the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds and University of Saskatchewan Huskies football teams in U Sports. He helped the Hilltops win CJFL titles in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and was once a prospect for the CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks.

With his time in football wrapped up, Dale found a new competitive outlet in the sport of weightlifting to go along with working at Ignite. The 31-year-old has qualified for the Canadian Senior National Weightlifting Championships that are set for May 19 to 21 at Variety Village in Scarborough, Ont.

Dale enjoys coaching athletes from vast variety of sports at Ignite, and he found his athletes enjoy the fact that he is still a competitor in sports. With his coaching at Ignite, Dale has found it has become easier to communicate lifting techniques to athletes.

Donovan Dale takes part in a weightlifting competition. (Photo submitted by Donovan Dale courtesy Joel Kingston Photography)

Our main feature for the April 2023 upload of “Howe Happenings” is a piece on Dale.

Besides the piece on Dale, “Howe Happenings” contains a second story this month, and it is about the return of the Western Canadian Baseball League to Saskatoon and the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds. The Sask Entertainment Group, which owns the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades and the NLL’s Saskatchewan Rush, is bringing a WCBL expansion franchise to Cairns Field that will begin play in May of 2024. The team is currently call the Saskatoon Baseball Club.

The second story for the April upload of “Howe Happenings” checks out the happenings with the announcement of the WCBL coming back to Saskatoon for the first time since 2014.

You can find these items on the “Howe Happenings” blog at howehappenings306.blogspot.com.

New content will be released on the ninth day of each month. We hope you will enjoy the stories that make up the posts on the “Howe Happenings” blog.

From left, Steve Hildebrand, President of the Saskatoon Baseball Club, five Saskatoon area minor league baseball players, Mark Campbell, Director of Baseball Operations of the Saskatoon Baseball Club and Kevin Kvame, President of the Western Canadian Baseball League, were on hand for the press conference on March 29, 2023 to announce Saskatoon’s new Western Canadian Baseball League franchise. (Photo by Darren Steinke)