Less than 24 hours after the Saskatoon Blades earned their ninth victory of the WHL season, the ice at SaskTel Centre gave way to truckfuls of dirt.
It’s all in preparation for some of the world’s best bull riders, who are set to compete in the 2024 PBR Saskatoon Classic.
“Saskatoon is our favourite stop of the year,” said PBR Canada live event and production manager Peter Gebraad. “We’ve been coming here for almost 23 years. The fans in Saskatoon are lit, they’re educated bull riding fans, they love our product and we love performing in front of them.”
It’s a monumental task for Gebraad and his crew this week, racing against the clock with less than 48 hours between themselves and the start of the PBR Canada tour stop.
They’re hard at work to transform SaskTel Centre into an infield worthy of the top bull riders and animals on tour.
“We go from a hockey rink to loading a million and a half pounds of dirt into an arena and setting up six football [field] lengths full of steel to make sure that we’re ready 48 hours later to buck bulls,” said Gebraad.
Of the field looking to take home a payday in Saskatoon is Meadow Lake’s own Cody Coverchuk, who once again will get the chance to compete close to home.
A veteran of the PBR Canada tour over the past decade, he’s seen first-hand the work that goes into making these events possible.
“They played hockey here [Wednesday] night and there’s about a crew of 15 people in her that don’t get as much credit as they probably should,” said Coverchuk. “Without these guys, we won’t get to ride the bulls [Friday] night.”
SaskTel Centre will host a pair of nights of bull riding, before the next major stop on the Canadian Cup Series tour which will take place in early November in Edmonton for the PBR Canada National Finals.
The weekly process, Gebraad said, has yet to get old.
“Not one second of this feels like Groundhog Day,” said Gebraad. “There’s new challenges in every building, there’s new challenges with every show. I’m speaking for the crew, we love this job and it never feels like it’s a repeat.”
At just 19 years of age, John Crimber will aim to repeat his 2023 PBR Saskatoon title with rides taking place at SaskTel Centre on Friday and Saturday night.