History

The history of Saskatchewan’s favourite redneck hockey team is one that started with a putter and got moving with a side of gravy and a Pil.

On March 13, 2009 legendary “reelist” and basement poker junkey, Tanner “The Kernal” Kerowatski arrived in Saskatoon for the weekend in preparation of the first ever Mini Golf Tournament of Legends that would take place the following day at Market Mall in the Bridge City. His arrival would lead to an even bigger development.

The first ever Tournament of Legends on March 14 ended with a legendary battle with The Kernal defeating Derek “Frankenstein” Gibbs and the Colfaxian Crunkdog Hardcore Ryan Freakin’ Campbell in a huge battle. Also participating, K-dog, who led all females in double bogeys. The real victory though, came later that night at a sportsbar named Tailgator’s on Saskatoon’s west side.

With Hardcore eating poutine and drinking Pil, and The Kernal and Gibbs sipping on beverages du jour, the legendary dogs began talking about the hockey when Hardcore mentioned that the skating brand sucks but he’d gladly go balls forward street-style. The Kernal then mentioned there was a floor/street hockey tournament coming up in Weyburn, and the two dogs agreed that they needed to put a team in if, and a huge if at the time, they could find enough players. Gibbs endorsed this team, even though he would be jellyfishing in Canada’s outhouse the weekend of the tournament.

On March 15, 2009 – moving quickly – the team became official with Tanner “The Kernal” Kerowatski and Hardcore Freakin Campbell as the founders and first official members – the team was named the Crunkdogz – with little opposition. On that day, the first four members of the team were confirmed – the two founders – as well as a huge signing in Cody “Red Dog” Smith as the backstopper and all-heart Troy “Krammberry” Kramm. As a side note, the first four members were also former WTW Alumni from Weyburn. Jeremy “The Wall” Wall also hopped on to The Crazy Crunkdog Train.

Soon after, the Crunkdogz made their official name THE 306 CRUNKDOGZ HOCKEY KLUB and got an official logo. The team also adopted green, black and white as their official colours and in early April unveiled green street-style jerseys that would rock the province.

As a side note, Crunkdogz, fortunately agreed upon by Mr. Kerowatski, was an enlarged term of the word “Dogz” frequently used by legends like The Kernal, Hardcore and Troy F’n Kramm. Hardcore had been referred to before this time; as The Colfaxian Crunkdog. A Canadian Crunkdog is a term referring to a hardworker and a brother. How fitting the Crunkdogz are, to this day, a team of hardworking brothers.

The rest of March saw the majority of the first ever Crunkdogz roster being filled out with characters like Landon “Lando” Clark and Devin “Mitresaw” Hingtgen. The stuccoinging and Hardcore Dog Pound Members Uncle Nate “Aids” Theodore “Dirty Rubin and Klifford Sollosy would also eventually join – giving the team even more heart and depth. On April 8, 2009 – Derrick “Grizzly” Baer was named the first ever head coach of the Crunkdogz.

The first ever team captain in team history, and still captain, was appointed on April 24, 2009 as Hardcore Campbell was greatly honoured by his teammates. Later that day the Dogz’ played their first ever game in team history as they defeated Team Ramrod 8-3. Historic moments included Kramm’s stellar defensive play, Red Dog making the first save and picking up the first franchise victory in net and the Kernal scoring the team’s first goal. Uncle Nate also picked up a hat trick – with The Wall and Kliff putting the opposition down like suicide bombers on defense. Lando and Mitresaw joined the team later in the tournament helping the team pull off another upset while finishing the tournament at 2-2. The G.C. Floor Hockey Classic at the Weyburn Curling Club was the tournament that got the ball rolling for the Crunkdogz.

The 306 Crunkdogz Hockey Klub later dominated Facebook and Kramm opened up http://www.crunkdogz.ca to satisfy the hunger of all the dogaholics. The Crunkdogz continue to play in tournaments across the province as one of the truly most unique clubs in Canada.