Sask.'s Getzlaf brothers excited for Riders Foundation Winter Classic Charity hockey game

On Saturday former Saskatchewan Roughrider Chris Getzlaf and his Stanley Cup Champion brother, Ryan, will suit up for the second annual Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation Winter Classic in Saskatoon.

“It’s going to be fun. I can’t even remember the last time we were on the ice [together] to tell you the truth. It’s exciting anytime I get to come back to Regina or Saskatoon,” Ryan said.

Ryan shared that he uprooted his family from California to Nashville this past year where he currently resides. He spent his entire National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Anaheim Ducks, where he won a Stanley Cup with the club in 2007 and still sits as the all-time leading scorer for the franchise.

In January the Riders announced Ryan would join his brother for this year’s charity event.

“I actually didn’t know about it last year. But between Chris and our friend Donny who’s helping put it on, they kind of reached out. Got my schedule in order and I was able to make it happen,” Ryan explained.

For brother Chris, continuing to be involved with the community after football is something that he takes pride in.

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“It’s great to be able to carry out that community involvement post-career. I’ve been out of the game for five years now, but it was a big part of what I did while playing the game. When you get to play for a team like Sask., where you have passionate fans throughout the entire province, I just felt like it was always important to get out and touch each of those parts of the province if you have the opportunity. Thankfully that has transitioned to post-career,” he said.

Chris is a two-time Grey Cup Champion and spent 11 seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL). More than nine were with the Riders. He played in the inaugural Winter Classic in 2023 where his team lost to the team (Brett) Lauther.

“Looking forward to seeing how the rest of the team comes together. I mean obviously the main goal this year is to not lose to a kicker. So that’s going to be first and foremost because dropping last year to him, you know that one hurts still,” Chris said jokingly.

Ryan and Chris will play on the same team but say they will not find out their full roster until a VIP event the night before. On Tuesday the Riders shared some notable current team members, Rider alumni, NHL alumni, and Elite athletes that will be participating.

Participants from the Riders will be Peter Godber, Jorgan Hus, Brett Lauther, Brayden Lenius, Mitch Picton and Noah Zerr. Riders’ alumni taking part include Jason Clermont, Chris Getzlaf and Andy Fantuz.

Ryan Getzlaf, Eric Gryba and Byron Bitz will be the NHL alumni taking part. Current elite athletes involved are Bailee Bourassa, Scott Flory, Mark McConkey, Wacey Rabbit and Abbey Shirley.

Both Chris and Ryan shared how they have been able to do some events and speaking engagements since their retired from being professional athletes but this will be the first ‘athletic’ event they will take part in as a duo post-career.

“It’s been something that I’ve kind of almost regretted a little bit that I wasn’t able to make it back more throughout my career. You know with family and kids, everything gets really busy in the off-season. You don’t really realize that when you go through it all. But now I’m able to come back multiple times a year which has been great. So I’m looking forward to it,” said Ryan.

“[Ryan] can definitely help with the goal scoring aspect of the game I think,” joked Chris. “Last year was quite the game the whole event in general was really good. We had a great turnout, the autographs, the photos after like there was a lot of excitement. A lot of positive feedback from people who attended.”

Puck drop is at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3 at Merlin Belsher Place in Saskatoon.

Tickets are $25 for ages 13 and above. Children under the age of 12 are free. Adult tickets can be purchased via Ticketmaster.