As the 2016 Wheatland Football League season nears, the St. Paul Lions and Bengals Football programs will be entering the league with a menacing new look.
Both teams have the potential for great winning seasons this year, and a new look at home will reward the players for the hard work put in during spring training and early practices that will prepare them to open the season in September.
Since 2007, the Bengals have donned the same style of black and orange uniform, so the new uniforms will give the team a new look with improved uniform technology. The Bengals’ away uniforms were changed in 2011, and the Lions were fitted with new away uniforms in 2014.
Over time, St. Paul football replaces individual uniforms of the same style, but this year, organizers decided to get new home uniforms for both teams done in one shot.
St. Paul Football Manager Todd Tanasichuk says that the uniforms give both teams a intimidating new look, as well as a giving players higher quality jersey.
“It was certainly time for a different look, but also a different quality of uniform and the new jerseys are very high quality. We’ve never had this kind of a jersey. They are very tight fitting and made of stretchy material, yet they’re still very durable. They fit nice on the players and are also a lot harder to grab by the opposition.”
The uniforms will give both the Bengals and the Lions an edge when running the ball and evading defensive players.
For the Bengals, the new uniforms have a charcoal base color, with black and orange highlights on the uniform. The previous uniforms had black as the base color with just orange highlights. The old Lions uniforms were black with white numbers, and the new ones feature hints of orange and silver numbers. Another new uniform feature for the Lions is brand new black helmets.
For the past three years the football club has been buying new black helmets and this year, they have bought the remainders, which are needed to outfit the team. Tanasichuk says that the Lions have worn white helmets for the past 32 years, so the change to black is a new beginning, and really changes the look of the team.
Tanasichuk added that the new helmets are also safer and provide better protection against concussions.
“Both teams have are outfitted with five-star rated helmets. These helmets are very expensive but they’re the best at concussion prevention.”
Emphasis is being put on protection over the head across all levels of football.
Looking forward to the 2016 season, Tanasichuk says both teams are set to take on their respective leagues and seek glory for St. Paul.
“I think this is one of the stronger teams the Bengals have had over the past few years. The team has a lot of Grade 9s who have been playing for a couple years now, and we’re really exciting about their chances to win a championship this fall.”
For the Lions, it’s much of the same story, although the team is now missing a couple of their veteran players from last year.
“We went to the championship game last year, and we had a lot of Grade 12s, but we feel that we’re in a strong point of what’s going to be a small rebuild this year. We have a lot of really good skilled players . . . It’s an exciting year for both teams,” says Tanasichuk.
Practices for the Bengals begin this week, going from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., while the Lions are set to hit the field next week.
Tanasichuk added that the businesses in St. Paul have been very helpful and were instrumental in helping the club purchase the new uniforms.
