Brett Lauther and Rob Bagg, teammates forever, will soon be on opposite sides.
Not for long, mind you.
They are to serve as captains for the inaugural Roughrider Foundation Winter Classic charity hockey game, to be held in Saskatoon on March 18 (7 p.m., Merlis Belsher Place).
Proceeds will be used to help young people play football and hockey through KidSport.
When they were developing as athletes, Bagg and Lauther embraced both sports en route to becoming popular members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
But it wasn’t always the easiest road and, as such, the two captains are kindred spirits.
Bagg was a valuable component of the Roughriders’ passing attack for the better part of a decade despite being bypassed in the 2007 CFL draft.
Although Lauther was drafted — in the seventh round by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2013 — he bounced around the CFL until finding a home in Saskatchewan five years ago.
It was a third-time-lucky scenario for Lauther, who chased his dream at various stops for five years before enjoying a long-awaited breakthrough and being named the West Division’s all-star placekicker in 2018.
The long and meandering path to prominence included practice-roster stints with Saskatchewan in 2015 and 2017. During the first audition, Lauther was introduced to and instantly impressed by Bagg.
“Rob is such a great guy,” Lauther says. “I was lucky enough that when I was out here in 2015 on the practice roster, Rob would go out, practise all day, basically work his butt off, and be in a full sweat. I was just some practice-roster kicker while Paul McCallum was flying in to play the games that weekend, but Rob would stay after practice to hold the ball for me.
“He didn’t have to do that. He didn’t know who I was. No one knew who I was. He was a guy who, every day, we’d be talking about hockey. He’d make sure he was out there holding for me.
“He was super-nice and over the top about everything and made me feel welcome, even though I was just a kid living on Rae Street, making a few hundred dollars a week and trying to keep the dream alive.”
Mention of the early interaction with Lauther took Bagg back to 2007, when then-Roughriders head coach Kent Austin uttered words that resonate to this day.
“Coach Austin basically said, ‘The more you can do, the more opportunities you’re going to have,’ ” Bagg recalls. “I remember him kind of forcing me to learn how to hold when (placekicker) Luca Congi was there. Luca maybe wanted a few more reps that day, so I started working with him there.”
So there was Lauther, eight years later, receiving a hand from someone who by then was a well-established CFLer with all-star credentials.
Although Bagg and Lauther were at different points in their professional football careers, there was nonetheless an instant compatibility between two underdogs who refused to allow being overlooked to define or deter them.
“You’re always going to have a chip on your shoulder,” Bagg says. “I think it’s a great edge and it has obviously served Brett well. Sometimes when things come a little bit easier, then it’s a little bit easier to take them for granted.
“Certainly, when you’re undrafted or you’ve felt that sting of no one wanting you, you start to compartmentalize the fact that they thought all these other players were better than you. What better motivation to go out there and prove them wrong?
“I feel like Brett has benefited the same way. He’s a tremendous kicker, but he didn’t get a lot of exposure coming in. Instead of just sitting back and crying about his circumstances, he was out there kicking extra every day. He got sent home repeatedly, but he continued to work on his craft.
“God knows how many times I’ve spoken to elementary schools or done public speaking, but my message is always, ‘Don’t let other people dictate what your ceiling is.’ As long you believe in the process, that’s the main thing.”
Which brings us back to the main event on March 18.
The rosters, announced Wednesday, include Lauther, Bagg and the following current or former Roughriders players: Mitch Picton, Evan Johnson, Dan Clark, Brayden Lenius, Jorgen Hus, Chris Getzlaf, Jason Clermont and Greg Fieger.
University of Saskatchewan Huskies head coach Scott Flory, whose excellence on the Montreal Alouettes’ offensive line was his ticket to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, will also take part.
So will former National Hockey League players Ryan Keller, Byron Bitz, Ryan Bayda and Jeremy Reich.
The referee will be Luke McGeough — whose late father, Mick, wore the stripes for 1,083 NHL regular-season games during a period that spanned 1987 to 2008.
The agenda will also include various activities for children, special giveaways, and in-game activations.
“The main reason for the whole thing is to raise money for KidSport, which is super-important to me,” says Lauther, who has been working closely with the Roughrider Foundation for 10 months to allow the charity game to become a reality.
“I wouldn’t be here today without a lot of help from family, friends and other people. I was kind of raised by a village, so to think that I have a small voice to be able to help kids in Saskatchewan play football or hockey or something like that, it’s super-rewarding and makes me feel really good. That was sort of the whole premise behind everything.
“As for on the ice, I don’t know if it’s going to be up to the Connor Bedard and Regina Pats level of play, but it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Although Lauther and Bagg are best known for their contributions on the football field, their athletic resumes also include more than a little hockey.
The Truro-born Lauther, for example, spent three seasons with the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League’s Brookfield Elks. He had 12 goals and 17 assists in 45 regular-season games with the junior B Elks between 2009 and 2012.
Hockey was Bagg’s sole sporting pursuit until age 17, when he took up football. Lately, though, his skating has been restricted to the backyard of his home in Kingston, Ont.
“I haven’t played a lot of hockey (in recent years), but I have spent a lot of time on our outdoor rink with the kids,” the proud father of three says. “Stamina may not be great, but I like to think that my hands are slowly coming back, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Tickets for the inaugural Roughrider Foundation Winter Classic are $25 for purchasers aged 13 and over. Children aged 12 and under will be admitted for free if accompanied by an adult. Each adult ticket allows for two complimentary youth admissions.
For more information, visit http://www.riderville.com/winterclassic/
