Ian Litzenberger was the driving force behind Prince Albert’s bid to host the WBSC 2025 Men’s Softball World Cup, and those efforts have earned him the title Sportsperson of the Year.
The Kinsmen Club of Prince Albert made the announcement Tuesday evening. Litzenberger will be recognized at a gala on Oct. 25 along with Male Athlete of the Year Brayden Rieger and Female Athlete of the Year Stryker Zablocki. NHL legend Wendel Clark will be the guest speaker.
“Obviously Ian’s done a lot in Prince Albert over the last number of years, but the main thing that set him over the top was being the chair of the 2025 Men’s Softball World Cup Finals,” Kinsmen Club Sportsperson of the Year Chair Jared Devers said in an interview on Thursday. “(It had) amazing attendance, brought a ton of energy into Prince Albert, a lot of tourism, a lot of business, and the event ran very smooth.”
This isn’t the first time Litzenberger has been honoured for his organizational contributions. In 2018 he was part of the Project Triple Play committee that oversaw the renovations to the Prime Minsters’ Park diamonds ahead of the WBSC Junior Men’s Softball World Championship.
The entire committee received the Sportsperson of the Year Award that year. This year, Devers said Litzenberger deserved to be singled out for the honour.
“It’s not very often you can say you’ve got the best of the world coming to Prince Albert,” Devers said. “Obviously the event ran smoothly. Every game that I went to was pretty much sold out. It was just really well attended. I sat next to people who were from Alberta, British Columbia, … New Zealand a couple games, (and) it was nice to see that it wasn’t just local people here. It’s people coming from all over.
“Hotels were booked solid. Restaurants were busy, just a lot of buzz that happened in Prince Albert, and it doesn’t happen without the hard work of his committee and without Ian leading that.”
Tickets cost $175 individually, or $1,200 for a table of eight. They are available by calling 306-980-2528. The funds raised from the event will go towards the Kinsmen Wave Pool inside the Lake Country Leisure Centre.
Rieger and Zablocki to be honoured with male and female athlete of the year awards
Lacrosse player Brayden Rieger and two-sport athlete Stryker Zablocki are the Male and Female Athletes of the Year.
Rieger led the Prince Albert Predators to another Prairie Gold Lacrosse League (PGLL) championship, finishing second in league scoring despite missing two games while at college. He was also named the league’s playoff MVP.
At the MacDonald Cup, Rieger was named Offensive Player of the Tournament, with 19 goals and 16 assists in the competition.
Rieger played his first season with the University of Mount Olive Trojans, an NCAA Div. 2 lacrosse program in North Carolina, where he had 22 goals and 18 assists in 14 games. The Trojans finished third in the conference. Reiger is returning in 2025-26 for his second season.
“(He was) just outstanding,” Devers said of Rieger’s play. “(He’s) just a very, very well-rounded individual, doing well academically, always helping, putting Prince Albert on a good stage winning it all, leading the charge, and going down to a big college in the Carolinas…. As a freshmen there in the states, leading them along is just phenomenal for him.”
Zablocki helped Canada win gold at the 2025 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championships where she led the tournament in points with 12 and was named to the IIHF All-Star Team.
Not long after she helped her academy team, the Bishop Kearney Selects in Rochester, NY, win its first US National Championship. Prior to that, Zablocki was on the Regina Rebels team that captured the Esso Cup.
“She won a Canadian national tournament, a U.S. National Tournament, and then an International tournament, all within 365 days, and in all of them she was one of the top point getters. It’s pretty amazing to have a Prince Albert product putting up numbers like that,” Devers said.
“The future is bright for her, and hopefully we’ll see her on the international stage for the women’s (team) going forward.”
Zablocki also had success on the track. She won the Saskatchewan high school 100m Senior Girls title with a time of 11.74 seconds, and placed second in the 200m.
The Daily Herald will have articles on both athletes at a later date.
