Storylines Abound at PBR Canada National Finals in Edmonton
A new PBR Canada Champion will be crowned this weekend in Edmonton, Alberta, in a star-studded bull riding event chock full of storylines and intrigue.
Four riders separated by 141.16 points have the best shot at the country’s title and $100,000 bonus in an event offering a maximum of 396 points to one rider through round wins, the aggregate, and ride-score points.
In all, the nation’s Top 12-ranked riders are in mathematical contention for the 2023 PBR Canada Championship.
The four-round finale to PBR Canada’s 18th full season will be held inside Rogers Place, the home of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers, for the third time.
While the high-flying hockey club went back-to-back twice as Stanley Cup Champions in the 1980s, no PBR cowboy has repeated as PBR Canada Champion.
This weekend, 23-year-old Nick Tetz, 68.5 points behind No. 1 Cody Coverchuk, has his sights on changing that.
Cody Coverchuk
Covy Moore
Tetz, the 2018 PBR Canada Rookie of the Year, leads in Canadian Touring Pro Division round wins with nine.
He also recorded the top score of the regular season with 92 points on Time Marches On to win in his hometown of Calgary, Alberta. His torrid 67.39% riding percentage (31-for-46) is one of the country’s best.
While Tetz missed two of the season’s final events after hurting his shoulder while riding for the Arizona Ridge Riders in the PBR Teams League where he went 10-for-25 (40%), he returned at the final regular season Canadian event in Yorkton, Saskatchewan to go 3-for-4, finishing third and leapfrogging Dakota Buttar for the No. 2 rank in the national standings.
No. 3 Buttar, the 2020 PBR Canada Champion, sits 95.66 points behind Coverchuk. In going 24-for-44 (54.55%) on Canadian soil, Buttar is shooting for a separate career milestone in trying to become the fourth rider to win multiple Canadian Championships.
Dakota Buttar
Covy Moore
Buttar will be back in the bucking chutes for the first time since breaking his collarbone in early October during his dismount from his event-winning ride in Grande Prairie, Alberta. That painful win made him No. 1 in the nation but the lead evaporated during his recovery.
For his part, should No. 1 Coverchuk keep his hand closed despite a nagging hand injury and maintain the top position after four rounds in Rogers Place, he would tie Aaron Roy for most national titles won with three. Coverchuk – who won his second Championship in 2021, a year before Tetz mounted a come from behind surge for his title – was the first PBR Canada Champion crowned in Edmonton.
Aaron Roy
Covy Moore
The 29-year-old has gone an impressive 44-for-78 (56.41%) on Canadian soil in 2023, riding to three Touring Pro Division event wins, and five round wins on the organization’s developmental series.
Throughout the season, Buttar has gone 24-for-44 on Canadian soil, covering 54.55% of his bulls. In addition to his Cup Series victory in Grande Prairie, Buttar won three Touring Pro Division events during the 2023 season.
Popular veteran Roy, the rider sitting in fourth, 146.16 points behind No. 1 Coverchuk, is chasing his fourth Canadian Championship. Roy won a PBR Canada-best five Touring Pro Division events and four rounds this season, going 31-for-72 (43.06%). Roy also won the elite Cup Series tour stop in Brandon, Manitoba.
That the 36-year-old veteran is physically still in the game is a marvel of modern medicine and blood-and-guts determination.
After a bull turned Roy into a veritable human accordion in 2013, rods and screws were inserted to hold together his back. Three years later, a badly broken femur required more hardware to fuse the largest bone in his body.
While he has talked about retirement somewhere on the horizon, Roy has said he’s still having fun. When that feeling stops, so will he.
For now Roy has his work cut out in moving ahead of three other hungry riders along with a few World Champions bringing gold uckle-winning experience to the season’s biggest event north of the border.
Also competing in Edmonton are three-time PBR World Champion Silvano Alves (2011, 2012, 2014) and 2022 World Champion Daylon Swearingen, who took the Canadian title in 2019.
Another rider to watch for the event title is a newly christened champion from Down Under with a name made for bull riding.
Macaulie Leather will make his Canadian debut fresh off winning the 2023 PBR Australian Championship.
The 22-year-old’s season was highlighted by seven event wins across all levels of competition, going a torrid 37-for-65 to cover 56.92% of his bovine athlete opponents.
Leather headed to North America along with fellow Aussie Lachlan Richardson, who returns to Canadian soil for the first time since 2018 when he nearly became the first Australian to win the country’s championship, finishing the year No. 3 in the nation. This will be the second time the New South Wales native competes at the Canadian National Finals.
The 2023 PBR Canada National Finals, presented by Command Tubular Products, gets underway at Rogers Place on Friday night at 7 p.m. MST.
SIDEBAR:
PBR Canada Champions
- 2022 Nick Tetz
- 2021 Cody Coverchuk
- 2020 Dakota Buttar
- 2019 Daylon Swearingen
- 2018 Cody Coverchuk
- 2017 Zane Lambert
- 2016 Ty Pozzobon
- 2015 Tanner Byrne
- 2014 Stetson Lawrence
- 2013 Zane Lambert
- 2012 Aaron Roy
- 2011 Tyler Thomson
- 2010 Aaron Roy
- 2009 Beau Hill
- 2008 Aaron Roy
- 2007 Tyler Pankewicz
- 2006 Scott Schiffner
