Michael Lieffers has scored 1,000 points in just four years as a Huskie. He is also close to reaching 1,000 career rebounds.

When the Huskies men’s basketball team hosts the Brandon University Bobcats at home on Jan. 27 and 28, it is very likely that Michael Lieffers will cross a career milestone.

The 6-8 forward from Saskatoon became the 37th Huskie ever to reach 1,000 career points on Jan. 20 when he put up eight points in a game against the University of British Columbia Okanagan Heat. He is also only 14 boards shy of becoming the fifth Huskie ever to grab 1,000 rebounds.

Lieffers, however, isn’t paying attention to the numbers.

“My girlfriend was just saying that I’m getting close to 1,000 rebounds,” said Lieffers. “She told me a number but I can’t really remember what it was.”

His focus is on winning a national championship — something he also did in 2009-2010 with the Huskies.

Lieffers, who played a year at Lakeland College in Lloydminster before joining the Huskies in 2008, was a major part of the Dogs’ first-ever Canada West and Canadian Interuniversty Sport title wins.

Those wins were dedicated to their teammate Brennan Jarrett.

In 2008, when Lieffers was in his first-year with the Huskies, he — along with the entire Saskatchewan team — lost Jarrett to cancer. It was an event that changed Lieffers’ perspective on basketball completely.

“Brennan was an incredible guy,” he said. “He always lived with the motto that with privilege comes great responsibility. Everyday I try to think about that; to realize how privileged you are to be able to play and just to be here.”

Lieffers in action.

Nolan “may never be able to run again,” said Lieffers. “An injury like that is incredible and it makes you realize how privileged you are to play basketball.”

It also makes Lieffers laugh at the panic he felt when he thought he had suffered a potentially serious injury prior to the 2009-2010 CIS semi-final.

According to Lieffers, he had slipped on a wet bathroom floor while getting ready to leave for the game.

“My heels just went way up in the air instantly. My feet hit the toilet. The toilet jumped into the air and it exploded. I smashed my knee on the vanity, hit my head on the door. The [toilet] came crashing down and water just started” spraying everywhere.

He suffered a deep gash on his right ankle and was rushed to the hospital via ambulance.

The news spread throughout the tournament and to TSN that Lieffers might not play. This was not true. The ambulance supervisor, clearly a basketball fan, stayed at the hospital, waiting for Lieffers to receive his stitches. Once Lieffers was treated, the supervisor rushed him back to the game.

Lieffers arrived just before tip-off and, as if nothing had happened, he put up a double-double — 13 points and 11 rebounds — in the game.

“I thought that if I get a chance to play tonight, I’m just going to focus and leave everything on the floor,” he told Global Saskatoon following the tournament.

It’s that mentality that keeps Lieffers gunning for another championship.

“I don’t really care about making an all-star or whatever. For me it’s about getting that ring. That’s what really matters.”

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Photos: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf &
Pete Yee