Colts, Vikings enter 5th annual Boksteyn Bowl with momentum

By JAMES TUBB on September 4, 2025.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

The Colts and Vikings look to continue their hot starts while honouring a legend of local football.

Monsignor McCoy and Crescent Heights meet Friday at the Methanex Bowl for the fifth annual Rick Boksteyn Bowl to honour former football coach Rick Boksteyn.

Boksteyn, who passed in 2020, helped coach the Colts and the Vikings at different times over 36 years and was on the Medicine Hat Fire Department for 35 years. McCoy won the inner-city game in 2024, their first Bowl win, with the Vikings winning the first three renditions of the memorial game.

“There are a lot of people who are impacted on both sides of this, coaches on our squad who have played for Crescent Heights, some guys who were Crescent Heights guys, it’s a big game,” McCoy head coach Jole Krassman said. “It definitely means a lot, there’s a lot on the line when you’re talking about the Boksteyn Bowl, both teams are coming out hungry and ready to get it. We just have to play our game and we have to prepare all week.”

Both teams enter the meeting off season-opening wins, the Vikings beat the Stettler Wildcats 16-0 on Aug. 28 and McCoy beat the Joane Cardinal-Schubert Ravens the next night. The Medicine Hat High Hawks also won their season opener on Aug. 28, a positive sign of the game in Medicine Hat according to Vikings head coach Anthony Anderson.

“I was super happy with all three games because on a city wide level we just came off three wins from all three teams, I’m really happy for Hat High and McCoy that they could win, too,” Anderson said. “We’ve done a really good job as teams in collaborating and really fostering a sense of competitiveness, but also we are Medicine Hat football. So I’m so happy for Hat High and McCoy that they won as well because we like to see those wins down here.”

When it comes to Medicine Hat football, it’s hard to find a better embodiment of growing the game than Boksteyn’s impact, Anderson says.

“A lot of our coaches were coached by Rick, he loved the game of football,” Anderson said. “It’s a really great year to honour him, because the state of football in Medicine Hat right now, he would be very happy with us.”

Anderson says a lot of the success in the city is credited to the assistant coaches on teams who don’t get the recognition but ensure all teams can run efficiently, win games and develop players and people.

“Just always give thanks to my assistant coaches and all the coaches in Medicine Hat that are giving up their free time to coach a game of football,” Anderson said. “We just saw it, three wins from three teams, without coaches and without assistant coaches, that can’t happen.”

Both schools are looking to leave the game with the Boksteyn Bowl, an old firefighting trophy donated to commensurate the game and further enshrine Boksteyn’s legacy with the fire department and the two teams.

“That’s our vision, I told the team tonight, we have the Boksteyn Bowl, we have a McCoy Colts name on it finally since the inaugural season of it, and our goal is to keep it right in the halls of McCoy High School, just like our school fight song says,” Krassman said.

For Krassman, a godchild of Boksteyn’s, the game has brought a personnel connection throughout the years celebrating the man and the sport in the city. When the game kicks off Friday at 7:30 p.m., it brings him back alongside his “Uncle Rick” and the passion they shared for football.

“He was always an integral part of my life and so every time we play this game, I just honestly feel his energy and I feel just that much closer to him just knowing that he’s watching down on us,” Krassman said. “A lot of the Boksteyn family comes out to support this game as well, so just seeing them come and know that Rick’s legacy is carried on through football, through the spirit of competition, and he impacted both these teams and it’s well represented.”

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