The standout quarterback – who never lost a game and won four straight provincial championships with the Peacock Tornadoes – was set to return to Saskatchewan and suit up for the University of Regina Rams this season, after playing the past two years for the Ottawa GeeGees.
It would have been a chance to play in front of family and friends on a regular basis for the first time since Buettner made the trip out east, and a chance to be part of a Rams team that carried a whole lot of potential.
But Monday, that all came to a crashing halt.
USports officially announced that all fall sports under it’s purvey are cancelled due to COVID-19, bringing an end to the campaign before it even began. And while Buettner had remained hopeful that things would work out, in the end, the writing was on the wall.
“It was definitely always a possibility, I kind of expected it at first when I heard that school would be online and there’d be no students on campus,” Buettner said. “But when they kind of proposed this five-game schedule everyone was hoping we’d get some games in, then we got the news yesterday. It sucks, it’s definitely disappointing, but you have to move forward the best you can.”
Until COVID-19 hit, it was business as usual for Buettner. He had officially committed to the Rams back in January and had been able to begin working out and familiarizing himself with his teammates and coaches.
“I was working out with the team and throwing with the team and getting ready to go with our winter practices and spring camp when this whole COVID thing got started, so that was too bad,” Buettner said. “And obviously we haven’t been able to work out this summer as a team, but we’re hoping to get back together soon.”
The concussion that brought his season to an end in his first game last year was a thing of the past, too.
“I feel 100 per cent, I was working hard and training hard and I’ll keep doing all the same things that I was doing,” Buettner said. “The end goal has been pushed back a year, but all we’re going to do is keep working, I know that’s what I’m going to do and what the team will be doing, too.”
Buettner played three seasons of junior football with the Regina Thunder before heading over to Ottawa for the 2018 season, where he enjoyed a solid rookie season in USports – 1,470 yards passing and 14 touchdowns against only five interceptions in seven games.
While this would have marked his fourth of five years of USports eligibility, Buettner is running up against another limit – players have to be 24 or younger as of Aug. 31, and that’s exactly how old Buettner will be heading into the 2021 campaign, which would make it his final season.
“I’m just hoping they bump that up for guys like me, and especially the senior guys who otherwise won’t be able to get a season,” Buettner said. “It’s the right thing to do, I don’t think there’s any question about that, even if it means changing the rules for just one year.
“If there’s one thing COVID has taught us, you have to adapt to the circumstances and that’s what we’re hoping USports will do. It’s out of our control and all we can do is wait and see.”
One thing that’s certain for everyone is that once things are back on the field, however long it takes, there’s plenty of potential for success.
“Our goal was to win the Hardy Cup and get to the Vanier Cup and win that, too,” Buettner said. “I think that has to be the goal, we had a really up-and-coming team and I was really excited about it… Obviously I’d played with a bunch of the guys and I’d been gone a couple years in Ottawa, but seeing some of the young talent and some of the guys I know, and the great coaching staff, too, I was looking forward to a good year.
“Hopefully we can get all those guys back, get that extra year of eligibility, put in some work over this long off-season and get ready for 2021.”
