PBR Canada’s Elite Cup Series Returns to Winnipeg for First Time in Two Years on Feb. 19

WINNIPEG, Man. – For the first time in two years, PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Canada’s elite Cup Series will travel to Winnipeg, Manitoba, taking over the Canada Life Centre on Saturday, February 19 for the PBR Winnipeg Classic.

PBR Canada’s Cup Series regularly features Canada’s best riders alongside some of the league’s top international athletes, squaring off against the rankest bucking bulls from across the nation.

For one night only, fans will witness exhilarating 8-second rides and wrecks throughout the action-packed event as the PBR’s courageous bull-riding athletes face off against their 2,000-pound opponents.

The PBR Winnipeg Classic will mark the third event of the 2022 PBR Canada Cup Series. The tour will launch on Feb. 5 in Red Deer, Alberta, with the complete slate of events to be announced in the coming weeks.

While PBR Canada has bucked into Winnipeg more than a dozen times, the 2022 event will mark the fourth time the home of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets has hosted the premier Cup Series.

In 2019, the PBR Canada Cup Series launched its season in the Manitoba city, with Alberta sensation Shay Marks (Sunnybrook, Alberta) going a perfect 2-for-2 to clinch his first victory on the nation’s premier series.

The most recent Cup Series stop in Winnipeg also finished a runner-up effort by eventual 2019 PBR Canada Champion Daylon Swearingen (Piffard, New York), who parlayed a flawless effort into a runner-up finish.

Other past PBR Winnipeg Classic event winners are: Matt Werries (Jacksonville, Illinois – 2016) and Dakota Louis (Browning, Montana – 2017).

PBR first visited Winnipeg in 2006, headlined by the debut of now two-time Canadian Champion Zane Lambert. Courtesy of a 89.5-point ride, Lambert began his career on a high note, winning the event.

PBR Canada’s return to Winnipeg comes on the spurs of one of the most exciting, and historic, battles for the PBR Canada Championship in history.

After a dominant season, including four event wins across all levels of competition and a victory in one of the division’s special 5/5 Bucking Battles, Dakota Buttar (Kindersley, Saskatchewan) entered the 2021 PBR Canada National Finals with a firm grip on the No. 1 ranking in the race for the 2021 PBR Canada Championship, and accompanying $50,000 bonus.

However, a groin injury initially sustained at the final regular-season event of the year proved too much for Buttar to battle, inevitably sidelining him from competition the last day of the campaign.

With the title decided on the final outs of the year, 2018 PBR Canada Champion Cody Coverchuk (Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan) mounted an incredible come-from-behind surge, erasing Buttar’s 53.66-point lead, to conclude the year No. 1 in the nation, capturing his second career national championship.

The Saskatchewan contender clinched the title, and his share of the record $175,000 purse paid out at the year-end event, with an impressive 89.5-point ride aboard annual PBR Canada Bull of the Year contender Finning Lil Shorty (Flying Four Bucking Bulls). 

Coverchuk is now one of just three riders to have won the coveted PBR Canada Championship in multiple seasons, joining the likes of two-time title holder Lambert and three-time Champion Aaron Roy (Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan).

The bull riding action for PBR Canada Cup Series’ Winnipeg Classic begins at 7:00 p.m. CST on Saturday, February 19.

Tickets for the event go on sale Friday, December 17 at 10:00 a.m. CST, and start at $25, standard fees may apply, and can be purchased online at TicketMaster.ca.

All PBR Canada events are subject to change, planned in accordance with directives issued by relevant government and health authorities given the evolving regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2022 slate of events marks the seventh season for the PBR Canada Cup Series as a unified competitive series traveling across the country and broadcast on TSN.

Stay tuned to PBRCanada.com and follow the tour on Facebook (PBR Canada), Twitter (@PBRCanada), and Instagram (@PBRCanada) for the latest event and broadcast schedule, results, news, stats and more.