Nick Tetz Takes Home a PBR Canada Major Win During Memorable Ontario Tour

AIRDRIE, Alta. – The stars of PBR Canada made their way to Ontario last week for four nights of bull riding action across nine days.

Starting on June 1 in London, Ontario, in front of a sold-out crowd, two-time PBR Canada Champion Cody Coverchuk continued his dominant season, winning his first Cup Series event of 2024.

The tour then travelled to Kingston, Ontario on June 4-5, as 2022 PBR Canada Champion Nick Tetz took home his second Cup Series victory of the season going 2-for-3 in front of another sold out house.

The following Saturday, June 8, was spent inside the Ottawa Senators’ home, the Canadian Tire Centre. In front of another massive crowd, 2020 PBR World Finals event winner Boudreaux Campbell converted, catapulting up the Canadian national standings with a commanding win, collecting his first Cup Series event title on Canadian soil.

While the amount of money and points up for grabs on the eastern tour were top of mind for the riders, a long stint in a part of the country where bull riding is much less prominent is also an opportunity to make memories with their fellow competitors.

For Tetz, a win in Kingston was sweet, but getting to travel with the boys was sweeter.

“It was nice to get back to riding bulls and hanging out with your buddies,” Tetz said. “It's nice to escape the responsibilities, get out of the house and get out with the boys and go to some great bull ridings.”

“It was a fun trip. Definitely made a lot of memories.”

Kingston, where Tetz rode supreme, was one of three Major events on the PBR Canada Cup Series schedule in 2024, awarding both more points and money.

“I definitely picked the one to win, that is for sure. I missed out on Red Deer with it being a Major as I was down at an Unleash The Beast event. With the way that Coverchuk is riding I have to stay on his heels, keep chomping at the bit,” Tetz said.

“I wish I would have rode that short round bull. It’s bull riding, but then it was time to head to Ottawa and try to close that gap.”

Now ranked No. 2 in Canada, Tetz trails No.1 Coverchuk by 300.5 points, a significant gap which will require a fair bit of success to overcome. Tetz, who lost the 2023 PBR Canada Championship by a single bull to Dakota Buttar, said each and every event the remainder of the season is going to be important.

“When you go to a Touring Pro, you might not be getting as many points," Tetz explained. "But look at what Coverchuk did at the start of the year, and a big reason why he has such a lead on us all. I don't think it’s that much of a deal." 

While Tetz acknowledges some riders may be disappointed that some events are not worth as many points, he says it boils down to a rider's goals for the entire season. Every bull in every event matters.

"If you want to be a PBR Canada Champion you have to go and make it count at all of them," he said. "Big or small events, you have to treat it like you’re riding at the Finals in Edmonton, because at the end of the day every single bull you nod your head on is worth $100,000.”

“When you go back and look at your previous years, you can see that if you had just rode that one bull at one event, that would have been enough to win it. It all comes down to one bull the last few years, and it’s as simple as going to that smaller event to make it work out for you at the end of the year.”

Two things stand out for Tetz from the Ontario swing: the fans and the memories.

“They are definitely loud and rowdy,” Tetz said of the record-setting crowds. “They are great crowds, they don’t get to watch this kind of bull riding. They know you stayed on, and they get fired up. It was a blast to ride in front of them, but even more special to win an event in front of them.”

“It was a blast to be in the Ottawa Senators arena there, and I remember looking up at how big that building is. Seeing how full it was, you know it’s going to be an unreal night of bull riding.”

The memories made during the stint out east, which included dinners and nights out, visits to historic prisons and attending a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game are what stick out most to the Calgary, Alberta native.

“We couldn’t really rent a car and drop it off somewhere else, the prices are insane. So we sent riders with whomever we could, and some of us ended up renting U-Haul trucks. Bringing a U-Haul downtown Toronto to go to a Jays game, while it was stressful at the time, those are the things you look back on and go that were really fun.”

“Might have been stupid to rent such a big truck, but it worked and got us from Point A to Point B.”