Coverchuk joins surging team amid wave of momentum, currently No. 2 in the 2023 PBR Canada Championship battle

By Kacie Albert

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The Oklahoma Freedom, one of eight competing teams in the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Teams League, today announced they have signed two-time Canadian Champion Cody Coverchuk (Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan) to the contingent’s reserve roster.

“We’re excited to add Cody to our roster; I think he has a lot of talent,” said Oklahoma Freedom Head Coach Cord McCoy. “Kody Lostroh and I are both pumped to get him in the rotation.”  

Coverchuk joins the roster amid a wave of momentum. Chasing his record-tying third PBR Canada Championship this November, the Saskatchewan man is currently No. 2 in Canada, a mere 69.34 points behind No. 1-ranked Nick Tetz (Calgary, Alberta).

In leading the Canadian ranks for most 2023 Touring Pro Division events won (3), Coverchuk has also ridden to four round wins at those events, the fourth most of any active rider.

Coverchuk’s success on home soil has catapulted him to No. 6 in the PBR Challenger Series Global standings, 425.84 points back of No. 1 Alan de Souza (Taubate, Brazil).

The 29-year-old joins the Oklahoma Freedom with prior team experience on the Camping World Team Series and representing Team Canada at the Global Cup.

During PBR Teams’ inaugural 2022 season, Coverchuck briefly rode for the Texas Rattlers’ Reserve Roster, competing in both of the team’s opening games at the season-launch event in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Prior, Coverchuk was twice tapped to ride for Team Canada, competing for his nation at both the November 2017 Global Cup in Edmonton, Alberta, and the most recent iteration of bull riding’s Olympics in March 2022 in Arlington, Texas.

Coverchuk joins the team amid a wave of momentum. Compliments of a 2-1 effort in game play at the most recent Camping World Team Series event in Nashville, Tennessee, the Freedom tied for second in the event, surging to No. 2 in the league standings. They now trail the No. 1 Austin Gamblers by two games, with just one event remaining before the Freedom’s annual homestand at Paycom Center, scheduled for Sept. 8-10.

Along with signing Coverchuk, the Oklahoma Freedom also released Jacob O’Mara (Denham Springs, Louisiana). The team’s complete current roster is:

Protected: Elizmar Jeremias (Anapu, Brazil), Derek Kolbaba (Walla Walla, Washington), Briggs Madsen (Tremonton, Utah), Casey Roberts (Munford, Alabama), Thiago Salgado (Navirai, Brazil), Brady Turgeon (New River, Arizona) and Eli Vastbinder (Statesville, North Carolina)

Reserve: Alex Cerqueira (Iguatemi, Brazil), Coverchuk, Roscoe Jarboe (New Plymouth, Idaho) and Coy Pollmeier (Fort Scott, Kansas).

Injured Reserve: Chase Outlaw (Hamburg, Arkansas) and Tate Pollmeier (Fort Scott, Kansas).

The Freedom will return to the dirt this weekend for PBR Gambler Days in Austin, Texas, Aug. 25-27 at Moody Center. They will play the Nashville Stampede (Aug. 25), Missouri Thunder (Aug. 26) and host Austin Gamblers (Aug. 27).

Following Gambler Days, and a one-week break, the Oklahoma Freedom will then host the sixth event of the PBR Teams season, Freedom Fest, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at Paycom Center, Sept. 8-10.

The bull riding action for the 2023 PBR Team Series’ Freedom Fest at Paycom Center begins at 7:45 p.m. CT on Friday, September 8, 6:45 p.m. CT on Saturday, September 9, and 1:45 p.m. CT on Sunday, September 10.

Tickets for the event are on sale now, and start at $20, taxes and fees not included. They can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.comand PBR.com, at the Paycom Center Box Office, or by calling PBR customer service at 1-800-732-1727.

Three-day ticket packages are available, offering fans a 15% discount on select price levels.

For more information about Oklahoma Freedom, visit https://pbr.com/teams/freedom/, Oklahoma Freedom on Facebook, @OK_Freedom_ on Instagram, or @OKfreedom_ on Twitter.

About the Oklahoma Freedom:

The Oklahoma Freedom are based at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, joining team tenants including the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, and their G League affiliate Oklahoma City Blue, where the team will hold its second Freedom Fest homestand on September 8-10, 2023, the sixth event of the 10-event 2023 PBR Teams regular season. The Freedom are coached by Oklahoma native Cord McCoy, a former bull rider and four-time qualifier for PBR World Finals, and 2009 PBR World Champion Kody Lostroh.

About the PBR Camping World Team Series:

The PBR Camping World Team Series is an elite league featuring the world’s top bull riders competing on teams in five-on-five bull riding games during an 11-event season beginning in July and culminating in a Team Championship at T- Mobile Arena in Las Vegas October 20-22. During the 2023 season, the league’s second, each of the eight teams – Austin Gamblers of Austin, TX; Arizona Ridge Riders of Glendale, AZ; Carolina Cowboys of Greensboro, NC; Kanas City Outlaws of Kansas City, MO; Nashville Stampede of Nashville, TN; Oklahoma Freedom of Oklahoma City, OK; Missouri Thunder of Ridgedale, MO; and Texas Rattlers of Fort Worth, TX – will host a three-day homestand. There are also neutral-site games in Cheyenne, WY and Anaheim, CA.  The Nashville Stampede are the current 2022 defending champions.

The league format, which launched in July 2022, builds on the existing structure of professional bull riding with the same basic rules for judging and scoring qualified 8-second bull rides. In events staged in a tournament-style format, all teams compete in head-to-head matchups against a different opponent each day. Each game features five riders per team squaring off against another team. Full team rosters are comprised of seven riders on the Protected Roster and five Reserve riders. The team with the highest aggregate score of qualified rides among its riders is declared the winner of each game. The event winner is the team with the most game wins across an events. All PBR Team Series events are carried on either the CBS Television Network, streaming live on Paramount+, CBS Sports Network, or RidePass on Pluto TV.

PBR is a subsidiary of IMG, a global leader in sports, fashion, events and media. For more information, visit PBR.com, or follow on Facebook at Facebook.com/PBR, Twitter at Twitter.com/PBR, and YouTube at YouTube.com/PBR.