10 LONG WEEKEND THINGS

Taking Shots …

1 – BREATHE: There’s a whole lotta tension in this country! It’s hard not to notice, and even feel at times. Hopefully this week’s column from your intrepid blogger/broadcaster will lift your spirits a bit. Regarding the trucker convoy and protests, it’s been curious to watch, and somewhat head-scratching. It’s spanned four weeks while the American insurrection 13 months ago was wrapped up in an afternoon. Fortunately in CANADA, no one has been killed amid these protests. Let’s keep it that way.

It also seems to be a little early for a victory lap by the anti-Vaxxers! (A group which includes some of my dearest friends). Time will tell.

2 – ALBERTA BOUND: We’ve just wrapped up the first of a five-week residency for the Rod Pedersen Show at Grey Eagle Resort & Casino in Calgary. During our first appearance last month, resort officials asked if we could bring some sports personalities down to the show live. Ask and you shall receive! That spawned visits at the Grey Eagle Event Centre from my buds Kelly Hrudey, JOHN HUFNAGEL, Craig Button, Parry Shockey, Peter Loubardias, Lee Genier, Ryan Thelwell, Sheldon Napastuk and more. As our stay stretches on, you can expect to see many more. As I’ve learned, Calgary is an unreal sports town. We haven’t even tapped into the Olympic guest list yet, and we’ve got a string of Stampeders & Flames personnel coming down over the next few weeks. It took a bit to thaw the ice, but it’s flowing now!

Grey Eagle is on the Tsuu T’ina Nation southwest of Calgary, and has been open for 14 years. As I learned long ago, if First Nations people trust you, they’ll treat you like gold and that’s what’s happening for Darren Dupont and me. I’m incredibly grateful.

Check out all that’s fascinating about Grey Eagle on their website here.

You can still always catch the RP Show on Access Now television Saturdays and Sundays at 12 pm Sask time. This week’s guests include Duron Carter, John Hufnagel, Kelly Hrudey and Sask Rush GM Derek Keenan.

3 – KEEPING BUSY: In a commentary last week I advised readers & listeners to get out and attend a sporting event as a means to improve their mental health. However perhaps I was just thinking out loud, for myself. Luckily I was able to attend sporting events on consecutive nights last week from the NHL (Calgary), AJHL (Canmore), NLL (Calgary) and WHL (Red Deer). Being in an arena, visiting and laughing with fans, coaches, players, fans and media, has always been my home. But maybe that’s not for everybody.

But there’s been an incredible amount of opportunity for us in Alberta, and the people have been extraordinarily nice. It feels really good.

4 – REST EASY, THE CAT: Growing up in Milestone, SK, I knew that NHL great Emile “The Cat” Francis was from North Battleford. However I had forgotten until visiting the N.B. Civic Centre for the 2019 SJHL Finals and saw Emile’s photo displayed proudly in the arena lobby. (It’s a long list of sporting greats from The Battlefords). Well, the Cat passed away at age 95 this weekend and his death prompted this statement from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman:

“The National Hockey League mourns the passing of Emile Francis, a Hall of Fame coach and general manager whose infectious personality was as beloved as his hockey acumen was revered. Nicknamed ‘The Cat’ for his quick reflexes as a junior goaltender in his native Saskatchewan, the diminutive Francis appeared in 95 games with the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers over six seasons, which he spent mostly in the minors.

“But it was as a team-builder and teacher in New York that he excelled. Serving as Rangers GM/coach for a decade, Francis guided his teams to the playoffs nine straight years, produced three consecutive 100-point seasons and reached the 1972 Stanley Cup Final. He was instrumental in the development of legendary players such as Rod Gilbert, Jean Ratelle and Brad Park. The NHL sends its deepest condolences to his family and to his many friends and admirers.”

5 – DOWN THE STRETCH: I’ve written before how astounding Alberta’s love for hockey is. It’s inspirational in a way. And there’s a palpable buzz in the circles I’m travelling regarding the second half of the NHL season for the Flames (winners of nine in a row) and the Oilers (winners of five in a row). They’ve got a close eye on the WHL Central & East Division races too, and the name “Connor Bedard” has come up everyday. In Alberta, they’re not sold on the Regina Pats missing the playoffs just yet. See how I love this environment? And in Canmore last week, I saw the most entertaining Junior A game I’ve seen in decades. It was incredibly tough, but not cheap nor “goony”. Later this week I’ll be at the Regina Cougars/Mount Royal Cougars playoff game at the Flames Community Arenas. They asked me to come! My alma mater against my hometown team. Life is great.

6 – DEEPER ANALYSIS: The Flames are for real while the Oilers, I’m afraid, are not. Kelly Hrudey and I agreed this Calgary NHL team has been very good for quite a few years but only recently started reaching its potential under Darryl Sutter. Edmonton, on the other hand, has to be still riding the “new coach bump” under Jay Woodcroft. I’ve talked with the Tippets and Dave isn’t saying anything publicly or privately after being let go a couple weeks back. What an ugly situation that turned out to be. You think the Edmonton Oilers’ fortunes could be changed with the snap of the fingers? Not a chance. Look at Vancouver, where once chic Bruce Boudreau said last night his Canucks have a “woe is me” mentality. That’s just my $0.02, so we’ll see how this plays out.

7 – CFL: If you hear anybody say “Rod Pedersen hates the CFL”, laugh in their face. It’s just spiteful people. As TSN Ottawa Radio’s Shawn Simpson Tweeted last week at @TSNSimmer, “Nobody sells the CFL like Rod Pedersen. Love his passion and knowledge!” Thank you Simmer. These are now the doldrums of the CFL off-season and I’ll leave it up to the other media to create and stir up headlines. However Darren Dupont and I kicked around the notion of starting a CFL-specific podcast which would run 45 minutes weekly. I think it would be fantastic, and would give us a chance to delve into topics a little more deeply than we do on the RP Show everyday.

There was a rumour that CFL winter meetings were going on in Kanaskis in mid-to-late February but I didn’t see them listed on the CFL’s Important Dates news release last week. Perhaps the CFL doesn’t want people to know what’s going on, or perhaps there are no meetings at all and it’s just a bad rumour. I haven’t seen any coverage of it.

8 – COMES IN 3’S: A Canadian Armed Forces buddy of mine, Brad Hrycyna, was the first to inform me of the passing of former Regina Pats goaltender Bernie Germain several weeks ago. At the time, Brad also informed me of Clark Gillies’ cancer battle. We ended up losing Clark, and then the Pats family was rocked by the passing of Brad Hornung not long after. Bernie played with the Pats from 1970-72 which was before I was alive, but I knew of him well because his name dotted the Pats record books and I’d heard many a fable about his puckstopping abilities. The St. Paul, AB product settled in Dallas and that’s where he passed. As Mr. Hrycyna said, hopefully we’re done now. Condolences to all the families affected.

9 – ROLL ON: Funny the things you learn in a Scouts/VIP/Media room. Winnipeg ICE goalie Daniel Hauser recently set a CHL record for most wins without a regulation loss to begin a career at 20-0-2. The old record was set by Scott Olson with the Brandon Wheat Kings in the 1970s. As an NHL scout informed me last night in Red Deer, Scott Olson was the inventor of inline skates in the 1980s, or as more popularly known, “Rollerblades”. This was confirmed by Wheat Kings legend Kelly McCrimmon. How bout that?

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: Saturday night’s drive from Red Deer to Calgary in a blizzard was as harrowing of an experience as I’ve ever had. Alberta has chinooks, but they also have horrific winter conditions too. … For the first time, I listened to Don Cherry’s podcast while driving around the winding roads of the Hollywood Hills last week at Super Bowl. I have to say, he’s better in a 5-minute segment, but still great. … Funny, Cherry said “I see the guy that fired me, got fired! Oh well, we all get fired”. True dat Grapes. … This week I discovered you can listen to the RP Show on Spotify and as it turns out, the podcast is quite popular on that platform. If you think YouTube is the only digital platform we’re on, keep searching! We’re running thousands of downloads per day, plus airing on Game+ TV in 2.2-million homes in Canada alone, daily. … The NFL is quiet right now, but not for long. If you don’t like the 4-down giant, soak this up. Frankly I don’t care for their Draft talk, so this is the time of the NFL calendar that I loathe. … It’s going to be very interesting to follow Tuesday’s USFL Draft. Like it or not, the league is coming in April and their Player Personnel Director is Jim Popp, a close and long-time friend. I’ll be watching. … A couple years ago, I tagged the top three coaches in the NHL at Joel Quenneville, Mike Babcock and Dave Tippett. Now, all three are out of the league. Time marches on. … I’d say the top three now are Darryl Sutter, Rod Brind’Amour and Jon Cooper. .. My advisors in Florida tell me I need to write more. I wonder if they know I’ve been writing for over 30 years! We’ll see. … Have a great long weekend.

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen