10 MIDWEEK THINGS FOR REALTY ONE
1 – #FNF: The 3-week road trip continues for the Roughriders as Mosaic Stadium is turned into a hockey rink for the 2019 NHL Heritage Classic on October 26 between the Flames and Jets. On Friday Night Football the 10-5 Riders visit the 5-11 BC Lions in a game where Saskatchewan is favoured by 7-points. The only intrigue in this match is to see if the Riders can run the table to finish at 13-5 while the Lions are building for next year. At least this late-season 4-game win streak in BC saved everyone’s jobs!
2 – WEEK 19: Other Week 19 games in the CFL are Toronto at Montreal (Friday) followed by Ottawa at Hamilton and Winnipeg at Calgary (Saturday). The CFL schedule-maker did a nice job of settling into these doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday in the second half of the season. Here’s hoping it’s reflected in the TV ratings and ticket sales.
3 – SPEAKING OF: The CFL’s been getting hammered on for attendance but you may want to look at this Tweet from Ken Campbell of The Hockey News this week: “Strange night in the NHL. 4 of the 5 Canadian teams that played at home failed to sell out. Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal below capacity. Toronto sold out. Huge attendance problems in Ottawa. Not good for the NHL when Canadian teams struggle at the gate.” Furthermore, the Jets’ home loss to Arizona on Tuesday snapped a 332-game sellout streak which dated back to the team’s relocation from Atlanta. The fan revolt has started!
4 – SET A RECORD: Forget about the Heritage Classic for a second. Here’s a challenge: The WHL record for single game attendance is 20,888 set in 2011 when the Calgary Hitmen hosted the Regina Pats at McMahon Stadium. Those two teams will meet again but at Mosaic Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 27. Can we set the WHL all-time attendance record for that one? At least 15,000 more tickets will need to be sold for that to happen, I’m told.
5 – XFL DRAFT: Some familiar CFL names came off the board on Wednesday’s second and final day of the XFL Draft. Former Eskimos LB Dextor McCoil and Ticats LB Will Hill went to the St. Louis Battlehawks while former Rider LB Matt Elam was chosen by the Washington Defenders. Elam, you may recall, was the player infamously left off the Riders’ roster card at a game in Edmonton in 2018 and was ruled ineligible to play.
6 – SO LONG GORD: Former Rider President Gord Staseson passed away this week at age 93 and the plaudits have been flowing. As great as his Rider exploits were, I salute Gord for being instrumental in acquiring government funding for the construction of the Agridome – home of the Regina Pats – in 1977. It’s still an architectural marvel to this day with wide open concourses and views of the ice from every concession. Its design was used in subsequent arenas in Lethbridge and Red Deer. As the story goes, Gord sold the idea to government as an “agricultural facility” that could also be used for hockey.
7 – HALIFAX STADIUM: Maybe that’s what they need to do for the City of Halifax and Province of Nova Scotia in order to get funding for their new multipurpose facility. The reports coming out of Halifax are not promising. There are at least two city councillors who are dead-set against taxpayers’ money being used to build this stadium and it’s pretty clear they’re too closed-minded to consider the alternative. They think they’re doing what’s best for the city, but in reality they’re not. And now we’re discovering why the CFL has never had a team there. Archaic thinking.
Meanwhile in Saskatchewan we enjoy an NHL outdoor game, 80,000 people at Garth Brooks, Guns ‘N Roses, the Cadillac facility of the CFL and maybe even one day an NFL game. Thanks to the citizens of Saskatchewan!
8 – CALL TO THE HALL: Kudos to writers Steve Simmons and Larry Tucker for being selected for the Canadian Football Hall of Fame media wing. They’ll be inducted on Grey Cup Sunday morning. Winnipeg writer Patti Dawn Swanson pointed out this week that this Hall truly is an Old Boys Club, with none of its 99 members being females. Patti puts forth the names Joanne Ireland, Ashely Prest, Robin Brown and Judy Owen for consideration. I’d nominate Calgary/Edmonton’s Vicki Hall, an original Reginan. Meanwhile in 2013 I nominated Carm Carteri for induction since it was his 25th season on Rider Radio and the Grey Cup was in Regina. But I was told “Now’s not the time”. Hopefully it will be time at Grey Cup 2020 in Regina.
9 – OIL COUNTRY: The Edmonton Oilers have the NHL’s best record at 6-1 and Connor McDavid has matched Gretzky and Lemieux as the 3rd player in the past 26 years to notch 17 points in his first 7 games. The way the Oilers are playing right now, it doesn’t matter who’s in goal but Mike Smith is a lock to get the Oilers to the playoffs. Tipp was pissed after the game but he’s just being a hardass. Meanwhile TSN 1260 Edmonton’s Lowetide is imploring Oilers fans not to troll Flames fans for getting fleeced in the Neal/Lucic deal. What has this world come to? I say, troll away.
10 – JUNIOR NOTES: Pats fans are getting restless, whatwith their team on a 9-game losing streak. However this is the price to be paid for the Memorial Cup run of 2018, which fell just short. Unfortunately you have to grin and bear it. On the bright side, the club is nowhere near the WHL record for the longest losing streak. The 1981 Victoria Cougars lost 27 in a row. … The SJHL’s La Ronge Ice Wolves will face the Yorkton Terriers in Churchbridge, SK on Saturday night. That’s the hometown of famed Ice Wolves coach Kevin “Killer” Kaminski, one of the game’s true greats. … The Pilot Butte Storm scored 4 unanswered goals to hand Fort Knox their first loss of the season, 4-3 on Wednesday in the PJHL. … If you’re in the Arcola, SK area, please come out to Saturday’s sports dinner featuring Mathew Barnaby, Andre Roy and yours truly. These fundraisers are part of what makes Sask so special! … And here’s one last pitch for our sports conference on Saturday, October 26 featuring speakers Jim Hopson and me at the University of Regina. Jim will speak on Leadership & Managing Change and I’ll speak on Mental Health & Addiction Recovery. Then we’ll host a Hotstove Q&A on our time with the Riders! Tickets are only $50 and that includes lunch. Please message me for details.
Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen
