10 WEEKEND THINGS

Taking shots …

1 – IT HAPPENED AGAIN: There’s not much left to say. In Week 16 of Canadian Football League action, the Saskatchewan Roughriders lost 36-28 in Ottawa Friday night to a RedBlacks team which was carrying a 7-game losing streak. The Riders scored two late touchdowns to make the score respectable, but there was nothing respectable about their showing in this one, which dropped their record to 6-8.

However because of the falterings of the divisional rival Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Elks, Saskatchewan could still wind up making the playoffs despite their stumbles here in the homestretch. Backing into the playoffs is still making the playoffs, I suppose.

But imagine if they don’t! Many times I’ve mentioned that this Roughriders franchise is back to where they were in the 1990s but at least back then General Manager Alan Ford had an excuse: the team was broke, they couldn’t afford marquee players, and no one wanted to play in that dump of a stadium.

But there’s no excuse for what’s happening now.

2 – AROUND THE CFL: Death, taxes, and … uh never mind. Cody Fajardo’s Montreal Alouettes won 28-11 at Calgary on Saturday and at 7-7, are temporarily in position to host the Eastern Semifinal. Quite a turnaround in La Belle Province in one season. … Meanwhile the Calgary Stampeders are lucky that the Flames hockey team has started up. It’ll distract the city from the club’s 4-10 record (matching Ottawa’s), which has been by far their worst during the Hufnagel era. The grumbling I’m getting out of Cowtown from the fans and football people is that moving forward, Dave Dickenson needs to shed one of his roles of General Manager or Head Coach. The team’s record is demonstrating he can’t perform both adequately. … What a dead heat for first place in the CFL West! Both the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and B.C. Lions are 10-4 with four games remaining. They’ll meet Week 18 at Vancouver which could go a long ways to deciding it. Pointing out who has the softer schedule the rest of the way is not worthwhile. … Slow clap for the Toronto Argonauts who are just now getting recognized as perhaps the greatest Argonauts team ever, off to a 12-1 start following a 29-14 win over Hamilton on Saturday. However, should they not win the Grey Cup, they won’t be the greatest Argos team ever. To this point, who IS? My guess is the 1991 team boasting Matt Dunigan, Rocket Ismail, Chris Schultz, John Candy, Wayne Gretzky & Bruce McNall.

3 – ON SECOND THOUGHT: I’ve written a lot the past few years about the Canadian Football League leaders being resistant to change but that isn’t entirely true. Commissioner Randy Ambrosie’s CFL 2.0 is/was a bold initiative even if it hasn’t likely worked out the way Randy envisioned. From my vantage point, there are no Global *stars* in this league, and all it’s done is give the jobs of Canadian punters and kickers to Global players which, to me, is a major crime. (And I’m not the biggest union guy, although maybe I should’ve been).

But hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I’m all for trying new things.

4 – A BIG DEAL: The contention I made on Friday’s RP Show that the CFL is “a big deal” in the United States of America was predictably misunderstood. Some agreed, some scoffed, but at least they were all paying attention. My point is simply that I quite often wear CFL garb wherever I go in South Florida and without fail, someone makes a comment on it. They know about the CFL, which is a lot better than them not knowing. Typically it’s some guy looks at my hat and says, “The CFL! Doug Flutie!”, or, “The CFL! My cousin played for _____.” Plus, the CFL games are on prime time national television, which a lot of leagues cannot say. On the flipside, whenever I wear my Regina Pats gear, people gnash their teeth and grumble, “I hate the Patriots.”

5 – WHAT’S IT LIKE: A lot of Canadian sports fans have asked what the high school football scene is like here in Florida. For one, there were 407 high school games played this week across the State. Look it up. For two, Thursday’s game between Chaminade-Madonna (#5) versus Miami-Central (#4) in Miami featured the #4 and #5 teams in all of USA High School Football. The game was shown on ESPN2 and local big time college coaches Mario Cristobal (Miami Hurricanes) and Tom Herman (Florida Atlantic Owls) were there. So too were all the local media, college and NFL scouts, and a fairly full stadium even though the game was delayed two hours by a storm. Chaminade won 31-28. One scout said, “It was basically a college game.”

They just make such a big deal out of it. I mean, NHL people regularly attend SJHL games in places like Notre Dame and Weyburn, and no one bats an eye. It’s just the way it is.

6 – JOIN THE REGIMENT: On the topic of junior hockey – and to continue a recent discussion about great team captains – it should be pointed out that the 1974 Memorial Cup champion Regina Pats had no captain, favouring four assistant captains instead. (Greg Joly, Dennis Sobchuk, Clark Gillies and Rick Uhrich). Speaking with that team’s starting goaltender Ed Staniowski this week, Steady Eddy pointed out, “You’ve got it right. No captain, only assistants. Part of Bob Turner and Del Wilson’s plan was that we were all to be leaders. It seemed to have worked!”

Don’t look now but this year’s Regina Pats are 2-0.

7 – TIME TO HUNT: Two big reasons why it was F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C to be in the Panthers Ice Den in Coral Springs, FL this weekend for Florida’s NHL training camp – 1) Hockey’s back, and 2) To escape the South Florida heat. … The Panthers look good and carry themselves with the swagger of a team who will raise the 2023 Eastern Conference Champions banner on October 7 when they host Tampa Bay in their home-opener. … MVP Matthew Tkachuk has been cleared to play Game 1 after recovering from injuries incurred during last year’s playoff run however rearguards Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad won’t start the season due to various ailments. However they both skated during a separate session on Saturday and looked close. … Back-up goalie Spencer Knight had a tough day allowing three goals on three shots but he’s got plenty of preseason games in front of him to tuneup. He missed over half a season last year while participating in the NHL’s Player Assistance Program for, which we learned this week, was treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. … Mental Health Matters folks! O.C.D. is one of the things I’ve been dealing with all my life. That, and four other diagnoses. But we do Recover!

8 – AROUND THE NHL: Eyebrows were raised around the NHL this week when Elliot Friedman reported on his podcast that the Tampa Bay Lightning may be ready to move on from captain Steven Stamkos when his contract is up this year. No one should be surprised. GM Julien Brisebrois is slowly purging people from the Steve Yzerman regime, both OFF the ice as well as on, and the jury is out on how that will unfold. … Could this be like the 1990s Kamloops Blazers who purged President Colin Day and GM Bob Brown in order to “go in another direction” after winning three Memorial Cups? They sure did go in another direction. … Why are the Calgary Flames waiting so long to name a captain? I still think it should be MacKenzie Weegar. … Connor Bedard plays his first *real* preseason game with the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday when they host the St. Louis Blues. … The Dallas Stars got a great pick-up in former Pats captain Sam Steel. … Can you believe franchise icon Mike Modano has no association with the Dallas Stars, lives in Arizona, and is a consultant for the Minnesota Wild? … That can be sports for a folks. Look forward, not back.

9 – ANALYZE THIS: If there are any dream analysts our there, please tell me what these three dreams I had this week mean – 1) The Flames and Stars were in a bench-clearing brawl in the Saddledome and I yelled from my seats “GET MODANO OFF THE ICE!”, 2) This year’s Memorial Cup tournament will feature the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Swift Current Broncos, Regina Pats and Winnipeg South Blues, and 3) After returning from a road trip with the Pats, I couldn’t find my cream-coloured Dodge Caravan anywhere around the Brandt Centre. I made three laps around the arena and looked through all the barns. *I’ve never owned a cream-coloured minivan!*

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: Why would anyone NOT have an iPhone? … The sooner you get to it, the sooner you get through it. … Did you know an alligator’s back is as hard as a steel culvert? If you run one over, all you’re gonna do is piss him off. … I miss Gregg Drinnan’s blog for WHL coverage. Perhaps if he’d found a betting partner, rather than complaining about them, he’d still have a blog! … Please, please, please stop tagging me on Facebook. … Why are some people in such a rush to get off the plane only to wind up at the baggage carousel? … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen