10 Weekend Things

Taking shots …

1 – BATTLE OF FLORIDA: Tampa Bay/Florida is not the tightest, nor narrowest match-up in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs (Winnipeg/Colorado is with just three points separating the two) but the latest Battle of Florida is razor thin as well when you stack ’em up. The Panthers finished with 110 points and on a four-game win streak, while the Lightning ended up with 98 points and were 5-4-1 in their Last 10 games. Give checkmarks to Tampa in the categories of goaltending and coaching, but give the edge to Florida in the areas of forwards and defence. Also, the Lightning finished in the Top 5 in powerplay (#1) and penalty kill this season while the Panthers weren’t Top 5 in either! Prediction: Florida in 6 games.

2 – ELSEWHERE: The Leafs were toppled 5-1 in Game 1 at Boston Saturday night and there are two ways you can look at it: 1) The Bruins lost Game 1 versus Florida last year and went on to lose the series, or 2) Toronto’s in a world of trouble, missing William Nylander and coach Sheldon Keefe saying their powerplay looked “slow and disconnected.” 69-goal man Auston Matthews says now they got a taste of the pace of the series. 🙁 The Buds are either going to wake up from this, or wilt. Who knows?! Their great fans deserve better. … Carolina downed the NY Islanders 3-1 in the opener of what will be a short series. The Canes are imply way hungrier and the Isles looked just happy to be there. … Anyone in Recovery will be pulling for Evgeny Kuznetsov, who scored for Carolina. A champion for the “written off”. … It’s a glorious quadruple header on Sunday of NHL hockey: Lightning-Panthers at 12:30 pm ET, Capitals-Rangers at 3:00 pm ET, Avalanche-Jets at 7:00 pm ET and Predators-Canucks at 10:00 pm ET.

3 – PREDICTIONS: I’ve got the Panthers, Hurricanes, Rangers and Leafs to come out of Round 1 in the East, and Jets, Canucks, Oilers and Stars from the West. … The Stanley Cup Final should feature Dallas & Carolina, which would make for the second consecutive NHL championship series featuring two Sunbelt teams. Last year’s Vegas-Florida series was the first. … The mood in South Florida is that the Panthers would’ve won last year’s Stanley Cup had they been healthy (I don’t agree). This year Panthers fans are saying anything less than a Cup win will be a disappointment. Tough crowd!

4 – BOOMIN’:  It was a fascinating article from Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press about how this NHL season was its best-ever financially. TV ratings are up 7% in the U.S. for the most-watched season in 30 years, arenas are playing at 97% capacity, and the league generated $6.2-billion of business! Whether you agree with what Gary Bettman and his people are doing or not, they can point to these figures as evidence that they are not to be criticized. Also interesting are the figures from the other leagues from 2023 – NFL ($18.6B), MLB ($11.6B) and NBA ($10.6B). … The NHL may always be fourth in the Big 4, but it appears they’re closing the gap.

5 – JR. NOTES: It’s an interesting Final Four in the Western Hockey League. Moose Jaw-Saskatoon makes an absolutely scintillating series in the East. The Warriors haven’t been this far in the postseason since 2012 while the Blades haven’t been this far since, since, last year. NEITHER has ever won a WHL championship. Moose Jaw thinks this could finally be their year in their 40th season and this is likely their best team ever. Have fun! … Meanwhile in the West, look at a map. The Portland-Prince George match-up is the greatest geographical distance at 1175 kilometres. I hope they’re flying! … Colour us all surprised that Melfort is up 2-0 in the SJHL championship series after two road wins in Flin Flon this weekend. Game 3 is Wednesday at Northern Lights Palace. … Nice to see some new teams in the S-J playoffs this year including Melville and Kindersley and, for a second straight year, Weyburn. … The Calgary Canucks captured the AJHL championship and are off to the Centennial Cup in Oakville, ON. … Stop into our great sponsor & partner Overtime Hockey Lanes in Calgary if you haven’t already! 28 ST NE.

6 – FOOTBALL NOTES: Write it down – Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy will have a longer, more productive career than USC’s Caleb Williams in the NFL. Both QBs are predicted to go in the Top 10 of Thursday’s Round 1 of the NFL Draft, with Williams going #1 to Chicago. But McCarthy is more mature, and teams are sleeping on him. … The CFL Draft goes right after, on April 30. … RP Show football analyst Jim Barker says the Toronto Argonauts are the best-drafting team in the CFL over the past decade. …  CFL fans are crowing at this week’s news that Hamilton, Winnipeg and BC have been fined for salary cap violations during the 2023 season. Said Hall of Fame Rider President Jim Hopson when the team was fined for same after the 2013 season, “It’s a speeding ticket.”

7 – OTHER LEAGUES: Not sure if you follow the Canadian Elite Basketball League, Western Canadian Baseball League or National Lacrosse League but I love them all, and follow them very closely. … The CEBL is Canada’s largest pro league and opens its 2024 campaign on May 21 with the Edmonton Stingers at the Calgary Surge in the Saddledome. The next night the Winnipeg Sea Bears visit the Saskatchewan Rattlers in the SaskTel Centre. It’s cheap entertainment, and a mini-NBA. … Manjit and Ravinder Minhas of the Minhas empire bought into the CEBL’s Edmonton Stingers this month. The family has Regina roots. … Blue Jays great Ernie Whitt was the guest speaker at the Regina Red Sox banquet Saturday night. The WCBL season begins May 24. … And the Saskatchewan Rush lost 12-11 at home to the Toronto Rock Saturday night and will miss the NLL Playoffs. Not sure I’ll foll0w as much this spring now that the Rush are out!

8 – ACCESS RADIO: Don’t sleep on this week’s news that Access Communications has acquired 91.3 CJTR Radio. The move has been in the works for years – since 2020 according to a Leader Post story, but I believe it’s been longer than that – and the radio station plans to move lock, stock and barrel over to Access’s Park Street headquarters over the summer. The LP story says nothing will change as far as the station’s programming goes and I’m sure that’s the plan. However this is a game-changer on the local radio scene, as Access already has local TV broadcast rights for the Regina Pats, Regina Thunder, Regina Red Sox, etc. They could put those games on radio too, plus local sports talk programming. Stay tuned!

9 – STACK’S BACK: It’s a pleasure to welcome writer Mike Stackhouse back to this award-winning website (over 40-million served, thank you very much) after a brief hiatus. The Yorkton-based freelance reporter covers the sports scene in his own unique way, and isn’t afraid to kick the hornet’s nest from time-to-time. A long-time, very wise hockey man said to me on the phone recently, “Bob Hughes & Gregg Drinnan would be skewering these teams these days but apparently times are different now.” But they don’t have to be. With Stack, Scruffy and me at the keyboard, it’s just right for the party.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: Don’t judge a book by its cover. That includes, especially, media personalities. … There was an interesting over/under at the start of the NHL season if McDavid, Draisaitl and M. Tkachuk would combine for over 300 points. The under was the most-bet on, but they finished with 326 points! (Connor 132, Leon 106, Matthew 88). … Howie Schwab, star of ESPN’s Stump The Schwab which also aired on The Score when I was there from 2004-2006, passed away this week at age 63. The show has been called “the favourite show of sports nerds”. … Why can’t hockey people smile in team photos? … Two & And A Half Men is funnier the second time around. … Researchers say an ancient giant snake in India might have been longer than a school bus and weighed a ton. Fossils found near a coal mine revealed a snake that stretched an estimated 36 feet to 50 feet. The largest living snake today is Asia’s reticulated python at 33 feet. I know lots of snakes but none are that tall! … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen