10 WEEKEND THINGS

Things Are Getting Exciting …

1 – DUB HUB: Thank God for the social media feeds of the seven WHL East Division teams! It’s given us a live look-in of The Magnificent Seven as they’ve come through isolation in the Hubble at the University of Regina, and hit the ice for their first practices on Friday in the Brandt Centre. A WHL news release on Friday stated there have been 1,009 Covid tests administered on players between February 12 and March 5 with *zero* positive tests. They are now in position to play! You’ll be able to watch all the Pats games on AccessNow-TV and WHL Live. The Regina Pats TV broadcast schedule will be announced on Monday and if you don’t have Access as your cable provider, GET IT!

2 – TRANSCANADA CLASH: As it stands it’s a 24-game regular season with no playoffs planned for The Magnificent Seven in the Regina Hub Centre. However Moose Jaw Warriors GM Alan Millar hinted on The Rod Pedersen Show that the WHL may be announcing some sort of Cup to be awarded at the completion of the season. They’ve got to play for something! You can watch that interview on The RP Show Best of the Week which airs Saturday & Sunday at noon Sask Time on AccessNow-TV. Meanwhile the Warriors have already heard enough about the Holy Child Connor Bedard from the Regina Pats, and are putting their own 15-year old star Brayden Yager right up against him. To read that story from Jamie Neugebauer, hit up DUBNetwork.ca.

See what we did there?

3 – COVID HOCKEY: We’re now getting a good look at what the National Hockey League and other high level leagues have been going through for the past 10 months in the pandemic. The media hasn’t been, and won’t be, allowed into the facility to film and cover practice. The media availabilities are all being conducted via Zoom. One NHL broadcaster told me last week he hasn’t seen any of his team’s players face-to-face since last March. It’s just a little hard to get your mind around when we’ve been watching the games for almost a year and it seems like nothing changed from pre-pandemic days! Now we’re living it ourselves. But there seems to be a tremendous overall feeling of EXCITEMENT for the players and staff as they get ready to get the season underway.

4 – CFL: Things are looking extremely positive for the Canadian Football League to play in 2021 and it all has to do with vaccine distribution across Canada. Now, it looked real easy from the outside for the WHL to Return To Play but consider they’ve been working on the plan FOR A YEAR! The decision by the NLL to mothball till the Fall of 2021 looks real good now. With Covid cases decreasing and vaccines on the way, it really looks like the CFL is in good shape and won’t have to worry about playing in a bubble. But a word of caution: the USA/Canada border is still closed, restrictions remain in all CFL markets, and the financial fallout continues to be devastating. Information is still changing by the day and hits each end of the spectrum. While they’ve opened up 100% in Texas, the state’s governor is facing massive criticism for supposedly putting their citizens at risk. This. is. not. over.

5 – CHRIS SCHULTZ: The news on Thursday that CFL/TSN icon Chris Schultz passed away at age 61 from a heart attack was certainly a shock. I’d just spoken to him earlier in the week. But what I’d like people to know about the Big Man is that he was off-air from TSN due to health problems which led to his eventual departure, the death of his father a few years ago was something he’d never truly gotten over, but the past year was one of the best of his life. He dedicated himself in the pandemic to self-improvement and had been in great spirits. Schultzie was just about to launch a show in the Digital world – because that’s where you want to be in this business – and it’s truly tragic that won’t play out because he still had lots to offer the game. Chris Schultz lived a complicated, private life but he’s a Canadian football hero. The coverage of his passing has been staggering and showed what he means to this country. Love him!

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6 – WALTER GRETZKY: Canada’s Hockey Dad was eulogized by a host of hockey commentators and obviously by his son Wayne. I’ve had several brushes with Walter but one of my favourite was in the Calgary airport while we were waiting on connecting flights. I raced and bought a mini-stick and Sharpie in a gift shop and got Walter to sign it. As he did, he asked, “Did you play hockey son? What position? Who was your favourite coach? How far did you go? What did you win?” I chuckled about it because I was 35 years old, not 10! But that’s a hockey dad for you. So Thursday/Friday were a tough couple days for sports in Canada.

7 – BERNIE LYNCH: That includes the CBC story that former Regina Pats coach Bernie Lynch has been suspended by his Junior A team in Fort Francis, ON for inappropriate texts/emails/communication with a player and is subject to a Hockey Canada investigation. Rumours of misconduct with players have followed Mr. Lynch since the 1980s and after reading the CBC story, I was shocked that the man has no criminal record, so I suppose that’s how he’s kept getting hired. But it’s my belief that this is the end of the line for Mr. Lynch. I spoke at length with two alleged victims on Friday who have no interest in going public with their stories but at least one is participating with the investigation. Until the victims come forward, nothing can be done. That is changing now and it’s decades overdue.

8 – OOF: Things were going swimmingly following the goings-on of hockey and all other sports until these news events at the end of the week came like a punch to the gut. But it’s been so much fun to watch NHL hockey nightly – the most since I was a teen I’d guess – and the on-ice and TV product continues to be tremendous. Thoughts: Darryl Sutter will turn around the Flames, but how soon and for how long? … The NHL is loaded with pests and they include Tom Wilson, the Tkachuks, Brad Marchand and a host of up-and-comers. They appear to ALL have one thing in common – if they’re on your team you love them and if they aren’t, you hate them. … If Dave Tippett can’t turn around the Oilers, no one can. But the players would be best-advised to listen to him. There’s plenty of talent there. I look to Vegas where guys like Chandler Stephenson were role players elsewhere but have elevated their game *times-10* with the Golden Knights, who don’t let you take your eye off the ball. 36-year old Marc Andre-Fleury is as good as ever because he’s DIALED IN. On Alberta teams, their minds go on mini-vacations from game-to-game and the results show. … The Chicago Blackhawks are 7-2-1 in their Past 10 and are doing it all without Jonathan Toews and Kirby Dach! This was supposed to be a rebuild, remember? The possibilities and avenues of covering the NHL are endless.

9 – ECHL: This league was the first to return to play (consistently) back in 2020 and it’s remarkable what they’ve done. Former WHL’ers grappling in the loop include Peter Quenneville, Matteo Genaro, Giorgio Estephan, Matt Bradley, Lane Scheidl, Tristin Langen, Cody Sylvester and many, many more. Check it out for yourself at ECHL.com. This is where I really miss a periodical like The Hockey News but they’re still functioning here. I realize the internet largely killed THN, but it was nice to be able to get all leagues news in one place.

10 – RANDOMS TO END: Happy birthday Sunday to past and current Riders Kitwana Jones (LB 2005-10) and Shaq Evans (WR 2018—). … Saturday’s 6-3 loss to Ontario should be the only mulligan Team Dunstone will be allowed at the Brier. They are 1-1 going into their Sunday morning game on TSN. … I continue to be shocked by how gullible some people are. … I’m eagerly awaiting the article from The Athletic on the future of sports talk, and the Digital Age. Writer Sean Fitzgerald interviewed me for it and asked what the future is for all-sports radio stations. I answered, “I don’t know. That’s their problem.” … Jeremy O’Day has a small body of work as GM of the Roughriders (2 years, 1 season) but I feel he’s earned the benefit of the doubt. His grade of C+ by TSN is just talk. C+, by the way, equates to 65%-69%. In a lot of my subjects, I’d have been happy with that! … As my Dad Jim Pedersen said, “Learnin’ ain’t all in the books.” … Watching PGA makes me want to golf but watching Master Chef doesn’t make me want to cook. … I dreamt this week of golfing at Deer Valley Golf & Estates. Even in my dreams, I’m bad. … Shop local. … Bravo to Kinsmen Telemiracle who raised $5.6-million in a pandemic! If that doesn’t speak to the special nature of Saskatchewan people, I don’t know what does!

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen

(Photo: Regina Pats)