10 WEEKEND THINGS

Taking shots …

1 – It was fantastic to be able to watch Regina Pats great Sam Steel starring with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild Saturday night, despite the fact his team lost 5-3 to the hometown Florida Panthers. On this night in Sunrise, FL Steel was held pointless and was minus-1 as the Wild dropped back-to-back games. The Sherwood Park, AB product’s 338 WHL points rank him #10 all-time in Regina Pats history, which easily qualifies him for Pats Royalty. (Connor Bedard is currently at 209 career points). #JoinTheRegiment

2 – When the Anaheim Ducks let Sam go to free agency last summer – the team which drafted him with the final pick of the first round of the 2016 NHL Draft – I immediately placed a call to my Ducks people and asked what the hell was going on? They assured me the decision had nothing to do with Sam’s talent nor character and had everything to do with money. Now, Steel’s centring Minnesota’s top line between Kiril Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello and likely heading to the playoffs. The Ducks are, well, not.

3 – Lastly on Sam Steel. My Dad was an evaluator with the famed Western Prospects Development Camp at Regina’s Cooperators Arena and called me up one August day in 2013. I was across the street at Taylor Field, covering Roughriders practice like I always ways. “You gotta come watch this Steel kid!” the Old Guy exclaimed. “His team just won 8-1 and he scored seven goals!” It was rare that Jim Pedersen would gush about any particular hockey player at that age, but Sam Steel was special. Still is.

4 – It was strange too, watching Wild players Ryan Reaves and Marc-Andre Fleury Saturday night. With them gone, and Max Pacioretty too, it just doesn’t really feel the same with my once-favourite Vegas Golden Knights. Like Sam Steel and Anaheim, or Cody Fajardo and the Roughriders, or Bruce Boudreau and the Canucks, when it’s time to go, it’s time to go. Don’t get too attached.

5 – Your favourite coach Chris Jones said when he signed on with the Edmonton Elks just over a year ago, “The days of a guy staying in one place for a long time are over.” It’s been slightly over four years since Jones left the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Since then he’s coached in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and in Tennessee High School Football with the South Pittsburg Pirates, and a season in Edmonton. How and why did this happen in sports? It’s a topic worth discussing, but not here today.

6 – Clarifying something on the Bruce Boudreau situation. We’re all following it, right? During Saturday night’s 4-2 home loss to the Edmonton Oilers, Bruce Boudreau waved to the home Vancouver Canucks crowd as it was learned beforehand that would be his final game. Word’s come out that Rick Tocchet will be named Canucks head coach on Monday, and he’ll be the latest to try to turn the Titanic around. Canucks players reportedly said afterwards the whole situation was “weird” and they didn’t know whether to tap their sticks on the ice, honour Bruce, or just get off the ice entirely.

This is what happens in dysfunctional organizations. The clarification is that this doesn’t happen in all of pro sports nowadays, just with bad organizations. I’ve been with both good and bad ones, and things go on with the broken ones where you say, “Did I just see that?” With really bad franchises, it goes on time after time until either the team is sold or the top executives get purged. It can take an eternity.

Remember what Pinball Clemons said about “valuing people”. The reigning Grey Cup champs treat their people with respect. That’s not as common as it should be.

7 – Clearly the Canucks ownership thinks Rick Tocchet can be something of a miracle worker like first-year Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson in the NFL. The Super Bowl-winning coach with the Eagles was shown the door in Philly but this season turned around the Jaguars in just one year and will likely be named NFL Coach of the Year. Can Tocchet do the same thing at Rogers Arena? We have our doubts but he at least got the Arizona Coyotes into the 24-team Play-In tourney in the 2020 Edmonton NHL bubble, and nobody’s gotten the Coyotes that close to the playoffs since.

8 – Doug Pederson’s biggest challenge for NFL Coach of the Year is New York Giants first-year head coach Brian Daboll. Did you know the 47-year old Daboll was born in Welland, Ontario, the same hometown as NHL On TNT announcer and NHL alum Paul “Biz Nasty” Bissonette? Could this make Daboll worthy of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame? Daboll’s bio is definitely worth checking out. Too bad his G-Men were no match for the Philadelphia Eagles Saturday night, losing 38-7 in an NFL NFC Divisional Playoff game. In the other game on Saturday, Kansas City survived Jacksonville 27-20 in an AFC Divisional match-up.

9 – There are just some people you’re always on the same “frequency” with, and one of those for me is Florida Panthers TV colour commentator Randy Moller. I just keep bumping into him all the time around South Florida. While in the buffet line in the press box at FLA Live Arena Saturday night, Moller bellowed “Hey Roddy! I see you’re stirring it up in the ‘ol CFL, eh?” I really have no idea what the Red Deer, AB product was referring to but we had a laugh and discussed the Panthers’ recent road trip through Toronto and Montreal, and comments about the officials which got Florida head coach Paul Maurice fined $25,000 this week. Like I say sometimes you’re just on the same vibrational level as others. It’s a little eery but also kinda cool.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: There’s only one Night Court. … We’re thrilled to announce our spring residency at Grey Eagle Resort & Casino will begin on March 13! You’ll be able to enjoy The RP Show live in-person daily at 10 am MT at Grey Eagle’s Stage Bar. Come on down and enjoy the show at Calgary’s Entertainment Destination! We’ll be there just in time for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the start of the CFL season and much more. … In between we’ll have a weeks-long stint broadcasting from IKS Media’s splashy new production house in Regina in February. … It’s the greatest set-up ever! … We’ve gotten off to a real nice start to CFL coverage in 2023 on our show with appearances by Randy Ambrosie, Jason Maas, Nathan Rourke, Jeff Reinebold, Justin Dunk and many more. Let’s keep that going! … The more CFL talk the better. Really, it’s all I feel the league needs. Right now is the time of year where people are buying season tickets. It doesn’t hurt to hear some chatter about the CFL in the media. … We’re on the cusp of announcing our first U.S. sponsor on the RP Show. Thrilled! Stay tuned. … Some traditionalists are poopoo’ing the Regina Pats jerseys featuring Sponge Bob Squarepants on Saturday night. But frankly I’m not sure how you could scoff at a fundraiser for Children’s Miracle Network, or an initiative that sold the barn out (6,499) and got your next generation of fans excited. … That feeling of panic when your cell phone goes into ‘Low Battery Mode’ and you’re nowhere near a charger. … A football guy asked me this week if Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin will ever play football again. I said, “Who cares? He’s lucky to be alive. Football doesn’t matter right now.” He looked at me like I’d just landed from Mars. … Perspective. … A line from the character Shorty in the Showtime series Ray Donovan has been echoing in my head all week in the aftermath of this Ivan Provorov situation in Philadelphia. (The Flyers defenceman refused to wear the team’s Pride jersey for warmup Wednesday night). “I like everybody,” Shorty shrugged. “It makes life easier.” I definitely don’t like everybody but I’m not anti-anything either, other than addiction. That’s because of how many lives that particular mental illness has ruined, and is ruining. Provorov shouldn’t have anything pushed on him that he’s not comfortable with. Nor should you or me. It’s also too bad that we can’t accept everyone’s viewpoints and/or lifestyle if it’s not hurting anyone. In summation, we won’t always see eye-to-eye but hopefully we can all still get along! … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen