10 WEEKEND THINGS

Taking shots …

1 – RING OF FIRE: The maddeningly up-and-down Calgary Flames bought themselves a reprieve Saturday night with a 3-2 overtime victory over the New York Rangers in the Saddledome, as part of a 13-game NHL slate. Andrew Mangiapane and Nazim Kadri scored eight seconds apart in the game’s opening minute – beating Rangers back-up goalie Jaro Halak – and it displayed that the Flames can be a top-flight NHL team when they want to be. 

The win propelled the Flames into a tie with the idle Minnesota Wild for the final Western Conference playoff spot with 26 games to go. That’s plenty of time to make or break a season and the Flames could still very well miss the playoffs too. If they do, I could see the campaign heating up to fire Darryl Sutter. Initially I scoffed at that notion but the Calgary media appears to have had enough of him (they already game him a pass in the 2022 playoffs as it is), and when you’re as “truculent” with reporters as Darryl is, the media’s not going to give you any support when you need it.

So as it as, as I see it, Darryl Sutter’s coaching for his job the rest of the way. But I still have faith they can be the team we all think they can be, and haven’t jumped off the bandwagon all year.

2 – OTHER NHL JOTTINGS: Noooooobody saw coming the blockbuster trade Friday night which saw Ryan O’Reilly flee St. Louis for Toronto. And “Factor” looked pretty darn good in his Leafs debut one night later, recording one assist in a 5-1 Toronto dismantling of Montreal at Scotiabank Arena. … The fact the Leafs kept the O’Reilly trade under wraps from The Insiders tells you not to put any stock into what you’re hearing on the panels nor on Twitter over the next few weeks. Enjoy the buzz, but don’t take it to the bank. … If the Washington Capitals are sellers at the deadline, that suits me just fine as it would give the Florida Panthers less competition to get into the playoffs. However of late, the Cats have been up-and-down like a toilet seat. … I see Blues fans bemoaning the fact their team has gone into a rebuild. Pipe down! At least you won a Stanley Cup, and now G.M. Doug Armstrong is doing the rebuild right rather than half-assing it like the Canucks and Blackhawks. … I’d still love to see the Arizona Coyotes get Connor Bedard at #1 but they’ve got to stop winning! The Coyotes have got the most wins (5) in the past 10 games of any team in the bottom seven of the Western Conference. … Weird seeing ESPN sideline reporter Marty Smith chugging a Coors Light during the telecast of the Carolina/Washington game. He’s best known for his Nascar and College Football work. The times, they are ‘a changing. … Saturday’s 4-1 Hurricanes win was their first in an NHL outdoor game, and the Capitals’ first outdoor loss. … The 56,961 in attendance was proof that NHL hockey continues to work in the South. … However you may find it hard to believe – because I really did – that the NHL gets criticized in the USA exactly the same as the CFL does in Canada. I noticed it almost immediately after taking up residence in Florida, and now I can see why hardcore CFL fans – and the CFL itself – are so gobsmacked by the criticism in their own country. In my mind, I’m like, “What could possibly be wrong with the NHL?” but you often hear from American hockey fans what the NHL’s doing wrong, what it could be doing better, yada, yada, yada.

Same as the CFL in Canada.

3 – QUEEN CITY KIDS: It’s nice to be smackdab in the middle of the NHL’s Bermuda Triangle this month, where hockey reigns. It wasn’t lost on people here that Connor Bedard and Connor McDavid both hit 100 points on the exact same night, Friday, as Bedard’s Pats played in Prince Albert and McDavid’s Oilers hosted the New York Rangers. … There are no coincidences! … On Saturday night the Pats allowed FIVE third period goals on the way to a 7-4 home loss to the Winnipeg ICE and to my knowledge, Regina has still never beaten Winnipeg. … Bedard had a goal and two assists before a crowd of 6,017. … I missed the game but can’t wait for Monday’s 2:00 pm clash against the Lethbridge Hurricanes under the Orange Top. … The Pats are in a 3-way tie for seventh in the WHL’s Eastern Conference which means they could well miss the playoffs, but I don’t expect them to.

4 – GONE SO LONG: The Winnipeg ICE are the first, and only, team to clinch a playoff spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference but could well be playing their final season in the Manitoba capital. Are you following the story? The ICE franchise moved from Cranbrook, BC in 2019 with the promise of building a new arena but four years later there’s still no arena and none is planned. From what we’ve learned, the WHL and its Governors are ticked for being duped and are poised to revoke the franchise. My sources say a sale will be forced and the team will be playing in Chilliwack, BC as early as next season. … There were rumours that the team would be relocated to Estevan, SK but even Estevan hockey people never expected that to happen. Where in the world did that rumour even come from?

5 – R.V.: The Queen City media scene was rocked this weekend with the news that popular, long-time Leader Post columnist Rob Vanstone’s last day with the newspaper was Saturday. Rob’s farewell column in Saturday’s edition was exquisite. My first reaction when I heard the news last weekend was of dismay, realizing that R.V. was the last person in this town holding the Roughriders accountable. Wait till you hear where Rob’s going!!! It’s not retirement. But that’s Vanstone’s news to break, and no one else’s. Thanks for the many great memories, scoops and chuckles Rob! You are a true Hall of Famer in this business.

6 – CFL: My sources say we can expect the Canadian Football League to maintain ownership of the Montreal Alouettes for the entire 2023 season. I’m told there’s a lineup of potential owners but very few are local (Montreal, or even Quebec) and that’s what’s preferred by Commissioner Randy Ambrosie and the other owners. My hope is simply that they don’t run the franchise on the cheap, but they likely will. That’s what happened in Arizona when the NHL owned and operated the Coyotes.

7 – NOT RARE: It’s true the CFL has long suffered from a credibility problem but this Alouettes ownership mess shouldn’t be included in that. There are ownership issues in just about every league, including the NFL (Washington), NHL (Arizona) and NBA (Phoenix and L.A. Clippers). The Spiegel & Stern tandem who bought the Alouettes had the best intentions and were properly vetted. Sid Spiegel passing away and Covid screwed it all up, and no one saw that coming. … But I won’t miss Gary Stern on Twitter. At all.

8 – ON ROUGHRIDERS: Free agency in the CFL has been highly entertaining and I’ll stay with the B+ grade for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. They’ve addressed their weak offensive line, added a great crew of receivers and grabbed a marquee QB in Trevor Harris, even if they did vastly overpay. (Nobody else was going to give him $500,000+). But if you have the money to overpay for something you really want, that’s not necessarily a bad thing either. … Trevor’s an outstanding fellow and as one person put it this week, “He’s even more Jesus’y than Cody!” That’s a fact, so he should fit in well here in the Bible Belt. … GM Jeremy O’Day is telling people that he’s quite optimistic for the 2023 season and he should be. … But it will take more than splashy free agent signings to turnaround a 6-12 season, IMO. … Fun to watch!

9 – BROADCASTS: I love how Mike Stackhouse weighed in on Rogers Media’s decision not to allow its radio broadcasters to travel on the road with their teams (Blue Jays, Flames, etc.) in his weekend column here. I was actually asked to comment on the news on CHML Hamilton’s Scott Radley Show Friday afternoon. The fact is this isn’t new; Rogers began it during the pandemic and never changed as was predicted in this very column two years ago. NHL Network has its play-by-play broadcasting out of their New Jersey studios and the trend is spreading across the continent. Be prepared. … However as I noted on CHML, the untrained ear can’t notice a difference from the way the broadcasts used to be to how they are now. The media companies are laughing all the way to the bank. I’m just glad my era in the booth was the best time in broadcasting and am on to my new own thing with as much travel as I want, weekends off and all the rest! If I was unable to travel with the team and explore new cities and arenas, forget it.

Shalom.

10 – RANDOMS: My Dad always said if your vehicle is washed, it runs better. … Tried to catch the kickoff of the XFL season this weekend but the guys I was with controlled the TV and wanted the NHL! I’ll try to watch some today, and offer some thoughts. … I’ve discovered there are A LOT of people watching The Rod Pedersen Show on Game+ TV around here. Can’t thank you enough! This week we announced a TV ratings increase of 300% with quotes from Game+ executive Chad Midgely. … We gotta do something about my new favourite N.L.L. team, the Georgia Swarm. They’re 0-7 after being walloped 16-7 at Toronto this weekend. The Swarm have the nicest jerseys in the loop and we’ve got lots of Swarm fans listening for NLL coverage on The RP Show on WQEE Metro-Atlanta. … Nice turnaround under head coach Jimmy Quinlan by the 5-3 Saskatchewan Rush, who sit third in the NLL’s Western Conference and have been featured on TSN and ESPN2 in back-to-back weeks. … Overheard on coffee row in Sask this week was talk of the NBA trade deadline and the Blue Jays starting rotation. Quite a change from what it used to be! … The media shapes what people talk about, not the other way around. … Former NBA players Alan Anderson and Keyon Dooling have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a fraud scheme involving the NBA’s health and welfare benefits plan. According to a release from the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York, Anderson was sentenced to 24 months and Dooling was sentenced to 30 months by Judge Valerie E. Caproni. … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen