10 WEEKEND THINGS

Taking shots …

1 – RING OF FIRE: 17,909 rabid Flames fans – and some cheering for Dallas – jammed the Saddledome Saturday night for an 8pm start and a coast-to-coast viewing audience on Hockey Night In Canada. What they got was a roller coaster of a game, edge-of-your-seat stuff, and 11 goals being scored. Unfortunately, as has too often become the case, the fans went home brokenhearted as Calgary fell 6-5 in overtime and dropped four points out of a playoff spot with 12 games to go. That was thanks to Winnipeg’s 3-2 OT win at Nashville earlier in the day.

Pundits who don’t know any better were saying Saturday’s results were the final nail in the Flames coffin but you and I know better that that. Hall of Fame Flames broadcaster Peter Maher joined us at Grey Eagle Resort & Casino this week for the RP Show and said the homestretch hasn’t really even started yet (the last 10 games are in Pete’s opinion) and that’s when the Flames need to be playing their BEST hockey. Hopefully it doesn’t become a case of too little, too late.

2 – IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY: This weekend the greatest App ever developed – The Score – began its Stanley Cup Playoff matchups option under the “Standings” tab. So here they are as of today: EAST – Boston/Pittsbugh, Toronto/Tampa, Carolina/NY Islanders, New Jersey/NY Rangers, WEST – Dallas/Seattle, Colorado/Minnesota, Vegas/Winnipeg, LA/Edmonton.

This provides endless fodder for our talk shows! Keep in mind some of these pairings will change daily and my fingers are still crossed that the Florida Panthers will get in. The Cats are on a roll while the Penguins – the team they’re chasing – have lost three straight.

3 – OIL COUNTRY: Stuart Skinner set an Edmonton Oilers record with his 29th career win (most ever by a rookie) on Saturday, as Edmonton won 6-4 at Seattle. Who held the old record? Somebody named Grant Fuhr. Skinner also leads all NHL rookie goaltenders in wins and should get some consideration for the Calder Trophy. Three years ago I wrote that Skinner was the best goalie the Oilers have and at that time, Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen were under contract as well. I was soundly trounced by Oiler media and fans. Now, here we are.

4 – BEDARD SWEEPSTAKES: TSN posted the odds for teams to draft Connor Bedard at #1 overall on Sportscentre this weekend and they are – Columbus (-125), San Jose (+195), Chicago (+500), Anaheim (+600), Montreal (+11,000), Philadelphia (+16,000) and Arizona (+30,000). On Twitter on Saturday I begged the hockey gods not to let the Blue Jackets or Coyotes end up with Bedard because it’ll ruin his career and of course THAT drew the ire of some NHL media. They weren’t too pleased in Columbus either, which I could care less about. My whole goal was to get people talking, and it worked.

My reasoning? Montreal and Chicago have won 30 Stanley Cups between them and I’d like to see Connor go to an Original 6, respected/established hockey market. Columbus has won one playoff series in 22 years and Arizona continues to be a joke. I keep hearing how wealthy the Coyotes owner is yet he won’t pay his bills and is running his team on the cheap (over 50% of their payroll is dead cap money). Why would we want Bedard anywhere near that?

Even San Jose would be better, and for sure Anaheim. Not Columbus or Arizona. Nope.

5 – FISH BOWL: The popular website OilersDaily.com wrote a disturbing story quoting Connor Bedard’s mother Melanie about the startling lack of privacy the family is experiencing in Regina as her 17-year old’s star continues to rise. It’s one thing to be hounded at the Brandt Centre – in which I’ve heard Bedard needs security to leave – but now autograph and photo hounds have stalked the Bedard’s front door and backyard at home. Some people whom have read the story told me they have a tough time believing it.

I don’t. Not for a single second. And if I thought anything I wrote here would knock some sense into people and make a difference, I’d write it. But it won’t.

All I can say is at least Connor will be out of there in a month. Say it with me: “The situation isn’t going to change so you need to make the change.”

6 – CFL: I’ve been in Cowtown for a week and many, many people have implored me to lay on the CFL coverage on this blog, on TV and on my social media. My guess is because they’re starving for it and there’s a scarcity elsewhere? We’ll do what we can but we’re headed into the doldrums of the CFL calendar. The Combine has never really turned my crank.

Here’s my conundrum: I love to stir up controversy and the League doesn’t want any controversy stirred up.

See the problem?

7 – CFL NOTES: It was a “line item” buried in Dave Naylor’s TSN.ca story this week that Schooner Sports & Entertainment Corp is no longer pursuing a franchise for Halifax. Ahem, WHAT? Of course we’d been reporting this on TV for two weeks prior, ever since I was in Regina and heard S.S.E. frontman Gary Drummond had lost interest in the project. (Gary’s a Reginan and former Pat Blue). So there’s that. On the other hand, I’m told there’s a movement afoot to get a temp stadium built in Nova Scotia which could house a CFL team. Talk about the biggest Chicken & The Egg scenario of all-time. … Naylor also noted in his story that there appears to be some national fatigue settling in on this story, and that some finality needs to be reached. I WAS TIRED OF IT TWO YEARS AGO! What a massive wild goose chase. … What’s the other CFL stories right now? … Congratulations to the 2023 induction class of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame – Larry Smith, Solomon Elimimian, John Bowman, Larry Crawford, Josh Bourke, Lloyd Fairbanks and Jacques Dussault. I was most pleased to see Larry Smith’s name on the list; one cool cat. Cooler than the other side of the pillow.

But I was pretty dismayed to not see Ray Jauch’s name on the list, whom I know was nominated by his son Joey (a CFL receiver in the 1990s). Ray is in declining health at his Illinois home, and is as worthy of induction as anyone.

(*insert Serenity Prayer).

8 – SPORTSNET: Also, Canada’s “other” sports network is getting dragged through the mud for omitting the Roughriders and Elks on its St. Patrick’s Day Twitter/Instagram post wondering which pro team has the best green jersey? It was going fine when they included the Oakland A’s, Dallas Stars and Boston Celtics, but to include the Mexican national soccer team????

To me this is less of an oversight, and yet more proof of how the CFL’s decision in 2008 to jump into bed with TSN as its sole TV broadcaster continues to bite it in the butt. When Sportsnet was excluded from the CFL TV deal, they pretty much stopped talking about the CFL. Period. And forget about the CBC.

This too is an endless debate which I get into with CFL people and has caused fatigue. “Without TSN, there would be no CFL,” they huff.

Fine. This is what you get.

9 – GATEWAY TO THE FOOTHILLS: A friend and longtime sponsor came to Calgary’s Grey Eagle Resort & Casino this week to take in the RP Show live, and hit the buffet. “Man, I can’t believe the big deal they make out of your show here!” he said, wide-eyed. I was a little surprised, because I’ve only been telling people that for over a year. And just this week the casino brass said we’re welcome to host the show here until the end of time. The secret? When we began the show here in January of 2022, I asked them what they wanted, and gave it to them.

Pretty simple. I love it out here and they treat me exceptionally well. As my Reiki master said, “Run to what feels good.”

10 – RANDOMS: Don’t worry; we have shows scheduled for Regina this spring and summer and we’ll be providing more CFL coverage than anybody on TV. Guaranteed. … On the flipside, this week we were tabbed “Atlanta’s NHL Show” by the brass at WQEE Radio. That’ll look good on golf shirts. I don’t need to tell you how exciting that is for us. … It was 80’s night at the Stars/Flames game Saturday night. Somehow I missed the memo but during warmup I thought the music was unusually good (Tina Turner, INXS, Kenny Loggins, Jefferson Starship, etc.). Wasn’t the 80’s the BEST era for music ever? Or is it just me? … One of our great partnerships is with Landmark Cinemas and I get to go to movies for free and provide reviews on the show. This week Landmark was promoting Scream VI, Creed III, Avatar and Cocaine Bear however the movie Champions starring Woody Harrelson caught my eye at LandmarkCinemas.com. So I took it in and am so glad I did! Woody plays a down-on-his-luck pro basketball coach who, after getting a DWI, was sentenced to 90 days of coaching a Special Olympics basketball team in Des Moines, Iowa. Hilarity ensues! Two thumbs up and the acting by the players is spectacular. It’s the feel-good movie of the year! Two thumbs-up from the MMG. … Advice I read in Entrepreneur magazine. “Different is better than better.” Read that again. … I swear the Calgary tourists go to Bass Pro Shop just to take photos of the stuffed wildlife and fake streams and say they were in Banff. … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen