Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

1 – RUSH – The Saskatchewan Rush head into next weekend’s home game against Philadelphia with a 3-and-0 record after they hung on to beat the Rochester Knighthawks 14-12 on Saturday. With top offensive player Robert Church out of the lineup with a sprained ankle, the Rush dressed Josh Zawada for his first NLL game and he responded with a goal and three assists. Otherwise, the team was led by Austin Shanks (4-3-7) and Zach Manns (3-3-6). Manns has a team leading 13-goals and 6-assists in three games to start the year. Rookie Jake Naso won 25-of-30 faceoffs and collected 16-loose balls. There’s no doubt the Rush, who just about blew a 6-goal fourth quarter lead, would have lost this game without the dominance of Naso, who allowed the Rush to start on offense nearly 85% of the time. The rookie specialist is 37-and-14 (72.5%) on the draw in his last two games.

2 – QUARTERBACKS – The Edmonton Whatever They are Going To Be Calleds traded for Cody Fajardo this week, sending MacLeod Bethel-Thompson to Montreal. My expectation is that a fair competition in training camp between Fajardo and Tre Ford will result in Fajardo emerging as the starter but the Edmontons are doing the right thing by having Ford and Fajardo as options because both will be needed over the course of the season. Meanwhile, the Als are all-in with Davis Alexander. It’s a risky play as Alexander’s body of work is small albeit impressive. Bethel-Thompson was a disappointment last year for Edmonton and I’m not sure he’s the answer in the event Alexander falls flat. Hopefully Saskatchewan is paying attention and will have a credible back-up to Trevor Harris but time is a tickin’.

3 – REMPE – Matt Rempe has played 22 NHL games. He’s been kicked out of four of them and has been suspended twice. In his final year of major junior in 2021-22, he was suspended three times between November 21st and March 14th. He was suspended twice in under a month the last two times, which further shows the guy just doesn’t get it. You know who else doesn’t get it? The New York Rangers. There is an onus here on them to employ the right people. I mean if we can pile on the Boston Bruins for trying to sign grade eight bully Mitchell Miller and, essentially, blackball Miller for life because of his mental cruelty as a 14-year-old, surely we can get rid of Rempe, who is quite clearly going out there trying to end careers every time he steps on the ice.

4 – PURPOSE – I’m all for fighting in hockey. I have no issue with it. But it’s players like Rempe that are the reason why there is a lot less of it. There is no tangible hockey skill here whatsoever. He’s a big guy who is willing to drop the mitts and then cheap shots players whenever they aren’t looking to try and injure. He’s not protecting anybody. In fact, I would suggest other Ranger players may even be fearful over potential retribution from teams who lose players from these constant cheap shots. What Rempe does also isn’t intimidation. There’s no place for this. Him elbowing a guy from behind in the head is no better than a baseball bat swing by someone else with a hockey stick. At the time of this writing, Rempe’s in-person hearing for his latest showing of disrespect to fellow players was expected to result in a 6-game or more suspension. He should get 82 games and a warning that the next suspension will be his last with an added ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out’ message. Shame on the Seattle Thunderbirds for blocking a more deserving player for three years and shame on the Rangers for knowingly wasting a draft pick and giving him an opportunity to end careers of people Rempe shouldn’t be on the ice with.

5 – FIGHTING – This isn’t the first time I’ve written about Rempe. If he comes back with some post-career story about long term brain damage, I hope we just tell him to look in the mirror and then force the Rangers to pay his medical bills. I know some of you think I’m being a wuss on this, but the old days of Dave Semenko, Bob Probert, Stu Grimson, etc are long gone. If the NHL wants to bring them back, then okay but it’s still not alright for Rempe to elbow, board, and knee guys to try and end careers. Rempe is basically an Ulf Samuelsson who fights. No thanks. Doesn’t belong in hockey.

6 – EQUIPMENT – I wonder if Rempe as well as other players would be so inclined to be reckless with their bodies if the equipment they wore was made differently. If you look at elbow and shoulder pads today, they are basically weapons. Surely manufacturers can come up with a way to make protective gear that protects you from damage while at the same time making you think twice about your behaviour. Rempe, for example, maybe doesn’t throw up his elbow as quickly if he can break his own arm while doing so. I know it’s the total opposite opinion of how we are doing things but I believe less equipment would result in fewer injuries. I’m old enough to remember the days of Doug Wilson, Craig MacTavish, Randy Carlyle, and Brad Marsh playing without a helmet and I’m not sure any of them suffered major head injuries. Marsh, at one point, did put a helmet on after getting a concussion but he said he was subjected to more cheap shots than ever before after he dawned one, which makes you wonder if less equipment equals more respect from your opponent.

7 – RUSSIA – Hockey shoots itself in the foot by not including Russia in the 4 Nations event later this year or the World Junior Hockey Championship. Frankly, these events are that much more uninteresting with Russia not included. If the NHL and major junior hockey banned Russian players altogether I could maybe get behind it but they don’t have the stones to do that. One of Vladimir Putin’s most famous supporters is Alex Ovechkin and he’s widely celebrated as he chases down Wayne Gretzky’s all-time scoring record and everyone just pretends Ovechkin doesn’t even know who Putin is. The reality is that the 4 Nations won’t be as popular as it could be with the Russians not competing and the WJHC is already a diminished product because Russia hasn’t been involved for a few years now. One has to wonder with Donald Trump winning the Presidency, if public opinion on Russia will change and they will be welcomed back in a year. Somewhat unrelated note is how childish it is for the TV networks to not show the Russian flag on the digital scoreboard of tennis matches involving Russian players. As if that makes an impact on anything.

8 – VICK – I don’t mind listening to Jason Whitlock’s podcast and I agree with a lot of what he has to say. However, this week he lost me when he condoned Michael Vick for running a dog fighting ring. Whitlock said the types of dogs Vick had fighting for ‘entertainment’ aren’t really dogs (pit bull terriers) anyway. Excuse me? But let’s say you subscribe to that assertion. What about the family pets that were sacrificed by Vick and his cohorts? But also, I can’t think of any animal where I’d say that it’s okay to organize this kind of barbaric ‘entertainment’. I don’t mind if people do it to one another because human beings, at least, can make a choice. Animals don’t get that luxury. Whitlock said Vick doing 21-months of jail time was a heavyhanded penalty when he should have just received a fine. Personally, I think Vick should have been forced to get into the ring with two or three of the pit bulls. The topic of Vick came up as he was named head coach at Norfolk State this week and the discussion surrounded whether it was okay for an ex-con to get such a job. For the most part, Vick seems to have been rehabilitated but count me out as rooting for him.

9 – RICKEY – I admit to being saddened upon learning of the passing of Rickey Henderson on Saturday. Henderson died of pneumonia (normal outcome for pneumonia post 2022 regardless of age). He was 65. Henderson was the most electric baseball player of my lifetime and his single season record of 130 stolen bases will never be touched unless baseball changes the rules. His career mark of 1408 will also never be approached. He provided some of the best quotes an athlete has ever uttered and his rookie year story of not cashing his first ever paycheque is that of legends. There are other hilarious stories out there that are disputed as to whether or not they are actually true but the one about Rickey saying to John Olerud while the two were teammates in Seattle “I once had a teammate in Toronto who also wore a helmet while playing first base,” is classic. Rickey Henderson goes down as one of my top five favorite players of all-time. One little known achievement about Henderson: he led the majors in walks four different times, including 1998 when he was 39-years-old. He had a great eye at the plate on top of having excellent power and his obvious speed. A total package on and off the field. RIP Rickey.

10 – KINDNESS – I want to close this week by wishing you a Merry Christmas (even the radicals who disagree with my common sense approach to life and sports) and also by sharing a story of kindness from Friday. I flew to Calgary to drive back home for the Christmas break with my daughter, who attends Mount Royal University, thinking I could be needed to drive on sketchy highways. I didn’t envision car trouble but a pothole on the Medicine Hat exit ramp coming off the Deerfoot had other ideas. The service we received from AAA Towing was over and above what I expected. On top of that, the person working the phone at Country Automotive was a godsend despite being unable to help me. He directed me to the nearest Canadian Tire at Pacific Place (8th Ave NE) where I was met with more great service from three people working the Auto Service counter and a mechanic in the garage who all played a major role in getting us prepared to get back on our way. Despite the bad luck on the road, I was met with perfection in every interaction that followed the unfortunate incident and this isn’t an advertisement for any of those companies but rather an acknowledgement of the people who work for them. Have a great Christmas everyone.

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster)