THE WEDNESDAY THRILLER … WITH PHIL ANDREWS

Voice of the Pats Phil Andrews

First off what a great day put on by the Regina Pats on Tuesday at the Wascana Golf and Country club. The Pats hosted alumnus Rob Laird who won a Memorial Cup with the team in 1974. Laird is now the senior pro scout with the Los Angeles Kings and he brought the Stanley Cup to Regina on Tuesday.

Sponsors and season ticket holders got a chance to meet Laird and get their pictures taken with the Cup. There was an opportunity to donate to the ALS Society of Saskatchewan. Here are some photos of the day.

Robbie Laird speaks to the crowd.  Born and raised in Regina, Robbie now makes his home in Ft. Wayne, Indiana…

Pats great Brad Hornung poses with the Cup…

Yours truly with Lord Stanley…

This banner was hanging on the way in to the Wascana. I love it. Training camp is just three weeks away!

Rod Pedersen reported on Tuesday that the Pats have not been turned down by anyone for the head coaching position. Also that the team will have someone in place by next week.

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The Regina Thunder kick off their 2014 training camp on Friday night. Approximately 100 players will take part in camp, which is about 100 less than attended spring camp.

It will be an interesting weekend to say the least with a number of positions up for grabs. The biggest of which is at quarterback with the departure of Asher Hastings to CIS. Spencer Mack, Kieren Pruden and Jaeden Marwick will be battling for the number one spot. Marwick is a Regina boy who played last season with the Vancouver Island Raiders.

Nick Brown is back at running back and the offensive line remains in tact from last year.

There will be some new faces at receiver in 2014, the club lost Will Heward, Jacob Carr, Trystan Dyce and possibly Mitch Thompson. Thompson is currently on the Riders practice roster and could play junior football this year or could decide to leave the Riders and play CIS. That’s still up in the air. One of the guys to watch for this year is Ruben Viveros. Preston Bews will be primed for a big year as well.

On defense the Thunder return all their starting linebackers.

Two defensive back spots are open as Tanner Hope is gone to CIS and Landon Walter graduated after last year. I’m told to watch for Ashton Bien this weekend, played at O’Neill and is a stud.

On the D-line Ben Simaluk is gone which is a hole to fill but there are some capable replacements. One rookie looking to push for a spot will be Brady Moroz out of Brandon Manitoba.

The team will take the field Friday night at 7 PM, then again on Saturday and Sunday morning at 9 and 11:30. All these will take place at the Thunder clubhouse. I will have full coverage of the weekend so stay tuned.

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Wow what a difference a game makes in terms of the Riders. I along with a lot of people were unsure what to expect when it came to Saturday’s game at home to the Toronto Argonauts.

The defense came to play and were very impressive. John Chick was a beast out there and Tyron Brackenridge was great as well. Great performance overall.

The offense was led by Will Ford who scored three times and ran for over 100. Very impressive for a guy who was in Regina for less than a week. He picked things up quickly. I’m not crowning him the starter for the rest of the year just yet but if he continues to play like he did then there’s no doubt. At the same time Anthony Allen had a great game in week 1 and since then hasn’t done much.

I want to see Tristan Jackson returning punts all the time. I know he plays defense and that’s a lot to ask but the man is he dangerous when he gets going.

The team heads out for two in a row on the road in Ottawa and then Winnipeg. Two big games with Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg all siting with 4 wins on the year.

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The Blue Jays keep on winning. 4-2 Tuesday night in Boston – that’s 4 in a row and they are 9-3 since the all star break. Marcus Stroman was awesome on the mound Tuesday night going 7 innings and giving up just 1 run.

This team is winning without the likes of Edwin Encarnacion, Brett Lawrie, Adam Lind and Brandon Morrow. Baltimore might he hard to overtake for top spot in the AL East but the wildcard is a real possibility. I’m excited.

That’s it for me today, have a great week.

Phil
@PhilTheThrill18