THE MONDAY MORNING GOALIE
RECAPPING THE WEEKEND
* IF YOU’RE NOT FIRST, YOU’RE LAST: That great line from fictional race car driver Ricky Bobby will stick with us forever. It also perfectly fits Canada’s attitude towards the World Junior Hockey Championship. And to quote famous Regina rocker Colin James, it’s been “FIVE LONG YEARS” since Canada last won gold at the World Juniors. Now it’s two straight years without a medal setting off alarm bells from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland.
Simply put, and by their own admission, Canada simply wasn’t good enough in Sweden this year. And when I heard TSN’s Dave Randorf say on the pregame show before Saturday’s semifinal against Finland that the Finnish goalie had the best save percentage and GAA in the tournament, I thought to myself “Uh oh”. It didn’t exactly come down to a goaltender’s duel as Finland won 5-1, but the Red & White just couldn’t beat the guy.
And forget about Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Russia in the bronze medal game. It seemed Canada had checked out emotionally and mentally long before opening faceoff.
Oh well, there’s always next year and it’s going to be infinitely exciting having the 2015 World Juniors in Toronto and Montreal. The Air Canada Centre and Bell Centre are large arenas and threaten to break the attendance record set at the 2012 World Juniors in Edmonton and Calgary. It’s a chance for Toronto to prove it’s a hockey town once for all because, for my money, Alberta is the hockey hotbed of this nation.
It should also be mandatory that NHL teams loan their WJHC-elligible players for the tournament for Canada. Things would have looked a lot different this year with the likes of Morgan Rielly, Nathan MacKinnon and Sean Monahan. Same goes for the other countries. That way we’d truly have the “best against the best”.
Lastly on this point, it’s time to put the slogan of “Hockey Is Our Game” in the trash can. I was never comfortable with it even if subconsciously we know it to be true. As long as we own the Olympic mens gold in the frozen game, we can feel good about ourselves. But there’s no need to wave it in the other countries’ faces because it gives them motivation every time they play the maple leaf.
Should we lose in Sochi, then it’s time for another summit. Incidentally less than a minute into TSN’s postgame discussion after Canada’s bronze medal loss to Russia, analyst Bob McKenzie brought up the term “summit”.
Eliminating body checking in minor hockey was certainly a step in the right direction.
Not.
* WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE REGINA PATS?: Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I enjoyed Regina’s 4-3 shootout victory over Saskatoon Friday night in the Brandt Centre, although not thoroughly. Late in the second period and early into third I looked around the facility and saw some yawns. Perhaps it’s too much to ask 40 teenage boys to keep up their energy level over a 60-minute hockey game.
Regardless, the Pats have five or six top-level hockey players on their roster which is about double what they had for the final third of my 17-year tenure in the league. There were sequences where the team made five-to-six passes in a row which may not seem like a lot but for a good portion of the 2000s, it seemed almost unheard of for them to put three straight on the tape.
No, this team continues to be fun to watch but frankly their biggest problem is between the pipes. That’s not an indictment of starting goalie Dawson MacAuley (who’s as hot and cold as it gets) or back-up Nick Schneider, but going back to their very first game of the season, soft goals at inopportune times erase any chance this team has of winning on a given night. It goes back to focusing for 60 minutes.
That doesn’t mean the Pats are not a playoff team, and all things being equal, they will be. The WHL trade deadline is on Friday and hopefully GM Chad Lang does what he truly feels is best for the team which likely is to deal off some prime assets like Dyson Stevenson and Chandler Stephenson and fortify for the future. However, if in the back of your mind you feel ownership is going to change this spring, that complicates things.
But as of right now there’s no reason to believe that will happen.
* CFL COACHING CAROUSEL UPDATE: What was supposed to be the most dizzying off-season in CFL history regarding coaching moves has turned out to be rather dull. Maybe that’s because the Roughriders have basically been unfazed because of the stability of Corey Chamblin’s staff. Stability = boring, but also stability = success. I’ll take the latter.
Regardless, Jason Gregor of TSN 1260 Radio Edmonton reported over the weekend Stephen McAdoo will be named offensive coordinator on Chris Jones’s staff with the Eskimos. McAdoo has had some very productive years as an offensive assistant with Toronto and Montreal, although has never been a coordinator before. Gregor also reports Jarious Jackson will likely join the staff as QB Coach and Kevin Strasser will be hired to coach receivers.
That leaves Jason Tucker back with the Roughriders for a third season as receivers coach. No argument here.
Meanwhile it seems to be a foregone conclusion that Craig Dickenson will be the Eskimos’ special teams coordinator but don’t forget he could also return to that role with Mike O’Shea’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
There’s a report out of Vancouver this morning that Barron Miles has signed a new two-year deal to remain as secondary coach with Saskatchewan.
I’ve also heard the rumour that the Roughriders would be interested in bringing Kerry Joseph on staff, likely at an entry-level coaching position, if he decides to hang up the cleats over the winter.
One last Rider note: the Grey Cup Tour kicked off Saturday night in Saskatoon at the Blades game. The highest crowd of the season, 6200, turned out to see the Cup and get pictures. The players on hand were:
Kory Sheets
Paul Woldu
Terrell Maze
Tristan Jackson
Taj Smith
Xavier Fulton
Dan Clark
Brendon LaBatte
John Chick
Neal Hughes
Mike McCullough
The Grey Cup will be in North Battleford on Monday.
* WILD-CARD WEEKEND: What an amazing opening weekend of playoffs in the NFL, the king of sports leagues! The four wildcard playoff games were decided by a total of 13 points with the Colts, Saints, Chargers and 49ers moving on.
You had to feel sorry for the Saints and Eagles Saturday night. Coming on television right after the Chiefs-Colts 89-point playoff extravaganza must have felt like a comedian trying to come on stage right after Jerry Seinfeld. The odds-makers were wrong in both Saturday games, with Indianapolis and New Orleans both advancing, and as a league you want unpredictable outcomes. Also Saints’ QB Drew Brees proved his detractors wrong by leading his team to victory in the cold, and on the road. The pregame analysts didn’t think he could perform in cold conditions.
On Sunday you had to think the NFL saved the best for last. San Diego won 27-10 at Cincinnati in the early game which was only made interesting by the fact I was surrounded by Chargers fans at a gathering in The Greens. Imagine that! Chargers fans in Regina.
But the late game, San Francisco’s 23-20 last-second win at Green Bay, had to be the NFL’s best-case scenario. As Sportsnet’s Arash Madani put it, “this was big boy football”. Although it’s beyond me why they even put officials on the field because it was gangland warfare at Lambeau Field. You’ve got to hand it to the CFL; what is pass interference in the preseason is also pass interference in the playoffs. But it really seemed to me the NFL wanted the Packers to advance — and I’m not even a fan of either team in that game.
__________________________
Also there was an interesting discussion on ESPN Radio on Saturday saying there should be a six-city rotation to host Super Bowl in the NFL. Phoenix, Dallas, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and Miami can all virtually guarantee great weather and if not, three of them have domes. The analysts are already bemoaning the potential for cold weather at this year’s Super Bowl in New York/New Jersey, saying it will ruin the game.
It falls in line with my contention that the Grey Cup should be rotated through Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal which guarantees ideal conditions for the game annually. I know I’ll be flamed for that stance given the beautiful conditions on game day of the 2013 Grey Cup, but the week itself was almost unbearable weather-wise and it tipped the scales in Saskatchewan’s favour in terms of prepartion..
And the hotel situation was embarrassing as a host city. Heck, let’s throw Las Vegas into the mix as fourth city in the CFL rotation. They’ve got the stadium, the hotel space, it’s easy to get to and the CFL already has a great footprint in Sin City.
Think about it.
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
RP
@sportscage
I think it is great if the Riders hire Kerry Joseph. He has been nothing but a professional, and I have always felt that Darian plays better when he has a mentor around. It was sad to lose Khari Jones, but Joseph would be a nice addition to the Riders coaching staff.
Imagirl
Rod, Regarding "Our Game" , I see you're drinking Arash Madani's Kool-Aid. While I can see how you think "Our Game" seems selfish, that we're trying to say that this is our game and no one else is allowed in. However, I don't think that's the intent when people say Hockey is "Our Game" I think it simply refers to hockey being the sport that grabs the majority of Canada's attention. It's kind of like Football being "Our Game" in Saskatchewan. Does that mean we don't care about other things? NO Does that mean we're the best at Football then… Read more »
I'm all for a Vegas Grey Cup, only if we can get 'Ric Flair' to sing O Christmas Tree, er O Canada. Classic.
A word of caution on only playing the Grey Cup in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Perhaps you were too young Rod but that is exactly what they did in the 70's and 80's. And it did not work. It was no longer an "event"in those towns cause it got boring hosting it every third year for the local people. It was no longer a hot ticket. And like it or not the Gre Cup is as much about the festival than the game. The festival in sask and others using the rotation makes it a big event in the host… Read more »
regarding the Pats……….. What I understand from the article is that there is nothing wrong with the Pats but they have poor goaltending and should sell assets to fortify the future. Sounds like there is a little something wrong. Had you been able to see a bigger body of work, you would have seen a different team very frequently. They are not championship calibre. They continue to struggle with high goals against and a worst penalty kill in the league. Goaltending is a big part of that, but poor defence corps is the other. They have also been plagued with… Read more »
Great to see Kory Sheets touring the province and promoting the Riders while he tries out for NFL teams. Good guy!
Thought the MMG would have your Team Canada picks. Are you afraid of pissing off some of your NHL brethren?
Ken
I don't pretend to be a coach or a GM.
I agree that cold weather def hurts the experience, but the counter point is not having the grey cup rotate thru all CFL cities hurts worse. How much money did the local economy bring in by having the grey cup here this year? How beneficial was it to the Riders to have the game on home turf. You put that game in one of the three cities and you never get that in Regina, ever. You can't expect cities to pump mony back into the CFL when you don't give them the opportunity for the big payoff. There is also… Read more »
A lot of these guys pretend to be coaches. LOL
BUT, if you had to pick a TC roster, what would it be? Top two lines, Four D, 2 goalies?
Your suggestion that Grey Cup be rotated between 3 cities SHOULD be flamed because its an utterly stupid suggestion. The game being moved around is why the festival has grown to what it is today. Most attendees are local and that's what gets them hooked on the idea of traveling to Grey Cup in another city. It's also inherently unfair in that it means there are 3 teams that have the opportunity to have home field advantage in a Grey Cup while every other team doesn't have that chance. It also absolutely kills any chance at further expansion. Stadiums require… Read more »
Sorry Rod but I also completely disagree with your assertion that the Grey Cup should only be contested in three different cities. Woz nailed it when he brought up the fact that attendance was dropping off like a rock in those towns cause it was no longer a "marquee event". The Grey Cup is our national championship, the one thing that is exclusively Canadian and therefore it ought to be hosted across the league. How would towns like Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg feel if they couldn't host the Cup there? They are all great Grey Cup host cities in previous… Read more »
Been seeing a lot of great pictures of the guys hanging out with fans in Stoon and Lloyd. There was one shot of Sheets reading an ipad with a little girl while Taj signed her T-shirt. It really ticks me off when some people call these guys thugs just cause of some negative stuff that happened. Those people can buzz off, we don't need them.
TSN doesn't even have Eberle or Kunitz on their roster. Ebs had two last night against Tampa and Yzerman was there. We'll see tomorrow.
"flamed", eh? More accurately burned at the stake. Bad idea.
Re the Pats or any other team searching for a 60 minute game. It's not like they work an 8 hour shift, they don't even have to put out for an hour. If everyone gave 100% for 20 minutes you'd have a 60 minute game. Twenty minutes, is that too much to ask?
Guaranteeing the Grey Cup every three years would sure help Toronto's entitlement attitude.
This conversation on the Grey Cup location wouldn't be happening if we had done the right thing with our new stadium. Putting on a dome with air vent panels would have been the way to go. We might then be talking about rotating between three or four locations. with us in the mix. Very shortsighted by us when this is a long term project.
Air vent panels ???? How about air conditioning, no cheaping out on the comfort and luxury.
Maybe Canada not doing as well is part of a bigger problem with athletics in Canada period.
The costs of playing the sport is increasingly pushing athletes away from being able to play and the fact that it actually requires effort to play sports vs playing Madden or NHL 14 on Playstation/XBOX.
Canada isn't doing well in these past few tournaments because Brent Sutter is the new Don Cherry. You can't win these things, especially on the big ice, with that lunch pail mentality. Everybody else is bringing their skill players and we're bringing grinders and bangers. That's all the Sutters talk about, how hard they worked on the farm.
The World Junior at Toronto and Montreal 2015 and then Montreal and Toronto 2016. Its too bad this event has become such a money grab for the CHL that cities that support Junoir hockey for years and years are too small. The only criteria to host is the largest arenas in Canada. Its Joe fan in these centres that buy season tickets year after year that support those teams that allows these players to develope. Its those smaller centres that use the events to improve their facility and help the team marketing. Both T O and Montreal had junior hockey… Read more »