10 MONDAY THINGS

One-Timers

1 – Monday’s a big day in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. There are six games including Carolina taking on the NY Rangers (Hurricanes lead 1-0, 10 am MT), Winnipeg facing Calgary (Flames lead 1-0, 12:30 pm MT) and Washington facing off against Tampa Bay in a round robin match (2:00 pm MT).

Vegas faces Dallas at 4:30 (round robin qualifier), Montreal plays Pittsburgh at 6:00 pm (Habs lead 1-0) and Edmonton takes on Chicago at 8:30 pm (all MT).

Teams trailing the Best-of-5’s one-game-to-none should know that in NHL history, teams who go up 2-0 in the series are 55-1 all-time. That makes Monday’s games essentially “must win” for the Rangers, Jets, Penguins and Oilers.

2 – Only Matthew Tkachuk knows if he intentionally kicked at Jets forward Mark Scheifele’s Achilles tendon in Game 1 on Saturday. However his reputation as a cheapshot artist doesn’t help his alibi. No matter; Tkachuk will play in Game 2 and so too will Scheifele. (UPDATE: Scheifele won’t play Game 2. Cue the meltdown in the Peg). However if you’re Winnipeg, or any team, you can’t completely unravel when you see your leader helped off the ice.

3 – The Oilers are another team in a world of trouble after blowing Game 1 against Chicago on Saturday, losing 6-4 to the Blackhawks. Pains me to say it but I saw all I needed on Dec. 27 when the Flames spanked the Oilers 5-1 in Edmonton. We took the whole family up, got hotel rooms, box seats, and then saw Calgary jump out to a 1-0 lead just 12 seconds into the game. The Oilers never fought back once. When you know, you know. The Vegas Golden Knights don’t take their eye off the ball. Ever. It’s called maturity. Connor McDavid said after Saturday’s game “We weren’t ready”. Inexcusable.

4 – Did you see that Pense, SK (32 km west of Regina) was named 1 of 4 finalists for 2020 Kraft Hockeyville?? They are the only Western Canadian representative and they’ll go up against Saint-Felicien, Quebec, Tyne Valley, PEI, and Twillingate, NF & Labrador. Voting opens August 14 at Krafthockeyville.ca. You’re going to be hearing A LOT about Pense from me in the days ahead.

5 – The Saskatchewan Rattlers aren’t in last-place in the round robin standings at the CEBL Summer Series but at 1-3, they’re close. The CEBL national championship is being staged over two weeks in St. Catherines, ON at the Meridian Centre (home of the OHL’s Ice Dogs). The Rattlers next play Tuesday against the Hamilton Honey Badgers (2-3) and you can watch on the CBC Gem app. The Edmonton Stingers lead at 4-1.

6 – When the CFL emerges from the pandemic and gets back to business, if I was a player, I would do absolutely NOTHING for free. Community appearances, autograph signings, fan events, whatever. Zero. Zip. Nada. Players have long memories and they’re getting the shaft right now big time.

7 – Also, when the CFL re-emerges and likely looks nothing like it does now, we’ll need to get used to a lot of new things. Somebody asked if Canadian sports fans would support a seemingly second-rate league, depending on how the rosters are made up. I dunno. I watched the Late Model Series and stock car races at Estevan Motor Speedway Saturday night but I didn’t see Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, or for that matter Kyle Busch or Chase Elliott out there. SO WHAT!? My heart was racing 100 miles an hour and I was on the edge of my seat all night. Don’t be a sports snob.

The Kings Park Speedway Invitational is this upcoming weekend with up to 70 cars here from all over the Prairies. Come see for yourself. And bring your camper.

8 – Honestly I’m fascinated by this. After this weekend’s races at Estevan Motor Speedway, the pits were open and fans were able to wade through and get pictures with the cars and drivers. Kids plastered it all over their social media.There were food trucks galore, mixed with the smell of burnt fuel in the air. Fan interaction. Engagement. I thought I’d never see it again, but the racers and organizers have figured it out.

9 – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson partnered with Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital to purchase the XFL today (Monday) for $15-million. It would be nice to have had The Rock – an alum of the Calgary Stampeders – infuse his cash into the CFL but the CFL powerbrokers don’t want to give up any power. The beat goes on. Everybody’s asleep at the switch.

10 – Does this Play-In Round qualify as the Stanley Cup Playoffs or not?? The NHL initially said it doesn’t, but the Arizona Coyotes are trumpeting that they’ve reached the postseason for the first time since 2012. Can we get a ruling? Personally I’d have no problems with this playoff format sticking around post-pandemic. 24 teams in the dance means eight more markets are excited about the postseason.

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen