STACKHOUSE’S 10 WEEKEND THOUGHTS
1 – SJHL OPENING NIGHT – With the impending snow storm, several SJHL teams wasted no time postponing games on Saturday but 10 of the 12 teams saw their first action on Friday and the top stars of the night were not major junior players on loan. Humboldt’s Tristan Shewchuk had a 4 point game against Yorkton, Nipawin’s Burke Simpson potted a hat trick against La Ronge, and Joel Favreau allowed just one goal in a Melfort win over Flin Flon. Yes, Cole Fonstad had a couple of goals to pace Estevan while Carson Miller and Reece Newkirk also picked up two goals but it wasn’t a one-sided dominating night from the major junior loaners.
2 – JUNIOR ‘A’ vs MAJOR JUNIOR – I’ve always been a major promoter of Junior ‘A’ hockey and that goes back to my days in Nova Scotia when I covered the now-defunct Antigonish Bulldogs, who were under the leadership of one of my all-time favorite hockey people in Danny Berry. Naturally I’m going to be pro-Junior A when it comes to comparing Junior ‘A’ to Major Junior but I do feel when looking at the difference between the two they are a lot more similar than you think. Major Junior will always have the players NHL teams are eyeballing and their top end talent is not something Junior A can really compete with but when you compare depth that’s where things are a lot closer. The Junior ‘A’ guys are older and more developed and so while they aren’t necessarily viewed as having a better future than a 16 or 17 year old third liner in major junior, the reality is that the quality of play to the fan once you get beyond the superstars of major junior is better at the Junior ‘A’ level. That doesn’t mean Junior ‘A’ has the better long term prospects, but it does mean Junior ‘A’ rivals Major Junior as far as entertainment value as far as quality of play is concerned.
3 – UNIVERSITY HOCKEY BACKS THIS UP – I remember back in 2000 when the Brandon Bobcats had a decent university team and all of their top players were Junior ‘A’ grads (Craig Malaschuk, Marlin Murray, Gregg Zubricki, Tyson Ramsey, Craig Anderson, Curtis Menzul, Colin Ryder) and they were beating university teams who had major junior recruits but were younger. The Junior ‘A’ grads had the benefit of experience and that’s what made them better. This is part of the reason why I feel the Junior ‘A’ depth makes that level of hockey close to par with Major Junior. There’s more experience and the quality of the player is better than you may think. Chantz Petruic scored 58 goals in 52 games last year. He had six 4-point games, a 6-point night as well as a 7-point night. Let’s see how many of these major junior guys put up those totals between now and Christmas in the SJHL. I’m sure we will see it but how regular will it be?
4 – DODGERS COVID – What you are likely to hear a fair bit about in the next few days: Five people within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization have tested positive for Covid since the team won the World Series about 10 days ago and since Justin Turner committed the most reckless act in history by celebrating with his teammates despite being positive. Here’s the part you aren’t likely to hear much about: None of these five people were inside the World Series bubble, which means Turner didn’t infect them but the media will want to make sure you think he did.
5 – STROMAN QUALIFYING OFFER – Marcus Stroman is leaning towards rejecting his one year $18.9-million qualifying offer from the New York Mets. Stroman started the year injured and then when he got healthy, he opted out of the season fearing the virus despite plenty of evidence already in front of him that there wasn’t a lot to be concerned about if you followed the rules. Starting pitching has never been less important in baseball. You don’t need guys to throw more than 4-5 innings tops so why would you fork over more than $19-million per year to someone who didn’t pitch at all this past season, especially when we are in uncertain financial times for these pro teams. Stroman is also not known to be much of a team player and if I was running a team, I’d want nothing to do with him in my clubhouse. His attitude makes him a net negative no matter what his salary is.
6 – SPORTS LAYOFFS – Those who work for The Athletic got a bit of a reprieve this week when the subscription-based sports website rescinded 10% wage cuts. Others at ESPN aren’t as lucky as 300 of them were given their walking papers. This is hardly a surprise with the sports industry decimated by the pandemic, and it’s also not a surprise that sports reporters continue to lack self-awareness as most of them have been cheerleading professional league closures and advocating against return to play plans ever since the day everything shut down back in March. If you don’t have subject matter to report on, how do you expect to keep your job? Even the reporters that escaped the axe swinging this week should be ashamed for disrespecting their peers to the extent they have.
7 – AARON RODGERS – Remember when football pundits declared Aaron Rodgers washed up prior to the start of the season? The 36-year-old sits at 24-touchdowns and 2-interceptions with over 2200-yards passing at the halfway mark of the season. In fantasy, I drafted Rodgers in all three leagues I’m in as he came at a massive discount and I couldn’t be happier. Especially after suffering through subpar performances from Mitch Trubisky, Jimmy Garoppolo, Jared Goff, Jacoby Brissett, and Baker Mayfield in recent years.
8 – NBA STARTING – The NBA says they are on track to start the new season on December 22nd and it appears as though games will take place in each city’s home arena without fans present. The only exception is Toronto, which needs to find an American home. I don’t proclaim to know much about the ins and outs of NBA business but their national tv contract generates approximately $2.7-billion per year in revenue so that is, apparently, enough to move forward. The NHL by contrast, has a tv deal with Rogers that is worth about $400-million per year. The American arrangement with NBC is, I believe, valued at $200-million per year and expires after this season.
9 – AMERICAN ELECTION – This is, predominantly, a sports column but everyone has an opinion on this. Here’s mine: It’s a bad look for the winning team and if I was on a winning team and there was any doubt about how I was able to win I would be even more eager than my detractors to prove the win is legit. The real loser here is the common American citizen. No matter what you think about Donald Trump, the nation was never more divided than it was under his rule so perhaps it will be better with Joe Biden as President. One of the last times I watched a mainstream media broadcast was during one of Trump’s briefings where he sparred with reporters for an hour and I thought to myself what a disgrace that was by both Trump and those asking questions. The general public wasn’t served at all and it’s no wonder virus cases are what they are down there. People with influence are influencing for their own selfish good and it doesn’t serve anyone beyond their small circle of arrogant power-hungry elites. In Canada, the same thing could very well happen so if you believe strongly in preventing it, the time to get involved would be now.
10 – ONE MORE ON ELECTION – I don’t foresee Covid coming to a magic end anytime soon because of the change at President. First of all, I’ve never once viewed this as a hoax despite the fact my opinions seem to be in line with those who think it is. I just think we should deal with this new health crisis without destroying the lives of young and healthy people who are not in any danger should they get it, which also creates many, many more health problems for people but what do I know as I’m not a health expert? Surely, there is a sensible reason why an increase in overdose, suicides, etc. are totally acceptable but since I’m a dummy without a health degree I am unable to understand. You may also know that Joe Biden is in support of a national lockdown, national mandatory mask policies, and all sorts of cumbersome rules that are diametrically opposed to opening up life to normal and now that he’s won, he has the support of the majority of Americans to enact exactly that. Biden’s team is also very socialist and the easiest way, as we’ve seen, to enact that type of rule is to wreck everyone who is doing well for themselves (the super rich being excluded). So if you are like me and hoping for more of an opening in the coming months, forget it.
(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster. Follow him on Twitter at @Stack1975)
