10 WEEKEND THINGS

TAKING SHOTS …

1 – ON ROUGHRIDERS: The Riders aren’t getting any style points but they went to 8-4 on Friday with a 19-17 victory over the Edmonton Elks at Commonwealth Stadium. The complaints/concerns over Saskatchewan’s offense are legit (they haven’t scored 20+ points since Week 8 in September) but so too is the team’s record. They’ll finish 10-4 or 9-5 and host a playoff game which proves they’re a strong team. However QB Cody Fajardo doesn’t look comfortable, at all, and that’s a huge problem. He suffered quite a few misfires in the first half against the Elks but finished the game at 72.7% on completions, which is quite high. The team is good, but not good enough to get past Winnipeg.

2 – ANGELO MOSCA: The CFL lost a true icon on Saturday when Hamilton Tiger-Cats legend Angelo Mosca passed away at age 84. Just about any grainy film from CFL commercials from the 1960s & 1970s includes shots of the Waltham, MA product. He’s best remembered now for his infamous fight with Joe Kapp at the CFL Alumni luncheon at the 2011 Grey Cup, but his association with the league obviously goes back decades before that. I’ll tell my best Angie Mosca stories on Monday’s RP Show, and I got a bushel. Our condolences to the Mosca family and the Ticats!

3 – ATTENDANCE: The crowds announced in the CFL in this Week 14 were – Edmonton (24,115 *ya right*), Winnipeg (22,933), Ottawa (18,644) and Hamilton (21,618). Even if this is paid attendance and not actual bums in seats, it’s still not enough to pay the bills in today’s CFL. The most-asked question continues to be “How are they doing it?” but it seems the private owners (BC, Hamilton & Montreal) are digging deeper in their pockets to cover the losses, the sports conglomerates are doing the same (Calgary, Ottawa & Toronto) and the community-owned teams are accepting donations and trying to be creative (Saskatchewan, Edmonton & Winnipeg). We haven’t even hit telethon territory yet so it appears the CFL will survive. Apparently no changes are necessary.

Also, after that commentary posted here on Thursday regarding attendance at Canadian sporting events, I’ve deduced that the majority of Canadians are in a cash crunch and are being selective with where they spend their hard-earned money more than ever before. Mask mandates and proof-of-vaccination are a distant #2 for why people are staying home.

What that tells me is teams, leagues and networks need to work even harder to get in front of people and reach into their pockets.

You’re here reading this column today aren’t you? Voila.

4 – OILERS: They hosted the New York Rangers Friday night at the same time the Elks welcomed the Roughriders but you didn’t hear any bellyaching from Edmontonians about it. The Oilers won 6-5 in OT in a game which star Connor McDavid said reminded him of the 1980s. I wonder how he knows since he was born in 1997? Anyway, it’s shocking this 9-1-0 start is the best in franchise history given those 80’s teams but here we are. And the Oilers are going to need to win 6-5 with the goaltending they possess. If GM Ken Holland was worried about their crease, he’d have gone out and acquired Stanley Cup-winning targets like Braden Holtby or Marc Andre-Fleury already. As it is, Holland augmented their skaters and it’s a case of so far, so good.

5 – THE GOAL: Hockey fans are still buzzing about McDavid’s goal Friday night in which he deked the entire Rangers team. Oiler fans in particular can’t stop talking about it, and I saw one even call out Hockey Night In Canada for not talking about it Saturday night. That’s Edmonton for ya. But it says here that wasn’t even McDavid’s nicest-ever goal! The Rangers were caught standing around watching McDavid, and that includes goalie Alexandar Georgiev. Plus, #97 only covered 100 feet. We’ve all seen goals where he’s gone 200 feet and actually had to work to score! As it is, Friday evening’s goal reminded me of #4 Bobby Orr.

6 – GOLDEN KNIGHTS: My Las Vegas sources tell me there’s major, major heat on the Golden Knights “in the market” for their record entering the weekend (4-5-0) and for trading away The Flower. That may have been the impetus behind the blockbuster deal for Jack Eichel this week. Eichel hasn’t even played since Thursday’s deal – which was completed Wednesday – yet the Golden Knights have gone 2-0 since and scored 10 goals. When Vegas was skunked 4-0 in Toronto last Tuesday, I watched the game and a voice in my head said, “These aren’t my Knights”. However the Eichel trade seems to have woken everybody up in that dressing room. As for the trade itself, it’s a major roll of the dice for GM Kelly McCrimmon whether Eichel comes back 100% in four months from delicate neck surgery, but he’s no stranger to rolling the dice. When you do that, you either win big or lose big and Crim has generally come out on the winning end. When you play it safe, you have no chance of winning big.

If/when Eichel gets healthy, the Golden Knights powerplay will be: PACIORETTY-EICHEL-STONE, THEODORE-PIETRANGELO. That’ll put the Oilers to shame.

7 – OTHER NHL JOTTINGS: The biggest reason I go to WHL games is to chat with NHL people in the media/scouts room. Obviously I love the games too, but this is where the buzz is. The insiders were shocked Florida started rookie goalie Spencer Knight in the biggest game of the year Saturday night, versus 9-0 Carolina, but the kid stopped 28 shots and the Panthers spanked the Hurricanes 5-2 to become the first team in the NHL to 10 wins. … Longtime Panthers broadcaster Randy Moller (@HeyRedDeer) missed the game as he’s in Covid protocol. … Get used to the name Matheiu Darche. He’s the current Director of Hockey Operations for the Tampa Bay Lightning and could be the next GM of the Montreal Canadiens. … The Arizona Coyotes were the last team to get a win, 5-4 over Seattle on Saturday, and are now 1-10-1. I can’t see the team staying in the Desert long enough to get a new arena built. Sure the ownership has presented arena renderings to the City of Tempe. So what? So did the last two ownership groups. … This past week’s RP Show NHL Top 5: 1) Carolina, 2) Florida, 3) Edmonton, 4) St. Louis, 5) Calgary. … The Bottom 5 are 5) Montreal, 4) Chicago, 3) Seattle, 2) LA, 1) Arizona. … Matthew Tkachuk proved this week why the Flames are hesitant to give him the “C”. You can’t beak officials all game and then turn around and have a serious conversation with them when you need to. His brother Brady seems to be a *little* more levelheaded.

8 – PATS/DUB: The Regina Pats have won four in a row following Saturday’s 6-1 thrashing of the Brandon Wheat Kings. As the NHL scouts put it, “Brandon’s best team is in the stands”, meaning their best players are all injured. So what? The Pats are now 6-7-0 and have some confidence back. They weren’t as bad as their record showed when they lost seven in a row before a sweep of Swift Current, and now they’re in third place in the 7-team East Division. Connor Bedard, by the way, was held pointless against the Wheaties but had a handful of great scoring chances. He’s still worth the price of admission and I’m begging you not to let him get out of this town before you’ve had a chance to see him live. Sam Steel almost did! I love my Pats hockey and my whole family does as well.

9 – TIME CHANGE: For everyone on the continent except Saskatchewan & Arizona, we changed our clocks on the weekend. For viewers of The Rod Pedersen Show on Game+ TV, that means the show will continue to air at 12:00 pm ET, but moves to 11:00 am Sask Time. If you don’t have Game+ TV (carried across Canada on cable systems such as Eastlink, Videotron, Rogers, Cogeco, Bell MTS, SaskTel Max & Telus Optik TV), call your cable carrier and ask for it. *PROGRAMMING NOTE* – After 607 shows on Facebook Live, this past Friday marked our final day on Facebook. We took it to the train station. The show airs live daily on YouTube as well as Game+, and you can always listen 24 hours to our digital sports radio station here.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: I heard this phrase this week on NFL Radio and had to laugh – “Statistics are like bikinis. They show a lot but hide the important stuff.” An oldie but a goodie. … Dairy Queen’s Pumpkin Pie Blizzards are next-to-God. It would be nice if DQ sponsored us! … Fortunately Taco Time national DOES sponsor us and we announced the deal this week. I’ve been ordering the same thing since high school; Crisp Meat Burrito, Beef & Cheese Burrito, Large Mexi-Fries and Large Diet Pepsi. #LFG! … Kent Austin was not victorious in his return to his alma mater in NCAA Football on Saturday. Ole Miss dumped Liberty 27-14. … The Regina Rams concluded their season with a 22-3 home loss to Manitoba on Saturday. It’ll be interesting to see if the university removes the “interim” tag from head coach Mark McConkey’s title. I hope so! … The Regina Thunder are home Sunday at 1:00 pm on AccessNow TV. Congratulations to their outstanding head coach Scott McAuley for being named Coach of the Year. … Something to ponder – “Healing also means taking an honest look at the role you play in your own suffering.”

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen