STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – PLAZA OF HONOR – I hope this isn’t taken as any disrespect to those named but how is Darian Durant not on this list?  The most successful quarterback in team history should be an automatic first time eligible inductee. If someone on special teams knew how to count, Durant would be a 2-time starting QB Grey Cup champion and that’s unmatched in the history of the franchise.  For whatever reason, I have always felt Durant never got his just credit while he was a player and I feel like that has continued in retirement.  He led this team to three Grey Cup appearances in five years and is second all-time in franchise passing statistics.  He’s an all-time great.  Period.  In discussing this issue with another Rider fan on Monday, it was pointed out to me that there is another glaring omission in the Plaza – Rod Pedersen.

2 – TROTZ FIRED – The New York Islanders had 84 points this year.  Winnipeg Jets had 89.  Brock Nelson had 37 goals and Anders Lee was second with 28.  My guess is that neither of them have any untapped offense left in the tank.  Goaltenders Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov both had SPCT over .910 while neither goalie truly strikes me as elite.  Meanwhile, Winnipeg got 28 goals from Pierre Luc Dubois but if you ask the thousands upon thousands of deranged Jets fans, he’s capable of scoring 65.  My guess is he should be in the 35-40 range.  Mark Scheifele produced 70 points in 67 games, but there’s a sense he should be near 100 year in and year out.  What’s the ceiling for Nik Ehlers?  Many believe he hasn’t touched it.  There’s also now a bad smell associated with Scheifele and his character and perhaps he’s a big reason why the chemistry of this team has been in shambles for the better part of five years.  The Jets have also been poor defensively for several years.  Trotz checks all the boxes here.  Maximum return on player potential.  Great dressing room chemistry.  Sound defensive structure.  Give the man a blank cheque and let’s go.

3 – TOCCHET – There is a similar situation with Philadelphia and Rick Tocchet.  Tocchet is a highly popular former Flyer player who has a fairly good track record as a coach as far as getting the max from his players.  The Flyers, however, are also a coaching graveyard.  I can’t decide if that organization ruins careers of goalies or coaches at a greater clip.  But, Tocchet should be the automatic selection for their next bench boss.  

4 – NHL PLAYOFFS – I’ve caught snippets of a few different match-ups in the first round and I love how fans overreact to results of singular games.  This is why it’s a best of seven.  Having said that, if Toronto can play like they did in game one on a regular basis, nobody will beat them.  I’m just not sure they can do that consistently.  Edmonton lost 4-0 on Sunday and are in a 2-2 deadlock with Los Angeles but it was nice to see them play with some oomph.  I’m not an Oilers fan so it’s easy for me to say this:  I’m not worried about them.  I think they’ll win this series and they can win any series as long as the goaltending holds up.  I’m just not sure how long that will be.  The Rangers goaltending right now is a complete mystery and it’s why you can’t overspend on contracts for netminders.  Yet, you have to have good goaltending in order to have overall team success.  Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.  Jordan Binnington is another great example. Prior to this season, he was probably the consensus starter for Team Canada in any international competition.  Well, he ended up on the bench for St. Louis to start the first round of the playoffs after a very inconsistent year but now appears to have taken the position back with a 28-save win on Sunday.

5 – KENTUCKY DERBY – Perhaps the most shared sports video of the week is the overhead view of Rich Strike, an 80-1 long shot, navigating his way through traffic on his way to surging along the rail to edge Epicenter down the stretch, winning the Kentucky Derby.  There may be no other sports event that can rival the excitement of the Triple Crown.  The races are short, usually full of drama, and the play by play announcer is almost always outstanding.  The win by Rich Strike reminded me of the 2009 upset where Mine That Bird came from last place to win, passing 18 horses in 21 seconds and winning by almost 7 lengths.  YouTube is your friend here if you want to lose a lot of time on horse racing.  In fact, I highly recommend it.

6 – 1997 TRIPLE CROWN – In my lifetime, nothing rivals the 1997 Triple Crown where Silver Charm won the first two legs and then was beaten in the Belmont by Touch Gold.  Along the way, Free House and Captain Bodgit were formidable foes with the latter two coming second and third in each of the first two races.  Free House was a factor in the Belmont as well and Touch Gold stumbled out of the gate in the Preakness but rallied to come fourth.  Captain Bodgit has a Canadian connection.  At last report, he was still alive and living in Okotoks.  Dave Johnson was the play by play announcer for these three races and I still get shivers watching all three of those races 25 years later.

7 – 1999 CHARISMATIC – As I mentioned, these races usually have a ton of drama.  If you want to dig deep, check out Chris Antley and the 1999 Triple Crown. Antley rode Charismatic to wins in both The Derby and The Preakness.  It looked good in the Belmont until the horse pulled up lame down the stretch as Antley knew something was wrong and he immediately dismounted at the finish line and cradled Charismatic’s leg in an act that saved the horse’s life as there were multiple fractures.  Antley’s compassion was named Sports Moment Of The Year.  Charismatic retired from racing and lived until 2017, when he died from a mysterious pelvic fracture.  Antley died a little over a year after saving Charismatic’s life at the age of 34.  The cause of death was severe blunt force trauma and investigated as a homicide but later revised as a drug overdose and the injuries suffered were the result of his fall.  ESPN made a 30 for 30 about Charismatic and Antley in 2011.

8 – JOSE RAMIREZ – A refreshing and honest comment from the Cleveland third baseman who said he could have held out for more money but the reality is that he really likes where he is and while another team may offer him another $50-million over the duration of his contract, he doesn’t see that changing a privileged lifestyle that he’s very grateful to enjoy. 

9 – NLL – The Saskatchewan Rush may have missed the playoffs but the NLL provided top notch entertainment in the single elimination quarter-finals over the weekend.  I caught two games and both of them had to be the best ones to watch.  On Friday, Halifax rallied from being down 5-1 and 9-3 only to lose 14-13 to the Toronto Rock.  Former Rush goaltender Aaron Bold was in net for the Thunderbirds.  On Saturday, the San Diego Seals held off the Philadelphia Wings 9-8.  The cardiac kid Wings were looking to force overtime, a period in which they went 5-and-0 this season but their top scorers were all held without goals (Corey Small, Ben McIntosh, and Kevin Crowley) and that was their downfall despite a heroic effort from goaltender Zach Higgins, who made 52-saves.   The best of three semi-finals are now set with the Seals going up against the Colorado Mammoth and the Rock will face the league favorite Buffalo Bandits, who had over 12-thousand fans for their win on the weekend against Albany.

10 – NLL ATTENDANCE – Not surprisingly, Buffalo led the league in regular season attendance with an average crowd of 9,921.  Saskatchewan was third overall at 8,947.  Calgary was second with 9,282.  My guess is the Rush rebound a bit next year.  They hovered around the 9,000 mark for every game except one where they had a significant dip (6,999 on January 14th during peak level Covid craziness and they had just under 8,500 on Easter Saturday) but they closed out the season with 10,253 for the regular season finale.  The organization has offered a price reduction on season tickets for anyone seeking an early bird special from now until the middle of June.  

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster. Follow him on Twitter at @Stack1975)