STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – ELKS BAD – The Edmonton Elks have now lost 18 straight home games after falling 17-13 to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday afternoon.  If that’s not embarrassing enough, the Elks failed to convert on 1st and goal from the one THREE times in a row late in the fourth quarter.  Full marks to the Riders for defending but in the CFL if you can’t get in even once when you have three chances from the one yard line, you don’t deserve to win.  It was guaranteed win night for the fans in Edmonton, so apparently everyone that was in attendance gets to go for free until they finally win one at the so-called friendly confines.  That team is a bloody disaster and that game was very winnable even late in the fourth.  I’m inclined to say they may go the entire year again without winning at home.

2 – HARRIS REVIEW – It was an unspectacular game for Trevor Harris in his Rider debut, going 20-of-33 for 179, 1TD, 2INT.  The Riders did run the ball effectively on the final drive of the game which kept Edmonton from getting the offense on the field and the goal line stand was huge as Harris had thrown one of his picks just prior to that. I didn’t watch this game, I just listened to the Elks broadcast on Sirius XM so I am not as up to speed on what happened at the end of the game as far as strategy goes to prevent a possible hail mary, but it worked out in the end and the Riders won.  There is some debate about exposing Trevor Harris to injury, does Craig Dickenson have confidence in his kicker, and what does he think about his team overall if he’s that concerned a hail mary will beat them?  To all of that I will say these are still the Riders and they are the best at finding creative ways to lose, so maybe Dickenson just wanted to ensure it wasn’t going to be at all possible even if the chances were slim and none.

3 – CFL SCORES – I know this will seem like I’m picking on the CFL, but how come TSN broadcasts the games but I can’t even get a score during the game on their App?  It was well into the fourth quarter and I wanted to check some player stats but it was still showing 0-0 and a 5pm start.  Meanwhile, the Sportsnet App had the score but no stats.  I realize it’s week one, but it’s not a brand new league.  Let’s get the score and the stats on the App of the two main sports companies in the country can we please.

4 – FAJARDO DEBUT – Meanwhile, Cody Fajardo was his typical self in his debut for Montreal.  He was 14-of-21, 0 passing touchdowns, 1 rushing score, and he was sacked 6 times while still figuring out a way to lead his team to victory.  Count me in as one of the people pointing fingers at the Saskatchewan offensive line last season but I’m more than willing to eat crow on that should Fajardo continue to get sacked in large numbers on a weekly basis with his new team.  At some point, it IS the quarterback’s fault.

5 – RATTLERS BLOWN OUT – The Saskatchewan Rattlers went to sleep on offense Sunday afternoon, losing 80-63 to the Calgary Surge.  Malik Benlevi had 14-points and 9-rebounds for the Rattlers, who fall to 2-and-3 on the year.  Saskatchewan actually led this game 35-27 but were dominated to the tune of 53-28 from that point forward.  Drake Jeffries and Jermel Kennedy combined to go 4-for-19 from the field, which contributed to the power outage.  

6 – WRIGHT-FOREMAN MIA – You cannot be taken seriously as a professional league/team when the top player in the league misses a game and nobody seems to know why.  Justin Wright-Foreman didn’t play on Sunday afternoon and even after I got home, several hours after the game was over, I still didn’t know why.  Is he injured?  Did he go home?  Was he benched for disciplinary reasons?  The closest I got to figuring out his status was on a Facebook post where a Rattlers official answered a query by simply saying we would be seeing him again.  Now, it’s possible his absence was explained to the television audience but for those in attendance and looking to see the CEBL’s marquee player, there was nothing.

7 – CEBL ROSTER CONSTRUCTION – This isn’t nearly as big of a bone of contention as the Wright-Foreman absence, but I think there has to be more public awareness for CEBL fans as far as what to expect with player longevity.  Why is Tony Carr only a one-year player?  There’s probably a very good explanation for it, I’m just not sure what it is.  Davonte Bandoo played for two seasons and a third year would provide even more familiarity for the fans, but he’s not on a CEBL roster either.  Anthony Tsegakele is in his second season as a Rattler, but they had to draft him even after he already had played a year for them.  How come?

8 – DUBOIS – As bad as Blake Wheeler comes across publicly, Pierre Luc Dubois has to be even worse.  While Dubois, after this season, will have earned the right to go and play wherever he wants, the manner with which he’s carried himself for two straight offseasons by sewering any return the Jets would get in a trade has been unclassy to say the least.  But, what should one expect from Dubois?  I did a bit of googling this week and it sounds as though when Dubois was returned to Cape Breton (QMJHL) from the Columbus Blue Jackets upon getting drafted in 2016, his attitude was less than stellar.  The stats back this up as he produced just 18-points in 20-games after scoring 99-points in 62-games the season before.  Then we have him orchestrating his way out of Columbus early in the 2020-21 season because John Tortorella was a little too tough on him.  There’s a viral clip on YouTube where Dubois demonstrates, perhaps, the laziest NHL shift ever recorded.  He also put up a paltry 0-goals and 1-assist in 5-games.  Now he’s on the Jets and trying to push his way out to Montreal and for some reason the Habs are receptive.  The 24-year-old has never scored 30 goals in an NHL season but is viewed by many as elite and will get paid as such.  Call it the most overrated player in the game today and good riddance when he finally goes.  Even if he scores 50 with Montreal the chances of him ever doing it with Winnipeg are slim and none because he, simply, doesn’t want to be there. 

9 – BASS – I’m not going to go too far into the Anthony Bass situation other than to say he’s highly unlikely to find another MLB home after his comments were deemed cancellable by those in charge of cancelling people.  The Jays went out the next day and their bullpen was horrid in losing 9-4 to Minnesota.  We’ve seen cancel culture rear its ugly head with the Saskatchewan Roughriders last season, eventually caving and releasing Garrett Marino and then going on to lose every single game thereafter.  Running afoul of the politically correct also may have damaged the Saskatchewan Rush, who saw a promising season go up in smoke after a controversial halftime show that was heavily promoted and caused division within their fan base and perhaps within their roster as well.  Let’s see how the Jays come out of this.  

10 – SOFTBALL STAR – I love discovering elite athletes from my local area that fly under the mainstream radar because the sport is not hockey or football.  This weekend I stumbled upon one by accident through the girls softball team that I coach.  Our U17/19 Yorkton team went to Hudson Bay to play a doubleheader and the hospitality was beyond expectations.  After posting a group photo on social media thanking our hosts, a friend of mine from southeastern Ontario commented about how he was sure he once played at the Hudson Bay Regional Park over 40 years ago and recalled facing a stud pitcher.  I mentioned this to Dion Morton, who coached the Lazers on the weekend and he wasted no time saying this was Gerry Melnychuk and his granddaughter is Brook Melnychuk, who pitches for Louisiana Tech, where she led the team with a 2.04-ERA.  She also threw 8 innings of shutout ball in her last appearance of the season, a 6-3 (13 inning) victory over Western Kentucky.  Her bio made me chuckle when it noted that Hudson Bay Community High School didn’t have a softball program, but she played travel ball out of Saskatoon and it listed her coaches, one of which I believe is former SJHL referee Keith Mackintosh.

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