10 WEEKEND THINGS

Taking shots …

1 – WIN IT FOR WOLSELEY: There are all kinds of excuses why no Saskatchewan community has ever won the iconic Kraft Hockeyville contest – the one which awards a gigantic grant and NHL preseason game to your local facility annually – but none is a good enough reason. So there’s no time like the present! Wherever you’re reading this, please click on the link and pre-register for the voting which opens on Friday morning. Wolseley is a tremendous sports town with, I’m told, the oldest ice plant in North America. Let’s win the contest and then we can reveal some exciting things planned for this summer in Wolseley which I’ll be thrilled to attend!

2 – 1974: It seems like there’s a million things going on in sports right now but my mind is on the 50th anniversary celebration of the last Regina Pats team to win the Memorial Cup. They’re being honoured in the Queen City this weekend and Friday’s Pats game drew a season-high crowd of 5,514 to applaud this group for perhaps the last time. That particular team means so much to Regina sports fans. In 1999 we held their 25-year reunion and it included a golf tourney at Flowing Springs and a banquet at Holy Child Parish. I recall Clark Gillies stepping out of a black sedan in the golf course parking lot that day, wearing a crisp red golf shirt, slacks, and very long, black, shiny dress shoes and shades. C-L-A-S-S. Years later we held a 40-year anniversary smoker at the Press Box Sports Bar, which I also hosted, and I remember Dennis Sobchuk going on for 20-minutes with the microphone before turning to me and saying, “What was the question again?” Lang, Moose Jaw, Dysart. There will never be teams like this again. I’m just glad to have been included at some points along the way.

3 – GO PATS GO: Since the Regina Pats are my favourite all-time sports franchise, it’s a kick in the teeth to see them dead-last in the WHL’s Eastern Conference standings this year, and a further kick in the ribs to end the season with an 11-1 loss in Moose Jaw. WTF? The good news is Alan Millar is in charge as the General Manager. From 2010 to 2020 only the Brandon Wheat Kings won more games in the WHL East than Millar’s Moose Jaw Warriors. If you’re not selling wins, you’d better be selling hope and at the last the Pats have that.

4 – NEXT SASK CUP CHAMP: Bravo to the Saskatoon Blades for winning the WHL’s Regular Season title and hey look — the standings in the East go: Saskatoon, Swift Current, Moose Jaw! Which one of these Sask cities will be the next to win a Memorial Cup (the first since the 1989 Swift Current Broncos)? Or maybe it’ll even be the Pats one of these years! … The 2024 Memorial Cup will be played in Saginaw, MI. I thought they said the Cup could no longer be held in the USA? Things change, I guess. … An RP Show viewer from Toronto asked this week why TSN or Sportsnet don’t run a March Madness promotion for the Canadian Hockey League? My answer: Ask them.

5 – JUNIOR A: Coming out of the weekend, the home teams swept Games 1 & 2 of all SJHL series. Flin Flon’s up 2-0 on Kindersely, Battlefords is up 2-0 on Melville, Melfort’s up 2-0 on Estevan and Humboldt’s up 2-0 on Weyburn. … There will be no Anavet Cup, and 10 teams from across the CJHL will compete in the 2024 Centennial Cup in Oakville, ON. Love the format!

6 – SPORTS MEDIA: It feels like the Canadian Football League, Canadian Elite Basketball League, National Lacrosse League and Canadian Hockey League could all benefit greatly from the type of coverage the Professional Womens Hockey League is enjoying. … Having said that, I’ve tuned into the PWHL broadcasts on Bally Sports Florida (bravo Daniella Ponticelli!) and found the hockey to be quite good. … But those other leagues are real good too, but are largely a secret among the media for some reason; at least compared to the PWHL.

7 – TIME TO HUNT: Ahhhhh, finally to the NHL coverage. FYI the sky is falling among Florida Panthers fans (yes, they exist) as the team carries a four-game losing streak into Philadelphia Sunday night as part of an 11-game slate. It’s the longest such streak this season for the Cats and the fans are fit to be tied. Florida went to the Cup Final last year don’cha know, and is expected to win it all this spring! … Our Cats ‘N Bolts Podcast has become Florida’s most-watched hockey show and I’ve advised the fanbase that adversity is actually good, and it’s better to have a losing streak now than in the playoffs. … “How can you stay so positive?” asked one fan. The answer: You’re just getting to know me. Positivity is the way.

8 – ELSEWHERE: What’s in my NHL vortex? Or purview? The blossoming feud between Philadelphia’s John Tortorella and Philly sportswriter Frank Seravalli is popcorn-worthy. Frank will be around longer than Torts in that market, so my money’s on him. … I’ve never met Tortorella but my NHL friends – particularly Rich Sutter – would walk through fire for him. But I don’t care. Tortorella berates officials, the media and at times, his own players. That’s unacceptable to me. Sorry. … Panic in Edmonton and Winnipeg coming out of this weekend. It’s exhausting. … Correct moves made by Oilers GM Ken Holland: signing Evander Kane, replacing Jay Woodcroft with Kris Knoblauch, demoting Jack Campbell, acquiring Mattias Ekholm. Check, check, check, check. … Flames fans are resigned to the team missing the playoffs, doing a partial rebuild, and trusting rookie GM Craig Conroy & Head Coach Ryan Huska. It’s all they can do. 

9 – FOOTBALL NOTES: The CFL’s Combine wraps up Sunday in Winnipeg and it appears to have been a smashing event! Combines are like puppy love; serious only to the puppies. But the football people got the important measurements and metrics in, plus the all-important face-to-face interviews. Names I was following the most this weekend: Ajou Ajou, Jackson Sombach & D’Sean Mimbs. … The CFL did a splendid job of putting Combine personalities on the RP Show this week. The most memorable? Ajou Ajou who referred to himself in the third person throughout the interview, and corrected my pronunciation of his name (I’m actually truly glad that he did. Most kids don’t). Then, from what I’ve heard and seen, he bombed the Combine. … Next up, the CFL Canadian College Draft on April 30. … I think it’s gonna be a real fun year of CFL football in 2024! … Before that is the NFL Draft in Michigan April 25-27. There’s been a lot of shifting of mock drafts coming out of the NFL Combine, particularly of quarterbacks in the first round! The NFL has a bigger presence in Canada than ever before and it’s fun to follow BOTH.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: “An eye for an eye leaves the world blind”. I heard that this week and now I’ve been forced to rethink another lifelong belief. … Change is good, and so too is an open mind. … You can’t score from the penalty box. … Is there a difference between doing things differently, and not actually knowing what you’re doing at all? … Nice to see Ron MacLean and Don Cherry reconcile and celebrate Grapes’ 90th birthday together. Maybe there’s hope for us all. … MacLean seems to be in some sort of firestorm after comments made Saturday night on Hockey Night In Canada. Next! … Prayers up to Kate Middleton. … Preliminary ratings data shows that the RP Show has experienced tripled ratings from a year ago. And a year ago, ratings doubled from the year before that. We don’t know what we’re doing but whatever it is, people seem to like it! .. “No one fights fair in the streets.” – Carl Gallagher. … Positive people are not positive because they’ve skated through life. They’re positive because they’ve been through hell and decided they don’t want to live there anymore. … You’re not going to get anywhere copying someone else, nor part-timing it. … PedersenRecovery@AOL.com. … The Animal Planet docu-series Lone Star Law isn’t nearly as gripping as Louisiana Law. On an episode this week, Texas Wildlife officials were roping a bull that got out of the pasture, and rescuing a foal that was trapped in a barbed-wire fence. They might as well call the show Milestone Law. … A.J. Ouellette is this century’s Bob Poley. … ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Authorities say a police officer on patrol duty in northwestern Greece has been arrested on drug charges for allegedly using his service car to smuggle 102 kilograms (225 pounds) of marijuana. The suspect was detained in the port town of Igoumenitsa following a road chase, together with an Albanian man found to be riding in the unmarked police vehicle. A police statement says the detained officer ignored his colleagues’ orders to stop for a search Friday and sped away, only coming to a halt after losing control of the vehicle and crashing into parked cars. … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen