Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

1 – RIDERS CLASS OF THE CFL – The Saskatchewan Roughriders are 4-and-0 and, to me, look like the clear favorites in the West Division.  A few folks have pointed out that the Riders haven’t actually played a tough team yet.  Edmonton and Hamilton aren’t that good while Toronto is also weak due to the fact their starting quarterback is suspended.  I’m not sure the Argos starting quarterback ever plays again, but that’s a paragraph for a different day.  Let’s look at the rest of the league:  Ottawa isn’t awesome and it appears as though they may be without their starting QB for awhile.  Calgary isn’t bad but they are in a rebuild of sorts.  BC is 3-and-1 but they’ve feasted on some weaker competition and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are 1-and-4 out of the gate.  That leaves Montreal as the only real formidable opponent for the Riders.  

2 – CFL TALENT LEVEL – Are the Riders really that strong or is the CFL going through a period where the talent is somewhat lacking?  If you look at the top quarterbacks in the league, Trevor Harris and Vernon Adams were backups five years ago.  Did they get better in their 30s?  That would be unusual.  A number of years ago, I wrote about the impact of the expanded NFL practice rosters on the CFL.  Nobody really wants to talk about it but I believe that’s what we are seeing today.  Nevermind the quarterbacks, but are there players at the level of Adam Bighill, Adarius Bowman, Solomon Elimimian, Odell Willis, Joffrey Reynolds, etc? Maybe there are and I’m just not noticing but it doesn’t feel like the stature or the prominence is the same.

3 – RIDERS QB – For the time being, the Riders are turning over the keys to the offense to Shea Patterson at quarterback while Trevor Harris sits on the 6-game injured list.  There is some speculation Harris will be activated early, perhaps after he misses 4-games, but for now this is Patterson’s team.  Patterson does have some pedigree.  He was the first overall draft pick in the 2022 USFL Draft but he lost the starting job early in the season.  He’s bounced around a number of rosters since that time and did get in some reps in the American Spring leagues but failed to stand out.  Patterson’s back up as of now is Jack Coan and he, too, played in the Spring league (XFL San Antonio) last season and his numbers are similar to Patterson’s in that they are middle of the road, at best.  Assuming the USFL and XFL are inferior to the CFL, expectations shouldn’t be high for either Patterson or Coan but you never know.  Patterson was serviceable in the win over Toronto, but the best quarterback on the field as far as the Riders are concerned was Argo Cameron Dukes, who tossed 4 interceptions and gave the game away.  

4 – JETS GROUNDED – The NHL Free Agent signing season is upon us and the Winnipeg Jets have been noticeably absent from participating aside from inking disappointing prospect Jaret Anderson-Dolan away from Los Angeles and Kappo Kahkonen from San Jose to be the new back up goalie as well as a couple of other minor leaguers.  For the most part, Jets fans give their team a pass on not signing free agents because the assumption is that life in Winnipeg is so bad that nobody wants to play there despite Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck recently agreeing to re-up with the team on long term deals.  The excuse that Winnipeg is an unattractive city is getting old.  If you have a winning culture, players will go.  The Jets, simply, don’t have a winning culture.

5 – ANOTHER RATTLERS LOSS – The Saskatchewan Rattlers lost their sixth straight game on Friday night, 105-99 to the Scarborough Shooting Stars.  The Rattlers actually led the game 81-73 early in the fourth but were outscored 23-5 leading up to the Elam Ending.  It’s safe to say that despite the relative closeness in the standings, the Rattlers are the clear worst team in the West Division.  One bright spot, however, has been the play of Emmanuel Bandoumel, who for the second straight game, lit up the scoresheet as he set a personal best with 29 points in the loss to the Stars.  Newcomer and defending CEBL MVP Teddy Allen was just 6-for-25 from the field, salvaging the game by going 9-for-10 from the charity stripe in scoring 25 points.

6 – RATTLERS ROSTER CHANGE – Basketball game rosters aren’t large.  Only 10 players dress and it’s not unusual for only 8 or 9 of them to play in a game so it should come as a stunning and shocking revelation to learn that four of the five starters in the Rattlers opening night lineup are no longer on the roster and a fifth player, counted on to be one of the anchors of the team, is also gone.  If you are searching for reasons as to why the Rattler season, which began 3-and-0 before losing eight of their next ten, has gone down the toilet–this would be it.  Jalen Harris, EJ Harkless, and Bryson Williams have all moved on to better professional opportunities.  Maurice Calloo was, outright, released and Grant Basile departed for an opportunity to play for Italy at the Olympics.  You can’t blame the players for trying to better their careers but this has to be seen as an issue for the CEBL as far as maintaining fan interest when you can have teams undergoing a total facelift at the midway point of the regular season due to the fact that teams, simply, aren’t able to keep the players here for the duration of the schedule.

7 – TEDDY ALLEN – A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Sea Bears and their release of Allen despite the impressive resume.  It’s clear his signing by the Rattlers is one of desperation but they have no choice and need to roll the dice here.  One game in, you could make the case he actually hurt them with so many missed shots and the schedule isn’t long enough to allow him to get acclimated.  The Rattlers face the Sea Bears on Thursday night at Sasktel Centre in what will be a must win game for both teams as one of these two are destined to miss the playoffs.  Trades aren’t a thing in the CEBL but with Justin Wright-Foreman playing for Winnipeg and Allen with Saskatchewan, it sure feels like a blockbuster was made.  The Sea Bears also have former Rattler Scottie Lindsay in their lineup as well.  Lindsay was an integral part of the starting five two years ago.

8 – MJHL DRAFT – I got asked about this on X last week, so I will touch on it here.  The MJHL will be moving away from the Bantam Draft next year and prospects are free to sign with any team of their choosing.  While there is some thought this method of securing players may put clubs like Neepawa, Waywayseecappo, Swan Valley, and OCN at a disadvantage; the reality is that the landscape in junior hockey is rapidly changing and players already have a multitude of options in other provinces in the event they were to get drafted by an MJHL team that they don’t want to play for. This way, it gives the league a better chance to keep talent at home.  While it’s true that there are certain communities that may be more attractive than others, players will go to programs that are well run regardless of geographical location.

9 – JUNIOR FOOTBALL FREEDOM – There’s an interesting situation developing in the CJFL with London Beefeaters RB LJ Dyer wanting to be released by the Beefs so that he can play in the BCFC but London Head Coach/General Manager Matt Snyder doesn’t want to grant Dyer his release.  The CJFL rules in situations like this are archaic.  Each team has discretion over whether to release players and can form policies based on individual situations.  There is no appeal process for players, while the league and conferences have no jurisdiction over player releases.  Dyer is a London product.  The Beefs are a perennial powerhouse in the OFC with their only real competition being St. Clair (Windsor).  Dyer has played for Snyder at the high school level as well as the last two years in junior.  Holding him hostage now destroys the relationship.  Forcing players to play who don’t want to be a part of the program is almost always a recipe for disaster.  Facts are facts.  Dyer has a better chance of turning pro if he plays in BC.  He averaged a staggering 8.1 yards a carry last season and he doesn’t want to go the college route.  I have a small personal connection to this situation as my son played two years in London and Dyer was on the team both years and Snyder was coach for one.  I’m not at all surprised to hear Dyer wants to leave nor am I surprised the Beefs are going to make him go through Hell to get his wish.  I also found an interesting quote from Snyder where he claims Dyer has taken him out of context when he said he’d be fired from his post if he let Dyer walk.  Snyder says since he is both GM and Coach he was making light of the situation in that he’d have to fire himself but my guess is Snyder does have some fear about job security on this and, ultimately, the decision isn’t is; it will be made by the people (President and his wife) above him and it wouldn’t shock me if they held it against him if he goes to bat for his long time player.  

10 – BADMINTON PLAYER – Some of you are reading my column to see if there is a new sudden death to, tragically, add to the ever growing list that has become all too common in recent years.  I have to say if it weren’t for three astute followers who sent me a post on X, I wouldn’t have had anything this week.  Instead, I’m left to report on 17-year-old badminton player Zhang Zijie, who collapsed and died in the middle of a match last weekend.  The incident was captured on video and is disturbing.  No known cause was immediately listed and while a few of you hate that I post this kind of stuff almost weekly, why don’t you ask yourself why is it that these things are happening on a regular basis now when they either didn’t used to or the media never cared enough to ever show them?

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster)