Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

2 – FACE OFFS – The best box lacrosse face off specialist in the world is Jake Withers of the Thunderbirds. While his heavyweight title belt wasn’t taken away last night, there is definitely a new contender rocketing up the rankings. Jake Naso went 6-and-6 against Withers in the first half and then won five of the first six draws in the second half and ended up winning 12-to-9 over Withers in the faceoff department overall. Last year in two games against Saskatchewan, Withers won nearly 90% of the draws.  Withers won the key overtime face off but Naso won several in a row in the fourth that allowed the Rush to keep momentum in their comeback bid.  If not for Manns scoring six goals, the Rush player of the game was Naso. The other thing that is super impressive about the rookie Naso is that even when he does lose a faceoff, it’s almost never clean and there was one particular draw that he won against Withers where the two battled it out at centre for a good 15 seconds before the ball sprung loose and Saskatchewan took over possession.

3 – RUSH YOUNG PLAYERS – I’m not sure if we witnessed an official changing of the guard last night with the Church injury or not but even when he was in there, the offense seemed to have the most spark when rookies Brock Haley and Levi Anderson were pushing the play. Manns is in his second season with the Rush after being acquired for team legend Mark Matthews in the summer of 2023 and he was, clearly, the player the team leaned on down the stretch. The 26-year-old played a support role in Toronto for three years prior to arriving here. On defense, Jake Boudreau picked up an astounding 21 loose balls last night and he’s in year three of his NLL career. He also was credited with 3-assists. Defensively, even when the offense was sputtering (to be kind), the Rush looked like a well oiled machine for all four quarters. Frank Scigliano started slow, allowing four goals on ten shots in the opening frame but he was brilliant the rest of the way in giving his teammates a chance to catch up. Ultimately, the Rush went over 26 minutes without a goal and never ever had a lead in this game but somehow came away with the W.

4 – RUSH GAME EXPERIENCE – Not all is well in Rush Land. The in-game entertainment experience has taken a noticeable drop off the ledge.  Obviously, the team is cutting costs with the dwindling attendance (more on that coming) and the first thing that I picked up on was that there is no Ashley Callingbull anymore. They are down from two in-game hosts to one and they also had one of the Electric Crew hosting a commercial break timeout fan interaction game. Last year, I felt they had the public address announcer turned up too high and last night I thought he was too low. I also saw on social media that he was battling an illness so I’ll cut him some slack as far as quality of work goes but that aspect of the game is very important. Mike McGuire made it an art and he is still sorely missed three years later.

5 – RUSH FANS – Now for the attendance. To say it was disappointing last night is being kind. I get it. The Rush have been out of the playoffs since 2019 so the onus is on them to show the fans they are back on track. But they’ve gone from averaging 14,000 a night to 8000 a game last year and there is no way there was even close to 8,000 there last night for the season home opener.  There are sections at SaskTel Centre that are closed off today and I remember sitting in those same sections three years ago. The atmosphere was also very different from years past … until Manns started scoring goals in the fourth quarter and then it was bedlam for the final five minutes and overtime. I think I have to credit the Saskatoon Hilltops who sat in the front row for some of that. They started to get on Halifax goalie Warren Hill and it was contagious amongst the crowd and maybe even affected him judging by the steady stream of goals in the fourth. Next home game is December 28th and with the team no worse than 2-and-1 by then, there is no reason for fans to stay away now. The team has done their part by getting off to a good start to the season. Assuming more show up, the Rush need to ensure the overall entertainment package more closely resembles that of past seasons and not last night. Homework for both organization and fan base for the game in two weeks.

6 – RIDERS RENT – I was considering not writing about the Saskatchewan Roughriders ‘rent forgiveness’ story that was in the headlines this week but I just can’t ignore it. We live in times where the cost of living is high and people don’t have a lot of extra money to spend kicking around on the bedroom dresser. Governments don’t have it either, yet the Riders can announce record profits out of one side of their mouth and then ask for rent forgiveness from the other side.  Regina’s new Council decides that ‘yes’ we have more than enough money so we can do that for you and allow you to wipe $1.33-million in back Covid-related rent off the books? For their part, in listening to a clip from Regina mayor Chad Bachynski, it doesn’t sound like anyone from the Riders went to the council meeting this week. Bachynski brushed off the notion of them being there and said it comes down to working with a significant community partner. In reading an article done by Regina’s local newspaper, it would also appear the Riders were willing to take the matter to court and they also owe $3.6-million overall. The Riders also claim it’s not a matter of whether or not they can afford to pay — they can. For them, it comes down to the fact that the season was cancelled and they never used the facility. I wonder how many other businesses can sue their landlord over the heavyhanded government mandated closures that resulted in many losing their livelihoods entirely. It sure would be nice if all of those companies and people could come back and negotiate forgiveness and operate like nothing ever happened as well. Once again, though, it’s the taxpayer that gets screwed over. It’s not the Regina city government that writes it off. It’s you. The person who lives in Regina that is staring at paying even more taxes to those who have no respect for how your money is used. You are the one who gets the shaft here.

7 – TSN FOR SALE – Depending on who you talk to, The Sports Network is up for sale. A bigger question is ‘who would buy it?’ NHL rights are coming due again after the 2025-26 season and I can’t see Sportsnet and TSN getting into the bidding war that they did last time. Sportsnet didn’t come away much of a winner there. There were stories early on in the deal about them having to do make-goods on ads and the so-called smorgasbord of hockey that they were offering viewers on Saturday night quickly became the Leafs in the early game and then Vancouver or Edmonton in the late game and that’s it.  On nights when they show other teams, they tap in to those local market television crews as opposed to using their own because they cut countless talent in an effort to trim costs. For TSN to have value to a potential buyer, they’d need to have something attractive as far as exclusive rights go. They don’t have the NHL, but they do have the local Maple Leafs rights and that’s worth something. We shouldn’t underestimate that. They don’t have the Blue Jays though and the CFL isn’t what it once was and they also don’t do a very good job of making it a major property for them. People are also consuming their TV a lot differently than they used to. For fun, I tuned in to Sportscentre for the first time in years and the unrecognizable talking head on the desk, promptly, mispronounced nearly every single name when voicing the highlights from the World Junior selection camp so what would make me watch again?  Sarah Davis looked good but that can only take a network so far. In today’s day and age, lots of people look good and they are splattered all over the internet if you are into that kind of thing. Oh by the way, TSN has the rights to the WJHC too but it’s also not what it once was either.  I could see TSN going completely dark before I can see another entity buy it and that would be bad news for the CFL.

8 – PRO SPORTS SALARIES – I keep thinking we are going to see a ceiling for professional sports salaries or else teams will go completely under and here I am after Juan Soto gets $51-million a year from the New York Mets and I couldn’t be more wrong. When the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Guardians tell you they have no money, don’t believe them. Sure, they can’t fork over $51-million a year to one single player (it’s also bad for business whether you can afford it or not) but they can sure pay a lot more than what they are paying if they want to win. Baseball is a dying sport as far as interest among young fans is concerned and yet more money than ever is flowing for the free agents this winter. San Francisco gave Willy Adames, who is just a guy, a team record $27-million a year earlier this offseason.  Starting pitchers, who are proving more and more to be totally useless as far as helping teams win games, are cashing in like every one of them is Nolan Ryan. Blake Snell, who has surpassed 130 innings a season only twice in his career, got $36.5-million a year from the Dodgers.  New Yankee Max Fried got over $27-million for each of the next eight years even though it’s a good bet that he will miss two of those because of injury at some point. Fried is already 30 and had the worst season of his career in 2024.  It makes no sense to me other than there is, clearly, way more money being made than what we think through several various underrated revenue streams.

9 – COLE CUSITAR – By now you have probably seen the story of Churchbridge Imperial Cole Cusitar, who escaped a potentially fatal situation last Saturday night when his neck was cut by a skate of another player.  Not surprisingly, the media got a hold of this ‘mandatory neck guards’ issue and went with it for the week. Where Cole was cut, a neck guard wouldn’t have done a lot. Having said that, while I don’t believe in mandating adults to do much of anything, I would say it would be wise for all of them to wear neck guards. Skates are sharper than ever before and some players are even sharpening skates during games. They are, literally, knives.  Players also move faster than ever before and, therefore, they fall down more than ever before. I’m surprised a serious incident like this doesn’t happen more often. So while I can’t support the nanny state we live in, I do think all players should wear a neck guard. Here’s another tidbit from that incident that isn’t talked about enough.  Most communities that have senior hockey do not have a hospital. That’s a potentially dangerous recipe. Cole’s situation occurred in Esterhazy where they do have a health facility but since the public doesn’t pay for it (sarcasm) and it’s free … the ER was closed that night. I mean emergencies should only happen during the 9-5 workday, especially in a town where there is a 24/7 underground mine. Anyways, kudos to the health workers who did open the door for Cole and those helping him in what may have been a life or death matter. Also, special recognition should be given to his surgeon who did an excellent job on the 88 stitches used to close the wound. Cole’s wife said if not for the visibility of the stitches, you’d never know he was cut open to the extent that he was.  The other thing I want to mention is that when it comes right down to it, the hockey community is one big family. Esterhazy Flyer Jayden Isaac was the player screaming for someone to help when the incident happened.

10 – DUKE LACROSSE ACCUSER – The woman who in 2006 falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her – a case that made national headlines and stirred tensions about race, class, and the privilege of college athletes – has admitted publicly for the first time that she made up the story. Crystal Mangum, who is Black, said in an interview with Let’s Talk With Kat podcast that she ‘made up a story that wasn’t true’ about the White players who attended a party where she was hired to perform as a stripper ‘because I wanted validation from people and not from God.’ She also said that she hopes the three, who were exonerated in 2007 after the accusation fell apart, can forgive her. “I want them to know that I love them and they didn’t deserve that.” I guess that makes it all better then.

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster)