Commentary: “The New Phone Books Are Here!”

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A coupla three or more thoughts entering the weekend …

#1 – It’s always a treat when the Saskatchewan boys roll through Sunrise and that was the case last night as Melville’s Todd McLellan brought his Detroit Red Wings in to face the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on ESPN.

The Wings crowned the Panthers 5-2 – Sergei Bobrovsky on pulled after allowing four goals – and Detroit has now won eight of 10 games under Todd.

GM Stevie Y was right; a team which boasts Patrick Kane, Vladimir Tarasenko, Alex Debrincat and Cam Talbot should not have been languishing near the bottom of the standings.

Way to go Todd! It was nice to see you.

#2 – It’s a weird world these days. Everywhere.

My Regina hockey friends tell me the Triple-A Pat Canadians are drawing bigger crowds than the Pats, and that the Cooperators Centre was packed to the rafters last night to watch Regina blow a 3-0 lead and lose 6-5 to Moose Jaw.

The people got what they came for – presumptive #1 WHL pick Maddox Schultz scored for Regina in a losing cause.

It’s nice that hockey fans in the Queen City have something to rally around, even if it isn’t the Pats.

And #3 – If you’ve been following my stuff for a long time, you’ll know I never got too excited about the CFL schedule coming out, or any other league.

I totally get that a lot of Canadian sports fans plan their summers around it but when you work in the league, it’s a simple case of “Tell me where I need to be and when.”

But the fan anticipation and euphoria around Thursday’s release was fun to watch. It always reminds me of Steve Martin in the movie The Jerk. “The new phone books are here! The new phone books are here!”

I’ve long said I’d like to have seen all CFL teams hold NFL-style schedule release parties to capitalize on the interest but nobody seemed to agree.

Eventually, you stop beating your head against the wall. It really feels good once you do.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary.

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm & 4 pm ET on Game+TV, Podcast & YouTube Live)