Commentary: “It”
Howard Schellenberger Stadium at FAU
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A coupla three or more thoughts entering the weekend:
#1 – Here’s genuinely hoping you have an excellent one! There are a lot of things on the menu; not the least of which is a thrilling playoff race in the NHL, the Masters of course, and the Blue Jays wrapping up a 10-game road trip in Baltimore. Whatever’s on your plate, enjoy! But please enjoy responsibly.
#2 – If Fall is for football, then Spring is for everything else. And football truly needs to wait its turn because it dwarfs everything else in September, October and November. However I’ll get a little slice of it Friday night with Florida Atlantic University’s spring football game at Howard Schnellenberger Stadium, under new Owls coach Zach Kittley.
But these aren’t really games anymore, even though the teams continue to market them as such. It was former Rider coach Danny Barrett whom I first recall turning these intrasquad games into “controlled scrimmages” decades ago, which ended up being a major letdown for the fans.
Under Chris Jones, they were nothing more than a game of paddycake, or touch football.
But hey they’re the coaches, not the marketers and if you still wanna show up, that’s on you.
I will be tonight, but I’m glad it’s free.
As for Danny Barrett, he’s having the last laugh after many years spent in the NFL, most recently with the Houston Texans.
And #3 – My friends are calling it a great day for hockey in Regina. The Regina Pats won the WHL’s annual Draft lottery on Thursday meaning they’ll have the right to select hometown phenom Maddox Schultz with the top pick this spring. He’s the underaged star of the Pat Canadians, whom are off to the national championship and the fortunes of the big franchise will be pinned on him just like they were former #1 picks Colten Teubert and Connor Bedard.
What can I say? Some teams just seem to have “it”.
That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary.
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Regina Pats have had one winning season (first round exit in playoffs) in the last seven years despite Connor Beddard wearing the jersey. Not sure if this era of the Pats have it?
Listen before you write. Where did the Pats under achieve in Paddock era and post Paddock? They made it to a WHL final. They had to sell to get there. Conor Bedard and that group did exactly what they could do. It was a weird time with that bubble and those 2 years. He was here to help the Semples and they helped him. It was a great 2 seasons. Fun. The Pats are a legitimate professionally run franchise. It’s a credible product. They will have #1 pick. They had a decent team this winter. The losses do not indicate… Read more »
How many playoff series wins since 2018? Really since 2017 to be honest. Make all the excuses and reasons you want but the answer is zero. Other teams seem to have rebuilt and come back around in that time frame.