10 Monday Things For Suds Car Wash

Truth & Rumours …

1 – MONDAY NEWS CONFERENCE: Sunday afternoon I was minding my own business, watching NFL football, when the notification came in that CFL Commissioner Stewart Johnston is to hold a news conference Monday at 1 pm ET with a “major announcement about significant changes to the game”. Frankly I was content to simply wait for the newser to see what the fuss was about but then a message came in from a high ranking football official. He said plans to “Americanize” the CFL game have been bubbling for weeks and it appears the League is finally ready to make it official. This gentleman, whom I’ve known and worked with for years, used the term “shuffling” regarding rules beginning in 2026, with a pathway to full-on “Americanization” (his term). He suggested possibly moving to four downs at first, then field size, ratio, and all the rest. Perhaps not necessarily in that order. Again, I wasn’t going to report anything at all but he ended his note with “Don’t say I was never nice to you!” which implies that I should report it. So here we are!

Some CFL pundits & gatekeepers are bristling at the speculation that’s out there but if the League isn’t happy about that, they shouldn’t have teased “significant changes to the game” in their news release. And if they wanted to get people talking, they certainly have.

2 – THE WORM TURNS: There are only five weeks left in the Canadian Football League season and things have turned anxious for a handful of teams. Here are your scores from the just-completed Week 16: Montreal 21-Toronto 19, BC 52-Calgary 23, Winnipeg 26-Ottawa 18 and Hamilton 29-Edmonton 27.

Winnipeg survived the quarterbacking of Chris Streveler (replacing the injured Zach Collaros) and moved to 7-7, the identical record of BC who eviscerated Calgary. With Toronto’s loss, it’s looking like four teams from the West Division will make the playoffs and the crossover will be invoked for the first time since 2019. … Despite winning with Complimentary Football, I can’t see the Bombers advancing to the Grey Cup without Zach. … The Stampeders lost their top two quarterbacks – hopefully not for long – but they’ve dropped out of the conversation as the CFL’s #1 team. … Edmonton’s loss at Hamilton was critical, dropping them to 5-9 and behind the 8-ball to gain a playoff spot. I pegged them at five wins going into the season, and they may not win another. … Saskatchewan had a bye with a 10-3 record. I had them pegged at 13 wins and am comfortable with that. The week off gave them time to lick their wounds from an inexplicable 48-31 home loss to Montreal in Week 15. These things happen.

3 – HALL OF FAME: As each year goes by, there seems to be less and less fanfare around the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and its yearly induction class. It’s pointless to get into the reasons why but this year’s class of Jermain Copeland, Bryan Chiu, Jovan Olafioye, Darryl Hall, Scott Flagel, Glen Johnson and Frank McCrystal was inducted Friday night in Hamilton, and honoured at Saturday’s game. Shame on me perhaps, but I’ve seen no coverage of their speeches. The CFHOFM does have a Twitter account, but it hasn’t been updated since June. I didn’t see a story on the CFL website, but maybe I’m blind. There were some snippets on the CFL Instagram account so that’s nice, but it’s not like coverage was splashed everywhere like it used to be. The inductees deserve better!

Analyst and 5-time Grey Cup champ Jim Barker mentioned on Friday’s RP Show that he brought Copeland into the CFL from the XFL back in 2001, and that Bryan Chiu was the “best defensive sign stealer of all-time” and that contributed mightily to the success of the 2000s Montreal offense. These are the types of stories that make these inductions great. Wish there was a venue to hear more of them.

4 – WINNING MATTERS #1: Thanks to the Regina Rams Alumni Facebook page, on Friday morning I saw a photo of Rams icons Frank McCrystal, Ed Bankowski, Paul Barnby and Doug McKillop in Southern Ontario. After a second of reflecting, that’s how I realized it was HofF weekend. Those names, and men, mean so much to me. The first team I was ever “the Voice of” was the 1991 Regina Rams and McCrystal was the Head Coach, Bankowski was my statistician, Barnby was my color commentator (road games) and Doug McKillop was team President. So we were together a lot and they all had a huge impact on my life, even today. People used to criticize Rams culture back then but there’s one thing no one could ever dispute: they won. Winning still matters.

5 – COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Going into Week 4 the margin of victory in CFB games is wider than ever and pundits are pointing to NIL and the Transfer Portal. Maybe that’ll be looked into, or maybe it won’t. But here are some thoughts: Belichick’s UNC Tar Heels fell to 2-2 with a 34-9 loss at UCF … Arch Manning can’t throw? He tossed three TDs (and rushed for 2 more) in Texas’s 55-0 rout of Sam Houston … In one of the closest games of the day Miami got past Florida 26-7 to go to 4-0 and the Hurricanes are not only the most popular football team in South Florida, but they are legit National Championship contenders. Trouble is, their QB Carson Beck had far from his best game. It was also nice to welcome the College Game Day crew to the UM campus, and nice of them to welcome Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk as their celebrity guest picker. He’s the first hockey player they’ve ever had on the set … Kent Austin’s Auburn Tigers lost their first game of the season, 24-17 at Oklahoma. They were looking to go to 4-0 for the first time under Hugh Freeze.

6 – DROP THE PUCK: The National Hockey League preseason opened Saturday night with Dallas beating St. Louis 2-1 in a shootout. Regina Pats great Sam Steel notched the winner! … There were 15 games on Sunday including a doubleheader in Nashville where the Preds swept the Florida Panthers 5-0 and 5-3. Florida had nary a veteran in the lineup while the Predators dressed a lineup which featured Stamkos, Marchessault, Saros and the rest (they needed the wins for PR sake). The Oilers and Flames split a pair of split-squad games, with the road teams winning. The Jets lost 3-2 at home in overtime to Minnesota with Yakov Trenin scoring the winner. IT’S ON! The Tampa Bay Lightning play their first preseason game Monday at Carolina.

7 – 10 BURNING NHL QUESTIONS: I’ll expand on this in a column featured at RodPedersen.com but here are my top 10 NHL stories entering the season: 10) The Calgary Flames tied an NHL record by missing the playoffs with 96 points last season. Do they take a step forward and into the playoffs this year despite a fairly quiet off-season? 9) There will always be heat on Connor Bedard – who only turned 20 in July – but he’s led Chicago in scoring the past two seasons. Do the Blackhawks have a hope of being respectable this season? 8) Training camp hadn’t even opened yet and Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman was asked about his job security. Is this the year the rebuilding Wings finally make the playoffs?, 7) Both hot young rebuilding teams made the playoffs last year but which of Montreal and Ottawa will have more points in the Atlantic Division this season?, 6) With a new coach (Mike Sullivan) and new captain (J.T. Miller), will the NY Rangers return to the playoffs two seasons after winning the Presidents Trophy?, 5) Will Sidney Crosby finish his career as a Pittsburgh Penguin?, 4) Who will have a better (longer) season after The Split: Vegas’s Mitch Marner or the Toronto Maple Leafs?, 3) As reigning Presidents Trophy champs, can the Winnipeg Jets take the next step and win the Stanley Cup?, 2) Is Connor McDavid playing his last season as an Edmonton Oiler?, 1) Can the Florida Panthers 3-peat as Stanley Cup champions, the first team do it since the NY Islanders won four in a row from 1980-83? 

METRO PREDICTION: It’s our final NHL divisional prediction of the season and it’s a toughie. But here we go!: 1) Carolina, 2) New Jersey), 3) NY Rangers, 4) Washington, 5) Pittsburgh, 6) Philadelphia, 7) NY Islanders, 8) Columbus

8 – WINNING MATTERS #2: The defending National Champion D2 Florida Atlantic Owls hockey team opened their season Friday night with a 6-0 whitewash of the visiting University of Florida Gators in Boca Raton, FL. I was there as the Owls raised the banner at a jam-packed Boca Ice Centre and something struck me as the graduated players were on the ice in their jerseys from last year; these guys will always be champions. It was the first title in the history of the school and second-year coach Christian Long has become a good friend. I don’t care where you live — once you’ve been a champion that’s something no one can ever take away from you and these guys are absolute icons now in the South Florida hockey community. It’s not like I haven’t been around champions before, but it definitely hits home more the older you get. I’m so grateful they’ve welcomed me in! The Owls are playing a 3-in-3 weekend, all at home, and it’s been so much fun being a part of it. 

9 – THUNDER ROLLS: The Regina Thunder survived a late game rally by Winnipeg on Sunday, to defeat the Rifles 41-40 in a Prairie Football Conference thriller. Up by a touchdown with less than a minute to go, the Thunder looked to have the game in hand, until Rifles quarterback Riley Element hooked up with receiver Cole Davies for a 47-yard touchdown strike. That long touchdown made the score 41-40.  Instead of kicking the extra point to tie the game, the Rifles decided to go for a two-point convert and the win. The Thunder defense rose to the occasion, stuffing the attempt and sealing a hard-fought road victory. With the win, Regina improved their record to 5-1 on the season and now get ready for a marquee matchup next Saturday in Saskatoon, where they’ll battle the Hilltops, also 5-1, for first place in the PFC. (Outlaw Communications/Tony Playter)