DAYTONA HOMES FRIDAY RODSERVATIONS
RANDOM NOTES FROM CANADA’S LARGEST CITY
1- TORONTO — The 1-0 Saskatchewan Roughriders arrived in Toronto at midnight eastern time Thurdsay as they prepare for Saturday’s showdown with the 0-1 Toronto Argonauts. The Riders will practice at Varsity Stadium at noon.
The forecast for a summer CFL game could not be better. Environment Canada is calling for sunshine on Saturday, 27 degrees Celsius (80 Fahrenheit) with little or no wind. It’s unlikely the roof at Rogers Centre would be closed, but that’s the call of Argos head coach Scott Milanovich.
2 – CRESTFALLEN — Synonyms for that word are: downhearted, downcast, despondent, disappointed and disconsolate. They all describe how we felt to miss Thursday evening’s historic Ottawa-Winnipeg CFL game. Just as the match was kicking off at Investors Group Field, the Riders were taking off from Regina for Toronto. Had we been on WestJet we could have watched the game however on this roadie, Air Canada was the carrier-of-choice and they don’t offer satellite TV. They had some sort of Wifi in the air, but I couldn’t figure it out. So, with Rider equipment manager Gordon Gilroy beside me, I opted to watch the movie Last Vegas. Again. It didn’t disappoint.
So what happened in the game? Reports say the RedBlacks led for much of the game but the Blue Bombers came-from-behind for a 36-28 win. They’re bouncing off the walls in the Manitoba capital with the Bombers’ 2-0 start and their fans are chirping me on Twitter. That’s what makes it great!
They’ve taken to calling Winnipeg, “Willy-Peg”, due to the early-season heroics of Blue Bomber quarterback Drew Willy. They’re big on nicknames over there. What lasts longer: Willy-Peg or Swaggerville?
3 – THE LINE — After opening the week as a “Pick ‘Em” game, Saskatchewan is now favoured by 1.5-points for Saturday’s game against the Argos. That surprises me somewhat, but the Roughriders enjoy being picked as the favourites anyway. Several were scratching their heads this week that Calgary was tabbed as #1 by CFL.ca’s weekly Power Rankings however CBC and the Sun Media chain have the Riders at #1.
Another note: Rider WR Rob Bagg was fined an undisclosed amount for throwing a punch in Week 1 against Hamilton. Apparently the incident occurred well after the play but was noticed on video by the CFL’s new Director of Officiating, Glen Johnson. The long-time referee really threw the book at five players on Thursday showing there truly is a new sheriff in town. Meanwhile Bagg plans to appeal the fine.
4 – EJECTED — The CFL fined Montreal defender Kyries Hebert the maximum allowable amount on Thursday for his “clothesline” on league MVP Jon Cornish in Week 1. Hebert was immediately kicked out of the game which represented the first player disqualification in the CFL since 2012 (a span of 83 games). The last player to be tossed from a game was Alouettes linebacker Shea Emry in October of that season and, if memory serves, it was because of his below-the-belt punch to the Riders’ Brendon Labatte. There were no ejections during the 2013 season league-wide.
5 – THE ‘L’EAST DIVISION — Perhaps the oddsmakers have installed the Roughriders as narrow favourites on the road because of the West Division’s historic mastery over its Eastern counterparts. Last week the West won all its games against the East and our division has held an edge over the East for the past nine straight seasons. The trend continued on Thursday with Winnipeg’s win over Ottawa.
6 – GREAT START — The Edmonton Eskimos kicked off the 2014 season with a 28-20 win at BC on Saturday night. That’s impressive because they had lost their previous TEN straight road games and were a combined 1-9 against the West Division last year. On Friday evening they host the road weary Hamilton Tiger-Cats who spent the week in Regina after being shellacked 31-10 by the Riders in the lid-lifter. The Ticats have made several changes to their roster for their Week 2 game, particularly along the offensive line and at receiver.
7 – A TOUCH OF GREY — BC Lions kicker Paul McCallum is the CFL’s oldest and longest-serving active player now in his 22nd season. CFL game notes tell us Paulie’s 308 career games rank him fourth all-time but it doesn’t say who the top three are. If I had a guess, it would be Bob Cameron, Lui Passaglia and Paul Osbaldiston. Also the league’s current longest iron man streak belongs to BC defensive back Ryan Phillips who’s suited up for 163 straight. Remarkable! Trailing him are a pair of quarterbacks: Kevin Glenn (135) and Henry Burris (113).
8 – CORRECTING SOME FALSEHOODS — Both the WHL’s Vancouver Giants and Regina Pats told this week that the online report out of Vancouver that Giants head scout Jason Ripplinger has interviewed for a front office job with the Pats is “erroneous” … Also, the firing of head coach Malcolm Cameron will be the last change in the hockey operations department … Trent Cassan of the Yorkton Terriers interviewed with the Pats this week for the coaching job … Former Dallas Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said there is no truth to the rumour he’s Regina bound … The names of Lorne Molleken, Mike Sillinger and Jamie Heward keep popping up in connection with the Pats job but they’re just that; rumours … However it’s true that Malcolm Cameron is interested in the vacant Moose Jaw Warriors head coaching position … With this week’s hiring of Edmonton Oil Kings coach Derek Laxdal by the AHL’s Texas Stars, there are now WHL coaching vacancies in Regina, Moose Jaw, Kelowna and Portland.
9 – OH CANADA — Our country is going gaga with the exploits of Eugenie Bouchard and Milo Raonic at Wimbledon, and for good reason … With an all-time high number of Canadians taken in the NBA Draft and an all-time high amount of Canadians in Major League Baseball, our country can certainly take a bow. However it comes with a cost….
10 – USA CATCHING UP — Canada, and the CHL, has long been the leader for players taken in the National Hockey League Entry Draft but America is catching up. Here’s the list of players taken by country last weekend in the NHL:
CANADA 77
USA 67
SWEDEN 27
RUSSIA 13
FINLAND 9
CZECH REPUBLIC 8
LATVIA 2
SWITZERLAND 2
UNITED KINGDOM 2
DENMARK 1
GERMANY 1
SLOVAKIA 1
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SPONSOR MENTION — A big “howdy” and thank you to this blog’s newest sponsors: Fountain Tire, Camco Plumbing and the Regina Pats. Thanks a lot for keeping this website alive!
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THAT’S ALL! HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND
RP
@sportscage
It's the US college system. Junior hockey will eventually lose out to college hockey. Real education, less games more development, no trading/selling of kids, will result in parents/kids opting for US colleges.
The statement by Anonymous tht the reason more US players are being picked is college hockey doesn't make any sense. By the time they hit college, the majority of their critical development has taken place and a number of the college picks are Canadian. Hockey is growing in the Northern US and California and they have more population numbers, which would be a reason why the number of Americans drafted continues to climb.
I would guess that a large number of Americian's drafted were actually playing in one of the 3 Canadian leagues.
Just a rumor, Molleken ( GM), Hillier ( Head Coach), Cassan ( Assistant Head Coach).
Bill W ( The Real Bill)
Ouch, would not like to see that. Get Mark Habschide in here and make him Coach and GM. Memcup within 5 years guaranteed.
Bill W, Boy, I hope that Rumour is the case, althought I am still not a believer that Cassan is a good fit for Major Jr. from a lot of the things I've heard, but maybe with Hillier that may be a huge help to the kid. I guess I'm just confused as to why Lang is staying through this process if in fact in a year another GM is brought in and then an entire coaching staff is hired under an old GM? Further to this, I'm really frustrated that a Head Coach with the Pats isn't allowed to… Read more »
Regarding Kevin Glenn's iron man streak of 135 games – his last miss was the 2007 Grey Cup against …
I'm a minor hockey coach and I hear from Hockey Canada, Sha and CHL teams that we need to develop more creative and skilled players. Yet they have an import draft that takes away a skilled position from Canadian kids. Maybe the russian is more talented but lets work with that 16 year old canadian kid to develop him. Then CHL teams focus so much on systems it's sickening. Coaches are put under the gun to win so 16-18 year olds development goes out the window to focus on systems. Teenagers having an NHL type of schedule during their prime… Read more »
If a kid is good enough to play minor hockey coach commenor, they'll make the WHL. Not all teams take an import player in the CHL let alone take or have two playes on their roster….so, in turn we're talking of maybe 115 import players a year on active CHL rosters.
For the record, the Jr. B (Western Canada) Jr. A's and Major Jr. organizations have ensured to limit the amount of 16 year old players to jr. rosters in order to strengthen minor hockey/Major Midget programs and ensure development of these players.
Lay off the import thing!
After what happened in Victoria and parents demanding their players be traded under the Habscheid coahcing style (and no real success since he won a Memorial Cup) his coaching days in Jr. are over. He's been out of the league for 3 years now and hasn't had his door knocking down for pro/amateur or Jr. jobs.
A. Nonymous
To the minor hockey coach, We need to lower costs for Canadian families in order to afford minor hockey, let alone Tier programs at the older ages. School sports, soccer and football minor associate numbers are all rising accross the country where hockey is on a steady four year decline. The politics and money of minor hockey have turned off many players and parents from either placing their kids in the sport. More kids are presently enrolled in soccer and dance in this country then hockey…this the masses are speaking. Agreed, the import draft is fine, more and more teams… Read more »
Ha ha Habsceid is done coaching in the CHL, hiring him is a step backwards.
The number of Americans being chosen at the draft is because the drafting team is able to take zero financial risk. It can be up to five years (I year USHL followed by four years of college) before they have to make a decision on the player. With CHL guys they have to make an offer with one year and sign within two. That's why the rounds 3-7 are predominantly Americans.
American's development program is exactly what Hockey Canada's was a decade ago. Hockey Canada has been more worried about appeasing the leftist media, giving into the contact in hockey gimic, political game, PC correctness and ensuring that our Jr. programs have enough Quebec and Ontario players to keep them satisfied along with former NHL stars sons rather than icing the best teams. The Americans will win more World Junior Championships in the next decade than Canada will. Good on them for sticking to their guns and develop players properly, teach kids how to hit safely and ice the best teams.… Read more »
Don't worry the politics you find in hockey has started to creep more and more into football and soccer. More so the attitude of coaches who are bent on winning rather than player development.
Anne Onymous
Enough hockey talk, take a break please. It's football season.
Happy for Mr Drew Willy.
Go Riders, keep those Network favored East teams down.
A few things; 1) @ The Minor Hockey Coach – Chris Getzlaf is on record in a Toronto paper this week as stating he quit hockey as he was cut from a Pee Wee team. The reason he was told to his face by the Coach, "you're to small." It's crap like that which just touches the surface. The cost is astronomical for hockey, and it then becomes a moral question. What type of person picks a team, and then proceeds to ask for fees of upward over $2000, and then arbitrarly decides he/they will develop 5 or 6 of… Read more »