DAYTONA HOMES MONDAY MORNING GOALIE

Photo courtesy Keith Hershmiller Photography

The 2013-14 Western Hockey League regular season is behind us and it’s now the most wonderful time of the year; the WHL Playoffs.

The Pats wrapped up the home portion of their regular season schedule Friday evening on 620 CKRM Fan Appreciation night in the Brandt Centre.  The Brandon Wheat Kings prevailed 4-3 in overtime but with the point from the OT loss, the Pats were able to clinch the East Division pennant for the first time in six seasons.  A few thought it would have been a nice gesture for the Pats to salute the crowd afterwards but they were likely too dejected from the defeat, which denied them their 40th win.  The MMG gives them a pass.

The SportsCage was on hand for Friday’s festivities and co-hosts Luc Mullinder, Scott Schultz and Kelly Remple assisted in awarding one lucky fan a cheque for $1000 from 620 CKRM.

And now, the Pats get set to take on the Brandon Wheat Kings in the postseason for the first time in over a decade.  The last time they met in the playoffs was in 2003 in a very heated series which the Wheat Kings won in five games.  That series featured current NHL’ers Colton Orr, Josh Harding and Jordin Tootoo and the bad blood between the two franchises was talked about for years afterwards.  In its wisdom, the WHL saw fit to suspend Regina Pats star Matt Hubbauer during that series but hey, maybe it’s time to get over it.

Or not.

This series opens with Games 1 and 2 on Saturday and Sunday at Regina’s Brandt Centre in 7:00 starts both nights on 620 CKRM.  Then the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal shifts to Brandon for Games 3 and 4 next Wednesday and Friday.

The biggest story going into this series is the Pats’ injury woes.  Four of Regina’s top players – defencemen Colby Williams and Kyle Burroughs, MVP Dyson Stevenson and goaltender Daniel Wapple – all missed this past weekend’s home-and-home series against the Wheat Kings which Brandon swept.

While Williams and Burroughs are expected to be in the lineup for Saturday’s Game 1, the status of Wapple and Stevenson is still in doubt.  It appears the team was hoping to keep the nature of their injuries under wraps but they were both revealed in the media over the weekend.  Wapple is reportedly suffering from an ankle injury while Stevenson is apparently out with a broken hand.  You can’t blame the Leader Post’s Greg Harder for breaking the news – he’s just doing his job – but many are wondering where the leak came from.  It certainly isn’t helping the Pats out by any stretch of the imagination.

Brandon won five of eight games in the season series and ride a three-game win streak into the first round affair, including back-to-back wins over Regina.

It’s going to be a fun week of hype leading up to the series opener Saturday evening!  Be listening to 620 CKRM each morning at 7:45 for WHL Playoff Trivia for your chance to win tickets to the games.  We’ll also have WHL Playoff feature interviews all week in the SportsCage.  Today we’ll be joined by the voice of the Wheat Kings, Bruce Luebke.

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Well that wasn’t much of a break.

The Super Bowl was handed to the Seattle Seahawks on February 2 and less than two months later the NFL’s free agency period opened.  The first day of free agency south of the border was last Tuesday.

Then on Tuesday, April 15 NFL teams will hit the field for their first OTA’s (Organized Team Activities) and that’s when Weston Dressler will don the Red & White of the Kansas City Chiefs for the first time after signing with the club a month ago.

Terez Paylor is the beat writer for the Chiefs for the Kansas City Star and he spent some time with us discussing Dressler.  I asked him if he’s ever seen so much hype around a 29-year old undrafted football player?

“He’s been getting a lot of talk from us too!” Paylor laughed.  “John Dorsey the Chiefs GM and head coach Andy Reid have both been asked about Dressler.  They’ve addressed him a lot more than you’d expect they’d address a guy who went undrafted.  But the Chiefs lost Dexter McCluster in free agency and he was a star slot receiver and punt returner and those are two things Weston Dressler can do.

“They got him at a really good price for the next three years and it’s really a ‘no-lose’ proposition for the Chiefs.  If it doesn’t work out, they can let him go but if he does work out, you’ve got a great player for the next three years and he’s not much of a cap hit.”

Terez Paylor

It’s believed Dressler signed for the NFL minimum (in the $420,000 range) with no signing bonus which he’ll only earn if he makes the roster.  Paylor thinks there’s a good chance of that happening.

“He’s definitely gonna get a look,” Terez predicted.  “If he’s a good player and he’s cost effective, he’ll get a shot here.  I gotta say I don’t know.  I have to see him in person.  I like what I see on film and he’s a fast guy with good hands.

“He’ll get a hard look but you don’t know what the transition’s like from the CFL to the NFL and how quickly a guy can take to it.  I’d say he’s got a pretty decent chance.  He’s got a chance to make the team as a receiver or as a punt returner and he can help out on special teams.  It also depends on who they sign in free agency.  The Chiefs haven’t been that active yet but they continue to scour for players.”

The Chiefs gained themselves tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of fans from the Rider Nation by signing Dressler and the fans will all be keenly tuned in to Chiefs news during the upcoming OTA’s.  However Paylor said it’s not an intense session.

“It’s a lotta guys running around in shorts and helmets and basically just teaching the offense, getting guys acclimated to the verbiage and learning the plays,” Paylor explained.  “It’s nothing too serious.  With the last CBA they cut off the amount of hitting you can do in practice.  It’s just guys running around in shorts and helmets.”

So does that mean it’s unlikely Weston would be cut coming out of OTA’s?

“Hahahahahaha.  Anybody can be cut at any time in this league,” Terez said ominously.  “They bring guys in for that period too but yes, somebody can be cut.  But I think somebody with Weston’s track record could at least make it to training camp and into the preseason.  You want to see what he looks like with pads on.  This is just my opinion but I don’t think he would get cut before then.  But in this league you never know.”

Stay tuned.  We’ll have all the Dressler news right here.

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It’s always great to visit with Hall of Famers and we did just that on Friday when we were joined by CFL great Matt Dunigan in the SportsCage.  He’s due to be inducted into Mike Ditka’s Gridiron Greats Hall of Fame this spring in Detroit and he’s quite excited about it.  However given Dunigan’s concussion history during his stellar 14-year CFL career, he’s become as synonymous with brain injuries as he has with setting CFL records.

It’s been great to have the opportunity to interview Dunigan many times over the years but I’ve never asked him the one question I’ve wanted to the most.  Given all the brain troubles he suffers today (and we saw that first hand a few years ago at the U of R Rams fundraising dinner when Dunigan was the keynote speaker and repeatedly lost his place), would he change anything?  Does he have any regrets about making football his life’s work?

“Not at all,” Dunigan asserted on Friday.  “It’s the way I attacked the game, it’s the way I played the game.  It’s who I am.  It’s what I do.  I don’t regret a bit of it but I still deal with post-concussion syndrome.  In fact I’ll be in Saskatoon May 2,3, 4 speaking at a few events along with Catriona Lemay Doan.  We’re just trying to help, and to bring awareness and help educate.  I think everybody’s pretty aware that that a head injury is a brain injury and concussions, they’re very serious.  It’s how to deal with them moving forward.

“And there’s other dynamics.  The family dynamic, how to deal with the daily struggles, how to move forward.  All those things I’ll talk about.  That’s what I continue to talk about.”

Dunigan also uses his role as star of the CFL on TSN panel to reach out to the league’s current quarterbacks who’ve run into concussion problems.  Matt regularly monitors their progress and speaks with them frequently.

“I see Buck Pierce retired after nine years,” Dunigan said.  “He certainly had his run-ins with head injuries.  I talked to Eskimo quarterback Mike Reilly this off-season at length.  Certainly he attacks the game like Buck and myself did.  But I really don’t think that Mike is gonna change who he is.

“We are who we are.  Everybody’s got their own take on how this game should be played, I had mine, and I don’t regret a day of it.”

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This past weekend was the first team I’ve been able to witness Regina’s Saturday Night Fights MMA series at the Turvey Centre and it was absolutely mind-blowing.  This was the ninth installment and I can’t believe I’m just getting on board now!

Local MMA promoter/instructor A.J. Scales and his crew put on an awesome mini-UFC event and the rowdy crowd was thoroughly entertained.  It was everything I expected, and none of what I expected.  You definitely have to check it out in the fall at Saturday Night Fights 10!

Steinbach, MB’s Bobby Funk collects his winnings after disposing of PA’s Mike Godinez.  The ring girls were a popular attraction.

Celebs in the crowd: The Old 96’er Scott Schultz…

And the Silver Fox Kelly Remple along with Mrs. SportsCage…

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That’s enough for this week!  See you at 4:00 pm Monday in the SportsCage..
RP
@sportscage