DAYTONA HOMES MONDAY MORNING GOALIE

Beloved former Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Ken Miller (2008-2011) was in Regina over the weekend to speak at Saturday’s Regina Thunder annual sports dinner at the Turvey Centre.  It was great to see Kenny and his wife Maureen again but it was an even bigger honour to have the opportunity to interview Ken in the annual Q&A segment on stage.

Halfway through our discussion I pulled Roughrider Past-President Jim Hopson on stage to answer questions from the crowd as well.

Now, it wasn’t just a regular interview.  For the past year and a bit – since the Riders’ 2013 Grey Cup victory at Mosaic Stadium – I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a reprint of my best-selling book Green Magic – Canada’s Team Wins the 2007 Grey Cup with updates on the 2009, 2010 and 2013 Grey Cup appearances by the Riders.  The only problem was, I didn’t quite know how to approach Miller about doing an interview for the book, recapping the immensely painful 13th Man incident in the 2009 CFL title game.

I knew it adversely affected Miller perhaps more than anyone else on that team, so I wasn’t quite sure how to approach him.  Or if I should approach him at all.  But Saturday’s interview segment provided a glowing opportunity to finally ask the burning question.

To my knowledge, this would be the first interview Miller’s done on the subject since 2009.

You certainly don’t need a recap of the events but for the uninitiated, the Roughriders had a 27-25 lead over Montreal in the dying seconds at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium.  As the clock struck 0:00, Montreal kicker Damon Duval missed a potentially game-winning field goal.  Pandemonium broke out, but the Roughriders had too many men (13 in all) on the field and the Alouettes got a second chance at the field goal.  Duval didn’t miss the second time, stroking it through the uprights from 33 yards out to win the game 28-27.

And thus the Rider Nation had perhaps the coldest dagger plunged into its heart in franchise history.  It’s been called the cruelest way to lose a championship game, and also likely the biggest blunder in pro sports history.

So without turning the MMG into a long, tedious column, here’s the transcript of what Coach Miller had to say Saturday night along with a few quotes from Jim Hopson on the matter.  Here’s how it went:

DOES THE 13TH MAN INCIDENT STILL HAUNT YOU?

Miller:  I’m down to the point where I don’t think about it daily!

Posing with the Millers

(Crowd laughs)

But Maureen reminds me of it often!  It hurt.  It hurt.  And it didn’t just hurt me.  It hurt every man who was in the locker room.  It hurt every individual who was in the organization.  It hurt the greatest fans in the world.  So it was a devastating loss.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY, IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE?

MILLER:  Certainly the play that everybody remembers was the last play when we had the 13th man.  Montreal missed the field goal but got the next opportunity and they made the field goal.  We had some players that had the championship hats on already.  When the ball was kicked, or right before it was kicked, I saw the flags go up and I knew what it was.

But really that was just one play in the game.  We had other opportunities.  We missed a chip shot field goal in the first quarter, I think it was.  And we gave up a couple of big plays on defense that we didn’t have to give up.  When we had the ball in the last possession we were 2nd and 6 and we could’ve had a better play that we could’ve selected for that particular situation.

So there were a lot of places in the game where we could’ve won.  It’s just that all the focus goes on that last play.

A QUESTION FROM THE CROWD: HOW WOULD YOU HAVE FIXED IT?

MILLER:  We had it fixed!  We had it fixed.  It wasn’t supposed to happen.  We had a special field goal block team that went on.  We called it the “Leaper”.  A special player goes on in Leaper and a special player comes off.  The special player who went on knew he was on.  He knew he was supposed to send the other player off.  The other player knew he wasn’t in on Leaper.  He should’ve come off on his own right.

We had linebackers who count the front to make sure the front is right.  Our returner in the endzone is supposed to count everyone in the front.  None of those things happened.  None of those things happened.  And so, it turned out the way it turned out.

We had a fail safe.  We had four things that should’ve occured that would’ve tipped us off that we had the extra man and for some unknown reason none of the four things took place.  Plus our special teams coach recognized it but by the time he recognized it, we couldn’t get the time called.

Weston Dressler and Coach Miller

WILL YOU EVER GET OVER IT?

MILLER:  As long as I roam this planet.  I said it once and I’ll just reiterate that.  That is part of me.

HOPSON:  It was Kenny that said to me one day, we were talking about the 2009 Grey Cup and I was trying to be positive and talk about some of the great things that we’d done and Kenny said, ‘Ya the victories are great but you forget about those quickly.  It’s the losses that haunt you’ and it’s true.  It’s the losses.  I remember 1976 and 2009 a lot more than I remember 2007 and 2013.  It’s silly but that’s just the way that it is.”

WHAT ABOUT THE 2010 GREY CUP, AND THE CHANCE AT REDEMPTION, ONLY TO LOSE 21-18 TO MONTREAL IN EDMONTON?

MILLER:  That was a tough one as well.  To lose two Grey Cups by a total of four points in two years is a pretty bitter pill.  But on the other hand, if you think about it in terms of having been in the Grey Cup in 2007, then being back in the Grey Cup in 2009 and 2010, we’d laid some groundwork for excellence that I alluded to earlier.  Maybe not being there to win it, but being there to battle for it.  Doing the correct things to be in position to win those battles.  And then certainly there was some carry over, hopefully, a lot of the same players were carried over into the successful campaign in 2013.

* To hear Miller tell it in his own words, tune into the SportsCage Monday at 4:00 pm on 620 CKRM.  We’ll also hear from new Roughrider receiver Greg Hardin from UND.

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18 ONE-TIMERS

1 – The Miller interview wasn’t all gloom and doom.  Kenny cracked quite a few one-liners and sprinkled in lots of thoughtful quotes in the 40-minute session.  For one, he wouldn’t refer to the team from Calgary.  He preferred to call them “The C-Word” and “Those guys with the horses on their helmets”.  Miller said finishing first in 2009 and beating Calgary in the West Final in Regina was one of the most satisfying victories of his career.  He also said, regarding the men in the locker room, “Pro football players get paid to practice.  They’d play the games for free”.

2 – I was interested to know about the relationship between Miller and Kent Austin during the 2007 season.  As in, how did it work for Miller to be the offensive coordinator for Austin’s offense.  “Put it this way,” Miller reflected.  “In the 2007 Labour Day game when we scrimmaged around Winnipeg’s 25-yard line in the last minute, I wanted to kick a field goal and Kent wanted to run a quarterback draw.  I called a quarterback draw!”  Kerry Joseph ended up sprinting to the end zone for the winning points.

3 – Saturday night’s Thunder dinner was likely the best one I’ve attended.  It was truly a celebration of Saskatchewan football as Grey Cup champions Paul Woldu, Brett Jones and Ben Heenan all addressed the crowd.  It’s remarkable to think southern Saskatchewan has produced two NFL linemen in Jones and Heenan.

4 – Roughrider Past-President Jim Hopson was the MC for the event and received a standing ovation from the patrons for his celebrated efforts over the past 10 years.  Hopson’s tenure as Rider President officially expires at the end of March.  He quipped that it didn’t take long for the Roughriders to move on.  There was no room for him at the Roughriders’ table so Hopson moved over to the Alumni table.  The Rider table was occupied by the likes of new President Craig Reynolds, Chairman Wayne Morsky, GM Brendan Taman, Assistant GM Jeremy O’Day and past and current players such as Mike McCullough and Weston Dressler.  By the way, Dressler was overly accomodating for fans who wanted pictures and autographs all evening long.

5 – A Kory Sheets update?  There isn’t one today.  His name didn’t even come up Saturday night.

6 – Many have asked my thoughts on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ St. Patrick’s Day promotion where, if you turn in your Roughrider merchandise to the Bomber store, you’ll get 30% off Bomber wear.  All I can say is, to quote John Lynch, “It’s very Winnipegish“.

7 – Sunday’s Rogers Hometown Hockey event in downtown Regina was a smashing success.  The way Rogers portrayed our fine city was truly superb.

We were able to meet host Ron McLean at a private function at Crave Kitchen & Wine Bar beforehand and he gave an impressive speech to the group.  Although I must really be looking old.  Ron asked if I was calling Pats games when Ed Staniowski was tending nets for the 1974 Memorial Cup team!  I had to tell him I was born in 1972.

8 – McLean also quipped that even though he was deep in the heart of Roughrider country, he’s still an Edmonton Eskimos fan due to his roots in Red Deer, AB.

9 – On Saturday night’s Hockey Night In Canada broadcast, host George Stromboulopolus recognized Regina as being the site of the first-ever hockey game broadcast on radio, in 1923 on 620 CKCK radio with play-by-play man Peter Parker.  It’s cool to know we broadcast on that signal to this day.

10 – Interesting factoid from Sportsnet during Sunday’s show:  Scott Hartnell is the all-time leader in career NHL goals among players from Regina with 271.  I quickly scanned the totals of Bill Hicke, Mike Sillinger, Jordan Eberle, etc. and none actually come close.  However, to my recollection Hartnell never spent much time here as a youngster?

11 – The Regina Pat Canadians are a virtual wrecking ball in these SMAAAHL playoffs after completing a round two sweep of the Notre Dame Hounds with a 5-1 win Sunday evening.  They now await their opponent in the league final.  This area has OWNED the Canadian midget AAA hockey championship as the Pat Canadians and Notre Dame Hounds are tied for the most titles-ever at four.  The P.A. Mintos aren’t too far behind at three, and I’m told the Minto players are held in higher regard than the Raiders up in P.A. these days.

12 – We really, really, don’t give ourselves enough credit as a hockey town.  Maybe it’s time we start.

13 – Arizona Coyotes management and ownership held a Town Hall meeting on Saturday before the team’s home game against New Jersey.  Coyotes TV play-by-play man Matt McConnell was the moderator and he was joined by President Anthony Leblanc and GM Don Maloney.  The crew reassured Coyotes fans that the franchise is “here to stay”, and said they are hoping to host the NHL All-Star Game within the next couple of years.

14 – Learned on Hockey Night In Canada this weekend that Tampa Bay Lightning centre Tyler Johnson – a Spokane, WA product – is one of the fastest NHL skaters at 22.5 miles per hour.

15 – The Regina Pats are for real folks.  And the Queen City has taken notice as evidenced by the sellout crowd of 6484 which witnessed the Pats’ 4-3 shootout loss to Moose Jaw Saturday in the Brandt Centre.  With three regular season games left, the Pats have the chance to hit 40 wins which is mind-boggling considering what the club’s been through this season.  However if they fail to reach that plateau, that’s fine.  They can do their damage in the playoffs.

16 – An ugly incident reportedly occurred during Saturday’s game when the Pats’ in-game announcer was allegedly struck by a Warriors fan.  I wasn’t in attendance so I have little to say on the matter.  I’ve spoken to that in-game announcer and he’s still collecting himself and consulting with authorities.  An ugly incident to be sure.

17 – Welcome to March Madness in Canada — a.k.a. when middle-aged white men pretend they know, or cared, about American college basketball for the other 11 months out of the year!

18 – Happy birthday TODAY to local sports luminaries Ben Hebert (Olympic champion curler), Torchy Simpson (former Pats trainer) and Ray Crouse (former Roughrider scout and one-time colour commentator).

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THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY! SEE YOU IN THE CAGE AT 4 PM
RP
@sportscage
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