DAYTONA HOMES MONDAY MORNING GOALIE

Keith Hershmiller Photography

GO PATS GO:  Surprisingly or not, the Regina Pats have grabbed a 2-0 series lead in their best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinal with Swift Current with a pair of home victories over the Broncos on the weekend.

I was in attendance for Friday’s 4-2 triumph in Game 1 in the Brandt Centre and there were several tense moments, not to mention the opening 10 minutes in which the Broncos were outshooting the Pats 10-3 and taking a 1-0 lead.  I hadn’t seen much of Swift Current this season but forward #19 Jake Debrusk was absolutely mesmerizing in the early going.  You can see why he’s a projected high first round pick in this summer’s NHL Draft.

However as the game went along, Pats MVP Colby Williams did an incredible job of holding Debrusk in check.  By the time this series is over, Debrusk will have seen enough of Regina’s #5.  However the series flashed before my eyes when Colby favoured his shoulder after delivering a hard hit in his own zone in the first period.  He was doubled over as he skated to the bench and I feared a separated shoulder.  He was absent for awhile but returned later to assume his regular minutes and I’m told he was simply winded.

Regina goaltender Daniel Wapple – who seems to be pretty much every young fan’s favourite Pat – is winning the goaltending battle early in this series having been named the #1 star on Friday and the #2 star in Saturday’s 3-2 victory.

Bronco assistant coach Jamie Heward told the SportsCage before the series began that goaltending is generally the deciding factor in a playoff series such as this one, in which both teams are so evenly-matched.  Advantage Regina so far over Swift Current’s Landon Bow.

I wasn’t in attendance for Saturday’s Game 2 (I was in Zenon Park, SK for a sports dinner which we’ll cover later) but apparently it was another close one throughout.  Regina’s Adam Brooks scored the game-winner midway through the third period but from what I’m told, there were some tense moments in Saturday’s third period as well.

“The hockey gods would have not have been very nice if we’d have lost that game somehow,” Pats assistant coach Darrin McKechnie told 620 CKRM after the game.  “The way this young group played in the third, it was just a very nice thing to watch.  They were just excellent in the third period.  We got the goal that we wanted and then forechecked and outworked them.  It would have been a sad thing if they’d have got that tying goal.”

McKechnie was asked if the plucky Pats have betrayed their average age of 17.5 in the opening games of this series.

“They didn’t show their age tonight.  They played with a lot of poise,” the Pats alumnus said.  “The young guys, we’ll always have mistakes, but they’re all 20-and-under.  They’re young men.  But for such a young group we stuck together, played hard and stuck to the system.”

And the play of Daniel Wapple has not gone unnoticed by his teammates nor coaches in the early stages of this affair.

“That’s what you need in playoffs,” McKechnie concluded.  “That’s why he’s here.  Waps wants it real bad.  We depend on him.  He’s been there for us all year and there was no reason to think he wouldn’t be in the playoffs.”

The play of 17-year old Regina Pat Jesse Gabrielle continues to be closely scrutinized in this series, as expected.  He gave the puck up twice on Swift Current’s first goal Friday night but other than that, he didn’t seem to cost the team all that much.  Overall he’s a -1 in the opening two games but netted his first goal of the playoffs on Saturday at a key time.  He also took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty but the Broncos did not cash in.

The series now shifts to Swift Current for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday and we’ll be on location with the SportsCage live from the Credit Union I-Plex on Tuesday at 4:00 pm on 620 CKRM.  It sounds like there will be plenty of Pats fans making the trip, and it’ll be interesting to see if how many Broncos fans snap up tickets with their team in a 2-0 hole.

It will also be interesting to see when and if the Queen City gets wrapped up in this playoff run for their team.  Games 1 and 2 drew crowds between 5000 and 5500 but if the series goes to Game 5 on Friday in Regina, a sell out would be expected.

I’ve heard some Regina radio stations jumping on the bandwagon, ones who avoided the Pats like the plague since September!  But that’s the way it always seems to go.  At least you know we’ve been there since Day 1 of training camp.  That’s also the way it always goes.

But I can’t help but think things continue to go better-than-planned for this new Regina Pats ownership group, the Queen City Sports & Entertainment Group.  It certainly is a whole new ball game around here.

The Pats’ Colby Williams will be on the SportsCage on Monday to discuss the series.

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On stage with Paul Coffey in Zenon Park

COFFEY BREAK:  As mentioned, I was up in Zenon Park, SK (about 30 miles northeast of Tisdale) Saturday night for the 5th Annual Zenon Park Sports Gala at their community hall.  Along with Rider great Mike McCullough and Edmonton comedian Sean Lecomber, the night included Edmonton Oilers great and Hockey Hall of Famer Paul Coffey.

Now, when my booking agent Joe Gunnis asked last fall if I’d be the MC for this event, I wanted to know who was on the card.  When Joe informed me Paul Coffey would be in attendance, my eyes bugged out!  It was an immediate ‘YES!’  I was a diehard Oilers fan growing up until August 9, 1988 when Wayne Gretzky was dealt to L.A. but the Oilers still occupy a piece of my hockey heart.

Of course Wayne Gretzky is pretty much every Oiler fan’s all-time favourite but Coffey is right up there for me.  How could you not admire the best skater in hockey history?  And amongst those legendary Oilers personalties, Coffey was always the strong, silent type among them.

And what an added treat it was going to be that Coffey didn’t want to give a traditional speech.  He preferred a Question & Answer segment with me, plus questions from the crowd.  So here are some of his responses:

WAS EDMONTON THE BEST TIME OF HIS LIFE?

COFFEY:  Actually I hope the best times of my life are still ahead of me!  But we were, just as it seemed, a bunch of young players who got along really well and were having the time of their lives at the time.  It was very special.

WHO’S THE BEST-EVER GOALIE?

COFFEY:  Grant Fuhr

WHO’S THE BEST GOALIE YOU PLAYED AGAINST?

COFFEY:  Grant Fuhr in practice.

WHO WAS THE TOUGHEST FORWARD TO DEFEND?

COFFEY:  Buffalo’s Gilbert Perrault

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE THE BEST SKATER EVER?

COFFEY:  Growing up in Toronto, my Dad told me not to come off the ice from practice until my groins were burning.  I never really knew what he meant by that but I was able to come up with my own style.  The toughest thing when I played were the skates.  They were so uncomfortable and when they got wet, they got heavy.  And they always had those rivets sticking through the bottom.  Nowadays the players don’t have deal with that with the new technology.

WHO SKATES LIKE YOU THE MOST NOW?

COFFEY:  I’d have to say Eric Karlson in Ottawa

WHY WERE YOU THE QUIET ONE ON THE 80’S OILERS?

COFFEY:  It’s tough to say now because it was so long ago but I’d guess it was because of my insecurities.  I was just a young player trying to find my way on a really talented young team.

WERE THE 1984-85 OILERS THE BEST TEAM EVER?

COFFEY:  That question doesn’t bother me.  There are some guys who think the 1987 team was even better and we just had the reunion of the 1984 team and that was a really good group too. We had a lot of talent, especially with Grant in goal and Lee Fogolin as our undisputed leader.  Those were just some really good teams.

ON THE ’87 CANADA CUP

COFFEE:  It was as much fun as it looked.  We were all established veterans on that team but we had a young guy in Mario Lemieux who just tore it up.  Mike Keenan was the perfect coach for that tournament and Wayne, Mark and me seemed to work well with him.  But I don’t think we could have ever gone a whole season with him.  It seemed like he didn’t want anyone to be happy when they left the rink but we generally were.  Maybe because we won.

WHO’S BETTER: GRETZKY OR LEMIEUX?

COFFEE:  I love that question! I always love that question.  I said this on ESPN Radio awhile back, that Wayne was maybe the most gifted and when people ask how he scored 215 points I always say, ‘Because he wanted to score 300!’  He was just that competitive.  And as good a player as he was, he’s an even better person off the ice.  I really mean that.

But Lemieux was maybe the better complete player.  He’s 6’6″ with a reach out to that EXIT door and he had all the moves.  I’d dish a long pass to Wayne and he’d suck five guys over to him, and then dish it off for someone to finish the play.  But I’d dish that long pass to Mario and he’d go deke through five guys and score himself.

Wayne heard that interview and called me up to tear a strip off me!  I told him to “Go —- himself!”

ON THE OILERS NOW

COFFEY:  That’s a tough one to comment on because those guys (Lowe and MacTavish) were my teammates.  But something’s missing.  And can anyone answer who’s been maybe the best team in the West since the All-Star break?  That’s right, the Oilers.  But they probably should be thinking more about getting that #1 pick.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?

COFFEY:  I’m in the car business.  I applied for a job and got it and I really like it but the car market is tough in Southern Ontario, not like out here in the west.  But I’m into land development and those types of things plus I have three children under the age of 20 so I’m enjoying being with them and raising them.

* Doing that interview with Paul Coffey will sure go down as a career highlight.  And like a lot of the Hockey Hall of Famers I’ve done these dinners with, Coffey was nothing but overly-friendly and first class.  As Tiger Williams says, “The jerks don’t go out on the circuit and do these dinners”.  When you pay your money to see one of these guys at your local fundraiser, you can be guaranteed you’re hearing from a good guy.

I was stunned when Coffey leaned over during the interview and said, “I should Google you!  That’s a helluva bio you’ve got.”  I have to believe he was just being nice.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Q&A segment with Rider alum Mike McCullough.  Most of the 200 patrons had their jaws on the floor for much of Mike’s 30-minute interview because he pretty much let it all hang out, as he usually does.  That’s why we put him on CKRM as soon as he retired.  McCullough was a laugh-a-minute Saturday night and I think he’s missed his calling as a stand-up comedian.  I call him the “Jim Carrey of the CFL”.

Speaking of, Mike revealed in the interview that he knew the 2013 Grey Cup would be his last game as a Roughrider even though held onto his retirement announcement until May.  He said his body just wouldn’t stand up to the rigours of another CFL season.

Paul Coffey was particularly enamoured with what Mike had to say, saying, “I’ve gotta follow this clown?”  Coffey got so swept up in the moment that he put down $1500 for a McCullough jersey in the live auction.

All in all it was a fantastic evening.  One of the best dinners I’ve ever attended and I hope Zenon Park went away happy.  See you next year!

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RIDER PRIDE:  It took a three hour trip out to Zenon Park to remind me why we need to talk Roughriders for the vast majority of the time on the SportsCage.  Those folks up in the northeast – just like the patrons at the dinner in Carnduff, SK in the southeast in January – can’t get enough Rider talk and they’re tuned into the SportsCage each and every day.  You can’t blame them if they don’t get as excited over the Pats, Rams, Thunder, Red Sox, etc. because they have their own local teams to support and follow.

But the Saskatchewan Roughriders unite us all from border-to-border.

And that’s why I’m including a CFL segment in today’s column, because plenty of those people I met are faithful blog readers as well.

CFL Director of Officiating Glen Johnson graciously joined us on the SportsCage on Friday to discuss the list of proposed rule changes for 2015.

Glen Johnson photo courtesy CFL.ca

They still seem incredibly radical to me and the only one I really like is moving the PATs out to the 25-yard line from the current 5-yard line.  Awarding two points for a convert from the 3-yard line and three points for a 10-yard offensive conversion seem head-spinning and that’s to say nothing about the no yards changes, illegal kickoffs and restrictions on the punt cover units.

However Glen Johnson is undaunted by the scathing criticism from fans, players and media which has poured out on social media since Thursday.

“This process is not something that was done over five days,” Johnson advised.  “This was a long process with very thoughtful people involved and great football minds.  We’re not taking a knee-jerk approach to last season and saying ‘Oh my goodness the game’s in trouble and we have to fix it.  These things have been on a slow burn for a long time and I think that the changes we’ve made are very positive.

“Once people see them implemented, I think they’ll realize that what we’re trying to do is get back to the skill in the game.  We’re trying to open up the field, let the returners return kicks, reduce illegal blocks, we’re trying to give receivers and defenders the opportunity to demonstrate their athletic ability and their skill more by playing true footbal.  I think these are good changes.  I think we’ve done some good stuff and we’ll see where the governors land on whether to pass them or not.”

There are plenty of people in football who’ve been around a lot longer than me, yet I’m mildy offended at how the integrity of the game appears to be on the verge of being compromised.  However my co-host Scott Schultz is open to most of the changes.  I asked Glen if he feels ‘dirty’ because of what they’re doing to the game.

“No, I don’t,” Johnson said abruptly.  “I’ve been around as long as some of the other guys for sure but what I like about it is we’re saying ‘How can we keep innovating?’ and ‘How can we keep moving the game forward?’.  There’s a spot where you get to that you say there’s so much clutching-and-grabbing and there’s so much contact downfield.  We need to back it off.  Other games have gone through this.

“We may see a little bit of pain before we seet he game but I think in the long term we’re getting back to more traditional football that’s wide open.   We’re not taking out the big hitting and the big collisions.  That stuff’s all going to be there for people that love that.  But I think we’re getting back to letting the athletes demonstrate their skill.  I like it.”

* Roughriders GM Brendan Taman will be on the SportsCage’s Rider Monday to discuss the proposed rule changes and recap this weekend’s CFL Evaluation Camp in Toronto.

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