Dupont takeover day three: Show Recap

By: Rachael Bishop
RP Show Intern

On Wednesday the third day of Dupes’ RP show takeover, Saskatchewan Rush game host and strength and conditioning coach Amanda Ruller co-hosted with Darren on another hockey-heavy episode of The Rod Pedersen Show! Read on for the rundown:

The Warm-up and Quick Six Show Topics

1. Teeing up the North Division playoffs-Jets and Oilers starts tonight in Edmonton
2. Three games went last night-The Penguins beat the Islanders 2-1 in game 2, Vegas beat Minnesota 2-0 to tie up that series 1-1 and Tampa beat Florida 3-1 to for a 2-0 series lead.
3. Bo Levi Mitchell’s comments yesterday on Bob McCown’s podcast with John Shannon is generating all sorts of reaction. Darren and Amanda discussed Mitchell’s comments, that young people are not CFL fans. Amanda agrees and argued that the CFL needs to do more to grow its fan base, specifically on the social media side of things. She suggested the CFL should stream events on Twitch, Tiktok, etc.
4. Delving further into Bob Young’s comments on twitter yesterday. Young, the owner and “Caretaker” of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, in response to an article by 3downnation.com, wrote that the Ti-Cats plan on playing this season, even if no one else is. The owner of the Ottawa RedBlacks, also came out in support of Young and said that “we will be playing in Ottawa in September”. Lots of speculation regarding these comments. Does this mean that the Ontario and Québec teams are planning on starting the season in Western Canada? Lots to dissect here.
5. With the loosening COVID-19 restrictions in Quebec, the Montréal Canadiens will be allowed to have 2500 fans in the Bell Centre for game 6 (should the series get that far) against the Maple Leafs.
6. That announcement was music to the ears of the Montréal Alouettes, who are hoping that they will be allowed to have even more fans once the CFL season begins in the summer.

Interview #1–Alan May

After a break, Darren and Amanda returned with the first interview of the morning- Alan May, a former Estevan Bruin and current NBC Sports Washington Analyst. May talked about being a sports broadcaster in this pandemic era and the challenges that come with that- having to call away games remotely as an example. May and Dupont also discussed the crowds in the United States and just how much of an advantage the crowd is.

Ultra Update

Darren then read Rod’s 80 second Ultra Update, mostly consisting of Rod’s CFL thoughts, and all that has unfolded in the CFL world the last 48 hours.

Sports Update

After another break, Darren and Amanda did a sports update, including a recap of the Penguins/Islanders game written by yours truly, and then they discussed Amanda’s CFL aspirations, and the increased hiring of females in prominent player development roles, namely former Olympians (Hayley Wickenheiser, Danielle Goyette for the Leafs and Meghan Duggan for the New Jersey Devils).

Interview #2

Dustin Nielsen then joined the show. Nielsen is a radio host for TSN 1260 in Edmonton. He told Darren what to expect in the upcoming Jets/Oilers playoff series, namely the pairing of Draisatl/McDavid on the top Oilers line, and what the Jets can do, if anything to slow them down.

Interview #3

Within the final half hour of the show, Darren and Amanda (now sporting her McDavid jersey) talked with University of Regina Rams quarterback Josh Donnelly about how he’s been spending his off-season, and why Donnelly expects good things from his team this season. Darren and Amanda also asked him what life as a student athlete is like during COVID, and how the pandemic has changed his preparation, if at all.

Face-off/Viewer Takeover/Overtime

Then it was time for the face-off presented by the Mad Greek Restaurant and Ultimate Fan Zone in Moose Jaw. Based on the poll question, Darren asked Amanda if she could pick any starting goalie in the North Division to go into the playoffs with, who would she pick and why?

Amanda said Carey Price because of his extensive playoff experience, and Darren said reigning Vezina trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck. The poll answers reflected this as well, with over 50 per cent of fans on Facebook selecting Hellebuyck, and just 11 per cent of Facebook fans selecting Jack Campbell of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Mike Smith of the Edmonton Oilers, not exactly a ringing endorsement. Amanda then ended the show promoting her speed and strength training session for athletes that she is hosting this weekend in Regina- there is more registration information on her social media accounts.

Darren was finally given a pen he could throw at the camera to end off the show! Another all around great day of sports talk, and stay tuned tomorrow for another heavy hockey day.