DuPont’s 10 Things

By: Darren DuPont

Has it been a week already? So much has happened and we’ll try to get to most of it. I’m going to try and touch on everything but, as always, I’ll bring you what is most on my mind. Let’s go!

1. NHL –Let’s start in the NHL where we are 13 days away from the start of the regular season (in North America). The NHL’s Global Series will be in Prague for a pair of games between the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils on October 4th and 5th.

Here are some key dates for you: Florida will raise their Stanley Cup banner at their home opener on October 8th. Utah will also play their first home game that same night when they welcome Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks to Salt Lake City. The “Frozen Fury” is on October 22nd when all 32 teams are in action. The Hall of Fame game is November 8th in Toronto between the Leafs and Detroit Red Wings. The Stanley Cup Final rematch happens in Edmonton on December 16th and then again on February 27th in Sunrise. The Winter Classic goes December 31st this year at Chicago’s Wrigley Field between the Blackhawks and St Louis Blues.

—

2. Camp Notes – Rod made a great point on the RP show this week when he said “the puck doesn’t know it’s preseason.” He was referring to goalies and in particular Dustin Wolf’s strong preseason debut. I would agree. When goalies play well it’s always earned. It’s much different than reading into preseason player stats. Speaking of Calgary, it’s good to see Jonathan Huberdeau playing with confidence and creativity in the preseason. Here’s hoping it continues on to a strong regular season.

What are you following, if anything, during NHL preseason and training camps? I’m following players like Kirby Dach who was back in game action this week for the first time since his ACL injury. I’m also following PTO’s like Max Pacioretty in Toronto, Tyson Barrie in Calgary, Calen Addison, Nik Kulemin, and Dustin Tokarski in Ottawa, Kailer Yamamoto in Utah, Mike Hoffman and Travis Dermott in Edmonton, and Sam Gagner in Carolina among others.

I also spent part of my early Saturday morning lying in bed watching a training camp livestream. Yes, I watched 30-minutes of goalie drills while I had my morning coffee.

—

3. CFL –We are down to the final five weeks of the CFL’s regular season and, wouldn’t you know it, perspective has completely flipped! All of a sudden Saskatchewan is sitting pretty just three points out of first place with a three point cushion over Edmonton for the final playoff spot in the West. Meanwhile, in the East, Hamilton (who have three wins against Toronto this season and two against everyone else) are just four points back of the Argos for the final playoff spot. Wild.

The Ti-Cats have: @ BC, vs WPG, vs CGY, and at OTT left.

The Argos have: vs MTL, at WPG, vs OTT, at EDM.

Edge: Let me just say that I think the season series may be a factor. I could see them even at the end.

The Elks have: at WPG, vs SSK, at CGY, vs TOR.

Saskatchewan has: vs OTT, at EDM, vs BC, vs CGY.

BC has: vs HAM, vs CGY, at SSK, vs MTL.

Edge: I think Edmonton goes 3-1, Saskatchewan 2-2, BC 2-2. So…. it’s going to be tight and my prediction of an Edmonton/Montreal Grey Cup is in serious jeopardy.

—

4A. USports – Laurier continues its great season sitting at number one in the USports Top-10 published on Monday. They remain a perfect 4-0 and ahead of Montreal (3-1), Laval (3-0), Western (3-1), and Windsor (4-0) in the rankings. Manitoba (#8) and Alberta (#9) are the two Canada West teams ranked as the conference continues to be extremely tight top-to-bottom. Even Manitoba at 4-0 isn’t running away with the conference and every game is a battle. 

UBC earned a convincing win over Saskatchewan this past weekend while Alberta did the same at home against Regina. 

This week: Queens (#7) visits Western (#4) while Saskatchewan (NR) is home to Alberta (#9) in what I first typed as a must-win game but in this wild season where three teams are 2-2 and two are 1-3 we know that it’s not and the season is going to come down to the wire.

4B. York Wins – For the first time since 2019, the York Lions have won a football game in the OUA. York, with former Saskatchewan Huskie and Calgary Stampeder Dexter Janke taking over the program as head coach this season, beat the University of Toronto 19-17 thanks to a 75-yard touchdown run by Avontae McKoy early in the fourth quarter. Janke is a breath of fresh air for the program which didn’t seem to have any answers. He started the season by stripping all logos and stickers off the helmets saying the team must earn them back.

The first win earns them the stripes back. They’ll need to win a second game to earn the York Lions logo.

This is fantastic stuff.

—

5. NFL – It’s hard to imagine an AFC title game that isn’t the Bills and the Chiefs right now. Josh Allen is easily the front-runner for NFL MVP and the Bills don’t seem to miss Stefon Diggs one bit. Buffalo has to play three games on the road before coming home to play the Tennessee Titans on October 20th. I looked into tickets for that game and the cheapest one I found on SeatGiant.ca is $233/each. Might have to take advantage of that promo code: RPShow.

Elsewhere, the bottom half of the standings (and all teams below .500) is littered with teams I feel will still make the playoffs. That said, here’s some teams I think will rise and fall:

Three teams better than their record: Cincinnati, Baltimore, LA Rams.

Three teams worse than their record: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Seattle.

We’ll see how accurate I am in a few weeks.

6. SKOL –The Minnesota Vikings jumped 8 spots in The Score’s NFL power rankings to sit at number four after a 3-0 start to the season. Here’s the stats: 2nd in points allowed, 1st in team sacks, T-3rd with six takeaways. Oh, and Sam Darnold leads the league with 8 TD passes. Imagine, Vikings fans completely wrote off the season heading into camp. It’s only three weeks but this is real. Enjoy it.

—

7. Stats – Stats matter but they are far from the only thing and there’s plenty of argument as to their importance. To give you an example I’m going to share a few stats with you this week that may surprise you:

• Dak Prescott leads the NFL in passing with 851 yards.
• Malik Willis has the second-best QB rating (122.7) among QB’s with at least 30 pass attempts. Josh Allen is first.
• The top-two pass defences with the fewest yards allowed? Denver (451) and Tennessee (471). The Bengals are fourth with just 526 pass yards allowed.
• There are four teams that have yet to throw an interception: Bills, Commanders, Patriots, Bengals.
• Rookie WR: Malik Nabers is fifth in the league with 271 yards while Nabers and Marvin Harrison Jr are tied for the league lead with three touchdown catches each.

—

8. Curling – The first big event of the year is upon us at the PointsBet Invitational gets underway Wednesday at Calgary’s Winsport Event Centre. Kerri Einarson, Rachel Homan, and Kaitlyn Lawes headline the women’s event while the men’s event includes Matt Dunstone, Brad Gushue, the new Brad Jacobs rink (formerly Brendan Bottcher), Kevin Koe (more on him in a minute), and Mike McEwen among others. Saskatchewan’s provincial finalists the Rylan Kleiter rink will also be in Calgary competing. 

Also in the event is Saskatchewan’s Ashley Thevenot and this is her first big week since taking over at skip for Skylar Ackerman.

—

9. More Curling – From the group chat (yes, I have a curling group chat now): Robyn Silvernagle is looking to get back to the Scotties after representing Saskatchewan three times, the most recent in 2023 and winning a bronze medal in 2019. This time, however, she’s going to try and do it though Alberta. Silvernagle is forming a new team based in the Peace Region.

And, just ahead of the PointsBet Invitational, Team Kevin Koe has parted ways with second Jacques Gauthier this week. They made a statement that included this: “During his time with the team, we made 5 finals and celebrated two event wins last season. Jacques has been a great teammate and friend, and we wish him success moving forward.”

—

10. Randoms – Wrapped up the series Kaos on Netflix featuring Jeff Goldblum. I give it a 3.5/5, worth a watch. … We are caught up on the Apple+ series Bad Monkey featuring Vince Vaughn and are in need of a new show to start. Suggestions? … Macklin Celebrini scored in his first preseason game for the San Jose Sharks which has me thinking, what really feels like a player’s firstNHL goal? The crowd was buzzing, he was excited, and it was a cool moment. I know the record will show it is his first regular season goal but I can’t help but feel the one he scored this week would feel pretty special. … Are you IN on the Colorado Buffaloes or OUT? I can’t help but be sucked in. I wasn’t watching their game vs Baylor on Saturday but when I saw it was close late I had to turn it on to see the finish. I’m happy I did. It’s good to get hooked on something good and take the positive side rather than stew on the negative. …  Michigan played Michigan football in a big win over USC on Saturday. This week #6 Ole Miss (4-0) hosts Kentucky (2-2) who pushed Georgia to the bring in a tight 13-12 loss a couple of weeks ago. Meanwhile, the game of the week is Alabama/Georgia on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa. Can’t wait.