MIKE STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS
1 – SJHL POWERS – We are two weeks into the SJHL season, but it’s already apparent the class of the league are the Nipawin Hawks and Battlefords North Stars. The Hawks have already posted three shutouts between veteran goalie Ethan Slobodzian and rookie Ross Hawryluk. Their offense is, greatly, improved from last year but I don’t expect them to have too many games of excess goal scoring, simply because it’s not Doug Johnson’s style. When the Hawks get up a couple, they go into defensive shell mode and they give the opposition very few opportunities.
2- STARS COULD REPEAT – As far as the North Stars are concerned, they’ve got scoring all through the line-up, including three forward lines that could take turns being number one lines on any given night. A couple of coaches on other teams concede Matthew Fletcher may be the best blueliner in the league. Their only question mark, which has been answered positively so far, is in goal where Adam Dmyterko has emerged from being number three last year to number one this year.
3 – LONG YEAR FOR SOME – The four teams in the Viterra Division could be in for a long year. Yorkton, Weyburn, Estevan, and Melville went a combined 0-6-0-and-2 (Estevan was the only team to get points in the standings) at the Showcase. The Red Wings and Terriers, in particular, look to be in dire straits. Yorkton’s commitment to the defensive end is non existent so far, leaving goalies Philippe Bond and Cooper Kennedy to fend for themselves. Weyburn isn’t getting much production at all, offensively, although it appears their netminding may keep them in most games.
4 – WARMAN GREAT SITE – The Legends Centre in Warman has been home to the SJHL Showcase for a number of years and it truly is the perfect venue. The population in that community has exploded to over 11,000 so they have enough people to support a franchise full-time. The question would be corporate support and whether or not their citizens are engaged enough to put together a solid Board of Directors. My personal feeling is that it would work and be extremely successful. I feel much the same way about Regina having a team out of The Co-operator’s Centre. During the regular season, if you can average 700-1000 fans each and every night, I think you are in good shape. Having said that, there is no appetite for a 14 team league that I’m aware of.
5 – JUNIOR HOCKEY SCHEDULING – I like to think outside the box when it comes to scheduling and saving money for Junior ‘A’ teams and I do have some radical ideas that would, likely, get me laughed out of a Governor’s meeting; but I do wonder if it wouldn’t be beneficial for teams and if it wouldn’t increase attendance to have inter-league play. Wouldn’t it make sense for teams that pass through Swan River and The Pas, on the way to Flin Flon, not to stop and play the Blizzard and Stampeders as part of an extended road trip as opposed to a weekend set against the Bombers? What about Battlefords and Lloydminster, only 170km apart, possibly having a set up where they play 6 games against each other over the course of the year? Maybe the Portage Terriers, who are hosting the Centennial Cup, want to head to BC and face competition they think they’ll see come April. Perhaps a weekend tournament in Yorkton that features the Terriers, Millionaires, Dauphin Kings, and Waywayseecappo Wolverines would be of interest. My thoughts would be to reduce the SJHL schedule to 48 games and play 8 outside the league against any other Junior ‘A’ team that you want. The games count in the standings even though it isn’t balanced. Just my two bits.
6 – SASK SENIOR HOCKEY – I have similar feelings about senior hockey, which isn’t thriving in Saskatchewan like it used to. The interest seems to be there from fans; but the players are no longer playing in the same numbers they used to once their junior and college careers are over. For the last few seasons I’ve been involved with the Triangle Hockey League (Rocanville, Ochapowace, Langenburg, Theodore, Bredenbury, Esterhazy). It seems silly to me that Theodore can’t drive 25 minutes up Highway 16 and play Foam Lake or even go another 25 minutes further and play Wynyard. Rocanville and Moosomin never play each other despite being 20 minutes apart. Langenburg and Russell don’t have games against one another. Ochapowace could, easily, play Balcarres or Grenfell. They don’t. My thoughts are that these teams are all playing the same level. Sure, it’s not the same league, but it provides more competition and you don’t have to play everybody. Just get in a set number of games and have the teams play within their league come playoff time and the regular season should be set up so that most of the games are within the league, but I see no issue or problem playing inter-league games as well.
7 – BOMBERS LOSS – Saturday’s Winnipeg Blue Bomber game is why I’ll never give the Bombers any credit despite where they are in the standings. This is a team that looks like they could win a Grey Cup, but they’ve lost to Toronto and now they’ve lost to Montreal despite having a 100 point lead at half time (or whatever it was, it was a colossal collapse). The Bombers are the new Roughriders in that they will win their fans’ hearts over and give them hope and then they’ll gut you like a fish with creative ways to lose.
8 – CHARGERS GORDON – Los Angeles Chargers running back Melvin Gordon has ended his holdout and is returning to the team, but says he’s done with them and will move on in 2020. It makes me wonder why the Chargers would give him any chance at significant playing time in 2019 if he’s already saying he won’t be back. Austin Ekeler and Justin Jackson have done an admirable job replacing him so far, so I don’t know why they’d put those two guys on the bench and use Gordon, who’s got no loyalty to the team and is as good as gone at the end of the season.
9 – LEAFS MATTHEWS – Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews is taking some heat for indecent exposure involving a woman in Arizona this summer. I haven’t paid too much attention to it, so I won’t even pretend to know the details, but I’m wondering why Justin Trudeau can hide behind his life of privilege and proclaim to have a blindspot when it comes to racism, but Matthews can’t do the same thing and say he has a blindspot when it comes to thinking every woman on the planet may want to be with him. Besides, Matthews is 22. Old enough to make $12-million a year, but too young to understand he’s being a jerk and a delinquent.
10 – JETS RFAs – It comes as no surprise to me the Winnipeg Jets are going to be the last team to figure out their RFA situations. With Brayden Point signing for $6.75-million and Matthew Tkachuk going for $7-million on bridge deals, I don’t know what Patrik Laine is thinking as far as what he’s worth. Any offer north of $5-million from Winnipeg is a gift now. As far as Kyle Connor goes, I still maintain Timo Meier’s $24-million over 4-years is the benchmark for him. Same age, same production, similar linemates. Speaking of linemates, Laine’s claim that he’d do better with better linemates is further evidence he isn’t worth top tier money. Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele don’t complain about their linemates because they are top players and they are the ones who make lines better. Therefore, superstar money is justified for both, even though Scheifele is on a very team friendly deal.
(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance broadcaster/writer. Follow him on Twitter at @Stack1975)
