SCRUFFY’S THIS N’ THAT

Welcome to Friday! Here are the usual weekly thoughts running through my muddled mind, and as always they come in no particular order:

– The World Juniors are over and it ends in the worst way possible. What was a great hockey game between Canada and the U-S was spoiled by the fact it went to a shootout. THAT CAN”T HAPPEN!!!

Sadly, it did.

It was a joke that the US-Russia game went to a semi-final and it was complete lunacy to see a championship decided in the same fashion.  Canada was on the edge of its seat, and I’m guessing many in the U-S were biting their fingernails too. It all came to a big giant thud when the horn sounded to end overtime.  You can’t do that, and you don’t do that, but you did do that IIHF and you deserve every bit of abuse that comes your way as a result.  Change the format for next year please. Ditch the shootout.  I can only imagine the uproar if that happened in Game 7 of a Stanley Cup final or any Stanley Cup playoff game.

— As the WJ’s end, what stands out about this year’s event for this blogger is the empty seats. What happened to this tournament being held in Canada meant automatic sellouts? Did Hockey Canada screw up? The answer boys and girls is a resounding yes.

Why did Hockey Canada give this event back to Toronto and Montreal after it was there two years ago? Why did they charge such an exorbitant fee for tickets? Someone needs to answer for this and someone needs to fall on the sword.

Two years ago, Connor McDavid was playing in Ontario and there was interest as could the hometown boy lead his country to junior gold.  This year, there is no Connor McDavid playing for Canada in this event. Who is their marquee player? Dylan Strome? Puh-leez!  He is on the verge of being a tremendous first round bust for the Coyotes.

Junior hockey may have been a fad two years ago, but people in Toronto and Montreal are not clamouring for junior hockey. Its too small for them.

If the World Juniors are going to succeed in this country, it has to stay out of the big cities. Yes, the next time the event comes to Canada it comes to Vancouver/Victoria. Vancouver has shown it can support junior hockey and they held a tremendous event there years ago, I anticipate that to be the same,  Don’t take it to Montreal/Toronto again. Take it to Alberta, take it to Saskatchewan and take it to Winnipeg.  Go to Halifax or Quebec City, but don’t take it to Toronto and Montreal again.

If you don’t think this event is about money, you are wrong as far as I’m concerned.  Hockey Canada didn’t try to showcase the best juniors in the game, they looked for a place to host the tournament where they could make money. It backfired!

— Kory Sheets needs to realize the time has come. At some point, he has to see his football career is over. His tweet this week suggesting he has unfinished business north of the border and should make a comeback is ludicrous.  Sheets hasn’t played a down in the CFL since leaving after the 2013 Grey Cup. Yes, he likely would have made the Raiders in 2014 had it not been for a devasting Achilles injury. He hasn’t played since. The game is over for him. He needs to realize this and get on with his life. Take nothing away from what he did, and had he stayed he could have been one of the best Rider RB’s ever. He took a second shot at the NFL though and no one can blame him for that. The NFL doesn’t want him anymore, and no one in the CFL is interested either. If they were, he would have been at a training camp last year.  Kory needs to move on with his life and begin the after-football portion of it.  

— A new offer has been made to Darian Durant. The question now is “Is it too late?” The 300-thousand dollar base salary with the potential for another 100 thousand in bonuses is a good contract, but there are thoughts Darian can get 400 thousand on the open market. Durant has said he wants to be here and there is a good offer there. Does he want to come back here and take a shot at another Grey Cup or does he want to go elsewhere. I think he has a better shot here at hoisting that Cup than he does in Montreal. This ain’t over yet folks!

— Is it safe to say Saskatchewan is cheering for the Miami Dolphins in the NFL playoffs.  After all, former Riders coach Danny Barrett is the Dolphins RB coach. Just imagine, if Mike Tomlin invites Corey Chamblin to be on the sidelines as he did last year, you could have one former Rider head coach on one sideline this weekend and another on the other side.  Let’s let that sink in for a moment.

— Let this sink in as well.  As you read this Patrick Maroon has more goals than Patrick Kane!

— NFL winners this weekend will be the home teams. I don’t think the Raiders can win with Connor Cook at the controls. The same can be said for the Dolphins with Matt Moore.  Home field will be huge for Seattle and Green Bay—-that being said, the Giants and Eli Manning did find a way to beat Green Bay at a frigid Lambeau Field en route to a Super Bowl years ago. If they can knock off the Packers, they may be able to upset the Cowboys as well. Oh yeah, I think Weyburn will be cheering for the Giants

— Tweet of the week comes from the Vegas Golden Knights. They are asking if they will be the next team to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets.  Washington ended that quite decislvely on Thursday night. QUICK QUIZ:  Name 8 members of the Blue Jackets and White City’s Ryan Murray doesn’t count.  GO!!

— Bill and Hillary Clinton are going to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration. This boys and girls redefines the term awkward!

— Monday’s Rose Bowl featuring Penn State against USC was once again compelling theatre and proof again that sports is the ultimate in reality TV and not this Bachelor and Survivor crap that comes on.  You just can’t write up that stuff.  They just should have had a field goal kicking contest to end it. That would have satisfied everyone right?

— That’s all I got. Have a great weekend! GO SEAHAWKS!