Scruffy’s This N That

1 – COREY MACE:  I had a Riders fan tell me that he had been at a Regina watering hole when all of a sudden Corey Mace came walking in with the Grey Cup. It was the first time he had ever met Mace and says this guy just reeks Saskatchewan because of his demeanour and how impressed he was with him as he thanked him for bringing the trophy home. He asked what my thoughts were of him and I said I couldn’t tell him. My only interaction with Mace was a short one at the CKHS when he and Marc Mueller were at a Cougars basketball game last year. However, from what I have seen saying he reeks Saskatchewan is something I would definitely agree with. 

There are many people out there that I know who have had interactions with the head coach and all of those interactions have been positive. Yes, it helps when you’re winning and we all know in Saskatchewan that your popularity can tumble quickly if the wins don’t come, but I think it might be safe to say that Mace’s popularity won’t be declining any time soon. This guy wants to keep that trophy in the 306 for a while. Repeating in the CFL is tough because of the roster changes every year, but you have to think the Riders are going to be in the mix for quite a while. As I said a couple of weeks ago, it wouldn’t bother me if Saskatchewan didn’t win the Grey Cup next year, but when the game returns to Mosaic Stadium in 2027, it would be great to see a repeat of 2013 in 2026.

2 – BEN HEBERT: If Corey Mace doesn’t reek Saskatchewan, Regina’s Ben Hebert certainly does. Imagine Mace and Benny Heebz rolling through main street Saskatchewan together. No stories would come from that!! LOL!  Ben is heading back to the Olympics as he will be a part of the Brad Jacobs rink.  It’s another chance for him to add to what already is a world-class resume. Would it be safe to say that if he comes home with a medal that he could be officially designated as Regina’s greatest ever athlete? If not, who would you go with?

3 – WHO HAVE YA GOT? Now that US Thanksgiving is over, the stretch run has come in the NFL. Who are ya putting money on? In the past, we usually have favourites to at least to get to the conference championships but this year I have no idea who the final four teams will be much less who wins the Vince. At the start of the year, I had the Eagles and Ravens playing in the game.  I certainly didn’t think that the possibility of the big 4 in the AFC (Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes) all missing the playoffs but that might happen.  I thought the Chicago Bears would be better, but I didn’t think they would be the top seed in the NFC and the same with New England in the AFC.  I don’t see a New England-Chicago Super Bowl and I don’t think I am alone with that sentiment.   Right now, I could see many different variations of who could play for the Vince and that means a great final month for all.

4 – WEEK 14 NFL NOTES:  The games are getting more important south of the border.  Here are some tidbits going into Week 14 of the NFL season. 

• Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce ranks second among tight ends with 719 receiving yards this season.With 81 receiving yards on Sunday Night Football against Houston, Kelce can join Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice as the only players in NFL history with at least 800 receiving yards in 12 consecutive seasons.
• Indianapolis and Jacksonville enter Week 14 tied atop the AFC South and are set to meet twice in the next four weeks (Week 14 at Jacksonville, Week 17 at Indianapolis). The Colts lead the NFL in scoring offense (29.8 points per game), including a league-best 22 rushing touchdowns, while the Jaguars have the league’s top rushing defense (82.4 rushing yards allowed per game) and are the only AFC team to allow 10-or-fewer points in four games this season.
• Bengals RB Chase Brown has had a franchise-record six straight games with 100-plus scrimmage yards. The only players with a longer streak in the past five seasons are the 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey (eight in 2023, seven this season) and the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor (seven in 2021).
• Saints WR Chris Olave’s 115 targets this season are third most behind only the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase (132) and the Cardinals’ Trey McBride (118).

5 – GAVIN MCKENNA:  There are some out there suggesting Gavin McKenna may not be the number one draft pick in the NHL this summer.  This just in: unless he decides to retire because of some catastrophic injury, he will be.  A lot of eyes have been on McKenna since he left the Medicine Hat Tigers to take a bag of cash and sign with Penn State.  McKenna is averaging just over a point a game with the Nittany Lions and that has some wondering because I think it is safe to say he would be leading the WHL in scoring if he was with still with Medicine Hat, but McKenna is obviously learning what it is like to play against older guys and he also is only playing two games a week and they are on Friday and Saturday nights. I think a lot of players that are thinking about heading to the NCAA next season are looking at whether or not this might be the best situation for them.  That may mean this crisis is not as big as we thought it would last summer.  Time will tell.  To me, the Canadian Hockey League is still the best developmental league for 16-19 year olds. 

6 – VIKING CUP:  After nearly 20 years, the Viking Cup is returning.  That tournament used to be a Christmas staple much like the World Juniors and Spengler Cup.  It was a chance for scouts to take a real good look at many future NHL’ers like Dominik Hasek, Henrik Zetterberg, Patrik Elias and Joe Pavelski.  The SJHL used to have an entry in the event and they will be back as the tournament gets revived.  It will be a great opportunity to showcase the league’s best in front of many, many scouts.  I know the event has been and will be hosted by Camrose, Alberta over the years, but if there was some way the SJ could get hosting rights for this event and throw it in a place like Estevan, Warman or Yorkton it would be a real coup and a treat for Saskatchewan hockey fans.

The SJHL team will be coached by Drew Kocur who just continues to see his coaching profile rise. How much longer will it be before he leaves Estevan for a WHL team? It wouldn’t surprise me if its in the next two years. 

7 – THE WORLD CUP DRAW:  What the front door was that?  The program to inform soccer fans around the world what teams would be grouped together for this summer’s World Cup was beyond horrific.  Who thought Kevin Hart was a good idea to co-host this event? Why did the orange buffoon get fellated the way he did? Why was the Village People the band to perform when the ceremony was over?  Was Wayne Gretzky liquored up as some have suggested and did anyone do a pronouncer session with him because seeing him butcher names was painful and humorous at the same time.  What a waste of three hours!  It only takes CBS one hour to tell us the 68 teams that are in March Madness, and it only takes ESPN one hour to tell us what teams are in the College Football Playoff. 

8 – THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF:  There will never be a way to have a proper College Football Playoff.  What we have now is better than we used to have when sportswriters determined a national champ with their vote and we have better games now, but if you follow US College Football, you know there are still a lot of problems.  I would love to see more teams involved but then you are in danger of watering down the product.  I would love to see less bowl games that involve 7 or 8 win teams and I would love to see players not bailing on their teams if a pro prospect for bowl games that mean nothing but that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.  No matter what they do, it will never be perfect which is frustrating.  As a result, we have some good games on tap with other teams like Texas, Michigan and Miami saying what about us.  I would personally like to see conferences like the Big Ten and SEC holding conference playoffs so that maybe we only see or two teams from those conferences advancing to the CFP, but that makes the schedule longer.  I don’t know when it will change or how it will change, but as a fan I am just going to enjoy everything and see how it plays out.

9 – THANK YOU:  As some of you may know, I have spent the last two summers doing public address at Regina Red Sox games. Last summer was a memorable one as the Red Sox came back to beat Sylvan Lake in an exciting three game final to win the WCBL championship.  This past week, the Red Sox had a night to thank their volunteers and game-day staff for what they do to make games at Currie Field as enjoyable as possible.  President Gary Brotzel informed everyone in attendance that they had a treat for us and that treat was a replica championship ring.  Needless to say, a lot in the room were very impressed at that move.  Thank you to the Red Sox.  That is a nice piece of memorabilia to remember what was a great summer.  The WCBL sked came out this week and I’m already waiting for first pitch. 

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• Guessing its good to be a sports fan in Denver right now. 
• Are the Raptors actually legit?
• The CFL sked comes out Monday. The Riders have to be home to Montreal on the opening Friday right?
• If you haven’t seen the Toronto Sick Kids Hospital ad featuring Freddie Freeman, go find it and laugh hard at it. 

That’s all I got. Have a great week!