Scruffy’s This N That

1 – A PROVINCE OF CHAMPIONS: I don’t get political in these columns for a reason, but I do have a request for Saskatchewan Premier (and good schmuck) Scott Moe: if Edmonton at one time could be known as the City of Champions, can we find a way to proclaim Saskatchewan as the province of champions? Ok, maybe not, but the 306 did themselves quite well on the playing surface of choice in 2025.

You have the Riders winning the Grey Cup, you have the Saskatoon Hilltops winning yet another Canadian Bowl, the Regina Pat Canadians won the Telus Cup, the Regina Red Sox won the WCBL title. While they didn’t win Canadian championships, the Saskatoon Stars won silver at the Esso Cup and the Melfort Mustangs won silver at the Centennial Cup while the U of S Huskies got to the final of the Vanier Cup at Mosaic Stadium before losing to Montreal. What else and who else am I missing? 

2 – MEMORIES OF 2025: Obviously the sports memory of 2025 for many in the 306 would be what happened at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg in November as the Riders got their hands on the Grey Cup for a 5^th time.  The Riders had shown from early on in the CFL season that they were the favourites to bring the cherished mug back to Saskatchewan and like I said at the start of the year, they would go as far as Trevor Harris took them. We know where he took them. I am guessing many Rider fans in Saskatchewan and across the world got some kind of Grey Cup champion paraphernalia whether it was a shirt, a hat, a coffee mug or whatever. It should translate to a profitable 2025 and should put the team in good position for 2026.  

What other sports memories do you take out of 2025? My favourite memory without a doubt was one that I was involved in. Hours before Game 1 of the WCBL Final between the Regina Red Sox and Sylvan Lake Gulls, Red Sox president Gary Brotzel told me they might have 2000 people at antiquated Currie Field. I didn’t know if that place could hold 2000 people with its infrastructure, but they did and it was a crazy night. You couldn’t squeeze another person in there and a few decided to check things out from the hill behind right field. The Red Sox didn’t win that night, but they went to Sylvan Lake and won the title in what was one of the biggest sports stories in Regina in 2025. 

3 – WHO WEARS THE MAPLE LEAF? We have heard from many different people who should represent Canada in men’s hockey at the Milan Olympics. It’s been a little much at times, but that is the world we live in. We will find out this week who is and who isn’t on the team and new debates can start as to why Player A and B are on the team instead of player C and D. In fact, I am sure guys like Pierre Lebrun, Elliotte Friedman and others have columns ready to go outlining the biggest snubs and why this player or that player should be on the team. For what it’s worth, here is my list of 14F, 8D and 3G: 

G-Jordan Binnington, Mackenzie Blackwood (starter), Logan Thompson 

D-Jakob Chychrun, Thomas Harley, Cale Makar, Josh Morrissey, Colton Parayko, Devon Toews, Shea Theodore, Travis Sanheim 

F- Macklin Celebrini, Sidney Crosby, Morgan Geekie, Brandon Hagel, Wyatt Johnston, Brad Marchand, Mitch Marner, Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon, Brayden Point, Sam Reinhart, Mark Scheifele, Nick Suzuki, Tom Wilson.

If Connor Bedard is deemed healthy enough to play by Hockey Canada staff, he makes the team in place of Geekie. It would be Point, but he was one of the players originally chosen and despite the fact he has not a good year, I don’t think he can be removed unless injured. 

Yeah, guys like Matthew Schaefer, Drew Doughty, Anthony Cirelli and Sam Bennett don’t make my team, but there are only so many spots. Your team may look different which is fine. Bottom line — guys that are smarter than us are making the final decision in an event where gold is the expectation. 

4 – AND THEY’RE OFF: The World Juniors are underway in Minnesota. How many from our fair province have hopped on a flight to the Twin Cities to take in some or all of the action? Canada opened the event with a hard-fought 7-5 win over a Czechia team that has become quite pesky to the Canadians over the past few years. Is part of that attributed to the fact that like many of the Canadians, the Czech players are developing thanks to the Canadian Hockey League? That’s another debate for another time.

5 – NEW STADIUMS: Add the Kansas City Chiefs to a list of NFL teams where the climate in their home city is not great at this time of year getting a new facility. The Chiefs are going to leave Arrowhead Stadium much like the Bears are leaving Soldier Field and Cleveland is leaving its home. The Buffalo Bills are building a new home, but they aren’t going to play indoors like other cold-weather teams. Yes, Kansas City, Chicago and Cleveland want to host Super Bowls in the future and good on them, but in building climate-controlled stadiums, we are taking away from the experience? Is Lambeau Field next? That would be sacrilege in my opinion. Playoff football in the midwestern US is meant to be played in the snow and cold. It adds something to the game doesn’t it?

It’s just another example as to how soft our society has come. Fans in Buffalo put other fans in cold-weather locales to shame with the way they come out to support the Bills and it will stay that way when they move into their new stadium because they are more than willing to battle it out in what might be less than ideal conditions. You can argue all about who has the better fan base in the CFL – the Riders or the Bombers – but the truth is the best pro football fanbase belongs in Buffalo and it isn’t even close. 

6 – WEEK 17 NFL NOTES: After three less-than-stellar games that looked good at the start of the season, we are at the second-to-last Sunday of the NFL season. Here are some notes going into the penultimate weekend:

• Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold helped the Seahawks clinch their first playoff berth since 2022 and has led Seattle to 12 wins this season, the most since 2020. With a win at Carolina, Darnold – who had 14 wins with Minnesota in 2024 – can become the fifth quarterback all-time to record at least 13 wins in consecutive seasons and the first to do so with different teams, joining Aaron Rodgers (three consecutive seasons from 2019-21 with Green Bay), Tom Brady (two in 2010-11 and 2003-04 with New England) as well as Pro Football Hall of Famers Brett Favre (two in 1996-97 with Green Bay) and Peyton Manning (two in 2012-13 with Denver).
• Atlanta running back Bijan Robinson ranks first in the NFL with 2,026 scrimmage yards this season and first with 5,376 scrimmage yards since entering the league in 2023. With at least 68 scrimmage yards against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football, Robinson, who is 23 years old, can surpass Christian McCaffrey (5,443 scrimmage yards with Carolina) for the most scrimmage yards by a player under the age of 24 in NFL history.
• In a win over Denver last weekend, Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence became the 3^rd player ever with 275+ passing yards, three touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in back-to-back games. 
• With their win at Detroit last weekend, the Pittsburgh Steelers have finished with an above 500 record for the 22^nd straight year breaking the record set by the Dallas Cowboys from 1964-1985.

7 – LABOUR UNREST: It would be creating more headlines if it were the NHL or the American Hockey League, but the East Coast Hockey League has gone dark due to a work stoppage. The players union alleges ongoing unfair labour practices by the league. The question I have is that while I am sure the players have some legitimate complaints, does anyone really care? Did you even know about this until now? With all apologies to the ECHL, you aren’t getting a lot of attention because most barely acknowledge their existence and that may include the NHL and its member clubs who I don’t think have said anything about this. It’s not good to see, but the decision by players to stop playing may be a move they regret in the long run. I guess we will see how long this lasts.

8 – PLAYING ON CHRISTMAS: The NHL doesn’t want to do it, but the NBA and NFL have no problems playing on December 25^th and neither do I. I don’t know about you, but I am more than OK with settling in on the couch after Christmas morning and watching some football or basketball. Who’s kidding who, if I lived somewhere where there was a Christmas Day game being played, I would want to take it in just to get away from everything Christmas for a couple of hours. By looking at the crowds at the NFL games in Washington, Minneapolis and Kansas City on Thursday, many would seem to agree with me.

9 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• Are Tate McRae and Jack Hughes going to become the NHL’s version of Taylor and Travis? I’m guessing Gary Bettman is rooting for that couple to succeed, but it does seem as if the Calgary girl does have a thing for hockey players, which is more than OK. With the Grey Cup in Calgary, does it make too much sense for McRae to be the half-time act? 
• Should we in Saskatchewan and maybe the Prairie provinces tell Merriam-Webster that we have been using their 2025 word of the year “slop” for quite a while?
• I heard this past week that there is a pool amongst some in Regina for the Tim Horton’s goalscorer hockey challenge. I don’t know who runs said pool but get a hold of me as I would love to get involved in that next season.
• The Louisville Cardinals were the winners of the Bush’s Beans Boca Raton Bowl. They were awarded a cauldron of baked beans that several members of the team gladly took a spoonful or three of. Might just be me, but I would not want to be around that team a couple of hours after if you know what I mean. 

That’s all I got. Happy New Year!