Scruffy’s This N That

1 – AND SO IT BEGINS: CFL teams are in the middle of training camps, and the regular season will be upon us shortly. If it was this time next year, we would be getting ready for the season to start! If the weather does next year what it is doing this year, the Riders might have a snow game to open the ’27 season. What a feeling it is to see your car covered in snow on May 16. Where did I put that snow brush?

Once again, the Riders are doing their thing in Saskatoon much to the chagrin of those in Regina who want training camp back at Mosaic so they can get a good look at their football heroes while those in Saskatoon say screw that, it’s the only chance we get. No matter where they are, there is excitement as there should be as the /=S=/ try to defend their Grey Cup title and at this time there is no reason to think they can’t.

While a lot was lost, as expected, the core is still there on offence and unless Trevor Harris gets hurt or his play falls off a cliff, Mace’s men will be tough to knock off in 2026. Those that know me know pre-season games are meaningless to me when it comes to the score as the object of the game is evaluation and seeing if newcomers who have turned heads in practice can do it when the lights are on.

Mace will obviously want to see what his new-look defence will look like as new defensive ends and weak-side linebacker are needed, but the team is confident in free agent pickups like James Vaughters and Josh Woods with young guys like 2025 first-round pick Ali Saad looking to step up. Another guy the team is said to be high on is Chico Bennett who was on the practice roster last year. When it comes to the weak-side spot, I wonder if U of S Husky Nick Wiebe can become a starter. I could have said the same thing about Seth Hundeby had he not retired just before camp started. If they are looking at an American to fill the spot, could former University of Texas Longhorn David Gbenda have the first crack? The team will be in Calgary Monday and as is usually the case, don’t expect to see a lot of the number ones, but expect to see a lot of guys looking to do enough to stick around and perhaps get a roster spot. Someone can tell me how the game goes because I won’t be watching. Pre-season football in the CFL and the NFL to me is a tough watch.

2 – SIGHHHH!!: I think there are people out there who just aren’t happy if they can’t complain. I know, I know — what a revelation! The latest was an announcement from the league this week that states a half or game can end on a quarterback kneel if the defence has no timeouts left, the play comes on first down and the offence wishes to complete the half or game and there’s under 40 seconds remaining to play. This was met by outrage with some. ??????!!!! This is something I wish was instituted in the NFL and NCAA. When the game is over, the game is over. Why drag it out? Do you really need to see a team in victory formation twice? Someone enlighten me!

3 – IDEA: If you’ve been to Mosaic Stadium, you see there are football helmets in the Sportscage lounge featuring teams in Saskatchewan. It’s a great homage to all of the many 6, 9 and 12 men football teams that make this province great. Is there a Regina Riot and Saskatoon Valkyries helmet up there? I don’t know the answer to that seeing I haven’t been in the lounge for a couple of years. What I am getting at is that the Riders or Football Saskatchewan could take it one level higher. Wouldn’t it be great to walk into the lounge or somewhere in the stadium and see names/pictures of players born in Saskatchewan that have played pro football. I don’t know how many players there currently are from the 306, but if you go bck through the years, there are many. Maybe just me, but I think a board commemorating these players would be a nice little add-on for fans to take a look at when wandering through the facility. To be honest, I don’t know how many players there would be, but it wouldn’t be hard to find out. Just a thought!

4 – THE WHL FINAL: The Ed won’t be spending its summer in Prince Albert. Congratulations to the Everett Silvertips who dominated the Raiders to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup for the first time. In watching the series, they just put the pressure on Prince Albert and scored early in all five games. It made P-A chase and chase and chase and chase. Yes, Prince Albert won a way to win Game 1 and I didn’t think Everett would win four straight after that but they did. I thought the Raiders would win this series, but I think a lot of that was maybe due to the fact I didn’t see a lot of Everett this year compared to the Raiders. That’s a very good hockey team.

It was also great to hear my good friends Peter Loubardias and Kelly Remple on the call. They did a fantastic job! It’s never a bad thing when Pete is on the mic for a hockey game.

5 – WHAT A MESS: Frank Seravalli, who in my opinion is the worst of the “hockey insiders”, had the hockey world buzzing with claims that the Vegas Golden Knights would not give permission to the Oilers to talk to Bruce Cassidy about their head coach position. Wait a minute, when did the team announce Kris Knoblauch had been let go? Oh yeah, they did about 48 hours after this report which seemingly has never been confirmed by anyone with everyone just stating it. The report from good old Frank came after he said Evan Bouchard’s problems in the playoffs stemmed from a concussion he sustained which was seen by many to be a load of BS. Both the Oilers and Knights look bad here. I understand why you maybe don’t want a division rival to hire your ex-head coach but why allow him to interview for the Kings job as has been rumoured by other more credible insiders? If there is validity to that, it makes Kelly McCrimmon and VGK look bad. Some wonder if the league grew tired of what the Knights were doing with this and the John Tortorella actions after Vegas advanced to the Western Conference Final and decided to throw the hammer down. Talk about a FAFO situation!

This wouldn’t be the first time Edmonton has been guilty of talking behind the coaches back. While Knoblauch is now on the hook, Edmonton fans must remember it was him who was brought in while Jay Woodcroft was still the head coach. Why is Mark Spector the only one who has brought up that fact?

What is evident is GM Stan Bowman has botched something else and botched it bigtime. He should be the one removed. By the time people at the Oilers Sports and Entertainment Group realize that Connor McDavid will likely be playing somewhere else. It’s also evident that this is beyond Bowman. How many head coaches will this be for McDavid? What a mess!

6 – THE DRAFT LOTTERY: I haven’t had a chance to talk about the NHL draft lottery. Let’s just put it this way: I hated the fact Toronto won the lottery this year, but can we please stop with the “it’s fixed” talk! This may be an unpopular thought, but I love the NHL draft lottery. Just because your team finished last shouldn’t guarantee them the top pick overall. Yes, Vancouver had the best chance of anyone to land the number one pick, but other teams have just as much right to that number one spot—–yes even Toronto! Teams that tank or give off the aura of tanking are not guaranteed the first overall pick and that is a good thing.

Canucks fans were obviously moaning and groaning the most which I understand. Here’s an idea—field a playoff team and you won’t have to worry about the lottery right?

7 – CAPTAIN CELEBRINI: The future has arrived for Hockey Canada, and the present is more than fine with it. When Hockey Canada announced Macklin Celebrini would captain the team at the Worlds, no one batted an eye until it was announced after the first-round of the playoffs that Sidney Crosby was going to head to Switzerland. Hockey Canada had to give the “C” to Crosby right? Wrong!

I am sure Celebrini offered to give up the captaincy to Crosby and why wouldn’t he, but Sid knows what this kid is all about after playing with him at the Worlds last year and the Olympics this year. He knows that Celebrini is the future and he has probably told him that if needs any advice he is right there.

What does it say about Sid to head over to the Worlds after his long year. There are guys in that Canadian room like Celebrini, Evan Bouchard, Dylan Holloway, Robert Thomas and others will learn just by his presence in the room. Where is Connor Bedard? That’s a great question as he appears to have snubbed an offer to play for Canada for the second straight year. He’s not doing himself any favours kids.

8 – NBA PLAYOFFS: Like the NHL, the NBA are getting things down to the final four. Either Detroit or Cleveland will join the New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder as those two will play a Game 7. I love watching US college basketball, but as much as I try to watch the NBA, I just can’t. It’s bad basketball. How many games have been decided by 10 points or more? How many by 15 or more? On Friday night, San Antonio beat Minnesota by 30 and Detroit beat Cleveland by 21. No thanks! You wouldn’t be watching the Stanley Cup playoffs is Team A was beating Team B 8-2 consistently. Of course, the Stanley Cup playoffs have players that are actually competing when they want to unlike the NBA. That being said, I am guessing we will soon see numbers coming from networks that broadcast the league citing record high viewership. I don’t get it! Why would anyone be interested in what we have seen from the Association over the last few years.

9 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

With Mitch Picton and Ajou Ajou no longer around, I think the Riders are going to regret not keeping Tommy Nield.
Where are we on the search for a new head coach for the Regina Pats?
We are two weeks away from the start of a new WCBL season. Can’t wait to welcome people into Currie Field for another year of Regina Red Sox baseball. I hope the opener doesn’t get snowed out and at this point, I’m not kidding!!
There are a lot of good players on the leaderboard at the PGA Championship going into the weekend, but I am less than enthused over a final pairing of Maverick McNealy and Alex Smalley,
We are less than a month from the World Cup of Soccer. Are you ready?

That’s all I got. Have a great long weekend!