SCRUFFY’S THIS ‘N THAT

1 – ANOTHER NIGHT OF EYEROLLS: Did we really expect anything different? The Saskatchewan Roughriders are still going to go to the playoffs, but they are going to back in. The Riders could have gained some momentum with a victory over Calgary, but let’s just put it this way: At halftime, I placed a bet on Calgary to come back and win the football game and I cashed in. In a game that the green-and-white should have won, they found a way to lose and while I don’t want to lay the blame on the officiating crew led by Ben Major, they certainly gave the Stampeders the advantage on a couple of huge plays with assists going to the always confusing command centre.

How did Dave Dickenson get a challenge without calling for a challenge on the Mike Rose horse-collar tackle penalty which was taken away?  Dickenson called a timeout and the next thing you knew, the penalty had been rescinded.  While I was trying to absorb that, the command centre came up with the decision that Sam Emilus had convincingly run into a Stampeders defensive back thus taking away what was a key first down on what could have been a potential game-winning drive. That was a terrible call! How many times over the years have I seen Dave Dickenson send his receivers out to intentionally run into a defensive back and get an illegal contact call? When it happens to him, he still benefits!  That was a reputation call plain and simple as far as I am concerned.

This doesn’t take away from the Sominex-style offence that Kelly Jeffrey continues to throw out there. Had it not been for Jamal Morrow, the Riders would have had zero offence.  I understand there was a wind blowing in the Riders face in the 4^th quarter, but my god throw the ball downfield and stop throwing 5 yard passes!  Is this how he got the job no one wanted?  It’s funny how people have complained about Jason Maas, Cody Fajardo and Jeffrey when the truth is Steve McAdoo is the best OC this team has had in the Craig Dickenson regime, but the fanbase called for his head and they got it.

I said at the start of this that the Riders are going to back into the playoffs.  They won’t beat Toronto unless the Argos are sending the University of Toronto to Mosaic, but Calgary is not going to beat BC or Winnipeg. Then again, neither will the Riders in the Western semi.

2 – KURTIS ROURKE:  The brother of Nathan Rourke is seen as the CFL’s top prospect going into the 2024 NFL draft. I will admit I have not seen Kurtis play, but we all have seen what Nathan can do. If Rourke is available when it comes time for the Riders to make their first round selection at the draft, would you take him if your were the Riders GM? I don’t know if Rourke can be an NFL’er and I don’t know if he would have to come to Canada to prove himself before doing so.  If the homework can be done, would you do it? BTW: It was great to see Nathan get promoted from the practice roster to the 53-man roster in Jacksonville. I am a big Trevor Lawrence fan, but Doug Pederson would be wise to give Rourke some reps if there is an opportunity.

3 – HNIC FAIL:  The first Hockey Night in Canada hit the airwaves Saturday night with the same old crew. There was Ron, there was Elliotte, there was Kevin Bieksa, Kelly Hrudey and Jennifer Botterill. I have nothing against those guys and actually think a lot of the work Bieksa. Friedman and Botterill do, but why doesn’t HNIC freshen things up a little bit and add to the broadcast? When I see what ESPN and TNT does compared to HNIC, it just makes me wonder why Rogers wouldn’t try and do something different. The amount of businesses that never change and stay stale don’t get new customers and they lose some of what they had.

Then on a night where you have two original six teams meeting in Montreal with Connor Bedard playing his first Saturday night game, it was decreed by those at Rogers that they would rather put that game on regionally and put the Leafs-Wild game nationally.  We all know Toronto is the center of the NHL universe, but HNIC really needed to give Bedard the spotlight much like ESPN and TNT did on their season premieres.  I also wonder why the schedule maker wouldn’t have had Bedard in Toronto on Saturday night and Montreal Monday.  Having Bedard vs Matthews on Saturday night would have been far better IMO.

4 – NHL ATTENDANCE:  How much concern should there be over the fact that just over 11-thousand people were at Canada Life Centre for the Jets game against the LA Kings Tuesday night? It certainly is raising eyebrows across the league. People in Winnipeg can’t be withdrawing their support of the team they never wanted to leave in the first place. I went on Ticketmaster to check prices for their game last night against Vegas and saw that the lowest price was $53. A ticket at center ice in the lower bowl is $280. The average regular season attendance was just over 14-thousand last year so I want to think what was seen Tuesday was a blip on the radar, but it would seem as if the Jets have some work in front of them to get Winnipeggers back to the rink. 

Meanwhile, the Bombers will play in front of a sold-out crowd at IG Field this weekend. Someone who is on a bigger payscale than me needs to find out why the Bombers are selling out and the Jets aren’t. It’s more than the W-L record.

By the way, the Capitals had their 588-game sellout streak end in its home opener.  Are we going to talk about the future of the Capitals too? The crowd in Ottawa Wednesday against the Caps and the Buffalo crowd Thursday night against Calgary wasn’t great either.  Perhaps the league has a bigger problem than they think.

5 – CHANGING THE DRAFT:   It would appear as if the NHL draft will look different in the not-too-distant future. There is a thought process that the league doesn’t need reps from all teams in one place for the weekend event. Like the NFL and NBA drafts, the prospects would be in the house but the teams would be at their respective headquarters making the picks. Rachel Doerrie, who is no stranger to the hockey world, has gone to X saying the draft should be abolished altogether with kids deciding where they want to play within cap constraints which would avoid tanking. All I have to say to that is HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Not really sure why Rachel wants to destroy the NHL, but again HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

6 – MCNASTY:  Evander Kane facetiously said the Edmonton Oilers were in trouble after falling to 0-2 in an 82-game season. The Oilers went out and spanked Nashville in Music City Tuesday night with Connor McDavid scoring yet another highlight reel goal.  If you haven’t seen it, go find it.  To me, it’s one of his top ten all-time goals. It’s not number one which to me is the one where he undresses Morgan Rielly before scoring in Toronto, but it is one of his best. The question I have is how did he get the puck back and how does the Predators defenceman just whiff on it.  The puck always finds the great ones!

7 – PATS: Hands up if you thought the Regina Pats would have the most points in the WHL on October 20. My hand isn’t up and I’m guessing yours isn’t either unless you are Alan Millar or Brad Herauf and even then. Without Connor Bedard, many of us were thinking it would be tough sledding for the Brandt Centre boys but they go into the weekend sitting with a record of 7-3-1 putting them one point ahead of Saskatoon, Portland and Prince George.

Yes the season is early, but it would appear as if this Regina team will be a tough team to play most nights and that as it stands right now, there will be playoff hockey in Regina.

I’ve had a couple of opportunities to see the team play this year and as expected Tanner Howe is leading the way with most scouts believing he will be a late first to mid second round pick at the draft.

Goalie Ewan Huet has been as good as advertised while players like Parker Berge and Braxton Whitehead have made that step up that you need to have.

8 – STUUUUUUUU:  We are into baseball’s final four as the Astros and Rangers are the lone teams standing in the American League in a lone star series with the Phillies trying to surprise everyone again and get back to the World Series for a second straight year as they meet Arizona.  I love baseball and I really love the baseball playoffs.  Just before Game 2 of the ALCS on Monday afternoon, the umpiring crew was shown on the TV and there in right field was Regina’s own Stu Scheurwater with Joe Davis saying he had moved from home plate in Game 1.  I didn’t even realize it was Scheurwater behind the plate in that opener. 

I don’t know if a good showing in the ALCS could move into a World Series assignment, but if so it would show that Scheurwater is considered as one of the top umps in the game.  He’s come a long way from Optimist Park and Currie Field kids.  Regina’s sports community and the community in general should be extremely proud of him.  Many hockey refs and linesmen in the NHL come from the 306, but I think Scheurwater is the only umpire from this province to have done games in the majors.

9 – A LONDON SUPERBOWL?  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said this week that the league has discussed having a Super Bowl in London. NO! Games in London now were starting at 7:30 in the morning and I have zero intention of having morning coffee and pancakes before settling in to watch the final battle for the Vince.  I don’t think Londoners want a 9 or 10 PM local start either.  The Super Bowl goes in prime time, End of story! Thanks but no thanks Rog!

Imagine Randy Ambrosie saying a future Grey Cup was going to go in the US.  There would be anarchy!

10 – NFL WEEK 7:  Just a couple of things to watch when you settle in Sunday for the NFL

· For the first time in six years, every NFL team has at least one loss this early in a season, entering Week 7. The field is wide open. That’s why the Dolphins and Eagles who are both 5-1 need a win when they meet Sunday night in Philly.  Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa leads the NFL in both passing yards (1,876) and passer rating (114.1). He also enters Week 7 tied for the league lead with 14 touchdown passes.

· Detroit (5-1) travels to Baltimore (4-2) in another matchup of first-place teams on Sunday.  Since Week 9 of the 2022 season, only San Francisco (14-1) and Kansas City (14-2) have better records than the Lions (13-3). In that span, only the 49ers (458) have scored more points than the Lions (448). Baltimore, meanwhile, is tied with Buffalo for the NFL lead this season with 24 sacks. What’s more, the Lions and Ravens are two of the seven NFL teams who have held a lead at some point in each of their first six games this season.

· Cleveland leads the league in total defense this season, allowing 200.4 yards per game. Their 1,002 total yards allowed in their first five games this season are the fewest in 52 years and the third-fewest yards allowed by a team in its first five games of a season since 1970. By allowing 198-or-fewer yards at Indianapolis on Sunday, Cleveland will become the fourth team since 1970 to allow fewer than 1,200 yards through its first six games of a season, joining the Baltimore Colts in 1971 (989 yards allowed), Minnesota in 1970 (1,045) and Washington in 1974 (1,176).

11 – ONE MORE THING:  Don’t forget about the Thunder and Hilltops meeting in the PFC Final in Saskatoon Sunday.  The Hilltops would have to be heavily favoured, but we all know that no matter what the records of the two teams are, the PFC Final between these two is usually a special one.  I know many will be making the trip from Regina.  It’s too bad Access, who has all the Thunder games, couldn’t make the trip up.

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