SCRUFFY’S THIS ‘N THAT
1) OOPS!: Thanks to a bad bounce, Canada’s dreams of winning a third straight World Junior Hockey Championship came to an end Tuesday morning. As the Czechs celebrated their 3-2 victory over Canada in a quarter-final game, the knives were coming out back home.
Hockey fans in this country simply need to realize this tournament is no longer a gimme. There are many good countries participating and this year it wasn’t to be. Was the Canadian team as good as other years? Nope, but we knew that going in didn’t we or were we just blinded by ignorance?
As is the case every year when Canada doesn’t win, people say it’s because they didn’t like the lineup and this year WHL fans bemoaned the fact that the league’s leading scorer, Riley Heidt of Prince George and Andrew Cristall of Kelowna weren’t wearing the Maple Leaf.
As Pats GM Al Millar told CJME/CKOM’s Jamie Nye on “The Green Zone” just hours after the defeat, you can’t pick 23 all-stars for your team. There weren’t 23 all-stars on the team that Connor Bedard and company won with in Halifax last year and I am sure there were players that didn’t play on that team that fans thought should have until gold was won.
The offence wasn’t there this year for whatever reason. It happens. It is disappointing and it is a skate to the nuts but again, Canada can’t win this event every year.
The tournament comes back to Canada next year as it will be in Ottawa. Perfection will once again be expected. It might not, but an overhaul isn’t needed. Just accept that this year wasn’t Canada’s year, figure out what needs to be corrected and get back to work.
2) WHEELIN AND DEALIN!: Back to Pats GM Al Millar. He put his stamp on his team New Year’s Eve as he made a series of trades aimed at making his squad better. Time will tell if he succeeds. I like many of the deals he made especially the one with Saskatoon as the Pats received six assets for Alexsandr Suzdalev. Getting him shows you how serious the Blades are at winning the title this year. He is a big get for them and yes that deal wouldn’t have been made if he wasn’t coming back to North America.
I wasn’t crazy about the deal with Everett that sent 20-year-old defenseman Parker Berge to the Silvertips as you get a 20-year-old defenseman back that won’t be part of the future, but I understand it as the Pats still want to try to get at least one round of playoffs in and compete down the stretch.
I do think the trade with Prince George that brings defenseman Tyson Buczkowski here will be one that ends up in a positive for this team as I have heard nothing but good about the Saskatoon product.
3) ELSEWHERE: The Suzdalev trade was big as it showed the Blades were all in to get a WHL title and as we found out Thursday, Moose Jaw and Swift Current also showed they mean business as they get Matthew Savoie and Conor Geekie respectively in what were mammoth trades with a Wenatchee Wild team that should be very good for years to come following the haul they got in return.
Give a lot of credit to Warriors GM Jason Ripplinger. Not only did he push all his chips into the middle of the table while emptying their draft cupboard as they sent seven draft picks including two first-rounders over the next four years to get Savoie. In doing this, he kept his roster intact meaning at this time he hasn’t ripped what is already a good squad apart. That is huge in my opinion. The question now is the same that it is every year and that is “Will this propel said team to a title or will they fizzle out in the playoffs and not get the job done?” Moose Jaw could be a first-round victim, or they could be playing for the Ed Chynoweth Cup. The same could be said for Saskatoon and other teams. That’s the great thing about sports is there are no guarantees, especially in junior hockey. When do the playoffs start?
4) CHARLESTON HUGHES: What more can you say about the CFL career of Charleston Hughes? The guy is heading to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame after having one of the greatest careers for a defensive lineman north of the border in league history . The 40-year-old, who did not play last year, finishes his career with 136 sacks which is 5th highest in league history. Despite his many great seasons, he never won league hardware as the outstanding defensive player but you could say he was arguably the most dominant defensive player in the league from 2015-19.
5) MARIO ALFORD: There are many great return men in the CFL and the Riders locked their guy up for the 24 season on Thursday as Mario Alford inked a one year contract extension. While Alford makes the return game dangerous, one wonders if new offensive co-ordinator Marc Mueller can find some plays for him catching or running the football. I always thought last year that Alford should have some plays called for him, but offensive coordinator Kelly Jeffrey obviously disagreed. With his speed and elusivity, Alford can certainly be a weapon.
6) IS THERE ANYONE HOME?: When the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA seasons end, the league usually still stays in the news cycle with one story or another. Once again it would seem though as if the CFL is doing what many of us will either do or have done and that is put up a “on holidays” sign. The league and its teams can’t afford to go silent; and a smattering of player signings just doesn’t do it. This is one of many problems in my mind that the CFL has to fix. Maybe this would have been the time to release the schedule.
7) RUSSELL WILSON: What is this guy’s future? While he was better this year than last, he is watching the end of the NFL season on the bench as the Denver Broncos have told him to have a seat so they can save some money and cut him when the new league year starts. His time in Denver has been a disaster. No one saw the Seahawks fleecing Denver the way they did and now the deal is being thought of as one of the worst trades if not the worst trade in NFL history.
One has to think Wilson will be a starting quarterback in the league next year with teams like the Commanders, Falcons and maybe the Vikings depending on the Kirk Cousins situation being rumoured as potential homes. There is no way any team will be paying him big money though.
At the end of the day, Wilson will leave Denver with 11 wins in total and 142 million in his bank account.. I’m guessing he will take that and the chance to remove himself from Sean Payton who has proven he is nothing without Drew Brees when it comes to being a head coach.
8) THE FUTURE OF BOWL GAMES: Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said it the best after his Bulldogs absolutely decimated Florida State 63-3 at the Orange Bowl, Smart said college football needs to be fixed and he is right. One of the things that needs to be done is to dial back the amount of bowl games that are played. Do we really need the Pinstripe Bowl, the Quick Lane Bowl and the 68 Ventures Bowl amongst others? The records of some teams going to bowl games are ridiculous and then you add that some are opting out or have entered the portal.
With the 12-team playoff coming, it will change things a little as players who opted out of what is a bowl game that has no significance will all of a sudden be playing in a game that has some meaning.
To me, I think you need to reduce bowl games and find a formula that will keep good teams outside of the top 12 have one last game to celebrate their season and tell those that are 4th or lower in their conference that their season is over. You have to change the portal date to after Bowl season and you have to tell players that if they are going to get NIL payments that they have to play the whole year and not back out of their last game. Can you imagine if the Riders had players on one-year deals tell the coaching staff that they weren’t playing in the final week of the season because they might get injured which will hurt their FA status? The Riders would withhold their game cheque and maybe that is what needs to happen here.
It’s a debate that won’t go away and when corporations are putting $$$$ into sponsorship of bowl games, it is hard to say no to that which proves again that the almighty dollar is what makes the decisions.
9) THE LAST WEEKEND: It’s the last weekend of the NFL season and there are some less than desirable quarterback matchups, but that’s what happens when you know where you are going to finish. Nonetheless, here are some tidbits of info going into the final weekend.
- Twenty teams remain in Super Bowl contention, tied with 2006 for the most with one week remaining over the last 41 years, since a record 22 were still alive in 1982.
- With a home win against Buffalo, the Miami Dolphins can register a 12th victory for the first time since 1990 and secure its first AFC East division title since 2008 in the NFL’s final regular-season game on Sunday Night Football (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC). Buffalo with a win would stamp an exclamation point on an impressive season-ending stretch and give the Bills a fourth consecutive AFC East championship. The last time the Bills captured four straight division titles was 1988-91.
- Dallas kicker Brandon Aubrey, officially a first-year NFL player and not a rookie after beginning his pro career in the USFL, has connected on each of his first 35 career field-goal attempts, including nine from 50-or-more yards. Mike Vanderjagt holds the NFL record for most field-goal attempts without a miss in a season, 37 in 2003. Gary Anderson ranks second on that all-time list with 35 in 1998. Aubrey can break that record and Dallas (11-5) can capture the NFC East division title with a win at Washington on Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET, FOX).
- Two quarterbacks age 25 or younger – Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa (4,451 passing yards, age 25) and San Francisco’s Brock Purdy(4,280, age 24) – have already reached 4,000 passing yards this season while five other quarterbacks age 25 or younger – Houston’s C.J. Stroud (3,844, age 22), Green Bay’s Jordan Love (3,843, age 25), Philadelphia’s Jalen Hyrts (3,803, age 25), Washington’s Sam Howell (3,793, age 23) and Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence (3,736, age 24) are within 300 passing yards of the 4,000-yard mark entering Week 18.
BTW, the NFL does a great job in providing game notes with little nuggets of information like this. The CFL does a nice job with game notes as well, but one thing that is lacking are some of these nuggets of info. There used to be a day when the game notes pack from a team was a thick one. Guys like Tony Playter, Ryan Whippler and Ryan Pollock did a tremendous job in passing along some tidbits for those of us that covered the Riders. That seems to have been lost on a league-wide basis.
10: WHATCHA DOIN FOR LUNCH?: Going to give a free plug for a Regina business with a great owner. If you have ever been to Country Corner Donuts on the corner of Dewdney and Broad you know what I am talking about. Vuong Pham and his staff have been there for a long time. The sandwiches they make are tremendous as are the prices and the donuts that come out of there might be the best in Regina. Might? If you’ve never been, I highly recommend.
That’s all I got, Have a great weekend!
