Scruffy’s This N That

1 – HMMMM: The name Trey Lance is front and centre in CFL circles right now. For those who don’t know, he was a quarterback at North Dakota State and ended up going 3rd overall to San Francisco in the 2021 draft.  Injuries and some guy named Brock Purdy resulted in him leaving the Niners and signing with Dallas, but he is currently without a home. 

The story from Sports Illustrated’s Twitter account suggested Lance should try and revive his career in the CFL. I openly asked CFL insiders Dave Naylor and Farhan Lalji if they knew who had his rights and Naylor informed me it was the Riders. 

Like so many NCAA quarterbacks that have come to Canada and failed because of the field dimensions and other things, Lance would have to show he can play the Canadian game if he is interested. It is well known that I think the Riders need someone other than Jake Maier to take over the QB ship when Trevor Harris calls it a day. I wonder how much interest there is on both sides to seeing Lance come north of the border. Truthfully, I don’t think there is as Lance will want an opportunity to play now which won’t happen (Can you see Paxton Lynch 2.0 boys and girls?). 

At the end of the day, the ball is in his court but I just don’t see this guy ever calling Regina home even though he did at one time as his Dad Carlton was a DB here. 

2 – ONE STEP LEFT: The combine is over and training camp is set to start across the CFL in six weeks. The only thing left is the draft isn’t it? Yeah, teams will be signing guys to fill out training camp rosters, but the draft is the lone big thing remaining before we can seriously start talking about the 2025 season and what it may bring. 

Your Saskatchewan Roughriders have the 4^th pick overall as it stands right now. Do they just do what so many do and grab what they think is the best Canadian o-lineman to keep that area stocked or do they go elsewhere? U of S receiver Daniel Wiebe really impressed a lot of people with his weekend at the combine and we know the Riders like looking at the province’s two Universities when it comes to first round talent. Is 4 too high for Wiebe? I guess we will find out soon. I also still think that Kurtis Rourke is still in play and that the team is willing to let him seek a life in the NFL. It is what they did with last year’s 1^st round pick — Kyle Hergel. 

3 – GOOD DAY TO BE A STAMPEDER: Safe to say the Calgary Stampeders are now “the” team to watch at the CFL draft after the league took away BC’s first and one of their second-round picks because they violated the salary cap mightily. It means Calgary now has four of the first 20 picks which is a good thing if you are a Stamps fan. Guessing Dave Dickenson will be fielding a few calls before now and draft day as he looks to improve a team that needs improving. 

4 – MISSED OPPORTUNITY? The best junior hockey photographer in the WHL is Regina’s own Keith Hershmiller. He takes amazing shots at Pats games, but he took one this week that made me wonder if an opportunity was missed. 

Keith took a shot of the ice being taken out of the Brandt Centre since the Pats season was over. I openly opined on Facebook that they should have kept the ice in for another week seeing the Pat Canadians are playing Moose Jaw in the Triple A final and with Game 1 being sold out, it would have been a chance to draw a big-time crowd to see 14-year-old phenom Maddox Schultz. A few hours later. it was learned Game 3 at the Co-Operators Centre which was Thursday night was sold out as well. 

I was quickly informed by a member of REAL that there are concerts at the Brandt Centre by the Beach Boys and Riley Green this weekend so it couldn’t happen. 

A friend then texted me saying it might look bad on the Pats if you had 3500 – 4000 fans in the building to watch the Pat C’s when you couldn’t get that for the WHL team. That’s valid isn’t it? 

Speaking of Schultz, there are a lot of people thinking he will end up in Moose Jaw because the Warriors had the worst record in the WHL this past season and will have the best odds in the draft lottery. If you don’t know – and a lot seemingly don’t –  Moose Jaw’s first pick belongs to the Edmonton Oil Kings so it won’t be happening. By the way with Penticton now in the league, where is their first round selection at the prospects draft? I’d be OK if they were the first non-playoff team picking meaning 7^th overall.  Chances are they still get a good player with that selection. 

5 – WHO GETS THE ED? The Moose Jaw Warriors won’t be WHL champs at the end of this season, but I think we all knew that going in. The WHL playoffs are underway with two of the opening first-round matchups seeing a lot of travel with all four teams involved hoping it is a short series. Portland and Prince George will meet in a 2-3-2 first round matchup since it is a 12.5 hour commute between the two while Brandon and Lethbridge have opted to go for the traditional 2-2-1-1-1 even though that commute is about 10 hours. I don’t know how the playoff road will go, but I still think Everett meets Medicine Hat in the final and if that is the case, I will be tuned into Victory+ to watch.

6 – MOOSE JAW’S TIME TO SHINE: It’s a good job the Warriors didn’t make the playoffs this year as they wouldn’t be able to use the Remple Temple — I mean the Temple Gardens Centre — seeing the Friendly City is hosting another major curling event. While the rink has seen a few Scotties go through and a Canada Cup, this is the first men’s event to come in as Brad Jacobs, Ben Hebert and company will look to send everyone home happy as the World Men’s gets underway.

I had a first-row seat to seeing Moose Jaw put on some fantastic events in the past and I am convinced it will be the same time this time around.  It’s going to be a great week!

7 – OILERS GOALTENDING: With every goal Stuart Skinner gives up, Oilers fans gnash their teeth. Despite the fact he got the team to Game 7 of the Cup Final last year, many believe he just isn’t the guy and has pinned the team’s fortunes this year on him. Let’s face the facts Oiler fans. Skinner has not been great this year, but the reality is they are still in contention for a division title as we wind the regular season down. The Oilers are also not the same team they were at this point last year. 

When it comes to Skinner, a good hockey mind reminded me this week that GM Stan Bowman won Stanley Cup championships with Antti Niemi, Scott Darling and Corey Crawford playing goal. I would take Skinner over any of those guys.  Maybe that is why he didn’t go out and get a goalie at the deadline. 

8 – CONGRATS STEVE: I was wondering when the Saskatchewan Rattlers announced Eric Magdanz was being promoted to serve as head coach of the team this year what it would mean for U of R Mens Basketball Coach Steve Burrows who was an assistant. Wonder no more. Steve was named as the associate head coach this week. I couldn’t be happier to see Burrows continue on with the Rattlers. He knows what he is doing and he will get the best out of each and every player on the Rattlers much like he does with the Cougars. Hopefully Steve will see his guys sink some shots though—particularly at the foul line because he didn’t in this past Canada West season. 

9 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• There is so much offensive talent in the WHL, but there were no 50 goal scorers?  Hmmmmm!
• I don’t care what your political leanings are, but you are a special kind of individual when you take to smearing feces over a statue as was the case in Edmonton with the Wayne Gretzky statue that sits outside Rogers Place. 
• How many times has TSN showed that Levis ad with the woman playing pool during March Madness?  If the over/under was set at 999.5, it has definitely surpassed the over. Enough!
• My MLB picks:  AL Division Winners: Yankees, Royals, Rangers

                                                Wildcard: Boston, Seattle, Cleveland

                                                NL Division Winners: Phillies, Cubs, Dodgers

                                                Wildcard: Atlanta, Mets, Arizona 

                The Dodgers repeat beating Texas in the WS

That’s all I got! Have a great week!