STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS
By: Mike Stackhouse
1. Yorkton native Tarrington Wyonzek pushed lines for Game 7 of the WHL final between Prince Albert and Vancouver this past week. After the game, he received the call that he will also be working the Memorial Cup. He just got back from Sweden, where he did the U18s. Wyonzek has the size and skating ability to, one day, work the National Hockey League.
2. Last Wednesday night, the NHL suffered another black eye on its officiating when San Jose scored the overtime winner on a gloved pass that should have resulted in a whistle stoppage. Fans are outraged that the league doesn’t allow this to be reviewed on video. There’s also a sense of alarm that this wasn’t caught at live speed by the two referees as well. I’ve got two takes – 1) make all scoring plays reviewable like they are in the NFL. 2) make this goal a legal goal. Why is it illegal to kick pucks into the net or shovel a glove pass to your teammate? I get the intent is so that players aren’t running around kicking and throwing pucks, but do we really think that’s going to happen? Is it easier to kick a puck or shoot a puck? Try passing with your glove and then passing with your stick. Stick is way easier and in this day and age of open ice being at a
premium, I think you just make them all count unless the puck is in the air above the cross bar.
3. Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow has been on the injured list for a couple of weeks now with an arm/elbow problem. Let’s examine the abuse he’s suffered with pitch counts: 77, 82, 85, 87, 76, 102, 92. Can we baby these guys a bit more? Usually, analytic nerds will scream at the magic 100 mark. Glasnow reached that number just once and he’s on the injured list. It’s time for some new research. Pitch counts and injuries just aren’t related to each other and you don’t need to be in the medical profession to draw that conclusion.
4. In the wake of the Toronto Raptors game seven victory over the Philadelphia 76ers with Kawhi Leonard winning it in such dramatic fashion, pundits are out in full force saying the Raptors must do everything in their power to keep Leonard a Raptor for next season and beyond. My question to those pundits is, ‘Don’t you think the Raptors have been trying to pull out all the stops on getting him signed for quite a while now?’ Raptor brass didn’t need game seven heroics to all of a sudden have an epiphany hit them that they need this guy signed.
5. It’s great to see a couple of SJHL teams announcing some early player commitments for the 2019-20 season through social media. I’ve long felt teams needs to stay in the news during the offseason and this is a great way to do it. The old school way of thinking is that announcing a bunch of newcomers to your roster sends a bad message to returning guys as far as the security of their status is concerned so everything would be kept on the down low until training camps open in late August. Of course, everyone should understand that when a player commits to a team and a team commits to the player, it means as long as you show you belong on the roster. Veterans should never be complacent either. There’s always someone looking for your job and unless you’ve won a championship the year before, there’s room for improvement with all teams.
6. What was that with the CFL this weekend? I don’t proclaim to follow the league as close as many across this province; but it would appear to me that the teams (owners) wanted to get everyone in town and then perform a 180 on the collective agreement and exert some pressure on the players to sign anyway since everyone has already congregated for camp. Not cool.
7. My predictions – West Division: 1-BC Lions, 2-Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 3-Calgary Stampeders,
4-Edmonton Eskimos, 5-Saskatchewan Roughriders. East Division: 1-Hamilton Ti Cats, and then everyone else will be worse than Saskatchewan. But, for fun, let’s go 2-Toronto, 3-Ottawa, 4-Montreal. I also think of Zach Collaros finds a way to stay healthy for the full season, they will be better than Edmonton and have a shot at surpassing Calgary.
8. Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias was arrested last Monday for, allegedly, pushing his female companion to the ground. Media reports say it’s too early to speculate on what might happen to Urias and too early to make assumptions on the matter. For now, Urias isn’t even suspended but he’s not on the active Dodgers roster. Funny how the Cubs fan that made the OK gesture didn’t receive any of this ‘too early’ stuff from media.
9. Saskatchewan will not allow body checking in Bantam B or Midget B next season. It’s just too dangerous. The rationale is that those players are in that tier for a reason and size, lack of skating ability, and fear of being hit are factors. My question is what about the first year Bantam player who has a shot at moving up in tier in his second season as a Bantam?
10. The hypocrisy of putting in all these safety rules in the NHL, NFL, and CFL make me chuckle. The notion that players aren’t aware of the degree of physicality that goes along with playing these sports at the most elite level is silly. For me, it just comes down to respecting the person you are competing against. You shouldn’t want to take another human being’s head off or hit with the intent to remove from the game; but rather hit with the intent to make a play that benefits your team. Besides, I don’t see any safety police out there when an MMA fighter gets punched in the face five times after he’s lying on the mat knocked out cold.
(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance reporter/broadcaster. Follow him on Twitter at @Stack1975)
