STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – RIDERS ADVANCE – It wasn’t pretty.  The game was saturated with a ton of mistakes that included four missed field goals combined and six interceptions combined but Cody Fajardo also showed a great deal of moxy in rallying the Riders back late in the fourth quarter and then setting the stage for a game winning field goal in overtime.  All in all, it was actually pretty exciting in the fourth and OT. I won’t give the Riders much of a chance against Winnipeg unless Fajardo somehow finds it in him to play four quarters the same way he played the last quarter on Sunday.

2 – FAJARDO/BO LEVI – I saw on a social media post that Michael Ball had bristled about whether you would trade Fajardo for Bo-Levi Mitchell if given the chance. Ball later clarified that he, himself, would not make the trade from a Riders perspective. I have to say that even though it’s unlikely to ever be a real trade, I’d seriously consider it and I say that as a big fan of Fajardo. Bo Levi is only 31, hardly over the hill. He’s a proven winner while Fajardo hasn’t won the big game yet. 

3 – THE FANS – I wrote about the attendance of the game on my own blog and I’m not about to get into it here. You can go to my site and read it if you haven’t already. What I did find astounding on Monday was social media comments by a couple of mainstream media writers and a poll posted by the color commentator of the Riders radio broadcasts wondering about why the crowd was so low. I don’t know if these people have bosses that won’t allow them to talk about the vaccine passports or not but it wasn’t even an option in the poll as far as a reason for the low crowd and both writers have flatly rejected it being a factor. Maybe they are right and I am wrong but to not even really discuss it is a disservice. I just hope when the Riders do a post-mortem on the business aspect of their season that they are honest with themselves and actually reach out to those who have supported them and take the feedback seriously. This can be fixed and the Rider organization may be the single most influential entity in the entire province.  

4 – LUCIC HIT – Saturday night’s five minute major call on Milan Lucic really amplifies just how much hockey has changed in the last 5-10 years. Lucic hit Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo quite hard in the corner and DeMelo was bleeding as he went back to the bench. Once upon a time, there wouldn’t be a discussion about this at all let alone whether or not Lucic should receive a suspension for it. If you haven’t seen the play, it’s on YouTube. DeMelo does a shoulder check and sees Lucic coming but still turns his back to him and then Lucic finishes the hit as he comes in behind him. Lucic received a 5 minute major for boarding. I take no opinion either way as to whether or not these changes are for the better, but it’s just worth noting how much the game has changed. You decide based on your own interest level as to whether or not it’s good.

5 – BRENDAN LEMIEUX – If there is something I have zero tolerance for during the game it’s biting and spitting. You can also add licking to that ever since Brad Marchand established it as his own personal calling card (he’s done it more than once). There’s talk of Lemieux deserving as much as a 10 game suspension for biting Brady Tkachuk (who’s no angel, by the way, when it comes to showing respect for your opponent) and I don’t have an issue with sending Lemieux away for a month but Marchand has never received so much as a single game for licking and that’s, perhaps, the most degrading thing you can do to a fellow player.

6 – JAKE DEBRUSK – The Bruin forward has asked for a trade. The former first round draft pick has 8 goals in his last 58 games and if that wasn’t bad enough, his coach singled out his defensive play as being the reason for his recent benching. This is the perfect example of a player who is completely unaware of his good fortune. If it weren’t for his last name he wouldn’t have been a first round draft pick and if it wasn’t for his first round draft pick status, he’d have been out (or maybe never in it) of the league long ago. When we talk about some of the things that are wrong with the NHL, nepotism has to be near or at the top of the list. I haven’t done an actual count but the NHL surely has more ‘families’ who have made it to the pinnacle of the sport than what the NBA, NFL, and MLB have had. It’s a good thing I’m not the GM of the Boston Bruins because if Jake DeBrusk asked me for a trade, I’d tell him I’ll get to it as soon as it becomes the most important thing on my desk and thanks for your service. Please go home and wait for a phone call but don’t hold your breath.

7 – COVID CASES – The Ottawa Senators had three games cancelled last week due to twelve ‘breakthrough’ Covid cases and now the New York Islanders have two games called off because of eight ‘breakthrough’ Covid cases. 100% of the league is vaccinated and 100% of the fans are vaccinated (at least in Canada). But, don’t forget that ‘breakthrough’ cases are extremely rare and the encounter with Covid will be very minor. While on the subject, the NHLPA is now expressing serious reservations about going to the Olympics in Beijing because if any of the participants test positive, they’ll be subject to 21-days isolation and this isolation isn’t ‘rich person United States isolation’.  It’s China isolation. China may not even count to 21 the same way the United States does so they have every reason to be concerned.  Just me, but you couldn’t pay me enough to even go there.  Personally, I think these entire Olympics should be boycotted but for whatever reason we are hell bent on making nice with a communist and oppressive regime that is more than happy at seeing the way of life in the western world get destroyed.

8 – PENG SHUAI – The head of the Women’s Tennis Association (who is a man, which strikes me as odd) says he remains concerned about the well-being and safety of Peng Shuai, who has accused a top Chinese politician of sexual assault.  Steve Simon says he will not engage in further email communications because he believes her replies are ‘influenced by others’ and he’d like more valid proof she is, in fact, safe.  I’m not an expert on international government relations but my guess is China doesn’t like to be told what to do so Simon isn’t likely to get his wish anytime soon.  You’d think if Shuai wasn’t under some form of control she’d be extremely visible.  It takes a ton of courage to come forward the way that she did.  To, all of a sudden, just voluntarily vanish from the public eye doesn’t really mesh with speaking out on the allegations.

9 – JONES TOP ROOKIE – Mac Jones was the 15th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and he looks like a landslide winner for NFL Offensive Rookie Of The Year.  If you watch his interviews, it’s very easy to see he has all the intangible qualities you’d look for in an individual to lead a team.  The knock on him was that his NCAA team (Alabama) was one of the best NCAA teams of all-time so perhaps he was a product of his environment.  But, maybe his environment was partially a product of him?  Let’s review the teams that have issues at QB and opted to pick someone else:  New York Jets-two picks in the top 14, Detroit, Carolina, Denver, and Chicago.  The jury is still out on the king’s ransom San Francisco paid to move up in the draft to select a quarterback who didn’t play last year.  There was also Atlanta, who don’t have a plan in place to succeed Matt Ryan and then Miami also picked in the top 14 and they are clearly looking for a QB as evidenced by the fact they were willing to mortgage their future for Deshaun Watson, who is dealing with a long list of sexual assault allegations. But some teams just can’t identify quarterbacks.  In 2020, the Dolphins opted for Tua Tagovailoa over Justin Herbert.  And, let’s not forget Chicago selecting Mitchell Trubisky first overall in 2017.  Kansas City took Patrick Mahomes 10th.

10 – SENIOR HOCKEY – I’ve become more involved in senior hockey over the last couple of years and I think there are ways to further elevate the profile of it provincially.  There is a demand for it as evidenced by the popularity of the Monday Nooner podcast.  How to capitalize on it is another story.  I know I look at the locations of some of the teams and it makes no sense that Theodore doesn’t play Foam Lake (30 minutes away) nor does it make sense that Rocanville isn’t playing Moosomin (15 minutes away).  I’d love to see interlocking schedules.  I also feel there are opportunities for major sponsorship through cash tournaments.  I think people would come out and watch in good numbers if you ran a Memorial Cup style tournament from Thursday to Sunday and featured only the top teams from across the province with the top prize being a pot of cash split between the players on the winning team.  You could add to it by having a Saturday night cabaret and plan other events that would appeal to a wide cross section of people.

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster. Follow him on Twitter at @Stack1975)