STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – RUSH NEW WAYS TO LOSE – This time they blew a 9-4 lead by scoring once in the final 29 minutes and allowing the game winner with 1.3 seconds to go in a 10-9 defeat at the hands of the San Diego Seals Friday night. It was a shocking goal where the Seals called a timeout with 10 seconds left and then when play resumed, they went unpressured to the net and scored on a rebound. Eric Penney gave them more than a chance to win in goal but the offense went to sleep and really when you stand back and look at it, the offense hasn’t been good all year. This is a team that, simply, has disappointed in just about every facet. Sure, the goaltending has been a glaring weakness but they’ve been consistently unable to score when they needed to and they’ve been outscored in the fourth quarter in four straight games. The Rush are 3-8 overall and 2-5 in one-goal games. The Rush have teased their fans at various points this season but all in all, they just aren’t good enough. They’ve simply been incapable of replacing Ben McIntosh’s offense.  McIntosh has 21-goals and 34-points in 11-games with Philadelphia. Numbers that would, surely, be the difference for, at least, two wins if he was playing for the Rush.

2 – TRADE DEADLINE – It’s a veteran team and this week is the NLL trade deadline, so you have to wonder if some veterans will be on the move. They don’t have any offensive young players of note coming up and things only stand to get worse if they don’t backfill with younger guys. Mark Matthews is 32, Robert Church is 30, Jeff Shattler is 37. Ryan Keenan is 27 but he looks more like a complementary offensive piece than one to build around. Josh Currier is 28 and has shown flashes but otherwise very inconsistent. Dan Lintner appears to have settled in and is 29.  Seldom used Austin Murphy is 28. Some big decisions are looming and you have to think the time has arrived to blow this up.

3 – HELLEBUYCK – The Winnipeg goalie has allowed, at least, four goals a game for six straight games (as of Saturday) and is playing a lot like a star player who no longer wants to be in his current surroundings, which shouldn’t be all that surprising to people. My guess is that after the season we hear that he’s unhappy and the Jets take offers on him. This is an organization that, despite wholesale changes to their blueline during the last offseason, still has the same issues that they’ve had for about three straight years now. That’s an indictment on the General Manager. The Head Coach, as I’ve mentioned a number of times, is a player’s dad. This isn’t even close to being a serious organization.

4 – EICHEL – Las Vegas centre Jack Eichel took a pot shot at the fans in Buffalo after he got a mixed reaction from them upon his return this past week. Eichel said it only took the fans seven years and him leaving for them to get into the game. The reaction to Eichel’s comments has been mostly negative because he’s hurt their feelings. Personally, I love his passion and honesty. If you don’t want to hear it, don’t ask him the question. Here’s the follow up question – is he wrong?

5 – NHL TRADES – New York Islanders goaltender Semyeon Varlamov would rather miss the playoffs than come to Canada and play for Edmonton and maybe be a hero as he recently refused to waive his modified no-trade clause. I’m super curious to see how the trade deadline unfolds for Canadian teams and if the Oilers are to improve their netminding at all, I think they are going to have to look at other Canadian teams to do it.  Players on American teams just aren’t going to be eager to waive no-trade clauses to come up here. This trade would never happen but if the Jets offered Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck for Connor McDavid, I think it would make both teams better. Calgary has made a pre-deadline deal already and the player they got, Tyler Toffoli, came from another Canadian team.

6 – BLUE JAYS VACCINATED – Major League Baseball confirmed this week that any unvaccinated player will be banned from playing in Canada and will also not be paid for games missed. For visiting teams, it’s not a big deal. This amounts to a weekend off and you don’t have to travel to an unpredictable country as far as civil liberties are concerned. I wonder how this affects actual Blue Jay players, who are here for 81 games and most of them have families? If you have 2-3 on the team who aren’t vaccinated, do the Jays have to trade them? If those 2-3 have close friends and are opposed to this form of discrimination, do they ask for a trade too? Could, as the regular season gets closer, this result in a team or two simply boycotting games against Toronto? My guess is the federal government’s policy may change by next month anyway but what if it doesn’t? It’s also worth noting we now have a federal government that is operating in complete contrast to all 10 provinces but it’s the convoy that was unreasonable. Got it.

7 – CFL RECRUITMENT – My assumption is that non-vaxxed American CFL players will also be subject to this silly rule that applies to MLB players. It shouldn’t affect the number of players CFL teams recruit but you can bet it will impact the quality of the players. You can disagree all you want but any time you disqualify a certain percentage of the population, you are automatically dealing with a lesser quality. Add in that some will be apprehensive about coming here because of our lack of passion for freedom combined with the notion that it appears quarterbacks are the position where players are least likely to be vaccinated and I feel there is reason to be concerned about the on-field product.

8 – USFL – I don’t know if the USFL will succeed but the fact they are playing all games in Birmingham gives them a chance as it means there will be no travel expenses for any of the clubs. Ticket prices are $10 for adults and each adult ticket is good for three additional tickets for children aged 15 and younger. The Stallions will kick off the season against New Jersey on April 16 and then there will be three more games back to back to back on television April 17. I can’t imagine Birmingham fans will care too much about Houston vs Michigan, Philadelphia vs New Orleans, or Tampa Bay vs Pittsburgh but if the TV money is enough to keep the league afloat and give it some operating capital, this has a fighting chance simply based on the low overhead. The busfare ticket prices means people don’t have an excuse to not attend in person if at all curious. I’ll be watching week one for sure.  

9 – BAUER/WATSON – This will be an unpopular take but I have plenty of unpopular takes so may as well add another one. The legal system has decided not to even bring Trevor Bauer or Deshaun Watson to the point of facing a trial for allegations of sexual misconduct. Yet, both have their careers in limbo because the NFL has not given the go-ahead for Watson and MLB still has Bauer on administrative leave. You may not like the legal system, I know I definitely do not, but it’s the best we have for passing judgment on people who are accused of wrongdoing. It’s time to reinstate both Bauer and Watson and let individual teams decide if being associated with either of these two men are of any benefit for their business. It’s clear there is robust trade interest in the NFL for Watson.  In the case of Bauer, he rubs people the wrong way because his opinions don’t always fall in line with the politically correct. It sounds like the Dodgers are leery about bringing him back and there are rumors his teammates would not welcome him back. Either way, reinstate him and put the onus on the Dodgers. As a reminder, being immoral doesn’t equal criminal and my guess is that each team would define their moral clauses differently.

10 – MORE UNEXPECTED DEATHS THIS WEEK – Former MLB pitcher Odalis Perez has died at the age of 44 in his home country, Dominican Republic. He fell off a ladder. Scottish Commonwealth Games cyclist John Paul died suddenly at the age of 28. No known cause. Irshman Gerry Coleman, a fixture in the handball community as a player, coach, and referee passed away suddenly on Tuesday. I had some difficulty finding his age, but I think the father of four may have been 42. Thankfully he didn’t pass away, but Tokyo Olympic 1500m finalist Stewart McSweyn, from Australia, was struggling to breathe during a 5000m event earlier this week and was pulled from the race. It sounds like he will be okay.

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