Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

2 – RUSH NEXT WEEK – If there was good news for the Rush in the loss it was that Buffalo also lost this week (overtime to Halifax).  The Thunderbirds are the lone 2-and-0 club heading into next week and only three teams remain undefeated (Rochester would be a fourth but they haven’t played a game yet).  Saskatchewan will host 1-and-1 Georgia on Saturday.  The Swarm are in the midst of a roster makeover but holdovers Lyle Thompson, Shayne Jackson, and goaltender Brett Dobson are still there and all were key in a 9-5 win over Oshawa on Saturday.  Former Rush faceoff specialist Jeremy Thompson is gone from the Swarm and they’ve been using rookie Jack Travassos, but he was only 3-for-10 against Mike Byrne on Saturday so he figures to have his hands full with Naso this week.

3 – COLTS BRING BACK RIVERS – The Indianapolis Colts bringing 44-year-old Philip Rivers out of retirement to salvage their season is the hail mary of all hail marys but it’s hard to blame them.  Their season is sunk no matter what and their options from within are slim and none.  Enter Rivers, who still has the arm strength and field vision that he had as a 34-year-old but what remains to be seen is whether or not he has the speed to get rid of the ball, the mental sharpness to make the proper decisions, and the physical ability to absorb a hit.  While nobody expects this to go well, I’ll be rooting for him.  

4 – 2014 RIDERS WITH JOSEPH – While Kerry Joseph wasn’t 44 (he was 41), the Colts bringing Rivers in to save their year is reminiscent of 2014 when the Riders brought in Joseph to stop the bleeding on a year that was destroyed when Darian Durant got injured.  The 9-and-3 Riders limped to a 10-and-8 finish with Joseph, eventually, taking over from Tino Sunseri and Seth Doege and ending the year with an 18-10 loss to Edmonton in the West Division semi-final. Stats from the games Joseph played are hard to come by (the CFL is professional though) but I remember thinking Joseph played well all things considered and was an improvement over the other two but it was still a sour end to a year the Riders appeared to be Grey Cup favorites only to be sabotaged by injury to their most important player (much the same way the Colts’ season has gone).

5 – STOP COMPARING CFL TO NFL – The fact the Colts had to call on Rivers should tell you all you need to know when moronic CFL fans try to tell you that the CFL is better than the NFL.  If that were the case, the Colts would be using Davis Alexander or Nathan Rourke this week and not Rivers.  Yes, I know the CFL is a different game and perhaps there are contract issues standing in the way (but those would be easily overcome if either of them had a realistic shot to play).  But, the key word here is ‘game’.  It’s a different game and not a different ‘sport’. I just wish we could all just accept the CFL for what it is, which is a second tier football league, and be happy.  There’s nothing wrong with not being the top league in the world.  It’s still fun to watch and the players are still elite.  Perhaps we could also then give the league office more of a pass when they do the less than professional things that seem to make it appear Mickey Mouse, at times.

6 – OILERS GOALIE TRADE – The Edmonton Oilers finally did it and pulled the trigger on a goaltender trade and acquired Tristan Jarry from Pittsburgh.  The Oilers’ first game with Jarry in the crease was last night and they rolled the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 and Jarry played decently well.  I don’t know if the Oilers will win the Cup or even make the league final for the third straight year but their overall play is about to spike in a major way as long as Jarry doesn’t melt down.  All indications are that Jarry is welcoming this challenge and he does have experience playing in Edmonton from his junior days, where he won a WHL title.  People also forget Jarry has been a pretty good goaltender aside from last season when he was banished to the minors but he did return and was strong down the stretch and has a 2.74-GAA and .907-SPCT since February up until now.  Don’t listen to media who tell you Stuart Skinner was a big part of why the Oilers went to the finals each of the last two years.  If not for Calvin Pickard and amazing play from the skaters, the Oilers are nowhere near the league final.  Yes, Evan Bouchard is going to screw up but it’s expected your goaltender needs to make a save or two as that’s their job.  Fans don’t grasp that shots against are a result of mistakes by the skaters in front of the goalie and that’s why you need netminders.

7 – JETS GOALIE BACK – Further evidence on how big a difference goaltending makes comes from Winnipeg, who were the NHL’s worst team for the last month, as the Jets welcomed back Connor Hellebuyck last night and, subsequently, dominated the Washington Capitals 5-1.  The Jets have about ten players on their nightly roster who have no business being in the National Hockey League, but as long as Hellebuyck is providing Vezina level goaltending it’s not going to matter.  What will be interesting to see is if the Jets can get back into the playoff race as their only hope will be for a wildcard spot as it’s expected Colorado, Dallas, and Minnesota have locks on the three divisional ones.

8 – HUGHES TRADE – Full marks to the Vancouver Canucks on making an excellent trade with Minnesota for Quinn Hughes.  Often times (in all sports) we see teams deal a superstar and then get a bunch of prospects and then sell it to their fan base as years and years of cost control and maybe, just maybe, one or two or all of the players received end up being as good as the stud they’ve dealt away.  This, almost, never is the case and teams usually just throw away elite talent but the Canucks got three players from the Wild who are all capable NHLers but not only that, all three still have higher ceilings.  Zeev Buium is going to, immediately, replace Hughes on the powerplay and be given every opportunity to blossom from a decent rookie into a superstar similar to that of Hughes.  But, at worst, he’s still a top four blueliner.  Marco Rossi is an established second line centre with some ability to be a first liner but even if he’s a second liner for the rest of his career that’s a win for the Canucks.  Liam Ohgren has shown he can play in the league and provides depth but he, too, has some scoring potential.  Hughes was not staying in Vancouver long term and the Canucks needed to get something for him and they did very well here.  Kudos also go out to the Wild for taking the plunge with Hughes, who even if he doesn’t re-sign, as they are now a legit threat to win a Cup this season and next even if he walks out the door for nothing at the end of 2027.

9 – UFC FIGHT NIGHT – The last UFC card of the year was held last night and Manel Kape won the main event over Brandon Royval with an impressive and stunning first round knockout that should propel him to the top of the rankings in the Flyweight Division, where Joshua Van is the new champion. Kape has won three fights in the last year, all by knockout.  Royval held his own against Van earlier this year in losing a unanimous decision.  Next year also marks a new beginning for UFC as the pay per view model is disappearing in exchange for a contract with Paramount +, which should mean subscribers of that service will get all the UFC events for free.  However, we live in the best country in the world (just ask most Canadians for verification of this) and it would appear as though our viewing option for UFC is going to be different than that of American viewers and so we will remain with Sportsnet, where the monthly plan starts at $30 a month (still less than $75 for a single UFC event) if you don’t have cable.  Free country, who would want to watch on Paramount for less money anyway?

10 – OLEKSIAK SUSPENSION – Canadian swimmer Penni Oleksiak is serving a 2-year suspension for ‘whereabouts violations’ and recently did an interview with one of Canada’s many non-biased media outlets where she was evasive as to why she wasn’t available for drug testing.  She seems to have a fair amount of sympathy from Canadian sports fans, which isn’t unexpected, but the reality is that being unavailable for a drug test is just the ‘new’ way of lying or trying to get away with cheating (Zach Collaros would be another example).  When you live and exist in the sports world where you need to notify drug testers as to where you will be at any given time, simply missing their attempts to contact you is a lame excuse.  Also, in this day and age of technology it’s almost impossible to be ‘unavailable’ for any prolonged length of time time. 

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster)