Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

2 – ATTENDANCE – It’s too bad most of the fans who supported the Rush in their pre-Covid glory days have checked out because the team is back to being one of the better teams in the league.  Just 5600 showed up to support them on Friday evening despite some heavily discounted premium seats.  It wasn’t any better for the Blades on Saturday as 3918 were on hand to view a 5-1 win over Brandon, which puts the Blades in a tie with the Wheats for second place in the East Division standings.

3 – SASKATOON SPORTS VOID PART I – In discussing the lack of support for all sports local in the Saskatoon market, an area fan commented to me that a big detriment is the void of local sports coverage.  Long gone are the days of Sportsline on STV and, apparently, there is virtually nothing on any of the local television channels during the evening newcasts.  A quick gander on the website of Saskatoon’s local newspaper reveals no Rush coverage at all and many stories are outdated.  Their sports department has also been gutted over the years.  In a lot of cases, people are aware of what’s available to them as far as sports goes in Saskatoon, but it’s just never on the top of mind for many.

4 – SASKATOON SPORTS VOID Part II – If I was spinning my wheels professionally, I would take a chance and move to Saskatoon and start my own local sports multi-media business.  The challenge is attracting the casual fan.  The problem isn’t with people who are engaged, such as the reader of this column.  The reality is that those who are big fans are always going to find coverage and soak it up.  There needs to be an outlet for Joe Average to want to visit a website and watch some videos, read some articles, listen to the odd podcast, etc. and feel the hype that the Rush, Blades, U of S Huskies, and other teams could easily be providing if they were more front and centre with people.  It also doesn’t help that when you find coverage, everything is watered down and there is no controversy or characters who will provide ‘money quotes’.

5 – GREAT ONE – A friend of mine was in Edmonton over the Christmas break and posted a picture on social media of him beside the Wayne Gretzky statue at Rogers Place.  I couldn’t help but wonder if this doesn’t get taken down or vandalized at some point in the not too distant future.  Canadians have developed a disdain for the most dominant hockey player of all-time because of his pro-capitalist and freedom-loving political policies and in a country where we like erasing our history, I can’t help but think Gretzky could be on the chopping block of people who never happened.

6 – OLYMPICS – Hockey Olympic teams have been named and there is always going to be second guessing as to who should and who shouldn’t be on rosters.  For the US, the glaring omission is Jason Robertson, one of the top scorers in the NHL, while JT Miller (who’s having a terrible year) and Vincent Trocheck (who’s an okay two way forward) got named to the squad.  For Canada, Connor Bedard, Wyatt Johnston, and Mark Scheifele were omitted while the likes of Anthony Cirelli (regarded as one of the best third line centres in the NHL) are on the club because it’s felt that building a ‘team’ is more important than selecting the top players and asking them to form their own roles and create a team that way.

7 – THIRD LINE CENTRE – The reason why Cirelli is the top third line centre in the league is because players like Johnston, Scheifele, and Bedard are too good to play on the third line.  Could they be the best third liners in the NHL if you needed them to be?  I’d argue they absolutely could and I’d also argue these players are so good they can also play out of position and move to the wing if needed.  When you form ‘a team’ instead of taking the best players, it opens the unit up for weaknesses.  If the powerplay, for instance, is struggling you aren’t going to throw Cirelli on there.  But you would give Bedard a shot.  This is the only potential weakness that I see.  Otherwise Canada should steamroll to a gold medal and it doesn’t much matter who the goalie is but Logan Thompson is more than fine.

8 – PODCAST – I’ve mentioned the Ice Guardians podcast with Brett Hull and Kelly Chase before in this column but it’s worth mentioning again.  This week, they welcomed former Blues captain Garth Butcher to the program and he shared a couple of Regina Pats stories from yesteryear.  ‘Butch’ was also renowned as one of the best trash talkers in the game and he told a number of stories that had me in stitches, including one where he was playing with the Canucks and was lined up beside Hull on the faceoff and placed his stick in between Brett’s legs before the draw.  The referee told Butcher that “Hull has balls so get your stick out of there.”  Butcher replied, “That’s not what I hear.”  The way they discuss their playing days, I’m legitimately jealous that I wasn’t in the room with these guys.

9 – HUMBOLDT CRASH – An appeal is coming from the families of five players who died in the 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus accident.  The families are trying to sue the Saskatchewan Government for the crash, stating the government knew the intersection was unsafe but did nothing about it.  Evidence was presented whereby a similar accident that killed a family of six occurred twenty years ago and there were suggestions made to improve sight lines at the intersection but they went ignored until after the Broncos’ bus crash, and then those recommendations were implemented.  The issue doesn’t seem to be whether or not the government has some responsibility, but rather the government has passed legislation that won’t allow anyone to sue them.  What’s most appalling to me is how this case has dragged out since it was filed in 2018.  It’s taken seven years for a judge to say ‘oh you can’t sue the government’.  Good on the families for taking this as far as they can but if the government admits that an intersection is dangerous and identifies changes that could be made and doesn’t make them, shouldn’t they be held (partially) liable…especially when they wasted no time after the Broncos’ crash to make the changes suggested decades ago?  The ‘you can’t sue the government’ bit is also, shall we say, greasy.

10 – HAMMER – I opened my Facebook timeline Saturday morning and was saddened by the news that former OCN Blizzard play by play man Evan Hammond had passed away at the age of 45 after suffering from a fatal medical event earlier in the week.  Hammond was on the mic during the Blizzard’s glory days of winning titles in the late 1990s when he was the same age as the players he covered.  After leaving The Pas, ‘Hammer’ went to Port Alberni where spent the last 20+ years as voice of the Bulldogs.  I was convinced I’d see Evan in the National Hockey League one day but I’m told he absolutely loved the Port Alberni area and once he settled into the community he had no desire to ever leave.  Evan leaves a major void in the lives of everyone he touched, but most notably his young family.  It’s just awful news.

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