Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

2 – GAME RECAP – Zach Manns had three goals and three assists in front of a season high crowd of 7319, including the tying goal late in the fourth when he accepted a Ryan Keenan pass from behind the net and dove to the front, lunging to put the ball just beyond Christian Del Bianco.  In OT, the Rush recovered a loose ball after losing the faceoff and it was Keenan who fed Robert Church with just two seconds left on the shot clock and he beat Del Bianco for the winner in heart stopping fashion.  Levi Anderson had his best game as a pro, scoring two and assisting on three others while also collecting six loose balls.  From here, the Rush hit the road for three straight.  They’ll be at Philadelphia next Sunday, at Buffalo on the 27th (Friday), and at Rochester one night later.

3 – RUSH FAN – I’m far from a seasoned lacrosse fan, but I enjoyed sitting beside Tim from Kentucky last night as he was attending his first ever box lacrosse game and unfamiliar with the rules.  By the end of the night we were high fiving each other as the Rush mounted the late comeback and subsequent game winner.  Tim was there with five family members, including his son and daughter-in-law who live in Saskatoon.  It’s a 27-hour drive if going by vehicle and he’s a big Wildcats basketball fan.  We had a discussion about NIL and it was nice to get the perspective of someone who is an NCAA fan and actually lives in a state where the impact is significant.

4 – HUSKIES HOOPS – While talking with Tim from Kentucky last night, I had to take the opportunity to let him know just how indifferent we are up here to university sports by informing him that before the Rush game, there was a university women’s basketball game in town that featured the 20-and-0 and defending national champion Huskies in the conference playoffs against Fraser Valley, where they dismantled their visitors 96-58 behind the 22-points of Maya Flindell.  Gage Grassick added 14 to go along with 5-rebounds and 6-assists.  Too bad there isn’t anywhere near the interest that you’d see if this was an American school because this Huskie team is special.  Meanwhile, Regina won their playoff encounter with UBC Okanagan 74-48.  Cara Misskey had 22 and Jade Belmore 18 and the Lady Cougars are on a collision course to meet Saskatchewan in the conference finals in two weeks but they’ll be heavy underdogs.

5 – NLL AWARDS – The NLL had fans vote for midseason awards and the Rush’s Ryan Keenan is the choice for Offensive Player Of The Year to this point.  Mike Messenger gets the nod for Transition Player Of The Year.  If the Rush had their own vote for Most Improved, I’d be selecting Matt Acchione all day long.  Acchione scored on transition last night and is starting to fill numerous columns on the stat sheet with loose balls, blocks, and caused turnovers.

6 – SUPER BOWL – Last Sunday’s Super Bowl game was a dud and it’s too bad because the overall season was second to none.  If you sit back and look at how New England made it through the AFC, you can surmise they had the easiest path to a Super Bowl game than any team has ever had.  They beat a Chargers team with Justin Herbert imploding, then moved on to defeat a Texans team that saw CJ Stroud turn the ball over five times, and they defeated a Denver team that was missing its starting quarterback.  The Pats never really looked impressive in any of those wins, they just did a bit more than the low level play of their opponents.  As far as halftime goes, I didn’t watch it.  I’ve seen the reviews and, as usual, some of you loved it and some of you hated it.  If you hated it, quit watching it.

7 – OLYMPIC HOCKEY – Maybe I will get into the Olympic hockey tournament as it gets closer to the medal round, but there seems to be a complete lack of suspense surrounding this event.  Canada is going to win and they are going to beat the US for the gold.  I guess there is a small chance the US could win in a one-game winner-take-all scenario but does anyone really believe even one of these teams will fail to make it to the gold medal match?  The bigger story, for me, is how the Canadians are excited and giddy about playing in the Olympics but they sure don’t want to live the Olympic lifestyle as they’ve opted for a five star hotel rather than the comfy confines of the Olympic village.  I’ve never been a fan of the pros playing in the Olympics and this is, partially, why.

8 – OLYMPIC LIFE – Speaking of pros, I am also not a fan of professional curlers being in the Olympics although they seem to be much more willing to live the Olympic life away from the in-game action.  Very few do social media better than Emma Miskew and she has done a few videos showing us the swag athletes receive as well as providing us with a tour of the small rooms the athletes share.  For as bad as social media can be, this is definitely one element about it that is very beneficial.  You feel like you are right there.

9 – CURLING SPAT – The biggest news from the Olympics this weekend was the dust up in men’s curling where Sweden accused Canada of cheating and the response from Marc Kennedy was to tell the Swedish skip to F..Off.  I chuckled when I saw a post on X that said, ‘somehow Canada cheating is probably the fault of the Americans as Canadians always blame the US for their problems’.  Someone else said, ‘It was like watching a political discussion with a Canadian as their response is always to verbally assault you’.   This is the reputation we are earning worldwide and while some may be proud of it, I don’t think it paints us favourably.  As far as the rule itself, I’m not a curling expert but it does look like the granite was touched when it shouldn’t be.  Oddly enough, Rachel Homan was called for a second touch as well and we are the best curlers in the world so when someone says there is no advantage to touching the rock twice, I would just default to the fact we are great at the sport but have been called for doing it so there must be some sort of advantage.

10 – BASEBALL INJURIES – When it comes to being a professional athlete, baseball players have to be embarrassed when compared to those in football, basketball, and hockey.  We haven’t even started preseason games and there’s already a shopping list of pitchers set to miss the entire season due to injury.  Soft doesn’t even begin to explain it.  In the case of the Blue Jays, outfielder Anthony Santander is out six months after undergoing shoulder surgery.  He barely played last year let alone this one!  Shane Bieber, who declined to exercise an opt out (we know why now), is also slated to miss the beginning of the year because of shoulder issues.  In Detroit, pitcher Reese Olson missed the second half of last year because of arm trouble and he announced he underwent surgery on February 2nd and will miss the season.  Could he have not figured out in November that something was amiss?  

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