Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

2 – ROSTER CONSTRUCTION – Canada has the best hockey players in the world, hands down.  There is no reason whatsoever for them to build some sort of team that needs to combat what another team may bring to the table with, perhaps, being the only exception of Tom Wilson to negate the Tkachuk nonsense.  If you had Makar level offensive defensemen coming over the bench shift after shift after shift, there is no chance of another team defending that.  None.  We all know who shouldn’t be there.  I’m not naming the names but the flaw is in how the roster construction is thought out.  When you have players who are this good, they will adapt to certain roles and also interchange those roles within games.  In Canada’s case, if the top line is snake bitten, you want to make sure the second, third, and fourth lines don’t have a significant drop off so that they can pick up the slack.  With all due respect, Sam Bennett isn’t a safe bet to step up and be Canada’s number one centre.  But, Wyatt Johnston, who leads the NHL in powerplay goals, probably would have helped on that 5-on-3. Who really expects Sam Reinhart, who is planted on the bench ice cold, to step on the ice for a powerplay shift and produce?  I certainly don’t.

3 – AMERICANS CRITICIZED – Despite winning the gold medal, the US Men’s Hockey Team has been subjected to mass criticism this week via the radical left wing, Trump-hating media, for laughing at his joke about also needing to invite the women’s team to his state of the union address.  In typical fashion, several players succumbed to the pressure and didn’t go and a few even expressed great remorse laughing at the joke.  When you bend the knee the way these soft kitty cat American players did, the pressure only ratchets up further and so it’s been a firestorm all week.  The solution would have been for the players to all be on the same page and refuse to answer questions and just attend the address, if they so wanted.

4 – POOR SPORTS JOURNALISM – I’m going to preface this by saying I’m not branding every person with the same brush, but overall the media has really gotten bad since Covid.  These people are not objective journalists at all and sports media is particularly awful because a lot of them don’t understand any aspect of world life outside of their sports bubble.  All they care about is making a name for himself/herself by trying to trip up an athlete into saying something that becomes viral and, possibly, results in society canceling that person.  I’m not talking about the ‘insiders’ who you see on TV every night.  I’m talking about the losers who are in the scrums and conferences pre and post event.  For the life of me, I don’t know why the athletes give these pieces of trash the time of day.  The nonstop political questions totally expose who these so-called reporters are and answering them is not a mandatory requirement.  Sports figures can very easily turn the table on these losers because if nobody will answer them, their employer is not going to keep paying them to travel around the country/world, following athletes who ignore their garbage questions.  

5 – REALLY BAD IN CANADA – The media has been exceptionally hateful to the American players here in Canada with hometown outlets in Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Toronto being harshly critical of Connor Hellebuyck, Brady Tkachuk, and Auston Matthews.  Those three could, easily, give it right back by demanding trades out of those respective dumpster fire organizations and nobody could really blame them.  None of those teams are remotely close to a Stanley Cup and two of them are nowhere near the playoffs.  I know the Canadian attitude is to say ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out’ but there is no upside for players (from any country really) to play in Canada and get publicly abused the way they do in various media outlets.  And you wonder why nobody wants to play for Winnipeg?  The headline that I saw from some jerk’s column is all one should need as to why.  At least the media isn’t a true reflection of most everyday people.  In Toronto this week, fans finished singing the American anthem when there was a technical malfunction.  That’s class.  Too bad their media has none.

6 – RIDERS TAILGATING – The Saskatchewan Roughriders have announced details on tailgating plans for the upcoming season.  It would appear season ticket holders will get first dibs as they’ll be entered into a lottery system and if your name is pulled, you get to pay $500 for a seasonal spot, which is a cost on top of whatever you pay for the season ticket to actually enter the stadium and watch the game.  Admittedly, I’m not a tailgating expert so I could be way off the mark here but I always thought tailgating was more about fans who weren’t necessarily going to enter the stadium to watch in person.  I’ve seen set ups where televisions are a big part and I assumed that was to watch the game since they weren’t going in.  Either way, this should be a win-win situation for both Riders and fans.  The demand is definitely there and this is long overdue.

7 – RUSH DISCOUNT TICKETS – Once again, the Saskatchewan Rush are heavily discounting President’s Club seats for their next home game on March 14th against San Diego.  I get why they are doing it, but it’s bad business.  You are, openly, telling the public your product isn’t worth the normal price and you are insulting those who have been long supporters and did purchase at the full price.  Furthermore, you risk having your loyal supporters hold out on buying tickets because they will anticipate these kinds of sales.  The Rush shouldn’t be relying on the media to get the word out they are the top team in the National Lacrosse League.  They need to do a better job of it themselves.  It’s not like they are a secret. They used to, routinely, sell out Sasktel Centre.  People are very much aware of the high entertainment level.  There was a noticeable drop in attendance immediately following the game where they had the drag queen perform at halftime in late February 2023.  I’m not saying the drop and the performance are related but out of 28 regular season home games since that halftime show, the Rush have eclipsed 8648 (attendance that night) only five times.  Once was a home opener (2024) and twice were season finales (2023, 2024).  They haven’t hit the 8600 mark at all since the end of 2024.

8 – RUSH DROP TWO – It was a tough weekend on the road for the Rush, who dropped two overtime games to fall to 10-and-3 overall.  Saturday, Thomas Kiazyk made his first start of the season and he got touched up for five goals on eleven shots in the first quarter but he settled in after that but it wasn’t enough in a 13-12 loss to Rochester.  Zach Manns produced 2-goals and 4-assists while Jake Boudreau scooped up 14-loose balls.  For a change the Rush got off to a good start, opening up a 3-0 lead but it quickly vanished.   On Friday, the Rush had their usual slow start and were down 5-2 to the three-time defending champion Buffalo Bandits after one before storming back to force overtime tied at 10, only to falter in the extra period.  Ryan Keenan had 4-goals and 5-points, while Robert Church scored twice and finished with 6-points.  Clark Walter got into the lineup for just the third time and led the team with 9-loose balls.

9 – NLL GAME EXPERIENCE CALGARY – For the first time, I was able to attend a National Lacrosse League game outside of Saskatoon as I took in Calgary and Halifax on Saturday night.  The Thunderbirds pulled away in the second half and won 14-10.  For me, it was more about experiencing a game atmosphere that is different from that of the Rush.  I have to say, I love the Roughnecks’ goal song ‘Bang, Bang, Bang, Vamanos, Vamanos’.  There are some other public address announcer quirks that I quite liked but perhaps the biggest difference that I wish the Rush would bring back is the pregame player introductions of the entire roster.  It’s a great way to pump up the players and the crowd.  I’m not sure why this practice was stopped but it’s one that can be easily reintroduced.

10 – KARMA – The Prince George Kodiaks have fired CJFL Coach Of The Year and former Saskatchewan Roughrider punter Jamie Boreham without much explanation.  On social media, I noticed Boreham is getting widespread praise, but I can tell you from first hand experience what goes around comes around and my guess is that based on what I witnessed from attending several practices and feedback I received from a couple of other coaches who worked with him, this has more to do with his treatment of people than it does anything else.  It can be a long road to the top and when you forget or trample on those who paved the way for you to get there, don’t be surprised when they don’t feel sorry for you when you tumble back down.

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