Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

2 – USPORTS HOCKEY – It’s too bad nobody cares about the University Cup taking place in Halifax this weekend because it’s some of the best hockey you can watch anywhere.  The top seeded Saskatchewan Huskies, unfortunately, were eliminated on Thursday night by the 8th seed (and host) St. Mary’s Huskies.  The Huskies have been on a run and will play UQTR for the championship today.  If you are interested in watching it, the game will be shown on CBC Gem and will be ignored everywhere else.

3 – SENIOR HOCKEY – Speaking of good hockey, every year in February and March, senior teams all over the province compete for Provincial Championships as well as individual league titles.  In my neck of the woods, the Canora Cobras and Langenburg Warriors are going to a fifth and deciding game of the Saskeast Hockey League.  Last night, over 600 watched the Warriors tie up the series in Canora and you can bet there will be, at least, that many in Langenburg next Friday for the deciding game.  Senior A is a wide open, no import rule, division and it’s, essentially, the same as watching minor pro.  Lumsden and Raymore will play game one in their best of three Provincial final today and you can bet it’ll be standing room only in each barn.

4 – HULL PODCAST – There are so many podcasts out there now that you can’t even keep track of the good ones.  I’ve been raving about Ice Guardians with Brett Hull and Kelly Chase for months.  Hull told a story this week about scoring his 50th in the AHL in the last game of the year against the Nova Scotia Oilers when the Oiler coach pulled his goalie despite being ahead 4-3.  “I think he did it on purpose so I could get 50,” Hull said.  Hull claims to have never spoken with the coach (Larry Kish) and we may never know the truth.  Kish died in January 2025 at the age of 84.  Meanwhile, Auston Matthews also has a podcast (who knew) and he talked to Brady Tkachuk on it prior to the Leafs game with Ottawa this weekend and Tkachuk made fun of the Leafs for their roster construction and the fact nobody defended Matthews when he was taken out by Radko Gudas.  Leaf defenseman Morgan Reilly (who will be traded this summer) was asked about it and took the high road (smart).

5 – NHL EXPANSION – I don’t think it’s making much news at the moment but the NHL is going to expand to 34 teams sooner rather than later and it would appear as though Atlanta (for the third time) and New Orleans are on the league’s priority list.  This, of course, has nothing to do with the actual hockey market itself but rather what G-Betty thinks he can get in future television revenue from American networks.  Those folks waiting for Quebec City or Hamilton to be included in expansion or relocation plans are going to be waiting a long, long time.  For one, the Canadian dollar is in the toilet as a result of our high elbows and that makes it challenging, to say the least, to do business here when you are going up against American competitors.  The poor dollar also means Canadian teams are no longer the NHL bread winners as far as revenue goes. The other factor is that Canada is highly unattractive for millionaire players and the teams that are currently here are becoming farm clubs for the rest of the league due to high taxes and substandard living conditions when compared to other American major cities.  Hamilton also was, recently, awarded an AHL team to be affiliated with  the New York Islanders for next year.  It’s not out of the question that, within 20 years, we see most Canadian NHL teams get relocated to American centres and a new league that would be hockey’s equivalent to the CFL gets created.

6 – UFC FIGHT NIGHT – Movsar Evloev won a puzzling decision over Lerone Murphy in the main event despite losing, at least, the first two rounds of the five round fight.  Evloev also had a point taken away for low blows so even if you give him rounds 3, 4, and 5 the match should have ended in a draw.  I had Murphy winning the third round as well although I will say Evloev picked up the pace after losing the point and he was impressive in the last two rounds.  I’m not sure either fighter did enough to warrant being a serious threat to title holder Alexander Volkanovski.  One thing to consider is that the betting line switched mid-fight from Evloev to Murphy and with Evloev winning the decision, the House also wins.

7 – MLB SEASON – Major League Baseball begins a new season later this week and it will probably be the last one for a while as labour strife is headed our way.  The Blue Jays are already down three starting pitchers (Jose Berrios, Trey Yesavage, and Shane Bieber) for various arm injury reasons and so they go into the year with Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Eric Lauer, Cody Ponce, and Max Scherzer as their starting five.  It’s still not a bad group as most teams would be done like dinner with three of their top five pitchers on the shelf.  Of course, such is life in baseball where you are taught to throw as hard as you possibly can and just hope you don’t end up on a surgery table that costs you 18-24 months of your career.  Insane but nobody seems to bat an eye at it.

8 – WORLD CUP HOCKEY – I was sent a link to an article penned by a Regina newspaper writer where he makes a case for banning both Russia and the United States from the next World Cup of Hockey.  I stopped reading after the first couple of sentences because that’s never ever going to happen and the double standards drive me nuts.  I would think any country that freezes the bank accounts of its own citizens should also be banned but I’m sure there are plenty of mental gymnastics that can be done to justify such infringements.  The fact that we have a case to ban so many countries from international sports should be a massive red flag to all of us that we need a systemic overhaul of who is in charge.

9 – HUMBOLDT – Chris Joseph, who’s son Jaxon was one of the boys killed in the Humboldt Broncos tragedy in 2018, recently did an interview with a media outlet that isn’t propped up by the government and he explained the challenges of talking with mainstream media (namely CBC) because everything gets twisted to suit a narrative.  At issue is the deportation of the bus driver responsible for the crash and the apparent push by MSM to keep him in Canada for reasons only these gross activists can explain.  For the record, I think he should be deported but I also think there are far worse unsavory people loitering in our country that nobody gives two hoots about.  The Humboldt crash has a huge public profile and so the driver gets way more attention than those who are here, solely, to conduct illegal business such as human trafficking or drug manufacturing and dealing.  Having said all that, just because there are people worse than you getting a free pass doesn’t mean you should get one too.  

10 – REF ATTACKED – In Quebec last weekend, a 39-year-old man was so wound up over the officiating that he attacked a referee just as he was about to enter his dressing room.  Minor injuries were suffered and charges have been laid.  I don’t condone this type of behaviour at all but I have to say it amazes me when I see someone get so upset over a hockey game that they risk a criminal record but yet when it comes to standing up for basic human rights, not a peep.

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