Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

2 – RUSH CONCERNS – Despite the win, there are some indications the Rush won’t be in for a long playoff run.  First of all, Frank Scigliano is nothing if unpredictable.  He can struggle for a solid half and then make three or four spectacular saves in a row with the game on the line.  It’s hard to know what he’s going to give you but if he’s on his game, the Rush stand a much better chance of going deep.  Offense from the transition game has, suddenly, become non-existent.  Jake Naso has scored four goals in two games from face-off draw wins but more is needed from Jake Boudreau, Matt Acchione, Mike Messenger, etc.  In addition, Austin Shanks was a major force in last year’s playoffs but he’s tailed off significantly in the second half of this season going 6-6-12 in his last seven games. The good news is that the defensive structure was excellent last night 

3 – PATS CHANGES – The Regina Pats have fired coaches Brad Herauf and Ryan Smith but have done so by patting them both on the back by thanking them for their service and buttering them both up as if they were both just hired.  On one hand, classy.  On the other hand, weird.  If you really believe this, just keep them on and let them continue.  If you just look at what the Pats have had for player talent, it’s hard to criticize the results and, in fact, one could say Herauf and Smith actually got the maximum as far as potential is concerned.  However, a new era is upon us with Maddox Schultz and Liam Pue and, clearly, Dale Derkatch has someone else in mind to coach those youngsters.

4 – LEAFS TECHNOLOGY – True or not, there are whispers out there the Toronto Maple Leafs used AI to make decisions regarding trades this season.  While most are laughing at the notion, I would remind you that it wasn’t so long ago that we laughed at teams who utilized advanced metrics and analytics to assist their coaching, game planning, and management strategies.  Now, that same data is used so much that just about every team has a department of employees dedicated to analytics so my guess is trades will be run through AI and if it says to make it, then the trade will be done.  If not, the trade won’t be done.  The same thing will happen on determining salaries and just about any decision imaginable will come from a computer rather than human choice.  I watch games in a lot of different sports quite frequently and stupid decision after stupid decision is made and then blamed on analytics and it seems perfectly acceptable if the choice was made by a data program as opposed to human intuition.

5 – AU REVOIR AJOU – The CFL has suspended and the Saskatchewan Roughriders have, subsequently, gone even further and released WR Ajou Ajou for aggressive and unwanted behaviour towards women stemming from a post Grey Cup social gathering at a restaurant in Regina.  Both the league and the Riders have done a nice job making it sound like Ajou was a complete menace and maybe he was but saying he violated a gender based policy by being ‘aggressive and making unwanted physical contact’ leaves a lot to be speculated on.  I think it would be in everyone’s best interest to get right into the specifics so that there is no grey area and no doubt as to what is unacceptable behaviour.  In my opinion, while any unwelcome physical contact is inexcusable and should be punished, I would submit that depending on what you do, maybe you should get more than six games.  Remember, Edmonton released Christion Jones in 2020 for saying that he felt men should be with men and women should be with women and then said that’s just his opinion and encouraged everyone to live life with safety.  To me, that’s the bar set by teams and the league.

6 – Count Blue Jay pitcher Eric Lauer among those who hates the use of Openers.  Lauer came in to Friday’s game in the second inning against Arizona and allowed three runs on five hits over five innings in what ended up being a 6-3 win for the Diamondbacks.  Lauer says coming into the game in the second inning messes with his routine as a starter.  “To be real blunt, I hate it.  I can’t stand it but you work with what you got.”  The thought process is to ‘protect’ Lauer from facing the top of the order more than necessary and I don’t mind Braydon Fisher (the opener), but if Fisher is good enough to face the top of the order, maybe the Jays should look at him as their closer or stretch him out as a starter.  It feels like a waste to value a guy enough to pitch against the top of the order only to remove him after the first inning.

7 – VRABEL/RUSSINI – On the Diana Russini-Mike Vrabel matter, I tend to look at this a bit differently than most.  I think if you are going to hold people to certain moral codes in order to keep their jobs then the reality, quite frankly, is that almost nobody is going to be able to coach and/or play professional sports.  I look at it from the point of view that Russini has an unfair advantage to securing stories over others in her field by way of giving herself up sexually to those she’s interviewing.  Unless the athlete/coach and reporter are homosexual, a male reporter has no chance of competing with Russini and a female reporter who decides she has some self-worth can’t compete with her either and, therefore, Russini should be fired on that basis rather than any other form of fake outrage.  

8 – GREY AREA – The fact of the matter is that the reporter-subject relationship has been on a slippery slope for years.  For example, I see pictures all the time of media people getting their photos taken with those they interview.  It’s highly unprofessional even if it’s just the two individuals standing side by side and smiling and I feel that way about both male and female reporters.  It doesn’t mean the relationship always has to be one of tension but there shouldn’t be any form of ‘hero worship’.  I have also seen quite a difference in pictures taken with male athlete and female reporter versus that of male athlete and male reporter.  So when we let this type of inappropriateness slide, why are we so surprised when it ends up like Vrabel and Russini by the pool?  Further to that, and I know it sounds like I’m picking on females, but there is a difference between wearing what you want and dressing professionally.  In the one well-published photo of Russini interviewing Vrabel, she’s wearing short, tight shorts and a skimpy tank top.  She looks great but is that a ‘professional’ wardrobe for conducting a sports interview?  I’d argue that it’s not.  And if Kevin Bieksa interviewed some famous, good looking female hockey player and wore provocative super tight shorts and a tank top with his muscles on display, it wouldn’t be any more or less appropriate than how Russini dressed.  

9 – FISCHER DECEIVES OUR RULERS – For some reason, CBC decided it was timely to publish a news story about Swiss hockey coach Patrick Fischer admitting that he used a fake covid vaccine certificate to get around China’s travel restrictions for the 2022 Olympics.  The response from Canadians on social media would seem to indicate outrage that Fischer would be deceptive about protecting himself from government overreach but it’s okay for the government to lie, seemingly, nonstop about everything and, constantly, intrude deeper and deeper into our lives.  On a somewhat related note, I remember when Buffalo traded Jack Eichel to Vegas, Sportsnet talking-head Elliotte Friedman came to Eichel’s defense on how to best handle his neck injury saying since it’s Eichel’s body, it’s his choice and not the team’s on how to move forward.  However, when it comes to the covid vaccine, Eichel’s body belonged to the government.  The double standards are never ending and, for some reason, people are way too trusting of these elites who don’t deserve even an ounce of the benefit of the doubt.

10 – PREMATURE PASSINGS – Just because I haven’t been posting about it doesn’t mean it is no longer happening.  You either get it or you don’t.  Garret Anderson, an Anaheim Angels legend, passed away after a ‘medical emergency’ this week at the age of 53.  Arizona State football assistant coach Steve Miller also had a ‘medical emergency’ and died this week at the age of 29.  We should be living longer not shorter.  I get that most of you don’t even want to ask questions and so be it.  The words of a funeral director that I talked to a year or so ago continue to resonate with me when I asked if his industry was busier than normal.  “I wouldn’t say more people are dying, but they are definitely younger.”  It would also be remiss for me not to mention the passing of Regina Rams RB coach Dwayne Masson, who passed away this week as well. Masson was diagnosed with bone cancer prior to the 2025 season.  Sad times, it just feels like way too many are leaving us way too soon.

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