STACKHOUSE’S 10 WEEKEND THOUGHTS

1 – BC LEAVES HOCKEY CANADA – The BCHL leaving Hockey Canada sent ripples through the rest of the Junior ‘A’ hockey world this week and I, for one, am intrigued to see how everyone else reacts. Perhaps the most impactful aspect of this will be the ability for underage juniors to leave their home province for the greener grass of BC, which turns out more NCAA scholarships than the rest of the Junior ‘A’ leagues combined each season. I know most SJHL teams, in recent years, have made a concerted effort to go younger to attract more NCAA interest and to keep their top players home for the full duration of their junior careers.  The move this week by the BCHL is sure to cause some re-evaluation, I’m sure. What I’m uncertain of is how Hockey Canada will treat a Saskatchewan 16 or 17 year-old who goes to BC but happens to get cut for whatever reason once the season starts? Is that player considered to have been playing unsanctioned hockey and, therefore, suspended in the event he gets cut in BC and then attempts to come home to play?  

2 – PIVOT ON RECRUITING – I differ from most involved in player development with the SJHL and MJHL in that I would be more inclined to work with the WHL and Canadian colleges more so than I would with the NCAA. If I’m fighting a losing battle to keep players from going to the BCHL, why not do something entirely different and work with teams in the WHL and help develop for that league? Granted, I’m not in the General Manager business, but if I have a player at 16 or 17 and he ends up carving out a really good major junior career as an 18, 19 year-old; perhaps I get him back at 20 and even if I don’t, maybe I build a reputation as an excellent Plan B for those families who have major junior aspirations and maybe teams in the WHL will push players they have to release into my program as a thank-you for pushing players to them.  My home team, the Yorkton Terriers, boasted Chantz Petruic, Keenan and Kaeden Taphorn, and Alec Zawatsky as their top players the last time they had a contender (2020) and all four of those players had major junior experience.

3 – SUPER LEAGUE – Ryan Wood, who used to coach for the OCN Blizzard, mentioned to me years ago that Western Canada should form a super Junior A league to compete with the USHL and NAHL.  I dismissed him, but now that I see what’s happening with BC, perhaps this makes a lot of sense. I don’t know to what extent fans would support such a thing but if you look at the Junor A programs who seem to be consistently successful, it’s definitely worth dreaming about. Could markets in Dauphin, Steinbach, Virden, Portage, Estevan, North Battleford, Flin Flon, Humboldt, Brooks, Spruce Grove, Drumheller, and Whitecourt support such a thing? You’d have to pay your staff big time money and you’d need to AVERAGE more than 1500 fans a game in order to make it work, in my opinion, but I think there is some capability there to have such a loop and you can still run regular MJHL, SJHL, and AJHL programs as they are currently and it would, actually, put some of these pay to play models more on an even footing with other teams in their respective leagues. For me there is one major hurdle that cannot be overcome no matter what: the distance a scout needs to travel to watch hockey. BC hasn’t always been a better run league, they just happen to have a whole bunch of teams spitting distance away from each other and a scout can fly into Vancouver and really doesn’t have to go that far to watch 8-10 teams in a weekend.  

4 – JETS RETOOL – The reality is that based on many other trades that we’ve seen in recent years, the Winnipeg Jets are not going to get much for their malcontents other than roster filler and depth draft picks.  If they are, truly, serious about not taking a step back then they’ll revisit what made them a contender the first time: taking advantage of other teams’ salary cap situations and scooping their RFAs. That’s how the Jets got Blake Wheeler, Andrew Ladd, and Dustin Byfuglien. They could do a similar splash this Summer.  Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman is unlikely to get what he is looking for from the Bruins and Ross Colton is in a similar situation with Tampa Bay. An intriguing option may be Alexis Lafreniere of the Rangers, who doesn’t deserve much of a raise but the Jets could come in with an offer that allows the Rangers to replace him while the Jets give Lafreniere a contract that pays him based on the potential he’s supposed to reach. It’s a gamble but also the only way Winnipeg is going to replenish their talent without doing a teardown.

5 – BROADCASTERS HIT THE ROAD – Apparently, in the first round of the playoffs, Leafs play by play man Joe Bowen, due to no fault of his own, appeared to be an idiot as he announced goals on the radio while watching his television. More than once he got the wrong scorer because he was limited as to what he could see due to the fact he wasn’t actually in the venue. As a former play by play man, I often got bailed out when I wasn’t sure who scored by checking out who leads the celebration line back at the players’ bench. If TV doesn’t show it, Bowen isn’t going to know because he’s not physically there. For the second round, Rogers has decided to risk its financial future by paying for him and a color person to take an airplane, stay in a hotel, and eat some meals in order to call the game the way the job should be done. At the same time, I don’t have any sympathy for the announcers on this because they are the ones that opened the door to show their bosses that you could still get the job done by watching a screen in your basement. You can’t do the job well, mind you, but that’s never really been a concern for those in charge as long as the sponsors are ponying up the money.

6 – XFL PLAYERS GET TRYOUTS – A number of XFLers have landed tryouts with NFL teams, including Seattle quarterback Ben DiNucci. DiNucci was the league’s top passer during the regular season and also has a bit of NFL experience, having started a game for the Dallas Cowboys (he didn’t exactly shine). DiNucci has been offered a chance to earn a roster spot with the Denver Broncos, who have Jarrett Stidham backing up Russell Wilson. The number three quarterback position is definitely up for grabs and a real good camp could put DiNucci in line to be Wilson’s backup and these types of chances are exactly why the XFL exists.

7 – CFL BUZZ – It could be my lack of exposure to mainstream media, but it seems like CFL buzz is very low despite being a week away from the start of training camp. Just a question for the readers, but are you noticing as much hype in 2023 as you did, say, in 2019? I know as I watched the XFL this Spring, it felt like the caliber of play was, at minimum, on par with what the CFL currently offers but then I took a step back and have come to the conclusion that how the product is packaged on television has a lot to do with it. TSN simply is not even on the same planet as ESPN as far as presentation level and that, to me, is a problem.  

8 – SPORTS ON CANADIAN TV – That criticism on TV presentation is not directed at the CFL. It’s something that has become more glaring as I compare watching the NHL playoffs on Sportsnet and the NHL playoffs on TBS or ESPN. Game 2 of the Leafs/Panthers was like watching two completely different games as I experimented by flipping back and forth. The Canadian version was, actually, embarrassing. Now as we approach the beginning of the CEBL season, it’s worth noting that you can attend a Saskatchewan Rattlers game and leave having been thoroughly entertained and exposed to a level of basketball that is equal to just about any league around the world that isn’t the NBA. Yet, when you watch that same game on TV, you are left with the impression that this is not a serious league. That’s got everything to do with the investment from the sports networks and not the league itself. We need to demand better, but the only way to do that is through advertisers who are only willing to spend their dollars if the production improves.  

9 – CFL QB’s IN THE USFL – In the USFL, McLeod Bethel-Thompson is ripping it up with a league leading 837 passing yards to go along with 6 touchdowns and just 1 interception through the first three weeks.  Bethel-Thompson, much to my surprise, led the CFL in passing yards last season as well. Winnipeg back-up Dakota Prukop has seen limited action with New Jersey and the Generals play MBT’s New Orleans Breakers on Sunday. This is simply an opinion based on my eyeballs, but the XFL is a better league than the USFL although, again, presentation may have a lot to do with it. The USFL uses a hub model so the attendance is almost non-existent for some of their games and that definitely takes away from the atmosphere.

10 – PITCHER INJURIES PILING UP – Despite constant babying of pitchers, three more went under the knife for Tommy John surgery this week, including former Blue Jays ace Robbie Ray.  Houston starter Luis Garcia and Anaheim reliever Jose Quijada are the others.  It’s amazing that nobody has noticed that curbing a pitcher’s innings does nothing as far as maintaining the health of a hurler’s arm.  More pitchers than ever before are forfeiting entire seasons because their elbows break down.  Meanwhile, losses in the standings continue to pile up for teams who insist on removing very good starters from close games, in favor of an inferior reliever, because they fear that extra inning or another 30 pitches is going to mean a season ending injury.  The reality is that there is no concrete proof of a magic number and my suspicion is that it comes down to the effort pitchers are throwing certain pitches.  I can recall watching Jimmy Key on Blue Jays Banter saying teenagers should not even attempt to throw a breaking ball because their arms are not fully developed.  I wonder if he should have gone a step further and told adults not to throw offspeed pitches at max effort every single time they throw a pitch. 

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