Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

1 – RIDERS LOSE IN MONTREAL – The  Saskatchewan Roughriders let one get away on Thursday night, blowing a 16-3 lead while falling 20-16 to the Montreal Alouettes, who turned to a third string quarterback to jumpstart a dormant offense. The Riders lost this game more than the Als won it so my guess is that if they get a do-over anytime soon, the Riders will emerge victorious.  Despite a couple of losses to BC and Montreal, I still have the Riders as the top favorite to win the Grey Cup at this point. I do wonder what they’ll do when Trevor Harris returns from injury. I don’t believe players should lose their job because of injury, but Harris is near the end of his career and Shea Patterson is at the beginning. Patterson has played well enough to keep the job and I’m not sure the record is any better if Harris is at the controls however I believe Harris deserves to retake the position once he’s healthy.

2 – JAYS GIVE UP ON PEARSON – The Toronto Blue Jays dealt pitcher Nate Pearson to the Chicago Cubs on Saturday. When I think of all the trades the Jays refused to make because they were scared of including him in over the years, this feels like the icing on the cake of what could have been for this team that is staring at a last place finish in the AL East with no real opportunity to compete for the next number of years seeing as how Baltimore is set up for the foreseeable future, Boston has somehow become relevant again despite pretending they are a small market team, and the Yankees are the Yankees. Toronto still has Bo Bichette and Vlad Guerrero as young players who are great cornerstones to build around (Bichette has had a terrible year due to various injuries) and I like their starting pitching but something is missing here. If they can’t come close to competing with the current roster, I’m not sure what they can do.

3 – RATTLERS POST MORTEM – After starting the season 5-and-2, the Saskatchewan Rattlers totally fell apart and went 1-and-12 the rest of the way and will miss the playoffs in the CEBL. It’s been well-documented how, basically, 100% of their starting lineup from opening night left the team for various reasons and that contributed greatly to the shocking fall. During the offseason, the Rattlers have to find a way to secure talent they feel is good enough to allow them to compete with other CEBL teams but also not so good that they will lose them to the NBA Summer League after a handful of games. While the league is one where player transition is to be expected, the reality is that the top teams keep their best players for the full schedule and, often, for more than one season. There’s no doubt that if the Rattlers can get themselves in a situation where they are one of the better teams in the league, attendance is going to, potentially, double from where it’s at now. Saskatoon will support them, but the team has been bad for 4 of the 6 seasons it has been in existence.  

4 – NLL FREE AGENCY – Top NLL goaltender Christian Del Bianco is set to depart from the Calgary Roughnecks and join his former coach, Curt Malawsky, in Vancouver with the Warriors. Del Bianco will be a free agent and announced on Instagram that he won’t be going back to Calgary. It leaves a huge void in the Roughneck roster as free agency begins. Don’t expect the Rush to have sympathy. They’ve been looking for a goalie for several years, finally settling on Frank Scigliano last year, who delivered a quality season. If the Roughnecks struggle, that paves the way for Saskatchewan to move up in the standings but it also means Vancouver is on the way up too so it doesn’t figure to get any easier for the Rush despite the fact they have a young team that is exciting to watch with plenty of room for improvement.

5 – FRASER/KLIMOSKO – When I first started working in junior hockey I wasn’t much older than the players themselves but enough time has elapsed that some of those same players are making impacts on the game as coaches and managers and to that end I feel it’s worth sharing how proud I am of two men who I have watched grow up, mature, and achieve their dreams of working in the game. Mike Fraser was a goalie from Brandon, who played for the Dauphin Kings and later went to Iona College before returning home and working under Leonard Strandberg in the MJHL with the Swan Valley Stampeders. Mike, eventually, found himself in a scouting capacity in the WHL and, this week, was named the new General Manager of the Everett Silvertips.  They don’t come classier than Mike Fraser. The Silvertips are in great hands and the players have a true role model and mentor in him. Meanwhile, Brayden Klimosko, who I watched play an integral role on some legacy teams with the Humboldt Broncos, was named Broncos head coach and GM this week. Brayden had been the coach of the Battlefords North Stars but the Broncos are his hometown team. Brayden’s passion and work ethic are impressive and seeing him grow up over the years from when he was a junior hockey player, junior football player, an assistant coach, and then a guy who went through some failed attempts at landing a head coaching job to becoming, arguably, the top coach in the SJHL at the moment, has been truly satisfying for me.

6 – OILERS HIRE BOWMAN – The Edmonton Oilers have hired Stan Bowman as their next General Manager and while there has been some background noise from people who are offended at a guy getting a second chance, I don’t get a sense there is much opposition to this at all nor should there be.  Bowman has been out of the league for three years after it was determined he had a significant role in the abuse suffered by Kyle Beach at the hands of a former video coach back in 2010. While nobody has ever disputed the story that has become public, I have heard whispers from people who fear backlash about there being more to this than what we have come to know through media reports and I will just leave it at that. I would also say that before you jump to conclusions, nobody has been more critical of some of the people in positions of power than I have been, including what I’ve written on this site about Kevin Cheveldayoff so just cool down before you assume I’m making this up.

7 – KODIAKS FOOTBALL – While I no longer have a personal interest in junior football, I will continue to follow along to see what directions certain franchises are headed and that includes the BCFC’s Prince George Kodiaks, who have loaded up on talent from Yorkton (I counted 8 players from the area on the current roster).  Former Rider punter Jamie Boreham is the coach and he’s tapped ex-teammate Chris Szarka to be the Offensive Co-ordinator. It’s a unique set up with Team President (Boreham’s boss and ex-Regina Ram) Craig Briere also serving as the Defensive Co-ordinator and Craig’s two sons on the roster.  I believe Szarka also has a son on the team but I could be wrong.  There is a player that shares his last name listed on the roster. 

8 – LEO BURKE – A part of my childhood died with the death of former professional wrestler Leo Burke this week. The 76-year-old was an Atlantic Canadian squared circle legend and I spent many Saturday afternoons watching him main event on television as well as many Wednesday nights going to the York Arena in Fredericton to see him go up against the likes of the Cuban Assassin, Bulldog Bob Brown, ‘No Class’ Bobby Bass, Rip Rogers, Mad Man Martin, and others. Towards the end of his Atlantic Grand Prix days, Burke formed a tag team with arch rival Cuban Assassin and it was my favorite duo. Burke always had time for the fans, including hanging out in the parking lot in Fredericton after the show. I was awestruck to be in his presence to listen to him chat with everyone. For those who may not be aware, Burke comes from a family in the Moncton area that is akin to what the Harts are in Calgary. The Cormiers produced The Beast (Yvon Cormier), Leo (Leonce Cormier), Rudy Kay (Jean-Louis Cormier), and Bobby Kay (Romeo Cormier).  Leo was the last of the four to pass away. While he never competed in the WWF/WWE, he did have a hand in training some of the modern day stars through his connection with Bret Hart. I realize pro wrestling is scripted, but Leo was as close to unbeatable and immortal as you can get in Atlantic Grand Prix. He’s one of the greatest ever. 

9 – OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY – I don’t watch the Olympics and I’ve also come to be suspicious of just about everything I see online and presented in mainstream media so I can’t really comment on the opening ceremonies that took place on Friday but I have seen quite a few people who have expressed outrage over apparent mocking of The Last Supper and the promotion of supposed Drag Queen lifestyle. I’m going to reserve comment on it because I, simply, didn’t see it and I would caution any person who believes what they see in the form of small video clips or still frame imagery. Nevertheless, I’ve also reached the point where nothing surprises me anymore so maybe what I am seeing on social media isn’t out of context at all.  Regardless, if you don’t like it, don’t watch it.

10 – CANADIAN SOCCER – Both of Canada’s national soccer teams have been caught cheating, using drones to spy on other teams’ practices. For the men, this doesn’t amount to much as they aren’t really a factor on the world stage anyway but for the women, it taints their 2020 gold medal. I’m sure it’s just me, but it feels like Canada’s reputation in just about everything on the world stage has been destroyed over the last ten years.  Most readers are familiar with what Hockey Canada has been through and I don’t need to go into how the federal government has, basically, torn apart our nation’s image and has even touted the fact Canada has no identity. It’s become, somewhat, embarrassing to admit to being Canadian. We’ve maintained our superiority complex all the while lacking the self-awareness of shame that has come along through sports scandals and the apathy towards overreaching government orders. I mean British Columbia just now is dropping vaccine mandates for health workers? And, nobody here seems to bat an eye.  At least it’s not Rwanda and North Korea, right? What standards.

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