THE MONDAY MORNING GOALIE

Taking Shots …

1 – COWTOWN: Today’s column comes to you from beautiful Calgary, AB where The Rod Pedersen Show will air for the next two weeks from Grey Eagle Resort & Casino on Game+ TV and YouTube Live (12 pm ET daily). After two months in Florida following the NHL’s Panthers, it’ll be interesting to see how the “other half” lives – aka the NHL’s Western Conference.

It’s strange leaving the Panthers, who are very clearly the NHL’s #1 team and their whopping 158 Goals For lead the league by a wide margin. The NHL hasn’t seen this type of domination for quite some time. Of late, the Panthers have beaten Columbus 9-2, Dallas 7-1, Vancouver 5-2 and Calgary 6-2. All those games were at home, where Florida’s 21-3-0 record at FLA Live Arena is the best the NHL’s seen in over 90 years!

Ironically, the Florida Panthers visit the Calgary Flames Tuesday night and we’ll be there. Thank you Flames.

2 – OILERS: We’ve only been in Calgary for a couple of days but already I’ve heard a ton of chortling from Flames fans about the recent struggles of their Highway #2 rivals. (Chortle: laugh in a breathy, gleeful way; chuckle). Edmonton’s implosion against Ottawa on Saturday – blowing a 3-1 third period lead on the way to a 6-4 loss – has left them 6th in the Pacific Division and 2-6-2 in their past 10 games. Their 9-1-0 start may have been the best in franchise history, but they’re a shell of that team now. Can someone pinpoint where this thing went off the tracks? There’s lots of hockey left, but I can’t see Edmonton coming out of it.

3 – GO PATS GO: The Regina Pats hadn’t played since January 1 but they came out guns a’blazing on Sunday with a 7-1 shellacking of the Moose Jaw Warriors Sunday afternoon under the Orange Top. At 15-17-0, the Pats stand 10th in the WHL’s Eastern Conference so they too have their work cut out for them but there remains something special about this group. Connor Bedard notched a goal and two assists in Sunday’s victory before 3,199 fans.

4 – HOW BOUT DEM...: Death, taxes, and the Dallas Cowboys crapping the bed in the playoffs. The lone upset on NFL Wild Card Playoff weekend saw the San Francisco 49ers smoke the Cowboys 23-17 in Dallas. The score flattered the Cowboys, who took 14 penalties, dropped passes, blew coverages and fumbled the game away in the waning seconds. Initial thoughts? QB Dak Prescott has yet to earn his exorbitant salary (Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson and other marquee quarterbacks win games on those last-minute drives), and Mike McCarthy was once again outcoached. And while Owner/GM Jerry Jones said it was “Super Bowl or bust”, it’s unlikely he’ll punt McCarthy whatwith three years left on his contract. They are the Maple Leafs of the NFL.

5 – CFL STUFF: Why and where did the #1 topic of the CFL off-season become what changes this league needs to make? I’d have said “to restore the CFL to prominence” but that ship has long sailed. The fact is there really is nothing wrong with the CFL as far as the rules-of-play are concerned but fans, media and players alike seem to be taking great glee in nitpicking this long-standing institution. However alarm bells should be sounding far and wide over the results of the recent Leger poll which reported “Only 3% of Canadians consider themselves a die-hard CFL fan, but almost half of the population has shown interest in the CFL.” Gulp.

If I’d like to see anything change in the CFL, it’s for the league to promote and embrace its colourful characters and history. They don’t seem to do that anymore. The league has lost a lot of its personality.

6 – XFL/4 DOWNS: What’s the bigger red herring: The CFL’s ash-canned talks with The Rock’s XFL, or this ridiculous discussion of exploring a move to four downs? As noted above, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the CFL’s current rules. Not a thing. You know that as well as I do. And it says here it’ll never happen. And as for the XFL talks, I’ve chalked it up to nothing more than a bait-and-switch move by Commissioner Randy Ambrosie last March to get us talking about something else besides the league’s problems. It worked. However shame on us for spending any time on either silly notion.

7 – FAJARDO: Also, where and when did star Roughriders quarterback Cody Fajardo find himself mired in this controversy over his status on the team, and within Rider Nation? TSN’s Glen Suitor rattled cages by saying the Riders should consider free agent Trevor Harris as “another option” and of bigger concern is that not a lot of people argued with him! I’m looking at the stats, and Fajardo led the Riders to a 9-4 record (he didn’t start the regular season-ending loss in Hamilton) and finished 3rd in passing with 2970 yards and a 14-11 TD/INT ratio. I’ve been around long enough to know you can’t stop the landslide of the Rider Nation once it starts and it seems people have been turning on Fajardo for awhile. But seriously, why?

8 – S-JAY: Apparently you CAN go back. In a strange occurrence over the weekend, the SJHL admitted an officiating error in Friday’s Melfort/Humboldt game so the teams went back and played the final 9:37 of the third period BEFORE the next night’s game. Huh? First of all, kudos to the SJHL for admitting the error because that RARELY happens but for 100 years coaches and players have had to like it or lump it in these situations. Dozens of times I recall leaving a WHL arena saying amongst the coaches, “Well I guess we can’t go back and play it again.” Apparently now you can.

9 – MMA: What a treat it was to spend time with MMA legend Cris Cyborg at the Pallas Athenas Womens Fight Club card Saturday at Grey Eagle Resort & Casino! Cyborg is the only MMA fighter – male or female – to hold the Grand Slam title as the holder of belts across four different fight organizations. I was a little intimidated to interview her on Friday’s show – after all she’s been labelled “a beast” – but she couldn’t have been more accommodating and engaging. She wasn’t fighting on the weekend, but she flew in from Brazil to promote the card and the sport. Forgive me for saying, but this is something the CFL could use with its current and former stars. Thanks PAWFC! It was wonderful interviewing their fighters on last week’s RP Show.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: I’m so old that I had to ask somebody in the press box in Sunrise, FL last week if that rapper getting in all the trouble at the Panthers game was Flava Fave. Turns out it was a guy called Kodak Black. … While flying from Fort Lauderdale to Calgary on Saturday there were multiple disturbances caused by travellers who refused to wear a mask. What are we, 10 years old? For one, airline and airport staff didn’t make the rules so getting in their face is simply rude and ignorant. And for two, do you kick up a fuss when a restaurant displays a sign that reads, “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service?” This has gotten beyond ridiculous. … Kudos to CFL great Jim Popp who’s been named Director of Player Personnel for the fledgling USFL which kicks off in April. The owner of the league seems to be a “fly by night” type however Jim doesn’t care. He’s doing what he loves, and is best at. Good luck Jim! The coolest man to ever grace the CFL. … I’ve got a new iPhone with US carrier AT&T and discovered ever since I quit drinking, I don’t need AppleCare anymore. … Can’t agree with Colorado star Nathan McKinnon who scolded the NHL’s All Star format of having every team represented. I understand he’s just sticking up for a teammate, but here’s another case of a player simply not understanding marketing. … That’s about it for this week.

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen