THE MONDAY MORNING GOALIE

We were in Weyburn, SK Saturday night for the 12th Annual Red Wings Fundraising Dinner.  As usual, the event was soldout…

This year’s lineup: Blue Jays great Duane Ward, the Riders’ Kory Sheets and 19-year NHL veteran goaltender Curtis Joseph.  My cousin Ryan Williams, formerly of the Red Wings’ executive, lurks in the background…

Sheets was very likely the most popular target for autograph hounds.   He spent quite awhile at the autograph table before the event….

Two time World Series champ Duane Ward (’92 and ’93) spoke about what he’s doing these days and that’s doing baseball camps for kids across the country.  25 in all.

Cujo was amazing.  He had lots of funny stories to tell…

Auctioneer Jeff Toesczak did a fine job….

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STORY TIME FROM SATURDAY NIGHT

* The best part of this job is calling play-by-play of hockey and football games.  A close second is getting to meet sports greats during these fundraising dinners.  I’d never made Curtis Joseph’s acquaintance but obviously admired him from afar going back to the 1988 Centennial Cup run by his Notre Dame Hounds.  We used to listen to those playoff games on CFSL Weyburn in the kitchen at the farm and Peter Loubardias called the action.

Regardless, “Cujo” said he just started telling his personal story at banquets and it’s quite something.  He was adopted to a family in which his father was a black man with a “Don King-type” hairdo and his mother was Native Canadian.  He knows his birth mother and her name is, I believe, Wendy Joseph.  His adopted family’s name is Monroe.  Curtis said Thank God he stuck with the name he did or his nickname would’ve become “CUMO”!

His parents never attended any of his hockey games or practices when he was growing up and he was truly raised by the community in Keswick, Ontario.

Joseph was so nervous as he told his speech that his hands were rattling the podium which was audible over the speakers in McKenna Hall.  But it didn’t take long for him to warm up and get the crowd going.  He was a 20-year old on that Hounds team and said he got in a lot of trouble when he pulled beer from the South Forty hotel bar in Wilcox, SK.  Why?  Because the bartender was Hounds coach Barry McKenzie’s wife!

My favourite part is always the Question & Answer segment and I had to open it up with my own.  I asked Cujo if the greatest save of his career was on Joe Nieuwendyk in overtime of the 1997 playoff series between his Edmonton Oilers and my Dallas Stars.  Right after that stop, Todd Marchant raced up ice, caught Stars defenceman Grant Ledyard flatfooted and beat Andy Moog for the series-winning goal.  Curtis agreed that indeed it was, but it didn’t hurt that it was in overtime of Game 7.

* Duane Ward, who was raised in New Mexico and now makes his home in Colorado, was much more reserved Saturday night than he was at the Regina Red Sox event in the spring time.  He seemed real nervous the other night but again, he warmed up in the Q & A segment when we got him going on Ricky Henderson, Cito Gaston and the Jays’ glory days.

* And I’ve got to say that Kory Sheets knocked our socks off.  Like Brendon Labatte last month in Milestone, Sheets requested that I interview him on stage rather than deliver a speech.  It worked out splendidly and he seriously had the crowd rolling.  I thought we’d be lucky to get 10 minutes out of him but the interview went for 20-25 minutes and the crowd was in tune to every second of it.

During the Riders’ four-game losing streak in September, Kory recounted a story where head coach Corey Chamblin ripped into the team in the locker room.  “He had a fire going so far up his ass that it came out his mouth!” Sheets quipped.  The crowd roared at that one.  He also had some choice words for Calgary’s Jon Cornish which will stay in the room.

The one thing you might find interesting about Sheets is that he stands 5’10” but he has a 36″ inseam.  That’s the same as me but I’m 6’3″.  The dude is ALL legs and is built to be a running back.

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10 RANDOM MONDAY THOUGHTS

1 – Sunday was a fantastic day of NFL football.  The New England-Denver game was a bit of a snoozer but the right team won as Peyton Manning’s Broncos emerged as AFC champions and are off to the Super Bowl in New Jersey in two weeks’ time.  They’ll oppose the Seattle Seahawks who claimed the NFC title with a nail-biting win over the San Francisco 49ers.  This is a win-win Super Bowl for me because either the Seahawks claim their first Super Bowl in franchise history or Peyton Manning cements his legacy as one of the NFL’s all-time great pivots.  It’s going to be a fun two weeks of build-up.

2 – It wouldn’t kill the CFL to have a two week break between division finals weekend and Grey Cup for planning purposes like the NFL does.  It’s such a mad scramble for Grey Cup teams to get their act together in such a short amount of time if they have to travel ( the Riders didn’t have to in 2013 ).  An extra week would do nothing but promote extra ticket sales and allow party venues more time to prep for the hysteria.

3 – If anyone has any idea what’s going on with the Montreal Alouettes, please raise their hand.  Owner Bob Wetenhall sent out a statement on Sunday saying their reviewing their options at head coach and will have an announcement within the next few weeks.  If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll know we’ve been on top of this story from the jump and felt it was a foregone conclusion that Jim Popp would be back as Coach/GM.  He’s been quoted as such in all their off-season news releases.  So is he out of the picture now?  Strange.

4 – Back to Weyburn Saturday night and Lionel Poulliot, father of Portland’s and Team Canada’s Derrick Poulliot, won the 50/50 of $917!  It truly was an amazing time and we got the royal treatment.  The nice girl working the front desk of the Ramada Hotel even served us warm cookies right out of the oven Saturday afternoon.  Weyburn truly is the Hospitality Capital of the province although they’re now coining the phrase “The Opportunity City”.

5 – If you can figure out the Regina Pats, please raise your hand.  Our Pack The Dome campaign fell about 2,000 ticket sales short and the Pats failed to show up in their 6-1 home loss to Kootenay Friday night.  One national reporter watching the game called the Pats a “dud” while coach Malcolm Cameron said they played like a team with no heart.  One blog reader wrote in that there was too much individualistic play, starting with forward Chandler Stephenson.  I disagree, and concurred with an NHL scout the morning after the game that Chandler was the only one out there skating.  Oh well, we tried.  Best of luck to the Pats the rest of the way.

6 – One last note on that.  The crowd was dead the other night.  ONE guy was trying to get a GO PATS GO chant going but he was a lone voice and eventually gave up.  People are blaming mascot K9 for not being able to get the crowd going.  Sorry but Gainer the Gopher doesn’t get the crowd going across the street at Rider games, although he does help.  It’s up to the fans to be boisterous, not mascots.  But when teams lose, the fit hits the shan and everybody gets sprayed.  This time it’s the mascots.  A lot of times it’s the broadcasters.

7 – The PJHL’s Regina Capitals are the hottest team in the league right now and have not lost in 2014.  They won Friday and Saturday nights and have won six straight.  Time to sit up and take notice!

8 – The Winnipeg Jets certainly are on a roll aren’t they?  They’ve won three in a row since Paul Maurice replaced Claude Noel as coach and their 3-2 overtime win over Edmonton was entertaining.  But after a coaching change I feel it’s always a 4- or 5-game high the team rides before the adrenaline rush wears off and reality sets in.  We’ll see how long this one goes.

9 – Listened to the Jets-Oilers game on the radio while driving to Weyburn Saturday afternoon and thought it was odd that Buck Pierce is doing radio commercials for a Winnipeg barbecue outlet.  He’s quarterbacking the B.C. Lions now.

10 – Listen to the SportsCage over the next two weeks for your chance to win invites to the Bud Lite SportsCage Super Bowl party at the Four Seasons Sports Palace.  We’ll have plenty of NFL jerseys to give away at the party plus tons of other great prizes.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
RP
@sportscage