THE MONDAY MORNING GOALIE

The weekend started off with the inaugural Hot Stove Huddle Friday evening at Rock Creek in East Regina.  From left: Rider great Bob Poley, me, WHL record-holder Rod Williams and 4-time Stanley Cup champion Bob Bourne of New York Islanders fame.

What record does Rod hold?  He played for the most WHL teams over the course of a junior hockey career.  The answer: seven.

The event was very well-attended…

There’s an idea of how the Hot Stove went, although the photo’s a little fuzzy.  Some lighting would have helped, but it came off okay as we told hockey and football stories well into the evening…

Across the city Friday evening, Regina Pats great Ed Staniowski (pictured) was honoured by the Regina Pats with a Bobblehead Night in his honour.  Former Pats player and coach Al Dumba maintains “Steady Eddie” is the greatest Pats goalie of all-time while I say it’s Josh Harding.  They’re both great…

Somehow Staniowski’s night turned into Fight Night at the Brandt Centre against the Prince George Cougars.  No one has told me yet how it came about.  Talk about a yard sale!  The above two photos are from Keith Hershmiller Photography.

Then on Saturday it was up to Lloydminster to watch my stepdaughter in weekend ACAC basketball action..

Here’s the gym at Lakeland College in Lloydminster…

The games are well-attended…

There’s ours – #7 Alyssa – with her Player of the Game t-shirt….

This vehicle’s license plate and car flag tell you all you need to know about Lloydminster in one picture.  BOOM!  Riders and Oilers.  That’s who they love up there…

Stopped to pick up an Edmonton Sun in Lloyd to see what our buddy Terry “Jonesie” Jones has to say about the sorry Oilers.  OUCH!  What a headline on the front cover.  To read how the Sun is killing itself with a quick death, read the observations portion of the MMG…

Blog Mailbag time:

Father Darryl Milette sent in this photo of Rider Pride all the way from The Vatican on Sunday morning!!  He said he pulled off the jacket before the Pope came out.  Too bad — I’d like to see if the Pope is a Rider fan!!

And Estevan’s Nick Sereggela was at the outdoor NHL game at Dodger Stadium in L.A. Saturday night and sent in this shot of a worker wearing a Rider hat.  Amazing!

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10 MONDAY OBSERVATIONS

1 – THE OLD BROWN FOX:  We have very sad news to pass along this morning.  Legendary Taylor Field public address announcer Roy Brown passed away over the weekend at a Kelowna hospital.  He was 76 and had been suffering with illness the past few months.  Roy served as the P.A. announcer for Rider games for a record 29 years.  He truly had seen it all!  One of my favourite lines from Roy came in the early-90’s when I was doing the sideline reporting for Roughrider radio broadcasts.  It was raining to beat the band and for some reason the game was temporarily paused.  Roy said over the loud speakers, “The dome is closing”.  Our condolences to the Brown family.

2 – RIDER HOCKEY:  The Grey Cup Tour continued through the weekend, down to southeastern Saskatchewan with stops in Weyburn and Estevan.  On Sunday the Roughrider hockey team took on some locals in Estevan and our friend Josh Lewis, a reporter for the Estevan Mercury, was nice enough to send the roster to the MMG.  The Rider hockey players were:  Neal Hughes, Macho Harris, Diamond Ferri, Jordan Sisco, Brendon Labatte, Dan Clark, Scott McHenry, Chris Milo and Paul Woldu.  Listed as coaches were Carlos Thomas, Mike McCullough, Taj Smith, Rey Williams and Eddie Russ.  The Riders won the game 10-8.

3 – ETCHED IN STONE: Well, it’s far from etched in stone, but Global Winnipeg’s Joe Pascucci reported late last week that Gary Etcheverry is the front-runner to become the Blue Bombers’ defensive coordinator.  First year coach Mike O’Shea had planned to announce his staff by the end of January so they’re still on schedule, even if it feels like it’s taking a long time.

4 – ESCAPING THE FISH BOWL:  It was fantastic to get out of Regina and spend some time in Lloydminster over the weekend, even if it was only for about 36 hours.  It was a welcome break from talking football 24/7 although I had to chuckle; we made a pitstop at the Tim Hortons by Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon Saturday morning and the buzz in the place was about the Green & White.  They truly are Saskatchewan’s team.  Lucky for you, it’s a Rider Monday in the SportsCage and we’ll be talking about the boys in the green hats for most of the show today.

5 – HOW MANY FINGERS?:  Every time I do a function with Bob Poley, I hear new stories.  The topic of concussions came up at our event on Friday evening and the Polecat said he was knocked out during a game in Hamilton years ago.  Rider team physician Jack Alexander attended to Poley on the sidelines and as they talked, Bob could see the scoreboard over Jack’s shoulder.  So when the doctor said to Poley, “Where are you?”, he could easily read the scoreboard behind Jack which said “Ivor Wynne Stadium”.  Then the team doctor asked, “What’s the score in the game?” and Poley could easily see it on the Jumbotron and repeated it to the doc.   “Good!” Jack said.  “You’re good to go!”   Bob reported that he can’t remember anything that happened the rest of the game.

6 – A DYNASTY:  Remarkably, after all these years and all these functions, Friday night was the first time I’d met Bob Bourne, a 4-time Stanley Cup champion with the New York Islanders from Netherhill, SK.  What a gentleman he is!  Among the comments in his talk, he said teammate Bryan Trottier is likely the finest human being he’s ever met in his life.  And regarding facing the Oilers in the playoffs in the 80’s, he felt the Islanders could have won five straight Stanley Cups if they weren’t so injured in the spring of 1984 when they went up against Edmonton in the Finals for a second year in a row.   There will be more Islanders stories this Friday evening when Trottier and Mike Bossy are in town for the Kinsmen Sports Celebrity Dinner at the Delta.

7 – SUPER BOWL NEWS:  Both the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos touched down in Newark, NJ for Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday.  Running back Marshawn Lynch was the first off the plane for Seattle, dressed in sweats and a bunnyhug with diamond-encrusted headphones.   The Denver Broncos were dressed in business attire … The teams immediately met with the media and Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson encouraged all children to play as many sports as possible, and not focus on just one.  This topic came up because Wilson was drafted by MLB’s Colorado Rockies … From the reports I’ve received from insiders at Super Bowl, tonight is the only night coaches Pete Carroll and John Fox are giving their players to run.  After tonight, the players are on lockdown … The wide-ranging coverage of Super Bowl has been a lot of fun.  Did you know in the early-70’s they had a Name-The-Team contest for the expansion NFL franchise in Seattle and among the entries, the Seattle Sheep was considered?  Oddly enough, the name “Seahawks” won even though there is no such thing as a seahawk.

8 – RAISE THE FLAG:  Be a part of the civic ceremony at Regina City Hall this morning as they raise the 12th Man flag to honour Seahawks punter Jon Ryan of Regina!   The event begins at 10:00 am and kicks off Super Bowl Week in the Queen City.

Meanwhile all Regina Jersey City locations are getting a truckload of Seahawks merchandise TODAY.  Regional manager Dan Riess tells me the Seahawks are habitually the top seller for them, but it will go over-the-top this week.  There’s a free plug for you Dan!  I’ll be down to get my Seahawks jersey this week!!

Also Roughrider legend and pro football record-holder Don Narcisse will be on hand for our Bud Lite SportsCage Super Bowl Party at the Four Seasons Sports Palace on Sunday!  Come on down for pictures and autographs with Narco.  If you entered our contest on Friday for the private portion of the event during the SportsCage, you’ll find out today if you won!  If you didn’t win a private invite, join us anyways beginning at 5:00 pm on Sunday.  There will be tons of prize giveaways during one of the most-exciting Super Bowl match-ups in years.

9 – KILLING ME SOFTLY:  You don’t have to be in the media to know that newspapers are dying a slow death.  Many have either stopped publishing daily or closed their doors altogether.  But it was a head-scratcher when I bought an Edmonton Sun on Saturday for the sole purpose of reading Terry Jones’s column, only to find a picture of him with the caption “For Terry’s full column go to EdmontonSun.com“.

Huh?  You’re forcing me to go to the internet?  What if I don’t want to?  Or can’t?

I broke down and bought a newspaper just to read Terry’s column but it was withheld from me.  They’re not gassing themselves in the garage — they’re putting a gun to their temple and pulling the trigger.

10 – DELAET UPDATE:  The PGA golfer from Weyburn, SK matched the best finish of his career on Sunday, finishing in a tie for second at the Farmers Insurance Open at San Diego.  He was runner up at last year’s Barclay’s.  That’s a pretty good start to the season for Graham!  Next up is the Phoenix Open beginning Thursday.  It seems like DeLaet’s first tour victory will come during the 2014 season.

THAT’S ALL! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
RP
@sportscage