THE WEDNESDAY THRILLER … WITH PHIL ANDREWS

Voice of the Pats Phil Andrews

First off a big congrats to everyone involved in the 17th Annual Wickenheiser Golf Classic at the Deer Valley Golf Course in Regina. A sold out tournament saw a great day of fun and great support for Regina Palliative Care. As you see in the photo below, a record 12 thousand dollars was raised, that’s before the silent auction total.

From left to right: Claude Wickenheiser, Regina Palliative Care Executive Director Doug Coutts, and Pats GM Chad Lang.

And now the big winners who went 15 under on the day…

Left to right: Dyson Stevenson, Lane Scheidl, Chandler Stephenson, Boston Leier

Some news on where Boston Leier will be playing hockey in 2014/15:  Leier will be joining the Acadia Axeman. Joining him there this season will be former Saskatoon Blade and Everett Silvertip Matt Puhfal as well as former Kelowna Rocket and Kootenay Ice forward Zach Franko. Dylan Busenius, former Medicine Hat Tiger, Prince Albert Raider and Saskatoon Blade is also headed to Acadia. That’s where Pats head coach Malcolm Cameron played his college hockey.

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Here is a fantastic story…

Maxx Ebenal of Regina has battled a brain tumor and now sits atop the points standings in the Asian Formula Renault Series.

Ebenal races formula cars in China without part of his right frontal lobe that was removed as a teenager.

It happened when he started experiencing seizures at 11. He had surgery to remove a tumor at 13. Doctors thought they got it all but the tumor returned and at 14 he had another surgery when part of his brain was removed.

He has made a full recovery and after race training and paying his dues, he is lighting up the track.
Maxx has seen a lot of success through the first seven races of the season and leads the field in points.

Maxx was seen wearing a Rider jersey on the podium over the weekend after he placed in a race. He wore the same jersey when he won a race earlier in the season.

I had a chance to interview Maxx’s father Marty on Tuesday and he is very proud of his son.

You can learn more about Maxx and his career at www.maxxspeed.ca or by visiting his Facebook page at Maxx Speed Racing.

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QUICK HITS

– I was impressed by the football played in the Riders’ pre-season opener against the Ottawa RedBlacks on Saturday. A few guys stood out for me:  Marshay Green obviously looked good returning kicks. I liked Keith Toston and Anthony Allen at running back. Brett Swain also looked solid at receiver. I was impressed with Chad Kilgore at middle linebacker and Greg McCoy made some good plays ion the secondary. There certainly looks like there are some talented rookies with the team this year.

– Darian Durant looked great on Saturday. The offense went to a new level when he came into the game in the second quarter. He is going to have another great season.

– How good were the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals? Wow did they take the Miami Heat to school. I was hoping to see the same drama from the year before between the two teams but that didn’t happen. The Spurs were head and shoulders the better team.

– The same can be said for the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Final against the New York Rangers. Yes the blueshirts got three games to OT but the Kings were the better team and deserved to win. It was the year of the Western Conference in the NHL and the NBA.

– The World Cup is on and what a start it has been. Goals have come left right and center. I can’t remember a World Cup being so entertaining. I think my English wont make it out of the group stage though which is disappointing. Needed that win over Italy in their opener. One complaint though is all the diving. Something needs to be done to penalize the players for all the embellishment, doesn’t look good on the game.

That’s it for today. Have a great week.

Phil
@PhilTheThrill18


(To sponsor the Wednesday Thriller, email ridervoice@yahoo.ca)