THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. JON RYAN STILL WANTS TO PLAY: Big Jon says he’s been made a formal offer by three different teams and might even wait until after the season starts to sign somewhere. Still recovering from his late season ankle injury from a game in Calgary, he’s not all the way back yet and won’t sign anywhere until he’s confident he can perform at the top of his game. Boos reigned down when Jon told Michael Ball at the Regina Red Sox dinner over the weekend he couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t finish his career with Winnipeg, the team Ryan’s pro football career started with in 2004. Regardless, the Regina Rams most famous alumni has confirmed he definitely won’t be signing with the Riders. If it costs Jon Ryan the chance to finish his career in Saskatchewan, the Global Player Initiative is already a proven failure. The league jumps through hoops to develop and promote Canadian content except with kickers and quarterbacks, it seems. Fascinating!

2. JON RYAN LIKES THREE DOWNS: Saskatchewan’s first ever super bowl champion thinks the talk of copying the NFL is silly. Interesting how some of the NFL’s most accomplished players and coaches (Jon Ryan and Marc Trestman among others) appreciate and respect the CFL more than some of the people running it and covering it. 

3. REGINA RED SOX: Love the new logo launched Saturday night and excited about the new mascot and new season ahead, too. People coming out to the park this summer will realize pretty quickly how much they’ve missed Sox ball since 2019. Feels like a decade ago.

4. REGINA PATS: Looks like it’s going to be little too little, little too late for the Pats to get into the playoffs unless the high-flying Winnipeg Ice roll over in their back-to-back matches later this week. They’ve got enough games left now but it’s hard to imagine the Pats leapfrogging anyone with games against the Peg and Moose Jaw to finish up. Hearing from a lot of friends who rushed out to the Pats-Prince Albert game on Saturday night just to get a glimpse of this Bedard kid everyone is talking about. Crazy to think there’s a good chance that in a week we’ll be into the final offseason with Connor Bedard as a Pat but that’s the scenario. With more and more of us putting covid-life in the rear-view mirror, I suspect a mad dash to get Pat tickets in the fall for Bedard’s swan song in the Queen City.  

5. EVRAZ PLACE SURVEYS: I’m glad the city is doing all this research to figure out how and where to replace the Brandt Centre. It sounds like most of us want the new arena to be built either in the exact same location or very near to the same location as it is right now. There’s nothing wrong with having the complex we have in this city and for the life of me, can’t figure out why we’d ever want to change it. Glad they’re planning to upgrade though.

6. CFL CBA TALKS: I wish they’d focus more on medical benefits and pensions than about average salaries or bonuses. But above all else, let’s see some initiative to grow the sport in the country where more revenues could be had. Let’s bring back a CFL Week and get an all-star style skills competition going to sell to TSN or maybe even Sportsnet. Let’s see some new ideas to help the league make some extra bucks to share with the players. So far, we’re seeing none of it. 

7. HALIFAX CFL EXPANSION: Glad the league and some of the locals are still working on it. Can’t see how it’ll happen any time soon but that doesn’t mean the league shouldn’t keep beating that drum. If Commissioner Ambrosie ever pulls this off and accomplishes nothing else in his time at the top, he deserves to be recognized as one of the greatest all-time leaders in Canadian sport history. Adding a franchise for Atlantic Canada would be nothing short of a hall of fame worthy achievement and would truly help bring this great country together. I hope they stick with it.  

8. IRON MIKE KEENAN PODCAST: I’ve thoroughly enjoyed listening to this series on the THE HOCKEY NEWS YouTube channel. Hall of fame writer Scott Morrison hosts and Iron Mike tells us all the straight goods on Philly, Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Vancouver, Boston, Florida, Calgary, Hull, Luongo, Bertuzzi, Bure, Burke and more. A great relaxing listen for any old school hockey fan curious to a window inside the mind of Iron Mike and to hear his version of some of hockey’s greatest feuds. Keenan really has mellowed in his 70’s.   

9. A GREAT GRUDGE MATCH IDEA: Some goofy promoter in Vancouver should arrange a cage-match between Mike Keenan and Brian Burke to raise money for charity. Bring them both out in tracksuits looking like they’re going to fight and then have them go at it in an air hockey match, a pinball game and maybe an obstacle course. Encourage them to trash-talk each other and let the winner donate the proceeds to a charity of their choice. Would be hilarious and a great way for these two to bury the hatchet from the bad blood they both clearly still have from their Vancouver run-in from the late 90’s.  

10. DID YOU KNOW: Winnipeg Jets head coach Tom Watt wanted to hire Mike Keenan as his assistant in the early 1980s but the idea was kyboshed by then-GM John Ferguson senior. Why? Because Fergie knew about the tomato debacle in Regina at the 1980 Memorial Cup at the Agridome (now Brandt Centre) when Pat fans pelted Keenan’s Peterborough Petes with drinks and debris for allegedly throwing a game that eliminated the Pats from the tournament due to the Peterborough loss. Ferguson worried the Saskatchewan fans would be furious with the Jets for hiring him and didn’t want to alienate people from the 306 as he viewed us as an important part of the Jets fan base. I’m struggling to think of any other NHL team that cared so much about its Saskatchewan fans, ever.