THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE
1. CFL COPIES NHL WITH HALF-BAKED RULE CHANGES: Just like the NHL before them, the Canadian Football League is making subtle rule changes that do absolutely nothing to address the issues around scoring. You might recall the NHL creating that hexagon behind the net and telling goaltenders they can’t play the puck in there anymore. They thought it would somehow magically fix its offensive woes from the dead-puck era. It didn’t. Tightening the hash marks in the CFL won’t accomplish boo, either. What they could have and should have done is wait a full normal season before making any changes. Instead, we’re getting these knee-jerk reactions from an impatient board of governors looking for any hope it can to solve a struggling business. A better strategy would be to wait for conditions to normalize, which they will this season, and then decide how to proceed. This is nothing more than an overreaction to fix a problem that doesn’t exist.
2. CFL DRAFT: The intrepid reporter John Hodge of 3 Down Nation has the Riders picking U of S Huskie offensive lineman Noah Zerr at number 7 in the draft. And that guy is never wrong about this stuff. However, if Waterloo quarterback Tre Ford is still available, I would love for the Riders to snap him up instead. Having a competent Canadian QB will open up possibilities elsewhere on the roster and something the Riders should consider in knowing that a western rival, BC, will likely have that competitive advantage themselves this season with Nathan Rourke starting at quarterback for the Lions and expected to be backed himself by another Canadian in Michael O’Connor.
3. SJ FINALS: Maybe the best finals I’ve ever seen. It’s got history, it’s got record travel in the iron lung 9 and a half hours one way from Estevan to Flin Flon and Saturday night it had a Bruins game tying goal in the final 5.8 seconds of game five from Nolan Jones sending it to overtime where Estevan would eventually prevail when Olivier Pouliot tipped the game winner home. The Bruins now lead the series 3 games to 2 and if the Bombers don’t come back, they will suffer nightmares of what might have been had they held on for game five. It’s been the greatest hockey I’ve seen on TV all spring and I can’t wait to see how it concludes on SaskTel Max. I’m sure some in Estevan would be okay with the Bruins losing game six Tuesday night in Flin Flon for the chance to see game seven on Friday but with the Centennial Cup national championship coming up later this month, I think Estevan will get plenty of home games and the Bruin coaching staff would prefer to just wrap things up before it gets that far.
4. STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS: Night one didn’t disappoint. Lots of scoring and it was a thrill to see the first Kings-Oilers playoff game in 30 years. It makes me feel old to say that because I grew up on Gretzky vs Edmonton playoff series but it was worth the wait. I’m picking the Kings in 6 games. For Stanley Cup predictions, I’ll go with the Florida Panthers. So entertaining to watch and I’m rooting for old man Joe Thornton to get his cup at age 42. I don’t get caught up in this silly Canada’s teamthing and would rather see my Canucks, the Jets or the Habs break that drought anyway.
5. THE WINNIPEG JETS SHOULD HIRE: Mike Babcock or Marc Habscheid. One is a proven winner in the NHL and the other is a proven winner with Prince Albert which is probably a bigger accomplishment in and of itself. Dave Lowry is a good coach too but hiring the dad of one of your players is never a good idea at this level. Kevin Cheveldayoff should look home to the 306 when choosing his next head coach.
6. WHO’LL REPLACE BALLSY: Chad McDonald needs a new cohost on the Wolf. Most program directors will tell you that every morning show needs someone to play the dink, the dear and the dork. Chad can usually pull off the 2nd one and sometimes the 3rd. So, the question becomes who could possibly be a big enough dick on air to compliment him on the morning show? Evan Baran would be a good choice. Or maybe find some stand-up comedian to do it. I just really hope they don’t cheap out on this and screw it up. The wolf is still a pretty good little station and has a pretty good morning show.
7. REMENDA LANDS ON TBS: Speaking of local (sort of) radio personalities, how about CJMEs Drew Remenda landing spot on TBS’s playoff coverage of the Calgary-Dallas series! I have to think the list of Saskatchewan people working on TBS is a very short one. I dealt with Drew quite frequently over my two-year stint at CJME and have to say he was as fine a colleague as I’ve ever had. Gave me boat loads of air time to hear the sound of my own voice, too. There’s a reason TBS is using him. We’re lucky to have him on our airwaves here.
8. WHO I’LL LISTEN TO ON REGINA RADIO: Michael Ball, Sean Kleisinger, Drew Remenda, Mark Johnston, Cody Glydon, Murray Wood, Mike Abou-Mechrek, Evan Baran, Chad McDonald, Dave Arnold, Greg Morgan and Lindsay May.
9. BLUE BOMBERS NEW ALTERNATE UNIS: Look like hockey unis and they are ugly with a capital U. Google them if you’re wondering what I’m talking about. Reminds me of the Birmingham Barracudas.
10. NHL HELMET ADS: Anyone notice they’ve seemed to disappear in the playoffs. Or maybe they’re just not on everyone’s helmet anymore? Good riddance. Get that crap off of their uniforms. They make enough money as it is without it.
(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)
Great column as always. 1) The CFL similar to the NHL needs to figure out what it wants to be when it grows up. Last night I watched Toronto/Tampa. That is hockey 101. It had offense, defense, hits, and some wild ‘n woolly stuff at the end. Essentially war was declared and now it’s must watch T.V. The CFL is scoring and special teams, add in fast paced defense. When all three phases are working then you have something. Perhaps the players are no good? Maybe let’s get some better players? 2) You know when you wonder; “hey that guys… Read more »