THURSDAY COMMENTARY – THE GOOD, THE GREAT & THE UGLY
(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98 & Rock 98.5 FM)
IT’S TIME FOR CANADA’S GREATEST GAME SHOW … THE GOOD, THE GREAT AND THE UGLY!
FIRST, THE GOOD: CANADA WAS JUST THAT. GOOD. MAYBE EVEN AVERAGE IN WEDNESDAY’S 5-2 VICTORY OVER LATVIA IN THEIR WORLD JUNIOR OPENER HERE IN EDMONTON.
CONNOR BEDARD WAS ABOVE AVERAGE – NETTING A GOAL AND AN ASSIST – IN A GAME THAT WAS FAR CLOSER THAN IT SHOULD’VE BEEN. CANADA ONLY WORKED AS HARD AS THEY HAD TO.
BUT THE WORLD CONTINUES TO WAKE UP TO THE REGINA PATS STAR AND TSN ANALYST JEFF O’NEILL CORRECTLY POINTED OUT BEDARD CARES NOT TO PLAY IN ALL THREE ZONES. HE WANTS TO GET ACROSS THE BLUE LINE AND SCORE.
LAST TIME I CHECKED, YOU NEED GOALS TO WIN.
CANADA PLAYS SLOVAKIA TODAY.
NEXT, THE GREAT: IT WASN’T VOTED CANADA’S GAME OF THE WEEK BUT THE ROUGHRIDERS WILL VISIT THE EDMONTON ELKS ON SATURDAY AND WE’LL BE THERE.
WHAT’S GREAT ABOUT IT IS CODY FAJARDO IS BACK AND AS HEALTHY AS CAN BE AS THE RIDERS ENJOYED A BYE IN WEEK 9.
WILL HE BE GREAT ON SATURDAY? HE’S GOING TO NEED TO BE. AND HE’LL NEED TO BE THE REST OF THE WAY FOR THE RIDERS WHOM ARE OUT TO SNAP A 3-GAME LOSING STREAK.
I’M HEARING THE TERM “MUST WIN” THROWN AROUND WITH REGARDS TO SATURDAY’S GAME BUT I DISAGREE.
DANNY BARRETT ALWAYS SAID IT’S NOT MUST WIN UNTIL YOU FACE ELIMINATION AND I’VE NEVER FORGOTTEN THAT.
AND LASTLY, THE UGLY: IT WAS THE CROWD AT WEDNESDAY’S CANADA/LATVIA GAME; PEGGED AT JUST UNDER THREE THOUSAND AT ROGERS PLACE.
THERE’S A MYRIAD OF REASONS FOR WHY THERE WERE 15-THOUSAND EMPTY SEATS BUT NONE OF THEM MATTER.
NO, I’M INTERESTED TO SEE IF THIS RINK FILLS UP OVER THE NEXT 10 DAYS OR IF WE’VE GOT BIGGER THINGS OVER TO WORRY ABOUT IN SPORTS.
THAT’S TODAY’S ROD PEDERSEN COMMENTARY
(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET & 10 pm PT on Game+ TV across Canada and the USA. Call your cable provider for details. You can also watch on YouTube Live or listen 24/7 at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive)
Danny B. wonder where he is now?
He’s the running backs coach for the Houston Texans.
NFL baby! “NFL”
With regards to former Toronto Maple Leaf. JEFF O’NEILL Word to the wise people. Never listen to, give creedence, or consideration to people such as him who in the most literal sense have never done anything. He’s talking about three zones? I can tell people this right now. He scored a lot of garbage goals on losing teams. This guy was never, and I mean never trusted to take a defensive zone face off, work a first unit power play or first unit penalty kill. The teams he played on were out of it by the end of November. His… Read more »
Jeff O’Neill played I wanna say 10 years in the NHL what was the peak of your athletic career?
45 year old comeback to the Regina Rec League
Played in finals every year since.
Prior that a number of hockey and baseball championships as a player then coach.
You want to get into post athletic and just talk about general life wins? – You’d be here all day and the cherry on top my friend is that unless you’re the one holding the 10 lb gold belt you’re second best no matter what you tell yourself.
I doubt you know what it’s like to be a champion….Obama invented it.
Hey Rod, When Bedard gets traded to Kamloops, will the Pats still be “Gods Team” ? 😉