THURSDAY SHOW RECAP: GOLDEN KNIGHTS, EXPOS & CFL SEASON TALK!

Thursday’s Episode 201 of The Rod Pedersen Show had some topics that are probably right down your alley: CFL season, Vegas Golden Knights and Montreal Expos talk! Here are the highlights:

• Rod and Dupes opened with The Rollout for Flooring Superstore covering these Elite Eight show topics: 1) The chances of a CFL season in 2020, and what’s the minimum amount of games necessary to preserve the integrity of the CFL?, 2) How would a shortened season affect football business?, 3) Is it fair to postpone the CFL Draft?, 4) The CFL Foot Bounce Challenge, 5) Why is everybody talking about Tiger King on Netflix?, 6) TSN’s report that the NHL Owners/Governors/GMs are discussing a June/July regular season finale and August/September Stanley Cup Playoffs, 7) Randy Ambrosie’s online town hall meeting with fans on Friday and 8) Will there be too much pressure on phenom Connor Bedard as the WHL’s first Exceptional Player?
• Regarding the CFL topics, Rod thinks an 8-game season will suffice (pointing towards U-Sports, PFC and NCAA) while Darren thinks 12 games are as short as they can go. Regarding the Draft, Rod understands that GMs won’t be as equipped as other years for the Draft, but everyone’s operating shorthanded right now. Dupes said GMs’ and coaches’ jobs depend on draft success, but feels every team will be in the same boat.
• Vegas Golden Knights TV broadcaster and Stanley Cup champion Shane Hnidy joined the show from his home in Summerlin, NV. He and Rod’s days go back to their time with the P.A. Raiders when Shane was 18 and Rod was 20. “Hnides” is optimistic the NHL season will be salvaged and feels it won’t take players long to get back into game shape (no more than a week). He took several questions from viewers, and being a Neepawa, MB product, Shane said he misses his time as colour commentator with the Winnipeg Jets. “All my best friends are in Winnipeg,” Hnidy said. He also said that as a Las Vegas resident, he doesn’t get down to The Strip too often and that living in Summerlin, NV is similar to what Coyotes players and staff experience living in Scottsdale, AZ.
• Former Regina Pats, Calgary Stampeders, Las Vegas Thunder and San Francisco Spiders broadcaster Kevin Gallant joined the show from his home in Vancouver to discuss Connor Bedard. “Get your season tickets!” Gallant advised Regina hockey fans. He saw Bedard play 60+ games this season and compared him to former Kamloops Blazers star Rob Brown and Pats all-time scoring leader Dale Derkatch. Kevin said, regarding the pressure on Bedard, he’ll be able to handle it because he’s mature and has been dealing with above-average pressure for quite some time.
• Sportsnet CHL broadcaster Sam Cosentino joined the show from his home in Toronto and regarding the Memorial Cup being cancelled, he said “It sucks”. Cosentino’s called the past 15 Memorial Cups on Sportsnet. Sammy’s also worked as a Blue Jays broadcaster and called Expos games, and discussed how the pandemic has delayed Opening Day which was supposed to be on Thursday. He dropped an interesting tidbit on the Expos, saying they’ve never been closer to returning to Montreal than they are right now and the changing sports landscape may expedite that venture.
• Writer Danny Gallagher – formerly of the Regina Leader Post – joined the show from his home in Oshawa, ON to discuss his latest book on the Expos entitled Always Remembered which is available now from Chapters/Indigo or by emailing exposbook2020@yahoo.com. Danny was the Expos beat writer for the Montreal Daily News and told several tales of covering Canada’s “other” MLB team. His favourite stories are of Rusty Staub, and also how the great Dennis Martinez overcame alcohol addiction to post a perfect game for the Expos in 1991. He included Vin Scully’s account of the game, as it came in L.A. against the Dodgers.
• The daily Capital Auto Mall/Universal Collision Centre poll question is: What’s the minimum amount of games in a shortened season which would preserve the integrity of the CFL?: 8, 10, 12 or 14. At press time, 12 games was winning by a nose.
• RP Show Safety Consultant Jeff Campbell of Campbell Safety joined the bunker in the final segment to outline how the show is following safety procedures amid the Coronavirus crisis. (The bunker will now only be open to RP Show staff till further notice). He also offered safety tips for the public, which can be read on his company’s website at www.campbellsafety.com.
• See you at 10 am MT on Friday for Football Friday on Facebook Live and RodPedersen.com/ListenLive! A special treat will be RP Show Director of Scouting Craig Smith answering viewers’ questions – via video conference – regarding the CFL.
• Thursday’s show is available for viewing now on our Facebook page, you can listen to the podcast by clicking on the PODCAST tab at the top of this page, or you can listen anytime on our 24-hour live audio stream feed at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive presented by SUDS Full Service Car Wash.