TUESDAY COMMENTARY: WHAT ABOUT BOB

(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98, Rock 98.5 FM & LTD Radio)

It’s Tuesday and you know what that means: it’s time for another edition of the Good, the Great & the Ugly!

First the good: I have to say, I admire the CFL for adopting the old adage, “The show must go on.”

The much-publicized forest fires of BC and Alberta threatened to cancel Monday’s CFL preseason kickoff game between the Elks and Stampeders at McMahon Stadium. However in the end, all it did was force a 30-minute delay.

I saw those who said, “Why not just cancel it?” but those are people that would quit anything at the drop of a hat. Bravo to the CFL, and the teams, for playing the game.

However one thing that’s struck my mind is, how come we’ve never had forest fire smoke threaten CFL training camps and games to this degree before? Are the safety measures in place now a new thing? Or is my memory just that bad?

Next, the great: It’s quite obviously, the story of the Florida Panthers. Monday night the Panthers blanked Carolina 1-0 in Sunrise to take a 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Final. Wednesday night they can sweep it at home.

I was there and can tell you this game came down to one thing: Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. Carolina outshot ‘em 32-17 but “Bob” was out of his mind, stopping pucks he never even saw coming.

At age 34, Bob’s the oldest target to record his first career playoff shutout since Tim Thomas in 2009, and his 162 saves in this series moved him past Johnny Bower for the most in a series since 1956.

I don’t need to tell you how much I’m enjoying being here for it.

And lastly, the ugly: In Saturday’s column I referred to the AJHl’s Brooks Bandits as the “Evil Empire”of Junior Hockey. That drew the ire of some Southern Alberta hockey fans, but I don’t mind. I’m just going by what I hear from my hockey buds.

Then they went out and won their third straight Centennial Cup, beating Battlefords 4-0 Sunday in Portage.

Immediately my phone blew up with hockey people saying we need to check the Bandits’ books, and see how much they’re paying their players, and if it’s legal.

Here’s what I say: If the AJHL and CJHL don’t seem to have a problem with how Brooks does business, then I certainly don’t. And if this is just sour grapes from other teams, then that’s definitely a pity.

For certain, the Bandits don’t care. And there’s nothing ugly about that at all.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+ TV, WQEE & Streaming)