TUESDAY RUNDOWN: LEAH HEXTALL PLUS CFL, NLL, CEBL & NHL TALK!

We had quite the guest list and more breaking news on Episode #516 of The RP Show – Canada’s Daytime Sports Talk Show – on Tuesday! Read on for the rundown:

• RP and Moose Dupont kicked it off with The Warmup for EECOL Electric covering these Quick Six show topics: 1) Tampa Bay dumps Montreal 5-1 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, 2) Rider lineman Brendon LaBatte opts out for the 2021 season, 3) The Riders sign former NFL first round pick QB Paxton Lynch (Rod said he may burn the stadium down if Cody Fajardo doesn’t start Week 1), 4) Wimbledon’s on?, 5) The Saskatchewan Rattlers are 0-2 in CEBL play, and 6) Euro 2020. Rod’s Team Denmark is a juggernaut!
• ESPN announced its NHL play-by-play crew Tuesday morning and moments later we were joined by announcer Leah Hextall who’s been tapped to call NHL action next season. The Brandon product explained her road to the NHL On ESPN and she and Rod reminisced about their days in the Brandon Keystone Centre press box together (Leah sat directly to Rod’s right for Wheat Kings/Pats games). Leah admitted she’s only called 20 hockey games but is working tirelessly on her craft and explained she’d been out-of-work just recently. She broke down when Tuesday’s news hit her. Leah also explained how she’s related to the famed Brandon Hextall hockey family which includes Bryan, Dennis and Ron.
• The daily Capital Auto Mall/Universal Collision Centre poll question was: Is the Stanley Cup Final over? At press time over 60% of respondents said no.
• In the Hour 2 Second Half Kickoff for the Four Seasons Sports Palace we were joined by Saskatchewan Rush NLL TV play-by-play voice Ryan Flaherty from Saskatoon who previewed Tuesday night’s NLL expansion draft for the Panther City Lacrosse Club and who the Rush may lose. Ryan also covers the CEBL’s Rattlers closely and talked about the basketball club’s 0-2 start.
• Next up was American broadcaster Dan Moriarty who was made famous by the NHL magazine show Cool Shots which ran for eight seasons in the 1990s. Dan admitted that no one on the U.S. West Coast is into the Stanley Cup Final since it’s Tampa Bay/Montreal but feels the addition of the Seattle Kraken will be great for western rivalries. He and Rod also discussed the future of USA Hockey and revealed that more U.S. kids played hockey last season than in Canada. Moriarty said he loved the appearance because he rarely gets to talk hockey with his U.S. friends!
• Producer Clark joined Rod for the final two segments and they discussed the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Tuesday’s Blue Jays trade with Miami and much more.
• Tuesday’s show is available for viewing now on our Facebook/YouTube pages, you can catch the replay at 4:00 pm ET on Game+, listen to the podcast by clicking on the CONTENT tab at the top of this page or listen anytime to our 24-hour live audio feed at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive.
• Be sure to join us at 12 pm ET/10 am MT on Wednesday on Game+ TV and YouTube/Facebook Live. With Rod and Darren travelling to Montreal for Thursday/Friday shows from the Stanley Cup Final, the Silver Fox Kelly Remple will be sitting in the big chair. On the guest list is UofS Huskies mens hockey coach Mike Babcock!