WEDNESDAY COMMENTARY – WHEN THE SHIP COMES IN

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

It’s time for another edition of Canada’s favourite game show: the Good, the Great & the Ugly.

First, the good: It’s the Regina Pats west coast road trip. The Queen City Kids are 3-0 in BC following a wild 6-5 win at Kelowna last night. Connor Bedard picked up one assist.

At 12-11-1-1, the Pats are seventh in the conference and will probably make the playoffs. And as of now, there’s no reason to expect Bedard won’t still be with the Pats come March.

Next, the great: Nobody noticed or likely even cared, but it was a milestone moment for me to appear on Sirius/XM NHL Radio on Tuesday, previewing the Flames/Panthers game.

It was over a year ago I came to South Florida intent on covering the Panthers because I knew I had the experience and NHL know-how to do it as well as anyone. But I wondered why it was taking so long to get those national opportunities, analyzing the NHL.

It was getting tiring having to explain over and over where my heart was, so I decided to just show people.

The big opportunity finally came on Tuesday courtesy NHL Network Radio and it was proof enough for me that nothing worth having comes overnight, and the feeling is indescribable when the ship finally comes in.

Falling in with the football crowd in South Florida and getting plenty of new opportunities there was never planned, but it’s been a wonderful experience that I’m grateful for.

And finally, the ugly: It very simply is the current state of the Florida Panthers, who got spanked 6-2 in Calgary last night and have won only three of their last 10 games.

Believe it or not, they do follow the Panthers pretty closely here and the heat is rising on new head coach Paul Maurice.

On Tuesday night their special teams and goaltending were atrocious and Maurice said – if I understand what he was saying – that they need to play a more boring style of game to be successful.

I’m sorry, but I can’t agree. Not with a team with this much talent, who won the President’s Trophy last year.

If this team misses the playoffs, it’s going to get very interesting.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily on Game+ TV and WQEE Radio)