WEDNESDAY RUNDOWN: HOCKEY STORIES, CFL/XFL TALK, BLUE JAYS & MORE!

It was another rollicking good time on a hump day Episode #483 of The RP Show – Canada’s Daytime Sports Talkshow! Here’s the rundown:

• RP and Moose Dupont kicked it off with the Warmup for Four Seasons Sports Palace covering these Quick Six show topics: 1) The Jets smoke the Canucks 5-0 and the Scotia North playoff match-ups are set, 2) Should the Canadian division be retained after this season?, 3) The Edmonton Football Team lost $7.1M in 2020 but there didn’t seem to be a lot of coverage on it, 4) How bout those Blue Jays! They won 5-3 at Atlanta, 5) Connor Bedard does NOT win the Regina Pats Most Popular Player fan vote (defenceman Ryker Evans did), and 6) Week 1 of the 2021 NFL schedule is released!
• TSN’s Director of Scouting Craig Button joined the show for a good, long chat. He recapped the World Under-18 championships and mentioned what an impact Connor Bedard had in leading Canada to a gold medal. He was Rod’s father Jim’s boss for many years with the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars and Button talked about scouting tips he learned from the Old Guy. Craig said he wasn’t surprised by the New York Rangers firing head coach David Quinn and feels an NHL rebuild should take a minimum five years. It was a good ol’ hockey chat.
• The daily Capital Auto Mall/Universal Collision Centre poll question was: Which first round series will last the longest – MTL/TOR or WPG/EDM? At press time, Jets/Oilers was leading.
• The Second Half Kickoff in Hour 2 was spicy as we discussed the Edmonton Football Team losing millions and what this means to the CFL. We discussed with viewers a possible CFL Return To Play, plus had lots of NHL/WHL talk.
• Sportsnet’s Arash Madani joined the show from his downtown Toronto home and said the mess the CFL finds itself in is entirely their own doing. He feels the Alouettes were sold to the wrong group, for example. Arash also discussed his controversial appearance on the XFL Markcast and said he was simply speaking the truth and that the XFL doesn’t have much to offer the CFL in a merger. He also feels the people in the CFL office have no issue with dropping the “Canadian” from the CFL and are willing to flush 100 years of history in order to be saved by Redbird Capital. The guys also brushed on the Blue Jays and while you never know what you’re going to get on a nightly basis, they’re always entertaining!
• The last two segments were devoted to Viewer Takeover and fans said it’s encouraging that teams still have cash in their bank accounts. Rod pleaded with them to consider the players’ perspective and how their careers are passing before their eyes as the CFL has made the choice not to play without fans.
• Rod and Darren Faced Off on whether Montreal will ever be home to a Major League Baseball franchise since the Oakland A’s are threatening to move? Rod said Montreal will while Darren feels they won’t. The Face Off is presented by The Mad Greek Restaurant and UFZ Moose Jaw.
• Wednesday’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 or listen anytime to our 24-hour live audio feed at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive.
• See you at 10 am MT/12 pm ET Thursday on Game+ TV Network and YouTube/Facebook Live!