This blogger is back from his "stay-cation" and ready to get back to work. One good day of picking rocks and climbing trees in the rural areas around Milestone, SK reminds me of why I do what I do for a living, and why I stick to the city.
Let's get back to "work"!
----
TSN reports the Montreal Canadiens will announce Jacques Martins as their new head coach today.
----
CFL fans have made it through the final weekend of 2009 without football!
Saskatchewan Roughrider rookie camp begins on Wednesday and main camp kicks off Sunday morning bright and early at Mosaic Stadium.
We'll have reports each and every day on this blog as well as 620 CKRM direct from Mosaic Stadium. Tonight on Sportsline at 6:05pm MT we will preview Rider camp and look towards the brand new season. A Rider guest is still being confirmed.
Buckle up fans! We finally made it to the brand new season.
----
A source close to Wes Cates wrote on the popular message board Riderfans.com on the weekend that Wes is not 100% recovered from off-season shoulder surgery and won't be ready for the start of camp.
I checked into it with another person close to Wes and he reported that the star Rider running back will participate only lightly in drills once camp opens on Sunday. However Cates is NOT expected to miss the team's regular season opener on Friday July 3 against the B.C. Lions.
----
For some reason I found myself in the garage of a Roughrider assistant coach last night watching him barbecue his family's supper. Don't ask, it's a long story. And yes, he was barbecueing in the garage.
Anyways, that coach admits to the Riders having a ton of question marks entering training camp thanks to tons of change.
How is this all going to turn out?? That's what training camp is for so we'll see.......
----
This morning we're taping episode #1 of In The Huddle on Access 7. Our guests are Dan Farthing, Jim Hopson, Alan Ford and Ken Picot.
The show airs live province-wide at 7:00pm Tuesday night on your local Access affiliate. In Shaw communities (Saskatoon, Swift Current, etc.), check your TV listings. Yes, Huddle's back too...
----
The big news of the weekend on the hockey front - aside from the Stanley Cup Finals of course - was the massive shakeup in the Dallas Stars' front office.
Joe Niewendyk takes over as G.M. from Les Jackson and Brett Hull. Stars fans need not worry though ... Hull is being shifted to the business side while Jackson returns to his role as Director of Scouting and will be Niewendyk's chief advisor.
The only problem I had was media coverage saying that under Jackson and Hull, Dallas finished 12th in the West this year. That's true, but don't forget in Jackson's first full season in charge, the Stars made it to the Western Conference Finals only to lose to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.
Les knew what he was doing. This move is a bit of a head-scratcher, because everybody loves Les. But they say Nieuwendyk is extremely sharp.
----
Detroit beat Pittsburgh 3-1 to grab a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals. Game 3 is tomorrow in Pittsburgh. But this one's not over yet....
----
Was Mike Babock's snipe at Sidney Crosby on the weekend a well-calculated salvo, or was it a rare occurance of the Detroit coach showing petulance?
Either way, I wasn't impressed with Babs taking a swipe at Crosby by saying everytime he turns on the TV, he gets Crosby info slammed down his throat. And that's even when Pittsburgh's not playing.
Babcock said he had to remind himself who won the Stanley Cup last year; Pittsburgh or his Red Wings.
The fact is, all the Crosby coverage isn't Sidney's fault. And if Detroit had someone on their team as interesting as Sidney Crosby, perhaps they'd be getting as much coverage.
But they don't.
----
The Voice of the Manitoba Moose, Brian Munz of CJOB Winnipeg, reports the MTS Centre was soldout for Game 1 of the Calder Cup Finals Saturday night.
Have we forgotten about our prairie cousins in Winnipeg? Has the rest of the nation as well? Where's the Calder Cup coverage on TV and in print? Where's the highlights? Where's the reports on the news networks of Winnipeg getting Cup Crazy?
Or ....... maybe Winnipg ISN'T Cup Crazy. Who would know?
The Calder Cup championship is the series no one knows - or seems to care - about.
The Hershey Bears lead it 1-0 by the way, after a 5-4 overtime win Saturday night. The attendance was 15,003 which is a complete sellout. Is that enough to house an NHL team? Well since they're only getting 9,000 in Phoenix, then I would say yes.
----
Speaking of those types of things, this blog's poll last week regarding Blackberry billionaire Jim Balsillie showed interesting results. I asked "Do You Want Balsillie In The NHL?" The results were:
79% Yes
14% No
8% Undecided
Perhaps we should take our findings to the National Hockey League?
Perhaps Gary Bettman should do what's best for the NHL and NOT what's best for Gary Bettman?
----
There's a fun poll on the site right now regarding who the most popular panelist is on the CFL on TSN.
At the time I'm writing this, host Dave Randorff is beating out Jock Climie!
It's true, Climie's not very popular in the West.
----
The Moose Jaw Warriors will officially announce the hiring of Jeff Truitt as G.M. today.
And while he's being introduced, former Warrior G.M. Chad Lang will address the media at his Moose Jaw home at 9:00 a.m. (Chad changed the start time of it from what he had originally announced on Saturday).
Now THAT should be interesting. I'll rely on the Voice of the Warriors, James Gallo, for that info.
----
Seen and heard this weekend; the Tampa Bay Lightning are considering hiring Regina's Jamie Heward as a player/assistant coach. That could be though, with their AHL affiliate.
Stay tuned.
----
I like the motto of Riderfans.com on Twitter. They say "have a Green day!"
Wish I'd thought of that one!!
----
What would The Monday Morning Goalie be without a movie review??
Saturday afternoon we took in the Disney movie Up at Southland Cinemas. The A-Train took a friend because the older girls thought it would be too "baby-ish".
Well, they were wrong. My mind usually drifts away during these "kids" movies but in this one, we kept laughing the whole show through. Actually, the theatre was about half-full but full of laughter for nearly the full two hours.
It's worth checking out.
And I Love You Man is now at Rainbow Cinemas ($4 tickets), so we've got to get to that one day this week.
----
While at the movies, we ran into former Roughrider defensive back Marshall Hamilton. He was taking one of his boys to see Terminator.
I should take this time right now to announce that Marshall will be our studio analyst on Roughrider broadcasts in 2009. That includes co-hosting The Touchdown Club on 620 CKRM and the Rider Roundtable for all home games.
We're anticipating that he will be splendid.
----
Western Major Baseball League statistician Murray Bucsis is a machine.
His nightly emails of WMBL scores and standings are a sportscaster's dream. Thanks Murray!
The Regina Red Sox, by the way, are 2-1 to open the season after a 6-5, 12-inning, comeback win over Saskatoon Sunday afternoon at Currie Field.
http://www.reginaredsox.com/ has nightly recaps of the Red Sox games although they forgot to include the score in Sunday's game story!
Word is the Northern League is eyeing up Regina as a potential candidate for expansion.
----
Finally a computer repair company that makes housecalls!! Ever been stuck on your PC and not known which way to turn? Didn't want to pay the Best Buy Geek Squad $200 just to show up?
Then call my man Ricky G. at Rick's Fix computer repair. Here's the 4-1-1:
"http://www.ricksfix.ca/ my email is rick@ricksfix.ca . The website is version 1 and will be improved soon but it's got all the basic info up there. I'm only charging $25/hour for work done here and $35/hour if I go to the customer. I'm an A+ certified computer tech with 9 Microsoft Certified Professional certifications. My cell is 351-0333 and probably the best way for anybody to get ahold of me besides email. Thanks for any help you can give me...."
Here's a pic of Ricky G. with George Reed....
I'm helping out Ricky G. because he came to the table big-time with support for Maranda's fundraiser one week ago tonight.
Please support him..
----
This is British singing sensation Susan Boyle....
I swear she has a TWIN in Regina. I see her often..
----
That's all for now....
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
RP
22 comments:
You know it's been stated I can be a bit wordy on certain subject matters that come along on this blog. In an earlier posting Rod put up Chad Lang's firing, and of course DT Jensen crawled out of his whole to comment on that. I must respond to DT Jensen's case of making the snippets about Chad Lang. Allow me to et me offer some correction. First DT like on most subject matter where you "offer your opinion" That opinion is usually flawed as with your head being so far up your ass you usually miss a fact or detail.
I know Chad Lang. They grew up in the same neighbourhood as I did. Chad Lang has more life experience at his age than you've been able to gather while being squeezed into whatever cubicle you reside in while randomly typing out posts.
Chad did not ask to be the GM. He was moved into that role from his role in the business office. Since that time he has brought a sense of class and dignity to what is normally a redneck/turnstile GM office.
Again slamming his age....he's accomplished more in his young life than I gather you will. He's taken risks, and not been afraid as he doesn't want to "leave the union" or "security" or wherever guys like you reside.
Whether it be hockey or business believe me Chad will bounce back and move on.
Obama
So Rod, is In the Huddle live, or pre-taped? Usually live, but pre-taped this week?
99.99% of the time it's live but this week I've got to MC the Rider Players golf tournament tomorrow night so I'm unavailable for the show.
RP
I guess Chad Lang should have never fired Steve Young as head coach after he took them to the league final. Steve was the man, Can't wait to see steve at the helm of a team again. Whatcha think roddy?
As Lorne Molleken once told me, "that's their business."
It's best to stay out of other teams' business!
RP
I agree with Obama 100%. Chad Lang was an excellent GM and his age shouldn't even be an issue. Talk to Brent or other GM's in the Dub and you'll only hear good things about Chad.
Obama, who are you? (D.M.?) I've been trying to figure it out from all of your posts.
Later,
Chris Pollock
Crosby is definitely the most MARKETABLE player in the NHL, whether the Wings like it or not. Babcock should just be happy he will be grabbing another ring at the expense of the Pens.
Two things I have noticed so far in the SC Finals;
No team is even close to being as deep as the Wings & Zetterberg should be thrown in the "Best Player in the World" conversation.
Out!
Chris....
You are correct, but I'm the oldest D.M out of the group...lol. We're all from that Glen Harlem area so we know the ins/outs....You know I will never see Mark or Chad or their cousins Reg and Heather for what seems like eons. You bump into them, and they are the most humble friendliest people they always were.
When Chad was thrust into that job, of course I'm sure you knew his Mom was in a battle. Combine all that stress, and he carries himself like a class act. Like I said before. Good people sometimes get the poopy end of the stick, but in the long range they always do well.
Obama
Thanks for the plug Rod. It was my pleasure to support Maranda's fundraiser.
is labour day soldout yet?
Gina and Cindy will have to wait another year for the cup, unless of course they meet the wings again. Zetterberg is the best two way player in the league period.
DT jensen's comments are petty and a waste of time. Much like DT.
Dean in the 780
I watch Crosby and Malkin, and I'm reminded of Bourque and Neely with Boston along with Howe and Kerr of Philadelphia. Those teams went back to back against powerful Oiler teams. Sometimes great players just end up on the wrong side of history. I hope it doesn't, but it will. The Peanut Gallery will say Crosby isn't great because he didn't lead the Pens to the cup. He's going to win this years Conn Smythe, and my goodness he's done all he could. When I saw him race back to his end, and block a shot he doesn't have to prove anything to anybody. You try your best, and that's why it's a "team" game.
Obama
The twin is hilarious. Is that the lady on both college and hillsdale?? LOL. That interview you did with her was great, even though some people disagreed. Too funny.
It's not that lady. There is another that walks around the downtown area in a tan trench coat. She's aged some, but before looked just like this singer. Her makeup looks like it has been absolutely painted on with a sprayer. I'd never pass judgement, but I have to say this. It was the end of a long week, and I wanted to have relations with my lady. I rounded a corner downtown and ran into this person face to face. I spent the rest of my weekend watching TV. I lost complete interest.
Haha...I would have to say the TWIN would be the lady/man??? in purple with bad lipstick that smells like mothballs.
Chad's done a great job with the Warrior position, and I've heard nothing but good things from other people in the WHL about him.
Good for him to have already 5 yrs of GM experience and can now move on to another gig somewhere.
Speaking of the twin....isn't that the guy walking around downtown in makeup?
Obama...sorry I couldn't find time to get out golfing on the weekend, too windy anyways (plus, I'd have to put away my BB, which makes me feell uneasy)
Roddy...I'll buy some rocks from you, but you likely pulled a groin lifting some of them into the truck.
Crosby...Conn Smythe?? I guess if you give it to someone who lights it up for 3 rounds and then does nothing in the finals, then he may have a shot. If they happen to turn it around and win, then I would agree...but when the Red Wings win...Osgood will be the Conn Smythe winner, hands down.
Rod - Thanks for poppin over last night to say Hi...sorry I wasn't overly chipper, still trying to kill this flu bug.
Devo
The dreaded MOLSON flu?
My pleasure Devo. Glad to put a face to the name..
RP
Rod
Great to hear another year of In the Huddle is starting. Is CKRM ramping up its coverage this year. Are the usual characters back, anyone new, any new features. etc. etc. etc.
I Liked Devo's comment about the Conn smyth Trophy being awarded. Its about that time where you would start to consider who would be the guy.
I havent had much of a chance to actually sit down and watch a game unless its during the week, but have been watching the Pressbox Draft Standings very closly as to whos getting points and showing up every night. Let keep in mind here that there is no winner of the cup yet. But here are my people I think should be in serious consideration from both teams.
Sidney Crosby - Definatly a canadite but like Devo said hasent scored in the finals but has definatly shown up and remember he is playing against the best defense in the NHL.
In saying that Malkin Has been in on every goal the Pens have scored in the Stanley Cup Finals, and anyone who has questioned this players desire and drive to win can look at this playoffs. Hes been a big part of it on the scoreboard and once he dropped his stick...... then the gloves... and started throwing ummmmm, Russian haymakers, we seen the warrior and drive to win. At least he didnt throw him like Semin. Tough to ignore a player that have 30 pts in the playoffs with crosby having 28. Closest Detroit guy is Franzen at 20.
I like Franzen aswell. Big time player along with Ozgood. Nick Lindsom is the best all the time so you cant count him out either.
My feel good player would be Daniel Cleary. Unreal comback, Scored some huge goals. Playing with alot of heart. I really hope he gets looked at aswell when it comes to impact players that played a huge role in getting there team to the finals.
T-Sac
Rod, this is most likely the first sell-out in moose history (or at least only one of a handful).
Realities of Winnipeg hockey...
AHL is perfect for Wpg b/c tickets are under 30 bucks for good seats. People in the peg are cheap and won't pay more.
Canadian NHL teams charge upto $50 for nose-bleeds.
The MTS Centre is not equiped for sold-out crowds. The upper-deck has a total of two-bathrooms for each sex (6000+ people). It took me the whole intermission b/t 3rd and OT on Saturday to get to a urinal.
The Jets should not come back unless things change!
Nice rocks. Find any valuable ones, like meteorites?
Post a Comment