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Monday, January 6, 2014

Something To "Mitch" About

The debate has basically been on since Sidney Crosby scored the golden goal in Vancouver four years ago. Who would wear the Maple Leaf on their chest in four years in Sochi. The debate will intensify as Hockey Canada lets us know tomorrow. As was the case with the U-S and players like Bobby Ryan and Keith Yandle, there will be a lot of debate as to why this guy is on and this guy isn’t.  Everyone is putting their list of 25 together so here is mine which I’m show will be just as prone to criticism as anyone else’s

G- Carey Price, Roberto Luongo, Mike Smith (with Luongo hurt right now, Cam Ward)
 
D-Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Drew Doughty, Shea Weber, Kris Letang, Alex Pieterangelo, Dan Boyle, PK Subban
 
F-Sidney Crosby,  Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Steven Stamkos, Matt Duchene, John Tavares, Martin St. Louis. Patrick Marleau, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf,  Taylor Hall, Eric Staal, Chris Kunitz, Tyler Seguin
(If Stamkos can not make it due to injury—Claude Giroux)

Is that a good enough roster to win gold? Its just as good as any other team when you weigh out the positives and negatives. We will find out Tuesday morning. Yes, it did kill me to leave Jordan Eberle off of this roster as I thought he would be a gimme and likely would have been if the Oilers didn’t suck so bad this year.
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Speaking of gold, Canada gets to the semis at the World Juniors, but they come without medals having lost to the Finns in the semis and the Russians in the bronze medal game. The knives are out as Canada fails to win a medal for the second straight year.  While there are many reasons you can look at, the one I will point to is the fact our best 19 year olds are playing in the NHL –Morgan Rielly, Sean Monahan and Nathan McKinnon would have made that team much better, but the NHL isn’t going to allow that to happen. Yes, other teams did not have their best 19 year olds and I don’t know why players like Max Domi and Darnell Nurse didn’t make it, but they didn’t. The reality is the rest of the world has gotten better at the junior ranks. A lot of European players are developing their skills in the Canadian Hockey League which is the source of another debate in itself. Canada doesn’t own this tournament and as some have pointed out, the only country that really is passionate about this event is Canada because of what TSN has done for it. I won’t argue that, but it seemed to me as if the Swedes had a lot of people behind them at this year’s event.
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I’ll just come right out and say it…I miss Zellers! I miss Bonanza too!
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I don’t know where CTV Saskatoon’s Kevin Waugh got this info, but he tweeted out Saturday USA Hockey is looking at having the 2018 World Juniors in Tampa Bay.  Really? On the surface that seems to be a disaster, but as I look outside and see its 50 below here with the windchill, I say sign me up if I can get there.
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Speaking of which, we are showing our toughness in Saskatchewan again. Other areas would shut down completely with weather like what we have seen, but we don’t. Life just carries on for us. Yeah, if we don’t have to go outside we don’t, but if we do, we get out there and do what we have to do.  That’s not going to change anytime soon.
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A person texted in on the Sportscage text line just before Friday’s show ended and I never got a chance to read it, but it was a good question. That question was who ended up being the Riders best acquisition in 13. Was it Chick, Foley, Anderson, Brown, Simon, Williams or Cortez. What a great question!  I thought about it on the weekend and while everyone did bring something to the championship, did anyone come up with more big plays than Weldon Brown this year? He made a lot of them and while I would have to go back to research it, I think he was out when the Riders had that September losing streak.  Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts on that.
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The College Football Bowl games featuring the top teams have been fantastic. The Orange Bowl between Clemson and Ohio State was a dandy as was the Rose Bowl game where Luc Mullinder’s Michigan State Spartans downed Stanford, the Sugar Bowl were Oklahoma upset Alabama and the Outback Bowl where South Carolina edged Wisconsin.  I can only hope tonight’s Florida State-Auburn game for the national title is as good, but I can’t see it being better than what I’ve seen.
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Was it a Colts comeback or a Chiefs collapse?   It’s a question often asked when one team comes back from a huge deficit to win. Whatever it was, Saturday’s wild-card game between the two was pure gold with Indy coming back to win 45-44 after being down 38-10.

Who will Andy Dalton play for next year? Its become pretty obvious he can get the Bengals to the playoffs, but for the third year in a row, he has been terrible in the playoff game. I just can't see Dalton being the starter in Cincy anymore,

Was it just me or FOX really over-hype the cold in the Packers-Niners game. Imagine what they would have done with the Western semi here?

Can the Niners ever throw a pass to Michael Crabtree that is incomplete where he doesn’t complain to the refs about getting interfered with.  He’s not the only one in the league that does it, but he is by far and away the worst!
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Are you as sick as Pathfinder, MacDonalds and Bodybreak ads as I am! Who's kidding who, if there is a Pathfinder drinking game, there are many Canadians suffering from alcohol poisoning.  By the way, a special thanks to the CRTC for making sure these commercials get crammed down our throats thanks to at oh-so-special simulcast so we get the Canadian signal. I should have the choice of what I want to see. 

Thats all I got. Have a great week and a warm one!


16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hate to say it, but its gotta be DA. He just shut receivers down all season long when he had to. His INT in Edmonton won us a game.

Anonymous said...


How come other teams like Buffalo will send juniors back (Grigorenko, Rastolainin), but others don't? Very annoying!

Anonymous said...

Our goaltending will be our downfall! None of those guys can be considered world-class.


Rob

Anonymous said...

Mitch. If Patrice Bergeron is left off the team it'll be a fatal mistake. This guy is clutch on faceoff and bring the element of offence when he needs to.

And there's a reason the bruins traded Tyler Seguin. Remember the USA team at the Nagano olympics?? He would fit that party mold. I hope he's not on the team.


Russ from Saskatoon

Anonymous said...

It won't matter who's on Team Canada's roster if they play an NHL style game. That big ice surface will kill them.

Anonymous said...

TSN mentioned on their broadcast that the 2018 World Juniors are in the US and there were six or seven locations interested including Tampa.

Anonymous said...

I am sure that the Dalton haters make the Durant haters look tame! But imagine if Darian had performed in the Grey Cup like Andy did in the game yesterday. Yikes!

Anonymous said...

Getzlaf, Hall, Kunitz, Marleau ? Getzlaf, Kunitz, Marleau horse plug slow. Hall, a head case and soft (concussions/other) Eberle, Giroux a definite yes for Olympic success.

Anonymous said...

Weldon Brown all the way!

Anonymous said...

It doesn't matter who is on the blueline or up front. our goaltending will kill us. WHen you say Carey Price is the best Canada has to pffer that's not saying much.

Anonymous said...

PS.
Add Patrice Bergeron, Jamie Benn, Scott Hartnell.

Anonymous said...

Bergeron is going to be on the team, his 62% FO winning percentage ensures that. And the fact the guy plays clutch in tough situations too. Claude Giroux???? He is one of the best players in the league, I think he is a lock. Taylor Hall is garbage defensively and I've been told that by high ranking Hockey Canada members, with Lowe being the egoistic he's likely blowing all the smoke out his arse to make sure his boy gets on the team. Jamie Been? Logan Couture?

Bouwmeester-Pietrangelo, Those two have been great this year for the Blues and with Hockey Canada wanting people in their natural position on the blueline they likely will end up as a pair, not to also mention the shortage of LD. Marc-Edouard Vlasic likely has a strong chance of being on the team as well with the shortage of LD.

Anonymous said...

End to simulcasting! I am in favour!

Anonymous said...

Weldon Brown, Saskatchewan Roughriders best acquisition 2013. No comparison to his all around on and off the field subtle contributions to team success.

Anonymous said...

At this time next year, who will we talking about as the Rider's best acquisition in 2014? Perhaps a new import receiver to replace Dressler?

Anonymous said...

Mr Jim Hopson done building a championship team and getting it done. It's now up to B Taman, last year's messenger boy to live up to his title as a professional football gm to find some player talent.