Weekend Thoughts

There is still some hockey to be played. I will give the Devils a lot of credit because I didn’t think they would send this series back to L-A, but they have for a Game 6 tonight. I thought New Jersey did a good job of rattling Jonathan Quick somewhat in Game 4 and they certainly did that in Game 5 as he seemed to be not as confident as he has been in this series. If New Jersey can take Game 6, it will set up what will be a dramatic contest Wednesday night with the momentum having done a complete 180. I still don’t know if New Jersey can do it, but some cracks are starting to show in the L-A armour and the resilient Devils have shown us that they aren’t going away.

Word is Ilya Kovalchuk is playing with a herniated disc in his back, the New Jersey forward hasn’t given it his all on every shift during these playoffs, but he is one of the key reasons they are where they are. I thought the hatchet job that Don Cherry did on him Saturday night was uncalled for. I didn’t see Grapes praise Kovalchuk for the big hit he threw in the 2^nd period. I know Cherry doesn’t like European players, especially Russians, and that’s fine, but he went over the top again. I’m surprised no one is really commenting on this, but perhaps its because he didn’t go off on a Canadian born player.

Peter Deboer’s wife has jokingly told him to keep his eyes on the ice and not on who is sitting behind the Devils bench as the team heads back to L-A and he says he will. As a man, I say he won’t.

This story was published in the New York Times earlier this week, but I didn’t see it until this weekend. This does not put the NHL in a good light.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/04/sports/hockey/in-hockey-enforcers-descent-a-flood-of-prescription-drugs.html?pagewanted=all

In the where are they now file, Yellow Grass’ Peter Schaefer has started a career in coaching. The former Brandon Wheat King, Vancouver Canuck and Ottawa Senator is now employed by the Surrey Eagles of the BC Junior Hockey League.

The Quebec Junior Hockey League is abandoning the trapezoid rule. That means the goalie can play the puck anywhere on the ice. One has to wonder if the WHL and OHL will follow suit. One has to also wonder how this will effect the QMJHL champs at the Memorial Cup in Saskatoon next year if the other two leagues don’t follow suit.

I wonder if European soccer analysts talk about soccer going to 9 on 9 or something to increase scoring chances.

I have been told that SHAW TV is doing some Western Major Baseball League games. Is this true and if so, will Access Communications pick them up the way they do WHL games?

Good times were had by all on Rose Street in downtown Regina Friday for the annual “Sticks on Rose” ball hockey tournament put on by the Shooting Stars Foundation ---that is the charity that Mike Sillinger and Jamie Heward started a few years back as they give back to a community that helped them throughout their hockey careers. Its great seeing guys like Jordan Eberle and Josh Harding come back to help out for a great cause as well. Those guys haven’t forgotten and they are always so accommodating to help out and get their name out there. Some athletes have forgotten about that, but not those guys. I would not hesitate to help Sillinger or Heward out in anyway possible to get the word out about Shooting Stars. I think Regina is well aware of it by now though.

We are just a couple of days away from the start of another Rider season. The first pre-season game is Wednesday night and it will be on TSN. Of course, 620 CKRM is ready for another year with Rod and Carm and yes, for some reason, I will be a part of the game-day team this year. Tune in Wednesday afternoon.

Brittney Palmer or Arianny Celeste? UFC fans, you know what I’m talking about.

I ran into some people that I haven’t seen in a long time over the past couple of days. Its great catching up and telling stories of the good old days AND clearing some things up.

The Cubs were in Minneapolis to play the Twins this weekend. This would have been a great time to check out Target Field. Oh well! Hey, I would have seen the Cubs win their 20^th game of the year. SIGHHHHHHH!!!!

If you watched the Jays games in Atlanta this weekend or if you have watched the Braves on Peachtree this year, you may have noticed shortstop Andrelton Simmons. Do you know that Simmons played for the Yorkton Cardinals of the WMBL. Its true!

Another round of inter-league baseball is underway with American League teams playing National League teams. As you know, the home team dictates what league’s rules the game is played under meaning the designated hitter in American League parks and the pitcher hitting in National League parks. Watching a game on the weekend, it was suggested that those scenarios be switched so fans in National League parks could see the DH and fans in American League parks could see the pitcher hit just to see another player perform another role. I would be down with that.

Long time WWE fans will want to know that one of the stars from the vintage era will be in Regina next month. High Impact Wrestling’s July card (July 17) will feature Tito Santana. Speaking of the WWE, it sounds like diva and hottie extraordinaire Kelly Kelly is leaving or has already left to pursue other life dreams. This will sadden many wrestling fans as she will join the likes of Stacy Keibler and Trish Stratus who have left the squared circle for other endeavours.

Maria Sharapova won the French Open womens tennis title. She’s only 25? When did she start playing tennis? She seems to have been around for years.

Oklahoma City and Miami in the NBA final. This is what many people wanted and this is what they have. I haven’t watched a lot of NBA this year, but I have watched some playoff games. I think I’ll tune in a couple of these if I can.

For those that complain about hockey ratings in the U-S, I am guessing the ratings in the U-S for the Devils-Kings game were not great because of the Celtics-Heat Game 7. However, I am guessing that not many in Canada were watching Game 7 because of the hockey game. Its never going to change, so why talk about it.

Another sign that football is back. NFL preview magazines have hit the store shelves.

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickleson and Bubba Watson are paired together for the first two rounds of the U-S Open. Will we see any other group out on the course?