What Did You Miss Thursday?

--The Stampeders are 17-0 after a bye week after they thrashed Ottawa 27-3.  The big news was that Bo Levi Mitchell was injured in the 2nd quarter on a low hit from REDBLACK Danny Mason.  Mitchell did not return to the game.  Head Coach Dave Dickenson said after the game that he did not know the severity of the knee injury and they'll have to wait until the team returns to Calgary.

--The Winnipeg Jets believe they have finally found their long-term answer in goal after signing Connor Hellebuyck to a six-year, 37-million-dollar (US) contract. The 25-year-old was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy this past season, when he set single-season franchise records with 44 wins and six shutouts.

--The Chicago Blackhawks have traded Marian Hossa and Vinnie Hinostroza in a deal with the Arizona Coyotes. The Blackhawks also sent defenceman Jordan Oesterle (OH'-ster-lee) and a third-round pick in the 2019 draft to the Coyotes for forwards Marcus Kruger, MacKenzie Entwistle and Jordan Maletta, defenceman Andrew Campbell and a fifth-round pick in next year's draft.

--The Saskatoon Blades acquired 19 year old Riley McKay in a trade with Spokane for a 4th round draft pick in the 2019 bantam draft and a 7th round pick in the 2020 bantam draft. Originally from Swan River, Manitoba, McKay has played a total 113 career regular season games in the Western Hockey League, collecting 22 points and 275 penalty minutes along the way.

--The Pro Football Hall of Fame will not acknowledge Terrell Owens individually during enshrinement weekend in Canton, Ohio, next month, the Hall's executive director says.

"The focus is on the guys who are here," Hall of Fame executive director Joe Horrigan told the Talk of Fame Sports Network on Thursday. "There's no reason to bring him up as an individual. He's not here."

Owens announced last month that he would not attend the ceremonies, scheduled for Aug. 3-4, and would instead give a speech at his alma mater, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

What Did You Miss Wednesday?

--Croatia's fairy tale run at the World Cup will go to the final day of the competition with a matchup against France in Sunday's championship game. Mario Mandzukic  scored in the 109th minute lifting Croatia to a 2-1 semifinal win over England in extra time in Moscow.

--Eric Rogers will not play for the Calgary Stampeders in their game tonight vs Ottawa.  Rogers was not on the depth chart released Wednesday.  He is said to be battling a knee injury.  Rogers has 11 catches for 201 yards and three touchdowns this season. 

--CFL journeyman Jeff Hecht is joining his 4th CFL team.  Hecht, who played for Saskatchewan last year, signed a deal Wednesday with Winnipeg.  Hecht has also played in Calgary and Montreal in his CFL career. 

--Brock Boeser is expected to be ready for the start of Vancouver Canucks training camp after the forward recovers from a back injury. The University of North Dakota grad, who was the MVP at the all-star game, was leading NHL rookies in goals with 29 when he was hurt in March. Boeser hit his back against an open bench door and broke a transverse process, a spur that projects off the side of each vertebrae. 

--The New York Yankees hit 3 homeruns in a 9-0 win over Baltimore.  The homers give the Yankees 154 homeruns before the all-star break which happens Sunday. New York has played 91 games. 

What Did You Miss Tuesday?

--The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed forward Nikita Kucherov to an eight-year contract extension worth an average of 9.5 million dollars (US) in salary and annual bonuses. The two-time all-star had 39 goals and 100 points with a plus-15 rating last season. He was set to become a restricted free agent next summer.

--Winnipeg linebacker Adam Bighill, Ottawa receiver Brad Sinopoli and Toronto running back James Wilder Junior are the top performers for Week 4 of the C-F-L season. Bighill registered six total tackles and two interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, as the Blue Bombers trounced the Lions 41-19 last week. Sinopoli recorded 148 receiving yards and one touchdown in the Redblacks' 28-18 win in Montreal. Wilder had 120 rushing yards and 27 receiving yards as the Argonauts beat visiting Edmonton 20-17.

--France has reached the World Cup final for the first time since 2006 with a 1-nil win over Belgium. Samuel Umtiti's header in the 51st minute was the only goal in a tense match at St. Petersburg, Russia. France will play either Croatia or England in Sunday's final.

--The Tampa Bay Rays have a plan in place to move out of Tropicana Field. The team unveiled an elaborate plan for a new domed stadium at a cost of nearly $900 million. The 30,842-seat stadium would be the smallest in Major League Baseball and would be covered by a fully enclosed and translucent roof, not a retractable dome.

--A major league comeback in major league baseball.  The Cincinnati Reds scored 7 times with two out in the top of the 9th to beat Cleveland 7-4. Trevor Bauer had pitched eight innings striking out 12 for Cleveland before the 9th inning meltdown.

What Did You Miss Monday?

--The Anaheim Ducks will be retiring a pair of numbers this season.Paul Kariya, who spent nine seasons with the teamwill have his No. 9 retired prior to a game against the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 21. Niedermayer, who spent five seasons with Anaheim, will have his No. 27 retired prior to the game against the Washington Capitals on Feb. 17.

--The Buffalo Sabres made it official Monday as they signed defenceman Rasmus Dahlin to a three-year entry level contract.  Dahlin was the first pick overall in the NHL draft.

--After being let go in Humboldt, Chris Beaudry has a new job.  Beaudry, who was not on the Broncos bus when it crashed April 6 killing 16, signed on to be an assistant coach with the Melville Millionaires.

--Wally Buono says he doesn't know who will be the B.C. Lions' starting quarterback this weekend.
The Lions head coach says his staff is looking at various options for correcting mistakes and improving play after B.C. was trounced 41-19 by the Blue Bombers in Winnipeg on Saturday.
Jonathon Jennings has held the Lions No. 1 quarterback position this year, but has yet to throw for more than 200 yards and he was 15-for-24 for 105 yards with two interceptions in Winnipeg.

Veteran Lions quarterback Travis Lulay hasn't played yet this year following off-season knee surgery, but Buono says he will definitely be in the next game's lineup in some capacity.

--Canadian Milos Raonic is heading to the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the third year in a row. The 13th seed form Thornhill, Ontario, defeated unseeded American Mackenzie McDonald the fourth-round action today. Raonic will face number nine John Isner  in the quarterfinals.

Halifax Narrows CFL Stadium Site To Two Locations

The group that wants to bring the Canadian Football League to Halifax has narrowed its search for a stadium location to two sites.

“We’re down to two, a preferred site and a backup site,” said Anthony LeBlanc, one of three principals in Maritime Football Ltd., the corporate entity that hopes to establish a 10th league team in Nova Scotia.

LeBlanc, who met with CFL team executives in Winnipeg on Friday to present a business plan review, said he and his partnership are negotiating with site owners and hope to finalize a site soon.

“We’re trying to get the best terms possible.”

That is what Halifax Regional Municipality seeks also.

“We think it has to make sense for the municipality but we also want something that’s transit oriented,” Mayor Mike Savage said of a potential stadium after regional council met in camera with the Maritime Football group last month. “I don’t think anybody is interested in building an old style stadium with 20,000 parking spots.”

The likely stadium sites are Dartmouth Crossing and a property behind the Kent store in Bayers Lake business park.

The question of funding for the stadium, which would seat about 25,000 people and likely cost in excess of $200 million to build, remains a bigger riddle than a potential site.

“We certainly think it’s the right way to go,” LeBlanc said of the stadium redevelopment plan at Landsdowne Park in Ottawa that was part of the successful strategy to bring the CFL and the expansion Redblacks to Canada’s capital four years ago.

“There is the creation of the fan experience of having things that you can do other than just going to the game,” said LeBlanc, former president of the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League. “These types of facilities, they are not just football. ... It becomes an economic driver and it helps to build kind of those mini-communities.”

The Lansdowne redevelopment plan was built on providing sports, shopping, living and parkland. The sporting and living elements may be the most successful tenets to date of the $300-million 16-hectare urban park located next to the Rideau Canal in central Ottawa. The stadium complex was rebuilt and retail and residential developments were added, including basketball courts, a water park and skate park. The city kicked in a major chunk of the redevelopment cost, retained ownership of the site and leased the commercial and retail components under a revenue-sharing deal with Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group.

“Obviously, the difference between Ottawa and the sites we’re looking at is that we’ve been pretty open that there isn’t a site in, call it downtown Halifax, that is sufficient,” LeBlanc said. “The green neighbourhood in Ottawa is a little bit different than the sites we’re looking at but we feel comfortable that there is a true mixed-use development potential.”

Savage said after the June meeting that if there is a way that HRM can contribute to a stadium without digging deep into capital, “maybe that’s the way to go.”

“What they are looking at, I think they have been public about this, is (something) that’s offset against future potential tax revenue in the area that they want to build,” he said.

Savage said in June that it’s time to take the CFL talk public, suggesting holding a future council meeting that would be open to the public.

Shaune MacKinley, the mayor’s chief of staff, said the agenda for the next council meeting, on July 17, won’t be readied and released until Friday.

“He is still committed to that,” MacKinley said of going public with the CFL dialogue.

LeBlanc said the two proposed sites would be revealed at that public meeting, whenever it is scheduled.

LeBlanc said he and co-owners Bruce Bowser, a Halifax native who is president of AMJ Campbell Van Lines, and Gary Drummond, a businessman from Regina who was president of hockey operations with the Coyotes during LeBlanc’s tenure there, have their finances in order.

“From an investment point of view, we’re comfortable where our group is now,” he said. “If there are local, strategic investors who are interested, we’re always interested in adding them to the fold, but that isn’t a requirement.”

Fan support is a requirement.

“We’ve talked extensively with the league, HRM and the province about this that we’re probably going to take a play out of the playbook in other league’s recent expansion. If you look at Las Vegas and Seattle in the NHL, one of the conditional precendents was to go out and do a season ticket drive, so everybody knows that the market that everyone thinks is there is really there. I think it’s fair to say that that will absolutely be part of our plan.”

The Las Vegas model included playing for the NHL title and the Stanley Cup in the Golden Knights’ inaugural season.

“I have no problem with that,” LeBlanc said.

(Halifax Chronicle-Herald)

Something To "Mitch" About

--We are through four weeks of the CFL season.  What have we learned?  Well, we have learned the Calgary Stampeders just keep rolling along as they are 3-0 and that the Montreal Alouettes are as expected a football team in disarray.  After that though, throw everything up in the air.

As much as the Rider Nation is up in arms over the performance of their team, the bottom line is like the Bombers and Eskimos, they are 2-2.  Considering what has gone down over the first month of the CFL season in Riderville, I would certainly take that after all that has happened.

With the team on its bye week, I would expect the Riders to be making some moves.  Moves which will see some defensive backs come in meaning we can see Duron Carter back where he belongs and hopefully word that Zach Collaros will be back for the game in Hamilton on the 19th.   As one Rider fan said to me Saturday afternoon, remember in the off-season when everyone was clamouring for Brandon Bridge to be the starter.  He went on to say what the situation would be like if that scenario had played itself out.

Bridge has the potential to play in the CFL. He has shown that.  However, there is still a vast amount of improvement that must be done.  He was given an opportunity---one that is still there due to the health of Collaros, but while there has been spurts and signs of good things, there is still a lot of work to do.  That isn't what is needed at the game's most important position in Riderville right now.  Looking at James Franklin in Toronto, you see why Chris Jones probably wanted him here and how Edmonton likely wanted no part of him being here. Franklin is composed and confident under centre. Bridge doesn't look that way.   As many have said, when your quarterback goes down, you take a huge hit in the CFL and that is what's happened in Saskatchewan.  The drop-off has turned to be huge.  Consider this, through four games, the Riders have scored 7 TD's---three of them on defence.

To not have Collaros for 2 1/2 games and have a record of 2-2.  I'll take that. Like you, I still can't figure out how you lose at home to Montreal, but I will take it.  I also will take an announcement that Collaros is ready to go July 19th in a game I think he really wants to play in.


--Four weeks into the season and I'm asking a question that other CFL fans are asking as well.  Where are all the close nail-biting finishes.  There have been many one-sided scores this season.  That wasn't the case last year when you didn't know what the outcome would be going into the final 3 minutes. Only two games this season have been decided by three or less--both involving Edmonton.   You can't fault the league for that as they have no control over the way the game will go, but to me contests just haven't had that same level of excitement.

--More people were talking about the guys with the air horns in Toronto than the game on Saturday. Did anyone complain about the guys with the air horns?  Did security intervene? Can you bring airhorns into the stadium.  Yeah, it was annoying, but no one wanted to do anything at the game so nothing was done. That's the way it goes.

--Now that John Tavares has signed with the Leafs, the debate is whether or not Tavares or Auston Matthews should be the captain with some suggesting if Matthews isn't the C, it may have a say on whether or not he signs a long-term contract extension.  The soap opera that is the Leafs will kill them.

--If you are a UFC fan, have you ever seen a fight that was worse than what Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannout bout.  I, and many others, were looking for the two big men to get involved in a slugfest not a snorefest.  That was pathetic. 31 strikes in all.  I think the main event between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier had more in the first round.. All credit to DC, I did not think he would take down Miocic.

--People can tell me they don't read the newspaper anymore because that is getting to be true, but don't tell me people don't read books anymore.  If they aren't, then I would like to know what people were buying at Chapters this weekend.

--If you are going to go on the Ring Road and drive 90 or lower. Please do us a favour and get off the road.

--I'm not one for 32 degree weather. I will take anything in that plus 25 to minus 20 range. I may be in the moral minority for that one, but that's my opinion.

--That's all I got. Stay cool and have a good week!

What Did You Miss Sunday?

--Houston Astros 2nd baseman Jose Altuve had the most votes for baseball's all-star game. Altuve, one of five Astros on the team, had 4.8 million votes.  Boston and Cleveland also placed five players on the American League team.  The game goes later this month in Washington. 

--Alex Ovechkin has the Stanley Cup in Russia.  Ovechkin brought the trophy to Russia's World Cup quarter-final game against Croatia on Saturday and he had it at a fan-fest on Sunday.  Ovechkin says to show off the Cup to his father was a thrill.  Ovechkin's dad was not in the crowd on the night the Capitals won it all in Vegas. 

--Former NFL and CFL defensive back Brandon Browner was arrested Sunday following a police chase in Azusa, Calif., according to several reports from LA.

Browner was wanted for kidnapping, false imprisonment, burglary, grand theft auto, and violation of restraining order, the La Verne Police Department told NBC Los Angeles.

Police say Browner broke into a house of an ex-girlfriend who has a restraining order against him, threatened to kill her, and stole a Rolex watch valued at about $20,000, according to The Associated Press.

--The St. Louis Blues continue to stock up at the forward position. According to Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic, unrestricted free agent Patrick Maroon and the Blues are expected to reach an agreement on a contract. No word yet on terms. Maroon's family is in St. Louis. 

-- Kevin Na rode a hot putter to halt a winless streak of nearly seven years on the PGA Tour.

Na shot a 6-under-64 for a five-stroke victory at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier on Sunday.Starting Sunday's round one stroke behind co-leaders Harold Varner and Kelly Kraft, Na birdied six of his first 10 holes to open a big lead on the Old White TPC, and he cruised from there. The only blemish on his card was a bogey on the par-4 11th after driving into the rough.

Na finished at 19-under 261 and picked up the $1.31 million winner's paycheck. He improved 40 spots to No. 18 in the FedEx Cup standings.