Good morning and welcome to semi-final week on the blog.
This is set to be a great week and it all culminates in, what is expected to be, a pair of great high school football games.
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This will be an especially good week for the Lumsden Devils, Humboldt Mohawks, Delisle Rebels and Sacred Heart Saints as they all advanced to this weekend's semi-finals thanks to win's on Saturday.
The week won't be quite as good for the Foam Lake Panthers, Kindersley Kobras, Maple Creek Redmen and Assiniboia Rockets as their seasons ended after losses on Saturday.
The four teams whose season ended on Saturday have nothing to hang their heads about though. They were part of only eight teams to get the chance to play in a provincial game this year. Out of twenty-two teams that's a pretty elite group. Let's hope that these programs can all build of this season and take the progress into next year.
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The two games set for Saturday are somewhat intriguing.
Sacred Heart boasts a very strong rushing attack with Preston Liebrecht being a real game changer while the Rebels counter with their own strong rushing attack led by Des Vessy. Delisle is undefeated and have consistently been one of the best programs in 9-man football while Sacred Heart is just starting to become a powerhouse in the game. I don't know who's going to win but I'll put the over/under at 67.5 points.
The game between Lumsden and Humboldt is the game of the week. I am 100% convinced that this is going to be a very close, hard fought, intense battle between the top two ranked teams in the province. My over/under for this contest is a little lower at 35.5.
Play the over/under game with me by hitting up the comments section below. I'll go under on both.
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Are you ready for winter? I suppose you don't really have a choice as the snow appears to be staying for the most part after Tuesday's big snowfall. I posted pictures that I took late Monday night of the first signs of snow and then boy did it come down on Tuesday.
The rest of the snow could melt this week as sunshine is expected all week with high's near 10 degrees at game time on Saturday. (Remember: this is the forecast we're talking about and it changes hour to hour. I'll post updated forecasts as the week progresses)
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There are a couple different ways to look at the weather when it comes to football. Let's say we're talking about cold wet snow covered conditions.
1) The offense is calling the plays and thus they know where they're going. The defense has to react and therefore they'll be vulnerable to slipping and being caught out of position.
2) Wet, cold conditions can make it much tougher to hang onto the football which leads to turnovers and lower scoring games.
#2 is my reasoning for taking the under on both games but if it's sunny and +10 on Saturday then you can throw that reasoning out the window.
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Finally went and saw 'The Town' this week. I'll give it two big thumbs up! Great flick which should be hitting the rainbow soon so if you haven't seen it don't pass up the chance to catch it when it hits the cheap seats.
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Congrats to the Saskatoon Hilltops on winning the PFC championship over the Regina Thunder on Sunday. Ex-Rosetown Royal Corbin Eskelson had another monster game for the toppers who will host the Canadian Bowl in two weeks.
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I ran into former Kindersley Klipper Kyle Homes this past week at the University of Saskatchewan. The Marango product is set to graduate from the Edward School of Business in the spring and is one half of the management team for Riverside Capital.
Holmes along with current Huskie hockey player Steven Gillen started Riverside Capital and are doing very well. Check out their website at www.riversidecapital.ca.
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The poll question on SaskGridiron.com posted late Saturday afternoon has already seen quite a few votes. The question asks: Who is the best team in 9-man football today?
55% feel it's the Lumsden Devils and it's hard to argue with them.
20% feel it's Delisle
15% think it's the Humboldt Mohawks
10% think it's the Sacred Heart Saints
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Craig Stein had the call of the Saints win over Maple Creek on GX94 Saturday. It looks as though he'll be back on the air broadcasting the Saints/Rebels match-up this weekend as well. I'll post more details as they become available this week.
I'll also post details on what may or may not be happening with the Lumsden/Humboldt game. Stay tuned to the blog and to Twitter for the latest. I will hopefully have something to tell you later today or tomorrow.
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Tickets are still available for the SaskGridiron.com awards banquet. The banquet goes December 4th and tickets are just $50 each. Proceeds from the banquet will go towards the SaskGridiron.com scholarship fund which is to be launched in the new year.
Voice of the Riders Rod Pedersen and former Rider Matt Dominguez will be appearing at the event. Call 306-831-6378 for tickets or e-mail SaskGridiron@yahoo.ca
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It looks like I'll be 7-1 in my fantasy football league after tonight's through.
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It's frustrating to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs these days but I can say that I am proud to be a Leaf fan once again. I've always been a proud Leafs fan but the past few years have been a little tough. Things seem to be a bit different this year though.
The Leafs are outright dominating games but now are running into the inability to score goals. Saturday night they out-shoot the New York Rangers something like 37-23 and lost 2-0. They're a respectable club now that is dominating games and no longer a laughing stock, which is good. BUT, they can't score and are losing games. Time to bring in some scoring... (ahem... Nazem Kadri... ahem)
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Back to Craig Stein for a second. If you didn't follow along on his blog then you missed out this weekend.
The theme of the weekend: "So you wanna be a broadcaster eh?"
Craig hit the road on Friday to Manitoba to call MJHL hockey. From there he made it home and was tucked into bed nice and early... oh around 12:30am ish. Just as his face hit the pillow the alarm went off at.. oh... around 3:00am. He was up and off to Maple Creek to call the Saints game against the Redmen. Following the game he hit the road to Moose Jaw to watch the Warriors game and catch up with friends. Then it was all the way back to Yorkton. Something like 1500km over the weekend.
I likely missed a few things in this story and my facts may be a little foggy (I'm going off memory as I type this surely to be corrected at some point) but it pretty much defines what being a broadcaster is all about. To get the full factual version of the weekend head to his blog which is linked over on the left hand side.
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Will anyone go watch Saw 3D in the theater with me?
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I'm about 3/4 of the way through James Duthie's new book The Day I Almost Killed Two Gretzky's. It's a real treat and I recommend it to any sports fan out there.
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Quick, name the last team to win consecutive 9-man provincial crowns?
If you said the Delisle Rebels you would be correct. They took home the title in 2002 and 2003. Humboldt was the last team before them to do it which was in 1996 and 1997.
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The U of S Men's hockey team is back on the ice this week after a weekend off. They'll get set to head to Calgary to play the Dinos on the weekend. The Dinos dropped a pair of one goal games to Alberta over the weekend (5-4, 2-1) to fall to 4-3-1 on the season.
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Keep checking back as there is lots to come this week. Have a good week!
dd
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