Monday, March 28, 2011

Monday morning water cooler


It's been a while since our last water cooler chat but we're back in full force today and a few things to catch up on.

Let's start by ranting about my March Madness bracket and how it is, of course. broken. I didn't expect much but man it was brutal. I thought I could save it as I still had Ohio State and Kansas meeting in the final but that's not the case. Both teams were eliminated and missed out on the final four.

Better luck next year.

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The Saskatoon Blades are cruising in the first round of the WHL playoffs against the Prince Albert Raiders. The Blades won game one 8-1 and game two 5-2 to jump out to a 2-0 series lead. The Bridge City Bunch will be in PA for games three and four mid-week.

On 620 CKRM I picked the Brandon Wheat Kings as my sleeper pick out of the East and they got their split in Medicine Hat and head home with the series 1-1.

In the West I picked Portland to come out and Vancouver as my sleeper. The WinterHawks lead their series 2-0 while the Giants are in a 2-0 hole.

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It's hard to digest the way the Kindersley Klippers were bounced from the SJHL playoffs. This is a team that had high expectations and were one of the best in the SJHL down the stretch and through round one of the playoffs but ran into a Yorkton Terriers team that just ran roughshod en route to a four game sweep.

Now, the Terriers are a great team and heading into the playoffs were heavily considered to be the favorite to come out of the entire SJHL but this series surely was expected to be a battle.

The Terriers won in four straight games by scores of 7-2, 7-0, 7-0 and 3-2.

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One more note in the WHL. The Red Deer Rebels announced their intention to bid for the 2013 Memorial Cup. Will the Saskatoon Blades tender a bid? Or perhaps another Saskatchewan based team?

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This weekend the top graduating high school football players will put their skills on display as camps open for the 2011 Ed Henick Senior Bowl. Saturday, April 2nd, players trying out for Team North will take part in the first camp in Saskatoon while players in the South will head to Regina for their first camp.

The 2011 edition of the game will take place at Mosaic Stadium in Regina on the Monday of the long weekend in May. Stay tuned to SaskGridiron.com for coverage of the Senior Bowl from the 9-man perspective.

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Speaking of SaskGridiron, there are some MAJOR plans in the works that you should be really excited about. I can't divulge any details yet but as soon as it's official I'll pass along the info. It's going to be great news for the site and for high school football in the province.

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Congrats to UNB on winning the Cavendish Cup as CIS men's hockey champions beating McGill 4-0. It was a tough tournament for the Canada West representatives as Alberta and Calgary each went winless.

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SJHL president Laury Ryan announced his resignation this past week. The search for a new president has begun and applications are being accepted at the league office. Check out www.sjhl.ca for more continuing updates and how to submit an application.

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I really like the 1-up/1-down system used by Les Lazaruk and Cody Nickolet for the WHL playoff broadcasts on 92.9 The Bull. It's working well, keep up the good work guys!

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It appears as though the clock has struck midnight for my Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs continue to play good hockey but Buffalo is on fire and all but squashed any hopes that the Leafs had of making the playoffs.

Good news, if there is any, is that the Leafs have showed a lot of promise as a young team and only good things can come from this.

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Finally saw True Grit this past week and, although it didn't quite live up to the expectations that I had for it, I liked it and give it one and a half thumbs up.

I still want to see Sanctum and 127 hours, both playing at the Rainbow this week.

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Ok, that's all for today. I have a pretty busy week planned. SJHL final begins this week in La Ronge and WHL playoffs shift to PA. Enjoy the week!

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