Thursday, July 17, 2008

CFL Week 4 Picks **Update

Well another Thursday afternoon and week 4 in the CFL season kicks off tonight.

The schedule for week 4 looks like this:

Tonight: Hamilton @ Calgary
Fri: Winnipeg @ BC
Sat: Montreal @ Saskatchewan
Sun: Edmonton @ Toronto

My week 4 picks: Calgary/BC/Sask/Edmonton

Post a comment with your picks and play along.

**UPDATE** Rod Pedersen reported on his blog http://www.rodpedersen.com/ that Saturday's Rider/Al's game has been SOLD OUT. Rider prez Jim Hopson reported the sell out earlier today and also announced that the blackout will be lifted as a result.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Lord Stanley in Saskatoon


(press release from CHHF)

Babcock Brings Stanley Cup Celebration to Saskatoon

Partnering with Children's Health & Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan

To Raise Funds for Sick Children

SASKATOON, SK - Mike Babcock, coach of the Detroit Red Wings, is bringing the Stanley Cup to Saskatoon and everyone is invited to join the celebration at a public event organized in partnership with the Children's Health and Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan (CHHF).

Bryan Richards, Chair of the CHHF Board of Directors, and Don Atchison, Mayor of the City of Saskatoon, will welcome Babcock and Lord Stanley's trophy to the Amphitheatre at River Landing on July 17.


Date: July 17, 2008

Time: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Location: Amphitheatre at River Landing (between the Traffic Bridge and Senator Sid Buckwold Bridge)


As a coordinator of the event, CHHF is encouraging visitors to "Give It Up for the Cup" by making voluntary donations. An event photographer will be onsite and people will be able to purchase photos with the Stanley Cup.

All funds raised during the Stanley Cup visit will be presented to the Children's Health and Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan at 10:00 a.m., Friday, July 18 at Jubilee Ford, 419 Brand Road in the Automall.

"I'm very proud to be a Saskatoon boy and I want to give every kid in Saskatchewan a chance to touch the Stanley Cup," said Babcock. "At the same time, we can work as a team to bring a little happiness and hope to kids who need our help and support."

Mix 104's Matt Litton had a chance to talk to Babcock and the following is a transcript of the interview.


ML: Well first of all Mr. Babcock welcome to the show, thanks so much for doing this. How's it going today are you enjoying the off-season?

Babcock: Oh yeah always enjoying the off-season. It's great to spend time with your family.

ML: Right on. And you've been the Stanley Cup champion for about a month and a half now, has it sunk in yet?

Babcock: Oh yeah it's, you know, obviously it was a great thrill and we had a good team, we've had a good team for 3 years we were finally able to accomplish our goal and it was very enjoyable to share the ride with the players and our family and friends and just a great accomplishment.

ML: Right on. Ok, so you're going to be in Saskatoon on Thursday. Would you be able to just talk about what's going to be happening?

Babcock: Well I mean the bottom line is what the goal is to share it with the people of Saskatoon and specifically the kids of Saskatchewan. And so they can come to river landing and, you know, touch the cup and get their picture taken with it, get an autograph if that's what they want. We're going to go to the Royal University Hospital Hospital and share it with the kids there. We're going to go to Sherbrook after-care centre and then we're going to go to, the following day, it's going to be at Jubilee Ford so people have another opportunity to come and get autographs with it and there will be a private party at night. So it should be a lot of fun and a lot of people of Saskatchewan get chance to touch it.

ML: So, I guess, why Saskatoon?

Babcock: That's where I live, that's where I'm from. I live at Emma Lake in the summer but I grew up in Saskatoon. Those are the people who helped me along the way and there was no other place.

ML: Now there's also a fund raiser going on is that correct?

Babcock: Yeah absolutely. You know, obviously for Children's Heath and Hospital (Foundation) here in Saskatchewan, it's a great cause and we want to do what we can to raise a little money.

ML: So is there any reason why the children's health and hospital foundation in particular?

Babcock: Well just because, I mean, I spent a lot of time with pediatric cancer and do a lot of work with kids in that area and it just seamed like a really good cause here in Saskatchewan. I'm delighted with the efforts that are going on in Saskatchewan to help that out so I want to be part of it.

ML: Ok, well that's so much for doing this.

Babcock: No problem thanks for having me on your show!

Back at it...

Well the holiday was way too short. (isn't it always?) The week plus off was nice but it's back to work now and there were a few things happening while I was away.
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(from sjhl.ca)

The Nipawin Hawks have announced the hiring of 31-year-old Edmonton AB native Colin O’Hara as their new Head Coach/General Manager.

O’Hara has spent time as an Assistant Coach with the Vernon Vipers (BCHL) and was an Assistant Coach/Assistant General Manager with the Quesnel Millionaires. He was also Director of Hockey Development for Quesnel Minor Hockey Association, and had a previous Assistant Head Coach stint with the La Ronge Ice Wolves.

O’Hara’s playing career includes a 20-year-old stint with the Battlefords North Stars. The former defenseman had 26-points in 49-games during the 1997-98 season and he was also a member of the gold medal winning SJHL Viking Cup team. He also led the Stars in playoff scoring in his only year. O’Hara also played in the WHL with Swift Current and Medicine Hat.

Hawks President Blaine Clarke has extended a warm welcome, on behalf of the hockey club and the community, to Colin and his wife Erin as well as their three daughters.

The O’Hara’s have lived in Vernon BC during the offseason for the last four years, however they intend to call Nipawin their new full-time home.

For more with O’Hara, please visit http://www.sjhl.ca and look for the Behind The Bench audio section.
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(from sjhl.ca)

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League has named Tracy Cook as the new Director of Officials.

Cook takes over for Doug Lawrence, who resigned last month after serving in the capacity for the past four seasons.

Cook, who makes his home in North Battleford as a full-time Business Manager at a local auto dealership, has been married for the last 18 years and, with his wife, is in the midst of raising two teenaged children.

Cook began officiating as a referee in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in 1996, hanging up the blades for good following the 2005-06 season. Since that time, Cook has been one of the SJHL’s Supervisor of Officials. That position has allowed Cook to watch games from the press box and work with referees and linesmen in a mentoring capacity to help improve their skills.

"I really look forward to working with the officials and I, personally, have found it rewarding over the last couple of seasons to see the young referees and linesmen improve their craft. Seeing them get better as professionals is very exciting," said Cook. "It is a lot like coaching, only you work with officials as opposed to players."The ever changing state of the game of hockey is something Cook feels he and his team will need to remain on top of. "I think with the two-referee system that a number of leagues have started to move toward has a trickle down effect and it impacts the SJHL for sure. But, I think we also have to make sure we can continue to bridge the understanding be tween officials and hockey teams for what the mandate is for each area. For a referee, the most important issues are safety, fairness, and thus allowing teams to compete. For teams, those priorities are often in reverse order."

"The leadership in the SJHL has been outstanding in the area of officials over the last number of years. To continue that is going to be a challenge. Great leadership and outstanding officials are long traditions here (in Saskatchewan). I hope to continue that," added Cook.
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More to come later in the day as I get caught up.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Redlick heading south plus CFL picks for week 3

(from sjhl.ca)

The Geneseo Knights (NCAA Div III) have announced graduating Kindersley Klippers forward Jonathan Redlick has agreed to attend their institution and play hockey for the club beginning this Fall.
Redlick, a native of Biggar SK, played 155-games over his career and finished with 57-goals and 57-assists. He had a breakout final season with 71-points in 58-games and then followed that up with a clutch playoff by scoring 9-goals and 16-assists in 21-games (3rd in league scoring).

Redlick never played Midget ‘AAA’ hockey and was often bounced around from position to position, including going from defense to the wing before Larry Wintoneak converted him to centre where he flourished over the final two plus seasons.
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Glad to see Redlick continuing to play some hockey. I'm on my way out the door here this morning. We are heading to the lake and were suppost to leave at 6 but it's my girlfriend and now we're leaving at 7.

I'll leave you for the weekend with my week 3 CFL predictions.

We'll start with Calgary at Montreal. I like the way the Al's have started the season. Big wins over both Hamilton and Winnipeg have people talking. On the flip side Calgary is loaded on offence. I like Calvillo and the Al's by a touchdown. Megan is going with the Stamps.

Toronto at Edmonton. The Eskimos are picked by most to finished at the bastment in the CFL west but Ricky Ray turned in a strong week 2 preformance and that makes this one tough to pick. The Argos struggled in week 2 in a loss to the Ti-cats. Word from tsn.ca is that Michael Bishop was placed on waivers this morning... (could that mean he could be in green and white soon?...stay tuned) so Kerry Joseph will be the go to guy and that should take some pressure off. I like the Argo's to rebound from a loss with a 10 point win. Megan picked the Argo's as well.

Friday night football and BC in Winnipeg. The Lions are an unlikley 0-2 to start the season and are so are the Bombers. What most thought could have been a preview of the grey cup has turned out to be a game for 2 teams fighting to get back in the playoff race. (perhaps a little early to be talking about playoffs?) Desperation will make for a great football game and this one will be fun to watch. I take the Lions by 14. Megan has BC as well.

And finally the Riders at Hamilton. Can Durrant run the offence for an entire game and be successful? I'm getting yelled at to leave and pick the Ti-Cats and there potetnt offence by a field goal. Megan has the Riders on Friday night.

I have to get going have a great weekend.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Time for... Vacation!

There has been a little lack of posts in the past few days but that is because i'm on vacation and enjoying every minute of it!

Back in the ol stomping grounds of Wynyard relaxing for my week off. My girlfriend has a cabin up at Kimball Lake (Meadow Lake Provincial Park) so we are heading up there tomorrow for a few days and the weekend.

I'll work on my tan, get some sleep and just shut down for a few days. Should be nice. It's really gods country up there and they have a nice cabin and a private beach.

I will post my picks tomorrow for week 3 in the CFL so you can follow along and post yours as well!

Enjoy your week/weekend!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

CFL Week 2

Well after a terrible day one of week 2 in the CFL season (did you understand that? I didn't.) I finished pretty strong.

Montreal and Saskatchewan both earned wins last night and moved to 2-0 respectively. Wes Cates had an amazing 2nd half for the Roughies and Anthony Calvillo had 4 TD passes in the first half in what was (for me) a "record" saving day. I started the week 0-2 but finished at .500 and my record for the season so far is 5-3.

Morning show man on the Wake-up club on Classic Hits Radio Ryan Tunall had a week I had to mention! 1-3... not too shabby Ryan but on the bright side you have the same record as Chris Schultz on TSN. He's 3-5 for the season.

The CFL is a crazy game and any day anything can happen. That's the beauty of it.

Enjoy your Saturday morning!

Friday, July 4, 2008

T.G.I.F.

Well thank goodness it's Friday!

Especially after last night in the CFL. It hurts a little to start a week of picks going 0-2 but those games made it a little easier to bare. I just can't figure out the ti-cats. They were amazing in there 32-13 win over Toronto! I think I should just flip a coin when it comes to them. Casey Printers looked like the Casey of old while Jessie Lumsden was flying; over 180 years on the ground!

The Calgary Stampeders thought they had the game won when they scored to take there first lead of the game in the final minute but Jason Tucker made an unbelievable catch to seal the Eskies first victory of the season. Ricky Ray had over 400 yards passing as well.

So I start off the week 0-2 in my picks and so does Ryan Tunall. I'll look to turn things around when the Montreal Allouettes and Winnipeg Blue Bombers square off and later on tonight the Saskatchewan Roughriders are in BC to take on the Lions. All the action on TSN tonight the Rider game starts at 8:00pm. Quotes from coach Ken Miller in the sports on 1330/1210 this mornign as well as everything you need.

Yesterday I was up early... to be up early... today it's the Wake-up club with Ryan Tunall. I can't wait!

Have a great Friday!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Summer Development Roster

Team Canada announced the roster for its World Jr Hockey Summer Development camp and only one player on the roster played in the CJAHL last year.

Corey Trivino fom Stouffville (OPJHL) has been invited to the camp. Travino is a second round draft choice of the New York Islanders.

He does join Riley Nash and Kyle Turris as former CJAHL players.

CFL Picks - week 2

Week 2 CFL picks have been made. Post a comment to register your picks. Last week there was a setting that only let registered bloggers/google accounts post comments. That has since been changed and anyone can post a comment. Just post as your name and your picks.

Have a good day!

Wednesday morning tid-bits

Up with the sun this morning co-hosting the wake-up club with Ryan Tunall. Just some quick tid-bits for you while you have your breakfast.

NHL free agency opened up yesterday and boy was it a busy day! The cell phone never seemed to stop receiving texts all day.

The big signings would be the Blackhawks signing of Brian Campbell to an eight-year deal worth over 57 (m) million dollars.

Wade Redden was signed by the New York Rangers to the tune of six-years, 39-(m) million-dollars.

The Flames made a minor trade yesterday with Chicago. Calgary sent a 2nd round draft pick to the Hawks for Rene Bourque.

For a complete list of all of the free agent signings visit http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=11353&lid=sublink05&lpos=topRelated_main.
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In some small SJHL news this morning, sjhl.ca is reporting that Estevan Bruin defenseman Riley Hughes has committed to Adrian College Bulldogs (NCAA Div III) for next season. Hughes had 17-points in 36-games with the Bruins last season and then added three assists in six games during the playoffs.