Monday morning...

Good morning loyal blog reader!

The past few days has been three things:

a) Relaxing

b) Entertaining

C) Informative

Spending some time at the lake was definitely relatxing. A little golf, a little swimming, a little boating. All in all, it was very relaxing.

The Rider game Sunday night was extremley entertaining. The Riders have now won with three different QB's. Amazing. Also, it is the first time in modern era that the Riders have gone 5-0. I think they pointed out that the riders went all the way to 6-0 in 1934. They were the Regina Roughriders then. Forgive me on the year but I think that's what it was.

These past few days have also been informative. We have found out that Ryne McKinnon is the new Klippers assistant coach. I also found out some news about another Klipper that you will most definitely want to know about.

But...

I was up pretty late last night following the storm on 1330CJYM/1210CFYM and, as a result, sept this morning a little bit. So this is all the blogging time I have right now. I will update you on the Klipper news as the day progresses. It's pretty big. (is there any suspense yet?)

Have a great monday morning!

One on one with new assistant coach Ryne McKinnon

I caught up with new assistant coach Ryne McKinnon earlier today.

Ryne's spending his summer in Flin Flon and we spoke via telephone this afternoon.

DD: Hey Ryne how are ya?

McKinnon: Pretty good, you?

DD: I'm good. So when are we going to see you in Kindersley?

McKinnon: I'm coming down there on the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th (of August), for the (rookie) camp there. Then i'll be back on the 23rd for good, the rest of the year.

DD: So, new job, how did you find out?

McKinnon: Larry gave me a call, one night, and I thought he was just phoning to update me on the team, because I was scouting in Regina for him. I thought he was just phoning to see if I was going to be back doing that. Then he was telling me about how the assistant (Colin OHara) got the coaching job in Nipiwan and he was looking for a trainer and an assistant coach and everything.

I was like, “wait, wait, wait. You're looking for an assistant coach?”

He's like, “yeah”

I was like, “and you were phoning me, to see if I wanted to be the assistant coach?”

And he's like, “yeah, you know, just wondering if you wanted to take the next step, and go to the next level, stay in the game.”

I was like, “well, let's do it then!”

DD: That's exciting.

McKinnon: Yeah, I'm pretty happy about it.

DD: So do you have any coaching experience?

McKinnon: I have my coaching certificate. I took it through school. Then I helped out, as part of the courses, I had to help out with a double A team (in Regina). Other than that I just got my junior experience.

DD: This will be a good step to get into coaching. Is that something you want to do?

McKinnon: Yeah, if the opportunity's there. I know I'll learn a lot from Larry. (I'll) definitely learn a lot this year.

DD: It's going to be a little different, I guess, being on the other side of things eh?

McKinnon: (Laughs) Yeah, that's forsure.

DD: You've played with some of these guys. Is that going to affect the usual coach/player relationship?

McKinnon: I don't think so. They know that I'll have a new role there. I mean, we'll still have the same respect for each other that we did so I think everything will be fine. (The players and I) might be on a more personal level, other than that it should be the same.

DD: Talk about your history with Larry. You've played with him a few times.

McKinnon: Yeah. I first started out with him in Dryden. He let me come try out there and then (he) signed me to a card. Been with him ever since.

Then when I found out that Dryden was going to be folding, in my 20th year, or possibly folding, because they didn't have enough funds, and (when I found out) that Larry got the coaching job in Kindersley, I wanted to finish up playing under him. I got the trade (to Kindersley) and now I'll be coaching with him.

DD: That's awesome. I'm looking forward to (you being in Kindersley).

McKinnon: Yeah. I'm just happy to be back at the rink everyday.

DD: Is coaching (being a head coach) Jr A hockey something you want to do?

McKinnon: We'll see where this year takes me. My long term goal is to become a police officer. That's the classes I'll be taking, for my degree. But if I can do this until that happens then that'd be awesome too.

DD: Forsure, and you'll keep in shape too.

McKinnon:Oh yeah! (laughs) Especially with Larry's program.

DD: He'll have you working out right beside him.

McKinnon: No doubt.

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What a day! It's almost time to head for the lake and I'm still busy! I do have more Klipper news and leads that I am working on this weekend. But I am definitely shutting it down for a couple days at the lake.

I promise more Klipper news bright and early Monday morning!

Have a great weekend!

Klippers appoint new assistant coach

I caught up with Larry Wintoneak late yeasterday and it was learned that the Klippers have their new assistant coach in place. Former Klipper Ryne McKinnon will be joining the staff for the upcoming season.

"(Ryne) brings a lot of passion. I've had an opportunity ot coach (Ryne) for 3 years. He's a guy that would go to the wall for us when he played and I know he'll do the same thing as a coach. He's always wanted an opportunity to get involved in the game. He decided not to go to school this year and once Colin O'Hara got the job in Nipiwan (Ryne) was my next choice." -Klipper head coach Larry Wintoneak.

McKinnon joins the staff after former assistant coach Kevin Edgerton stepped down, although Wintoneak is still hoping to have Edge involved with the team.

"(Ryne's) a young guy. He's played the game, he knows the game. I think (Ryne's) two years away from the game, away from (the Klippers) anyway. Yes, he's played with Holmes and our (1988 born players), but he'll have the respect (from the players) I know that for a fact. (Hiring Ryne) will be a good addition. If Edge can hang around and give us some minutes too we'll have a great staff here because we don't want to leave Edge out of the picture either." -Klipper head coach Larry Wintoneak.

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I like this move a lot and think Ryne McKinnon will fit in very well with the Klippers staff. The Klippers are still without a trainer for the upcoming season and continue that search.

More Klipper news later in the day so stay tuned!

Schindel committs, rain at the SK. Amateur plus CFL picks

Well it appears as though the golfers are out on the course this morning in Regina. The Access Communications Sask Men's Amateur Golf Championship's 2nd round was cancelled due to massive amounts of rain. As a result, the event was shortened to a 54 hole championship with cuts being made after today's round. I'll post round results and cuts following completion of play.

If you haven't checked out the pictures of Royal Regina you should. I posted the link in my previous post.

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Graduating Humboldt Broncos forward Jordan Schindel will lace em up next season down south. Schindel has committed (reported on sjhl.ca) to play for Manhattanville Valiants (NCAA Div III).
The Valiants play in Playland Park, New Jersey in the ECAC West.

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Week 5 in the CFL kicks off tonight. Here's a run down of what I think will happen in week 5:

* Dinwittie will falter
* The fans will boo Kerry
* Printers will finally throw a TD pass
* and the Al's will still have a shitty return game.

Those things don't mean a whole lot but in the end here is my picks for week 5:

Tonight: Calgary at Winnipeg
Friday: Edmonton at Hamilton
Friday: Montreal at BC
Sunday Toronto at Sask

My picks: Calgary/Edmonton/BC/Sask

The one i question at this point is the Edmonton/Hamilton game. Printers needs a break out game in order to produce a "W". On the flip side they don't have much of a ground attack w/o Jessie Lumsden. Edmonton can be good as well. The game isn't untill tomorrow so watch to see if I change my pick before then.

You can post your picks for week 5 in the comments link below.

Have a great day!

Sask Amateur update***

It was just released a minute ago that day #2 at the 2008 Access Communications SK. Men's Amateur Championship has been canceled.

They started playing just before 10 this morning and play was suspended in the noon hour when a couple severe storms passed through the course.

So, what's going to happen now you ask?

The event will now become a 54 hole championship. Play will resume at 7:00am Thursday morning. The field is being cut to the top 20 players and ties for Friday.

This mean's Delisle's Colin Coben (+7) and Kindersley's Dean Prosky (+8) will need to make up some ground on Thursday in order to make the cut. They are 10 and 11 strokes back (of leader David Stewart who shot an opening round -3) respectivley. Standings wise, Coben is tied for 53rd while Prosky is in a tie for 71st.

To see pictures of the conditions check out the following link:
http://saskga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/saskga8/event/saskga85/album/ef364ba5-2d59-4a66-94fe-4730a88d9724/index.htm?next=%2Fbluegolf%2Fsaskga8%2Fevent%2Fsaskga85%2Fcontest%2F1%2Fleaderboard.htm

Have a good night!

Another storm delays Sask. men's amateur golf tourney

(taken from leaderpost.com)

Murray McCormick, leaderpost.com
Published: Wednesday, July 23, 2008

REGINA -- Wednesday's second round of the Access Communications Saskatchewan men's amateur has been delayed because of another summer storm.

Heavy rains and lightning forced organizers of the 100th anniversary of the men's amateur to clear the participants from the Royal Regina Golf Club for the second time in two days.

Tuesday's first round was delayed by a late afternoon storm. Forty-five players resumed the first round this morning at 6:30 a.m. The first round was completed and the first group in the second round was on the 14th tee when the horns sounded, calling in all players and spectators from the course.

Saskatchewan Golf Association officials are still determining what to do with the championship. The Royal Regina is soaked and there are large pools of water on the fairways and greens. Players were playing mark, clean and place because of the wet conditions.

Prince Albert's David Stewart was the first-round leader and was scheduled to tee of 4:30 p.m., if the weather clears. If that happens, it's doubtful the final groups will be able to complete the second round.

The amateur is to conclude on Friday, weather permitting.
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Locally, Delisle's Colin Coben fired an opening round 79 (+7) while Kindersley's Dean Prosky shot an opening round 80 (+8). (First round leader) David Stewart (of Prince Albert) shot an opening round 69 (-3).

I'll keep you updated should anything happen this afternoon.

Stay dry!

Wednesday afternoon blogging

A few quick hitters this afternoon from sjhl.ca:

Estevan Bruins forward Payden Benning has committed to the Curry College Colonels for the up coming season. Benning played three seasons with the Bruins joining the team for the 2005-06 season out of the Estevan Midget AA program. In 2007-08, Benning led the team in regular season scoring with 57 points in 53 games and added an additional 8 points in 6 playoff games.

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The Flin Flon Bombers have received commitments from two more rookies. 1990 born forward Mathieu Lecours (pronounced le-cure) from the Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves and 1990 born defenseman Frank Riddle of St. Catharines ON.

Lecours was the second leading scorer in the Great North Midget League with 38-goals and 44-assists in 31-games.

Riddle, 6’0” 155 lbs, played at Stanstead Prep School (in Quebec) last season and had 5-goals and 29-assists in 51-games.

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Also Mustang Matt Hill has committed to Queen's University in Ontario this season as well the Notre Dame Hounds have John Esposito joining the team. John is the younger brother of Angelo Esposito who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins and traded to the Atlanta Thrashers in the Marian Hossa deal.

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I found out that there will be no Klipper golf tournament this year. I guess for another year I can still call myself the defending champ.

Also, I'm working on some new and exciting things for this season. The new blog is one of them and there will be new features added to the blog as the season draws near. I am also working on a couple of other things that will hopefully take Klipper coverage above and beyond what you have seen in the past. One of those being new and improved audio features that I will explain further at some point before the start of the new season.

Until then have a great afternoon!

One on one with Jonathan Redlick

Earlier in the off-season I reported that Jonathan Redlick had accepted a scholorship to play for the Geneseo Knights (NCAA Div III). Earlier this afternoon I had a chance to catch up with Jon and posted below is the transcript of the interview. Enjoy.

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DD: So, how's the summer been?

Redlick: It's been really good.

DD: Has it? What have you been up to?

Redlick: Doing lots of hay work. We took on quite a few acres of alph-alpha and do custom work.

DD: Nice. Any damage from the storms this year?

Redlick: Nothing yet. But even just couple days ago that heavy rain, it didn't seem to do anything. There was some hail but it was mostly north of town and around where our land was for sure I think.

DD: That's good you don't want to run into that stuff. So a scholarship eh? Tell us how that came about.

Redlick: Well, they kinda started talking to me, like, Christmas time or something. Never really did talk back to them until after the season and then they just seemed really interested in me. We just kinda talked more and more and it sounded more and more like the thing to do so.

DD: For sure. Was there any interest from other schools?

Redlick: Um, SAIT college in Calgary. When we went to Mexico there at the end of the season we had stopped in for a tour on or way home and (SAIT) seemed like a pretty good school but it was just too late of notice. I had already kinda, over 50 per cent committed to (Geneseo) and had done a lot of paper work and a lot of stuff to go to this school.

DD: So is that kind of what the difference was or what was the difference in your mind?

Redlick: I don't know. To try and find a place to live in Calgary (would have been tough). You know the price range could vary so much where as in (Geneseo) they pay for residence and stuff and all that so I just have to pay for my books.

DD: So have you had a chance to meet the coaching staff and everything like that?

Redlick: No I haven't. It's been kind of tough. I wanted to get down there and fly because you can get a flight for $150 one day and $300 another day. It would have been nice to get down there but you can't always find time to do that.

DD: From talking to them do you have any idea of what your role is going to be?

Redlick: Well they said they were looking, like, there team had struggled this (past) year. They said the hockey (in NCAA), there's lots of power plays and stuff. He had kind of looked at my numbers and said they needed a power forward or someone to help run the power play. He kind of asked me too if I had ever played defense and would mind playing the point on the power play and I said well I used to be a d-man before; my first year and a half of junior. They are definitely looking to bring some young guns in to get some points on the power play and work it from there.

DD: Here's a question for you. How do you pronounce the schools name?

Redlick: Gen-e-see-oh. Gen-e-say-oh? or Gen-ee-see-oh. From what they've been saying it's Gen-e-see-oh. It's about an hour south of Rochester (New York).

DD: So will you know anyone else on the team?

Redlick: Clint Olson, played for Melfort, he's going there so that's really the only person I know. There's another guy, the captain, I think he's done this year, but he played in Yorkton but I never really knew him he's four or five years older than me.

DD: So when do you leave?

Redlick: I fly out on the 19th of August.

DD: What are you up to for the summer? Playing any hockey?

Redlick: Ya, since about two or three weeks after our season was over, we've been playing once or twice a week that five on five Adult Safe in (Saskatoon). It's been good, I have a game tonight.

DD: Which category is that?

Redlick: It's the A/B division. We never had enough guys for a team so we just entered individually, me, my brother and a couple friends. So we're not the best team but I really only need it for the skate to keep from getting injured when I go to camp (in Geneseo).

DD: Well that's all I had for you Jon, congratulations.

Redlick: Ok, Thanks.

DD: And maybe we will touch base later on in the season or something?

Redlick: Ya for sure. I'll maybe give you an update at Christmas time.

DD: Ya that sounds good.

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Redlick played 155-games over his junior 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.

Another great game!

After another good Darian Durrant performance it seemed as though the Al's, and veteran QB Anthony Calvillo, were going to be too much for the green and white tonight.

But what a finish!

This reminded me of a game last year that I attended at Taylor Field. It was a very rainy evening when the Eskimos were in town. The conclusion of the game was delayed because of thunder/lightning storms and a television blackout. I was at the game with my gf, my brother and a buddy. We went inside and waited it out in the dark and upon returning to the stands for the completion of the game fans had all crowded the rail infront of the first row to get a better view of the action.

From there on out Ricky Ray and the Esks had no answer to the deafening noise of the rider priders and they just fell appart concluding a rider victory.

I saw many similaraties in tonight's game.

The Al's seemed to have put a dager in rider nation untill a Matt Domingues TD got the faithfull going. A deep kick and an interception later and the fans were as loud as ever and the Al's were on their heals. The green and white preceeded to score another TD to take the lead.

The following kickoff, former Rider, Jason Armstead fumbled the ball the Saskatchewan had the ball once more. The fans had gotten the job done and the rest is history.

I'll admit there was almost a tear shed in this one. Don't be quick to judge. As big of a football (and sports) fan as I am, I really get into the game. (you can probably tell if you ever listen to me call a Klipper game. I am a fan and a loyal Klipper supporter) The Riders young pivot had thrown a pair of interceptions to Reggie Hunt and it appeared that his magic for the evening was over. That was untill he put the ball in the endzone for the winning points in the football game. Durant seemed so excited after scoring those points and then went and handed the ball to his mom, who was in Regina with his father, to watch him play tonight.

It was just one of those moments where your heart is pounding during an intense battle and you have just taken the lead late in the game.

Simply amazing.

Tunall and I are now both 3-0 in our weekly CFL picks. Tomorrow will be the difference. He has Toronto and I have picked Edmonton.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Friday morning quick hits

Gotta love those Fridays... especially when you just bought yourself a new car this morning... it's an '01 grand am for those of you who were asking.

A couple of quick notes here before I go on the air.

The La Ronge Ice Wolves were part of a couple deals. The following is from sjhl.ca:

The La Ronge Ice Wolves have acquired 1990 born forward Michael Bzdel from the Nipawin Hawks for future considerations.

Bzdel was fourth on the PJHL’s Tri-Town Thunder in scoring last year as a 17-year-old rookie. He fired 20-goals and 22-assists in 33-games. He also dressed for 4-games with Nipawin and picked up 1-point.

The Ice Wolves have also acquired the SJHL list rights to 1991 born forward Jesse Dengler from the Notre Dame Hounds as the future considerations in last year’s trade that saw the Hounds pick up Kyle Ireland.

Dengler had 13-goals and 8-assists in 9-games with the Humboldt Midget Broncos of the Centre Four Hockey League. Dengler is still midget eligible for the upcoming season.
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Also the SJHL has extended its contract with Sherwood Hockey for another three years. Sherwood Hockey is the official pant, glove and stick of the SJHL.

(from sjhl.ca)

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League is pleased to announce a new sponsorship agreement with Sher-wood Hockey Inc.

In exchange for receiving Sher-wood's financial support to the SJHL, the league will continue with the naming rights in the southern conference to be referred to with the sponsorship title. Web presence, audio advertisements, print ads in all league programs, and an on-ice logo in each centre will also provide Sher-wood with a very visible profile in each SJHL community.

Sher-wood's Doug MacInnes says, "Sher-wood Hockey Inc. is very excited to be involved with the SJHL for another three years as the official glove, pant, and stick of the SJHL. Sher-wood Hockey Inc. embraces the SJHL's rich tradition and its place as the top Junior 'A' League in the world. We are also truly honored to be outfitting the future of Saskatchewan hockey and providing them with the tools to achieve all of their goals."

Among the NHL Players who endorse Sher-wood are Ottawa Senators forwards Jason Spezza and Antoine Vermette as well as Tomas Plekanec of Montreal, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard from the Minnesota Wild.

SJHL President Laury Ryan says, " We are pleased to continue our partnership with Sher-wood. The product and service that they provide our teams and league provide our players the best equipment in the market."
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By the way I am 1-0 this week in my CFL picks as the Stamps beat up on the Ti-cats last night. Ryan Tunall (got his picks in at the last minute) is also 1-0.

More to come later in the day...