First and foremost, I want to talk about tonight's Sports Fix which is airing as I type this.
Guest number one on the show tonight is Newstalk 980's sports reporter Jamie Nye. Nye covers the Riders on a daily basis, and he and I talked about the Rider victory yesterday against Calgary, and tee'd up the Grey Cup matchup against the mighty Allouettes.
Guest number two was Sean Campbell of the Team 990 in Montreal. I met Sean practically by accident early last year when I put a call into the Team in Montreal and asked the receptionist, "Can you put me in touch with somebody familiar with the Montreal Allouettes?" She chose Sean, and ever since we've done interviews for each other in a regular basis.
Sean host's two Montreal Allouette's specialty radio shows: The Al's This Week and the Rouge Radio Show (which he hosts with Scott Flory) and he also has a blog which you fan check out here.
My final guest on the program tonight is the voice of the Yorkton Terriers and Melville Millionaires for GX 94 radio in Yorkton, Craig Stein. Steiner's blog can be found here. In my opinion, he's one of the best out there. He and I discussed the Sherwood Conference of the SJHL, and tee'd up the North Stars and Yorkton Terriers matchup tomorrow night at the Civic Center.
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The Battlefords North Stars and Yorkton Terriers meet for the second time this season tomorrow night at the N.B. Civic Center. The Terriers come to town with a record of 12-11-3-0 and currently hold the third place spot in the Sherwood.
I'll perview this game tomorrow in the afternoon, but right now the general consensus with Yorkton is they allow few goals, yet they score even fewer. All signs point to a low scoring game tomorrow night at the Civic Center.
Meanwhile the Battlefords North Stars will be looking to avenge a Saturday loss in Humboldt. For my money, the Stars played a good game, but were still guilty of trying to do "too much" in the defensive zone. Three of Humboldt's goals were all a direct result of defensive miscues.
However, don't read into that statement and think that the defenceman are the only ones to blame. The North Star's coaching staff will be the first to tell you that better defense starts with the wingers and centerman sticking to their responsiblities and being not getting caught cheating up the ice. I'm convinced that once the North Star's consistently can get this right, they'll be a real force to be reckoned with in the SJHL. They've showed flashes of good defense lately, but it simply hasn't been consistent enough.
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Only a handful of hours left to vote on the blog's poll question. Choosing an MVP through the first 26 games is a tough thing to do. The North Stars have shown this season that they never seem to rely on the same people on a nightly basis, hence choosing an MVP is very difficult to do.
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The SJHL website also has a new poll question posted. The question asks, "Which SJHL rookie has been the most impressive so far this season?"
What I'd like to know is why North Star's forward Josh Daley's name is not listed as an option for that poll. I'm not sure why, but Daley isn't listed on the SJHL website as a rookie for some reason. It should be noted that he's second in rookie scoring with 22 points.
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After months of tireless effort, the SJHL Showcase is finally set to arrive. In case you've been hibernating for the past three months, the SJHL Showcase is taking place this weekend at the North Battleford Civic Center. All 12 SJHL teams are on-hand to play in two games each.
There will be a ton of extra fans, scouts, parents and people lining the stands at the Civic Center, and it wouldn't surprise me the least bit, if some of the night games were played in front of 1500 or so people.
If you have yet to get your tickets for the SJHL Showcase, you can do so through the North Star's office, or through Kara Rosen.
Don't bother asking me to help you move, fix your car, or help you shovel snow. I am going to be at the Civic Center for much of the weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing North Battleford on display for an entire league and it's scouts to see.
Which team or player are you the most excited to see?
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Wednesday night I'll be broadcasting my second North Saskatchewan River Hockey League game of the season. The Paradise Hill Hawks will be hosting the Edam 3 Stars in a rematch of the 2008 Championship. Both teams are looking much different on paper now than they were two years ago, but it should definitely be a fun matchup and I'm definitely looking forward to heading back to P-Hill.
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Switching gears now to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
I had the good fortune of being in attendance at the West Final yesterday. Needless to say I was blown away by the atmosphere and the passion put forth by Rider Nation.
Coming from BC, I'm used to some pretty lame CFL crowds. A trip to BC Place to watch the BC Lions was always an excuse to get drunk and watch people fighting in the stands. A trip to Mosaic Stadium on the other hand is something that never gets old.
I've only personally witnessed one sporting event that has been louder than yesterday's West Final, and that was the 2006 Gold Medal Game on the World Juniors in Vancouver.
The thunder-sticks, the sea of green, and the sheer noise of 30,000 odd Rider fans was something to behold, and I sure hope Rider Nation brings it's 'A-Game' on Sunday to Calgary, because putting it bluntly: The Riders are going to need it.
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I'll be throwing a lot of Rider stuff onto this blog leading up to the Grey Cup. Currently I'm efforting the CJNB/CJNS Powers that Be to let me host a Grey Cup preview show.
The early response has been good, and it looks like Harry Michael Dekker and I may be hosting a preview show together at some stage this week. I'll keep you posted.
My goal is to provide a forum for fans in the Northwest to call in with their predictions, comments, and thoughts regarding the Grey Cup.
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Tonight I'll share my view on one of the hot-topics right now in Rider Nation.
1)
It is my opinion that only two coaches in the CFL deserve consideration for the CFL's Coach of the Year Award. The two finalists will surely be Montreal's Marc Tressman and Saskatchewan's Ken Miller.
Say what you want about Montreal being a 15-3 team, being the class of the CFL, and being a strong favourite to win the Grey Cup. I get all that, and I understand all of that. But considering the difficult nature of the CFL's West Division, considering the many difficult obstacles that the Saskatchewan Roughriders had to overcome (again) this season to get to where they're at right now, the Coach of the Year Award shuold be awarded (without much debate) to Rider's Coach Ken Miller.
Miller had the unenviable task of taking over as head-coach for a Rider's team in 2008 that had just won a Grey Cup under Kent Austin. I can only imagine the conversation that took place between Ken Miller and Eric Tillman once it was announced that Kent Austin was leaving for Mississippi:
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ET: Ken, Kent just announced that he's leaving Saskatchewan to go run the offence in Mississippi, do you want to be our new coach?
KM: Eric!? Are you mad at me?! What did I do to deserve this?! There is no way that I'll be able to accomplish what Kent Austin did! You're feeding me to the dogs! The fans will never accept me.
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Yet all Ken Miller has done since he's taken over for Kent Austin is win football games.
His tutelage has allowed Darian Durant to thrive as a full-time CFL quarterback. His offensive schemes (a long with Paul LaPolice) have proven to be one of the most conssitent and exciting in the CFL.
Seeing players like Rob Bagg and Chris Getzlaf emerge as legitimite touchdown threats is not only a testament to their talent, but coaching plays a significant role in the development of players, and those two in particular owe a lot of their success to Ken Miller.
We're talking about a coach who lost the services of Defensive Coordinatior Richie Hall, a long with Anton Mackenzie, Scott Gordon, Mo Lloyd, Kitwana Jones (briefly) and James Johnson and still managed to put forth one of the best defensive squads in recent Rider memory.
Not to mention that the Riders have been regarded as one of the CFL's most respectable, humble and professional team's in the league.
When a receiver makes a catch for a first-down, he's not doing a 15 second dance in front of the other team. He's running back to the huddle, and getting ready for his next play. That is another shining example of the type of professionalism that Ken Miller has instilled into this team.
We don't hear stories about Rider's getting in trouble with the law, and any inner-clubhouse turmoil between teammates. The players have clearly "bought in" to Ken Miller's philosophies both on and off the field, and the end result has left the Riders in great standing with the CFL, their own community and they're on-field success has thrived because of that.
Don't get me wrong, Marc Tressman has likely accomplished all of those things in his own right. But he's also coaching a team that had to play Toronto, Winnipeg and Hamilton at least three times a season.
If Ken Miller is not named the CFL Coach of the Year, than the system is obviously flawed, and it will be just another example of the Riders getting the shaft in favor of a bigger market with more of a media influence.
Ken Miller is to be congratulated (win or lose on Sunday) for his efforts at the helm of the Riders, and I for one hope that Ken Miller sticks it out for a few more years after this to continue to lead the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
What do you think? Are you a Ken Miller fan? Let me hear it?
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Tomorrow my take on the Riders may not be so positive. I'm going to be talking about Wes Cates.
With that in mind, good night to you. Thanks for reading.
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