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Welcome back to the blog for a new season, I was very light with the blog the last 7 weeks, not by design but by sheer laziness, but with things kicking off for the 08/09 season today I felt it was time to get back to regular updates.

For the record the season that I speak of is nothing more then the Rob Kerr radio season, it starts for me the day after labor day and ends the Friday before the September long weekend. I don’t know why I view it that way, but after 5 years in Calgary my world revolves around Labor Day thus today a new season for me begun.

Just following up on a couple of things from earlier today on Sportsline, first my issue with Alex Tanguay’s comments in the Montreal newspaper, let me start off by saying I recognize not everybody hears my opinions the way I intend them to be heard. I respect the fact that Alex Tanguay or any athlete for that matter has the right to ask to be moved, and I also recognize that he doesn’t owe it to me, you, or anybody else to be honest about it. My point is simply that this is an example of the further eroding relationship between players and the media and by connection to you. Some e-mailed saying that Darryl Sutter also denied the trade requests so the Flames (i.e. the teams) are just as responsible. I agree with part of that, but I would point out that it was the player who asked for the trade not the team or GM, and by virtue of that it is he and not the team that should be ultimately held responsible for speaking publicly about the request.

I like Alex Tanguay as a hockey player and as a person, and I hope it works out for him in Montreal.

The Calgary Stampeders looked very very average against Edmonton on Monday, I will say this about the local football heroes when they go down they tend to go down in a blaze of glory. Coach Hufnagel said that Henry Burris would be back under center on Friday up in Edmonton, the Stamps number one guy needs to find a way to keep the Esk’s and Ricky Ray the heck off the field. After spending a full game in the press box with those covering the green and gold, and even those who cover the CFL as a whole I can honestly say I have never seen a coach with as many critics as Danny Maciocia. The Eskie coach seems to be whipping boy number 1 around the league, I have been plenty critical of Maciocia but he has the best team in the CFL today (not by record but just by recent performance) and isn’t that far removed from a Grey Cup Championship.

My heart goes out to good friend of the program Morley Scott who was dumped as color commentator by the Edmonton Oilers a couple of weeks ago. I have some very strong opinions on this subject, but let me just say stuff happens in this business. I will say that I think it stinks to let somebody go in our industry after all of the jobs for the upcoming season have been posted and filled. Morley is a good man and a great friend who will land on his feet very soon I am sure, and he is a guy who can get up every morning and look at himself in the mirror.

Tip of the hat to the organizers of the Minto Cup who brought a great caliber of junior box lacrosse to our city last week. John Kilbride’s host team accounted for itself well making the semi final. The Mountaineers come from behind overtime win over Edmonton in the round robin was as good as live sporting event as I have been too in a very long time. While Alberta Junior Lacrosse isn’t as good as Ontario or BC’s but it is closer and a time where an Alberta team hosts and wins the Minto Cup isn’t that far off.

I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago on the show, but kind of in passing, interesting story involving the Flames goalie and head coach. When last we saw Mike Keenan and Miikka Kiprusoff one was pulling the other from game 7 of the San Jose series, and an impending goaltender controversy was wildly predicted. With camp just a few weeks away it may come to pass that Kipper can’t or won’t play for Iron Mike, as was again predicted by some. I should point out that Keenan traveled to Finland to see Miikka, spent some time with the Flames number 1, and in Mike’s opinion #34 was in great shape. Kiprusoff was scheduled to play in an exhibition game against Sweden and he invited Mike to be a guest coach for the game. Flames new goaltender consultant Jamie McLennan also spent time with Kiprusoff this summer, and the team is very excited about the shape their goalie is in right now prior to camp. Again this may all be hype and an out of shape and angry Kiprusoff may disrupt training camp.

Boomer pointed me to a Swedish newspaper interview with Marcus Nilson who is none to happy with having to return to the Flames. The situation involving Nilson and the other 2 players waived through the league at the end of June will be an interesting watch in a week or two. Tough to question the character of guys like Warrener, Eriksson, and Nilson but if they are all destined for the AHL or elsewhere will it be a distraction for the local hockey heroes at camp?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 8:51 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.