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| Connor Bedard in action for the Pats this past April. |
X – formerly known as Twitter – is the worst social media
platform of all-time.
If I never used what I now call Platform-X ever again, I
would be perfectly fine with that. Due to working in media and communications,
I still have to be on that social media platform. With the toxicity that exists
on that platform, I have limited my posts to the courtesy sharing of
information on the sports world.
For my blog, I mainly cover the happenings with the WHL, the
Saskatoon Hilltops of the CJFL, the Saskatoon Valkyries of the WWCFL and U
Sports.
Thanks to how toxic Platform-X has become, I find people
that look for information on those leagues and teams I listed are mainly no
longer on that social media platform anymore. The ones that are on that
platform are usually saying something quite awful and cutting using an
anonymous account.
My best interactions on Platform-X come from fan talk about
pro-wrestling specifically WWE and AEW with the Era of Bliss fan account and
one of the best persons to come from the province of Quebec in Patrick Mercier.
Even with that, you can run into toxic accounts that wants to jump into your
fun chat and ruin your day.
Last week, Platform-X continued to prove why it is the worst
social media platform of all time. Early last week on November 27, I was
putting a house keeping sports information post on Platform-X.
At that time, two days had passed after the NHL’s Chicago
Blackhawks announced right-winger Corey Perry would take an indefinite leave of
absence from the team for personal reasons. I encountered an endless line of
posts regarding the family of Blackhawks 18-year-old rookie superstar centre
Connor Bedard and Perry.
Having dealt with Bedard and his family when he played in
the WHL for the Regina Pats, my first thought was, “This is utterly
ridiculous.”
After scanning those posts for 30 seconds of my time I will
never get back, I created the posts I set out to create and got off that social
media platform.
As the week progressed, it was easy to follow how that story
developed without putting in much effort as it regularly came up on sports talk
shows and sports news shows. The Blackhawks placed Perry on unconditional
waivers on November 28, and after he cleared waivers the following day, the NHL
club terminated his contract.
Of course, it came out the rumours were garbage. Perry came
out with an apology for an incident that got him released and said he was
seeking professional help for substance abuse.
Last Friday a day before playing the Jets in Winnipeg,
Bedard met the media in the Manitoba capital. The question about the rumours
came up and also how the rumours affected his family and himself.
Bedard handled the queries with a maturity way beyond his
years. He said what happened wasn’t fair to him or his family, but they can’t
control those things and they just go on and live life.
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| A picture of the front login page to Platform-X. |
Bedard also added what happened with Perry was serious and
the first concern was that he is OK and his family is OK. Paul Friesen of the
Winnipeg Sun actually did a terrific job with his piece on what Bedard has
dealt with in his NHL rookie year, and that piece can be found by clicking
right here.
The fact Bedard, who doesn’t have a Platform-X account, and
his family had to deal with this was an absolute joke. To show how stupid
Platform-X and society of today has become, Edmonton Oilers superstar centre
Connor McDavid never had to deal with anything like that as an NHL rookie in
2015-16.
Believe it or not, I found Platform-X to be a good social
media line at one time. The first few years after I created an account on it
back in 2010 it was great.
The mechanics of the social media platform worked well. You
also knew that platform was a social media line where you posted things out in
public which the whole world could see.
I found Platform-X took a turn for the worst around the time
of November 8, 2016, when Donald Trump won his election race to become
president of the United States. That started the rise of the extreme right
holding the notion that, “If you aren’t with us, you’re against us.”
The extreme left has responded with similar rhetoric and
positioning. On Platform-X seemingly through anonymous accounts, that type of rhetoric
played out like promos you would see on WWE shows.
That type of positioning spread to discussion on all sorts
of subjects including the happenings in the sports world and entertainment
world. Platform-X was and still is the spot where all the bashing occurs.
For a lot of people, the endless toxicity has chased them
away from Platform-X.
For myself, I found the 2018-19 sports season where the
Prince Albert Raiders won the WHL championship was the last campaign where my
posts regarding the amateur sports world that I cover saw a lot of action on
Platform-X. When a post does get noticed now, it usually has idiots taking it on a
tangent that goes to a dark place that was not intended.
Unfortunately, more stupid will come sooner than later.
On Friday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre, the Saskatoon
Blades host the Red Deer Rebels in a WHL regular season contest, and the Blades
will be holding their “Pride Night” promotion for a third straight season. In
the building, that promotion is a healthy and warm celebration that honours
LGBTQ+ community that is well received by those in attendance.
The Blades use that night to spread a message that hockey is
for all. Unfortunately in the past two years on social media, the worst of
society has made the most horrible of comments on the team’s social media lines
in posts promoting their “Pride Night” game.
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| A Blades “Pride Night” post on Platform-X. |
The Blades came out with their first posts this week on
Tuesday leading to that promotion. I feared what I would find on Platform-X,
because it seemed like the worst comments came out there the past two seasons.
The comments on Platform-X and Facebook have been good so
far. I found numerous cringe comments on the Instagram post on Tuesday
afternoon.
Still, Platform-X is the place that constantly turns
discussions into a match in a UFC cage. The behavior of the baddies won’t
change on there.
Unfortunately, that means for a lot of people it is time to
kick that social media platform to the curve, and lots have done that. I wish I
could follow suit, but limiting my time on that platform as much as possible is
working for me.
Blades pair off to Canada’s world junior
selection camp
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| Tanner Molendyk will try and make Canada’s world junior team. |
Two members of the Saskatoon Blades will have a chance to
make their world junior dreams come true for Canada.
On Tuesday, Blades offensive-defenceman Tanner Molendyk and
centre Fraser Minten were named as two of the 30 players invited to the selection
camp for Canada’s world junior team. The selection camp runs from December 10
to 13 in Oakville, Ont.
The upcoming world juniors are slated for December 26 to January
5, 2024 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
In 23 games with the Blades this season, Molendyk, who has a
signed NHL entry-level contract with the Nashville Predators, has recorded four
goals, 23 assists and a plus-20 rating in the plus-minus department.
Minten, who was recently acquired in a trade with the
Kamloops Blazers, has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Toronto Maple
Leafs. He appeared in four NHL regular season games with the Leafs before being
returned to the WHL. In 11 combined games with the Blazers and Blades, Minten
had four goals and nine assists.
A total of nine players from the WHL were invited to the
selection camp for Canada’s world junior team. Brayden Yager, who is from the
Saskatoon area, was the only player with a hometown in Saskatchewan to be
invited to the selection camp.
In 25 games with the Warriors this season, Yager has
recorded 17 goals, 22 assists and plus-14 rating. Yager was selected in the
first round and 14th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL
Entry Draft held this past June.
Blazers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston will
serve as an assistant coach for Canada’s entry at this season’s world juniors.
Lethbridge Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt serves as the under-20 lead
for the Program of Excellence management group.
One player who was omitted from the selection camp for
Canada’s world junior team is WHL leading scorer Riley Heidt. Heidt, who is a
Prince George Cougars centre, has recorded 53 points coming off 14 goals and 39
assists to go with a plus-10 rating in the plus-minus department in 26 regular season
games.
The Saskatoon area product was selected in the second round
and 64th overall by the Minnesota Wild in last June’s NHL Entry
Draft.
Near named incoming WHL commissioner, other
notes
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| A WHL Instagram post welcoming Dan Near. |
Dan Near has been tabbed as the WHL’s next head person.
Last Thursday, the WHL announced that Near will be the
incoming commissioner of the circuit. The announcement was made by Ron Toigo,
who was the chair of the WHL Commissioner Search Committee and governor of the
Vancouver Giants on behalf of the WHL board of governors.
Near’s tenure in the WHL office will begin on January 1,
2024 as he transitions into the role of commissioner. He will officially take
over the full responsibilities as WHL commissioner on February 15, 2024.
At that point, current WHL commissioner Ron Robison will
transition to an advisory role providing support and guidance to Near.
The 43-year-old Near served as the global head of Adidas
Hockey and was responsible for leading Adidas’s entry into hockey managing
their global business since 2016. Prior to his time with Adidas, Near, who is a
product of Markham, Ont., spent 10 years with the NHL’s head office in New York
specializing in marketing, retail development and consumer product licensing
from 2006 to 2016.
Last June, Robison, who is an alumnus of the University of
Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey Team, announced the 2023-24 campaign would be
his last as commissioner of the WHL. He took over that role on September 15,
2000. The 68-year-old product of Indian Head, Sask., will depart as the longest
serving commissioner in the history of the WHL.
Before joining the WHL as commissioner, Robison spent about
19 years with Hockey Canada.
- On Tuesday, Gunner
Kinniburgh, who is a third-year defenceman with the University of
Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey Team, was named to the U Sports all-star
team that will face Canada’s world junior hopefuls in a pair of exhibition
games as part of Canada’s selection camp to pick its world junior team.
Kinniburgh has two goals, four assists and a plus-14 rating in 16 games
with the Huskies. The exhibition games between the U Sports all-stars and
Canada’s world junior hopefuls will be held December 12 and 13 in
Oakville, Ont. Former Saskatoon Blades members in defenceman Scott
Walford, who played for the McGill University Martlets, and forward Eric
Florchuk, who plays for the University of Alberta Golden Bears, will also
be members of the U Sports all-star squad.
- A total of three WHL squads
cracked into the latest CHL Top 10 Rankings, which were released on
Tuesday. The Prince George Cougars were rated second, the Saskatoon Blades
were ranked sixth and the Wenatchee Wild came in at eighth.
- It appears the odds of
18-year-old forward Zach Benson being returned to the NHL have decreased.
Benson has played in 16 games for the Buffalo Sabres collecting two goals
and five assists. Once he hit his 10th game played in the
regular season for the Sabres in the current campaign, the Sabres
committed to burning the first year of Benson’s three-year NHL entry-level
contract. The Sabres selected Benson in the first round and 13th
overall in last June’s NHL Entry Draft. Benson’s WHL rights belong to the
Wenatchee Wild.
- Saskatoon product and
19-year-old defenceman Kevin Korchinski has two goals and five assists
playing 24 games this season for the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks. The
Blackhawks selected Korchinski in the first round and seventh overall in
the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. Korchinski’s WHL rights belong to the Seattle
Thunderbirds, who won the WHL championship last season. Korchinski could
be returned to the WHL, but he will be owed the entirety of the first year
of his three-year NHL entry-level contract.
- The WHL’s trade deadline
is set for January 10, 2024.
- Christine Sinclair’s career with Canada’s National Women’s Soccer Team was the ultimate “smile because it happened” time. It was fitting Canada blanked Australia 1-0 in a friendly on Tuesday night in Vancouver in Sinclair's final game with the Canadian national team. Kudos to the management at B.C. Place to change the name of the venue to Christine Sinclair Place for the night of the game. She deserves all the tributes that come her way.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
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