Not all backburner items done in pandemic times

A Roughriders scoreboard clock that has never been used.

Maybe my Saskatchewan Roughriders scoreboard clock needs to be more out of sight out of mind.

Every time I open my closet, I look up to the top shelf, and it just seems to stare down at me. The scoreboard clock was a Christmas gift I received around 2010, when I was still living in Medicine Hat, Alta, working as a sports reporter for the Medicine Hat News.

Back at my old home in Medicine Hat, it sat in its box in my closet unused. I always vowed I was going to hang it up somewhere, but that never seemed to happen with my busy schedule in “the Gas City.”

In the summer of 2014, I moved to Saskatoon to be closer to family. That scoreboard clock has sat on the top shelf of my bedroom closet of my Saskatoon home since that time.

I actually don’t have a place in Saskatoon to hang it. As a result, my plans for the scoreboard clock changed.

One day, I was going to take the time to actually plug it in to see if it still worked. If it still worked, I was going to put it for sale on Facebook Marketplace or eBay.

I figured it would be worth $20 to someone.

Before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit, I was visiting a sports memorabilia store at Market Mall in Saskatoon. I was talking with the store owner, when he answered a phone call.

The phone call was a quick one, where the store owner told the person on the other end of the line he didn’t have what that person was looking for. After hanging up the phone, the store owner told me the caller was looking for a Saskatchewan Roughriders scoreboard clock.

My old basement fun room in Regina back in 2000.

If the store owner took that person’s name and number, I could have sold that person the one I had.

When the restrictions for the COVID-19 pandemic started to increase in intensity in March of 2020, I made a list of things I wanted to do in my head as my schedule got lighter.

The list in my head including a number of backburner projects along with revisiting some old fun pastimes I haven’t engaged in for years.

I have been able to tackle some backburner projects and revisit some old fun pastimes.

With that said, I have been able to keep busy during the COVID-19 pandemic with my work as the communications coordinator with the Gordie Howe Sports Complex and writing stories and columns for this blog.

Sports related freelance reporting opportunities still pops up here and there too.

Before the pandemic hit, I would say I was at a state where I was life-consumed busy.

These days, I am comfortably busy, which does allow me to have free time.

Even with the free time, I haven’t had a chance to tackle all the backburner projects or old fun pastimes.

One backburner project is dealing with the Roughriders scoreboard clock. Actually looking in my basement, I have a whole bunch of old sports collectables I really should clear out.

Some of the collectables are old posters and pictures that used to line the walls of my basement fun room, when I lived in Regina and went to school at the University of Regina.

Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby in collectable form.

One of the posters is like a wall sized one of Joe Montana from the 1980s, when he played for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ERS. That hasn’t seen the light of day in two decades.

Other collectables I need to find a new home for include an extra Mario Lemieux bobblehead doll from when Canada’s men’s hockey team won gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics, an extra McFarlane figure of Sidney Crosby celebrating his golden goal for Canada’s men’s hockey team at the 2010 Winter Olympics and extra Roughriders gear from their Grey Cup wins in 2007 and 2013 as CFL champions.

I have a handful of old toys I should try and clear out too.

Of course, the Transformers I have from the 1980s stay.

I should make time and set up posts for one or two items just to get started.

When the pandemic ends, it is possible some of those items could be donated to be used as silent auction items for sports fundraisers.

If I had to, I know of stores in Saskatoon that could resell those collectables. The worry is always there about dealing with a move all of a sudden, which would mean selling those items off at 10-cents on the dollar.

I understand business. Those stores have to cover overhead somewhere. Best part is they are run by good people.

On the fun pastime side, I still haven’t fired up the old Sega Genesis to play NHL 94. I even have the adapter to allow four players to play the game at once, when the Public Health Orders change to allow friends to gather inside homes again.

An NHL 94 cartridge.

I actually have two cartridges for NHL 94, because I fried the memory on my original due to playing it so much back in the day.

Of course, Teemu Selanne is in that game and his attributes were based fresh of his NHL record 76-goal rookie season with the Winnipeg Jets. Of course, I would use the Jets.

When I want to beat friends, I would usually use the Montreal Canadiens. While that game was made fresh off the Canadiens winning the 1993 Stanley Cup, they weren’t the most talented team in the game outside of the fact Patrick Roy was a cheat code in goal.

I did get really good with using the Canadiens and being able to set up one-times with every line on that team. When I played against friends, I usually won when I used the Canadiens.

As the pandemic goes on, who knows if I will revisit these items. If I had already revisited these items, it would have meant my work front was really dead.

In the grand scheme of things for me, it is good to be comfortable busy.

Shortened WHL season to show off players, other notes

Chase Wouters has been a career member of the Blades.

It appears a shortened 2020-21 WHL campaign might just be a showcase event for the players.

Late Friday night, the WHL announced that the circuit’s board of governors has made a commitment to play a 2020-21 WHL regular season. The start date for the 2020-21 regular season has been pushed back a number of times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Currently, a start date for the 2020-21 WHL campaign hasn’t been made due to current restrictions the four provinces in Canada and two states in United States have in place to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2020-21 WHL regular season will consist of 24 games for each team. Competition will be limited regionally inside each of the circuit’s four divisions.

Starting on Monday, various executives in the WHL have been making the rounds on the media circuit to talk about the potential 2020-21 campaign.

Pat McKay of CTV Saskatoon talked with Saskatoon Blades general manager Colin Priestner for a story that appeared on Monday on CTV’s web platform.

Priestner said there won’t be any fans in the stands. Following the regular season, Priestner said there could be a divisional playoff, but he couldn’t see a post-season that would see the Ed Chynoweth Cup handed out to a league champion.

The Blades GM added nothing has been decided on the post-season front and noted there are a lot of other variables that still need to be worked out including protocols, safety, insurance, logistics, roster sizes and what happens if things get shut down after starting up.

Gregg Drinnan put out a couple of media round up pieces on his Taking Note blog regarding the developments around the WHL at the start of this week. On Tuesday, Drinnan came across a report from Travis Lowe of CHBC-TV in Kelowna, B.C.

Lowe had interviewed Bruce Hamilton, who is the general manager and owner of the Kelowna Rockets and the chairman of the WHL’s board of governors. Hamilton said the new season probably wouldn’t get started until the end of February or early March.

Drinnan also wrote he heard from a source the Prince George Cougars could play the season out of Kamloops, while the Victoria Royals could play their campaign out of Kelowna. The league is looking at cutting down on travel in B.C.

Cole Sillinger in action for the Tigers in 2020.

There were also a couple of other developments.

On Tuesday, the Lethbridge Hurricanes sent out a release saying they will be issuing full refunds to everyone who purchased season tickets for the 2020-21 campaign.

On Wednesday, the Medicine Hat Tigers announced they were releasing their star NHL Entry Draft eligible 17-year-old centre Cole Sillinger to the Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL. Sillinger is slated to return to Medicine Hat the conclusion of the 2020-21 campaign.

Last season, Sillinger had 22 goals, 31 assists and a plus-19 rating in the plus-minus department in 48 regular season games with the Tigers.

“Each situation is unique and with Cole having dual citizenship, it was felt that this option would give him the best ability to showcase his talent for the upcoming NHL Draft,” said Tigers general manager and head coach Willie Desjardins in a release.

If the WHL does pull off a 2020-21 season, it will basically allow players to put their talents on display for NHL clubs or put together film for other professional opportunities or to show off for U Sports teams.

It would also allow players like Blades 20-year-old captain Chase Wouters to give the circuit and his team a farewell. Wouters has been with the Blades for his entire WHL career becoming a full-time member of the club as a 16-year-old.

At this point in these pandemic times, the WHL is trying to salvage something for the 2020-21 campaign.

• Drinnan had two great round-up pieces regarding the developments in the WHL on Taking Note. His post from Monday can be found by clicking right here, and his post from Tuesday can be found by clicking right here.
• On Monday, the Red Deer Rebels announced Cam Moon, who has been the team’s play-by-play voice since 1998, has joined the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers as their radio announcer for the 2020-21 campaign. Moon’s first game will be Thursday, when the Oilers host the Vancouver Canucks for a second straight night. Moon called the Rebels 2001 Memorial Cup title win, and he held the role as the team’s director of broadcasts and media. Greg Meachem wrote a farewell piece on Moon for the Red Deer Rebels website, which can be found right here.
• On Monday, Skate Canada cancelled its 2021 National Skating Championships and Skate Canada Cup due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Skating Championships were slated to run Feb. 8-14 in Vancouver, B.C. The Skate Canada Cup was planned to be a virtual event in replacement of pre-novice and novice competitions at the 2021 Skate Canada Challenge.
• On Monday, defenceman Jay Bouwmeester announced his retirement from playing hockey in an interview he gave Pierre LeBrun of the Athletic. The 37-year-old Edmonton, Alta., product played 17 seasons in the NHL from 2002 to 2020 for the Florida Panthers, Calgary Flames and St. Louis Blues. He appeared in 1,240 regular season games collecting 88 goals and 336 assists for 424 points. Bouwmeester was a member of the Blues Stanley Cup winning team in 2019. Before joining the WHL, Bouwmeester starred for the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers from 1998 to 2002 appearing in 194 regular season games posting 40 goals and 111 assists for 151 points. Nearly a year ago, Bouwmeester collapsed on the Blues bench during a game due to a cardiac episode. He had surgery to install a defibrillator to restore his heart’s normal rhythm.
• I went live with a couple of posts for the Howe Happenings blog, which promotes the Gordie Howe Sports Complex, on Saturday. I wrote a post about the Saskatoon Short Mat Club moving to the facility, and that piece can be found by clicking right here. I included a piece on the Going Yard Training Centre, and it can be found by clicking right here.

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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