Good start to the weekend

I enjoyed last night's tilt between the U of R Rams and the UBC Thunderbirds at Mosaic Stadium. The Rams spotted the T-Birds a 21-3 lead, before roaring back to claim a 55-28 victory. Regina's Teale Orban is a fantastic quarterback. If his receivers could hang onto the ball, he would've passed for 500-600 yards last night. Despite a couple of drops, 2nd year receiver Jordan Sisco had a big night, scoring two receiving touchdowns, and another one on the ground. Sisco, in my opinion, is a slightly smaller - but faster - version of Jason Clermont. Seriously, the kid can play. The highlight of the night had to be Riders G.M. Eric Tillman taking a ride on the back of a Harley to celebrate the Rams final touchdown of the night. ET the Easy Rider! Whoops, that could be taken several ways :)

The Pats opened the WHL season with a 4-2 win in Prince Albert. However, import forward Kaspars Sauletis was lost for up to 3 months with a badly separated shoulder. That leaves the Pats braintrust with some tough decisions to make.

This afternoon, I'll pick up young Jacob and catch the Riders and B.C. Lions at Mosaic. Hopefully Austin's crew will snap out of their two-game tailspin in front of a sold-out stadium, and reclaim first place in the West.

Then tomorrow, it's off to the Brandt Centre in the afternoon for the Pats home opener. Anyone wanna rake some leaves for me? Regina is serving up a sports smorgasbord this weekend, and I just don't have the time!

Pats hand out letters

The Regina Pats have selected 4th year defenceman Logan Pyett as the team's captain for this season. The assistants will be defenceman Craig Schira, and forwards Brett Leffler and Kirt Hill. No huge surprises, although I thought 2nd year defenceman Colten Teubert might be in line for an "A". I suppose that'll have to wait until next year.

Pats trim roster

The Regina Pats dropped three players from the active roster today. Forward Dru Cotterill and goaltender Damien Ketlo have been assigned to midget AAA teams in Alberta and B.C. respectively. Import forward Marco Insam was released, meaning the Pats will go with veteran Kaspars Saulietis and newcomer Rudolph Cerveny in the two import slots. "Salty" will also claim one of the three overage roster spots the Pats are entitled to.

I got the feeling from talking to Head Coach Curtis Hunt on SportZone last night that a trade or two is in the works to address the team's lack of scoring punch. Since the blueline is an obvious source of depth, it wouldn't be a major shock to see a veteran defenceman dealt - but first the Pats have to make sure Logan Pyett and Nick Ross are returned to junior by the Detroit Red Wings and Phoenix Coyotes. Stay tuned!

SportZone lineup for September 17

Here's the lineup for this week's show, airing Wednesday at 6 p.m. and Thursday at 3 p.m. on Access channel 7:

SportZone Guests for September 17/07
Community Co-Host – Carlo Palazzo

1. A preview of the 2007/08 season for the Regina Pats. Guest: Curtis Hunt (Pats Head Coach).

2. The Sheldon-Williams Spartans look to defend their Regina High School 4A football championship. Guests: Kyle McFetridge (Spartans Head Coach), Ryan Wellman (QB) & Ben Heenan (OL).

3. The Riffel Royals have designs on the 4A city high school football championship as well. Guests: Shawn McCall (Royals Assistant Coach), Aaron Watson (QB) & Derek Pilon (DB).

4. A profile of the University of Regina cross-country team. Guests: Carla Nicholls (Head Coach), Scott Mitchell & Alicia Roske (Runners).

5. A preview of the 2007 Regina Sports Hall of Fame induction dinner. Guests: Marlene Hoffman (Hall President) & Doug Simon (2007 inductee).

6. An update on the Regina Thunder junior football club, gearing up to host the arch-rival Saskatoon Hilltops this weekend. Guests: Tyler Hogan (LB) & Steve Arens (DL).

Everything will be under review

That is the most significant quote to come out of Rider Head Coach Kent Austin's post-game address to the media, following a 44-22 loss in Calgary this afternoon. The Riders were (pick one):

1. Embarrassed
2. Crushed
3. Bombed
4. Flattened
5. All of the above

by the Calgary Stampeders, dropping Saskatchewan's record to 7-4. Once again, the Rider defence was unable to defend against the pass or stop the run. That doesn't leave many options, does it? Defensive back Jermaine Chatman was beaten more often than (insert predictable and probably inappropriate Michael Vick/dog joke here).

The offense was equally inept. Receiver D.J. Flick had a solid game. That concludes the list of offensive contributors, with the possible exception of tailback Wes Cates. I could go into excruciating detail about the blunders, miscues and generally awful performance of this team the past two games (and past five games for the defense), but I'll leave that to the coaching staff. As Austin said after the game - everything, and everyone, is under review after a performance like that. I think we can expect personnel (and probably tactical) changes this week. At least I certainly hope so! The fans have done their part by selling out the stadium for next weekend's game against B.C. It'd be darn handy if the team were to show up as well.