Pats clear logjam in goal

Prokop a Pat, Bosch a Warrior

Regina, Saskatchewan - The best rivalry in hockey just got a little more interesting today. The Regina Pats have resolved their goaltending situation by dealing 18 year-old goaltender Jeff Bosch to the Moose Jaw Warriors in exchange for 18 year-old centre Neal Prokop.

Prokop, a native of Winnipeg, was the Warriors first pick in the 2005 WHL Bantam draft (5th overall), and was at Columbus Blue Jackets training camp this past summer as a free agent. He is in his third full season in the WHL and is coming off a 2007-08 season where he posted a career best 13 goals.

"This has been a long difficult process that has gone on much longer than I could have imagined. All three of the kids have handled this in a very mature and professional manner and I thank them all very much for that", Pats General Manager Brent Parker explains. "Jeff is a tremendous young man and a talented goaltender and we wish him all the best, having said that we believe that we have received fair value in return. Neal is player that we coveted during his bantam draft year when he was taken 5th overall and we think his skill and vision will be a perfect fit for our style of play."

Neal Prokop will make his Regina Pats debut on Wednesday night at 7pm, as the top team in the Central Division, the Calgary Hitmen pay a visit to the 'Dome to meet the East Division's top team in the Pats.

Monday musings

• Can we now say the Michael Bishop experiment is finally over?
• The Riders were thoroughly manhandled on Saturday, but were also largely the architects of their own undoing.
• People calling for the heads of Ken Miller and/or Eric Tillman are stupid. There really is no way of sugar-coating that one.
• With an above average quarterback and a legitimate outside threat (sorry Adarius Bowman, it's not you), the Riders would be travelling to Calgary this week for the west final.
• Players who may have played their last game in Rider green: Michael Bishop, Darian Durant, Chris Szarka, Matt Dominguez, D.J. Flick, Scott Gordon.
• Positions requiring an upgrade in the offseason: quarterback, short-side receiver, defensive (boundary) end, defensive tackle and safety.
• Less than seven months to training camp!
• My mood brightened considerably upon returning home from Mosaic Stadium in time to watch the Leafs throttle the godless Habs.
  
• Hey, how about those Regina Pats?
• The Pats have moved into first place in the WHL's east division, and are playing up-tempo, exciting hockey. I'm looking forward to Friday night's game against Seattle.
• What sucks worse than getting up at 5 am to take your son to hockey, only to find out his team's goalie didn't show up for the game? Answer: not much!

Friday thoughts

Idle thoughts on a busy Friday:

• Oh my is Mosaic Stadium going to be loud tomorrow. At least it should be!
• If Michael Bishop repeats his playoff performance from last year, the Riders will be in for a very long afternoon.
• If Bishop plays like he did in the 2nd half of the regular season finale, it'll be the B.C. Lions having a long afternoon.
• Key players for the Riders: John Chick and Wes Cates.
• Young Jacob has a hockey game at 7 am on Sunday. Beautiful.
• The atom Cougars had a grand total of one (1!) representative at last night's RMF end-of-season shin-dig. Love that team spirit.
• The pie at the 4 Season's was excellent last night. Bring on the cheese!
  
• Pats vs Medicine Hat tonight. It'll be interesting to see how Derkatch's crew responds to a 4-1 home ice loss to Everett on Wednesday.
• What's with my Sirius radio cutting out every time I drive under a bridge? I thought satellite radio was better than that. Or is that just XM?
• Channel 103 on Sirius is some damn funny stuff.
• How am I surviving without listening to Regina radio? Just fine, thanks!
  

SportZone lineup for November 5

Here's the lineup of guests for this week's show, featuring a glitzy new set, and airing Wednesday at 6 p.m. and Thursday at 3 p.m. on Access channel 7:

SportZone Guests for Nov 5/08
Community Co-Host: Corey Matthews

1. (Athlete/team profile) A profile of the Regina Capitals junior B hockey club. Guests: Rob Dowie (Head Coach) & Tom Skelton (Goalie).

2. (Event segment) A preview of the 2008/09 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season. Guest: Laury Ryan (SJHL President).

3. (Regina Sport Spotlight) The Campbell Tartans celebrate a high school girls’ 3A soccer championship. Guests: Nikita Senko & Meagan Cormier (Players).

4. (U of R segment) A profile of the University of Regina women’s hockey team. Guests: Kelsey Graham & Gina Campbell (Players).

5. (Fitness/Lifestyle segment) A Regina company is offering bicycle tours through France next fall. Guest: Gerry Harris (Ghar Cycle Tours).

SportZone trivia: Who holds the career points scored (133) record for the University of Regina women's hockey team? Email your answers to: sportzone@accesscomm.ca. First correct response wins the much-coveted title of SportZone's smartest viewer for the week!

Crappy Tire strikes again!

Well, one thing you can say for Canadian Tire - at least their service is consistent. Consistently awful!

Today's misadventure started at the north Regina store, where I was in search of a transformer/controller for my Noma Moonrays outdoor lights. You know, the little black pagoda lights people place along walkways, paths, etc.

Well, the good folks at the north store didn't have any in stock. But a very helpful (must be a new employee) young man looked on his computer and found out that the south Regina store had four in stock.

To the south store I went, almost breathless with anticipation. I marched straight to customer service, and presented them with the product number. Sure enough, their computer also indicated they had four in stock.

Here's where it gets fun. Nobody on their top-notch staff could figure out where to find them! I had already looked in the minuscule section devoted to outdoor lighting, so I knew it wasn't there. After several minutes of searching, the store staff collectively shrugged their shoulders in the legendary Crappy Tire "oh well, what can you do?" style and said "Sorry, we don't know where they are".

And thus, the legacy of Crappy Tire continues...