Some times there’s so much going on that we just want to cover it all, so on these occasions we will offer up a little ‘Sports Potpourri” for your enjoyment.
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Sunday could not have gone any better for the B.C. Lions.
Hosting their first playoff game since 2016, the Leos defeated the Calgary Stampeders 30-16 to advance to the Western Final in Winnipeg this Sunday.
The attendance for the game was just over 31,000 and the buzz surrounding the organization is one that we haven’t seen in a while. After years of fans and sponsors disconnecting from the team, the arrival of owner Amar Doman and quarterback Nathan Rourke has sparked the team both on and off the field.
The good news is that Doman and his management team are just getting started.
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The Canucks woes continued on Saturday night when they blew a 3-0 first period lead and wound losing 4-3 to the Nashville Predators in a shootout.
As a result, the frustration with Canuck fans continues to mount and just about everyone has a plan on how to rebuild the team.
The one thing that I hear often is that Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes are untouchables when it comes to being traded. Don’t’ get me wrong – the pair are very talented – but I wouldn’t put them in the ‘untouchable’ category.
Both players are gifted offensively, but on a championship team they would be complimentary pieces and the last time I checked, complimentary pieces are not untouchable.
Hughes and Petterssson will compete defensively but they just don’t have the size and strength to win enough battles to be classified as the building blocks of a championship team.
As for the rest of the Canucks situation, it’s not a secret that the blue line corps is an issue and compounding matters is that the forwards aren’t strong enough in their own zone to compensate.
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The Seattle Seahawks continued their improbable run after knocking off the Arizona Cardinals 31-21 in Glendale this past Sunday to improve to 6-3 on the season.
It’s improbable in the sense that at the start of the year the Vegas bookies had the over/under on the Seahawks win total at 5 ½. It’s also improbable in that Geno Smith – a 31-year-old journeyman quarterback – is third in the league in passer rating ahead of names such as Brady, Mahomes, Burrows, Rodgers and the man he replaced in Russell Wilson.
For those who think that Smith and the Seahawks will stumble in the second half, you’d better think again. According to Tankathon.com, the Hawks have the league’s seventh easiest schedule remaining with their opponents having a combined winning percentage of .448.
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I was saddened to hear the passing of longtime Colorado Avalanche color analyst and former Canuck Peter McNab due to cancer at the age of 70.
Best known for his eight seasons as a Boston Bruin in the 1970’s, McNab was traded to Vancouver and played a couple of seasons here – including a 23-goal campaign in 1984-85 - before signing with New Jersey as free agent to end his career.
McNab was no stranger to Vancouver, having spent some time growing up in New Westminster while his dad Max was coaching the WHL’s Canucks from 1962 to 1965. In fact, as a kid attending John Robson Elementary in New Westminster, my buddies and I stumbled upon a trophy McNab had won during his time at Lord Kelvin Elementary. We’d always get a good chuckle over that whenever McNab was a guest on our show.
Rest In Peace Pete.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob “the Moj” Marjanovich writes twice weekly for Black Press Media. And check out his weekly podcast every Monday at Today in B.C. or your local Black Press Media website.
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