The Virden Oil Caps are finally finished with their exhibition games and will now start off their regular season a week from tonight when they entertain last season's champions, the Portage Terriers, at Tundra Oil & Gas Place. Coach Troy Leslie and his staff have hopefully assembled a strong cast of players, young and old alike, mixed in some experience along with plenty of enthusiasm, grit and obviously talent, and voila, you end up with a hungry, successful MJHL franchise.
Team Canada plays Team Czech Republic tomorrow in its first game of the World Cup of Hockey 2016. Judging from the pre-tournament, Team North America (the best 23 and under players from the NHL) may be the team to lookout for as they seem fear no one right now.
Oh my, how good it must feel be to be an Edmonton Oilers' fan right about now! You have the next Great One or even the next Sydney Crosby (Connor McDavid) ready to explode onto the NHL main stage; you have a whole bevy of young first round draft picks with NHL experience under their belts, finally ready to put it all together and now you throw in the newest, most elegant stadium known to mankind to house it all. Life is good! It's all set up for the Oilers to begin a new run to the top of the podium, but it will be a lot harder than what most people expect, and Oilers' fans patience is wearing pretty thin these days. Good luck!
Hockey's last great dynasty (early '80s with Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Lowe and Fuhr) finally has a new home as Rogers Place takes over from Rexall Place and what a magnificent stadium it is. It should be noted here that this new "ice district" is also supposed to revitalize the downtown area. It only cost $614 million to build (compared to Winnipeg's $133 million), holds 18,641 people, and you could own a season ticket for only $2,600 in the nosebleed section or shell out $16,000 for a seat at ice level. You don't even want to know what the private boxes go for, but either way, you're helping the province, city and team pay off its colossal debt. Let's hope the Oilers can put it all together and end their 10-year playoff drought, the NHL record is 11.
The NFL season is now under way and the biggest surprise on opening day actually turned out to be no surprise at all. The New England Patriots, without six regulars in the lineup, including Pro Bowlers Tom Brady (suspended four games) and Rob Grankowski, defied the odds, and all the so called soothsayers, and beat the favoured Arizona Cardinals right in the desert. Without Brady behind center, it was supposed to be all doom and gloom until he got back, but it only goes to show how deep the talent pool is. What happens if the new QB (Garapollo) goes 4-0?
The VCI Golden Bears football team got off to a great start in their season opener when they disposed of the Parkwest Outlaws in the annual Tundra Bowl played at Shoal Lake. Coaches Mark Wakely and Doug Roach, as well as the players, have put in a lot of time and effort to get ready and will now host their first home game today when the Neepawa Tigers pay them a visit.
Big news out of Bomberville is the trading of QB Drew Willy to Toronto and then re-acquiring QB Kevin Glenn from Montreal to back up their newest miracle worker, Matt Nicholls, who has gone 6-0 since taking over from an injured Willy. Ironically, the CFL's hottest team will now take on those Argonauts tomorrow afternoon in Winnipeg…but don't expect Willy to start.
Someone please tell me why ex-NFL QB Tim Tebow is still making headlines? The former 2007 Heisman trophy winner can't catch on with a NFL team, so the NY Mets are giving him a tryout - he hasn't played ball in 12 years. He's big, strong and fast, but at 29 years old, I don't think so!
Until next time…
