Dog Pound

I’m sitting in my hotel room preparing for tomorrow’s game against the Alberta Golden Bears. Alberta comes into the game 1-2 but could just as easily be 3-0 as both of their losses were by a combined total of 4 points. In fact, they have a better +/- than the 2-0 Huskies who are just a +1. Alberta hasn’t beat Saskatchewan in 5 years however. The Dogs left Saskatoon at 8:00 this morning in 2 buses and got to Foote Field at 2:30 for the their 3:00 practice. They got on the field just as Alberta was finishing up their final preparations. Remember you can listen to the game on CK750 starting at 6:30 with the pre-game show. Here is today’s edition of the Dog Pound.

First Week Of SJHL Hockey In The Books

After the 1st week of hockey, the Laronge Ice Wolves (3-1) lead the Bauer Conference while the Notre Dame Hounds (3-0-0-1) lead the Sherwood. Who would of thought? The 2 teams that finished in the basement last season are this year’s best so far.

The Nipawin Hawks, Melfort Mustangs and Humboldt Broncos all played 3 games this past week. The Hawks are 1-1-1-0 after their 5-2 win over Yorkton on Tuesday. I spoke with coach Colin O’Hara yesterday on Hawkey Talk.

The Mustangs are expected to compete for 1st place this season but lost 2 of their first 3 games to start the season. I talked with coach Darrell Mann last Monday after his team’s split with the Flin Flon Bombers on the Mustang Report.

The Humboldt Broncos are 2-0-0-1 heading into this weekend’s action. People were startled when they lost in a shoot-out in Notre Dame to start the season (Broncos were 12-0 against them in the past 2 seasons) but they have won both of their games since. I spoke with coach Dean Brockman on Wednesday during our weekly Bronco Round Up.

We are covering the Mustangs games on the radio this weekend. The game on Friday is on CJVR (because we are carrying the Huskies football game on CK750) against the Weyburn Red Wings. Hockey will be back on CK750 Saturday when Melfort is in Estevan.

SJHL Regular Season Is Finally Upon Us

A lot of us have been waiting for this day and it is finally here. Hockey season is back. The empty arenas from the summer will no longer be vacant. Young and old can finally get together at their favorite rink to talk about what a crappy summer it was and what a terrific fall we’re having while cheering on the local team. All 12 teams are in action tomorrow (Friday). Our 3 teams are all at home to open their season. Flin Flon is at Melfort, La Ronge is at Nipawin and Notre Dame is in Humboldt. Melfort fans are excited as they are being touted as one of the teams to beat this year. Humboldt lost so many great players but their recruiting in the off-season was 2nd-to-none. Nipawin is a wild card. Colin O’Hara believes this team doesn’t have the individual talent of the departed Torrie Dyck and Brent Ottman but does believe he has a deeper team with all 4 lines contributing this season. The Mustangs have been beaten out of the playoffs 2 years in a row by Flin Flon so they have something to prove. Nipawin lost 5 of 6 games to the lowly La Ronge Ice Wolves last year so they have something to prove. The Humboldt Broncos however went 6-0 against the Hounds last season and are a perfect 12-0 against them over the past 2 years. They have also won the Credit Union Cup the last 3 years, the Anavet Cup the last 2 years and made it into the Royal Bank Cup final the past 2 years, winning 1 and losing 1. They have the least amount to prove. All 3 coaches are excited about the upcoming season and why not. They all have talent but they all have question marks. Here is what each of them said about the upcoming season when I talked to them this morning(Thursday). First here is Melfort’s Coach and Director of Hockey Operations Darrell Mann. Next up, this is what Nipawin’s Coach and GM Colin O’Hara had to say. And finally, Humboldt’s Coach and GM Dean Brockman. Let’s get lots of fans to the arena tomorrow and make some noise for our local team. The home opener only comes once a year. By the way, we will be broadcasting 2 games on Saturday. Nipawin at La Ronge will be broadcast on CK750 starting with the pre-game show at 7:15. Our new guy Fraser Rodgers will be doing that game. He replaces Kenny Trenton who left a couple weeks ago to do the play by play for the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the AJHL. I’ll be doing the Humboldt at Notre Dame game on Saturday on CJVR-FM. The Melfort Mustangs will get their 3 game southern road trip broadcast next week. Hopefully everyone is as excited as I am. See you at the rink.

Tomorrow’s Dog Pound

Here is the Dog Pound that will be featured after the 8:00 sports tomorrow. Also, I have finished uploading the rest of the audio highlights from Friday’s game under “Football Calls”.

Dog Pound – Sep. 9-09

Huskies Game 1

Not a bad way for the Green & White to start the season. It was the first overtime (shootout) game that I have been involved in. Blake Nill proved that he is a gutsy coach but as we know it didn’t work out for him. I have uploaded the pre-game interviews under the “Interviews” column and some of the audio clips from the game under “Football Calls”. There will be more. My recorder ran out with about 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter so I will be uploading more when I go the radio station next time. Hopefully the quality won’t be too bad from the logger tape which is where I will have to get them from. Anyway, Huskies are 1-0 and expect them to move into the 3rd spot (or higher) in the national rankings when they go out. I think our biggest concern right now is the running back situation where the top 4 running backs (Thomas, O’Gorman, Klause and Hassler) are all out. Next Friday’s game against the Rams will certainly be interesting. Regina is coming off a 28-10 win over Manitoba on Friday. 6:30 pre-game show, 7:00 kickoff on CK750 and www.ck750.com.

Latest Dog Pound Feature

This is the Dog Pound that will be heard after the 8:00 sports tomorrow (Friday) morning. Also, our engineer Bayne showed me how to record a cleaner sound for audio clips so I should have some under the “Football Calls” section after tomorrow’s game. I will also finally be inserting the pre-game interviews from last game in the interview section later today. Sorry, I haven’t had time to update the site much lately.

Dog Pound – Sep. 4-09