Hard Knocks 24 Press Conference Recap

To help build some hype for Hard Knocks 24, Hard Knocks Fighting held a press conference outside of Excessive Sports at Spectra Place last night. Hard Knocks CEO Ari Taub, UFC Jesse Bongfeldt, Heavyweight title Fighters Derek Daku and Devon Smith and the junior fighters Christian Crowthers and Roark Franke all attended the press conference.

Taub opened the press conference with an opening statement which included the announcement that tomorrow's fights will be a memorial to the Rig Pig tragedy that occurred in March. Taub also announced that they will be doing more fundraising for the local gym in Estevan once again. He thanked Estevan for their support for Hard Knocks. 

The rules for the junior fight was explained again, there won't be any head shots of any kind. The fighters will compete in three 2 minute rounds.

After Taub spoke, UFC fighter Jesse Bongfeldt also spoke at the press conference. That was followed by a Q and A with the local press and the fighters.

I had the chance to speak with Bongfeldt, Daku, Smith and both Crowthers and Franke. (Crowthers answers each question first.) after the press conference.

Jesse Bongfeldt

Daku



Smith


Crowthers and Franke

Bruins Sign Two More

The Estevan Bruins continue with their recruiting efforts yesterday as they locked up a pair of more prospects to cards. Here's the release from the club.

The Estevan Bruins have signed a total of 9 players for the 2012-2013 Season.
 
Yesterday, the Bruins Head Coach signed Dayton Picard from Stoughton, Saskatchewan, and Sean Whelan from Moose Jaw, Sasaktchewan.

Whelan, a 6’1 D-man who played 3 seasons with the Moose Jaw Generals, is expected to be a huge impact player for the Bruins.
 
Picard played 3 seasons with the Moose Jaw Generals Midget AAA team, wearing a letter, this player is sure to bring strong leadership skills and character both on and off the ice for the Bruins. Standing at 6’ and 170lbs, Picard will be a huge addition as a counterman for the Bruins.

Bruins Sign First Group of Prospects

The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins have begun to prepare assembling the roster for the upcoming season. The team have signed seven prospects to playing cards and more are expected to sign very shortly.

A couple of local players highlight the prospects group in Dylan Johner and Wyatt Garagan. Johner played this past season with the AAA Midget Moose Jaw Generals and had 14 goals and 10 assists in 44 games this past season. He added 1 goal and 5 assists in 9 playoff games. Johner also played one game for the Bruins this past season and had 1 goal and 1 assist. Garagan had 19 goals and 17 assists in 40 games with the AAA Midget Tisdale Trojans. He also finished tied with the team lead in playoff points with 4 goals and 1 assist. Garagan also played one game with the Bruins this season.

The Bruins also locked up a pair of their prospects from the Regina Pat Canadians. The team signed Brandon Halbgewachs, the Emerald Park native had 6 goals and 21 assists in 44 games this year. Halbgewachs also played two games with the Bruins during the season and appeared in 5 playoff games. The team also signed goalie Travis Pelletier. He had a 10-10-3 record with 2.83 GAA and a 903 SV % this year.

From the Manitoba AAA Midget league, the team signed forward Ben Williams who played with Southwest Cougars last year. Williams had 11 goals and 21 assists in 44 games. He added 1 goal and 4 assists in the post season.  Also from the Southwest Cougars the team signed defenceman David Robertson. Robertson had 9 goals and 14 assists in 44 games and added 2 goals and 2 assists  in the postseason.

The Bruins also signed Calgary defenceman Brett Dumaine who spent last season with the Calgary Royals.

The Bruins are expecting to add some more names to playing cards in the coming days.  Some of the prospects who have yet to be signed are expected to play a big role for the team like Jordan Greig and Hudson Morrison.

Bruins Head Coach and GM Keith Cassidy says when comparing the Bruins 1994 rookie class to the 1993 rookie class, the 94's will probably have some more size and grit. He believes that this class has the potential to be as good as a solid 1993 class for the Bruins.

Two Cent Tuesday

You know what they always say about long weekends... they're too short. But it's back to work for me after an extra day off yesterday.

-- The Estevan Bruins Sportsman's Dinner was a huge success. The dinner was able to raise over $65,000 for the hockey club. What the Bruins decide to use with that money remains to be seen, but hats off to everyone who helped make the dinner the success it was.

-- All of the speakers on Friday were great. Marty McSorley had some great stories to tell from his playing days. "Jungle" Jim Jerome provided a lot of humor with the ineraction with McSorley. Along with the stories, McSorley provided some of his thoughts on the current state of the game. One thing he mentioned was that he didn't believe the Oilers would select Nail Yakupov with the first overall pick with the draft. He really believes that they will trade down and select a defenceman. I personally think Toronto will do everything in their power to be that team who makes the deal with the Oilers.

-- Scott Schultz was great and everyone inside of Spectra Place laughing with a his jokes. Schultz is a life long Rider fan (along with obviously being a former player with the Riders) and I really enjoy listening to him talking about his experiences of watching guys like Bobby Jurasin, Jerald Baylis and Gary Lewis when he was growing up. I've been to over a 100 Rider games and no doubt Schultz's hit on Spergon Wynn is one my top ten list of greatest Rider moments.

-- Morris Lukowich maybe didn't have the attention as the other speakers, but it was interesting to hear about his old stories about the Winnipeg Jets and playing alongside some legends like Gordie Howe.

-- Of course Rod Pedersen did a great job as MC and I'm looking forward to listening him doing the play by play with the Saskatchewan Roughriders this season. 

-- Even though I heard the weather wasn't great, I'm glad the Estevan Bruins Alumni managed to get the Par 3 tournament in on Saturday at Woodlawn Golf Course. The golf tournament is the biggest fundraiser for the Estevan Bruins Alumni.

-- Speaking of the Bruins, I'll have more on their signings for next season later tonight on the blog as we can start talking about next season.

-- After the Bruins dinner, I made the long drive from Estevan to Candle Lake and it was worth it. The weather was beautiful, especially Sunday morning as it was nothing but blue skies, plenty of sunshine and no wind, the perfect golfing weather. (Unfortunately my golf game wasn't close to perfect)

-- The Stanley Cup Finals kick off tomorrow with the Kings and Devils in a final I'm sure no one predicted. Since I haven't picked against the Kings yet this playoffs, I'm going to keep that trend going and pick the Kings to win the final in 6. My pick for the Conn Smythe will be Dustin Brown, I think he will have a big series to help him win the playoff MVP.

-- Last weekend I mentioned some of the players that the  Blue Jays were interested in free agency like Yu Darvish or Prince Fielder would help the Blue Jays in a big way. One more player I would like to add to that list is Gio Gonzalez, he's one of the reasons why the Washington Nationals are in first place right now, and he would have a spot in the top end of the Jays rotation.

-- Maybe next week I'll offer some thoughts on UFC 146. I didn't get a chance to watch the PPV this weekend and I'm hoping I get a chance within the next two days to watch it. Judging by the results, there were no really big surprises.

 -- With Hard Knocks 24 set for Friday, there will be a press conference tomorrow night in front of Excessive Sports in Spectra Place at 6:00. The public is welcomed to attend. There will be some coverage on the blog tomorrow night.

-- ECS Elecs Football team is holding their spring camp, I'll have more on that at the end of the week.

-- In one month from now the Roughriders open the season against the Hamilton Ti-Cats. I'm looking forward to a very busy month of training camp to see who will be on the team in Week 1.

-- I'll have more thoughts next week, but I want to say congratulations to my broadcast colleague Craig Stein on a successful career in radio. Stein has decided to step down as the voice of the Yorkton Terriers and Melville Millionaires of the SJHL and Swan Valley and Waywaysseecappo of the MJHL. I would recommend you check out his latest blog posting about his radio career. And yes I still remember it like yesterday when he forgot his luggage on our first road trip together in Battlefords. But like I said, next week I'll have more of my thoughts about Craig and how he played a big role in my broadcasting career.

That's it for me today.

Bruins Sportsman Dinner A Big Hit. Audio with Scott Schultz and Rod Pedersen

It was a real fun night at Spectra Place for the Estevan Bruins Sportman's Dinner. The auctions alone were able to raise over $40,000 for the hockey organization.  The speakers  were Marty McSorley, Scott Schultz and Morris Lukowich, with Rod Pedersen as MC and "Jungle" Jim Jerome helped introduce McSorley. They all did a great job of entertaining everyone throughout the evening.

I'll have more thoughts about the evening on Tuesday after I return from a brief holiday. (I'm sure Rod will have more on his blog on Monday)

I just want to thank Pedersen and Schultz for letting me join them for Sportscage in the afternoon and also a thank you to Prairie Mud Services for giving me a great seat in the house.

Here's a couple of interviews I did with Schultz and Pedersen. I spoke to Schultz before the dinner and Pedersen after the dinner.

Pedersen


Schultz 


Here's a few pictures from the evening as well.

Volunteer Coach of the Year Steve McLellan, Female Athlete of the Year  Shelby Hall and Male Athlete of the Year Kolby Fleury

Morris Lukowich

Scott Schultz

Rod Pedersen

Marty McSorley

"Jungle" Jim Jerome

McSorley giving the crowd an Al Iafrate story

A couple of Estevan Bruins from last season (Eric Baldwin to the left Matthew Dochylo to the right)

Q and A with Matthew Dochylo

Yesterday it became official yesterday that Matthew Dochylo would be heading off to SAIT in the fall.

And as promised here's my interview with the former Bruin.

Q an A with Marty McSorley

It's going to be a fun time tomorrow night at Spectra Place with the return of the Estevan Bruins Sportman's Dinner.

The speakers include former Saskatchewan Roughrider Scott Schultz and former NHL and WHA star Morris Lukowich. Rod Pedersen, the voice of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the host of Saskatchewan's number one sports talk show "The Sports Cage" will be the MC.

But the keynote speaker will be former NHLer and current analyst for Sportsnet, Marty McSorley. I had the chance to speak with McSorley this morning.

Dochylo Heading to SAIT

Former Estevan Bruins Forward Matthew Docyhlo will be playing hockey next season with the SAIT Trojans of the ACAC.

Dochylo was acquired by the Bruins in October of 2010 and would go on to post 9 goals and 6 assists in 48 games during the 2010-11 season.

This past season Dochylo was an assistant with the Bruins and would end up with 10 goals and 16 assists in 55 games. Dochylo missed sometime in the postseason with a neck injury but had 1 goal and 1 assist. He enjoyed a lot of success in the second half of the season when he was put together on a line with Josh Jelinski and Tyler Paslawski. Dochylo scored the final goal of the season in the loss against Weyburn.

The native of Chrisptopher Lake displayed a tireless work ethic in his time with the Bruins. He was one of the most popular players in the community.

Dochylo will be studying Respiratory Therapy while attending SAIT.

I'll have an interview with Dochylo on the blog, likely tomorrow.

Q an A with Derek Daku

We are now just over a week away until Hard Knocks 24 at Spectra Place.

The highly anticipated main event will see Derek Daku square off with Devon Smith for the Heavyweight title.

Last week I had a chance to speak with Daku as he begins his final preparations for the title fight.

Ross and Yano Selected in USHL Draft

A pair of Estevan Bruin players were selected in the USHL Draft today.

Goaltender Tyler Ross was selected in the 15th round (212th overall) by Muskegon Lumberjacks. Ross was a mid season acquisition for the Bruins this year. He went 6-6 with 2.94 GAA and a Save % of 908. Ross started last season with the Michigan Warriors of the NAHL before joining the Bruins. Ross is originally from Warren, Michigan.

Defenceman Austin Yano was selected in the 18th round (268th overall) by the Lincoln Stars. Yano had 9 goals and 18 assists for the Bruins in his rookie campaign. He added 3 assists in the postseason.

The only other SJHL player selected in the draft was Russell Trudeau of the Melville Millionaires.

Two Cent Tuesday

-- I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend. Besides Friday night, the weather was actually decent for the most part in Estevan, but it seems like we'll be seeing a lot of rain over the next week.

-- It's a very busy weekend for the Estevan Bruins. On Friday it's the return of the Sportman's Dinner with Marty McSorley, Scott Schultz, Morris Lukowich and MC Rod Pedersen. Saturday it will be the Alumni Golf Tournament. I'll have more about the dinner on Friday night.

-- It's nice to see Andrew Johnston of the Humboldt Broncos sign an entry level contract with the Philadelphia Flyers. Hopefully in the future we'll see more SJHL players sign more contracts along with college scholarships.

-- I want to congratulate former Bronco Assistant Coach Tim Klimosko on a successful 7 year run with Humboldt. I've known Tim well before he was with the Broncos and he was always one of my favorite coaches to talk to in the league.

-- Many people have been unhappy with the Conference Finals in the NHL. Even though it hasn't been the greatest hockey I have been watching every game. I believe the Rangers-Devils will pick up after what went down in Game 4 with the on ice antics. I thought heading into the series that it would pick up for the last three games of the series.

-- I agree with anyone who says the LA Kings are the best 8th seeded team ever in the NHL playoffs. There's so much talent on this team there's no way they should've finished 8th to begin. The question that should be asked now Was it Terry Murray's fault that they nearly missed the playoffs.

-- The Memorial Cup has been a treat to watch so far. All four teams have been so even and it will be interesting who will emerge victorious on Sunday. 

-- I can't wait til the Memorial Cup is in Saskatoon next year. I'm hoping to catch a game or two.

-- Stefan Seipp and Chris Strongeagle represented the ECS Elecs at the Senior Bowl game on Monday. Both players started for Team South and played in the first and second quarter. Seipp is heading to the Regina Thunder in the fall and Strongeagle is heading to the University of Regina Rams. Seipp played Defensive End and Strongeagle played Defensive Tackle. 

-- My interest in MLB is starting to increase with the Blue Jays approaching the 50 game mark. All season I keep thinking the Blue Jays are one player away from being a serious World Series contender. Why didn't the Blue Jays go after Prince Fielder again? Especially after putting Adam Lind on waivers. I'm sure Vladimir Guerreo will be on the roster before long, and while I'm sure he'll be a productive player for the Jays, I'm not he's going to be the difference maker that the Jays need. 

-- There will be plenty of more MMA content on the blog over the next 10 days as we head into Hard Knocks 24 on June 1. Starting tomorrow morning I'll have an interview with Derek Daku on the blog tomorrow.

-- Have a good day everyone.

MMA is Booming in Estevan

Mixed Martial Arts is the fastest growing sport in the world and it's becoming quite popular here in Estevan. Ever since Hard Knocks Fighting ran their first card in Estevan in the fall, the Estevan Combat Sport Gym has been a very busy place.

Club Owner Josh Heinz says that there were about six or seven guys who regularly attended the gym before the arrival of Hard Knocks in Estevan. He said since that time there is about 15 people who attend each class. The club offers classes like Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu, MMA classes along with kids and female classes. Heinz added there are some people who attend a class with no desire to step inside the cage.

Heinz said the kids classes have seen the biggest increase since last fall. He says those classes are a little bit different than the regular classes. He says they try and make the class like a game to keep the students interested. He adds the female classes have also seen a big spike in attendence.

There will be a little bit of history made on June 1 at Hard Knocks 24 in Estevan. For the first time in Saskatchewan there will be a junior fight featuring Roark Franke of Estevan and Christian Crowthers of Regina. Heinz believes the junior fight is a great thing for the sport and for Estevan. He believes with Franke being a local kid, that more and more kids from the Estevan Comprehensive School will follow in his footsteps and start attending the gym and train to become a MMA fighter.

There will be seven fighters from the Estevan Combat Sport club at the upcoming Hard Knocks card. Heinz himself will be fighting as he'll be squaring off with former Estevan Bruins player Lee Ruff.

Locker Talk with Derek Daku

This week on Locker Talk Hard Knocks Fighting Derek Daku joins me and Phil Zajac.  Last time Daku appeared on Locker Talk he expressed his desire to fight for the Heavyweight title in Estevan. Since that time the fight became official as Daku will meet Smith on June 1 at Spectra Place.

We talk about Daku's training leading up the fight with Smith and his thoughts about the Heavyweight title. We also discuss the first ever Junior fight in Saskatchewan featuring a 12 and 14 fighter.

Locker Talk can be seen at 6:30 tonight. Saturday afternoon at 12:00 and Sunday evening on Access 7. This episode will be running for the next three weeks leading up to the title fight.

Q and A with Hard Knocks Fighting Devon Smith

Devon Smith Photo Courtesy HardKnocksfighting.com

On Friday, June 1 the Hard Knocks Fighting Heavyweight Championship will be up for grabs when Estevan's Derek Daku will be fighting against Devon Smith in the main event of Hard Knocks Fighting 24.

Smith hasn't been the most popular fighter in Estevan after defeating a pair of local fighters on the first two cards. He defeated Wade Baldwin in 8 seconds at Hard Knocks 16 and then he knocked out Felix Jimenez in 1:17 at Hard Knocks 21.

I had a chance to speak with Smith earlier today about his upcoming Heavyweight Title fight against Daku on Friday June 1.

Two Cent Tuesday

Summer has officially begun for the Junior A Hockey after the RBC Cup wrapped up on Sunday in Humboldt. On Sunday I was thinking back to the opening night for the Bruins when they opened up Spectra Place and how much has happened during the season. While I'm looking forward to another hockey season, I'm looking forward to spending some summer holidays first.

Congrats to the Humboldt Broncos and the community of Humboldt for their job of hosting the RBC Cup.

The next big dates in the SJHL calender will be the signing of prospects to cards beginning on June 1 and the SJHL scheduling meetings in early June. Estevan will be hosting the Hall of Fame game sometime in the early part of the season.

A few of the Estevan Bruins got started with their offseason training a couple of weeks ago as they attended a camp in Boston. Dylan Smith, Calder Neufeld, Austin Yano, Tanner Froese and Tyler Kauk took part from the Bruins. I haven't talked to any of the players yet but I talked to some Bruins personnel and they said it was very successful trip. I'll have to ask those guys if they spent any time on the golf course and if they did I'll ask them if they seen Red Sox Pitcher Josh Beckett on the golf course.

Speaking of Dylan Smith, I saw him and the rest of the Tarpon Energy Big Dogs win their Lacrosse opener on Saturday 9-8 in a very entertaining game against the Yorkton Bulldogs. The Big Dogs don't have another home game until June and hopefully they will be able to play some games in Spectra Place this season. I know the Big Dogs are hoping to host the All-Star Game and the league playoffs at Spectra Place in the future but first they need to host some regular season games.

This is a year I really should've went into a lot more playoff drafts since I predicted the Rangers and Kings would make the final four. Plus how many people really thought the Devils and Coyotes would be in the Conference Finals.  My predictions this round is Rangers in 7 and the Kings in 6.The biggest reason why I thought the Rangers would do well this playoffs because Henrik Lundquist would be the best player in this year's playoff. I'm not sure he's number one but he's in a discussion with Dustin Brown and Mike Smith.

I'm enjoying the Roughriders signing all these players who were high NFL picks in recent years.I'm starting to think I can make a roster of current Roughrider players on one of my old Madden games. Guys like Dwayne Jarrett and Sinorice Moss were highly touted prospects once upon a time and hopefully a successful trip through Saskatchewan will lead them back to the NFL.

There's still room to register for the Scott Schultz Football Camp on June 2&3. There is an unique opportunity for the football players in Estevan and a strong turnout could lead to more camps in Estevan.

I finally recovered my sore throat and will be joined with Hard Knock's Derek Daku and Phil Zajac on this week's edition of Locker Talk.

Why does it seem like it always rain at least for at least one day on the May long weekend?

Even if it rains, I hope you enjoy your long weekend.

Junior A Hockey Season Over

Penticton celebrates RBC Cup Win Photo Courtesy Dylan Lynch/Hockey Canada

The quest for the RBC Cup started about 9 months ago with over 130 teams across the country looking at a shot to become a National Champion.

The long season ended yesterday at the Elgar Petersen Arena with the Penticton Vee's defeating the Woodstock Slammers 4-3 to claim the league final.

The game was tied 3-3 in the final minute of regulation before Joey Benik completed a perfect give and go pass to score the game winning goal of the tournament. The Vee's were on the powerplay when the goal was scored. 

The Vee's lead 2-0 before Woodstock stormed back to take a 3-2 lead in the third before a Penticton comeback.

Now the hockey season is finally over, we can enjoy the summer and start the process all over again in September.

Cooper and Terriers Defeated by Penticton

Photo courtesy Hockey Canada

Despite falling to 0-2 to start the tournament, the Penticton Vees are the second team to clinch a spot in the RBC Cup semi-finals after a 3-1 win against the Portage Terriers.

The game started off as a goalie duel with former Bruins goalie Shea Cooper and Penticton   
Michael Garteig keeping the scoreless after the first period.

In the second period Portage opened up the scoring on the powerplay to gain a 1-0 lead.

But Penticton came back strong in the third period as they rattled of three unanswered goals to take game 3-1.

Penticton is the only team off today as the round robin wraps up today with Woodstock and Soo followed by Humboldt vs Portage.

Humboldt has clinced first place they're at 3-0, Penticton is 2-2 and that's followed by Portage, Woodstock and Soo all at 1-2.

Tomorrow is an off day followed by the semi-finals on Saturday.

Two Cent Tuesday

Why does it seem like that the nice weather shows up the day after I return from a holiday?

I did catch a game of the RBC Cup in Humboldt on Sunday. The Humboldt Broncos took on the Penticton Vees in a game many people (including me) thought would serve as a preview to the RBC Cup Final. It was a great game with the Broncos beating the Vees 3-2 in overtime.  

It's was nice to see a sell out crowd at the Elgar Peterson Arena. It seemed like half the crowd were my SJHL colleagues, while the other half were people who I grew up with in Humboldt.

Plenty of other SJHL fans in attendence at the game on Sunday. Not only did I see fans wearing Broncos gear (obviously) but I also saw fans from La Ronge, Melville, Melfort, Flin Flon, Weyburn, and Estevan all that game.

On Saturday I was in North Battlefords for a wedding and I stopped by the Golden Eagle Casino where I noticed this picture.Can you find the misprint, I'll post the answer on the bottom if you can't tell.

A dome with a retractable roof would have been nice but I'm happy that the City of Regina and the Roughriders are moving ahead with an open air stadium. Football isn't meant to be played indoors and I'm not sure Saskatchewan needs a dome for other entertainment events in the winter.

I liked the Riders announcing Ben Heenan as the first pick in the CFL Draft at the University of Saskatchewan Huskies fundraising breakfast. The Riders owned the first pick so they should have the right to announce the pick whenever they choose.

I think one thing that would help the CFL Canadian Draft is more coverage of CIS Football during the season on all the major Canadian Sports Networks.

I'm picking LA win to the West over the Coyotes.

Answer to the picture. It should be Scott Schultz not Chris Schultz. 

Q and A with Ex-Bruins Goalie Shea Cooper

Former Estevan Bruins Goalie Shea Cooper and the Portage Terriers will be departing tomorrow to Humboldt to battle for the RBC Cup.

After getting traded to Portage from the Bruins at the beginning of the season and ended up with a 30-13 record and a 2.75 GAA for the Manitoba champions. But a late season injury to Cooper has allowed Adam Iwan to take over for the Terriers as the team's number one goalie in the postseason.

I had a chance to speak with Cooper today.

Two Cent Tuesday

-          I’ve been suffering from a sore throat over the last week which is the worst injury you can possibly have when you work in radio. I’m hoping that I recover soon because May is a very busy month for myself.

-          Congratulations to the Humboldt Broncos on winning the final ANAVET Cup and good luck in the RBC Cup. I’m hoping to watch the RBC Cup action on Sunday when I’m back home for a quick visit.

-          I think we saw the good side of the NHL playoffs over the last week. A lot of entertaining games, close finishes and outstanding performances have made the first three weeks of the postseason Must See TV.

-          A couple of months ago  I would’ve laughed at the idea of Mike Smith being Canada’s goalie in the 2014 Olympics. But now I would have no problem with it.

-          My picks for the second round were New York, Philadelphia, Nashville and Los Angeles. I would love to change my Nashville pick right now.

-          If I were the Saskatchewan Roughriders I would pick Ben Heenan with the first overall pick at the Canadian Draft. I think you can never have too many good Canadian offensive lineman in the CFL.

-          Marco Ricci has been telling me for the last two years how good Akiem Hicks was for the University of Regina Rams. I think Hicks is in a good situation in New Orleans, with the a few players about to be suspended from the bounty allegations, Hicks might get significant playing time in his rookie season. 

-          Due to my sore throat I won’t filiming a new episode of Locker Talk this week