It’s my Parting Shot for my Monday Musings…..

I posted this on the two social media channels that I’m on yesterday and it followed Saturday’s regular season-ending festivities at SaskTel Centre. But, I was honoured and privileged to have been the Master of Ceremonies for the first-ever Saskatoon Blades Legends Night and Hall of Fame induction. in my humble opinion, the franchise shrine is the best idea since Jim Piggott decided to start operating a junior hockey team in Saskatoon…back in 1964!! Congratulations to Kelly Chase (pictured at right), Mark Wotton (centre) and Steve “Hilty” Hildebrand (left) on being the first inductees. It was great to see so many Blue and Gold Alumni and to have some quick catch-ups!!

There will be three days worth of W-H-L playoff preview in this space and commentary on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but I can tell you right now that I will have a hard time keeping the Prince Albert Raiders out of the conversation as being possible Ed Chynoweth Cup champions! They are scary good!!

My apologies for continuing to bang on the drum for the elimination of single points in hockey standings and doing what baseball and the N-B-A do – just wins and losses, no matter how long or short a game goes! Had wins and losses been used in the W-H-L, we’d have a special eighth place tie-breaker game tomorrow night in Regina between the Pats and Moose Jaw in the Eastern Conference. Both teams won 25 games and lost 43 times, except Regina had seven of those garbage extra time setbacks and points compared to five for Moose Jaw! Garbage, I tell you!!

Further to this, if you’re a team trying to catch up in the N-H-L standings, how do you do so when more games are worth three points than there are two-point games done in regulation time?! Of the nine games played yesterday, six were decided in either overtime or a shootout. The loser skates off the ice without celebrating, but get a point in the standings – how is that correct!!

And, I guess the moniker of “March Madness” really applies to the opening weekend of play, because the Final Four is played in April! The madness is only the opening weekend, though, when all the upsets happen and Warren Buffet’s million dollar challenge to anyone with a perfectly-correct bracket is safe for another year! All I know is I have a hard time keeping up, so wake me up when the Final Four is on!!

That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!