It’s my Parting Shot for Week 1 C-F-L picks from the Fearless Predictor – and, maybe a Weekend Short Shot or two…..

It’s been a busy week and, with the Saskatchewan Roughriders somehow not scheduled to play in the C-F-L’s curtain-raising set of games, T-F-P plumb forgot to make predictions prior to last night!

Based on my standings and Grey Cup picks for the season yesterday, I had Montreal beating Hamilton by less than a field goal last night – believe it or not!

Tonight, T-F-P is taking Calgary to bounce Winnipeg by more than 10 points and tomorrow, to wrap up Week 1, I’m going with Ottawa over Edmonton by less than a touchdown!

Again, with so much going on, and with the Green and White not playing this week, my attention towards the C-F-L has been pretty much non-existent. Hence, I was really shocked a couple of days ago to realize that the opening week of the regular-season had only three games and just six of the nine teams playing. The fact that B-C, Toronto are joining the Riders as non-participants to start the campaign is sheer lunacy! Chalk all this up to the notion that the players need the time off because of the physical toll the game takes. While I get and understand that, I think each team getting three byes in a season is one too many!!

The revelation this past Monday that the Calgary Flames wanted Hunter Laing to attend an N-C-A-A school and hockey program next season, thus hanging on to his playing rights for as long as he goes to classes, gives me an old attitude towards that – as well as a new one! My old attitude was that I have a problem with N-H-L teams pushing their draft picks away from major junior hockey and towards the U-S College ranks! Major Junior has a scheduled that more closely mimics what pro hockey is, compared to the weekend only play of the college game. However, my new attitude is – hey, the development landscape for players has changed with agents and parents having a lot more say in what a young man does with his hockey career – so why fight it?! As for Hunter Laing, I’m happy to report that he wanted to play for the Saskatoon Blades as a 20-year-old, not at a U-S College. That forced the Flames into a decision to either sign him before June 1st, or not – which is what happened and Laing goes back into the N-H-L Draft later this month. N-C-A-A hockey isn’t for everybody!!

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