Late Night Blogging

This is a blog post I should have done last night with a four hour bus ride home from Prince Albert. Instead the movie " Step Brothers" occupied my attention for about an hour before I fell into a coma and later woke up with a dark bus showing no signs of life.

- THWACK!!

That was the sound heard to my left in the Prince Albert press box following the Broncos come from behind overtime win. Raiders Marketing Director Bruce Vance let the Press Box wall have it with a hard right after Geordie Wudrick's overtime winner.

Vance and the Raiders are no doubt frustrated with nine straight losses. To make matters worse, they were in a great position to win last night. Up 3-1 with eight minutes to play means you can almost taste it. The Broncos tore their heart out last night. I have to think I would do the same thing in Vance's position. Check that, I'd probably beat down the wall. (Anyone who knows me could attest to that)

- The Broncos will leave Monday for Edmonton to begin their BC swing with a game against the Oil Kings. Shaw TV is rigging up a video camera to send with me to collect footage for our weekly show "The Inside Edge".


I'll take some footage over the 10 days and try to go as much behind the scenes as the team will allow. I think it will be awesome once our producer Christian puts it all together. It's something I would personally keep for posterity sake.

Other teams have done it and it's looked great, but this would be a first for the Broncos.

One thing I will never complain about is my access to Bronco players/coaches. They've been awesome and I think I've built some trust from over the years. I've learned what lines not to cross - sometimes the hard way. The coaching staff is never shy from answering questions and I'm not going to allow our players to say something negative, controversial or anything that would get them in any trouble with the team or league. Some questions I know not to ask.... a product of covering WHL hockey for 10 years.

Do you think I would have a Broncos blog if they were paranoid about information?

I'm hoping they don't have a problem with a camera along for the ride although the really good stuff away from the ice probably will never be captured on video tape. I'll leave it at that.

- One thing about this job is that I've never really been bothered by the travel. People always ask me how I do it. I just don't think time on the bus is really all that bad. Maybe twice in six years I've gotten a little stir crazy. Usually the trip straight through from Swift Current to Prince George has me looking for something hard to knock myself out but other than that, it's not a big deal.

Reading, sleeping, watching movies, talking with the coaches/trainers or some of the rookies who sit near the front passes the time pretty well. I can also shut it down pretty good and sleep for hours if need be.

- THWACK!

That was the sound of our bus colliding with a deer on our way back from Red Deer last weekend. John the bus driver didn't even slow down. Hit it full force. Everyone jumped up.

The violent collision and the sound of deer on fiberglass stayed with me the rest of the way home. Kind of makes the sound of Bruce Vance slamming into the press box wall seem pretty insignificant.

- I thought the Broncos Board of Directors latest stance on the 2010 Ford World Womens Curling Championships was.... interesting. It's inherently the right move from their standpoint.

- Don't forget about Teddy Bear and Toque Toss night Friday at the Credit Union i-plex when the Broncos host Brandon. The Wheat Kings won't sweat this one after over 22 thousand bears came falling from above in Calgary last Sunday when the Hitmen scored their first goal.

You have to think Brandon GM/Head Coach Kelly MacCrimmon is not a fan of these promotions. They will have to sit through four or five of them this season the way the scheduling has worked out.

The Broncos will see a couple of them on their BC swing as well.


That's enough 411 for one night.


Jon