Friday, March 06, 2009

Gameday Randoms

* The Broncos battle the Oil Kings tonight at Rexall for "Faith and Family" night at Rexall Place tonight. They're expecting a big crowd... 10,000 plus perhaps? The team went to the rink this morning for a meeting and stretch while others skated.

* It's a crisp, sunny day in the City of Champions. The team drove through near white-out conditions on the way up pretty much from Rosetown to Lloydminster. After Lloyd, the sky cleared and it was smooth sailing into Edmonton.

* The team likes the set-up in Edmonton. A nice downtown hotel attached to the City Center Mall - a four story shopping center with everything you need. There's a World's Gym just steps away which the team staff hit up upon the evening arrival. The commute to the rink is about 15 minutes - maybe 25 minutes at rush hour.

* Ryan Molle is expected to play tonight coming off a staph infection. F Matt Tassone may play. Dean updates his status tonight on the pre-game show (7:30pm on the Eagle 94.1 FM)

* How come there's no posts on whlfans.ca when the Broncos win? Four straight wins and there's not much to talk about I guess. How about the Dalecky/Eakin / Wudrick line? 17 points the last two games including seven from Janny in the last two games.

* It looks like the Tigers in the opening round of playoffs? Get your tickets and lets make some noise for these guys. How awesome was the atmosphere last year with Regina in the opening round and the sell-outs for the 2nd round series with Calgary? That was some fun stuff.



* Remember how loud it was when Dale Weise scored the empty-netter against Regina in game six to put it away? One of my favorite moments as the Broncos broadcaster.

* WHL This Week is now available at whl.ca. This week's show includes a story on the Broncos recent run, narrated by F Cody Eakin.


* For the local fans looking for some Travis Moen comments regarding his trade to San Jose, I have good news and bad news. Good news is he called me back yesterday afternoon, bad news is we were already on the bus bound for Edmonton so I couldn't do much with it without the means to record our conversation and with "Tokyo Drift" blasting in the background... that's the movie, not our former bus driver Dan (who was known for his need for speed).

I told him I'd call him next week once things get settled. He was just about to fly out and get organized in S.J. He's a class act. I wish more former WHL turned pro guys were like Trapper.



* Did anyone catch the Shaw broadcast Tuesday out of Medicine Hat? What a treat it was to work with Billy Wilms. You get a much better appreciation for his color commentary when you sit beside him and watch him work. Hopefully we can work again. I had fun and what a great experience.

* Although it looked like on the broadcast that instant replay was used on the Tigers 5th goal it wasn't actually the case. Although we had an over-head shot of the goal and a shot of the off-ice officials reviewing the monitors in the replay booth, they actually weren't consulted. The referee consulted the goal-judge but wasn't permitted to talk to the replay officials who were doing the game for training purposes only.

* What do you think of the Broncos playoff theme this year? "More Cowbell!" is this year's take which is a play off the Saturday Night Live skit featuring Kristopher Walken and Will Ferrell. Fans are going to be encouraged to get their Bronco cowbells and make some noise this post-season. I like it. Let's hope our fans take the ball and run with it.


Jon

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

More cowbell? WHAT? It sucks! Just a ploy to sell the left over cheap, or should I say expensive, little cowbells they have left over. Get a theme with a little more meat to it.

Anonymous said...

O,

What would your suggestion be? You are quick to criticize without any solution.

Anonymous said...

Well, for one, I'm not in the marketing business for a reason, but know a weak idea when I see it. Why does the theme need to change? I don't see anything wrong with the "Bring it to the rink" theme. More cowbell? Sounds pretty "hick" to me. If you feel the need to change all the time how about coming up with something tough sounding, like we are ready to do battle in the play-offs. I figured I might ruffle some feathers in the marketing dept. but it seems they are either lacking imagination in their profession or are being limited on what they can do. Sorry, just my humble opinion. Sometimes a little criticism stirs the creative juices.