Tuesday

A special good morning out to the folks in Brandon, MB today as they check in to see what's going on with the Broncos today.

I know the Wheat Kings coaching staff surf into this part of the Internet for time-to-time.
They always have good things to say about the blog....the question is will it stay that way all series long?

It's awful tough to please the opposition when you're the "home team" guy.

I'll say this...Brandon's got a great team, but no one is crowning them just yet over here.

Game one Friday night from Westman Communications Place.
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Bronco Assistant Coach Tim Kehler spoke about the match-up after Sunday's shootout win over Moose Jaw which made the match-up official.

"I think it's a team that we can't open it up with because we can't match them offensively. We will have to get pucks on their net because I think the question mark for them continues to be goaltending," said Kehler.

"We're going to need to be opportunistic, we are going to need to be a little lucky, we are going to need to get outstanding goaltending and I think we are really going to need some momentum on special teams."

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Got word from the Pats P.R. Department that we will set up in the home broadcast booth when they series shifts to Regina for games three and four. Bruce Luebke of the Wheat Kings will take over the visitor broadcast location.

Looking forward to working with Dan at the Brandt Center. We spent some time in Lethbridge together when he was Dan "Vernon" of the River 107 FM afternoon show.

He was also the colorman for my very first WHL broadcast back in 1999 when we did a local Shaw TV broadcast between Lethbridge and Regina.

I still have that tape somewhere....


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Story time.....

I have to give a shout out to my former senior hockey team this morning. The Lanigan Pirates will take on the Shaunavon Badgers for the SHA Senior "B" Provincial Championship. The best-of-three will start this coming weekend.

I was looking forward to catching one of the games just down the road in Shaunavon but that won't happen because of Broncos playoff hockey.

The match-up in the face-off circle between former Broncos Luke Hunter (Shaunavon) and Brent Twordik (Lanigan) won't happen. Twordik suffered a separated shoulder a couple weeks back and at last word won't be able to play in the Provincial final.

I "played" one full season with my hometown team back in 1997. I was a year out of high school and for me it was the big-time.

I was pretty much the full-time back-up 'tender and didn't see very much action. Pre-game warm-ups for me was as good as it got. Truth be told, I was just happy to be part of it all.

I remember my first start. It was late in the 24 game season and we had clinched 2nd spot heading into playoffs.

Head Coach Mike Horbul came into the room all nervous after practice rubbing his whiskers... "Keen... come out, here I wanna talk to you..."

I stumbled out of the room with my Louisville TPX pads... which were often kicked by Mike during an intermission rant. I just always happened to be sitting near the door when he came into the room. It was either kick the pads or the garbage can. I didn't mind the kick...something had to break those pads in because they weren't exactly seeing a lot of pucks.

Mike was also my neighbor in town so we knew each other a little. He got right into it... "God d**m it Jon I'm gonna start you Friday in Nokomis.... Jesus H c****t don't let me down. I'm scared as hell here you know that?"

I tried to keep a straight face but it was pretty tough to hide a smile knowing I as going to get a chance.

The rest of the team was pretty excited that game night. They were giving it to me pretty good. I knew they would play a strong game in front of me and had nothing to worry about...just make the first save.

Coach Mike's fears proved to be pre-mature. We went into Nokomis and blasted the 5th place team 12-3.

I was a spectator the rest of the way through playoffs and provincials. The next fall I was off to radio college in Lethbridge and that was it for my senior hockey stint with "the big club".

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Thanks to Dr. Dean Vause for the nice gift in the mail yesterday. The Vause clan was recently in Barbados. My colorman Tim Tisdale also happened to be on the island at the same time.

A couple emails, a phone call and Tizzy and his wife spent the night at the Vause villa for supper in the palatial setting.

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Here's what the Credit Union i-plex looked like as of yesterday in preparation for the 2010 Ford World Women's Curling Championships which begin Saturday. These pictures are courtesy swiftcurrentonline.com





Jon