the 4th star

Unintentionally, “Lawless” of the Free Press raised a good point about the Vancouver Canucks-Manitoba Moose relationship yesterday.

Following years of headaches with the Brian Burke/Dave Nonis regime, Canucks GM Mike Gillis has done a lot to repair the bridge between Vancouver and Winnipeg in his brief time at the helm, so it would be difficult to imagine he would clip off current Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault and promote Moose head coach Scott Arniel during this season. That would be a step back in the partnership — especially when you consider how well the Moose (32-13-0-2) are going under Arniel’s guidance.

Remember: This is the final season in the affiliation agreement. The Canucks are trying out for the Moose services just as much as Manitoba is vying for theirs. Maybe even more so. Winnipeg is the most attractive market (outside of Chicago) in the AHL Western Conference. NHL teams, those out west specifically, would love to have a good hockey market like Winnipeg to groom their prospects. That’s why disrupting Manitoba’s season for the sake of saving a Canucks season that might be unsalvageable doesn’t make a lot of sense for Gillis.

Per “Lawless”: 

The direction Gillis takes will depend on how he assesses his club at this moment. Does he consider his roster a Stanley Cup contender underachieving with Vigneault? Or has Gillis come to the understanding that the Canucks are more than a few players away from contention and in need of more than a patch-up job with expensive Swedish drywall?

Arniel will get a serious look for vacant NHL head coaching spots in the off-season, and the Canucks will certainly be at the top of that list. Our best guess is Gillis will wait until the end of the season to fire and hire. But if he decides it’s now or never and shakes things up with a new voice in the room in the coming days or weeks, it will be Rick Bowness for the interim, with Arniel moving into the big chair come the summer.

Tuesday. The Federal budget. Time for Winnipeg to once again start the discussion on the new football stadium, me thinks. I have no idea how it’s going to play out, other than I’m sure the Conservatives will offer up a big project, get people working type of stimulus package for Canadians. If the $64 billion debt number that’s surfaced is any indication, it appears that will be the case.

Which is good news if your name is David Asper and you have ‘asperations’ of building a new 30,000-seat stadium and taking control of the Canadian Football League team that will play there. This whole stadium debate has seen too many months pass and too many locations to have another round of hang-wringing and uncertainty. Either something will happen soon after Tuesday, or it won’t. No matter what side of the fence you’re on, we can all agree that would be best.

Rumours of an announcement have been circulating all month, with Budget Day as the probable jumping off point. The Feds and province want this to happen (both offering around $15 million each). The city wants this to happen (some sign of development for the administration). The University of Manitoba wants it to happen, too (a building for the Bisons, more people coming to South Winnipeg).

But a new possible wrinkle has come up.

According a source close to the dealings, the project will only get the Federal government cash if Asper can secure tenants for most (at least 75%) of the retail space at Polo Park before the cheque is cut and the shovels are sharpened. As you recall, the deal would see the city sell the existing Canad Inns Stadium land to Asper, so he can add more retail in an already crowded retail area to help fund his $100-million promise to the project.

Once that is done, and who doesn’t think he can’t get a three-quarter commitment, then we can expect shovels to find their way into the ground this year. Maybe Winter 2009. Maybe Spring 2010. Maybe.

Policy Frog raises an interesting question about sports radio in Winnipeg, one that I wish I would have taken off my desktop and published before he/she did. Dang. I couldn’t agree more with the post, but while it is quite pathetic no one has taken a run at the weakened CJOB yet when it comes to sports coverage, there is a feeling out there that you can not maintain a sports format without the broadcast rights to the major teams in the market. The local coverage is what drives the machine. That’s what killed 1290 when they tried it years ago.

The Manitoba Moose are not going anywhere other than 680 and I don’t see the Blue Bombers leaving ‘OB anytime soon, either. Not in the next couple years, anyway (I have no idea what the rights deal is). Having said that, it certainly wouldn’t surprise anyone if they pulled up stakes once Asper takes the helm of the ship. Maybe then a new sports station would grow wings, having the always-popular Bombers as a rock solid foundation for other sports programming to build around. Of course by that time, the Superstation might exist in a totally different scope, only delivering regular traffic and weather updates to the apathetic masses.

What’s the emoticon for sarcasm?

UPDATE: Here is the CJOB-Bombers broadcast deal, yo.

For the ladies who have been wondering where their eye candy is each week, I apologize for the oversight. It’s hard enough to understand why the heck guys would click their way to this thing on occasion, but broads? That’s crazy talk. Why on Earth would any self-respecting female bother to come by here? To look at hot, touched-up chicks? For my annual bitch on how I can’t seem to pick any winners at any time, even when a sure-thing is sitting on my face? For sporadic NHL news?

Whatever the reason, it’s come to my attention that there might be a few ladies out there who like to kill time at the office just as the men do. So as per a comment request in an earlier post, please welcome a new weekly feature to the fold.

New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (right) is a dreamboat.

Darren Dreger, the other actual reporter at TSN, is ‘reporting’ that the NHL is being a whiny little bitch with regards to the All-Star game and players not wanting to spend a portion of their FIVE DAYS OFF in Montreal. Commish Gary Bettmen, never one to shy away from looking bad, has threatened to suspend those who choose not show for the pathetic showcase festivities. What is even better about this story is that Bettman’s right-hand man, Colin Campbell, is actually apologizing to the players for the ridiculousness of the mandate.

“I feel bad for Nicklas Lidstrom,” said Campbell. ”He’s been here how many years now? It’s unfair that he gets caught in this web.”

The National Hockey League is currently on its All-Star break, right at the same time the National Football League takes a two week powder for the Super Bowl hype. Why, oh why, would the NHL suspend its operations for FIVE FULL DAYS during a time when there is no football to be covered? The people in charge of the schedule should be two-handed in front of the net.

The sporting schedule is at a point right now where there is a noticeable void, one that basketball cannot fill by itself. Hockey has a chance to get into the first or second block of highlights on ESPN, but instead is on the sidelines, not taking advantage of the lull.

I have no problem with the NHL having an all-star game (though let’s face it, are you or I going to watch? Probably not), but why not have the game AFTER the Super Bowl? Why not take the break then?

Or better yet, why not have the game BEFORE the Super Bowl game on Sunday? Sure, the six hours of pre-game coverage will probably kick the tar out of the hockey broadcast, but at least there’s a chance of having a few sports fans grow tired of the bull and switch over to the hockey. Maybe they’ll find a few new fans. My point is that five days is way too long.

(a gold star if someone can tell me who this guy is)

It’s back-to-back videos at the 4th Star today.

Not to make light of the seriousness of the above crash, but holy shit! It seems Daniel Albrecht is in stable condition right now, but by no means is he out of the woods yet. He was doing 140-km and flew over 40 metres in the air. TSN provides an update on his status here. The Globe outlines the allure of Kitzbuhel here. Is my maiden snowboarding trip this winter still a go or am I trying to psych myself out?

Not really sure why I have the always seemingly dirty and grungy Elvis Costello in my head these days. Here’s a question for you to ponder: Who do you like more, Costello or Tom Petty? Don’t they have the exact same voice, or am I just riddled with flu virus to the point of not being able to distinguish between slightly annoying but not really and absolutely terrible? Friday Wrap Jam is on the Radio, Radio. Yo.

From Wikipedia:

Cale Hulse was drafted in the 3rd round (66th overall) in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. In 1995, he was on the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup championship team, Albany River Rats. On February 26, 1996, he was traded to the Calgary Flames with Tommy Albelin and Jocelyn Lemieux for Phil Housley and Dan Keczmer. On March 14, 2000, he was traded with a 3rd round draft pick in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft to the Nashville Predators for Sergei Krivokrasov. Hulse signed as a free agent with the Phoenix Coyotes on July 10, 2003. On October 8, 2005, he was traded with Michael Rupp and Jason Chimera to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Geoff Sanderson and Tim Jackman. On February 28, 2006, he was traded to the Flames for Cam Severson. Hulse was invited to the Carolina Hurricanes’ 2006 training camp as a depth fill-in, but was cut before the season started.

OK. So let’s see here. Hulse, who is married to Gena Lee Nolin (pictured), has been traded for/with the following: Tommy Albelin, Jocelyn Lemieux, Phil Housley, Dan Keczmer, Sergei Krivokrasov, Michael Rupp, Jason Chimera, Geoff Sanderson, Tim Jackman, and Cam Severson.

And a shittier list of players has never been assembled.

The two coaching staffs for the annual Senior Bowl — the end of season college game in Mobile, Alabama featuring the best players available for the coming draft — are traditionally made up from the two National Football League teams which had the worst records that season. The thinking is having those staffs practice and work with the young players will allow the two bottom-feeders to get a better sense of what the players are all about, and thus allow them to draft smarter when the day comes. Am I the last person to know this?

Thanks to Mike Kelly, head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, for the info (courtesy the Football Huddle on CJOB tonight).