I worked Top 40 radio for a few years, it was a blast. Canadian hit radio relied heavily on approximately one dozen artists to provide new singles about every 12 weeks. Some, like Trooper and Bryan Adams, were clockwork. Others were hit and miss.
A band from Montreal called Men Without Hats were something else altogether. Their first hit, The Safety Dance, rocketed up the charts on multiple formats and became an instant classic. It was written after the band’s lead singer (Ivan Doroschuk) was thrown out of a club for pogo dancing. It was a monster.
We played it once an hour. You could play it in any spot in the hour, which is basically going Martin Luther on the Canadian top 40 format. The band would never fly as high again, but remained wildly entertaining and stubbornly original.
THE ATHLETIC!
The Athletic Edmonton features a fabulous cluster of stories (some linked below, some on the site). Great perspective from a ridiculous group of writers and analysts. Proud to be part of The Athletic, check it out here.
- New Jonathan Willis and Lowetide: Who are the Oilers’ top 10 prospects and where do they project in the NHL?
- New Jonathan Willis: How do Connor McDavid’s first five NHL seasons compare to the all-time greats?
- Lowetide: Oilers 2020 draft: Are fans ready for Oil Kings’ Jake Neighbours?
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers need to keep feeding their currently rich pipeline of defensive prospects
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: How a series of oddball jobs prepared Ken Holland for his front-office career
- Jonathan Willis: 2020 NHL offseason goalie market: Team needs, free agents and trade possibilities
- Lowetide: Oilers Ryan Nugent-Hopkins far more than ‘also in photo’ contributor
- Jonathan Willis: Building the best all-time Oilers roster, with a twist
- Lowetide: What are Tyler Benson’s chances of making the Oilers in 2020-21?
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: ‘They were looking outside the box’: Oilers’ distinctive third jerseys still stand out
- Lowetide: If Oilers draft for skill, Seth Jarvis likely to be best available
- Jonathan Willis and Lowetide: Should the Oilers pursue Taylor Hall this summer?
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman and Jonathan Willis: The results are in: How you voted in our inaugural Oilers fan survey
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: How the Oilers are preparing for an NHL draft in June
- Jonathan Willis: How Gaetan Haas, Joakim Nygard and Riley Sheahan draw calls that lead to goals
- James Mirtle: Ranking every NHL team’s salary cap situation, from best to worst
- Lowetide: Can the Oilers find Connor McDavid’s ideal winger this summer?
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: The two coaches who had the biggest influence on Dave Tippett
- Jonathan Willis: The 5 reasons why the Oilers re-signed Gaetan Haas
- Jonathan Willis: Can (and should) the Oilers trade Kris Russell?
- Jonathan Willis: How Edmonton could have left 2010 draft with both Taylor Hall and Ryan Johansen
- Lowetide: Kailer Yamamoto’s NHL comparables offer Oilers fans hope for the future
- Lowetide: Top 20 prospect update: A lot of movement and some impressive graduations
THE QMJHL’S BEST FOR 2020
- L Alexis Lafreniere. He has insane talent. NHLE is 50.
- RC-RW Dawson Mercer. Highly skilled forward who is a plus passer. NHLE is 33.
- RC Mavrik Bourque. Creative center with great hands. Great passer, great shot. NHLE: 33.
- LD Jérémie Poirier. Smart two-way defender. Solid from the Hlinka forward, June 2002
- LC Hendrix Lapierre. Skill center who projects as a playmaker. Feb 2002.
- RHD Justin Barron. Mobile defenseman who can defend. Lacks top-end offensive ability.
- LC Vasili Ponomaryov. Great hands and good speed, he’s a little under the radar.
- RD William Villeneuve. Tall, thin two-way defenseman spiked offensively. Great passer.
- LD Lukas Cormier. Undersized skill defender with good speed and skill.
- RW Ryan Francis. Playmaking winger who plays a smart game. His NHLE is 27.
- G Sam Hlavaj. Boasts a .915 save percentage and stands 6.04, 218.
- LC Theo Rochette. Undersized two-way C improved slightly year over year.
- RD Thimo Nickl. Strong skater, two-way blue, December 2001.
- RW William Dufour. Big winger is aggressive, good hands and instincts.
- LC Brady Burns. Small (5.08) puck wizard is effective as a passer and scorer.
- RW Charles Beaudoin. Average size, 18 even-strength goals.
- RW Raivis Ansons. Has some skill and two-way ability. Climbed final CS ranking.
I’m going to tell you something: The QMJHL isn’t like the OHL or WHL. I don’t know what it is, but my OHL and WHL lists will be more accurate five years from now than this one. Adam Sherren is a major help each year (I quote him on Raphael Lavoie below) but something about the numbers (and therefore my rankings) doesn’t rhyme. Every year.
The OHL and WHL are puzzles to be unlocked; the QMJHL remains an unsolved mystery, like the bottom of the sea. Scorers and checkers to come are not included on my list, a fine goalie or two as well. Finding them via math is damned near impossible.
There will be NHL players not listed above who come from a large group of forwards whose numbers look just like the William Dufour totals above. I think it might have to do with the wild gaps in team quality (in the Maritimes Division one team won 50 games, another 12 in 64 games).
QMJHL 2019
- L Jakob Pelletier. Undersized skill winger with two-way ability.
- RC Raphael Lavoie. Adam Sherren: “A big physical force who is that old fashioned power forward.”
- R Nathan Légaré. Power winger who can score goals, can find open ice.
- R Maxim Cajkovic. Fantastic skater has impressive potential.
- L Samuel Poulin. Smart, two-way player delivers a heavy game, speed is just okay.
- LC Nikita Alexandrov. Skill center who can impact the game as a passer or scorer.
- LD Sam Bolduc. Big defenseman with good speed and two-way ability.
- LD Artemi Knyazev. Two-way defenseman, he is a quality skater.
- G Colten Ellis. Has posted two quality seasons in a row, with SP’s of .913 and .910.
- LD Maxence Guenette. Smart two-way defenseman, improved offensively this season.
- LC Mikhail Abramov. Small forward with plus speed and passing ability.
- R Alex Beaucage. Impressive scorer quick release, it’s good enough for 39 goals.
- RD Jordan Spence. Outstanding skater who makes good decisions with the puck.
- LD Justin Bergeron. He has good speed, creativity and is a good defender.
- LC Valentin Nussbaumer. He’s a smart two-way center but what will get him drafted is his speed.
- G Jonathan Lemieux. A nice step forward year over year (.902, from .867).
I’m getting closer, the only names on my list that went undrafted were Bergeron and Lemieux. On the other hand, I failed to list Egor Serdyuk, Felix Bibeau, Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Jeremy Michel. That’s an improvement on my QMJHL rankings of the past, but I’ll announce my arrival when I list every player chosen and the guy Tampa Bay signs in September as a free agent.
NHLE
- Alexis Lafreniere 50.2
- Mavrik Bourque 33.7
- Dawson Mercer 33.3
- Raphael Lavoie 27.4
- Marc Pouliot 26.2
- Marco Roy 24.0
- Hendrix Lapierre 20.8
- Vasili Ponomaryov 20.0
Lafreniere is in a world of his own, and I do believe Bourque and Mercer are going to have careers on skill lines. Lavoie’s draft day numbers are better than some of the Q kids who will go in the first round this season.
Nail Yakupov’s career hasn’t worked out as planned, and his second KHL season (after going back over) saw a drop in goals from 23 to 10. His 62 NHL goals are still good for No. 9 among players chosen in the 2012 draft.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
A fun Friday show to kick off the weekend, TSN1260 at 10 this morning. Steve Lansky from Inside the Truck and BigMouthSports will chat about “The Last Dance” and the coming sporting events without fans. Matt Iwanyk will join us at 11 for Point/Counter Point to talk about the CFL and what we might see this season, plus the NHL’s return. Guy Flaming from the Pipeline Show will talk about the Oil Kings run to the Memorial Cup in 2014. 10-1260 text @Lowetide on twitter. Talk soon!
€√¥£€^$,
OK, thanks for the clarification.
Maybe 4 weeks…not sure how this plays out, but after the month-long tourney, teams return home, quarantine 2 weeks, reunite with family and then are back at it. No idea how it would play out exactly, but something like 4 weeks of games in one place and then a return home for x weeks and then another 1 month tourney. Perhaps it’s a 7 month season of 60 games, 1 month tourney, 1 month off, 1 month tourney,etc. All conferences are staggered, so there is no broadcast lull.
Something like this is what I am envisioning
Junior hockey will get money from the feds. Book it.
Why the 2-week breaks?
NHL teams use private/chartered jets, no? I’m not sure why it would be difficult for teams to travel without exposing themselves to undue risk…
How about an Oilers 28-man roster for the remainder of this season, if they return? Seems like a reasonable guess on how the season/playoffs might roll out. (or maybe 30?)
Athanasiou-McDavid-Kassian
Nuge-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Ennis-Sheahan-Archibald
Neal-Khaira-Chiasson
Nygard-Haas-Russell
Benson-Granlund
Nurse-Bear
Klefbom-Larsson
Jones-Green
Russell-Benning
Lagesson-Bouchard
Koskinen-Smith
Skinner
That’s 30. Would be tough to pare it down to 28 actually. Seems like a plausible number if there’s no AHL next season (though my guess is there will be).
€√¥£€^$,
I’ve been pondering these things as well.
I really can’t see any gate driven league even attempting to operate as we’ve seen with the CFL.
The NHL can get by and the NFL and NBA should be fine but the AHL, CHL etc. just don’t make any economic sense since many are locally owned operations that really almost entirely on gate revenue.
Some one suggested the NHL could subside the AHL but with at least a billion dollars lopped off revenues, I can’t see it.
The league will be lucky if it gets out of this without severe contraction.
Further to my previous post, someone pondered about having a 5 man taxi squad for the 2020-21 NHL season. I’ve been thinking about that for the last 3 weeks.
If I were one of the league’s honchos, I would strongly consider co-locating the AHL teams with their big club. The AHL team would be permitted to carry a 30 man roster and they would travel with the big club, playing their games prior to the NHL club vs the opponent’s farm team. It wouldn’t be that simple, because of affiliate ownership and travel, of course, but still possible.
I think for the NHL it will have to play a much shorter schedule, maybe 60 games and the games will likely be played in a centralized location tournament-style of some form. Something like per 15 games month at one site and then a 2 week break, and so on. I can see it be limited to intra conference play only to minimize travel and associated costs. The 2 week gaps will be staggered, so there will always be games played every night.
All levels of organized sports are going to suffer and some leagues, but for certain several teams won’t make it out alive. There will be a massive economic reset at all levels of hockey and that is the only real certainty.
Every league is in jeopardy next season. If so, I would guess there will be no 2021 NHL Draft. I wonder if the league considers to expand to 10 Rounds this season and 10 Rounds in 2022
NCAA president Mark Emmert is speculating that there might not be college sports in the fall – if campuses aren’t open and courses are being done on-line – no college sports.
https://www.thescore.com/ncaabbl/news/1973475?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Not a great sign for NCAA hockey and I wonder if this will drive any current decisions youngsters deciding between CHL/NCAA – or even the USHL (we saw Mazura decide to head to the USHL for Chicago as oppossed to Providence).
THen again, who knows when the CHL will be able to start up.
defmn,
Sorry about the loss of your holiday but we are both alive and well and that is the most important. Funny story but I left the fridge in the motor closed when I left in January, had to courier a key down to the storage yard for them to open it to prevent mold.
the storage cost is not too bad considering it cost about $1000.00 each way to drive back and forth. Just cant use it up here this summer.
The clinic is in La Quinta owned by a former Canadian. went there a few times for back issues.
Hmmmm, eeriely quiet around here….
Goes to show you when you turn off the water (or firehose) the grass stops growing….
He probably doesn’t get out of the 4th round, but you never know, there may be too many doubters.
https://thehockeywriters.com/ryan-francis-2020-nhl-draft-prospect-profile/
April Wine is a fav of mine. Still listen to them while I cook dinner!
Nearly a ppg for Spokane, yeah Finley looks decent, definitely worth a 3rd round pick. Miettinen looks interesting too – bit smaller but puts up some decent points by the looks of it.
There’s zero chance Francis falls to mid 5th round is there?
How dare you! No friend of mine… Force fed this song at Klondike days when my booth was beside the “Polar Express” over and over and …………….over “do you wanna go fasterrrrr?”
– Cause your freinds don’t dance and if they won’t dance, well there no friends of mine…
– thanks for the memory. One of my best friends older sister, when I was a young teenager, she was this mystical, attractive, cool long-haired preppy beauty. She used to love that song, and it would blare in her bedroom whenever I was at their house. Man I loved that song as a result of “loving her”. Such a cool intro jingle on the song as well..
– That was a neat time for music, and Cancon was special (wer not talking Drake, Biebs, Celine Dion cancon): But just “famous” proper Canadian bands, with following here and less so elsewhere: Idle Eyes, Spoons, Strange Advance, Martha and the Muffins, Parachute Club, Payolas, Teenage Head, etc: there really was a “Canadian scene”, Or “hard rock”: Helix, Aldd Nova, Loverboy, Chillawack…
– And I guess that was the time LT was a radio DJ: fpr those who can remember those time, it really was a different “quaint” music system.
– Industry has changed since then: Bands aren’t “discovered” on the radio, nor do they have the business model as LT described: need to crank out songs for radio play
– I don’t obviousily follow musinc like I used to, but I dont’ suspect there is this kind of vast “made in Canada music scene anymore”, that is widely listened to an ubiquitious as it was on radio in the early/mid 80s
Devan Dubnyk should probably retire early then.
He can always come back and play when he deems it safe to do so.
His teammates would understand.
Also,
I heard a rumor that SKA was considering a trade that would include Yakupov in the deal,
I will break the news here first if anything should happen, stay tuned
Darth Tu,
I could be Elon’s father, actually…
HugThePost,
I have a tough time having any sympathy, having lived in multiple war zones for 6 months and being in a wet tent for 2-3 months on Exercise multiple times during my 20 yr CF career. My children were young and it sucked to miss out on a lot of their milestones during these times. In the field were lucky to get a poorly connected 10 minute call home every 2 weeks. It was much better overseas, but still limited to 15-20 minutes every few days, if you were lucky.
This is a far cry from what these (mostly) millionaires who are in my age range of my CF career (21 to 41) have available for themselves and their families.
Sorry you couldn’t get down to drive it back but that is not a horrible amount considering that all hell broke loose. We lost about half a month of our holiday when we decided it was time to skedaddle home so about $1500 of lost rent money.
I thought because you mentioned that a clinic recommended Vitamin D that maybe you had gotten down there after March.
Darth Tu,
My 3rd Round Hard target is Jack Finley, if not there, Veeti Miettinen
BornInAGretzkyJersey,
Just saying, I think Lapierre will drop, a la Benson and Lavoie , but he has a much higher ceiling.
Villeneuve is a project, likely a 4th or 5th rounder, ditto Francis.
Seattle should just consider dropping current decided name and just go with Murder Hornets. When the Murder Hornets take said ice, Nail Freaking Yakupov leads them out. This is blank cheques for all involved except Harpers goal posts because fuck that guy.
dustrock,
Men without hats played during an intermission during a sens game here in Ottawa earlier this year. Ivan’s voice ain’t what she used to be anymore…
Beautiful ?
Here’s one fair and shortened scenario:
* Top 3 in each division are in. Same result for pts and pts% so fair enough with a play in added.
* There’s clear separation at .550 and 75 pts. That’s 5 play in teams in the East and 4 in the West.
* No long term quarantine bubble or single locations required for the last 4 spots. Panthers and Rangers play one game for the last Eastern play in spot. I’d cut the Yotes in the West, but a game with the Wild for 4th would also work.
* Then 1/4 & 2/3 sudden death games to make the playoffs. Dramatic TV and very familiar to the MLB sudden death wild card which some years has had one match tie-breaks to enter.
* Then a multi week break for travel to neutral site camp/quarantined bubble playoffs.
* 5 game playoffs
* 7 games for the SCF final and ideally for the conference finals.
This format should be easier for the players and avoid a big advantage for the play in teams.
I looked at your links. Not discounting the studies because they’re important, but they all noted a correlation only.
The link I posted earlier had observational results from Indonesia, India, and the Phillipines.
The Western world powers-that-be aren’t much interested in potentially cheap over-the-counter or generic prophylactics like poor countries.
I actually said I don’t know if there’s a link between skin colour and covid. Maybe so. Maybe not. I’ve seen a lot of comments here referring to the States. Any real link between Covid and Vitamin D would show up globally.
Having said that, I started taking 4000 IU three weeks ago. The benefits of Vitamin D go beyond Covid. The virus was simply my trigger for starting to take it.
Maybe we should be reevaluating what money/capital means moving forward. This is a great chance for us to move on to a better society that has a greater quality of life for all, not just for the few.
On hockey restarting, there’s a lot more to this than Dubnyk’s personal opinions involved. What’s the NHLPA saying? Is there an agreement between the League, broadcasters and Players Reps yet? Until any of that happens there’s no point sniping at a player for not having a “BLOOD AND GUTS MILITARY ATTITUDE”.
You should look harder.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/05/health/coronavirus-african-americans-study/index.html
Reports from our Southern neighbour would say differently. There is apparently a measurable disparity in death rate between caucasians and people of colour. This could in my opinion, be a socioeconomic anomaly.
Yeah I agree.
Maybe we’ll see more pro athletes go the Andrew Luck route in life.
Similarly when the immediate threat of the pandemic ends, I suspect many by that time will have re-evaluated what they need and value in life and maybe for some spending their money to consume pro sports like hockey won’t be one of those things anymore. Plus the demand will not be there like it was before; millions who could spend on this luxury before have lost their jobs.
I think some pro athletes who make insane amounts of money are going to realize they are nowhere near essential to society; they are entertainers coming back to a world where not many will be able to or even want to spend on their show.
I cant put words into anyone elses mouth but I read it more as there are other careers with similar sacrifices for much less compensation. Dubynk has to choose what is right for him and his family there is no question there but there is also no gun to his head. He has made more in his career than most of us will in a lifetime ($31.5 million USD).
Theres obviously more intricacies especially being represented by a union and possibly unsafe work conditions, I wouldnt blame any player for not wanting to BUT they do need to understand the financial implications to themselves and the league if there are no games played. To continue being compensated in the range of millions of dollars may require more sacrifice to their time and freedoms.
+1
I said nothing about doing it for my entertainment. I said that he should do it for the benefit of hockey players. Because the viability of their sport is threatened as a multibillion dollar industry which pays them tens of millions of dollars over their career.
And he is not being asked to go over the wall of a trench. He is being asked to spend a month or two in a five-star hotel. Primarily for the benefit of current and future hockey players.
Money is most important to two kinds of people
1. Those that don’t have sufficient to live.
2. Those who determine their personal value by how much they have.
After the pandemic I believe we will see a life value adjustment for many.
Serious cases are higher in the black population.
How ignorant is it of you that just for your entertainment Dubnyk should be forced to leave his family for an unknown length of time?
Blacks also have much higher rates of obesity and diabetes while stress caused by racism is also a factor.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/04/18/835563340/whos-hit-hardest-by-covid-19-why-obesity-stress-and-race-all-matter
defmn,
my RV and golf clubs are there for the duration, Now I am hoping that I can go down in November but who knows. Costing me $193.00 US dollars a month to store it.
Military personnel have to do this all the time for s#$% pay. Not just once. With much higher risks and more at stake.
The ignorance of some of these players as to the fragility of their multi-million dollar salaries, and their industries.
Yes. Devan. You have your bug out FIRE money for the rest of your life. You owe nothing to the sport of hockey and to your hockey brothers.
JimmyV1965,
I recall seeing a news report from the USA (I think it was Illinois ) saying COVID infection rates were higher in black population However this may also be related to socioeconomic status
Oh yeah I can understand that. I’m sure every player has their own life circumstances that may or may not work with being in a bubble for an extended period.
As not having a normal life drags on for all of us, I’m just beginning to think that there is a chance that very few people will get to go back to what their life was like 6 months ago.
Looks like the draft won’t be on June 5/6 as no there is no imminent plan to announce or decide on a date (and no apparent current urgency to do so) – the league has said they need to give teams apx a month between officially setting the date and the event.
I wonder if the league has softened on their desire (well, likely the networks’ desire) to hold the draft in June before the season is either finished or cancelled – due to more push-back than initially anticipated?
https://twitter.com/PierreVLeBrun/status/1258811433669795840
Yeah, no kidding.
Did you get down there to pick up your RV?
As far as I know, any study linking Vitamin D to better outcomes with Covid has shown correlation, not causation. Naturally occurring Vitamin D in the body diminishes with darker skin colour. The darker your skin, the less naturally occurring Vitamin D you have. If Vitamin D plays a big role in Covid, I would think the illness would be significantly more prevalent amongst people with darker skin. I haven’t seen anything saying this is the case. I haven’t seen anything discounting this either.
More like 7 billion standards.
Everybody has a story. 😉
HugThePost,
Dubnyk’s wife was (and maybe still is) having some serious medical issues this season. I can imagine that family life is taking precedence over sport for him at the moment, the virus factor and being away (playing in a bubble) would not be ideal for him or the rest of his family – even with the highly paid contract taken into account.
There is a clinic that i went to in Palm Springs that said the same thing in their newsletter, They suggested taking huge amounts of vitamin D which i have been doing.