Goalie

The chatter about Winnipeg's record being inflated by play against the eastern teams can go for every team in the west as there have been few in-division games so far this season. All of the Rider's wins have come against eastern teams as well. All we know is that every single western team is better than every single eastern team. But I don't think we have any clue about how the western teams stack up against each other yet. Not enough games yet. - direct quote from a poster on TSN.ca Speaks the truth there doesn't he. The riders haven't beat anyone from the west yet either... Getting kind of tired week after week hearing about if the bombers are for real from the people at TSN.

GDT eh, K.. so for those lucky enough to be going to the game, leave early.. all the media are saying to leave early cuz of the construction on bishop or pembina or something... Some helpful hints but don't apply to the people on this forum cuz you are all very well aware but.... Don't park on campus unless you absolutely have too.. Park at GIant Tiger or Future shop and walk. I hope people don't complain about the traffic though, there is nothing that can be done about it and to be honest, i think the media people on twitter might be over blowing it a little bit. Was down pembina the other night and honestly, It didn't seem that bad, no worse than other areas of the city under going road repairs. You'd think Winnipegers would understand by now that we have 2 season here in the peg.. Winter and Construction.

"Time to blow it up" "Bring back Jyles"

Fact is, as much as i agree, these new jerseys are about making money, if you want a royal blue jersey, bomber store sells them. That's the bottom line here with reebok and the CFL.... making money. They already are selling the royal blues, i got one. I don't care for this new third jersey too much but i'll be the first to admit that i'll bet they sell a fair amount of them.

The serbian pavillion smells quite amazing, drove by it with the girlfriend last night on our way to Rona and smelled amazing.. The food they make has quite the nice aroma to it.

Think i've changed my mind on Buff a wee bit, think he would sign here. He doesn't really speak to the media, keeps to himself, he enjoys fishing and rumours are he likes ice fishing here in the winter time, the guys home is like seriously 3 hours away. Buff is a good player, we will see how Maurice uses him but him and wheeler were developing nice chemistry at the end of the season. When asked about moving to winnipeg he said "close to home, passionate fans". I get the impression that buff prefers playing in a small market over a bigger one, If i had to guess, i'd strongly guess that if buff has a few teams on his no trade list, it's teams like Toronto, Montreal, New York and even Philly. Seems to me like he likes being in a small market that is very close to his home in Minnesota.

Pretty hard to blame this on the riders, really, what do they have to do? babysit the guy all the time? Sounds like it but... My guess is this guy is let go pretty soon, taman even said he's down to his last strike. Next time he's gone.

Crazy fact that seriously made me go really? that can't be true, but it is. Over on the CFL.CA and bluebombers.com page for that matter, there is a video preview of this weeks game and in that preview the voice over guy said the bombers have allowed a league low 2, yup 2, TWO rushing touchdowns. That's crazy. Guess it doesn't take in to account qb's though, i'm not sure actually but that is crazy.. Only have given up 2 rushing tds all season so far.

It goes without saying but in the NFL, it's easier to run the ball because of the extra down, that makes a huge difference, I'm sure if the CFL had 4 downs, you'd see more running plays also but the reality of the CFL is, you only have 2 downs really to make a first. A good running game IMO in the CFL means if on 1st down, you run the ball, you get 5 or more yards.. a bad running game is 4 yards or less on 1st down... A good running game with 3 minutes left to go in the game should allow you to run the clock out, a bad running game means you probably don't. I don't think you will ever see a run first team in the CFL though, regardless of who they have at running back, what you do see though is teams with strong running backs tend to be able to control the time of possession battle and in the CFL, that's important for sure. Running the ball effectively wears down a defence, it keeps a defence honest, if all you are doing is passing the ball, it sets you up for failure more often than not though because the other team can send the house really all the time. In the CFL, you do however see running backs utilized in many different ways, not just running but as a passing threat out of the back field, little screen or little 2 yard pass to the back and he can turn that in to a first down.. However with all that being said, i remember a couple seasons ago, our last playoff victory in winnipeg i believe, vs hamilton, chris garrett ran the ball down their throats and basically we won the game cuz hamilton couldn't stop him. I guess in the CFL, it is a passing league but at times, later in the year when it gets colder, a good running game can win you games.

Riders have a guy named ryan smith don't they? Taj Smith ain't playing, he's not even making the trip.

Can't make it tomorrow, got things to do but will be at the banjo bowl... Have never seen the riders live actually, yup. But the banjo bowl will be nice. It will be on the TV for me too and the nice thing about tomorrows game is it's going to be cuthbert and suitor calling the game, they mentioned last week how excited they were to head to Winnipeg to call it so no Rod Black.

I really don't understand the point in this Jersey, it really does make very little sense, It's pretty ugly actually, unless the colour there is a bit distorted, which i'm sure it is, but still.. i don't like it at all. As for Duck Dynasty, it's not the best show on TV that's for sure but the message they deliver is pretty solid, Family comes first. In the age of reality shows that concentrate so much on drama and BS, it's nice to see one that puts family first. It's entertaining, it's a good 30 minutes of tv, it's not great but these days, what really is.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuXzc8LIMAA2pf-.jpg:large There it is. And i'll be the first to admit, I ain't buying that piece of crap. lol Does look to have some royal blue, but also has some black also. Not very nice really in my opinion. Maybe I'll buy one at the end of the season "clearance' sale for 10 bucks.

Jason Vega ✔ @VegaJason Can't wait for this signature jersey to be revealed already! It's KILLING me not to say ANYTHING but can't spoil a surprise! #induetime Guess he has to say that though.

That's literally a direct quote from our friend Goalie here. He does not want to get into the playoffs and lose. Hmm, not exactly. I said i don't want them to make the playoffs and get swept, i said when they make the playoffs, i want them to be able to actually compete. You have your opinion and i have mine, it is what it is. This reminds me a lot of the bomber off season with people prediciting we would suck for sure and be competing with ottawa and montreal for dead last. Gotta wait till the season starts to see how things unfold, said it 1000 x now, with some average goaltending, we might just make the playoffs and who knows what happens from there... Look at colorado last year, varlamov had a career year, basically carried them to the playoffs, can pavelec do the same? Guess we will have to wait and see.

Quick Doughty Kopitar But, the realities of Winnipeg is we are not in the position to do that... we don't have assets to trade right now, I understand there are other ways to build but until you have that core group of young players to build around and you start to accumulate some prospects, you cant go out and make some moves to help you. We don't have that right now... we have finally started to actually build our prospect pool, can't just go trading them away for quick fixes right now. Maybe one day, we do but now is not that time.Patience is needed, think the majority of people understand that and understand the market we live in and get that big name free agents aren't going to sign here if they have other options... Who do you trade to help the team get better? Scheifele? Trouba? Bogo? Little? Kane? Our young core group of guys? Nope, ladd? wheeler? buff? Enstrom? What would they bring back? addition by subtraction? reality is, we don't have assets to make the moves those other teams have made. Like it or not, it's just the way it is here. Think most people understand this, think it's a very vocal minority that don't.

Hell, i'd go as far to say that we all agree that royal blue should be their jersey colour, doesn't seem to be anyone actually disagreeing with that.

No the pissing and moaning as you call it is trying to send a message that we as fans want better. I hate the current jerseys we have, so much so that I won't buy one, my hope is that enough people follow suit but doesn't appear that is happening. yeah but who are you sending that message too? a bunch of fans on a message board? what's that accomplish, like i said, i love the royal blue jerseys myself, even own one.. it's a kenny ploen one... but the reason it doesn't appear to be happening is probably cuz, well, in the big picture, the 100 people or so who post on this site, unfortunately we don't really matter, if we all picked up a phone though or emailed them or did something other than complain on a fan forum, maybe something would get done.

Trying to win now is why a team like the leafs haven't won a cup in 40 years really... same reason philly hasn't won in forever, The good teams are the patient teams who build from with in and then when they are ready, they add the final pieces to make that playoff run and win the stanley cup. Bostons chicagos, LA's, all went through some tough times, Chicago was playing to half empty arenas like 8 years ago... There is no quick fix in sports, it's been proven time and time again that quick fixes dont happen. As difficult as it is, we need to be patient and let this team grow, when they feel they are ready, they will make those moves that will help them get over the hump. Right now though, might not be the time, but with average goaltending, maybe who knows what could happen, maybe this season we see them actually progress and make some moves around the deadline to help them get in but i'm concerned with the goaltending for sure, pavelec, i don't really think he is a starting goaltender and i do wish they would have moved on from him, i think he is indeed holding the team back a bit... So many 1 goal losses the last couple seasons, hell, could be argued with half decent goaltending and an effective powerplay, which we haven't had since they have been here, this team probably does make the playoffs.

Theres nothing wrong with duck dynasty, it's about a familly who sticks by each other no matter what.. the ups and downs but they are always there for eachother and familly always comes first for them. Duck Dynasty sends a good message to people... What it says is... in the end, all you got is your family and friends.

I've said it before, i'll say it once again... with just average goaltending, top 30 goaltending from our starter, we probably are closer than i Think even. Give us Lehtonen and give Dallas Pavelec and i bet those roles would have been reversed. I think the only goal is to win the stanley cup, just like in the CFL, the goal is to win the grey cup.. playoffs are nice but if you are swept in the first round... it doesn't really mean much. I'd rather have a team that competes in the playoffs ran than lose in the first round... Yeah playoffs would be great but when we get there, i don't want us to be swept, i want us to actually have a chance.

Dallas did make the playoffs... oh right, they lost to anaheim in 6 games.

Lapo is a good guy, very friendly for sure.. met him a few times now and has been very very nice. But the guy isn't exactly what i'd call a motivator and he did like to micro-manage things about too much. Good guy but probably not really a good coach, might be a good OC or assitant but i'm not convinced he can or ever will be a good head coach. Just lacks certain things IMO.

I certainly disagree with the idea of wars but.. you know what, those guys who put their lives on the line so i can sit here and say whatever i want, well...gotta respect them for that. Without war, we'd all be speaking german right now and would be talking about soccer.

When's the last time montreal signed a big name free agent even? or Toronto? no david clarkson doesn't count... he's not exactly a superstar in my opinion, Look at american markets like Buffalo, Minny outside of guys who are "from there" or who have "ties" to the area, Vanek lives in minnesota, parise from ND, Suter from Wisconsin but all have ties to the minnesota area. Look at Florida even, free agents only sign there if they are over paid, carolina, hell Atlanta when they were around.. the list goes on and on of places that don't really sign the big name free agents, like you said, those guys have choices and they can sign wherever they want... normally its to win, When LA was struggling a few years ago, not many guys signed there even, Anaheim has been good for a long time now, not many big free agent signings... Basically it's easier to mention the places that do sign the big name free agents cuz reality is, it's only a handful of teams really and it's generally the same teams every season. The rangers and flyers come to mind as teams who generally do sign the free agent names, what has that got them though? Not much, it's got them to the playoffs, even to the finals but no stanley cups. Look at the teams who have won the stanley cups recently, the bostons, chicagos, LA's, for the most part, outside of one or 2 free agent signings or "trades", these teams have been built from with in.