Videos » an NHL head coach. His first game le

It is true. Once the final regular season game is over - Edmonton at Saskatchewan on Saturday night - a brand new season will begin that may only last one game for each team, and won’t be more than three. Every player on every team will have that conclusive thought on their mind and every fan should look at it at that way. Whether you’re the Calgary Stampeders with the best regular season record or the cross- over team, the truth is that if the football bounces your way you will find yourself in Vancouver the last week of November. The problem is that a football is a very odd shape and can bounces in many directions at any given moment. So you do have to control the football, which means you have to control how you play football more than ever as the regular season closes and the playoff begin. In Hamilton, the Tiger-Cats did what they had to do to win. A special teams return for a touchdown, a turnover which created a short field touchdown, and two interception returns for touchdowns. Now that is a skill, an ability for sure, but you cant depend on it; you just have to create it in the moment. Hamilton has a very limited running game due to injury. Without CJ Gable and depending on the concussion status of Mossis Madu, it may be back to Nic Grigsby as the third back. He has similar talent but cant be expected to know the playbook as clearly as you do if you had been performing in it for the last 17 games. I would have liked to see Zach Collaros run more as a quarterback. He is a good athlete and if mobile on purpose it opens up areas of the offence just by the threat of that mobility. Hamilton needs Andy Fantuz back ASAP from injury. He is a different type of target and a physical presence downfield. Fantuz and Bakari Grant are the big receivers. Luke Tasker, Sam Giguere and Brandon Banks are the little receivers and Terrell Sinkfield is the speed receiver. A nice balance of abilities but you need all of them all the time. With Ottawa they close out the season next week. I do feel goal No. 2 has been accomplished: finding a core of players, and goal No. 1, creating an enthusiastic fan base, is genuine. But there is more to go, a lot more. Not sure much you can take from the Stampeders’ loss to Winnipeg because the weather was brutal and the Bombers were experimenting with on field talent. The drama does relate to Jon Cornish and his concussion. Obviously we will not see him until the West Final especially considering this was his second concussion in one season. What could you have possible done to prevent it? What premeditated planned out decision is out there? He hit his head on the turf in an extremely aggressive way on a completely clean and legal tackle. At this point of the year football is like gambling. You roll the dice hoping and even praying to the football Gods (there are more than one) that you avoid injury to all in every way. You have to play and hope for the best and here is hoping Cornish has a complete recovery as he is great for the league and the Stamps need him. Especially the way Edmonton is playing. And speaking of Edmonton, is there a more confident team in CFL football right now? Going into that game that Edmonton won 37-3, the Lions really needed it. Not only to enhance their playoff opportunity but just for their confidence and belief in their ability. It was Edmontons best game when you consider how effective the Lions defense was until that Saturday afternoon. They were first in just about every significant defensive category but did not perform as so throughout the game. They allowed yards rushing and yards passing and on offence they did not throw for over a hundred yards and did not run for much more than 60. I dont think BC is as bad as this one game indicates but I am wondering if Edmonton is just that good? The Eskimos’ efficiency is a good story but the best story is the Montreal Alouettes’ resurgence as a Grey Cup contender. Jonathan Crompton did it again. Nothing spectacular, 13 completions in 26 attempts for 251 yards and a touchdown but the key here is no interceptions. Then defensively Ricky Ray threw for only 209, only seven yards more than the previous game three weeks ago at the Rogers Centre. Defensively, Montreal knows how to play Ray effectively. Interesting fact here is that in Cromptons 251 yards passing, 181 went to Duron Carter. That is only 70 yards to others. Of Crompton’s 13 completions, 11 went to Carter. The other 2 to SJ Green. There is good and bad in that because you know what to defend but can you do it? Tyler Sutton, great game. 135 yards rushing on only 23 carries. Crompton, Carter and Sutton are emerging as reasons for success on the football field for Montreal. And Bear Woods too at linebacker. He is surprise performer No. 4 on this resurgent Alouettes team. All things considered, a Montreal-Edmonton Grey Cup is a real possibility. Swell Goedkoop .S. -- Carl-Antoine Delisle snapped a tie in the third period with his second goal of the game to lead the Tigres past Cape Breton 4-3 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Wednesday as Victoriaville won its eighth in a row. Swell Waterfles . The punch happened in the fourth quarter of Milwaukees 116-102 loss to the Kings on Wednesday when the two players became entangled while battling for rebounding position. http://www.swellkopen.be/. Everton Preview West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has been around the game long enough to not get too high when things are going well and not get too low when they arent. Swell Fles .com) - Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mat Latos had an arthroscopic procedure performed on his right elbow last week, the teams official site reported Wednesday. Swell Drinkfles . Its like being on Broadway, everything you do matters. Id want to be good though! I couldnt play here if I wasnt very good. #83217388 / gettyimages.WINNIPEG -- Claude Noel was fired as head coach of the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday morning, but general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff revealed the axe began swinging on Tuesday night. Cheveldayoff told reporters at a press conference Sunday afternoon that he first contacted newly hired Jets head coach Paul Maurice on Tuesday after the team played poorly again, mustering only 14 shots in a 4-2 loss to the Lightning. "I ended up reaching out to Paul after the Tampa game, just to see if I was going to go in a direction like that if he had an interesta" said Cheveldayoff, who also dismissed assistant Perry Pearn. "At that point in time, it still wasnt something that I was ready to do, but (Saturday) night I went to ownership and talked to them about making the change." The Jets lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3 on Saturday, giving up four goals in the first nine minutes of the second period. Fans booed the team off the ice. "Its not just the last two games, it is the consistency factor," Cheveldayoff said, adding the team kept taking a step forward and then two steps back to stay around .500. The club is 19-23-5 and 10 points back of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The loss also put the Jets on a season-worst five-game losing streak, matching the longest regulation-game losing skid since the team moved to Winnipeg from Atlanta prior to the 2011-2012 season. After getting the go-ahead from Jets owner Mark Chipman to fire Noel, Cheveldayoff said he called Maurice again and they reached a verbal agreement on a contract until the end of this season. "We dont have anything on paper, we have a handshake over the phone," Cheveldayoff said. "Hes flying in here (Sunday) night and going in that fashion. Again, hes very passionate about getting here. When we talked about what he would need, basically it was like, What time is the flight?" Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Maurice had been working as a TV analyst for TSN & NHL Network after spending the 2012-13 season as head coach of Magnitogorsk Metallurg of the Kontinental Hockey League. The club earned a 27-13-12 record and missed the playoffs. Maurice inherits a Jets team that has struggled in its third season in Winnipeg, thanks in part to inconsistent goaltending and defensive breakdowns. The 46-year-old has been behind the bench for 1,084 games as an NHL head coach. His first game leading the Jets will be Monday at MTS Centre against the Phoenix Coyotes. This will be the third franchise he has coached, after the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes and the Toronto Maple Leafs. He got the Hurricanes to the 2002 Stanley Cup final and made five total playoff appearances with Carolina. "Hiring Paul Maurice is something that we feel very good about as far as the opportunity that we have to hire an experienced National Hockey League coach to come in here and begin putting his stamp on the team, and also on the evaluation process that were all going to be going through," said Cheveldayoff, who was given a contract extension last September through the 2017-18 season. Hes never worked with Maurice, but the hockey world is small and his background checks produced good references. "There was one common theme; (hes) extremely professional, extremely prepared, extremely knowledgeable about the game and a guy that is very direct in one-on-one with his people and his players," Cheveldayoff said. Cheveldayoff, who called Noel a "special" and "caring" person, said he met with him and Pearn Sunday morning at MTS Centre to tell them theyd been let go. The GM says Noel was "very respectful" and theyll meet again in the coming days. Hired after the Atlanta Thrashers moved to WWinnipeg before the 2011-12 season, Noel went 80-79-18 during his tenure with the Jets.dddddddddddd He had been given a one-year extension last June through the 2014-15 season. The team was scheduled to practice late Sunday morning at another local rink, but it was cancelled when Cheveldayoff drove there after the dismissals to give players the news. Captain Andrew Ladd and his teammates shouldered the blame for the coaching changes. "I think it always comes as a shock," Ladd said after the team meeting. "I dont think anyone expected it this morning so its not an easy day. Two good people lose their jobs. Ultimately, it came down to the performance of all the guys in here. Its tough for everyone." Forward Olli Jokinen, a veteran in his 16th NHL season, agreed the players should feel responsible Noel and Pearn had to pay the price for the teams shortcomings. "All of us should be embarrassed that were at the point we have to change the coach," he said. Maurices familiarity with a hockey-crazy market such as Toronto should bode well in Winnipeg, where players are heavily scrutinized by the media and criticized by fans who pack the sold-out MTS Centre. "This is a tough market to play," Jokinen said. "Any Canadian market you play, you know expectations are high. Youve got a lot of media attention, youve got 15,000 GMs watching the games and another couple hundred thousand at home. "So its a place, or any Canadian market, that you as a player you have to put all that aside and focus on doing your job the best you can. Thats all that you can do." He sensed, though, that players were getting easily frustrated and playing "a little bit scared, afraid of making the mistakes." Chevelydayoff, who said his own job "is still a work in progress," admitted he also bears some responsibility for the players he gave Noel to work with. "Ive sat back over the course of 24 hours or whatever and sit there and say, Can I do something else? What else can I do?" he said. "But what I have to be cognizant of is that I dont do something that pushes the franchise backwards from an asset standpoint. Again, this is not without responsibility on my side here, too." The players acknowledged theyll be auditioning for their jobs, although none have played for Maurice. Defenceman Dustin Byfuglien, who moved to right wing for the game against the Blue Jackets, denied Noels message was getting old, but said a new guy in charge might help the team. "I think so," Byfuglien said. "Just someone coming in and no one really knowing him, it could be good for us. "Just getting a new face, a different guy with different attitudes, see how it goes." Retired former Hurricanes goaltender Kevin Weekes, now an analyst on Hockey Night in Canada, gave a glowing endorsement for Maurice to a Canadian Press reporter. "In my entire career, he was the best coach that I played for, both technically, his ability to relate to players, how he treated people, his preparation, you name it." Weekes said. "He was the best coach I played for in the National Hockey League. I played for some good ones, Ive been around a lot of really good people, but hands-down hes the best coach I played for." Cheveldayoff couldnt say whether other changes are on the horizon for the Jets, but he thinks hiring Maurice is a step in the right direction. "We believe that we are underachieving," Cheveldayoff said. "Now its up to the players in some respects to show what theyre all about. "But at the end of the day, we have to take a hard, long look at what other steps there are maybe to move forward." ' ' '