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smackitsakic
06-20-2005, 01:46 PM
Alright so it's not Bronco related but it is Swift Current hockey related that is for sure. Who from here all made it to the dinner last night?
For those of you who missed, you missed a pretty good time. The supper was great (thank you Caddy's) and the auction went well. A Roger Nielson framed painting was purchased for $300+ from Habschied (says alot about the charachter of Habschied AND Nielson), an autographed Team Canada worlds stick went for $400+ and an autographed Team Canada World Jrs. jersey went for $800+, mighty fine work for those who were bidding!
The highlight of the night was by far the Mcguire/Millar show - boy can those two talk and talk well. I was anticipating things to be a bit slow, having the two share their wealth of hockey knowledge but i was way off. They put on a good, upbeat hour sharing their hockey experiences and stories from around the globe. It was interesting to hear some of the things they had to say about Scotty Bowman and the traits he possessed. Pierre went into a bit about his upbringing and how he got into hockey. Alot of people think he is annoying but you gotta give him one thing, and that is that he is passionate about the game of hockey and he sticks to his beliefs 100%. It was nice to hear somebody being honest, about how hockey needs to be pulled out of the terrible markets, and about how terrible of a coach Tony Granato is, etc.
The two offered some pretty interested insider insights on topics such as Todd Bertuzzi, the lockout, and the proposed rule changes. It was nice to be able to sit there and listen to people who are actually in the know, and who actually have credibility behind what they were saying. It is easy to see why these two are so liked around the NHL, especially Millar. He is a true class act and it's no wonder why he had such huge hockey stars on That's Hockey. I completely agree with Mcguire in that the offensive zone needs to be opened more, pushing the blue line out more towards the neutral zone. Their thoughts on having less teams in the NHL equating to having even less scoring in the game was an interested perspective, one that i've never thought of before. Make sense now.
I think it was good of the two to offer a question segment from the crowd. It led to some good discussion on the leagues best players, the leagues best prospects, Bertuzzi, etc. For those of you who weren't there, Mcguire listed Scott Niedermeyer as the best player in hockey right now, and listed Rick Nash and Joe Thornton as his two picks to be the best in the league in five years. When asked about prospects, he informed the crowd that, other than Dion Phaneuf, the best three prospects in the world according to him are Sydney Crosby, Shea Weber, and Phil Kessel.
Good job on the banquet to all those who put it on, it was a great night!

Oh-Vee
06-20-2005, 04:10 PM
what did they have to say about Bertuzzi?

smackitsakic
06-20-2005, 05:47 PM
Loud Pete, you got it, and i got you, all of you. Pretty soon i'm gonna know everybody that posts on here. Might as well just set up a weekly coffee amongst us Bronco fan posters :groovy:
As far as the comments on Bertuzzi, it was interesting but Pierre said they had to be careful with what they were saying b/c of legal issues. They were at the game when Naslund got pasted by Moore and heard some of the things that were said by certain members of the Canucks - i'm assuming Pierre and Gord have been summoned by the courts or whatnot as being witnesses.
They were both on the side of the NHL. They commented on how Bertuzzi's suspension more than likely caused them to lose to the Flames in the playoffs. Pierre said that the Canucks PP% was just 8% in the playoffs whereas with Bertuzzi, it would have been up around 17%. They were asked questions by a few people in the crowd about what they thought of the punishment. They responded by saying that they believe that whenever the NHL comes back, Todd needs to sit out longer than everybody else. Obviously he's missed a year of hockey from this, but so has everybody else. Their views were the same in that they believe Todds suspension should be further extended when play resumes.
They were asked the question of "what would have happened in the 5 or 6 guys didn't pile on Moor and Bertuzzi afterwards". To that, they made a comment that it was irrelevant. Gord used an example of a car driving down the road and a person throws a rock through the window, causing the car to spin out of control and crash. Regardless of the events that followed afterwards, the rock directly caused the crash - same with Bertuzzi. It was his hit that caused everything afterwards.

Scout
06-21-2005, 05:50 PM
The Sportmans dinner was awesome. Old Dave at Caddy Shack makes an awesome steak and the mushrooms were the best ever. Seemed to run fairley smooth for the first one. Hats off to Habscheid for bringing in McQuire and Miller. I talked to these guys quite a bit and they were having a great time. They love small town hockey and fans.

Hats off to the Bronco brass. Good to see Dean,Dave and Joe there showing their support for the Legionnaires. I think this will be good for the Legionnaires money wise. They have a new enthusiasm for the upcoming season.

The plans have already started for next years second annual Sportmans dinner and contact has already been made for the guest speakers. I will tell you one thing that these guys are ten times as big as Miller and McQuire. Once confirmed i will post who they are. Habscheid being involved is a big plus for this community having the contacts he has.

Scout