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The CFL, a flawed league

By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

‘ lright, before we get things started
A= I just want to offer up a
warning. Fans of the Canadian
Football League aren’t going to be happy
with this article.

While I like watching the BC Lions
play from time to time, on the whole
I’m not a huge fan of the CFL. It has
some major problems that make it very
difficult to be a consistent fan. Now I
know that the CFL has it’s following,
especially here in Vancouver, but let’s be
honest here; odds are that isn’t because it
produces a superior product or offers up
anything special, that’s because of a lack
of options. I mean, and this may be stating
the obvious, if the NFL had franchises in
Canada, would anyone even care about the
CFL?

I don’t think so. How the CFL has the
following that it does, even if it is the only
football option in this country, is a mystery
to me.

First and foremost, I just can’t get
over the playoff format. I honestly don’t
understand how anyone can take a league
seriously where 75 percent of the teams
make the playoffs. That just doesn’t make
sense. I get that there are only eight clubs
in existence, but six of them making the
post-season, and then having to win just
three games to capture the Grey Cup, is
just a joke. You can literally be horrible for
almost the entire season and all you have
to do is beat one team in your conference.

The way that the playoffs
are structured creates almost zero

competitiveness. I mean, for proof of that
all you have to do is look at the Lions
this year. At well over the half way point
of this season B.C. is just 5-7, but if they
can string a few wins together, which in
the parity-driven CFL isn’t exactly hard,
they'll be right in the playoff picture,
despite being pure crap for the bulk of the
campaign.

That situation isn’t unique to this
year’s Lions either. When the Leos won
the Grey Cup back in 2000, they did so
with an 8-10 record. The next season the
Calgary Stampeders won it all with the
same record. Back to back champions with
sub-.500 records? That’s impressive.

Now to be fair, there are positives
to the CFL. After a few years in Canada
players like Jeff Garcia and Doug Flutie
have gone on to extremely successful NFL
careers down south, but in reality, those
are the exceptions. In fact, no CFL MVP
has gone on to even play regularly in the
NFL since Flutie won the award back in
1997.

Still though, there is a certain
hominess about the CFL. It has produced
outstanding people throughout its 51-year
history, such as the late Bob Ackles. Plus,
as previously mentioned, it is the only
high level of football we get to see live
here in Canada. Unfortunately though,
that just isn’t enough. A joke of a playoff
design, frequent franchise relocations, too
many bungled front office decisions to
count, no consistent discipline procedures
and too few teams make the CFL a hard
league to love.

 

 

Lucic once again proves Canucks missed a gem

By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

he overall abysmal drafting record
the Vancouver Canucks have

compiled during their 39-year
history has been well documented. Time
and time again the Canucks have passed on
players that have gone on to become stars
with remarkable consistency. Milan Lucic
of the Boston Bruins has just underlined
that with his new three year, $12.25 million
contract extension.

Plain and simple, Lucic should have
been a Canuck. The now 21-year-old
Vancouver native played two seasons with
the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, winning the
WHL league championship the first year
and the Memorial Cup national title the
second, where he was named tournament
MVP and tied for the lead in scoring.

The Bruins took the 6-foot-4, 220-
pound power forward in the second round,
50" overall, of the 2006 NHL entry draft
and he’s racked up goals, points and

only for Boston instead of Vancouver.

All throughout his career, Lucic’s
improvement has been rapid. With the
Giants he scored nine goals in his inaugural
year and the scouts had him pegged as a
grinder/enforcer. The next season he went
out and notched 30 goals and 68 points.
After making the NHL unexpectedly in
2007-08, Lucic potted eight goals as a
rookie. He more than doubled that last
season with 17 as he improved dramatically
in every offensive category. and boosted his
assist total from 19 to 25, his points from
27 to 45, his shots went from 88 to 97, his
shooting percentage from 9.1 percent to
17.5 and his PIMs from 89 to 136. He also
proved that he was no slouch defensively
either as he went from a -2 in his rookie
campaign to a +17 last year.

Along the way he became a folk hero
in Boston and a YouTube sensation with a
number of colossal hits highlighted by his
bone-shattering hit on Toronto’s Mike Van
Ryn in October last year where he drove

“A Vancouver-born kid with a Cam Neely-like game who
played for the Giants in the Canucks’ own backyard? It’s
tough to miss that.”

penalty minutes with ease. The Canucks
meanwhile, in yet another shining example
of former GM Dave Nonis’ ineptitude,
dealt away their second round pick, the
38", at the trade deadline for Keith Carney.

While Lucic has gone on to win gold
for Canada at the World Juniors and has
established himself as one of the best
young stars in the game, an aging Carney
lasted just 18 games, struggled to get into
the line-up and scored and intimidating
zero goals with two assists. Ouch.

You could even make the argument
that Lucic should have been Vancouver’s
first round pick, which we used to take
mercurial forward Michael Grabner
14" overall. Now, the jury is still out on
Grabner, and I know that hindsight is 20/20
and that plenty of teams passed on Lucic,
but Vancouver had the winning hand right
in front of them with Lucic. A Vancouver-
born kid with a Cam Neely-like game who
played for the Giants in the Canucks’ own
backyard? It’s tough to miss that. Now,
Lucic is indeed looking like the next Neely,

the Maple Leaf defenseman right through
the boards at Boston’s TD Banknorth
Garden.

This summer Lucic was invited to
Team Canada’s Olympic orientation camp
and while he is a long shot to make the
squad, the fact that he was even invited at
just 20 years old says something.

Now Lucic is a Bruin for the
foreseeable future and more than fits the
mould there. He’s a big winger who can
score, hit, pass, fight and set up plays.
Meanwhile, the Canucks aren’t exactly
loaded with young impact players,
especially with the regression of Cody
Hodgson, Grabner and goaltender Cory
Schneider in training camp this year and
2009 first rounder Jordan Schroeder still at
least a year away.

Every time you see Lucic decimate
an opposing player or score a clutch goal
for the Bruins this year, you won’t be alone
among Canuck fans who are left stuck
thinking about what could have, and what
should have been.

Milan Lucic