Canadian Crossing

2024 CFL Week 19 preview

Welcome to Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. The States get Monday off for Indigenous Peoples Day (aka Columbus Day) but in Canada, thoughts are of turkey and football and family and friends.

Toronto is coming off a bye to travel its shortest road trip into the other division in Winnipeg. The Blue Bombers need a win to get home field in the West while the Argos get a playoff spot with a win.

No Friday doubleheader because of the holiday so get all your snacks in as the teams fight for playoff position.

CBC and sometimes Citytv (in western markets) get the Battle of Alberta in hockey and now CTV carries its first Battle of Alberta in decades. CTV had the week off last week yet will have exclusive Saturday afternoon contests through the end of the regular season.

The Elks already have the season series. Calgary's slight advantage is playing this contest at home where the record is a lot better. The teams aren't playing for the CFL playoffs.

The BC Lions have a rough road trip into the sometimes loud confines of Mosaic Stadium in Regina. The Roughriders clinch second place with a win. The Vancouver Canucks have the night off for the first Hockey Night in Canada of the season and Saskatchewan doesn't have a NHL franchise.

The Lions have won 5 of the past 7 meetings between the two teams.

The Canadian Thanksgiving will have East playoff teams with Ottawa at Montréal. The Alouettes clinched the division yet the RedBlacks want a home playoff game. Tune in for Rod Smith and Duane Forde and lots of talk about turkey.

CBS Sports Network is required to carry the Canadian Thanksgiving game, easily done on a Monday afternoon on a U.S. holiday.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats get to enjoy a nice autumn weekend with turkey and the trimmings before jumping back into practice on Tuesday. They are hoping to have another week with slim playoff hopes.

CBS Sports Network

Monday
Ottawa @ Montréal, 1p

CTV

Saturday
Edmonton @ Calgary, 3p

TSN

Friday
Toronto @ Winnipeg, 8:30p
Saturday
BC @ Saskatchewan, 7p
Monday
Ottawa @ Montréal, 1p

Bye week: Hamilton

MATHIEU BETTS PICK-6 🚨🤯

The Lions defensive lineman comes up CLUTCH to extend the lead 🔥#CFL pic.twitter.com/AlDzoroevR

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 5, 2024

The BC Lions had a narrow 9-8 lead through 3 quarters with Calgary in town. The Stampeders have been terrible on the road and the Lions were scared to play in Vancouver.

Somehow, the Lions defence asked if they could fix this problem. The Mathieu Betts Pick-6 and TJ Lee deflecting a backward pass and running that back for a touchdown in a small time frame gave the Lions that momentum to finally win in Vancouver, home of the 2024 Grey Cup.

The Stampeders produced over 100 more offensive yards than the BC yet the Lions defence was the difference. 

We get that the Calgary fan base is livid because the team didn't make the playoffs. Let's look at how rare this is:

Before 2024, Calgary had a 3-year block (2002-2004) without the playoffs. Outside of that timeframe, the Stampeders have been in the CFL playoffs since 1989. From 2005-2023, the Stampeders had double digit wins every year except 2007 (7-10-1), 2021 (8-6 with 14 game schedule), and 2023 (6-12).

Then again, the last Calgary playoff win was the 2018 Grey Cup over Ottawa.

Dave Dickenson had his slim playoff hopes disappear in the stadium where he had success as a player for the Lions. Give the team a chance to rebound.

2024 CFL Week 18 preview

2024 CFL Week 17 preview

Winnipeg came into Hamilton with a 7-game winning streak while Hamilton had a 4-game winning streak. Even then, the Tiger-Cats rough start was difficult to overcome.

The Boveralls, Bo Levi Mitchell wearing overalls for luck, may have given the Ticats a glimmer of hope. The Blue Bombers also had a rough start to their season at 2-6 but Mike O'Shea had faith in his players.

Montréal has the better record but Winnipeg is the hottest team in the CFL.

Milt Stegall won't have to wear the overalls anymore since the streak is snapped.

2024 CFL Week 16 preview

2024 CFL Week 15 preview

Edmonton 1, Saskatchewan 0 after first quarter. Second quarter had 32 points: 18 for Saskatchewan and 14 for Edmonton.

Samuel Emilus scored an 88-yard touchdown for the Roughriders' first major of the game. Defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. had his 8th interception, tops in the league.

The Edmonton running attack had averaged 124.9 yards per game yet the Saskatchewan defence held the Elks to only 30 yards on 15 carries.

2024 CFL Week 14 preview: Revenge games

2024 CFL Week 13 preview: Touchdown Pacific comes to Victoria, BC

Winnipeg (10-6) has a 8-game winning streak and a home playoff game. The Blue Bombers have the tiebreaker with BC and Saskatchewan, both the other West playoffs teams.

Saskatchewan (8-7-1) has a 3-game winning streak. The Roughriders maintain a ½ game lead on the Lions (8-8) for second place. Saskatchewan hasn't hosted a playoff game since 2021.

If the Roughriders win, Saskatchewan clinches second place. If BC wins, the Lions take over second place, needing a BC win or tie versus Montréal in Week 20 or a Saskatchewan loss to Calgary in Week 21 to get a home playoff game.

The only way Winnipeg won't win the division is if Saskatchewan wins out and Winnipeg loses out. The BC Lions can't catch Winnipeg for the top spot, thanks to the tiebreaker.

The 2 Alberta teams — Edmonton (5-11) and Calgary (4-10-1) — will miss the CFL playoffs, the first time in modern league history (1954-) that Alberta will not have a team in the playoffs. Calgary had made 18 straight trips to the playoffs, the longest active streak and 4th-longest in CFL history.

The only thing that changed in the top 3 teams in the East was that Ottawa (8-6-1) clinched a playoff spot, even with a 3-game losing streak. Montréal (11-3-1) is destined for a home playoff game at Stade Molson for the East final. The RedBlacks have a ½ game lead for second place over Toronto (8-7).

Hamilton (6-10) can tie the Argos and has the tiebreaker. Any Toronto win or Hamilton loss give the Argos a playoff spot. There will be no crossover since the Tiger-Cats max is 16 points, which wouldn't be enough points to cross.

2024 CFL preview

We finally get my dream, of sorts. We finally get 2 Canadian quarterbacks starting for CFL teams in the same week. The Edmonton Elks start Tre Ford in Calgary on Saturday. BC starts Nathan Rourke in the Lions' key encounter in Regina later that night.

Ford and Rourke have started games, just not in the same week, much less the same day.

The Ottawa Senators' last playoff game ended in double overtime in the spring of 2017, losing Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. The Ottawa RedBlacks' last playoff game was the 2018 Grey Cup, losing 27-16 to the Calgary Stampeders.

The federal capital has other sports teams (such as the Ottawa 67s) but to have such droughts on a major league level, especially with expanded playoffs in the NHL in 2020 and the CFL schedule wiped out that same year.

Ottawa fans deserve far better than this from major sports teams. Hopefully, an Ottawa RedBlacks postseason game will help the healing.

Since goalie Linus Ullmark signed a 4-year extension to stay in the federal capital, maybe the Senators can also make the playoffs.

Alberta will not be represented in the CFL playoffs for the first time in 78 YEARS 😳 pic.twitter.com/n3rUga1MKm

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 6, 2024

TSN reported that 1945 was the last time a team from Alberta didn't compete for the Grey Cup. 3 Down Nation reported the same fact. My friend Guy from Regina, who goes to a lot of Saskatchewan games, told me that isn't true.

Turns out that while the teams didn't play a regular season, the Calgary Stampeders defeated the Regina Roughriders in the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU) semifinals. Winnipeg downed Calgary 9-6 in the WIFU final to go to the Grey Cup.

From what I can tell, there was no football/rugby in Alberta (professionally) from 1941-1944. The Calgary Bronks did compete for the Grey Cup playoffs from 1935-1940 as well as University of Alberta (1934), Calgary Altomahs (1932-1933), Calgary Altomahs-Tigers (1931), and Calgary Tigers (1929-1930). By my count, 1928 was the last time there wasn't a team from Alberta in the playoffs leading to the Grey Cup, not counting World War II.

The CFL modern era started in 1954 so we know very little of life before then. We would be curious why 1945 is being reported when that doesn't click with information we have. If you have a solid answer, let us know in the comments.

The 111th Grey Cup will have a new home this November! 🇺🇸

On November 17th, the #GreyCup will be exclusively televised within the U.S. on @CBSSports at 6PM ET!

💻: https://t.co/q9ThaGFqQk pic.twitter.com/YjjzBGJGHH

— CFL (@CFL) October 10, 2024

The Jonas Brothers may have played a part in this scenario. Not a sentence I normally type.

The U.S. not having the playoffs on television is a sore spot in the CFL TV deal. Getting the Grey Cup on CBS Sports Network makes so much sense. Even ESPN pulled that off with its TV deal with the CFL.

CFL+ is available for the first 2 rounds in the United States and outside of Canada and the United States through all the playoffs, including the Grey Cup.

2024 CFL preseason schedule

CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage

Winnipeg @ Hamilton: Rod Smith/Duane Forde/Matthew Scianitti
Calgary @ BC: Farhan Lalji/Glen Suitor/Shantelle Chand
Saskatchewan @ Edmonton: Dustin Nielson/Glen Suitor/Ryan Rishaug

Dustin Nielson returned to the CFL this week and didn't have to board a plane. Well, maybe the light rail to the Stadium stop on the Blue Line. Farhan Lalji called his second game, second week in a row, both in Vancouver.

The CFL on TSN panel was intact except for Jim Barker in for Davis Sanchez on Saturday along with regulars Kate Beirness, Matt Dunigan, and Milt Stegall.

The Straight Fire segment is a great chance to get in university football highlights as well as younger players. There are tons of small hockey leagues in Canada and you feel like hardly anyone pays attention to university football in Canada.

Someone will need to go west for Saturday unless Rod Smith and Duane Forde will do their version of the Amazing Race Canada (a CTV/Bell Media show). The idea of Gord Miller and Matt Dunigan in Alberta for the Battle of Alberta on CTV would make me a bit happy.

logo credit: CFL
Twitter captures: @TSN_Sports (x2); @CFL
photo credits: TSN/CFL; CFL

A recap of CBC Saturday night Canadian films in the 2024 offseason

The NHL regular season started last night for all the Canadian teams, except for the Ottawa Senators. Hockey Night in Canada returns to the CBC on Saturday nights. This kicks off a months-long hiatus away from Canadian films on CBC on Saturday nights.

The 2024 offseason followed the 2023 pattern of fewer "family films" and more debuts. We also saw fewer themed collections.

We had some interesting debuts to the CBC Canadian film selection including Bones of Crows (2022), Red Snow (2019), Wildhood (2021), BlackBerry (2022), Room For Rent (2018), The Song of Names (2019), Islands (2021), Splinters (2022), Night Raiders (2021), All My Puny Sorrows (2021), and Happy Place (2020).

Your humble narrator has seen most of these Canadian films. Exceptions include Bones of Crows (2022), Happy Place (2020), Sweetness in the Belly (2019), and American Woman (2019). Let's say I have more enthusiasm to see the Canadian films (first 2) as opposed to the Canadian films in name only (last 2).

This shows out the variety you can find in Canadian films, even ones on the CBC on a Saturday night.

Some of these Canadian films may have been featured recently on CBC. The films should also be available on CBC Gem.

Here was the summer and early fall 2024 lineup.

June 22: Bones of Crows (2022) / Red Snow (2019)

June 29: Wildhood (2021) / Giant Little Ones (2018) / Funny Boy (2019)

July 6: BlackBerry (2022) / Room For Rent (2018) / Sweetness in the Belly (2019)

July 13: Werewolf (2019) / Slash/Back (2021) / Bones of Crows (2022)

July 20: The Death and Life of John F. Donovan (2018) / The Song of Names (2019)

August 17: Islands (2021) / Splinters (2022)

August 24: Night Raiders (2021) / Werewolf (2019) / Honey Bee (2018)

September 14: All My Puny Sorrows (2021) / Tammy's Always Dying (2019) / Man Running (2018)

September 21: Happy Place (2020) / Carmen (2019) / Room For Rent (2018)

September 28: Percy (2020) / Disappearance at Clifton Hill (2018) / American Woman (2019)

October 5: Score: A Hockey Musical (2010) / Race (2016) / The Breadwinner (2017) 

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for early October 2024

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for late September 2024

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for mid September 2024

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for late August 2024

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for late July 2024

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for early July 2024

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for late June 2024

A recap of CBC Saturday night Canadian films in the 2023 offseason

A recap of CBC Saturday night Canadian films in the 2022 offseason

Generally, these Canadian films are available on CBC Gem. Our American readers can find quite a few of these Canadian films. You could even watch them on a Saturday night even when there is hockey on CBC.

CanadianCrossing.com CBC coverage

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

We will cover more Canadian films on CBC during small breaks in the Stanley Cup playoffs as well as the 2025 offseason.

photo credits: BlackBerry; All My Puny Sorrows; Splinters
logo credit: CBC

Canadian film notebook: Santa Barbara film festival has limited Denis Villeneuve retrospective

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is having a Denis Villeneuve career retrospective at the SBIFF Riviera Theatre from October 18-24. Villeneuve is scheduled to appear in-person for a Q&A on October 20.

Before you book a trip to Los Angeles and then drive to Santa Barbara, you should know that "career retrospective" follows the invisible line that defines Villeneuve's films as movies you have heard of that are well-known. So basically Incendies onward to the Dune films.

Actually, Incendies is the only Canadian film in the festival since Enemy is the only film that would qualify yet isn't on the Santa Barbara list. We saw Enemy, reviewed it, and felt outside of Jake Gyllenhaal fans, the film wasn't that great.

The SBIFF info says this: "from his early independent works like Incendies, which delves into the horrors of war and the complexity of family ties." The invisible line would mean Incendies was an early work. A true career retrospective would show Cosmos [Le Technétium from Villeneuve] (1996), August 32nd on Earth (1998), Maelström (2000), and Polytechnique (2009).

We get that Villeneuve ignores his early films, though sometimes Polytechnique crosses the invisible line. While we loath the concept of the invisible line, Polytechnique definitely belongs on the other side of the line.

We would even geek out with a true Denis Villeneuve career retrospective with his short films, a category where we normally don't pay too much attention. Unlike his "American films," Villeneuve wrote and directed most of them.

Villeneuve wrote and directed REW FFWD (1994), Le Technétium [within Cosmos] (1996), 120 Seconds to Get Elected (2006), Rated R for Nudity (2008), and Étude empirique sur l'influence du son sur la persistance rétinienne (2011). Villeneuve directed but did not write these short films: La Course destination monde (1990) and Next Floor (2008).

Your humble narrator has seen Le Technétium [within Cosmos], Rated R for Nudity, and REW FFWD (above video).

The Hollywood Reporter erroneously said "all 11 movies" would be shown at the festival. The publication admits Villeneuve's past films but doesn't identify them.

“Denis has become an unquestionable modern master of cinema, and all of his films demand to be seen on the big screen because they’re visceral spectacles,” Roger Durling, SBIFF executive director, said in a statement. Durling isn't being literal but if he was, we would agree.

Oscar nomination should help people find Denis Villeneuve Quebec films

For those who might think the above segment is a bunch of tired and sour grapes we have expressed about the way Denis Villeneuve's career is presented, there is a larger point. The trailer above is from Denys Arcand's last film Testament. This is one of the rare Arcand films I have not seen … yet. (Please help if you know a way.)

There is an asterisk * though to when I say "Denys Arcand films that I haven't seen." The impression is that Denys Arcand's film career started in 1986 with the release of The Decline of the American Empire | Le Déclin de l'empire américain. I actually saw Jesus of Montreal | Jésus de Montréal (1989) as my first Arcand film.

Of Arcand's modern films, your humble narrator has also seen segment Vue d'ailleurs within Montréal Stories (1992); Love and Human Remains (1993); Stardom (2000); The Barbarian Invasions | Les invasions barbares (2003); Days of Darkness | L'Âge des ténèbres (2007); An Eye for Beauty | Le règne de la beauté (2014); and The Fall of the American Empire | La chute de l'empire américain (2018).

In addition to Testament (2023), we are missing (1986-) a TV movie Les lettres de la religieuse portugaise (1991) as well as Poverty and Other Delights | Joyeux Calvaire (1996).

We should note that like Villeneuve, we also factor in where Arcand didn't have full writing credits: Brad Fraser [play and screenplay] for Love and Human Remains; Claire Richard for Poverty and Other Delights; J. Jacob Potashnik co-wrote Stardom; and Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne co-wrote An Eye for Beauty.

This ignores Arcand's early filmmaking career. Arcand directed or co-directed a number of feature films: À l'est d'Eaton (1959) [short film]; Alone or With Others | Seul ou avec d'autres (1962); Dirty Money | La maudite galette (1972); Réjeanne Padovani (1973); Gina (1975); and The Crime of Ovide Plouffe | Le Crime d'Ovide Plouffe (1984). Arcand did a number of documentaries including Cotton Mill, Treadmill | On est au coton, which was made in 1970 but banned for political reasons until its release in 1976.

Unless your French is good, you live in Quebec, and know film nerds, there is very little chance of seeing any of Arcand's work before The Decline of the American Empire | Le Déclin de l'empire américain. The idea of desire, the interest, the curiosity in a filmmaker's early work. This is what is missing south of the border and perhaps outside Quebec for Denis Villeneuve and even Denys Arcand. I may not have the access yet I have the curiosity.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

An American who writes and reviews Canadian films might seem odd. There are a cornucopia of reasons why I am drawn to Canadian film. Many Canadian films remind me of my love for independent films from the United States in the 1990s: the kind of films that Zooey Deschanel did before her TV career and Parker Posey. Writers/directors with strong female voices: the kind of films Hollywood thinks it could make but has little to no desire to make those films (think Bechdel Test).

The reality is that Canada is a better landscape for those voices than even indie films in the States. Writing and directing.

CBC News recently explored this idea of women coming of age in recent films. Fitting In, the second feature from Molly McGlynn, was noted (loved that film). A couple of recent TIFF films also got mentions: Durga Chew-Bose's Bonjour Tristesse, which we hope to see at the 2024 Windsor International Film Festival later this month, and Fawzia Mirza's The Queen of My Dreams (TIFF 23), which we hope to find soon.

Movies without notes from uncreative producers and people who shouldn't be in the industry. Strong, complicated female voices. This is part of why we loathe Sophie Dupuis' work because she doesn't like the thinly drawn female characters that she creates in her films.

Maisy Stella: My Old Ass and giving advice to your younger self (Q with Tom Power — CBC Radio)

We aren't sure if My Old Ass qualifies as a Canadian film though Canadian actor, writer, and director Megan Park created the film, shot in Muskoka, Ontario. The film features Maisy Stella and American actor Aubrey Plaza. Percy Hynes White (definitely Canadian) is in the film as is American actor Maddie Ziegler, who was the lead in Fitting In.

We learned about Night Blooms, the 2022 debut feature film from Nova Scotia director Stephanie Joline, which "tells the story of a teenage girl from a dysfunctional family who has an affair with her best friend's dad. The film reflects her own childhood experience, revolving around girls getting into trouble as they grow up in the 1990s."

The article also mentions the Canadian TV show Don't Even, which we wrote about earlier, about Indigenous teens in Winnipeg.

Canada, yes English Canada makes the kind of truly independent, non-studio films that make American filmmakers a bit envious about the finished projects. If you have a Canadian film that might qualify that we haven't explored, you can always let us know in the comments.

photo credit: Santa Barbara International Film Festival
video credits: NFB; TVA Films

2024-2025 NHL preview: Cutting back significantly on our NHL coverage

Our hockey coverage got a lot of visits for years on this blog. The chase meant that we amped up our NHL coverage to the point where the NHL overshadowed all of our other sports coverage, including the CFL.

This is mostly a blog about our impressions of Canada in how this relates to the world, especially the United States. Film, television, politics, and society. These feel more important than who is calling a NHL game on a U.S. network or how Rogers Sportsnet is dispensing Hockey Night in Canada to Canadians.

We have for the last several years debated and threatened to cut back our NHL coverage on this blog. The energy, money, and time just isn't worth what gets spent. We want to treat the NHL in the same way as MLB and NBA. Our MLS coverage has virtually disappeared but that is more about Major League Soccer.

The NHL will not change for us so we need to change our approach to the sport. The Utah Hockey Club isn't the last straw but a realization that life is too short to deal with these hassles.

We will cover Heritage Classics (when the NHL lets Canada have a small treat), the new Canada TV deal in 2026, and anything we deem relevant to our approach to Canada.

This is more than about Gary Bettman, though his shadow is twice as tall as the actual human being.

The CBC in-game promos on Hockey Night in Canada have become less relevant because CBC isn't putting in the energy for them and Rogers Sportsnet works hard to hide or not run the full number of promos in the early games.

Rogers Sportsnet has a thorough guide to its NHL telecasts for the 2024-2025 season.

The season starts on Wednesday for the Canadian teams: Toronto at Montréal in the early slot with late games featuring Winnipeg at Edmonton as well as Calgary at Vancouver.

Hockey Day in Canada is January 18, 2025 in Canmore, Alberta. Boston is in Ottawa for the matinee with the heralded Toronto at Montréal rivalry game and Calgary at Winnipeg in Eastern prime time. Edmonton is at Vancouver in the late game slot.

4 Nations Face-Off features Canada, Sweden, U.S., and Finland, running February 12-20, 2025. We reserve the right to cover Hockey Day in Canada and/or this tournament … or not. Not really sure.

Presenting our 2024-25 regional #NHL broadcast schedules with nearly 200 games covering the Habs, Jets, Leafs and Senators...

Habs on TSN2: https://t.co/RF0qFg2HHH
Jets on TSN3: https://t.co/zuYQASZjLJ
Leafs on TSN4: https://t.co/HKBSGpQGae
Sens on TSN5: https://t.co/YIxzcsuquQ pic.twitter.com/7JSdCaWkwQ

— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) September 17, 2024

Our guide to the NHL Canadian teams coverage

The U.S. national players released their initial schedules. These are subject to change.

TNT seemed afraid to come to Canada a few times in the postseason last spring. That trend continues as the network won't carry a game from Canada until March 19. TNT won't even carry a Canadian team playing anywhere until mid-January 2025.

Picked a good season not to care.

January 15 Edmonton @ Minnesota, 8:30p
February 5 Edmonton @ Chicago, 9:30p
February 23 Edmonton @ Washington, 1p
February 26 Vancouver @ Los Angeles, 10p
March 2 Toronto @ Pittsburgh, 1p
March 5 Toronto @ Las Vegas, 10p
March 19 Colorado @ Toronto, 7p
March 26 Dallas @ Edmonton, 10p
April 9 St. Louis @ Edmonton, 10p
April 16 Las Vegas @ Vancouver, 10p

ESPN sends mixed messages with 3 games in Canada on ESPN yet 0 games in Canada (and a lot more of them) on ESPN+. ABC has no games involving Canadian teams.

The ESPN+ exclusive games are also on Hulu. The regular games not on TNT, ESPN, and the NHL Network are on ESPN+, subject to local blackouts. NHL Network games are announced on a month-by-month basis.

ESPN

October 15 Philadelphia @ Edmonton, 10p
January 16 Edmonton @ Colorado, 9:30p
April 6 Las Vegas @ Vancouver, 10p
April 14 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p

ESPN+/Hulu

October 31 Edmonton @ Nashville, 8p
December 3 Edmonton @ Las Vegas, 10p
December 10 Toronto @ New Jersey, 7p
December 12 Edmonton @ Minnesota, 8:30p
December 20 Toronto @ Buffalo, 7p
January 2 Toronto @ NY Islanders, 7:30p
January 7 Toronto @ Philadelphia, 7:30p
January 9 Toronto @ Carolina, 7:30p
February 4 Edmonton @ St. Louis, 8p
February 6 Toronto @ Seattle, 10p
February 25 Edmonton @ Tampa Bay, 7:30p
February 27 Edmonton @ Florida, 7:30p
March 10 Edmonton @ Buffalo, 6:30p
March 13 Edmonton @ New Jersey, 7:30p
March 20 Vancouver @ St. Louis, 7:30p
March 24 Vancouver @ New Jersey, 7:30p
April 3 Edmonton @ San Jose, 10:30p

The NHL Network carries a lot of games, though not as generous as its sibling organization, MLB Network. The channel will simulcast an early Hockey Night in Canada game most weeks, assuming the continuation of previous patterns. The channel is not allowed to carry a live game opposite U.S. TV partners.

We note that the U.S. based network is carrying the Battle of Alberta on Sunday, a game that outside of 2021 (and the 2023 Heritage Classic) had been unofficially banned from being carried live on U.S. television.

Rogers sold off the rights to Monday Night Hockey to Amazon Prime Video. The games are available in Canada to Amazon Prime Video subscribers. Those in the States can watch those games via ESPN+, subject to blackouts in your area.

Somehow, we thought Amazon would hire current Canadian announcers working in Canada. John Forslund (Seattle) will do play by play with Canadian analysts Jody Shelley (Columbus), Shane Hnidy (Las Vegas), and Thomas Hickey (New York Islanders) as well as American Blake Bolden. Mark Messier will do mostly studio work as well as serving as an analyst on select games.

Andi Petrillo and Adnan Virk (Canadian) will serve as the hosts. Petrillo will host a studio show called NHL Coast to Coast on Thursdays. Amazon has a 6-part documentary Faceoff: Inside the NHL that is currently streaming. The release notes "an interactive feature where viewers who missed part of the game can catch up by watching a two-minute highlight package compiled by machine learning."

We have teased in the past that Forslund doesn't seem to like Canada too much. The package involves a lot of games in Canada.

Rogers Sportsnet has a handy guide to the regional and national broadcasts for its packages.

After 13 great years at Sportsnet, I’m moving on. It’s been an incredible journey and I’m thankful to have worked alongside so many great people and played a role in bringing sports and hockey news to fans across Canada and the world. More to come soon.
- Jeff

— Jeff Marek (@JeffMarek) July 26, 2024

Jeff Marek hadn't been seen or heard at Sportsnet once NHL draft was over. We had seen a lot less of Marek as he stopped his in-studio appearances with Elliotte Friedman on the Headlines segment of the second intermission of the early game on Hockey Night in Canada.

Quoting The Athletic: "Marek had come under scrutiny from the NHL during the first round of the draft for allegedly revealing to a friend which players teams were drafting moments before those picks were publicly announced, according to league and media industry sources. The NHL shared concerns about the situation with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, which probed further."

Your humble narrator would argue foolish behavior but not worth being fired. Feels like behavior that people do but maybe didn't get caught. Happening in Las Vegas is likely a factor.

Sportsnet got Kyle Bukauskas to replace Marek on the 32 Thoughts podcast with Elliotte Friedman.

Rogers Sportsnet also unceremoniously dumped Christine Simpson after more than 20 years. The end of this contract can't come soon enough.

Introducing your new #Flames play-by-play voice on @Sportsnet 🔥

Welcome to #yyc, @AbbsPxP!

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) August 26, 2024

Jon Abbott gets a chance to call a NHL team full-time on television as the new TV voice of the Calgary Flames. Abbott leaves TSN for Sportsnet as he had been the secondary voice for Ottawa Senators TV games — behind Gord Miller — on TSN5.

Abbott had previously called the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks on radio.

Abbott replaced Rick Ball, who left for greener pastures in Chicago earlier in the off-season.

Abbott teams up with Kelly Hrudey and Greg Millen with host Ryan Leslie.

Bell Media (TSN) isn't as eager to provide, you know, press releases on these matters. We will update this article when we find out who is calling Ottawa Senators games on TSN5 besides Gord Miller. Thursday is the first conflict of the season.

Victor Findlay could get pulled off Canadiens radio (and pinch hitter on Habs TV for Bryan Mudryk) or Dean Brown could jump from radio to TV (not as likely). TSN could have a hodge-podge of numerous people, including Kenzie Lalonde, to call Sens games.

The NHL, not TSN, announced that Matt Cullen will replace Abbott in that role with the Ottawa Senators on TSN5.

Montréal Canadiens fans can get more insight in their favourite team in The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens available on Crave. The 8-episode docuseries, covering last season, premiered on September 18.

Crave subscribers can view the program in English and French with noted Habs fan George Stroumboulopoulos doing the narration en Angalise.

#Canucks radio broadcasts on SN650 will be grounded this again this season & the play-by-play will be called from a studio locally in Vancouver. Alternatively, the Calgary #Flames, another Rogers owned radio rights holder, will be traveling this season for their radio broadcasts

— Tyler Green (@tylergreenFC) September 11, 2024

This penny pinching approach (thanks, pandemic) is shortsighted. You can't follow hockey well without being on site. Yay to the Calgary Flames that fixed the problem. Boo to the Vancouver Canucks for not fixing the problem. Rogers is in charge of both decisions.

Good for the #Canucks for moving their start time on #GreyCup Sunday to 7pm to avoid a conflict will the 🏈 game. With the amount going on in the area that day this will be good for both organizations and their fans👏🏽👏🏽 https://t.co/OeyXzvyOmC

— Farhan Lalji (@FarhanLaljiTSN) September 27, 2024

We figured the Vancouver Canucks would eventually move the start time of the November 17 game with Nashville. The new start is 7 pm PST instead of the originally scheduled time of 5 pm PST. The Grey Cup is at BC Place and the traffic nightmare would have been gridlock. The Grey Cup kickoff is scheduled for just after 3 pm PST.

It’s with great sadness, we mourn the tragic deaths of our friend Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew Gaudreau.

Our hearts are broken by this devastating loss. Johnny was and always will be a member of the Flames family and loved by all of Calgary. pic.twitter.com/xFm1md0vwh

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) August 30, 2024

The NHL offseason had an absolutely tragic story with the sudden deaths of Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew Gaudreau. The pair were killed by a drunk driver (alleged) in late August while bicycling. Our condolences to their family, friends, and loved ones.

Official #PWHL Team Names and Logos pic.twitter.com/c1KWxXNeWo

— Kenzie Lalonde (@KenzieTSN) September 9, 2024

The PWHL went without nicknames for its inaugural season. Are the nicknames exciting? Breath taking?

They're fine. The league understands its core audience and these nicknames fit. They aren't racist or demeaning so they are good.

The Toronto Sceptres, Montréal Victoire, and Ottawa Charge share the ice with the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, and New York Sirens.

The Toronto team played most of its games at Mattamy Athletic Centre (in the old Maple Leafs Gardens), though the playoff games were moved to Coca-Cola Coliseum, home of the Toronto Marlies. The Sceptres will play this season at the Coca-Cola Coliseum.

The Montréal franchise played mostly at Verdun Auditorium. This year, the Victoire will play at Place Bell in Laval, where they played 4 games last season.

The Ottawa Charge remain at TD Place Arena in downtown Ottawa.

We did cover some elements of the league last year. We will leave it open as to how much we will cover this season.

We should give an award to the best Canadian NHL team each season

CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage

We know a lot of our readers will be disappointed with sharply reduced NHL coverage. We can't give this our best effort and that is certainly a factor. Thank you for your patience.

We still want a Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup in our lifetime.

photo credits: NHL; Rogers Sportsnet; Amazon Prime Video Canada
Twitter captures: @TSNHockey; @JeffMarek; @tylergreenFC; @FarhanLaljiTSN; @NHLFlames; @KenzieTSN
video credit: Calgary Flames

2024 Toronto Raptors NBA preseason schedule

Coming soon 🍿

Our 2024 preseason schedule. pic.twitter.com/LW1UinOEzb

— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) July 31, 2024

Hopefully you are somewhat optimistic about the 2024-2025 Toronto Raptors. The Raptors ran camp at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) October 1-5. This was the first training camp for the team in Montréal; the Raptors were in Quebec City before the 2019-2020 season.

Toronto stays in Montréal for the preseason opener against the Washington Wizards on October 6 at the Bell Centre as part of the league's NBA Canada series.

The Raptors travel to the U.S. federal capital to play the Washington Wizards on October 11. Toronto has a home-and-home with the Boston Celtics on October 13 (Boston) and October 15 (Toronto).

Toronto is Brooklyn bound for the final preseason game on October 18 against the Nets.

The NBA team is celebrating its 30th anniversary this season. Head coach Darko Rajakovic returns for his second season.

Rogers Sportsnet (October 13, 15) and TSN (October 6, 11, 18) split the telecasts in Canada. The NBA Network may have tape-delayed coverage. Check this space for when we know which outlet carries which games.

Date	Opponent	City	Time
October 6	Washington	Montréal	7:30p
October 11	Washington	Washington	7p
October 13	Boston	Boston	7p
October 15	Boston	Toronto	7p
October 18	Brooklyn	Brooklyn	7:30p
All times Eastern.

Toronto gets a WNBA team in 2026

2023-2024 Toronto Raptors season wrapup: no NBA playoffs up north

2023 Toronto Raptors NBA preview

CanadianCrossing.com NBA coverage

The Toronto Raptors open the 2024-2025 regular season schedule on October 23 at Scotiabank Arena against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Toronto went 25-57 in the regular season, good for 12th in the Eastern Conference. Last season was the Raptors' first losing season since 2020-21 and second since 2012-13.

Twitter capture: @Raptors
photo credit: Toronto Raptors/NBA

2024 CFL Week 18 preview

The CFL is only on TSN and CFL+ this weekend. No CTV or CBS Sports Network. There wasn't a Saturday afternoon contest to bump up to CTV. Once again, we have only 6 of the league's 9 teams in action.

This is the weekend for you if you prefer the West teams in the league. The furthest east team in the West (Winnipeg) travels to the league's southern most team in Hamilton. You could look at this as the Grey Cup reunions from 2019 and 2021 for the Blue Bombers and the Tiger-Cats yet they feel like different teams.

Calgary takes its road woes to Vancouver, which can be a tough place for road teams under normal circumstances. We don't have usual circumstances these days as the Lions don't want to play in Vancouver either.

The CFL has some Saturday night momentum on the final weekend before Hockey Night in Canada engages Canadians. The green of Saskatchewan comes to the green and yellow of Edmonton for a tough battle for both teams. The Elks are drawing better at home and plenty of Saskatchewan fans will show up at Commonwealth Stadium.

Montréal, Ottawa, and Toronto get to enjoy autumn colours in the east.

TSN

Friday
Winnipeg @ Hamilton, 7p
Calgary @ BC, 10p
Saturday
Saskatchewan @ Edmonton, 7p

Bye week: Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto

Argos kicked 8 FGs, and won.
Riders kicked 7 FGs, and won.

Points matter everyone! I know spreadsheet boys think field goals shouldn't count.#CFL

— Riders Fan 13 (@CFLFan13) September 29, 2024

Sometimes, CFL teams lose because they settle for field goals instead of touchdowns. Those games proved to be the exception.

CFL goalposts are on the end zone line so they are 10 yards shorter than the NFL. Years ago, the NFL had that but then moved back. The NFL exhibition game in Winnipeg in 2019 reminded us of this difference.

MONTREAL RUNS THE EAST 📍

With Ottawa's loss, the @MTLAlouettes will host the Eastern Final, clinching top spot in the East Divison. #GCPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/eixKkNAFQ6

— CFL (@CFL) September 28, 2024

Lirim Hajrullahu may have been known by non-CFL fans as the kicker who won the game on a rouge. On Saturday night in Toronto, Hajrullahu set a franchise record with 8 field goals as the see-saw battle went to the Argonauts.

Chad Kelly finished 19-for-30 for 287 yards with a passing touchdown and an interception for Toronto. Ka’Deem Carey led the way for the Argos running game with 90 yards and a touchdown while Deonta McMahon added 67 rushing yards and a major.

Montréal clinched first with the Ottawa loss. James Letcher Jr. went 100 yards for a punt return for a major in the second quarter. This was the team's first road loss in over a year — September 9, 2023 also at BMO Field.

2024 CFL Week 17 preview

2024 CFL Week 16 preview

It’s voting season and Rolan Milligan Jr. (@rmilliganjr) is back on the M.O.P. campaign trail.#CFL #Riders #RiderNation
pic.twitter.com/EenU5jzBIQ

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) September 28, 2024

Saskatchewan has specialised in second half collapses in recent seasons. The 2024 win over Calgary was the first post Labour Day win since November 2021. Now the Roughriders have won 2 in a row in the fall. Brett Lauther, whom some fans wanted gone earlier in the season, kicked those 7 field goals.

Ottawa has lost 4 of its last 5 games.

The CFL suspended Saskatchewan Roughriders’ defensive back Deontai Williams for one game after Williams slammed Ottawa receiver Kalil Pimpleton head first into the turf. There were 6 seconds left in the game. Williams did later apologize to Pimpleton. Your humble narrator gets a football hit. This was not a football hit.

pic.twitter.com/S0dQAeMWy4

— r/CFL on Reddit (@cfl_reddit) September 28, 2024

Your humble narrator watched part of the game in Vancouver. 16-0 at the half. BC Lions scoring drives but 3 field goals in the first half. Peeked in later and saw BC 23, Hamilton 11. Figured I could go to sleep.

Was not expecting 32-29 Hamilton in overtime. The cleverness of the 2-point conversion after the first Tiger-Cat touchdown (Tim White throws a pass to Bo Levi Mitchell). The Lions' defence being more open than the Red Sea thanks to Moses. The Lions offence scoring a major during the comeback and only a field goal to send the game into overtime. Hamilton had the lead for very little time in regulation.

The sudden pass interference in overtime that gave Hamilton the comeback win, even shocking by CFL standards.

The Lions won in Victoria yet haven't won in Vancouver since July 13. This is October and the Lions host Calgary. We did mention that the 2024 Grey Cup is at BC Place. Maybe a few hundred times.

2024 CFL Week 15 preview

Winnipeg started out with 2 long TD passes to Nic Demski and Keric Wheatfall for a blowout win over the Elks. The Blue Bombers posted a +41 over Edmonton in the 2-game series within a week. Zach Collaros finished with 6 touchdowns.

Winnipeg now owns the tiebreaker over every single West team and has a playoff spot. Rather good for a team that started 2-6 and now has a 7-game winning streak.

2024 CFL Week 14 preview: Revenge games

-- The NHL trade deadline coverage is an all you can eat buffet. The CFL trade deadline coverage is a mostly empty automat in Amsterdam.

There was an actual CFL trade at the 2024 deadline: Canadian running back Jeshrun Antwi goes from Montréal to the BC Lions for a 3rd-round pick in the 2025 draft. This was the first deadline trade since 2019 when some quarterback named Zach Collaros went from Toronto to Winnipeg in 2019. The Antwi deal won't be as fruitful as the 2019 trade.

-- BC punter Stefan Flintoff didn't just hit a punt into the scoreboard. The latest punt got stuck in the scoreboard at BC Place in Vancouver. We have noticed, not Flintoff's fault, but the BC Lions haven't won any of the games where the scoreboard interferes with a punt.

-- The 2024 Edmonton squad is the first CFL club since Edmonton and Hamilton both in 1966 to have 3 running backs with at least 500 yards. Javon Leake, Kevin Brown, and Justin Rankin are over 500 yards.

2024 CFL Week 13 preview: Touchdown Pacific comes to Victoria, BC

Montréal (11-3-1) gets a week off and a home playoff game at Stade Molson for the East final. The East battle is to host the East semifinal. Ottawa (8-6-1) still hasn't clinched a playoff spot. The RedBlacks have a 3-game losing streak and a ½ game lead for second place behind Toronto (8-7). These 3 East teams get to sit out this week. Toronto wants to keep playing and Ottawa hopes a week will help Dru Brown's knee. The RedBlacks can clinch a playoff spot with a Hamilton loss.

Hamilton (6-9) is a game back of the BC Lions (7-8) for 3rd place in the West. The team crossing over needs more points than the other team; no ties or tiebreakers. The Tiger-Cats win over the Lions puts Hamilton that much closer to a crossover. Beating Winnipeg at home and having Calgary win in Vancouver doesn't seem likely. Then again, we would have said that about the Tiger-Cats winning in Vancouver.

The Tiger-Cats are 2 games behind Toronto with 3 to play (with the tiebreaker), which is why the crossover is easier. Dave Naylor discussed the potential for a first-time East team as a crossover to the West (for those who missed it last week).

Winnipeg (9-6) has a 7-game winning streak and a playoff spot. This is the 8th straight season where the Blue Bombers are in the playoffs. Life didn't used to be this sunny in the Manitoba capital. The Blue Bombers have the tiebreaker with every West team. The Blue Bombers clinch first place in the West (4th straight season) with a win and an Edmonton win.

Saskatchewan (7-7-1) is riding high with 2 wins in a row, the first 2 such wins post Labour Day for the team since November 2021. The Roughriders have a ½ game lead on the Lions (7-8) for second place. Saskatchewan hasn't hosted a playoff game since 2021.

The Roughriders formula for the playoffs is losses from Hamilton and Calgary with a Saskatchewan win. The Lions formula for the playoffs is wins from BC, Winnipeg, and Saskatchewan.

The 2 Alberta teams — Edmonton (5-10) and Calgary (4-9-1) — play the West teams above them in the standings. Tiebreakers are on the line as the Elks host the Roughriders while the Stampeders travel to play the Lions. Edmonton can only get to 16 points while the Calgary ceiling is 17 points. Calgary has made 18 straight trips to the playoffs, the longest active streak and 4-longest in CFL history.

2024 CFL preview

The CFL was not going to blink of the 2024 Grey Cup conflict with the Vancouver Canucks November 17 home game. The NHL team agreed to move the start time from 5 pm PST to 7 pm PST. Figure the Grey Cup will start just after 3 pm PST on that day. The stadiums are next to each other so traffic would be an issue.

We struggle with why the NHL is so insistent on scheduling Canadian teams on Grey Cup Sunday. Bad enough that happens but to schedule a team in the same market as the home destination of the Grey Cup feels insulting.

The Montréal Canadiens traditionally has matinees on Super Bowl weekend. The NHL could offer up Canadian teams earlier in the day on Grey Cup Sunday, though the Vancouver Canucks play at 7 pm PST the previous night (Hockey Night in Canada) in 2024.

Did anyone else lose streaming abilities on CFL+? What’s going on @CFL #CFL

— Kent Sangster (@KSang09) September 29, 2024

I did watch part of the CTV game via CFL+. I was unable for awhile to access the Montréal-Toronto game on CFL+. Eventually, the video link came back. A reminder that CFL+ has a 48-hour window for rebroadcasts.

2024 CFL preseason schedule

CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage

Edmonton @ Winnipeg: Rod Smith/Duane Forde/John Lu
Hamilton @ BC: Farhan Lalji/Glen Suitor/Shantelle Chand
Ottawa @ Saskatchewan: Marshall Ferguson/Glen Suitor/Brit Dort
Montréal @ Toronto: Rod Smith/Duane Forde/Matt Dunigan/Matthew Scianitti

Laura Daikun filled in for Kate Beirness on the CFL on TSN panel. Jim Barker and Henoc Muamba were in the studio in for Matt Dunigan and Milt Stegall.

We aren't used to seeing Marshall Ferguson as far west as Regina yet. Farhan Lalji called his first game in Vancouver this season. Dustin Nielson was out for the weekend, so that was a consideration.

The "Red Riders Green Riders" CTV game on Saturday drew the weakest audience of the CFL games over the weekend. The numbers were 409,000 on CTV. The West Coast game in Vancouver on a Friday night drew 478,100.

Another way to look at things is that the CTV game in Regina outdrew the last 2 CTV games: Ottawa at Hamilton in Week 15 (275,000) and Montréal in Ottawa in Week 16 (317,800).

The Canadian over-the-air network is skipping this weekend but will have Saturday afternoon exclusive CFL games through the rest of October.

logo credit: CFL
Twitter capture: @CFLFan13; @CFL; @3DownNation; @cfl_reddit; @KSang09
photo credit: TSN/CFL

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for early October 2024

You might have noticed that the 2024-2025 NHL preseason is coming to a close. We still have one more Saturday night with Canadian films on CBC.

The public broadcaster tradition is for sports-related films on that final weekend and we have some this Saturday night.

Score: A Hockey Musical actually opened the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival in what seems like a long ago, far away time. You might be more into musicals than hockey and concerned that this movie is more hockey than musical. Let us calm your fears.

Noah Reid (Schitt's Creek) is delightful in the lead role as the amazing hockey player who sings as well as he plays. Allie MacDonald, whom we remember from Young Drunk Punk, is the female lead. Olivia Newton-John plays his mother.

The movie is not great but you will be entertained. Perhaps a drink or a completely legal marijuana edible might help.

Race is the very earnest story of the rise of American sprinter Jesse Owens leading up to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Stephan James as Owens is a major Canadian element in this otherwise Canadian film in name only. James' older brother, Shamier Anderson, plays a fellow runner. The Canadian cast includes Shanice Banton, Amanda Crew, Jeremy Ferdman, Chantel Riley, Giacomo Gianniotti, Eli Goree, Anthony Sherwood, Jon McLaren, and Vlasta Vrána. Dutch actress Carice van Houten is particularly good in the role of German propaganda filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl.

The evening and season ends with The Breadwinner, which is not sports related and definitely a Canadian film in name only. A young Afghan girl disguises herself as a boy to provide for her family. The animated film is quite good.

Some of these Canadian films may have been featured on CBC in the past. The films should also be available on CBC Gem.

October 5

9p Score: A Hockey Musical (2010)
11p Race (2016)
2a The Breadwinner (2017)

Canadian film case study: Race

Canadian film case study: The Breadwinner

When TIFF concentrated on Canadian films for the opening night film

We have seen Score: A Hockey Musical but have not officially reviewed it. The U.S. audience can find the film on Amazon Prime Video.

These Canadian films offer a variety of sports-related Canadian films. None of these films ran last year.

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for late September 2024

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for mid September 2024

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for late August 2024

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for late July 2024

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for early July 2024

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for late June 2024

A recap of CBC Saturday night Canadian films in the 2023 offseason

A recap of CBC Saturday night Canadian films in the 2022 offseason

A reminder to our American friends who are fortunate enough to get a CBC signal — such as Detroit, Buffalo, and Seattle — that this is a really good opportunity to get a glimpse into Canadian content through cinema. A lot of English Canadians also need this reminder.

CanadianCrossing.com CBC coverage

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Feel free to leave a comment on these Canadian films or even Canadian films you would love to see on a Saturday night on the CBC.

logo credit: CBC
photo credit: Score: A Hockey Musical
video credits: Mongrel Media

Canadian film review: Matt and Mara

Take This Waltz is a Canadian film that featured a relationship between a married woman and a single man who happened to be neighbours. Matt and Mara has a relationship between a married woman and a single man, but the difference is that they have been friends for some time.

Matt Johnson (Matt Johnson) is a successful writer returning back to Toronto and catching up with friend Mara Walsh (Deragh Campbell), who teaches writing but struggles with her own writing. Walsh has a husband and a small child.

Matt and Mara talk and argue. They have the kind of friendship with very in-depth conversations. At other times, they are arguing on the subway with Mara telling Matt that he is afraid of good-looking men such as her husband.

Mara gets passport photos because she has to go to Ithaca, New York for a writers conference. She goes back twice to get photos, bringing Matt and he gets photos taken.

Mara's transportation plans fall through. Her husband asks her if she knows someone who can drive her. Matt ends up being the driver. More conversations inside the car, in and around the hotel, and some misunderstandings.

Writer and director Kazik Radwanski gives his stars plenty of time and room to improvise their dialogue. Matt and Mara have a tight intimacy, similar to Radwanski's film Anne at 13,000 Ft., which starred Campbell and featured Johnson.

Romantic movies, such as French Girl (which we recently reviewed), are supposed to have couples with great chemistry. French Girl has terrible chemistry with its leads while Matt and Mara have amazing chemistry as human beings. 

One compelling scene has Mara, who is married to a musician, being not all that much into music. Whatever Mara thinks about her marriage, Matt's lively energy is a tempting force.

Radwanski also makes nice use of Toronto, such as the Yonge-Dundas Square. The characters even mention the DVP, which I know stands for Don Valley Parkway.

Canadian film review: Anne at 13,000 Ft.

Anne at 13,000 Ft. wins 2020 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award

Deragh Campbell was incredible in Anne at 13,000 Ft. and is also great in this film. While Johnson is known more for his writing and directing, he definitely keeps up the pace set by the script and Campbell.

Campbell and Radwanski play themselves briefly in So Much Tenderness (a wonderful Canadian film as well). An Easter egg of sorts into their working relationship. Good to see a writer and director building chemistry with an actor. Campbell can be best described as an actor's actor, someone well respected as a thespian.

2024 TIFF wrapup

2024 TIFF preview

2024 TIFF Canadian film preview

Matt and Mara may not fall into conventional film tastes, which is perfectly fine. If you find that your palette can appreciate this kind of film, you are in for an absolute treat.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Matt and Mara made its North American premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The film has played in select major U.S. cities and Canadian cities (so far).

photo credit: Matt and Mara
video credit: The Cinema Guild

2024 Saskatchewan election preview

The fall of 2024 is a great time if you are a provincial political junkie. Saskatchewan is the third and final (scheduled) province to have a provincial election, set for October 28.

The Saskatchewan Party (right-wing people and centrists) have won 4 straight majority governments in the province. Their neighbour to the east (Manitoba) flipped from Progressive Conservatives to NDP. Is that possible in Saskatchewan in 2024?

Let's start with the nuts and bolts. There are 61 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan so 31 seats are needed for a majority. Scott Moe, who has been premier since February 2, 2018, is the leader of the Saskatchewan Party, which had 48 seats in the 2020 election. The party has 42 at the writ drop.

Carla Beck is the New Democratic Party and the opposition leader. Beck has been in charge of the party since June 26, 2022 so this is her first election as leader. The NDP won 13 seats in 2020 and currently has 14 legislators. Jon Hromek of the Saskatchewan United is very new to this race as of May 16 of this year. Hromek's party won 0 seats in 2020 and currently has 1 MLA.

There are 3 Independent MLAs with 1 vacancy. There has been speculation of a possible merger between the Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative Party and the Saskatchewan Buffalo Party. Neither party has any seats in the legislature.

So far, the governing Saskatchewan Party is the only team to already have a full 61-person roster. Of those 61 people, the party has said 16 are women, 45 are men, 27 are currently serving as MLAs and 34 are vying for a seat. Also, the Sask. Party disclosed that five of its candidates have past convictions for impaired driving, including Premier Scott Moe.

The Regina Leader-Post reported on the lead up to the provincial election. The Saskatchewan Party has a surprisingly small number of incumbents. Normally that would be bad for the party in power but if boats are being overturned, some of that Sask Party candidates can claim they aren't part of the establishment. 14 Saskatchewan Party MLAs are retiring and not running in 2024 vs. 2 for the NDP.

Love the fact that the procedure is to disclose past convictions for impaired driving and there are quite a few in the Saskatchewan Party. Reminds us of a major presidential candidate in the United States in 2000 where the press was trying hard not to write about that conviction for that candidate.

In covering a lot of provincial elections, we are often surprised that parties don't have a candidate in every riding. We don't have numbers for the NDP and those numbers can shift in the early part of the election cycle.

Under Premier Scott Moe, Saskatchewan is in last place in healthcare and education.

Saskatchewan deserves better. pic.twitter.com/ZbViOwIb4U

— Saskatchewan New Democrats (@Sask_NDP) September 2, 2024

One of our readers pointed out this ad that ran on the CFL on TSN. We love the contrast of Canadian political ads versus those for the States. We also are intrigued since New Brunswick and Saskatchewan have female opposition leaders. The only current female premier is Danielle Smith in Saskatchewan's neighbour to the west in Alberta.

Lorne Calvert was the last NDP premier in the province, serving from February 8, 2001 until November 21, 2007.

Saskatchewan passed a transphobic policy against kids in their schools, just like New Brunswick. There isn't any reason to pick on people on the edges of society except to pick up cheap political points. We don't think the political damage is as substantial in Saskatchewan as it has been in New Brunswick, though that doesn't change the cruelty of the legislation.

Like Manitoba, the battle for ridings is mostly in Regina and Saskatoon, the 2 largest cities by far in Saskatchewan. Food and gas prices, carbon tax are key though housing is a more significant issue in British Columbia and New Brunswick, fellow provinces with provincial elections in October.

Saskatchewan Party wins a fourth straight majority government

British Columbia Saturday, Saskatchewan on Monday: Election results likely to be delayed

2020 Saskatchewan election preview

2024 Canadian politics preview

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian politics coverage

Often when there is a new premier, there is political pressure to have an election. Moe waited over 2 years after being premier to have an election. Saskatchewan has a different pace to things.

Saskatchewan also had a pandemic election, just like British Columbia and New Brunswick. The other 2 provinces moved their elections up within a pandemic but not Saskatchewan. Manitoba had been scheduled for 2020 but moved theirs up to 2019. Now an election can truly be about which direction that the constituents of Saskatchewan want to go. The general thought is that the 2024 elections may be "throw out the baby and the bathwater."

We would argue that the situation in each province is very different. We watched the Canadian press take an odd interpretation in the 2 recent federal byelections almost as if they wrote the story before the results came out.

Celebrating Donald Sutherland and his love for Canada, especially the Montreal Expos

CanadianCrossing.com Saskatchewan coverage

The first photo is of the Tommy Douglas bust in the legislature building in Regina. Tommy Douglas brought single payer health care to Saskatchewan and eventually to Canada. Douglas also was briefly the father-in-law to the late Donald Sutherland and grandfather to Kiefer Sutherland.

The second photo is of the beautiful and local Saskatoon berries that the province is known for growing. I have been to all 10 provinces but Saskatchewan was the final one I had not been to before I visited.

photo credits: me; Elections Saskatchewan; me
Twitter capture: @Sask_NDP

2024 Toronto Blue Jays season comes to an end

Today, Danny Jansen will become the first player in MLB history to play for both teams in the same game when the Blue Jays and Red Sox resume their suspended clash. 🤯

The game was suspended during his at-bat, meaning he will catch against his own pinch-hitter. pic.twitter.com/omuRfq4YQD

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 26, 2024

Last year around this time, we were contemplating whether this current Toronto Blue Jays core would win a playoff series or even a game in Minnesota. They didn't. The 2024 squad got off to a terrible start and managed to be slightly better after the trade deadline.

The 2024 Toronto Blue Jays finished last in the American League East with a 74-88 record, 20 games behind the division winner New York Yankees. The team finished 39-42 at Rogers Centre and 35-46 on the road.

2023 Toronto Blue Jays go down in 2 straight to Minnesota

Bowden Francis was the hero in the second half of the season for the Toronto Blue Jays. I happened to see Francis throw a shutout at Wrigley Field, Toronto's only win against the Cubs (the Blue Jays went 5-1 against the White Sox, the only loss coming in Toronto).

The future is here for the Blue Jays with such players as Davis Schneider, Spencer Horwitz, Addison Barger, Leo Jimenez, Nathan Lukes, Ernie Clement, Joey Loperfido and Will Wagner (via Houston), Jonatan Clase, Luis De Los Santos, and Steward Berroa. Orelvis Martínez will be part of the mix in 2025 after serving an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.

The veteran core of George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Alejandro Kirk, and Daulton Varsho helped out the rookies. Where would the Blue Jays be without the tremendous second half by Guerrero. Imagine if they had a Teoscar Hernandez type hitter hitting behind Guerrero?

It’s a bummer the Blue Jays have struggled this year because this Vladdy season feels like it’s flying under the radar and it absolutely shouldn’t be pic.twitter.com/A4Vd3gc3Ve

— MLB Deadline News (@MLBDeadlineNews) September 25, 2024

Bo Bichette was injured for most of the second half. This gave more at bats to the youngsters. Bichette and Guerrero are free agents at the end of the 2025 season.

Joey Votto, who only got to play for the Blue Jays in spring training, retired in a parking lot in Buffalo. Kevin Kiermaier, only 34, is choosing to retire at the end of the 2024 season. Kiermaier was put on waivers and then went to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Cavan Biggio bounced around from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and then Atlanta.

The bullpen suffered a lot of injuries. A healthier and more productive bullpen is one of the many needs of this team.

Varsho will have a rough off-season after rotator cuff surgery. Wagner had left knee surgery.

With their loss on Saturday, the #BlueJays are now 500-500 over their last 1,000 regular season games. pic.twitter.com/CvF3lNwhOF

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) September 28, 2024

The 2023 off-season was seen as lackluster by fans who aren't happy with the Mark Shapiro/Ross Atkins team. Shohei Ohtani was an unlikely Plan A and there was a quarter-hearted Plan B involving veterans such as Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Daniel Vogelbach.

Where does manager John Schneider fit in (or out) with this?

The 2024 off-season requires asking what kind of team are the Toronto Blue Jays? Near contenders who need a few more steps to make the playoffs? A team with some star players, who may or may not stay, destined to finish last for the next 2 seasons? The tough AL East Division isn't going away.

Alejandro Kirk threw out three baserunners tonight & has now prevented as many stolen base attempts (27) as he did in 2022 & 2023 combined.

“He's been unbelievable."https://t.co/P2JBdbM3H8

— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) September 24, 2024

The Toronto Blue Jays had a good dilemma: too many good catchers. They had Kirk, Danny Jansen, and catcher prospect Gabriel Moreno. Well, Moreno went to Arizona with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the Daulton Varsho trade on December 22, 2022. Jansen went to Boston in a minor trade. Kirk did improve with a more significant workload.

The Blue Jays in recent days flipped backup catchers, reacquiring Tyler Heineman and demoting Brian Serven.

Guerrero has talked about playing more third base in 2025. That can open up the diamond, perhaps to acquire a 1B/DH type of hitter.

Rogers Centre has been redesigned for more home runs yet the opposition is taking more advantage than the Blue Jays hitters.

2024 Toronto Blue Jays second half preview

Rogers Centre renovations help but Canada still needs a really good baseball stadium

RECORD-BREAKING 🌭 #BlueJays fans ate a WHOPPING 727,819 Loonie Dogs this season 🤯 pic.twitter.com/qLL0GibFZ1

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 25, 2024

2024 Toronto Blue Jays preview

2024 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

Joey Votto saw just a single pitch as a member of the Blue Jays - he hit it out of the park, rounded the bases, then injured his ankle after tripping in the dugout. Never made it back to the bigs, but what a way to go.

(He also ended his Reds career by getting ejected) pic.twitter.com/61g4gazLDw

— SportsLogos.Net (@sportslogosnet) August 21, 2024

Joey Votto should be the third Canadian to make the Baseball Hall of Fame, behind Ferguson Jenkins and Larry Walker. We don't anticipate Votto going in on the first ballot yet he was a top player of his time.

The 2010 National League MVP winner had a career .409 OBP. Votto never played in a World Series with Cincinnati and that may hurt his chances.

Happy retirement to one of the best Canadians to ever play MLB.

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Oakland ❤️ pic.twitter.com/O6UCtpOrp1

— Montreal Expos (@Montreal_Expos) September 26, 2024

There is a bit of Les Expos de Montréal in the Oakland A's saga. The A's moved from Kansas City to Oakland before the 1968 season. The Montréal Expos started in 1969 instead of 1971 thanks to U.S. Senator Stuart Symington (D-Missouri). Sen. Symington pressured Major League Baseball to move up the timeline to bring baseball back to Kansas City after the loss of the A's.

This fed into Milwaukee's MLB journey after losing its National League team after the 1965 season (moved to Atlanta). Bud Selig brought the Seattle Pilots to Milwaukee. Selig's leadership is part of why the Montréal Expos ceased to be a MLB team.

The Oskland A's had 20 more years than the Expos in Montréal almost to the day. The final Montréal Expos home game at Olympic Stadium was September 29, 2004; the final Oakland A's home game was September 26, 2024. Both teams ended their season on the road: Oakland in Seattle and the Expos at Shea Stadium in New York City.

Both teams had terrible ownership: Jeffrey Loria for Montréal and John Fisher for Oakland. Both had great plans for a future stadium: Labatt's Park in downtown Montréal and the Howard Terminal Project in downtown Oakland.

Both teams have struggled with radio deals: We unfortunately remember when Loria was too cheap to get an English language radio deals in 2000, resorting to putting the English radio coverage on Expos.com in 2000.

Both cities are major league cities that will be without baseball. Both teams' fan bases deserved so much better from ownership during and after the disastrous decisions.

Fisher's move to Sacramento is about keeping the TV money from NBC Sports California. So Oakland area cable subscribers can still watch the team if they choose to do so. That is an unique kind of pain.

MLB should have had a spine in both cases. Dealing with rich men requires spines yet none were found in either case.

We do note with irony that the other Bay Area team — the San Francisco Giants — almost moved to Toronto before the start of the 1976 season. The Toronto Giants felt like a real possibility but the National League owners showed some spines and didn't approve the deal. Toronto got an expansion franchise to start the 1977 season. 

The move would have put the Montréal Expos and Toronto Giants in the National League, which would have changed the dynamic of baseball in Canada. The Expos and Blue Jays had exhibitions from 1978-1986 (not 1981 due to the MLB strike) and played regular season games in 2003-2004. The games went under the banner of the Pearson Cup. after former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.

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We hope for a positive, inspirational off-season for the Toronto Blue Jays. We also have a request to the Blue Jays and MLB: we know it's not realistic for the Toronto Blue Jays to play in Montréal, given the construction of a new roof at Stade Olympique, home of Les Expos. We want to see MLB in Montréal as soon as that can happen. Merci.

Twitter captures: @Sportsnet; @MLBDeadlineNews; @SNstats; @bnicholsonsmith; @BlueJays; @sportslogosnet; @Montreal_Expos
photo credit: @Sportsnet