Spring is finally here. Even though storms wrecked havoc through most of the province last week, it is about that time of year where the snow melts and the weather begins to shift. Along with the weather patterns shifting so does the sports world. Basketball/hockey are closing out their regular seasons, March Madness tipped off last Thursday and MLB Opening Day is less than a week away. So in the spirit of the season it is time for everybody's favorite edition of Ruttig's Rants, it is rapid fire time.
The opening weekend of the NCAA Basketball Tournament this weekend brought the usual barrage of buzzer beaters, upsets, alley oops, and overall great basketball as sixty four games of basketball were played between Thursday and Sunday night in what is March's best sporting event every year.
However the big story this year are the high number of Canadians playing in the tournament. From Kelly Olynyk and Kevin Pangos leading the #1` ranked team in the nation in the Gonzaga Bulldogs to Nick Stauskas starting at shooting guard for the Michigan Wolverines, big time college basketball players are all over the map in the NCAA tournament these days.
In total 29 Canadians were on teams that cracked the field of 64 in this year's tournament and ten of them averaged double figures.
With even more Canadian college stars missing out on March with Kentucky's Kyle Wijiter and Baylor's Brady Heslip narrowly missing the tournament after being prominent players on teams that went very deep in last year's tournament.
With three years to the 2016 Olympics and Canadian 's making a name for themselves in college and the NBA, the days of being able to count the amount of Canadians in the basketball spotlight on one hand. With Steve Nash in an executive role with Canada Basketball and more and more Canadians coming from high school's into big time college basketball programs, it is time the game invented by a Canadian gets a touch of Canadian flare and I personally love it.
On the homeside 2013 Hoopla was a mixed success as the 5A tournament saw the field of eight reduced to six due to road troubles that plagued many people from getting into Saskatoon on Thursday and Friday. While the SHSAA did the best job they could in scheduling Hoopla at the latest weekend it has been in years and were handcuffed by Easter Break, it is a shame that some teams were robbed of their Hoopla moment. As a former high school basketball player who never made the tournament my condolences go out to the teams who were forced out of participating in one of Saskatchewan's best sporting events due to mother nature.
Congrats on a positive note to Jason Payne and the YRHS Raiders for winning their second straight 4A bronze medal at the event, ending the Daniel Mandziuk and Ben Redl era with a win over Regina O' Neill. Great coach, great players, and great kids.
In NHL news, the Calgary Flames are looking to move franchise forward Jerome Iginla as the player handed out the list of teams he would accept a trade to under his no trade clause.
This move is not a shock given the Flames recent struggles as a franchise and their eleventh place position in the Western Conference standings but it is a shame to see a player who has given so much to his team getting traded in the twilight of his career due to the failure of the organization to build a winner around his efforts during his career.
Lastly, next week marks baseball's Opening Day as MLB teams gear up for their 162 game schedule. After the World Baseball Classic kept many teams star players away from spring training it will be interesting to see if the tournament helps or hurts teams at the beginning of April. With the Jays coming out as preseason favorites by many oddsmakers to win the AL and the World Series this season, 2013 has the potential to be a magical summer for Canada's team. With the Yankees struggling and the Red Sox rebuilding, it might just be the Blue Jays turn at the playoffs and potentially the first World Series since 1993. Welcome to spring.
