This is a pretty weird experience.
Packing up my room, my belongings again for yet another new adventure. I have moved 3 times since arriving in Whitecourt from house to house to house, but now the day I have been anticipating for a few months is finally here. I'm pretty sure I will go through some odd emotions in the next 48 hours as I get ready for my week off and then the next chapter in life...........the final morning show with Andrew on Friday. Expect some interesting antics during that one!
A few quick notes to cover off as I head into la la land.
- I will continue to blog about the Wolverines when I move to Medicine Hat. I have already been asked about that. It would be hard to totally unplug from it after it being my passion for the last 3 years.
- I will have to start loving baseball! Ha ha I love watching local baseball, and I follow the MLB. But its just difficult for me to sit down and watch an entire game when guys make 100 million a year to swing a bat :) Ok, ok I know. I give them a rough time. But they are in the bigs!
- I have also been asked what my exact job description will be once I arrive in Medicine Hat, where in the large sense I'm not 100 percent positive yet. I know I will be doing a lot of Tigers coverage which will be sweet. Training camp got underway over a week ago, and they will be in St Albert for a pre-season invitational tourney on Sunday and Monday. I'm going in to a winning situation, which I am no stranger to. The Tigers picked up 100 points last year and finished 3rd in the East. The Whitecourt Wolverines won 3 straight league titles, lost 2 playoff games in 3 years and 6 regular season games in the 3 seasons I was there.........oh and did I mention 3 consecutive championships? Lol so I'm ready for the "challenge."
- The Drayton Valley Thunder are 6-0 after beating Spruce Grove 4-3 tonight in Barrhead. I know as they say, its "only" pre season. Since winning 30 games in 2006-07, they have won 12, 7, 12 and 12 games from 07-11, for a total of 43 games. Needless to say they are overdue, and it would be great to see them turn it around.
- Wolverines training camp begins on Friday night and runs right through the weekend. Apparently Jordan Panasiuk will not be back between the pipes, as he is off to Edmonton to attend school. That will leave the number 1 job clearly to Braeden Johnson, who was part of the 1A, 1B rotation last year. Johnny also played the majority of the games in the provincials..........on a side note, as a going away present for myself I ordered a Jordan Panasiuk jersey to remember the remarkable 8 game 35 minute 36 second shutout streak from last season......Head Coach Richard Kazda arrives in Whitecourt tonight from Ontario. And some very, very prominent rumors around town are citing Joey Bouchard back and involved with the organization again. Some off season decisions left him out of the mix for this year, but it sounds like he will be back. Whether that is 100 percent truth, remains to be seen.
- So Wade Belak died today. Yikes. Another tough guy this summer. Boogaard, Rypien and now Belak. Its not as if the province of Saskatchewan hasn't lost enough already. (Yikes, that was a total unintentional shot at the Riders. Meaning all 3 guys hail from or spent time in Sask.) Thoughts and prayers are with the families...............speaking of which, Elias Lachance's cross is now up at the crash site where he died outside of Drayton Valley on highway 22. Teammates and friends put it up tonight. Elias will have his jersey retired on opening night, September 24th against Peace River. The irony? The last team that he watched in the Whitecourt twin arenas last spring in game 5. Family and friends also started up the Elias Lachance Memorial Fund to raise money for kids who cannot afford to play. That will be officially started next Friday night in Spruce Grove, a game between his 2 former teams.
- And quickly, I already changed my Twitter name to "Dave_ShawTV" from "theradioface" in preparation for the move. Feel free to follow my tweets. And a quick shoutout to Stuart Thompson of the Whitecourt Star for the full page article on my departure. Stuart has great passion for this town, and will no doubt make a name for himself in this industry. I loved re-living some of the moments in the last 3 years, including the 2009 provincials and the "phantom goal" when the Wolverines were up 2-1 in the 3rd. That one would have put them up 3-1. Things you will never forget.
Anyway I still have lots of packing to do. Comments or questions? For the time being send them to dave@xm105.com
Thanks as well to those who have stopped by, said hi and sent emails off with their well wishes. I appreciate every one of them I receive.
