Rod Pedersen Interview

Each week, DUBNetwork will be conducting interviews with people who are directly involved (or have been involved) in the Western Hockey League in some capacity. This includes players, prospects, alumni, team personnel and staff, radio personnel, etc.  We will then proceed to post the transcript of the interview for our fans to read and enjoy, in an attempt to get to know these people a little better.

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http://www.620ckrm.com/sportscage/

This week, I have interviewed former WHL play-by-play broadcaster, Rod Pedersen. Rod worked as a broadcaster for 17 years in the league (1993-1995 with Prince Albert & 1995-2010 with Regina). He has also been the voice of the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the CFL for the last 18 years. Some of Rod’s other accomplishments include broadcasting the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championships for Sportsnet, working for The Score Sports Network and working as a regional reporter for Rogers Sportsnet. In addition, he also hosts a daily sports talk show on 620 CKRM, called The Sports Cage. Rod was kind enough to sit down and answer some questions for us recently. Enjoy!

 

Brock – Rod, I think it is safe to suggest that when most people hear your name they attribute it to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. You have been a key figure in the ‘Rider football world for quite some time. As much as I would enjoy to sit here and talk Roughrider football with you (huge fan/soon to be season ticket holder), this is a WHL website, so let’s chat a bit about the other team that you cover and who you are also extremely passionate about; the Regina Pats. It is fairly early in the season, but is this the best Pat’s team you have seen during your time? If not, which team was stronger?

Rod – I was the Pats broadcaster beginning in 1995 but I became a fan in 1980 when they won the WHL championship and I was only 7 years old!  So, this is as good of a Pats team as I’ve seen in that entire time.  The eras are entirely different and because of the size of the players now, the speed of the game and how hard the shots are, the 2016-17 Pats team would probably beat any of those great teams from the 80’s.  It’s by far better than any club I had the pleasure of calling games for for 15 seasons.

 

Brock – The Pat’s recently traded for Jonathan Smart, a solid acquisition to their backend. Do you foresee any more significant deals happening in the next month for the Pat’s, prior to the January deadline?

Rod –  John Paddock saw a need for an upgrade on the blueline and filled it more-than-adequately with Smart.  He’s getting lots of minutes including on the powerplay.  For some reason Pats fans feel there’s a need for an upgrade in goal but I don’t agree.  Tyler Brown backstopped the Pats to Game 7 of the Conference Semifinals in a 2-1 loss last spring.  It certainly wasn’t his fault they lost that game.  Between he and Jordan Hollett, they have a tandem capable of taking them to the Finals.

 

Brock – If you were the GM, which current WHL players would you look at acquiring to help this 2016-2017 Pat’s squad reach the league finals?

Rod – Tough question.  Guys in the division have already been moved like Brendan Guhle and Ryan Graham.  The Pats have been walking all over teams pretty much all season long and have yet to lose in regulation at home. I don’t think Paddock wants to upset the apple cart and tinker too much with the chemistry they already have.  I can’t see many trades forthcoming.  Don’t forget they added key pieces in Dawson Leedahl, Filip Ahl and Nick Henry back in the summer.

 

Brock – Do you predict that the possibility of Regina hosting next year’s Memorial Cup changes the way they look at potential deals, over the course of the next month? Trading away 16-18 year olds to load up for a championship run this season could have a negative impact on the team they ice next year, if they do in fact win the bid.

Rod – I’ve talked to John Paddock about that and the situation has caused him many sleepless nights.  However in the end, he feels he simply needs to run the program as if they weren’t hosting the Memorial Cup at all (and don’t forget they haven’t even been awarded the tournament yet).  I couldn’t agree with him more. The 20-year olds on this club deserve as much.  Chase Harrison and Adam Brooks have been there since Day 1.

 

Brock – Many Pat’s fans were upset the past few years when John Paddock, while having a seemingly strong enough team, decided to trade away veterans and essentially opt out of making a serious title push to instead build for the future. Were you one of those people who were confused by the moves or did you trust in the process? They sure look like brilliant moves now.

Rod – I thought they were brilliant moves at the time, and still do.  Connor Hobbs and Jake Leschyshyn are part of the backbone of this club now and made an impact as soon as they arrived two years ago.

 

Brock – Junior hockey is steadily moving away from having fighting in the game, particularly over the past 5 seasons. The WHL has taken a different stance than the OHL, but nonetheless has taken measures to ensure fighting is on the decline. Do you think the league has done a sufficient job? What would you like to see done?

Rod – I’m a proponent of fighting in the game and I think the WHL has struck the perfect balance.  Games aren’t marred by goonery, yet there’s still an element of intimidation in the game. If we lost that, I’d fear for the future of the game.  By that I mean guys would be running around sticking players all over and taking cheapshots.  As it stands now, the game continues to police itself.

 

Brock – Aside from fighting in the game, are there any rule changes you would like to see implemented or removed from the current on-ice product?

Rod – One major beef I had was the change last summer to allow goals scored from a kicking motion around the crease.  They said that was to take the “human element” out of the game and make it easier for officials yet they instituted hybrid icing which makes the linesmen make critical decisions in the game.  Kind of a paradox don’t you think?  We didn’t have touch-up icing before so I don’t know why they went to the hybrid.  However if they adopted the entire NHL rulebook, I’d have no problem with that.  The game should be officiated the same from major junior, to the minors, to the NHL.

Conversely in football the rules of the game are completely different from junior and university to the CFL, NCAA and NFL.  It’s incredibly confusing for the players and coaches.

 

Brock – Because you do not do play-by-play for the Pat’s any longer, are you still able to watch all of the games, either in person/on WHL Live TV/by radio?

Rod – I go to every game I can at home and even went to Moose Jaw to witness that overtime thriller.  I still access7rbroadcast selected games on Access/Shaw and in early December the WHL announced an expanded broadcast package with more Pats games than ever before.  I couldn’t be happier!

 

Brock – I would like to hear how you predict the WHL playoffs playing out this season. Which four teams do you have making the conference finals this year? League finals?

Rod – At this point I haven’t seen every team yet but based on the standings and the teams I’ve seen come through the Brandt Centre, I envision Regina and Medicine Hat in the East and Prince George and Everett in the West.  But this may be the best playoff in quite some time because Moose Jaw and Swift Current aren’t about to let the Pats waltz to the division pennant.  They’ve made some great moves to upgrade their squads.

 

Brock – I want to switch topics here for a brief moment. It has been well documented, including a story CBC recently did, that you have overcome addiction and are now trying to spread the word and assist others who may be dealing with some of the same issues you dealt with in the past. We all know that for some people, the addiction to alcohol begins at an early age and sometimes coincides with their involvement with a sports team. What is a piece of advice that you may want to pass on to someone reading this that may be in the early stages of struggling with alcohol or drugs and unsure what to do to overcome it?

Rod – For anyone struggling with addictions, and mine was alcohol, the message I’m trying to deliver is that “It’s never too late”.  I honestly thought I was hopelessly beyond help because I tried to quit drinking on my own (like my Dad did 41 years ago) and couldn’t do it by myself.  So I “quit quitting” if you will.  It got entirely worse from there but I was pointed in the direction of getting help and I never looked back.  Asking for help was a concept that never dawned on me, and I encourage anyone who’s struggling now to do the same.

 

Thank you for answering those questions Rod, Next I am going to ask you some rapid fire questions, ready?

Favorite current Regina Pat to watch?

Goalie Tyler Brown.  Any starting goalie in the WHL should be able to stop the first shot but it’s the second, third and fourth shots (rebounds) that set goalies apart.  Brown is quick and athletic and his tracking of the puck is amazing.  I’m a big fan.

Which Eastern Conference team do you think has the potential to give Regina the most trouble in a 7 game playoff series?

Probably Medicine Hat.  I haven’t seen them yet but as the Pats were trying to run away with the conference as early as the opening quarter of the season, the Tigers just wouldn’t go away and kept nipping at their heels.

Who are three WHL alumni that you currently enjoy watching the most in the NHL?

Carey Price, Brendan Gallagher and Shane Doan.

Favorite uniform(s) in the WHL?

Come on.  The Regina Pats.  But I’ve also liked the thought that went into Everett’s uniforms with the striping emulating the mountain tops of the State of Washington.

Who are a couple General Managers that you respect the most from your time covering the Western Hockey League?

Kelly McCrimmon, Kelly McCrimmon and Kelly McCrimmon.  You can toss Bruce Hamilton in there too but the Pats’ struggles against McCrimmon’s Wheat Kings were monumental.  We were always trying to copy the Wheat Kings’ success year-after-year but couldn’t come close.  He’s the best there ever was or will be.

Who are the two most impressive non-Pat’s players that you have watched over the last couple of years?

Brayden Point in Moose Jaw for sure, Jake DeBrusk out of Swift Current and I admire the tenacity of Tyler Wong in Lethbridge.

What is the most memorable Pat’s/WHL moment of your career?

Easily the 2001 Memorial Cup in Regina.  It was always my dream growing up to be a part of a Memorial Cup and in 2001, I finally got that chance.  I MC’d every event, tried to broadcast every game nightly (and wound up losing my voice) and did my best to soak up every second.  When it was over, I thanked the Parker family for allowing me the opportunity to realize a dream.

Who are your all-time top 3 WHL play-by-play guys?

Tough call because I admire each and every one of them since it’s difficult to get a WHL broadcasting gig in the first place.  For me though, based on personal friendships and admiring listening to them call games, I’d say Bob Ridley in Medicine Hat, Saskatoon’s Les Lazaruk and Tri-City’s Craig West.  Not necessarily in that order.

What is the toughest part of being a play-by-play broadcaster? Is it being semi-objective while on-air?

I didn’t find any of it tough except for the travel and that wasn’t until later on in my career.  Very early on in P.A. it was hammered into me by Coach Donn Clark and GM Dale Engel that I’d better be “Pro-Raider”.  I adopted the mindset at the time that people hear enough bad stuff in the news so they don’t need negativity with their favourite teams.  Later on, Pats coach Lorne Molleken instructed me that I need to call games from “a Pats point of view”.  I never forgot that.

Last year when I called the Pats and Rebels in the playoffs across Western Canada on Shaw, I tried really hard to stay even-keeled and not favor the Pats.  Then I got a barrage of hate mail from Pats fans saying I needed to be “Pro-Regina”.

You can’t win.

Favorite hobbies outside of sports?

I’m lucky that my favourite hobby is running my blog at www.rodpedersen.com so that’s work but it doesn’t feel like it.  Beyond that, I try to travel as much as I can in the football off-season and this winter I’ll spend a great deal of time in Arizona (where I am now), New York, Florida and Mexico.

Thanks for your time Rod, I appreciate it!