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News April 8, 2023

Robservations: SFU = Several Factoids Unearthed — The Roughriders/Simon Fraser Connection 

Robservations … 

  •  The recent decision by administrators at Simon Fraser University to ashcan the school’s long-standing football program has prompted an immersion in the files — because, well, that is what dusty, creaky historians do when not ingesting copious quantities of arthritis medication. Fortunately, the gnarled fingers can still manipulate an abacus, so some admittedly nerdy number-crunching has taken place. Ready, set …
  •  Thirty-five Simon Fraser products have played in at least one game for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Collectively, the 35 players have dressed for 1,269 CFL regular-season games on behalf of the Green and White.
  •  Dan Rashovich, a Roughriders linebacker and special-teams dynamo from 1987 to 1999, leads the way with 205 games. Also on the podium are safety Glen Suitor (194 games; 1984 to 1994) and kicker Luca Congi (87 games; 2006 to 2011).
  • Rashovich (in 1989), Suitor (1989) and Congi (2007) all played for the Roughriders during a championship season. Offensive lineman Dan Payne and defensive lineman Greg McCormack, both from SFU, joined Rashovich and Suitor on the 1989 Grey Cup champions.
  • Three SFU products have been All-Stars for the Roughriders — Suitor (a CFL All-Star in 1991, 1992 and 1993), Rashovich (West Division All-Star, 1990) and defensive end Lyall Woznesensky (West, 1981).
  • The 1981 Roughriders routinely had three SFU grads on the field at the same time — Woznesensky, Tom Schulz and fellow linebacker Campbell Hackney.
  •  Former Simon Fraser quarterback Dave Syme was Ron Lancaster’s backup in 1976. Syme completed 11 of 27 passes for 189 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions. The one touchdown pass was a 34-yarder to Rhett Dawson against the Toronto Argonauts on Oct. 10, 1976. Bob Macoritti added the convert at 12:32 of the fourth quarter to complete the scoring in Saskatchewan’s 34-3 victory.
  • As a rookie with Edmonton in 1972, Syme was rudely introduced to Saskatchewan defensive lineman Bill Baker. The Undertaker, as he was known, sidelined three Edmonton quarterbacks over the course of two matchups during Syme’s debut season. For starters, Baker flattened Bruce Lemmerman on Aug. 16, 1972 and left the Edmonton passer with a broken collarbone. When the teams collided again, on Sept. 17, 1972, a hit by Baker concussed Tom Wilkinson, whereupon Syme entered the game and emerged with broken cartilage in his nose.
  • Maurice Butler played at Simon Fraser for one year before joining the junior Regina Rams. Saskatchewan selected Butler in the fourth round of the 1978 draft. He played in eight CFL games that season, primarily as a punt returner.

DONNELLY DETAILS 

  • Eighteen players with ties to Simon Fraser have been drafted by the Roughriders. The first such player was defensive back Brian Donnelly, who was chosen to begin the proceedings on Feb. 9, 1971. Saskatchewan, which had posted a franchise-record 14 victories in 1970, obtained the first overall pick in a trade with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. When the Roughriders and Donnelly could not agree on a contract, he was traded to the B.C. Lions in an April 15, 1971 deal that brought Moose Jaw-born lineman Archie McCord to Saskatchewan. McCord, who was picked third overall by the Lions in 1971, had attended Simon Fraser before transferring to the University of North Dakota. Donnelly suited up for Santa Barbara City College and the University of California at Santa Barbara before enrolling at SFU.
  • Donnelly quickly emerged as a standout with the Lions, intercepting five passes in each of the 1971 and 1972 seasons. He registered three more picks for the Lions before being traded to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in September of 1974. After playing in seven games for Hamilton, Donnelly was dealt to the Montreal Alouettes during the off-season.
  • Montreal cut Donnelly before he could even play a game for the Alouettes. So it came to be that Donnelly finally suited up for the Roughriders, four-plus years after they had chosen him first overall. Faced with an injury to defensive back Ken McEachern, the Roughriders added Donnelly as a reinforcement. He dressed for Saskatchewan in its 28-27 loss to B.C. on Aug. 10, 1975. He was released shortly after the Lions registered their first victory at Taylor Field since Sept. 27, 1965.
  • Donnelly was among three Simon Fraser players to be drafted by Saskatchewan in 1971. The others were defensive back John Steele (second round, 15th overall) and linebacker Fred Pazarena (fifth round, 42nd overall).
  • Saskatchewan has not drafted player out of Simon Fraser since 2006, when Congi was selected in the second round (12th overall).
  •  Jacques Chapdelaine, the Roughriders’ offensive co-ordinator in 2015, spent the previous season as Simon Fraser’s head coach. He was succeeded by Humboldt-born Kelly Bates, who was Simon Fraser’s field boss from 2015 to 2017. Bates was with the Roughriders in 2010.

LUI THE LEGEND 

  •  Lui Passaglia starred at Simon Fraser before spending a still-unfathomable 25 seasons with the Lions, primarily as their placekicker and punter. His CFL journey began in 1976, when he made his pre-season and regular-season debuts against the Roughriders. His final regular-season game, suitably enough, was also against Saskatchewan.
  •  June 25, 1976: The Lions completed only seven of 28 passes in an 18-6 pre-season loss at Taylor Field. The only Lion to catch more than one pass was Passaglia, who gained 37 yards on three receptions. He also averaged 45 yards on nine punts. Syme completed eight of the 14 passes he threw for the Roughriders, who also used Randy Mattingly at quarterback while resting Lancaster for the team’s first of four pre-season games. (Still hard to fathom: Each NFL team used to play six exhibition games.)
  • July 22, 1976: The Roughriders posted a 35-8, season-opening victory at Empire Stadium. The Lions did not register a point until 3:04 of the fourth quarter, when John Sciarra found Passaglia for a 10-yard score. That was the only pass Passaglia caught in 408 regular-season games — the most in CFL history.
  •  Nov. 4, 2000: Passaglia, a spry 46, registered his final regular-season point by converting a touchdown he had scored on a largely ceremonial play — assuming the role of a short-yardage quarterback and sneaking over the goal line from one yard away. He scored at 12:13 of the fourth quarter, helping the Lions defeat the visiting Roughriders 27-26. The TD run and automatic convert left Passaglia with a presumably unbreakable career total of 3,991 points. 
  •  Passaglia’s storybook was not yet complete. He punctuated his final CFL game by kicking a 40-yard field goal on the last play to give the Lions a 28-26 Grey Cup victory over Montreal on Nov. 21, 2004. 

QUITE A RUN FOR WALKER
• Derel Walker, who signed as a free agent with the Roughriders in early March, boasted 100-plus receiving yards in three of Edmonton’s final six games last season. The Roughriders’ receiving corps as a whole had four 100-yard games in 2022 — two by Kian Schaffer-Baker and singles by Duke Williams and Justin McInnis. Williams (Hamilton) and McInnis (B.C.) signed elsewhere as free agents in February. 

  • Walker and Trevor Harris, the Roughriders’ newly signed starting quarterback, played together for six games with Edmonton in 2021. They collaborated for 29 completions and 348 aerial yards. Extrapolate those totals over a full, 18-game regular season and you have 87 catches and 1,044 yards. One note: Harris and Walker have yet to connect for a touchdown.

PATS ON THE BACK 

  •  Profuse thanks to the Regina Pats and Saskatoon Blades for a most entertaining first-round WHL playoff series. Games 2, 3 and 4 went into overtime. Saskatoon won 4-2 at home on Friday to assume a 3-2 lead during a series in which the Pats have outscored Saskatoon 20-18. Next up is Game 6 (Saturday, 7 p.m., Brandt Centre). 
  •  Pats superstar Connor Bedard had 10 goals over the first five games of the series. He has 81 goals in 62 WHL regular-season or playoff games in 2022-23. Dating back to 2021, when Bedard was a 15-year-old rookie, he has 144 goals in his first 139 meaningful games with the Pats.
  • Factor in the 2023 world junior hockey championship and Bedard has 90 goals after 69 games of consequence this season. Point total: 181.
  • Bedard has figured in 15 of the Pats’ 22 goals during the 2023 playoffs. Ten of his 31 shots have resulted in a goal. Shooting percentage: 32.5.
  •  There is always a possibility that Bedard and Pats defenceman Stanislav Svozil will be teammates for several seasons to come. Svozil’s NHL rights belong to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are in the running to win the 2023 draft lottery and therefore select Bedard first overall.
  • What fabulous fun it has been to be a part of CKRM’s pre-game, intermission and post-game panels at the Brandt Centre. The yakfests also include Dante De Caria (the play-by-play voice of the Pats), Drew Postey, Kelly Remple and Mark Black. Special guests have included Blades play-by-play announcer Les Lazaruk and former Pats defenceman Connor Hobbs. Saturday’s broadcast begins at 6:10 p.m. My first tacky joke will be told at 6:11 p.m.

LES THE LEGEND 

  •  Lazaruk should be the automatic recipient of the Bob Ridley WHL Award for Media Excellence when it is presented next season. The voice of the Blades since 1994, Lazaruk has called more than 2,000 WHL games. That is akin to calling a game every day for 5 ½ years.
  • Fast football fact: Les and yours truly were both at Winnipeg Stadium on Nov. 19, 1972 for the CFL’s Western Conference final. Saskatchewan rallied from a 24-7 deficit to defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 27-24, the difference being a last-play, 32-yard field goal by Jack Abendschan. Les, an avid Blue Bombers fan, grew up in Winnipeg. I attended the 1972 playoff game with Mom, who treated her eight-year-old son to his first plane ride on the morning of Nov. 19, 1972. We flew back that evening.
  • That game included three Simon Fraser products — Steele for Saskatchewan; linebacker Rob McLaren and halfback Clay McEvoy for Winnipeg.

ROLL CREDITS … 

  •  Nice people who deserve a plug: Russ Herold, Raelene Herold, Erin Herold, Ron Dorey, Tim Iannone, Sheryl Iannone, Chris Iannone, Cyndi Cherney, Barb Pacholik, Darrell Vipond, Darrell Romuld, Jamie Neugebauer, Brit Dort, Les Lazaruk, Ken Murphy, Dale Derkatch, Kelly Bates, Phil Andrews, Dante De Caria, Kelly Remple, Drew Postey, Mark Black, Ryan Ackerman, Lorne Molleken, Steve Burrows, Al Collins, Ty Thorpe, Kelly Jeffrey, Amanda Ruller, Sydney Matheson, Sam Berg, Melissa Fiacco, Shirley Prokop, Len Antonini, Tom Fuzesy, Brent Buchko, John Alexander, Mike Veitch, Seth Neuls, Jonathan Huntington, Rashawn Taniskishayinew, David Crowe, Jim Kolitsas, Peter Loubardias and Sunny Mae Sobchuk.
  •  Happy Easter!