SASKIN-GATE: ROLI RIGHT ALL ALONG

The Ted Saskin supernova over his hiring as NHL Players' Association seems to have reached critical mass -- the in-the-know hockey writers along with Mirtle, mc79hockey and the other hockey bloggers and are on this like cats on a couch.

Dwayne Roloson, the current Oilers goalie, was one of the players who first kicked up a fuss over Saskin's dealings, delivering the killer line, "This is supposed to be a democratic union and it's become Communist." To someone who was working for the daily in Roloson's hometown of Simcoe, Ont., when Saskin-gate began before the 2005-06 season, the story seemed to have a lot of legs, and now it's apparently come to fruition, almost 18 months later. Not that this blog was out front on this story or anything, but here's what appeared at the original Out of Left Field: late last March:

"Forgive Dwayne Roloson if he feels like Andy Dufresne at the climax of The Shawshank Redemption today.

"Not that he necessarily does. Hey, Roloson and his Edmonton Oilers are sitting pretty, but they need to win a few games yet before they wrap up a playoff spot. But if Roli the goalie is Andy Dufresne, whose hardships are redeemed in the end, then NHL players association president Ted Saskin seems to fit the role of Warden Norton –- the character who blows his brains out rather than face a sure-to-be-awful reckoning."

And it goes on from there... Roloson never returned calls about this when I was the Simcoe Reformer's sports editor. He probably had his reasons, so it was never taken personally.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.