The 15-year-old, who is in his first year of midget, moved to Canada when he was 12 to play hockey, and have a better chance of succeeding at the game.
Marikoshi is a native of Osaka, Japan, and resides with Summerside Western Capitals head coach Billy McGuigan and his family in Summerside.
Marikoshi ended up in Canada with the help of a native Islander, who is in Japan teaching school. Adam Spence has a player agency, and is a member of the Japanese Hockey Federation. Spence picks out select kids in Japan, and gets them an opportunity to play in Canada.
Bruce Cameron is the head coach of the local midget team, and has high praise for Marikoshi.
“He is a top-six player on our team,” said Cameron. “He is a great kid to coach, and he really seems to enjoy the game.”
Marikoshi has four goals and three assists in three games with the Capitals.
Busy individual
Cameron also doubles as Summerside Area Minor Hockey Association president, and he tells me that registration is about the same as last year – about 450 kids registered. Cameron noted a real encouraging sign would be in the Skills Division. There are 72 kids registered in that program – up by 48 from 24 just two years ago.
NHL realignment
The NHL realignment format looks a lot better for some teams, and probably not so good for others. Either way, it will be better for fans and, ultimately, that’s what is most important.
What a lot of people like about it is that it sets up more possible Stanley Cup final matchups. Only teams in the same conference (division) cannot meet in the final. It looks more like the days of the old Patrick and Norris Divisions.
NHL contraction
Contraction will probably never happen, but can you imagine just how good the NHL would be as a 24-team league?
Those players that are role players now would have to work elsewhere. The skill level would be a lot more prevalent, and what a competitive league it would be.
Many people have said that the NHL is watered down today, but contraction would remedy that.
There are leading candidates who, with their lack of fan interest, make, for obvious choices. Pick any six of the following: Carolina, Florida, Dallas, New York Islanders, Columbus, Phoenix and New Jersey.
“He is a top-six player on our team. He is a great kid to coach, and he really seems to enjoy the game.” - Midget Capitals head coach Bruce Cameron
Move the seventh team to Toronto, get rid of the other six and you have a much better NHL. That would be wishful thinking though!
Coaching carousel
Since the lockout cancelled the 2004-05 season, there have been 167 coaching changes in the NHL. In the six-plus seasons since the lockout, only Buffalo’s Lindy Ruff, Nashville’s Barry Trotz and Detroit’s Mike Babcock remain with the same team.
Forbes Magazine
Forbes Magazine has released its latest values on NHL franchises. The magazine pits the Toronto Maple Leafs as the most valuable NHL team – worth $521 million.
The New York Rangers ($507 million), Montreal ($445 million), Detroit ($336 million) and Boston ($325 million) round out the top five.
The least valuable team is the Phoenix Coyotes at $134 million. The
magazine also stated that 18 of the 30 NHL teams lost money last year.
Baseball
Baseball’s annual meetings wrapped up with both Miami (formerly Florida) and Anaheim laying out big bucks for free agents. Almost $60 million tied up in a four-year contract to Mark Buehrle, and $77 million over five years to CJ Wilson, seems a little excessive for two guys who are nothing more than average left-handed pitchers.
I see where one of last year’s big-name signings had a great year with Washington! Jayson Werth signed a seven-year, $126-million-dollar contract this time last year, and hit .232. Carl Crawford signed a seven-year, $142-million-dollar deal with Boston, and hit .255.
Can you imagine that kind of dough tied up on those two average-at-best ballplayers, and they go out and produce pathetic numbers like that?
Trivia
In last week’s column, I asked a Nelson Blanchard trivia question:
“What player won eight Stanley Cups, and never played a game with
Montreal?”
The answer is Red Kelly.
Have a great week!
Joe MacIntyre is a Summerside resident. His column appears every Saturday.
Comments and suggestions can be sent to j-mac@eastlink.ca .
