HOT CORNER: Knight fever spreading across P.E.I.

It has been a great year for local fans following the fortunes of the Vegas Golden Knights.
Knight fever has spread Island-wide, and even those who don’t normally follow hockey are watching the Stanley Cup Final. Having Prince Edward Islanders Gerard (Turk) Gallant and Mike Kelly coaching the Knights has a lot of Islanders full of anticipation for both winning their first Stanley Cup.
As expected, the Washington Capitals are proving to be a very tough opponent as the teams get set to play Game 3 in Washington on Saturday. After splitting the first two games, the Knights need to win back home-ice advantage with at least a split of the next two games in Washington.
It hasn’t mattered where the Knights have played so far as they’ve won in some of the NHL’s toughest buildings, and the Capital One Arena in Washington should be no different. It will be an exciting week ahead. Hopefully, for the Knights and their fans, this time next week we can call Vegas Stanley Cup champions, or at least they’ll be close to capturing Hockey’s Holy Grail. 

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Canadian-born players
Fifty-two per cent of the Golden Knights are Canadian-born players, and only 31 per cent of the Capitals’ roster is from Canada.

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Stanley Cup appearances
The Montreal Canadiens, as most know, are the NHL’s most successful franchise, winning 24 Stanley Cups. That is 11 more than Toronto, which has the second-most Cups. Since 1915, the Canadiens have appeared in the Stanley Cup Final 34 times while the Detroit Red Wings have the second-most appearances at 24, winning 11 of those. The Leafs have appeared in the final 21 times, winning 13 Stanley Cups.
The Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild and Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets are the only active NHL teams not to appear in a Stanley Cup Final. 

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Baseball
Summer-like weather has arrived, and it feels more like baseball season. A cold and wet spring forced a record number of postponements in many major-league cities, and starting the season a week early in late March proved to be a disaster for Major League Baseball with low attendance in many parks.
Who can blame fans for not wanting to sit in near freezing temperatures that was more like hockey weather?
The 162-game season is too long, especially with the players getting more days off than ever before. All this does is cramp the schedule even more, and inter-league play has run its course and lacks excitement.
If Major League Baseball was to scrap the 20 inter-league games each team plays, a 142-game schedule would permit a mid-April start to the season, and also enable the post-season to get going sooner as well.
Reducing the season would likely never happen with the lost revenue, but it would at least allow the great game to be played in suitable weather.

Shohei Ohtani
Shohei Ohtani is one of the great stories this season in Major League Baseball. Ohtani is a six-foot-four, 203-pound 23-year-old Japanese-born baseball player playing with the Los Angeles Angels. What makes him so special is that he not only is a great pitcher, but also a great hitter. He is the first player since Babe Ruth to be a regular in the pitching rotation as well as being a hitter.
He is a left-handed hitting designated hitter, and has put up some impressive numbers. He is hitting .291 in 30 games, including six home runs and 20 runs batted in in 103 at-bats. He has a 4-1 (won-lost) pitching record and a fastball that sizzles in the 100 miles-per-hour-plus range. It has been nearly 100 years since Ruth played, and one can only wonder how many other pitchers have come along since that would have the same capabilities as Ohtani if given the chance.

MLB Draft
The Major League Baseball Draft  goes on Monday, and the Detroit Tigers have the first overall pick, which is expected to be Auburn Tigers right-handed pitcher Casey Mize. Mize has a four-pitch arsenal that has some scouts saying that he could pitch in the majors now.
San Francisco drafts second, and Philadelphia has the third pick. The Toronto Blue Jays draft 12th.
Have a great week!

Joe MacIntyre is a Summerside resident. His column appears every Saturday. Comments and suggestions can be sent to [email protected].