HOT CORNER: Too bad QMJHL's Islanders can’t play a few games a season in Summerside

SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — It seems unlikely that we will ever have a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team in Summerside.
We have a big-league arena minus the team and having the Charlottetown Islanders of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League play a few games in Summerside may be as close as locals get to seeing the best junior hockey in the country.
The Islanders’ training camp is underway and the team is scheduled to play four home exhibition games before opening the regular season at Eastlink Centre on Sept. 20th against Moncton. Two of those four exhibition games are being played in Cornwall, with the other two in Montague and Charlottetown.
One would think that the Islanders would want, at least, an opportunity to play an exhibition game in Summerside. I am sure they would welcome the opportunity to play at beautiful Credit Union Place and Summerside should make it happen, if possible. 
The Islanders play 34 regular-season home games and playing two or three in Summerside, along with an exhibition game, should be considered. Major junior hockey is the best there is and the Islanders would pick up additional fans from the western end of P.E.I.
When the P.E.I. Rocket landed in Charlottetown in 2003, busloads of fans from the west travelled to Charlottetown to see them play. Years of poor performance by the Rocket derailed a lot of those fans, but now that the Islanders’ organization appears serious about contending, fans from across the province will support them.
It would be a win-win situation for all, especially the fans.
Since the Summerside Western Capitals of the MHL (Maritime Junior Hockey League) have players from all over P.E.I., playing a couple of games in Charlottetown would make sense from their perspective as well. This would allow them to display their product to fans who may not normally get the chance to see it.

Baseball
Over the last 15 years there is little doubt that Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander has been the best pitcher in baseball. At age 36, in his 15th year, he remains a dominant force and the trade that sent him from Detroit to Houston two summers ago has rejuvenated his career.
He leads the American League this year in innings pitched at 178 2/3 and strikeouts with 239. He is second in wins with 15 and second in earned-run average at a stingy 2.77 per nine innings. He has 36 wins as a Houston Astro against only 14 losses since that August 2017 trade from Detroit.
This past Wednesday, he became only the fifth pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) history to have seven straight 10 or more strikeout games when he fanned 11 Tigers in Detroit’s 2-1 win.
In that complete-game loss, he allowed only two hits – both solo home runs – which was the difference in the game. Detroit did not have a man on base the entire game – that is something I do not recall seeing in my lifetime of watching baseball.
Verlander is, and always has been, a pleasure to watch pitch. Without doubt, he will go down as one of the best pitchers baseball has ever seen.

Pennant races
There are just over 30 games remaining in the MLB season and there are only two good pennant races in the six divisions covering both the American and National Leagues.
In the National League Central, entering Friday’s play, the Chicago Cubs held a slim half-game lead on the St. Louis Cardinals and a four-game cushion on the Milwaukee Brewers. The American League Central is the only other race with the Minnesota Twins holding a three-game edge on the Cleveland Indians. The Indians have suddenly gone cold, losing seven of their last 10 games, and need to right the ship in a hurry.
Having two teams in each league possibly qualify as the wild-card team has been a great addition to MLB's playoff format, but it may be time for a change by adding more teams. The 162-game schedule should be shortened, and the easy way would be to eliminate inter-league play.
A shorter season, with more playoffs, would be a positive for baseball. There certainly would be a lot more interest leading up to the post-season, which is just over five weeks away.

NHL
NHL training camps open in just under three weeks as most teams get underway either Sept. 12 or 13th. There are a lot of free agents yet to sign, including Toronto Maple Leaf star forward Mitch Marner. The Leafs dug themselves a hole by overpaying Auston Matthews almost $12 million annually. Marner wants the same type of deal and who can blame him?
Many would say that Marner is better than Matthews.
The Leafs are up against it as far as the salary cap goes, but need to find a way to get Marner signed before the season starts. This is a big year for the Leafs, whose window for winning is now. They do not need the distraction of Marner sitting out like William Nylander did last year. The sooner they get the Marner situation resolved, the better for the team going forward.
It will be an interesting three weeks leading up to the opening of training camps, and there are a lot of free agents still looking for work. That could lead to some real good team-friendly bargain contracts signed before camps open.
Have a great week!

Joe MacIntyre is a local life insurance broker. His column appears every Saturday. Comments and suggestions can be sent to [email protected].