COVID-19 and its variants are making It difficult for local fans to get into the hockey swing of things, especially with so much pro hockey saturating the airwaves.
But hopefully that can change tonight when the Islanders entertain the Cape Breton Eagles this evening in the final contest of a three-game home string.
The Maritimes Division-leading Islanders smothered Halifax 7-0 here Wednesday but the Cape Breton Eagles, who upset Charlottetown 5-4 here two weeks ago, will be a much tougher opponent. The Eagles have a trio of Islanders in their lineup in defencemen Logan Kelly-Murphy and Jacob Squires plus 17-year-old Souris forward Jack Campbell, who want to play well in front of family, friends and in front of Cape Breton scout and former UPEI blue-liner Jonathan Murphy. Season-ticket holders are now permitted to attend Islanders games, and that’s good news for the players and for management.
Charlottetown has plenty of firepower with Cédric Desruisseaux and Thomas Casey atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in points and goals entering Friday’s action, plus Lukas Cormier, the highest-scoring defenceman with nine goals and 18 assists. With goaltender Colton Ellis, who leads the league with a 1.80 goals-against average, a big part of the nucleus, there’s every reason to believe the Islanders are a legitimate first-place club.
NHL
Summerside native Noah Dobson didn’t get much playing time last year in his rookie season with the New York Islanders as GM Lou Lamoriello and head coach Barry Trotz decided to bring along their first-round draft pick slowly.
The patience has paid off as Dobson is an important piece of the surprising Islanders (8-5-3). Noah has recently been playing anywhere from 15-19 minutes a game, including time on the power play as his confidence is growing with every passing game. Right now, Dobson looks very much like an all-star defenceman somewhere down the road.
Also on the NHL front, Toronto Maple Leafs fans are moaning and groaning after blowing a 5-1 lead and losing 6-5 Monday in overtime to the lowly Ottawa Senators, bringing back memories of bad defensive play. The Leafs did rebound to edge Ottawa 2-1 on Wednesday, but the flashbacks persist.
Condolences
Big Joe Gallant, who was once a verbal tormentor and antagonist of visiting hockey and softball teams at the Forum on Fitzroy and at City Diamond for softball tournaments in the 1970s and 1980s, passed away this week. He has been absent from the sports scene for the past 15-20 years, but in his day, he was a colorful figure on the Charlottetown scene. Growing old is not fun.
Baseball
Major League Baseball spring training camps opened a few days ago despite the artic chill in places like Florida and Texas, but already Toronto Blue Jays fans are talking World Series.
On paper, the Jays are certainly good enough to finish second in the AL East behind the New York Yankees with big things expected from free agents George Springer and Marcus Semien.
It will be interesting to see if the seven right-handed hitters in their lineup can produce against good right-handed pitching, and if the club has improved on their atrocious base running. We shall see.
Harness racing
Live harness racing has returned this week in Ontario and that’s great news for horsemen everywhere. The feature tonight in Mohawk’s 10-dash card is the $26,000 top class where the O’Brien-winning Tom MacPhee-bred mare So Much More (James MacDonald) has the rail against the boys like Easy Lover Hanover, Wheels on Fire and six others.
Wade Peconi’s Lovedbythemasses has been sold to USA interests. The trotter was a gritty and game fifth against the Meadowlands top trot class like J L Cruse, Pikachu Hanover and six others last week. The trotter will take a new record and be a very useful horse in the USA this summer.
At Yonkers on Wednesday, former Atlantic Sires Stake star Getting Messi jogged in 1:57 and change for the biggest slice of a dropped down $9,500 purse.
At Miami Valley, Ohio, The Amazingsando was second by a neck in 1:55 in a $12,000 leg of a late closer series on Wednesday night. The four-year-old has drawn Post 3 in the $22,500 final Tuesday at the same track.
Among those qualifying at Mohawk on Thursday morning was Mr Kelly from the Wade MacDonald ownership group, who had one of the top colts on the Atlantic Canada scene last summer.
Fred MacDonald's column appears every Saturday in The Guardian. He can be reached at [email protected].
