Dallas Stars coach Rick Bowness was born in Moncton, N.B., on Jan. 25, 1955, and that makes him 65 today.
He is certainly what you would call a hockey-lifer, whose debut as a junior player came with the powerful Quebec Remparts in the 1972-73 season. He was drafted by the Atlanta Flames in the second round, 26th overall, in 1975.
Since then, this man has been everywhere. He has played minor pro in Tulsa, Halifax, Salt Lake and Sherbrooke and in the NHL with Atlanta, Detroit, St. Louis and Winnipeg. He got his start in coaching with the American Hockey League’s Sherbrooke Jets as a playing-coach in the 1982-83 season.
He also had AHL coaching jobs with Moncton and the Maine Mariners. He coached his first NHL game in Madison Square Garden as his Winnipeg Jets lost to the New York Rangers in February 1989.
Bowness also has held head coaching jobs with Boston, Ottawa, New York Islanders, Phoenix and now with Dallas. He was either an assistant or associate, coach with both Vancouver and Tampa Bay, making that eight NHL teams he has coached for.
Since becoming a full-time assistant with Winnipeg to start the 1984-85 season, Bowness has coached in the NHL every year except the 1998-99 season and in 2004-05. That is impressive and amazing.
In 480 NHL games, he has a head coaching record of 133-295-48-4 (won-lost-overtime losses-shootout losses) record, with 178 of those losses coming with the lowly Ottawa Senators, who he coached for just over three seasons when they entered the NHL.
One can only imagine the number of airplanes, buses, hotels and hockey rinks Bowness has seen in his career. That is not to mention the miles travelled.
Bowness has had a long NHL coaching career and obviously is very well respected. It is great to see Maritimers do well and Bowness has done as well as anyone considering how long coaches last in today's NHL.
Charlottetown Islanders
The Charlottetown Islanders lost a pair of home games last weekend to Cape Breton by scores of 5-2 and 8-2. The Islanders are in fifth place in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's (QMJHL) Eastern Conference, trailing fourth-place Cape Breton by the four points the Eagles got in Charlottetown last weekend.
Those were big losses for the Islanders to lose – two games on home ice to a team in front of you in a year where fans are hoping for a long playoff run.
Summerside resident Noel Gaudet is a big fan who attends a lot of Islander games and he remains optimistic about success this season. History would suggest otherwise.
This is the 17th year of major junior hockey in our capital city and fans have seen the home team reach the third round of the playoffs only twice. That was in 2016-17 and 2017-18, so I guess one should follow Gaudet's optimism.
The Islanders’ record stood at 23-18-5 ahead of Friday’s game in Saint John. The Islanders are home Saturday against Blainville-Boisbriand and Sunday against Moncton.
Bennett MacArthur
Bennett MacArthur has played 12 games with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the QMJHL. The soon-to-be-19-year-old started out with the Summerside Western Capitals, where he was the fourth-leading scorer on a very good team.
It must have been a tough decision to make the move to the last-place Titan, especially with the Caps looking like a team destined for a long playoff run and the excitement that goes with it.
I'm told that MacArthur always had aspirations of playing major junior hockey and age would suggest it had to be now, especially when the Titan came calling. If he plays with Acadie-Bathurst next year, he will get 1 1/2 years of university paid for and that makes playing with the Titan worthwhile.
Credit goes to MacArthur for making that tough decision.
He has three goals in those 12 games with the Titan.
High salaries
According to the website Spotrac, there will be 12 Major League Baseball (MLB) players making $30 million or more this coming season. The top three include the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout at just over $37.6 million, newly-signed Gerritt Cole of the Yankees at $36 million and Max Scherzer of Washington at just over $35.9 million.
Twenty-three others make $25 or more million while 46 players will make $20 million or more dollars. The New York Yankees will have the highest payroll at $243.5 million annually, followed by Boston at just over $219 million.
The Toronto Blue Jays are slated to be at No. 20 with a payroll of just over $93.7 million. The highest-paid Blue Jay is newly-signed pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu at $20 million annually. The highest-paid Canadian born player is the Cincinnati Reds’ Joey Votto, who makes $25 million per year.
Hall of Fame
It was great to see Maple Ridge, B.C., native Larry Walker get the call to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He is the greatest baseball player ever from Canada.
Jim Leyland called him the best player he ever managed when they were together in Colorado while former teammate Dante Bichette calls Walker the most complete player he has ever seen.
The only disappointment with Walker’s induction is that he will be wearing a Colorado hat and not a Montreal Expos’ hat. He got his start with the Expos, who scouted and signed him.
Walker joins former Yankee great Derek Jeter, who was only one vote shy of having 100 per cent of the vote.
Walker and Jeter are both referred to as five-tool players, meaning they could hit for average and power, play exceptional defence, run and throw.
Jeter may very well be the best American-born player ever, or at least over the last 50 years. Do we have the best ever American- and Canadian-born players inducted in the same year? Jeter may be debatable, but not Walker.
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].
