All things NHL
It’s the right decision to play Hockeyville game in Summerside
Joe MacIntyre looks at a number of items in the NHL.
It is draft weekend in Chicago, concluding a busy and very interesting week in the National Hockey League. The Vegas Golden Knights have the majority of their team picked and, along with the rest of the NHL, will participate in the amateur draft.
The draft started in 1963 in Montreal, with four rounds and 21 players selected. There will be seven rounds in Chicago, and 217 players selected.
Being drafted doesn’t necessarily mean those players will actually make the NHL. Of the players selected in a 10-year period from 2000-2009, 80 per cent of first-round selections played at least 50 NHL games. The numbers drop significantly in Round 2 as only 44 per cent played at least 50 games, with Rounds 3 and 4 dropping to 30 and 20 per cent, respectively, and so on.
NHL schedule
The NHL schedule has been released, and the 2017-18 season is set to begin Oct. 4. Vegas opens its season in Dallas on Oct. 6, before its home opener against Arizona on Oct. 10. The Golden Knights are in the Western Conference, and will have only one home and one away game against Eastern Conference teams. Those planning trips, and not going to Las Vegas, can see the Gerard Gallant- and Mike Kelly-coached Knights play in Boston on Thursday, Nov. 2; in Ottawa on Saturday afternoon, Nov 4, and in Montreal on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
Hockeyville
This week’s announcement the Kraft Hockeyville NHL game will be played in Summerside is the right thing to do for a lot of reasons, but none more than the fact that more people will be able to see it. O’Leary, which won Hockeyville, and its residents should have priority on tickets to a limit, and obviously having it in Summerside allows more O’Leary residents to attend. It will be a fun event on Sept. 25 as New Jersey plays Ottawa. With beautiful Eastlink Arena being like a mini version of an NHL arena, it is absolutely the right place to play the game.
Harness racing
Lobster Carnival Week harness racing is only two weeks away, with the Governor’s Plate eliminations two Sundays from now.
The unofficial start of the Maritime free-for-all circuit starts in Charlottetown on Saturday, with the Cecil Ladner Memorial going for a $5,000 purse.
It will give us a bit of an indication of how much quality there is in the top class, which at this stage of the season looks rather thin.
It was similar last year, but, as he usually does, race classifier Gerard Smith pulled a rabbit out of his hat and Rene Allard arrived with YS Lotus, who electrified a big Governor’s Plate crowd and scorched Summerside in track-record time of 1:51:4.
Jose Bautista
How long will it be before the Toronto Blue Jays figure out that Jose Bautista is not worth having on the team?
The Jays were trailing Texas on Thursday in the third inning with two outs and Bautista on second base. One of the hottest hitters in baseball, Justin Smoak, was up and facing a pitcher that he had a lifetime .430 average against. Bautista decides to steal third, and gets thrown out easily. Never be the third out at third base, especially with a hot hitter batting.
Instead of potentially being a 3-1 game and the inning continuing, the Rangers used the momentum-changing situation to score three more in the bottom of the inning en route to a 10-4 win.
With all the distractions he brings, and at times the stupid baseball he plays, Bautista is not worth having on the team.
Lighter side
What will happen first – the Vegas Golden Knights will win the Stanley Cup, The Dynasty Spa will finally get finished, or the old Holland College on Granville Street will meet the wrecking ball?
We hope we are all around to see all three.
Have a great week!