‘Game of the Year’
Storm, Hurricanes delivering calibre of basketball never before seen in this province
The National Basketball League Atlantic final between our own Island Storm and the first-place Halifax Hurricanes is turning out to be everything we expected and more.
The first two games in Halifax were nail-biters right to the end and, with a little luck, the Storm could have returned back to the Island up 2-0 in the bestof-seven series.
Thursday night’s Game 3 here was another thriller and the Storm deserved full marks for the win, thus taking a 2-1 series lead. This is a very intense series with a lot of chirping to the officials and among players. There have been a couple of glaring missed calls thus far in the playoffs, most obviously a no-call on the Akeem Ellis mugging of a Halifax Hurricane in the closing minutes of Game 2 in Halifax; the other, the controversial Terry Thomas push of the Saint John player out of bounds in the earlier series. These can be chalked up as breaks of the game.
The officials are calling them as they see them and that’s all one can ask. There are missed calls in every sport - NHL, NBA, NFL and NBL; it’s part of the game.
Game 4 tonight at 7 p.m. Eastlink Centre should be another thriller. At the outset, I expected this to be a very close series, and it‘s been that.
There is nothing tougher in sports than playing an opponent that thinks they can win, and the Storm and their fans believe they can win this series. Jahii Carson, Terry Thomas, Al Stewart and Rashad Whack are four gifted playmakers in the backcourt which few teams in this league can match. The Island club is also playing a much, much tougher defence than all year with guys like Ellis, A.J. Stewart, Al Richter, Tirrell Baines, Mike Allison and Brad States; they are not surrendering many easy buckets as under the basket in both ends is not the place to be if you’re faint hearted.
Tonight’s game is the Storm’s most important game of the year. A win and they jump ahead 3-1 in the series, one away from sidelining the Halifax club. The Hurricanes are missing a couple of key starters but they have enough talent with standouts like Billy White, Renaldo Dixon, Tyrone Watson, Antoine Mason and Cliff Clinkscales.
The players on both sides are delivering a calibre of basketball never before seen in this province. Tonight’s contest could be billed “Game of the Year”.
Charity hockey tournament
Ex-NHL’er Darren Langdon will be in town for the Vector Aerospace Face Off Against Cancer Charity Hockey Tournament next weekend, May 2628, at Bell Aliant Centre on the UPEI campus.
Steve Gallant and highly regarded coach Carl Trainor, who coached the Sherwood-Parkdale Merchant Kings when Langdon played here will be bench coaches again. NHL and pro players participating besides Langdon are Stephane Richer, Gary Leeman, Bob Sweeney, Chris Nilan, Brett Gallant and Drew MacIntyre.
Florida Panthers ex-assistant Mike Kelly and NHL Las Vegas head coach Gerard Gallant will be here for all or parts of the weekend and highly regarded midget coach Luke Beck will be available Sunday. Hall of Famer Tex MacDonald and ‘The Prophet’ will handle yet another team. More on this mid-week.
The live and silent auction will conclude at approximately 10 p.m. after the reception, 6:30-9:30 p.m., at Rodd Royalty next Friday. Connor McDavid is honorary chairman and his Edmonton Oilers autographed jersey will likely be a hot auction item.
On the track
Live harness racing continues today at 6 p.m. at the city track with a 10-dash card.
The $2,250 feature goes in Race 9 and it includes speedsters like Adkins Hanover, Mr Irresistible, Instant Shadow, Rash B Havior, Junebugs Baby and Starcastic.
Summerside Raceway’s opener is 1 p.m. on Monday and the $2,000 feature has Mando Fun, Pictonian Storm, DB‘s Rosco, Machinthesand and Sporty Skipalong.
Bettim Chris made it two straight at Mohawk Raceway, winning a $18,000 race in 1:53 last Monday night for driver Louie-Philippe Roy and owners Jeff Lilley, Danny Purcell and Blair MacLauchlan of Stratford. On the same card, Dial the Bossman was interfered with and finished off the board in his debut after a couple of impressive outings here.
The $176,000 Confederation Cup goes this Sunday night at Flamboro and favourite Sintra has the eight-hole for Jody Jamieson. Western Fame goes from Post 4 with Trevor Henry while Seeley Man has Post 3 for James MacDonald.
Mark MacDonald, who was out all last week with severe flu, will stay south of the border with Jimmy Takter’s sophomore PASS star Blood line.
I visited with Harry Poulton at the Timiko Training Centre last weekend and watched him train Derek Buntain’s sharp looking filly by Somebeachsomewhere out of Malibrigo. She’s a slick filly trained in 2:18 and Harry likes her. Derek named her Malnificant. Harry hopes she’s magnificent.
The harness racing game lost one of its most beloved individuals with the passing last week of Shelley Gass, the very popular owner, breeder, pedigree enthusiast and daughter of Ron and Dianne Gass. Shelley was a regular at the city track and at Dusty Lane Farms in Cornwall and will be greatly missed. My condolences to all.