Islanders better than record shows
Charlottetown hosts Shawinigan in QMJHL action on Saturday
The Charlottetown Junior Islanders surprised a lot of hockey fans over the past few weeks, losing in overtime to the unbeaten Quebec Remparts here at home a few weeks ago, and followed that strong performance with a stunning home-and-away sweep against a very good Acadie-Bathurst Titan club last week.
The Islanders continued their hot streak Thursday night with a thrilling and well-played 3-2 victory over Saint John.
Over this streak, the lines of Keith Getson, Matthew Grouchy and Pascal Aquin, and Samuel Meisenheimer, Adam Marsh and Gregor MacLeod have played very well, the defence has been solid, especially Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Saku Vesterinen and Oliver Desjardins, and the goaltending of young Dakota Lund-Cornish and Matthew Welsh razor sharp.
Tonight, the Islanders (4-6-1) and the Shawinigan Cataractes (3-7-1) tangle at Eastlink Centre, and both are among seven or eight teams battling for a playoff shot in the 18-team Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
If the Islanders continue to get top-notch goaltending, the playoffs are a real possibility.
Mark (Bubble) Jones, who has been coaching minor hockey for decades, told me the other night at the game that two of the best players he ever saw at the Spud minor hockey tournament were Keith Getson and Chris Doyle. So maybe Getson, who leads the Islanders with five goals, is a late bloomer.
Maybe Bubble didn’t see this guy, but I suggest we add Sidney Crosby to that Spud tournament list, right Bubble!
I believe Islanders head coach and general manager Jim Hulton has done a terrific job with a modest lineup, but I shake my head in disbelief when I see Jeremy McKenna, a standout with the first-place Moncton Wildcats and the fourth leading scorer in the QMJHL, wearing a Wildcats’ uniform.
McKenna and Carson MacKinnon, now with Rimouski, were the two best players on the most recent P.E.I. Canada Games team, and the top two scorers in the pre-Games Quebec and Atlantic Canada tournament. They were also the top two in the Canada Games, although on an unbalanced schedule.
McKenna is a natural scorer and comes from a sports pedigree honestly as his dad Mark was a solid junior player, and his uncle Terry was a standout university and senior star here for years.
The McKenna boys play with an intensity and edge, all the more reason to draft Jeremy in the 2015 Quebec draft. He was drafted in the fifth round, 86th overall, even though his
Canada Games coach and Islanders assistant coach at the time, Luke Beck, was extremely high on both his Canada Games stars.
I realize both boys played at Notre Dame and not here in their draft year, but someone missed the boat, and the Islanders will be paying for it over the next two or three years.
Basketball
On the pro basketball front, the Island Storm have signed Arnold Fripp, a talented sixfoot-eight forward out of Baltimore.
Last year, the Storm had very little size and nobody that could
handle the opponent’s big boys. The return of crowd favourite Nick Evans at six-foot-11, Julius Barton at six-foot-10 and now Fripp should solve that problem.
Single-game Storm tickets will go on sale Wednesday, Nov. 1, at Eastlink Centre.
Harness Racing
Live harness racing continues Saturday at Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park with a 14-dash card that gets underway at 6 p.m. sharp.
The Maritime Breeders final for two- and three-yearold trotters as well as an open mares and a top class are in the spotlight.
The Bo Ford-trained Pretty n dangerous looks like the best in the $2,250 mares event, but Brodys Leona and Rambling lily will make it interesting.
Iron-sided June bugs baby is back in the $2,400 top class, but he’ll have his hands full with DGs Camme off the rail for trainer Ron Matheson and driver Gilles Barrieau.
Racing is back at Woodbine and the $27,000 top class on Saturday’s 10-dash card has Ellis Road and James MacDonald on the rail against the likes of Lyons Snyder, Fine Diamond and five others.
The Grand Circuit Breeders Crown eliminations continue tonight at Hoosier Park, Ind., with 14 elimination races.
Here’s something you may not know. Classy hockey analyst-broadcaster Doug MacLean has been in the horse game for quite some time. His daughter owns a high-end equestrian apparel-equipment company and MacLean says he is “in the game since I pay board on two mares and a yearling in Florida and a similar number in Ohio.”
With great sadness, we report the passing of horseman and friend Norm Kennedy, originally from O’Leary, who passed away last week in Calgary, Alta. A major player in Alberta harness racing and a real gentleman, our condolences to all connected to this gentleman.