’Canes taking game on the road
They broke in together and tonight they’ll start their final season of junior hockey playing against each other.
Charlottetown Islanders centre Keith Getson and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles forward Mitchell Balmas started with the Isles as 16-year-olds. Fast-forward four years and they are both overage forwards in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
The Nova Scotians played 2 ½ seasons together before Balmas was dealt to Gatineau as part of the package to acquire Alex Dostie. He played a season with the Olympiques before being traded to Acadie-Bathurst and helped the Titan win a Memorial Cup last season.
At the draft in June, the Sydney native was sent to the Screaming Eagles.
“Me and Mitch are really close,” Getson said. “It’s nice to see him back in his hometown now to finish off his junior career. I’m really excited to play him and excited to get this season going.” The Islanders host the Screaming Eagles at 7:30 p.m. at the Eastlink Centre.
Getson said there wouldn’t be much talking to his buddy during the game.
“Mitch is a pretty good goal-scorer, so basically all the chirping I want to do is kind of shut him down and have zeros along the scoresheet,” he said.
The Holland College Hurricanes soccer teams will travel to New Brunswick this weekend to face the UNBSJ Seawolves on Saturday and the St. Thomas Tommies on Sunday.
The men’s Hurricanes (4-0-0) sit atop the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) standings and were ranked third in this week’s Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) rankings. UNBSJ (0-21) is sixth while St. Thomas (STU) (1-1-2) is fourth.
Coming off a solid set of home games last week, Holland College centre back Bobby Gamba said the Hurricanes are up for the challenge of this weekend’s road games.
“It’s always more challenging playing on the road,” said Gamba. “But we’ve been working hard in training and feel we can carry the momentum from previous games into this weekend.”
Head coach Jonathan Vos is looking for his team to build off last weekend.
“We are looking forward to seeing how we match up against UNBSJ and STU,” said Vos. “The team has been working hard to show what they can do.”
The Holland College women (3-1-0) are second in the ACAA standings, UNBSJ (00-3) is fifth and the Tommies ( 3-0-1) lead the way. UNBSJ and St. Thomas tied 2-2 last weekend.
Hurricanes head coach Kris MacKinnon said the team is looking forward to this weekend.
Three Oaks Senior High School graduate and centre midfielder Phoebe van der Meulen of Summerside is in her third year with the Tommies.
Game times on Saturday are 2 and 4 p.m., with noon and 3:15 p.m. starts Sunday.