Thriller in Moncton
CFL, Dillon Doucette’s heroics, harness racing and former teammate on Fiddler’s mind
I took in the Touchdown Atlantic CFL game Sunday at the Université de Moncton and it was a thriller as the Montreal Alouettes defeated the Toronto Argos 28-22.
The Als stopped the Argos on a first-and-goal from the threeyard line with three seconds to go to earn the victory.
The game featured great quarterbacking on both sides as Toronto posted 500 yards of offense and Montreal almost as much. Among those from Charlottetown at the game were former Holland College head coach Ian (Tex) MacDonald, former high school standout lineman Kyle Vessey (of the Merchantman), who now looks like a wide receiver, plus Matt MacMillan, Sean Corcoran and Franklin Doyle.
Moncton has a beautiful facility and word around the city is if Halifax lands a CFL franchise, the first-year games will be played in Moncton, as there is currently no suitable site in Halifax.
BASEBALL
When people think about Peakes native Dillon Doucette they often think about his potent bat, but the slugging first baseman showed his range, desire and work with the leather in the biggest game of the year this past week.
His diving stop on a ball hit between first and second, with the tying run at third and winning run at second, in the bottom of the seventh inning Sunday in Miramichi, N.B., sealed the Canadian men’s baseball title for the host Chatham Ironmen.
Doucette gave the home side the lead with a solo home run to left-centre field in the second inning and Chatham hung on to defeat the Dartmouth Moosehead Dry from Nova Scotia 3-2.
Pitchers Sam Lund and Andrew Case, pick-ups from Moncton and Saint John, respectively, handled the pitching duties in the championship game win while New Glasgow’s J.P. Stevenson pitching five strong innings in Sunday morning’s semifinal 3-2 victory over British Columbia, the same team he defeated on Day 1 of the tournament.
Jordan Stevenson, J.P.’s older brother and ace of the Charlottetown Gaudet’s Auto Body Islanders, also started a game for the undefeated Chatham club. The
Ironmen are usually noted for their hitting attack but, in this tournament, they were loaded with quality pitching.
The thrilling championship game victory gave Chatham its second senior men’s crown, having won previously in 1995. It was also the third time Maritime clubs finished one-two at the nationals, having previously occurred in 1981 and 2001.
Cornwall’s Logan Gallant, who was added to the Fredericton roster for the tournament, had a single in his lone plate appearance.
CONDOLENCES
Mike Buist is not a name familiar with today’s P.E.I. sporting crowd but he has a great many friends in this province.
He played pro baseball for four years in the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals organizations and was the best pitcher in 1969 when Orillia Majors won the senior baseball crown beating the London Pontiacs in the best-ofseven final.
London had a pitching staff of Rick Birmingham and Brian Murphy, who starred in Ontario’s Canada Games victory in Halifax, and they flew in their ace from California Carl Moharter, who pitched briefly with Los Angeles Dodgers, to pitch against Buist in the final game, but Buist was outstanding allowing two unearned runs in a four-hit victory.
He was my teammate and roommate then and a lifelong close friend thereafter.
Mike later worked for the Toronto Blue Jays and, after four years, joined forces with president of Labatt Brewing Company, P.E.I.’s Don McDougall as marketing manager in Canada, where one of his favourite projects was the curling Super Bowl – The Brier.
At the request of Gerry Muzika, Doug Cameron, John Fortier and company, Mike spearheaded fundraisers on behalf of the Charlottetown Curling Club, which helped eliminate their mortgage at the time. While with Labatt, he aided many senior fastball and baseball teams leaving this province for the nationals and was always a firstclass gentleman.
He eventually worked for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and was the man behind the highly successful Cabot 500 promotion. For the past 15 years, he has been the director of baseball for St. John’s, N.L., where he represented that province in numerous baseball ventures.
My dear friend Mike passed away last weekend in St. John’s and humanity lost a wonderful human being.
Also, I regret to report the passing of Paddy Shepherd, a big softball star with Charlottetown teams in the early 1960s, last week in London, Ont. He played right field on a B.I.S. team that included his brother Wilf in centre field and Duke Larter and Jimmy Hughes in right. Others on that team included Duke MacCallum, Charlie Weatherbie, Mark and Cec Ladner, Merle Longaphie and pitcher Mike O’Brien.
HARNESS RACING
Live harness racing continues tonight at Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park with a 12-dash card beginning at 6:30 p.m. The $2,900 top class tonight is a dandy with Rose RunQuest Lisburn, Best in Hurst tangling in Race 13. Also tonight at Mohawk, The Amazingsando, with James Macdonald driving, leaves from Post 6 in a $73,000 Ontario Sire Stake.
There’s also a great card tonight at Mohawk with the $525,000 Canadian Pacing Derby featuring the likes of Lather Up, Jimmy Freight, Courtly Choice, Western Fame and McWicked. James MacDonald drives Courtly Choice and he was great last week although Lather Up and McWicked are a notch tougher.
The $600,000 Maple Leaf Trot has a steller cast with standouts like Guardian Angel, Crystal Fashion, Manchego, Atlanta, Marion Marauder, Six Pack and four others. James MacDonald handles Dancer Hall but he is in tough.