A matter of Pictou County pride

The scenery will be stunning when Daniel Martin arrives in the Austrian Alps to take part in the Special Olympics world winter games this month.

The 19-year-old Pictou County resident, who has autism, is a national champion in snowshoeing and the first Special Olympic athlete from Pictou County to compete in the world games since the early 1980s (Susan Bailey, swimming).

A lot of people back home will be cheering him on, and we should feel pride that a Pictou County athlete will be competing with the world’s best.

The Pictou County Weeks Major Midgets have to win Saturday night at home. They are down 2-0 in their best-of-seven playoff series against Cole Harbour.

I like the phrase ‘desperation hockey’ because it’s a very simple way to describe the desired approach to such a situation. It doesn’t mean play with fear (actually, it sorta does), it means to find an extra gear, every extra ounce of energy, throw everything you have into every shift.

That’s the way the Major Midgets must play in Game 3: as if their whole season depends on it, because it probably does.

An annual staple of the Pictou County’s vibrant running scene is the Hypothermic HalfMarathon, which is this Sunday morning, when the runners leave the community centre in Little Harbour and annoy the passing motorists, for however long it takes each of them to finish.

Running seems to be a thing in Pictou County and while I don’t share that passion/addiction, they could be using their time in far less constructive ways, there is no doubt about that.

Can we just cancel the rest of the Maritime Junior Hockey League regular season and get to the playoffs?

Not to pile on the Valley Wildcats, but I’m sure their season can’t end soon enough: they were overmatched against the Crushers on Thursday.

The final score was 5-1 Pictou County, but at one point in the second period, the shots on goal were 42-4 in favour of the Crushers. Wake me up when the games mean something.