Crushers home finale Thursday against Bearcats
Giancarlo Fiori wishes he could turn back the clock a few years.
Seven Junior A Crushers will play their final home game in junior hockey on Thursday, when they host the Truro Bearcats at the Pictou County Wellness Centre. They range from three-year Crushers (Alex Bonaparte, Michael Dill), a two-year Crusher (Luke Melanson) and four players who spent one season in Pictou County (Marc Gagnon, Donovan Rehill, Giancarlo Fiori and Nick Jessome).
The News asked all seven of those players a few non-hockey questions and their answers have been edited for this space. To read their complete thoughts, go to www.ngnews.ca/sports.
“Personally, I’ll be pretty sad come Thursday, but it will be kind of neat to play that final home game against my former team,” said goaltender Luke Melanson. “It went by a lot faster than expected. Time flies when you’re having fun.”
Ditto for Fiori.
“I can’t even imagine the feeling, just to go to the ice and really tell myself, ‘Boy, it’s your last home game in your junior career.’ I will just miss the whole environment of junior hockey, I wish I could be 17 again.”
Marc Gagnon turned 20 last Dec. 31; had he been born a day later, the team’s best defenceman would be a Crusher for another year.
“Thursday night in Pictou is something that I will remember all my life,” said the Quebec native, whose injury in October did significant damage to the team’s fortunes this season.
Nick Jessome was traded to the Crushers from the Edmundston Blizzard early in the season.
“It was my first time billeting and I couldn’t have asked for better billets,” he said of his time in the county.
“I’ll miss coming to the rink every day and seeing the boys because they were like a second family.”
Donovan Rehill spent his final season of junior in Pictou County, where he has family on both his mother’s and father’s side.
“The thing I will miss the most is coming to the rink every day and seeing my teammates and playing in front of my family. As a 16-year-old, you think this day will never come,” said Rehill.
Alex Bonaparte is one of two holdovers (the other is Michael Dill) from their 2016 championship team. The Cape Bretoner nicknamed ‘Bones’ arrived at the Crushers’ camp in the fall of 2015 and played gritty, leadership-style hockey for three seasons.
“Words can’t describe how fast my junior career has gone by,” said Bonaparte.
“It doesn’t feel real that this Thursday is my last home game as a Crusher. I just hope that the fans, my teammates and coaches are proud of the way I represented the logo in my past three years.”
The final word goes to Michael Dill, the team’s captain and alltime Crushers scoring leader (he reached the 200-point mark on Tuesday in a 3-2 win over the St. Stephen Aces).
“Three years flew by, it feels like just yesterday I was a rookie trying to make this team,” said Dill, who will play NCAA Division 1 hockey next fall in Massachusetts.
“It was the best three years of my life…. I will miss the fans, coaches, all the teammates I had over the three years and also my billet family.”
Notes:
• Any minor hockey player wearing their jersey will get free admission to the game, when accompanied by an adult.
• Michael Dill, Jaden Mason and Dylan Riley had the goals in the win over the St. Stephen Aces on Tuesday.
• The Crushers finish up their season Saturday in Amherst.