Oh, they did good
The Northern Subway Selects fell short of their immediate goal at the national midget AAA female hockey championships this week, when they failed to reach the medal round at the Esso Cup in Bridgewater.
They finished with a record of 1-3-1, but when you consider that they had to play the best teams from right across the country, the group of teenage girls from Antigonish, Colchester and Pictou counties showed once again that hockey players from our neck of the woods have lots of heart and plenty of jam.
Coming back from being three goals down in the third period against the Brampton Canettes was a definite highlight, even if they ended up losing that game in a shootout. And even in their final game, down 5-0 late and with medal-round hopes gone, they kept grinding away and scored a couple of late goals to make the final tally more respectable.
Applause warranted.
Random sports thoughts
• Can someone do something about the Vegas Golden Knights? Are established NHL teams just going to let them waltz their way to a Stanley Cup in their first NHL season? With the exception of goaltender Marc-André Fleury, no one even knew who these guys were when they put the team together last summer, and most of us still don’t.
We can’t expect the San Jose Sharks to do anything about it because they usually don’t do anything about anything at all if it seems like it’ll be difficult, but sooner or later, somebody will put Vegas in their place, won’t they?
• I was watching the Maple Leafs play a few weeks ago and defenceman Jake Gardiner did something stupid for the millionth time (well, probably not a million, it only seems like it).
So right then, I texted a guy I know and said: ‘I hate Jake Gardiner’ and the guy replies: ‘he will hurt them’ and sure enough, in Game 7 against the Bruins the other night, and in spectacular, gut-churning fashion.
The Leafs are now out of the playoffs, Jake, and although this was not the year for them to become legitimate Stanley Cup contenders it would have been nice to beat Boston.
Non-sports thought of the week
Now we know what an “incel” refers to. Essentially, it means a man who is involuntarily celibate, as is (reportedly) the person who has been charged with multiple counts of homicide after he allegedly mowed down more than two dozen people — killing 10 of them — in Toronto this past Monday. They hate women because they can’t get them, is my best interpretation. To borrow a hockey phrase, these guys “take a lot of shots but they can’t put the puck in the net” and now they’re mad at the goaltender.
Yo, “incel” dudes, listen up: lots of guys have had slumps when it comes to women and, yes, some of those slumps have lasted entire careers, but most aren’t such pathetic losers that they form a club, or go on the internet and admit to their failures with women.
Is it possible that you give off a vibe that creeps out the ladies? Ask yourself that question, if you’re sitting in a jail cell and looking at life in prison for murder.