Big-game drama in Pictou County
RANDOM SPORTS THOUGHTS AS MARCH APPROACHES
▪ With the fans engaged and airhorns sounding at a lively Pictou County Wellness Centre, the Weeks Major Midgets won a seventh and deciding game on Sunday afternoon, beating Dartmouth 5-3 and moving on to the second round of the playoffs.
That game was a prime example of why playoff hockey is much better than the regular season, and most of the time it isn’t even close: the stakes are much higher, and the intensity ramps up. The series itself was pretty even (Pictou County outscored Dartmouth over the seven games by a slim 24-21 margin) but in Game 7 at the PCWC, Pictou County dominated for much of the afternoon, and Dartmouth couldn’t match their tenacity.
Interesting sequence: with Dartmouth trailing 5-3 in the third, a shot from a Dartmouth player went off the crossbar and directly to a teammate, who, with the Weeks goalie far out of position, looked primed to cut the lead to 5-4. But defenceman Brayden Schmitt came to the rescue, diving in front of the puck to make the save, preserving the two-goal spread. If Schmitt doesn’t make that play, who knows what may have happened after that?
So, they move on, and good for Weeks’ players and coaching staff, who won a playoff series for just the second time in eight years and can hang with any team in the league.
▪ Last Saturday, I watched the first half of the Titanic movie, the one with Kate Winslet and that Leo DiCaprio fella, which we’ve all seen a hundred times. Not long after the ship hit the iceberg and began taking on water, I switched the TV over to watch the Maple Leafs play Carolina. As the Leafs sleepwalked their way to another loss, it occurred to me that the Leafs are also like the Titanic: a big ship sinking to the bottom, except the doomed folks on the Titanic cared about what was happening to them, and the Leafs apparently don’t.
▪ The boys’ hockey team at NNEC were expected to start their regional championship series against Dr. J.H. Gillis Royals on Feb. 26, with a chance to go to provincials (to be hosted by Northumberland Regional High School).
That they’ve even gotten this far is a minor miracle: the Gryphons pulled off an upset against the NRHS Nighthawks in the regional semifinal, winning the final two games in the best-of-three series, and needing some serious dramatics to extend their season. NNEC forced overtime in Game 3 when Ross Martin tied the contest with just six seconds left in the third period, and won it with a Scott Long shot from the point in OT.
No matter what happens from here on out, they’ll remember that game for the rest of their lives.
NON-SPORTS THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK
▪ Finally, they’ve started arresting the people who’ve been blocking the railway lines, ensuring that goods can be moved, and that people can get back to work.
It should not have taken this long to remove those socalled protesters by force, but better late than never. And, if they were looking for public sympathy, I have a hunch it was a miserable failure.
▪ There seems to be a lot of shopping-cart thievery on New Glasgow’s south side. I don’t much care if someone steals a shopping cart because they want to push their groceries home (I’m not a cop, so I mind my own business), but do they have to abandon them on sidewalks and streets?
It uglies up the neighbourhood.