Hot Corner
Junior baseball back at QEP on Sunday afternoon
In this week’s edition of the Hot Corner, columnist Joe MacIntyre takes a look at the impact Confederation Bridge has had on Island sports in its first 20 years. MacIntyre also discusses the P.E.I. Islanders hosting a New Brunswick Junior Baseball League doubleheader in Summerside on Sunday, and points out some numbers that will provide some optimism for Toronto Blue Jays’ fans.
Much has been said over the last week about the Confederation Bridge, and its opening 20 years ago this past Wednesday. The bridge has impacted our Island in so many ways that one just has to look back to before it was built to realize just how valuable it has become to Islanders. From a sports perspective, it was very hard, and in some cases nearly impossible, for Island teams to compete in off-Island leagues with the ferry service.
Would there be a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team in Charlottetown? Would the Western Capitals be competing in a Maritime league knowing there were all those ferry rides to contend with, and many of those in the dead of winter?
We don’t have the winters we once had on P.E.I., but memory tells me there were many winter days of interrupted ferry service due to weather.
P.E.I. has hosted so much in sports over the last 20 years, and there is no question that many of those teams and athletes’ decisions to attend were based on easy travel to P.E.I. The bridge has had such a huge impact on the lives of Islanders that it is hard to imagine living on P.E.I. without it.
Last ferry ride
The last ferry ride for some Islanders was a memorable one, and none more than for fans of the Summerside Western Capitals. Most remember that late April Sunday in 1997, when the Capitals captured the Callaghan Cup in Dartmouth, N.S., against the Dartmouth Oland Exports. Fans by the busload followed the Caps that year. They were pretty happy fans making that ferry ride back to P.E.I., after the Caps won the franchise’s firstever Maritime Junior Hockey League championship. That was just a preview of what was to come in May, when the Caps caught the imagination of Islanders by winning the Royal Bank Cup at Cahill Stadium. They were the first team east of Ontario to do so, and that magical season is in the memories of Island hockey fans forever.
That 1997 season was a year to remember, but even more so for fans of the Detroit Red Wings. On June 7, 1997, the Wings would end a 42-year drought and capture their first of back-to-back Stanley Cups. Wings’ fans had suffered ineptness since 1955, and seeing Steve Yzerman hoist the Cup at Joe Louis Arena was something very special.
Junior baseball
Junior baseball makes a return to Queen Elizabeth Park in Summerside on Sunday as the P.E.I. Islanders play a New Brunswick Junior Baseball League doubleheader against the Saint John Alpines at Queen Elizabeth Park’s Legends Field beginning at noon.
The Islanders, who host the Chatham Ironmen for two games in Charlottetown on Saturday, enter weekend play having won five of their first six games.
There are at last count seven locals playing on the Islanders, including Matt Barlow, Brandon Condon, Chasse Gallant, Riley Gallant, Jed Noonan, JJ Oram and Kyle Pinksen. Sounds like the nucleus of a very good team, and it’s too bad there was not a permanent team in Summerside.
Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays have rebounded after a sluggish start. As this is written, they have won eight of their last 10 games, making them the hottest American League team next to the Houston Astros, who have won nine of 10.
The Jays are 26-28 (won-lost), and that’s only three wins less than last year, when on June 1 they were 29-26. It’s worth noting that two years ago on June 1, 2015, the Jays were 23-29 at this point, and went 70-40 the rest of the way to finish 93-69, winning the division before losing to Kansas City in the American League Championship Series.
It’s better for baseball in Canada when the Jays are winning. Hopefully, for Jays’ fans, the winning can continue throughout the summer and have another pennant race.
Have a great week!