Capitals general manager Gabe Keough, who has been around the hockey wars for decades, and head coach Ken MacDougall have put together a solid club. 

They have guys with major junior experience like Mike MacIsaac, Brad Smith, Brett Gallant, Chad Locke, Nathan Snowie, Nathan DesRoches and Greg Paynter and an outstanding defenceman in Spencer Corcoran, plus a couple of 16-year-olds with great hockey pedigrees. 

Spencer MacDonald is a defenceman with talent, and if he blossoms into the kind of star his dad, Wilf, was in the Quebec league and with Charlottetown Islanders’ Allan Cup and Hardy Cup clubs, he’ll be something special. 

He’s something right now folks, 16 years of age playing against 20-year-olds. 

Another to watch with the  Caps is Josh Currie, son of Steve (Bossy) Currie, who starred with those great Sherwood-Parkdale junior clubs of the early 1980s. Currie is quickly developing into a top player. 

He’s got talent and he’s a Currie, which means he’ll have an ‘edge’ to his play. This kid could be a diamond in the rough. 

Another youngster worth a good look is Jason Gallant, son of former Detroit Red Wings and NHL all-star Gerard (Turkey) Gallant. 

These youngsters have a lot of upside and tomorrow night is a good chance to see this club up close.

At the track

Harness racing fans, organizers and horsemen from around the region gather in Charlottetown this weekend for the annual Atlantic Canada Harness Racing Symposium, which got underway yesterday at the Rodd Royalty Inn.

The symposium is held each year and it deals with Maritime harness racing issues like new rules and regulations, new initiatives in the areas of gambling and marketing, challenges and opportunities and a number of key industry guest speakers. 

Today, for example, Jim Whalen, past-president of the Ontario Harness Horse Association, and a man who did an outstanding job for the good of horsemen in his province, is here to speak. 

In my view, there is no person in North American harness racing scene more capable of speaking of the issues in the game today than Whalen. 

You can hear Jim today at 1 p.m.  

Other speakers today include guys like Kent Oaks and Tom Clark, who are always in there pitching for the good of the industry. 

One of the new faces coming in today is Maine’s Don Marean, the master of Lindon Farms and a horseman of long standing in that state.

Readers should remember that until a few years ago P.E.I. and the Maritimes raced under the USTA charter, and I’m not so sure moving under the Canadian Trotting Association ever made the game better here, but that’s for another day. 

In the early 1900s and up until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the Maine and New Brunswick harness racing circuit was one of the best in North America. 

The great Single G and Margaret Dillon, the fastest horse and mare in the world, met in Fredericton in 1920 in front of 25,000 people, which is an indication of how great the sport once was and how strong the Maine/Maritime circuit really was.

It’s a different world today, but I think there is an opportunity for Maine, with its hefty lottery support, and the Atlantic region to showcase the best horses. 

In the 1960s, the great Maritime champion Andy’s Son raced in the Atlantic Seaboard series at places like Hinsdale, Foxboro, and Bangor against Gay Parader, Cap Hanover and Meadow Paige — the best in Maine, Massachuttes and New Hampshire.

Can such a series happen now? Visit the Rodd Royalty Inn today, listen to the speakers and form your own opinions.

Good bye, Vic

Vic MacDonald is a name that may not be familiar with sports fans across the province today, but I can tell you he certainly was in the 1960s and 1970s. 

He was a dear friend of mine and of my family and he passed away unexpectedly earlier this week in Charlottetown. 

A veteran of  the Second World War (Navy, 1942-45), Vic was a giant in the insurance/investment business in the Charlottetown area, and I can remember delivering Confederation Life (Peake and MacInnis) calendars in the early 1960s for this man. 

To be successful in selling, a great personality, honesty and integrity are essential, and Vic had all those in abundance.

Vic was a horse owner and his favourite was the good pacer Spensive Spud, a horse that Clarkie Smith campaigned for Vic and Oliver Smith of Mount Stewart. 

The Spud horse was good enough to race in the top class at Sackville Downs where the long stretch was to his liking. 

In the  1960s and 1970s, Vic was one of the original members of the P.E.I. Racing Commission which controlled harness racing in this province.

Vic’s sense of fair play and integrity served the Island well.

To his wife Doris, daughter Jennifer, her husband and their three boys, sister Mary Lou, best friend Dr. Ian MacMillan and all those connected with this gentleman, my sincere condolences.

Odds and ends

John Abbott, who starred with Charlottetown juniors on a line with Ray Dunn and Wayne Squarebriggs a few decades ago, is rumored to be taking up figure skating, at least that’s what an ad in The Guardian earlier this week suggests. 

I’ll have to check this one out. 

Colin Moore, the owner of Sports Centre Physiotherapy, has moved his base of operations from the UPEI Field House to 153 Belvedere Ave., Charlottetown. 

The Sport P.E.I. awards show goes next Wednesday night at 

the Rodd Royalty Inn in Charlottetown, and I expect a big crowd. 

I’ll be very surprised if the Avondale soccer Islanders and their connections don’t take home silverware. 

Islanders head coach John Diamond and owner Wendell (Che) MacEachern have purchased plenty of tickets, so Wednesday’s dinner should be a sell-out affair.

(Fred MacDonald’s column appears in The Guardian each week. He can be reached at fiddlersfacts@hotmail.com)