CHEERS & JEERS: Fishermen's Breakfast supports mental health, anti-bullying projects

CHEERS: To the organizers behind the Matthew Murphy Memorial Fishermen’s Breakfast, which was held at the Bonshaw Community Centre on Sunday. Since 2015, the breakfast has raised funds for mental health and anti-bullying initiatives while also making sure fishermen start opening day on a full stomach. The breakfast is in memory of Matthew Murphy, an avid outdoorsman who took his life at the age of 19. Proceeds from this year’s breakfast will go towards funding an award that will be given to two Eliot River Elementary Grade 6 students, male and female, who exemplify anti-bullying, kindness and inclusion.

CHEERS: To the approximately 18 Islanders competing today in the world’s most famous road race – the Boston Marathon. Rain and wind is in the forecast for the world’s oldest and fastest marathon, established in 1897 by the Boston Athletic Association. Islander Francis Fagan already competed Saturday, winning his division of the five-kilometre road race. The Boston Red Sox already postponed their AL game today, the first postponement of a Patriot’s Day game in over 20 years.

CHEERS: To fans of the Charlottetown Islanders who showed up in big numbers to support the team in the final two games of the huge upset series sweep against the favoured Halifax Mooseheads. After two stunning wins in Halifax, the Islanders returned home to complete the series sweep on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday’s game attracted more than 3,500 fans to Eastlink Centre while Wednesday was a virtual sellout with over 3,600 on hand. The vocal, energized crowd played a key role in the home team’s performances and the Isles saluted the crowd at the end of each game. It was a great turnout after disappointing crowds for three home playoff games with Quebec Remparts. The Isles now advance to the third round against top-ranked Blainville-Boisbriand Armada this Friday and Saturday in the Montreal suburb before returning home next Tuesday and Wednesday where sellout crowds are expected.

JEERS: To NDP P.E.I. delegates who crashed the breakfast fundraiser for P.E.I. Special Olympics last Saturday at Murphy’s Community Centre, and gobbled up all the coffee, tea, breakfast juices and sausages. The delegates decided to enjoy a hearty breakfast before their annual meeting and leadership convention. People with tickets who came in later in the morning were only left with a few pancakes. And CHEERS to NDP P.E.I. delegates who helped make the Special Olympics fundraiser the most successful ever. Organizers had planned for 125 breakfasts but ended up with over 320 sitting down, thanks to unexpected support from the crowd heading to the NDP convention in the adjacent gym. And that was the primary goal, right - raising money for special athletes heading to national competitions.

CHEERS: To Christian Norton of Souris, who graduated with his honours biology degree from UPEI in 2016, and who will head this fall to Oxford University with a full scholarship. Norton will complete his MSc in Biology this spring at the Université de Montréal’s Institut de recherche en biologie végétale before commencing his PhD studies in plant ecology at Oxford. He is one of 140 recipients of the Clarendon Scholarship, which covers his tuition, college fees, living costs, and research costs for four years. Norton’s master’s research took him to Northern Labrador, where he studied how Inuit and local communities use indigenous plants for food, health, and medicine.

CHEERS: To Colin MacKenzie, lead stone for P.E.I.’s Team Mitchell Schut for winning a Fair Play Award at the 2018 Canadian Under 18 Boys and Girls Curling Championships which wrapped up Saturday in St. Andrew’s, N.B. The Fair Play Awards, selected by the officials at the championships, were awarded for each of the 4 boy’s and girl’s playing positions plus coach. In the doubles competition, for players who didn’t take part in the playoffs, P.E.I.’s David Murphy coached the gold medal winners mixed team of Jaycee Terrick (Manitoba) and Braden Fleischhacker (Saskatchewan) to a 4-2 win over Lauren Ferguson (P.E.I.) and Troy Chong (B.C.). The all-girl duo of Melodie Forsythe (N.B. Host) and Alexa Smallwood (Yukon) won the bronze medal with a 5-3 victory over the mixed duo of Lexie Murray (P.E.I.) and Jayden Bindig (Saskatchewan). Nova Scotia teams claimed both gold medals in both the boys and girls four-person team competitions.