CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – The Charlottetown Islanders end their Quebec Major Junior Hockey League regular season today at 2 p.m. against the Moncton Wildcats with no chance of moving up among the top eight teams that have the benefit of home-ice advantage game in the opening round of the playoffs.
The Islanders will most likely meet either the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies or the Quebec Remparts opening on the road in a best-of-seven series, which will be a tough test considering the way the Islanders have been playing down the stretch.
Before Friday’s action, the Remparts were 9-0-0-1, which included an overtime loss to top-ranked Blainville-Boisand, while Rouyn-Noranda was 5-3-2-0, including an overtime loss to a hot Sherbrooke squad. The Islanders were 4-3-3-0, including a blowout loss to red-hot Victoriaville.
RELATED: Click here for Friday's game story.
The Islanders have played both these two clubs tough, beating Rouyn-Noranda here 2-0 and on the road 2-1 while splitting two tight, one-goal games to Quebec – winning in a shootout and losing in overtime. If the Islanders can re-capture the magic that made them the surprise club in the Q this year, they could get past the first round, but I'm not ready to risk the mortgage on that outcome.
Head coach Jim Hulton has done a terrific job with the Islanders this season, playing far beyond expectations, but do they have enough to get past the opening round? That's a great question.
Storm
The Island Storm is at home Sunday at 2 p.m. against the Cape Breton Highlanders in what is being billed as the cancer awareness game, a project between the Storm, Canadian Cancer Society and P.E.I. Credit Unions.
The Island club has been red-hot down the stretch, winning six straight to climb back to .500 at 16-16 with a shot at second or third in the Atlantic Division of the National Basketball League of Canada. The great play of newcomers Carl Hall and Chris Anderson, both outstanding in the swing into Ontario this week, suggests the Storm will be a very tough nut to crack come playoff time. Despite the loss of standout guard Andre Stringer, the Storm has a great nucleus with the big boys plus Franklin Session, who gets my vote as the league MVP. Add Du’Vaughn Maxwell, Chris Johnson, Tyler Scott and more recently Kemy Osse to the mix and you have a solid club.
RELATED: Click here for Friday's game story.
Barring a key injury, this club is for real, so time to jump aboard the Storm bandwagon.
For Sunday's game, all Storm players will be wearing purple uniforms, which will be auctioned off via social media and at the game as a fundraiser. Session, who lost his dad at an early age to cancer, is happy to be part of this event, which helps brings awareness to this terrible illness.
Video
CLICK HERE to watch columnist Fred (Fiddler) MacDonald speaks with Guardian sports editor Jason Malloy about hockey playoffs, Island Storm, the Paralympics and more in this week’s online video.
8-Ball
The provincial 8-ball championships are set for Dooleys in Charlottetown Saturday, March 24-25. Provincial defending 8 ball champion Lorne Allaire will be trading shots with the likes of 2015 Canadian amateur champ Kevin McGee and local standouts like Rob Arsenault, Ryan Grant and Adam Profitt, whose game is sharp right now. More on this next week.
Minor hockey
The provincial bantam AAA finals between first-place Central Attack and third-place Prince County Warriors is turning into an intense and spirited series. The Warriors took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, winning 4-3 in overtime on Thursday with Game 4 taking place Friday night in O'Leary.
Not many in the sports community remember the name Don Mcclintick, who passed away earlier this week. He was a P.E.I. track standout from the early 1960s, winning the open 100-yard dash at the provincial track and field meet here in Charlottetown against a field that included Jack MacEachern, Ian (Tex) MacDonald and Ken Foley among others.
Harness racing
The annual Prince County Horsemens Awards night is set for March 31 at Credit union Place and the guest speaker will be John Campbell, the greatest driver of all-time.
At Yonkers this past week, a bad spill sent talented driver Matt Kakaley to the hospital with facial fractures, a broken nose and a broken collarbone. We are hoping for a speedy recovery for one of the top drivers in the game and a first-class gentleman.
The Blaine (Bruno) MacPherson-bred Howmacfiesty (by Carnivore) captured the $9,000 preferred mares class earlier this week at London's Western Fair with something to spare in 1:58 and among the vanquished was top mare DrivinthedragonN.
Filly Forty Seven, who drew the 8-hole in her Yonkers debut and finished eighth, is in to go at Dover Downs Wednesday. All About Madi is in to go tonight at Yonkers against the $40,000 matchmaker class against the likes of Lady Shadow. Pappy Go Go is not in to go this week.
Fred MacDonald's column appears every Saturday in The Guardian. He can be reached at [email protected].
