CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The vast majority of hockey followers on Prince Edward Island are pulling for a collapse of the Vegas Golden Knights after their firing of the highly successful and popular head coach Gerard (Turk) Gallant and assistant Mike Kelly, but recent trades have really upgraded the Vegas’ Stanley Cup chances.
Gallant is one of the very best head coaches in hockey and he will land with a contender when the time is right. I am of the opinion that the success the Golden Knights are having now, with a 11-3-2 run, would have been accomplished with Gallant behind the bench, but that doesn’t matter.
The Knights added three players in recent weeks that make Vegas that much better than a month or so ago. The most important is certainly star goaltender Robin Lehner from Chicago, who is a No. 1 goalie and provides depth behind 35-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury. They also added solid defenceman Alec Martinez and gritty bottom-six forward Nick Cousins, one of the few bright spots with the Montreal Canadiens, to strengthen their roster.
Cousins, who had nine goals in 57 games with the Habs, scored in the Vegas’ 3-0 win over Edmonton earlier this week, pushing the Knights to a four-point lead over the Oilers and Vancouver atop the Pacific Division.
The dark horse club in the West is Colorado, which has already thumped Vegas twice (6-1 and 7-3), but they are currently without the injured Nazem Kadri, Mikko Rantanen, Matt Calvart, Andre Burakovsky and standout goaltender Philipp Grubauer. These players are expected to return before the end of the regular season and, if they all do, this club could be the sleeper in the playoffs.
Basketball
The Ellsworth family has had a long and successful run in Charlottetown basketball beginning with standouts Emmett, Leonard, Gerard and Paul back in the days of the Holy Name Hall, on the same location as the Basilica Rec Centre and now Murphy’s Rec Centre and The Alley.
Jenna Mae Ellsworth of the UPEI women’s basketball Panthers capped the family’s legacy when she was named the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) MVP, defensive player of the year and earned a spot on the conference’s first all-star team this week.
Her mother, Tracy, was a tremendous field hockey and basketball player at UPEI and is a member of its sports hall of fame. She also coached the Panthers women’s basketball team to its last Atlantic championship in 1997-98.
UPEI hasn’t had much luck in the playoffs to date as the men’s hockey club lost two cliff-hangers to Saint Mary’s while the women’s hockey squad suffered back-to-back one-goal losses to St. FX.
The hoop Panthers are the No. 1 seed in the AUS playoffs taking place today in Halifax, so let’s hope they get the breaks in the Halifax tournament.
Para ice hockey
Charlottetown did not win the para ice hockey tournament in Crapaud last week, but they finished first in the preliminary round. Our harness racing friend, Jillian Dunphy, did not score but she was named player of the game in one of her three tournament games. Sadly, Charlottetown lost 2-1 in the championship game to Fredericton, N.B.
Basketball
While on the topic of hard-luck losses, the Island Storm lost to St. John’s Edge last weekend by six and three points in Newfoundland and, unfortunately, they were a little shorthanded with the late cuts of Abrain Edwards and Devin Sibley.
The Storm led Game 1 by eight in the final quarter but ran out of gas with nine players dressed. The next day the Storm lost 109-106 to the second-place Edge.
The Storm plays the Sudbury Five today at 7 p.m. at the Eastlink Centre and this game is student days as they get a break with $3.50 admission. Sunday at 2 p.m., the Storm hosts the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans and it’s school appreciation day, which means free admission for school staff.
Harness racing
Sharatin N made history last week at the Dan Patch Awards in Orlando, Fla., when she was voted horse of the year. The New Zealand-bred mare is the first pacing mare ever to capture the award and only the fourth mare to defeat the boys in horse of the year balloting. Melissa Keith of Atlantic Post Calls captured the Hervey award for excellence for in harness racing writing.
The race game up-country is still in mourning with the passing of Amanda Harris, 34, the wife of New Jersey-based Andrew Harris after a long battle with cancer. A shock indeed but a reminder of how fragile life can be.
At Mohawk last Saturday, Oceanview Magnum and Lisburn were fourth and eighth in 1:52 in the tough $20,000 class. At Yonkers last week, Pappy Go Go was on the rim the whole way finishing seventh in 1:54:3 in the $35,000 open trot while Getting Messi was a solid second in 1:57:3 in the $19,000 trot.
The horse breeding season is getting underway on the Island and Bruce Wood of Woodmere Farms told me interest is high on his resident stallions Arthur Blue Chip, Rollwithitharry and Stonebridge Regal. One of the new pacing stallions standing here on the Island is Shanghai Phil under the care of Robin Burke.
The recent passing of Wes (The Cat) Edwards brings back fond memories as the Elvis impersonator as he serenaded Jimbo Thomas and his trainers after Jimbo’s sizzling half in 1:00 flat in the Gold Cup and Saucer back in the late 1960s. There was in excess of 1,000 fans in the barn area that night and it launched the start of the traditional Gold Cup party after the races.
Robert Shepherd leads the country in wins with 60 heading into weekend action while his brother Patrick notched his 1,000th career training win as Real Wicked won Thursday night at Mohawk with Doug McNair aboard. Great to see, Island boys having great success in the harness racing game.
Fred MacDonald's column appears every Saturday in The Guardian. He can be reached at [email protected].
