CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Mike (Pinky) Gallant is a name that many of today's hockey crowd may not recognize unless you are from the Summerside area, but in his playing days he was a popular figure at Island rinks and earned his reputation as the uncrowned king of the Island Junior Hockey League.
Of course, the hockey landscape back in the 1970s and 1980s was much different than today. There was no Quebec Major Junior Hockey League here but there was a highly competitive and robust Island junior league with teams in Montague, Tignish, Summerside, North River, Charlottetown and Sherwood Parkdale. The NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers had just won a Stanley Cup with a very physical style of play that junior clubs across Canada, and especially P.E.I., emulated.
Prince Edward Island hockey clubs did not need much encouragement in the physical intimidation department, as every team had an enforcer or two. Mike (Pinky) Gallant was not just the Summerside Western Caps cop, he was one of their top players – a 25- to 30-goal man and a fan favourite all across Prince Edward Island. Some players don't play the same game on the road as they do at home but not Pinky, who was even better away from Cahill Stadium in Summerside.
When his playing days ended, he took up coaching and later refereeing and was one of the best in this aspect of hockey, a fair and honest official and in sports that’s all one can ask.
Today, Pinky has been forced to retire from his job at Kensington Agricultural Services, as he is battling Stage 4 prostate cancer and undergoing hormone, chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
A benefit auction and appreciation night will be held Friday, Feb. 1, at Credit Union Place in Summerside and it's an event you should attend. Entertainment, registration and social starts at 5:30 p.m. with the auction getting going at 7 p.m.
Major Junior Hockey
The Charlottetown Islanders play in Rouyn-Noranda, Que., tonight against the first-place Huskies and if tonight's game is anything like last Saturday's thriller, then it should be a dandy.
Many locals believed the Islanders would be no match for Rouyn-Noranda, and Noah Dobson, a week ago, but when the dust settled the Huskies were fortunate to leave here with a 5-4 shootout victory.
The playoff format has changed in that the league’s No. 1 seed does not meet No. 16 in Round 1, but the lowest within their own conference.
Tonight's game versus Rouyn-Noranda, with all hands on deck for both clubs, should give us some indication of what's in store for the playoffs.
University Hockey
The UPEI hockey Panthers are in a three-way battle for third place in the Atlantic University Sport standings with St. FX and Moncton. It's a very important race with teams finishing third and fourth getting the extra home game in the best-of-three quarter-final.
Kameron Kielly entered the weekend tied for the scoring lead with 32 points and he could add to his numbers in that crucial date tonight against the Moncton Blue Eagles on the mainland. Unlike other years, when the scoring was confined to one or maybe two lines, this year's Panthers have plenty of scoring with guys like Kielly, Cody Payne (9-12), Gabe Guertler (8-11), Filip Rysdstrom (11-8), Sam Aulie (5-9), plus two-way standouts like Brent Andrews and Beau McCue.
Already in the second half of the season, the league has tightened considerably, as Dal has rebounded and is now chasing Acadia for the final playoff spot while St. FX showed Maritime fans UNB will have no easy road to the hockey crown, knocking off the previously unbeaten Fredericton, N.B.-based club and a tough UPEI in recent outings.
Tonight's game is a biggie.
Basketball
The Island Storm lost a heartbreaking 87-85 thriller to Saint John Riptide here on Thursday, leaving many of their fans going home in tears.
The Storm had an 82-77 lead with less than two minutes to go but a couple of late turnovers and deadly shooting by Saint John decided the game.
A couple of Storm regulars C W (Chuck) Keating, Jamie MacDonald and Ken Cashin are still upset after last the loss. We're all hurting after that one.
Ever since the arrival of Guillaume Boucard, the team has really come alive with Dominic Shuler and Tyler Scott playing great ball. The Storm was in Moncton Friday but no results at press time.
Ringette
The game of ringette has been attracting large numbers and the April national tournament set for Charlottetown and Summerside, sponsored by Credit Union, should give the sport more exposure.
Mike and Kathy Devine's two daughters are playing on the P.E.I. ringette team headed to the Canada Games in Red Deer, Alta. The girls have a pedigree that suggest they could star in ringette or hockey as their dad was a top defenceman with Charlottetown junior and senior clubs in his day.
Also, Keith and Diane Roche of Souris have three daughters starring in Ringette, two with the provincial team and the other with the Atlantic Attack.
And on the topic of veteran defencemen, Earl Wood was a big hitter with the top senior club of the 1960s and 1970s, the Sandys Royals, and was part of a blue-line brigade anchored by standout Eustice Reeves, along with Stu MacLure, Kip Ready and Ralph Josey.
Wood's grandson Tyler potted four goals the other night in peewee AAA action as Mid-Isle thumped West Prince 12-4 in Evangeline.
In the indoor tennis scene at The Spa, Tran Lam (ex-of the Canton) is having an easy time of it, beating up on guys like veteran Wes MacAleer, Bob Gollaher, Gord Christie and company.
Gollaher shouldn't feel too upset at losing regularly to Lam, he had a smile on his face after his daughter Monica helped Colonel Gray win last week's big Maritime high school hoop tournament in Kensington. Monica gets her sports ability from her mother Jamie-Ellen.
And remember young P.E.I. tennis phenom Mark Rainnie, Bruce and Kendra's boy, won the under-14 tournament last week in New Brunswick and is the highest rated 12-year-old in Atlantic Canada. Bruce's attributes Mark's great start to first class instruction by P.E.I. coach Brian Hall.
Harness racing
Live harness racing continues today at 12:30 p.m. in Charlottetown with a 13-dash card, and the $2,000 feature brings together last week's winner, Intended Royalty, and four others.
The open mares is also a five-horse affair with up-and-coming Drew Neill handling the lines on Collective Wisdom. It's a tough field with Dustylanemissmolly, Dusty LaneZendaya, Tell Me Why and Drivingthedragon.
Wally Hennessey posted a pair of wins Sunday evening at Pompano, including the $10,000 open with Carolina Beach in 1:52:1 for Mark and Melissa Beckwith. Hennessey is inching close to the 10,000-win plateau, so we'll stay tuned.
At Mohawk Thursday, James MacDonald hung a new lifetime record of 1:55 on the Shadow Play filly Springbridgevision for trainer Andrew Moore, who co-owns with Allan Moore, Tom Godfrey and Charles Farrell.
Tonight, at Mohawk, Easy Lover Hanover (James MacDonald) and Sintra (Jody Jamieson) look like the best in the eight-horse $34,000 feature at The Hawk.
Former Atlantic Sire Stakes horses like The Colonel, Woodmere Ceilidh, Woodmere Finesse and Chocolate Terror are all in to go tonight on the same card.
Veteran Summerside Raceway regular Coke Grady is back in the province after a leg operation in Halifax. We wish the former great hockey and baseball star a speedy recovery.
Great harness racing news as Brett Revington is back in the province as the director of racing for Atlantic Canada.
Pigskin picks
The NFL presents championship Sunday this weekend with berths in the Super Bowl on the line. Last week, we picked three winners and advised readers to stay away from the Patriots game simply because I will not bet against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick at Foxboro. Here’s this week’s picks.
Los Angeles Rams (13-3) at New Orleans Saints (13-3) – The Vegas oddsmakers allow the home team three points and that's the spread. In other words, Vegas regards these two games as a coin flip. The Rams running back C.J. Anderson was cut by three teams earlier this year and now looks like a superstar in the Rams backfield with Todd Gurley. The Saints defence is vastly underrated, as seen last Sunday when they smothered Philadelphia after falling behind 14-0. Veteran QB Drew Brees is unbeaten in the playoffs at home and they'll beat the Rams by a TD.
New England Patriots (11-5) at Kansas City Chiefs (12-4) – This is a rematch of their regular season thriller at Foxboro, which the Patriots won 43-40. New England is 7-1 as underdogs last eight times in that role, which is a matter of concern. The emergence of first-round running back Sony Michel, who had three TDs in his playoff debut, creates more problems for Kansas City as the Patriots have changed their style from a passing attack featuring Brady with a host of receivers to a ground game. Kansas City head coach Andy Reid knows how to beat the Patriots and Brady – the Chiefs must chase him and pressure them throughout the game. The Chiefs have the best pass rush in the league and their defence at home allowed just 17 points per game. In my view, the Chiefs will do to Brady what they did to Philip Rivers last week, so I look for the Chiefs at home by at least a TD. This could be and very likely will be the game where Father Time catches up with Tom Brady, but it's Brady and Belichick, so we shall see.
Fred MacDonald's column appears every Saturday in The Guardian. He can be reached at [email protected].
