NS Baseball Action Set to Go
The 2012 Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League is set to begin its 35th season of play. Tuesday, May 22th the 2011 league champion Halifax Pelham Canadians host the Kentville Wildcats at the Mainland Commons. If you can’t make it out for the 7:30 pm first pitch, catch the Season Opener live on Sportstream.ca.
The Wildcats return home to play the Truro Bearcats on Wednesday at Memorial Park. The 16 time provincial champions Dartmouth Moosehead Dry will welcome Sydney to Beazley Field on Friday night for a three game series.
Here a look at some of what you can expect from the 2012 NSSBL Season: Read more…
Ships Start Here; Slammers Must Win?
The Junior “A” Hockey Club representing Halifax-Dartmouth has applied to the Maritime Hockey League to change its name and logo for the 2012/13 season.
The Metro Marauders are trying to create greater links with the local community and have chosen a name that will resonate with residents of Halifax Regional Municipality. “Shipbuilders” is a name that will conjure images of the region’s past and will certainly be relevant with the economic future of Nova Scotia following the announcement of the Government of Canada $25,000,000,000 shipbuilding contract (that’s 25 billion, I just wanted to show all them zeros).
Q Draft Rankings Released
With the Mooseheads playoff run ended we now turn our attention to building for next year.
While the Mooseheads exceeded most people’s expectations for the young team this year, there are some areas that will need to be addressed in the off-season. A core of dynamic young offensive forwards the team will need to add some depth on the back end. At times this season a strong forecheck pinned the Moose in their own zone. The team could use a smooth skating defenseman that can start the breakout and perhaps quarterback the powerplay.
With the likely loss of Konrad Abeltshauser to the pro ranks, the Mooseheads could bring in a European player through the CHL Import Draft to fill some of the holes and will also have some 20-year-old slots to offset their young core. But of course the draft is an important tool to building a strong organization for the long term. So have a look at the scouting rankings.
Mooseheads Complete Comeback
After being down 3-0 in the series, the Halifax Mooseheads came all the way back to eliminate the Quebec Remparts in overtime of game seven. Sixteen year old Jonathan Drouin scored the OT winner in the 5-4 victory, flicking a backhand passed Louis Dominque off a rebound.
While it was a member of the youthful core to get the decisive marker, it was veteran leadership that got the Mooseheads to that point. Cameron Critchlow scored four times in regulation to keep the team in the game. Critchlow has been everything a team could look for in a captain and leader. A great resource for a young team to learn from. In addition to the game winner Drouin added two assists, while Nathan MacKinnon posted 3 assists.
For a young team, this appears to be an evolution for Halifax. The Mooseheads swept the Moncton Wildcats in the first round, a team they should have beaten. In the second round they jumped out to the lead in each game, but were unable to hold on to that lead in the first three games of the series. Game seven itself appeared to be one of the Remparts stronger games since early in the series, but Halifax managed to claw their way back and hang on until they could capitalize. Game seven happened to be the only game Quebec got the first goal.
This is all a great sign for a team largely lead by 16 year-olds, even with the tremendous contributions from veterans like Critchlow. MacKinnon and Drouin appear to be getting stronger with each game and lead the offense, while Zach Fucale has been a calming influence between the pipes far beyond his age.
Halifax will have the luxury of home-ice advantage in the QMJHL semi-finals as they’ll host the Rimouski Oceanic. The series WILL start Friday, with Game 2 Saturday in Halifax. I’d imagine tickets will go quickly.
QMJHL Awards Handed Out
Tigres forward Yanni Gourde took home the Jean Beliveau award as Top Scorer in the Q and Michel Briere Trophy as league MVP.
“This evening is a superb occasion to gather,” said the commissioner, Gilles Courteau. “Over 350 people were present to honour five new members to our Hockey Hall of Fame: Pierre Sévigny, Charles Henry, Steve Duchesne, Michel Goulet and Richard Brodeur. This event was made even more special because these legends received the recognition they deserved for their exceptional careers next to the biggest names of this season. In fact some of our award winnersmight one day become future inductees.”
For Moosehead fans, 16-year-old netminder Zach Fucale was selected to the Rookie All-Star Team, while Nathan MacKinnon was a victim of playing the same position as a older rookie Mikhail Grigorenko. This could be good for the Mooseheads as they get set to face Grigorenko’s Remparts in the second round of the playoffs. MacKinnon may take it upon himself to prove how deserving he is. It was shortly after not being invited to the Team Canada World Junior selection camp that MacKinnon was named Q Player of the Week and scored five goals in one night against those same Remparts. Food for thought?
Here is the list of tonight’s winners:
Remparts and Mooseheads Set to Faceoff
UPDATED: SCHEDULE RELEASED
The Halifax Mooseheads and the Quebec Remparts will faceoff in what promises to be an exciting second round series (photo credit: Richard Lafortune)
Halifax dispated the Moncton Wildcats with relative ease. The only adversity faced by the club came in the final game of the series when they found themselves down by three early. But the youthfull Moose battlked back and ended up clinching the series in overtime. Strong indications fo a team learning what it takes to win in the playoffs.
Their second round opponent will offer a much stiffer test however. The Remparts similarly defeated their frst round opponent, the Drummondville Volitgeurs, fairly easily, only getting pushed to overtime in the final game.
Halifax ended the regular season with the edge in the head-to-head series 3-1. Each game was won by the hometeam which bodes well for the Remparts who are seeded fifth with 93 points while the Mooseheads finished sixth with 85.
It was an intense series thoughout the regular season and that intensity should be ratcheted up for the playoffs. The highlight, at least from a Halifax point of view, was a five goal game from Nathan MacKinnon in the December 3rd 6-4 victory.
Game #1: Friday, April 6th
Halifax vs Quebec @8pm
Colisee Pepsi
Game #2: Saturday, April 7th
Halifax vs Quebec @8pm
Colisee Pepsi
Game #3: Tuesday, April 10th
Quebec vs Halifax @7pm
Halifax Metro Centre
Game #4: Wednesday, April 11th
Quebec vs Halifax @ 7pm
Halifax Metro Centre
*Game #5: Friday, April 13th
Quebec vs Halifax @7pm
Halifax Metro Centre
*Game #6: Monday, April 16th
Halifax vs Quebec @8pm
Colisee Pepsi
*Game #7: Tuesday, April 17th
Halifax vs Quebec @8pm
Colisee Pepsi
*If necessary
I’d suggest you get your tickets early as they could go quickly. It should be a great series.
Moose Sweep Wildcats
The young Moosehead team faced its first bit of adversity in the Q Playoffs, but managed to persevere.
After jumping out to early leads the past two games and handling Moncton with relative ease, Halifax had the chance to put the Wildcats down for good. But the Cats had other ideas. Moncton jumped out to an early 3-0 lead.
Finding themselves trailing for the first time in the playoffs, Halifax battled back. They got goals from Abeltshauser, Drouin, Frk and MacKinnon to push the game to overtime. In the extra frame Brent Andrews completed the comeback and gave Halifax the first entry into the second round of the playoffs.
The Herd will now edit to see who they’ll face. The Baie-Comeau Drakkars are currently on the brink of upsetting the Victoriaville Tigres, so barring a comeback from the Tiggers, it could setup an exciting matchup against the Quebec Remparts.
Regardless of the opponent, the Mooseheads will welcome back Darcy Ashley to the lineup as his four game suspension is complete. Despite still missing a couple players, this will be as close to full roster as I can remember.
