By Doug Kennedy
The deadline to submit names for the Kincardine Sports Wall of Fame is April 30. Unfortunately, last year’s ceremony has not taken place yet because of the pandemic. If you would like to put someone’s forward, visit the Kincardine Municipality website and the form is there. You can drop forms off at the Davidson Centre or email them to the recreation staff.
Blue Jays
The Blue Jays look like they will score lots of runs this year. That will be exciting to watch, but in the end, they will need to upgrade their pitching to win in the play-offs. The addition of George Springer and Marcus Siemien at the top of the order will help all the good young players they already have in the roster. It looks like they will start in Florida before moving to Buffalo and then hopefully finish in Toronto.
The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays look good again this year in the Blue Jays division. With the new expanded playoff system in place again this year, there will be four wildcard teams that will compete in a best-of-three against the top teams, like last year.
What, no spring training games on Rogers TV? With Rogers owning the team and the Blue Jays starting the regular season in Dunedin, this is really surprising and disappointing. I am sure a lot of seniors across Canada are disappointed they cannot watch these afternoon spring training games.
Curling
The Ontario Men’s Tankard is in Port Elgin next year at the Plex. That is exciting for local curlers to watch that level of curling close by. It will be February 9 to the 13, 2022. This year it was cancelled because of COVID-19. They also have a chance for a world curling tour event coming to Port Elgin. They are looking for more than 200 volunteers for the Ontario Tankard. The winner of the Tankard will qualify for the Tim Hortons Brier, which will be held in Lethbridge, Alberta. John Epping has been the winner the last few years.
Canadian Division-NHL
A few years ago, the west division of the NHL usually had the bigger group of stronger teams. That power has switched to the eastern seaboard over the last few years. The east has won the cup four out of the last five years. Tampa Bay, St. Louis, Pittsburgh (twice) and Washington have taken home the cup.
A good example of that is the point totals spread out among the three divisions for this year, because of COVID-19. The standings as of Monday morning in the east would be Tampa Bay 48, Florida Panthers 44, Washington Capitals 44, New York Islanders 44, Carolina Hurricanes 43, Toronto Maple Leafs 42, Edmonton Oilers 42 and Pittsburgh Penguins 40.
The biggest surprise the last couple of years is the New York Islanders. They have the best coach, Barry Trotz, who just wins wherever he is coaching. This is a big year for the Leafs to play well in playoffs. It will not be as easy after this year, with all the strong teams in the east. First place in the northern division is big, because you do not want to play Winnipeg in the first round. Montreal and Winnipeg will be strong opponents in the playoffs.
Ice time available in Tiverton
If you are interested in booking ice time in Tiverton in April and May, contact the staff at the Davidson Centre to see if there is any available.