By Doug Kennedy

Saturday night in Hanover, the Mitchell Hawks won the Pollock division playoff trophy for the first time. One of my favorite parts of the season happens when the championship is awarded. Clark Pollock jumped in my vehicle to travel to the game to present the league playoff trophy, as the Pollock division is named after Clark and Kevin Pollock. Clark was a long time official in the OHA and Kevin played for the Hanover Barons when they won the All-Ontario championship in 1991.

The Hawks beat the Barons 8-0 in game seven. Every other game was decided by one or two goals.

Mitchell is playing Stayner in their quarter final series. Lakeshore plays North Middlesex and Napanee plays Clarington, and New Hamburg plays Grimsby in the other series.

The Blue Jays offence is exciting to watch, but the biggest piece of the puzzle for them is their closer, Jordan Romano. You cannot win the pennant without a really good closer. Romano recorded his sixth save against Oakland on Sunday afternoon, to lead the majors in saves at this time. To top it off, he is from Markham, Ontario.

Romano was drafted by the Blue Jays in 2014 in the tenth round. He signed for $250,000 and headed to the minors. He had Tommy John surgery in 2015 and missed the season. He kicked around the Blue Jay minor system for the next two years. In 2018, the Chicago White Sox picked him up as a rule-five pickup and then traded him to Texas. In 2019, the Blue Jays signed him back as a free agent and last year he went 7-1 and had 23 saves. It looks like a bright future for this Canadian kid.

If you want to watch some entertaining hockey at the arena this Saturday, the Bruce County Kings AAA spring hockey team is running a tournament that starting at 9 a.m. and runs through until 7 p.m., at the Davidson Centre. The ice goes out this weekend after the tournament is over.