By Kevin Adshade
The Pictou County Junior Scotians had a huge game Friday night in Port Hawkesbury against the Strait Pirates. Down 2-1 in their Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League series heading into last night, the Scotians were close to desperate in their need for a victory; if they won, they knotted the best-of-seven series at two games each. Lose, and they were neck-deep in dirt for Sunday night's game five, to be held in Trenton.
Coming back from a 3-1 series deficit isn't particularly easy, but it's not an impossibility either. In the history of the NHL, teams have been down 3-1 in a playoff series 229 times, and in 20 of those they've rebounded to win three straight (you can find almost anything on the Internet, I'm beginning to think the computer industry is about to take off in a big way). That works out to a success rate of 8.7 per cent, which isn't an enviable position, but the Scotians do have two of the final games on home ice, so that would make the odds somewhat better for them. If the Scotians did manage to eke out a road win on Friday, the series tilts back in their favour. In either case, it was a big game for both teams. (Stop the presses! Captain Obvious has something to say!)
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The Junior 'A' Crushers meanwhile have a MHL three-game playoff miniseries coming up with the Bridgewater Lumberjacks. The Lumberjacks – let's be honest here, they've been mostly terrible – are finishing their season well below .500, the Crushers are several games above .500 and have been competitive against some of the top teams in the league throughout the season. While the Crushers would no doubt love to finish off the ’Jacks in a hurry – just to get some rest for what should be a playoff grind beyond this series – the Crushers shouldn't take any team lightly or their season could be over quicker than a wink of an eye. Coaches will pound that idea in their players' heads but if the players don't buy into it, they might soon have a lot more time to concentrate on their studies.
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Non-Sports Thought of the Week:
Me and three other guys scored some Rush tickets last weekend, and I got to talking with one of the guys about the Metro Centre concert experience (it's been more than 20 years since I've seen a rock concert down there). We expect to see not cigarette lighters but cellphones held aloft, as people a hundred yards from the stage take lousy footage which they will breathlessly post on Youtube before the concert is even over. So while there'll be a lot of "older" people there to see arguably the greatest band in Canadian rock history, there'll be some younger people too. I'm wondering how many will be able to tear themselves away from their texting machines for two hours. (Not just the kids, either. More and more I've noticed older people getting that glazed look in their eyes as they run their fingers across the front of their phones like they're expecting the most fascinating thing in the universe to dance across the screen any second now.) A friend of mine went to The Tragically Hip earlier this month and told me her sister spent much of the concert reading her freaking texts. Seriously – turn the thing off once in awhile – you're starting to embarrass yourself.
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Danika Patrick's finish at the Daytona 500 was pretty good for a girl, and not only that, she played a big role in boosting the TV ratings for the Daytona by 24 per cent over 2012 and helped make it the most watched Daytona in five years. After she captured the pole during qualifying the previous weekend, she slipped off the pole on race day and finished eighth, which must have been disappointing for those who tuned in just to watch a chick turn left for three hours, and perhaps make history. In a way, be glad she didn't win because we might not ever hear the end of it. Some of the women on CBC radio might never have shut up about it, even if they don't know what drafting is. (It's got something to do with the car ahead of you pulling you along or something. I don't know. And I don't care.) But Danika Patrick is a legit race car driver, that can no longer be questioned.
Kevin Adshade is a sports columnist for The News.
