• The Northern Subway Selects are on the road again, climbing aboard a bus for a Saturday ride to Bridgewater, where they will compete in the national female midget AAA hockey championships.
Comprised of mostly Pictou County born-and-raised players – with a smattering of players from Colchester and Antigonish counties – the Selects were intent on making the trip to nationals even before the hockey season began many months ago, so they crossed a major item off the bucket list when they won an Atlantic title in St. John’s, N.L.
The Selects will need to win at least two of their five round-robin games in the week-long tournament if they want to reach the medal round, so that’s next on the list. They play their first game Sunday against the host team Metro Boston Pizza and although it’s not a must-win for the Selects, a win would make things a lot easier as they ease into the rest of the week. No pressure, though (and nor should there be).
Well…. maybe a little.
But good luck to them, as they roll down the highway for their next adventure.
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Other Random Thoughts:
• It looks like there’ll be a healthy contingent of boxing fans at the Pictou County Wellness Centre on Saturday night, when, for the first time as a professional, Brody Blair fights in his own backyard.
I wasn’t too concerned about a lack of ticket sales, because:
1: People here like boxing, a sport that will also draw fans from as far away as Cape Breton, and other parts of the province.
2. Blair is a local boy and Pictou County supports its own. Also, a boxing card is a night out.
• I’ve had to start ignoring the phone when the Maple Leafs have been on the TV during these NHL playoffs (might not be for much longer). Of particular amusement is the Montreal Canadiens’ fan who keeps texting me. But I ask this: when your team’s franchise player is the immortal Max Pacioretty and your team has missed the playoffs again, you probably shouldn’t be trash-texting anybody else.
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I think I’ll hit a 7-iron here… no, wait, maybe an 8-iron…. Uh, did I just say that out loud?
Friday (April 20) was Weed Day, which is mostly why I just made some Willie Nelson references earlier in this space.
Because Willie, if you believe Keith Richards and I absolutely do, can’t get out of bed in the morning unless he’s burned through a doobie, getting his day off to a proper start.
It won’t be long before marijuana will be legal in this country, and there are many concerns being floated about. Some legitimate, others not so much.
Just this week, Pictou West MLA and interim Tory leader Karla MacFarlane expressed concern that the provincial Liberals didn’t make it illegal for pot smokers to light up on the golf course, even though other public places have been put on that proverbial list.
There are some worries that kids will be exposed to it at golf courses, but that hardly ever happens. We’ve all seen plenty of drunk guys playing golf, though, haven’t we? We sure have: hootin’ and hollerin’ their way down the fairway in their awful golf shirts, throwing empty beer cans in the woods, tipping over the electric cart on the second hole at Abercrombie because they were drunk by 10 a.m. for the big tournament, and in full-blown hillbilly mode.
Very unpleasant.
Kevin Adshade is sportswriter with The News. His column appears each Saturday.
