Ricky Goodall Ready for Ringside

Halifax's Ricky Goodall will be fighting Alex Garcia this weekend.

By: Derek Leblanc

When going into a fight, you want to keep on making a big step up in competition to prove yourself as a fighter. When you have a winning streak to go on top of that, it just adds the pressure. Ricky Goodall (5-1) will be trying to do both this weekend against Alex Garcia at Ringside: No Escape. Goodall seems more then edger to get things started.

"I feel better then I ever had," says Goodall.

"We train a lot for this one with a lot of great guys. A lot of wrestling, a lot of ground work. This is my lowest weight class, which I am really pumped for that. I have never felt as good as I feel right now."

While Goodall may feel good now, it has not been an easy training camp for the Halifax fighter. His trainers and teammates at Titan's gym have broken him down. Besides the day to day combat, he has been put through a bigger strength and conditioning program and has even have to pull automobiles up and down hills.

The big advantage that Goodall has had for himself in this match is that he was able to focus full time for training. Most of the year he is managing the training with college and his job as a bouncer. The summer vacation seems to be helping out for him.

"I've been really focused for a few weeks now," says Goodall.

"I only work a couple of days a week and the fights are on TV and I am sitting in the bar vibrating in my chair for this fight. I felt like I could have went the next day. That has only increased and things have only gotten better. My weight is where it needs to be. I have never had more time and focused. Everything is working out perfectly."

While Goodall may be ready for this fight, he knows that his opponent will be ready as well. With this fight, there has been hype around Garcia. Garcia is coming in with a 3-0 record. He has surrendered all of those three fighters by the form of TKO.

Besides his record, he trains out of Tristar gym where he was brought in by UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre. Also after recently talking with sherdog.com's Andy Conterill had high praises for Garcia. While Goodall knows the dangers he can bring into this fight, he is not afraid of him or his credentials.

"When we get in the cage, it's only his ability's against mine," says Goodall.

"I am confident in my training partners. We have wrestlers who are just as good. We have jiu jistu guys who are world ranked and Maui Thai guys who are world ranked at our clubs. I have no questions in are ability's and training camp. Just to say you may come from a club with well known fighters, everybody has their own camps and its only him when we get inside."

It is not hard to tell Goodall is ready for Friday night. While Garcia may live and train out of Montreal, Goodall does have friends and family making it out to the event so he will be having a few fans in the crowd.

Win or lose though, Goodall will be going down swinging.

World Cup Day 4 Roundup

Well then, the Germany football machine truly got off to a heck of a start yesterday, putting the rest of the football world on notice and announcing they were here and ready to go to the finals.

Remember you can always check right here for my pre-tournament predictions, and see how off they were.

Today’s matchup’s saw Le Oranje taking on Denmark, a battle of European nations and a nice first test for a perennial under achieving Dutch side.

The second match of the day gives us as much excitement as watching tumble weeds go by, with Japan taking on African side Cameroon. The only bonus here is that we may see another African side pull off a win and the celebration in the stadium after that is guaranteed to be explosive.

Last up we have the defending World Champions taking on an underrated but equally dangerous Paraguay side. Italy have been known as slow starters in most tournaments and will be looking to change that, as anything but a win will be seen as a disastrous way to start their defence of the Jules Rimet Trophy.

Netherlands 2 – 0 Denmark

Instead of their usually attack, attack, attack mentality, the Dutch seemed happy to pass the ball around and wait for an opening, however, as the first half carried on and there score was held at nil-nil, the Netherlands started to go for it.

The best chance of the first half however went to Denmark, who were playing a boring long-ball game, when Arsenal boy Nicklas Bendtner sent in Thomas Kahlenberg , who put in a tight angle shot that Maarten Stekelenburg stretched to tip around the post.

Only seconds into the second half the Danes fell apart after a cross from Robin Van Persie is cleared by Simon Poulson only to go off Daniel Aggers back and into the net, just outside of the reach of goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen.

Reacting to the goal the Dutch pushed forward and imposed their will upon the game, all the Danes could do was put 11 men behind the ball and brace for wave, after wave of Orange coming forward. In the 75th minute Denmark seemed ready to go for a goal and introduced youngster Christian Eriksen, but even his introduction didn’t spark the Danes and Dirk Kuyt put the game out of hand sweeping the ball into the back of the net and giving the Dutch a 2-0 lead.

Man Of The Match: Robin Van Persie

Japan 0 – 0 Cameroon

Well, I would be lying if I said I was excited for this match. Cameroon can be an exciting side, but Japan isn’t exactly known for their football skill.

The first half lulled me into a deep sleep and was quite a bore, with both sides lacking any finish or real quality chances. Against all odds, Japan opened the scoring in the 39th minutes after a cross into the box was missed by two Cameroon defenders and striker Keisuke Honda put it away easily.

Cameroon would throw the kitchen sink at Japan in the final moments, but were unable to pull back a goal and get a draw. Cameroon will be disheartened after they controlled the pace for much of the game but just couldn’t find an answer.

Man Of the Match: Keisuke Honda

Italy 1 – 1 Paraguay

After Germany threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the teams in the tournament, the pressure was on defending champions Italy to shrug of their usual slow starting mentality and pick up the full points against Paraguay.

The craft South Americans however were not ready to go down without a fight and it set the stage for an exciting match.

Italy dominated the possession for much of the opening half, while Paraguay seemed more than happy to sit back, stay disciplined and wait for counter-attacking opportunities. They made the most of their opportunities and took a shock lead in the 39th minutes courtesy of a Antolin Alcaraz header on a free kick. The striker made it look easy as he towered over both Fabio Cannavaro and Daniele de Rossi.

Italy managed to scrap into the half, still down by just one goal, but were dealt a major blow when Gianluigi Buffon was taken off at half time with a back injury.

The champions continued to press and try to find an equalizer and were gifted a goal due to another horrendous goaltending gaffe, and Daniele de Rossi was there to put the ball away.

The Azzuri picked up their game and came close a few more times before the end of the match, but will be disappointed to only walk away with the single point.

Man Of The Match: Daniele de Rossi

Daily Roundup

- A big kudos to the CBC live streaming of the games, I had to watch Japan v Cameroon on my laptop and got perfectly streamed football, without any glitches. This is a great boost to fans of the game that are stuck at work or don’t have access to the matches via television.

- After watching, re-watching and watching again, I am thoroughly convinced that the red card to Tim Cahill was in fact no more than a yellow card offence. It’s a shame because even if the Australians are justified in their appeal, he’ll still be out for the next match against Ghana.

- Thoughts go out to Paul Gazza Gascoigne, former England star, who was in a terrible car accident last evening and is ‘seriously injured.’ After a long battle with alcohol and drugs, it’s terrible to see another tragic event surrounding the English start of the 1990 World Cup.

Henry Whitfield is an avid sports fan who covers everything and anything in the sports world, while focusing on hockey and football. Follow him on twitter

Five Reasons Why England Fans Shouldn't Worry.

Haligonia Sports Contributor Henry Whitfield advises England fans to not panic...yet.

Anyone watching the World Cup by now has seen the howler by England Keeper Robert Green by now.

Clint Dempsey’s speculative shot turned into the net by Green and the England squad seemingly could find no way to respond to that drastic turn of events.

Logging into Facebook post-match, I was quite prepared for abuse and boy was it ready and waiting. Almost 70 comments, posts and messages reminding of the most painful footballing experience since we failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

That being said, here’s the Five Reasons Why England Fans Shouldn’t be worried:

5. In Capello We Trust: The Italian maestro engineered an almost flawless qualifying campaign for the World Cup and although he may have gotten it wrong with Robert Green, Ledley King and James Milner, you’d have to be crazy to think he’d get it wrong again. Fabio Capello is one of the best minds in football and will not take this draw lightly; Look for a truly inspired performance in England’s next match.

4. Gareth Barry Returns: Now fully fit, Gareth Barry will return to the lineup and allow Stevie Gerrard to go play on the left and Frank Lampard to get forward again. Without a holding midfielder both Gerrard and Lamps were forced to play in the central midfield and England fans all know how well that works…

3. Slow Starts Can Be Lucky: Italy in 2006 anyone? The defending World Cup champions had a torrid start back in Germany before going on to lift the Jules Rimet trophy. England will learn from this early trouble and come back stronger than ever, this could be the catalyst for a truly memorable run deep into the tournament.

2. Rooney Will Score: With so much pressure on Wayne Rooney, it seemed he took edge off and played with less intensity than usual as the nerves settle but when Rooney gets into rhythm he will start to score and when he does, I’m not sure he’ll stop.

1. It Can’t Happen twice.. Right?: Let’s be serious, that howler of a save by Robert Green had to happen to England at least once in this tournament. Paul Robinson’s missed back pass? David Seamen caught of the line by Ronaldinho? With our crucial mistake out of the system in game one, we’re good to go for the next month.

But, let’s be serious here. England faces both Algeria and Slovenia in the next two matches and there is no way that the Three Lions put in the same lacklustre performance in those games.

They may have entered the tournament with a whimper but the Three Lions will start to roar and show the true class of their team as the World Cup goes on.

Don’t forget to check out my pre-world cup predictions and keep checking back for your daily recaps throughout the tournament.

Henry Whitfield is an avid sports fan who covers everything and anything in the sports world, while focusing on hockey and football. Follow him on twitter @HenryWhitfield.

World Cup: Day 2

Robert Green's miscue cost England a win vs. the United States.

The second day of the World Cup allowed some big guns to come out with Diego Maradona and his Argentinean wonder-kids against Nigeria and the much-anticipated matchup between England and the USA.

South Korea 2 – 0 Greece
The cinderella South Koreans of the last world cup opened their scoring account just seven minutes in and continued to pressure Greece for the rest of the match.

The good news is that match fixing seems to be a thing of the past for South Korea, as a blatant penalty shout was turned down for the South Koreans in the 15th minute.

But the South Koreans showed they are no pushovers and dominated the Greeks throughout the match, adding a second goal from Manchester United midfielder Ji Sung Park. However, it could have easily been five or six goals from the crafty Koreans as they weaved in and out of a mostly static Greek defence.

Man Of The Match: Ji Sung Park.

Argentina 1 – 0 Nigeria

On paper Argentina should have walked out with a much larger margin of victory and Diego Maradona will not be pleased that his team wasted so many opportunities. Playing in a 4-3-3, Diego’s boys played attractive attacking football and looked dangerous for the entire 90 minutes.

The only saving grace for a clearly outmatched Nigerian side was their goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama who made countless saves to keep his team in the match.

Gabriel Heinze broke the deadlock with a diving header to the top corner and both Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi will be disappointed to not have added goals.

Man Of The Match: Vincent Enyeama

England 1 – 1 USA

When this game was announced back at the 2009 fixture draw it was circled and underlined by fans on both sides of the pond. The USA were looking to upset the big dogs and England were looking to show the World they had become much more than an underperforming nation on the World stage.

The Three Lions kicked things off in style with newly appointed captain Steven Gerrard scoring just 4 minutes into the game after a deft pass from none other than Emile Heskey. Unfortunately for England that was the only contribution from the striker and he failed to make an impact on the game, missing a few golden opportunities.

The turning point in the match came just before halftime when Clint Dempsey took a weak shot from outside the box and Robert Green turned the ball into his own net instead of around the post. It was a howler that crushed the English spirit and seemed to shake the team to its core.

Although they dominated down the stretch, England just couldn’t find a goal to take the lead and the USA seemed content with playing to a draw.

Man Of The Match: Steven Gerrard

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Daily Roundup

- Unfortunately for the beautiful football style of the Argentinean side, it was Diego Maradona, who stole the spotlight. The crazy manager was shown over 30 times throughout the match, a tad bit of overkill no?

- England will look to find some replacements in the back four with Ledley King going off injured at halftime and Jamie Carragher looking slow and exposed throughout the rest of the second half.

- It appears that South Korea put the rest of the teams at the World Cup on notice with a dominant performance over Greece and showed that they have the skill and fitness to go deep in this tournament

Live blog of the buildup to and game between England vs Algeria on Friday, but keep your eyes open for more daily roundups!

Henry Whitfield is an avid sports fan who covers everything and anything in the sports world, while focusing on hockey and football. Follow him on twitter @HenryWhitfield.

World Cup Day 1 Roundup

by Henry Whitfield

The World Cup kicked off amid scenes of jubilation and celebration, a colourful display South African pride as Africa invited the World into to their month-long World Cup party.

The day started with mixed emotions with a stark reminder of the dangers of South Africa with Nelson Mandela‘s 13-year-old great-grandaughter becoming victim to a car accident just moments after the World Cup Concert. It was yet another reminder of the grim reality of life in South Africa and the many dangers that follow.

South Africa – Mexico

The high-flying Mexican side started by flexing their muscles over the home side but failed to register a goal in the first half despite out playing Bafana Bafana for the full opening 45 minutes.

The Coach must have said something at half time as his South African boys came out to play and saw their dreams come true in the 50th minute when Siphiwe Tshabalala scored a howler of a goal and the host nation went wild.

Unfortunately, Mexico denied the hosts full points on the day when Rafael Marquez scored just 12 minutes from extra-time. Still, South Africa can be happy to steal a point from an encounter that had disaster written all over it just months ago.

Man Of The Match: Siphiwe Tshabalala

France – Uruguay

In an odd turn of events France Manager Domenech dropped in-form Florent Malouda just moments before kick-off and made the rift in the Les Bleus camp even wider when he put influential striker Thierry Henry on the bench to start.

France showed no real attacking force until the pair finally came on at the end and even against 10-men Uruguay they failed to score. This game played out to a nil-nil draw and the gaffer can certainly only point fingers at himself for his team failing to score in a must win match.

Man Of the Match: Diego Forlan

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Daily Roundup

- In today’s press conference Fabio Capello hinted at a healthy Gareth Barry starting on the bench but refused to tip his hand to the media. He will announce his line up at 1:30pm EST.

- Drenched in irony, Diego Maradona, the scorer of one of the most controversial goals in football history, said to media that he wished for the World Cup to play with the spirit of fair play. Fair play?! Hand of God anyone?

- With two matches played and two draws, the complainers are out in full force saying that Football is a boring game. Hold on a second here, if it’s boring how is it the most popular sport on earth? Sure we had two draws, but both had a level of excitement to them and as the opening games continue to roll out the big teams will start to score.

- Although Canada will not be sending a team to the World Cup, they did send grass. Their grass is being used during the World Cup and it allows Canada to do their part. Now if only we could put a home-grown team out there too…

Henry Whitfield is an avid sports fan who covers everything and anything in the sports world, while focusing on hockey and football. Follow him on twitter @HenryWhitfield.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Recap

The Youthful Blackhawks celebrate what could be first of several Stanley Cup championships.

by Henry Whitfield

A month of competition, thousands of minutes of hockey played and countless highlight reel plays the Stanley Cup was decided in one of the most anti-climatic moments in recent sport history.

Patrick Kane danced along the side boards, drove to the net and put a bad angled shot through Michael Leighton.

The puck lodged itself into the side of the net and the celebration was delayed by the confusion. It was an awkward moment as the Chicago coaching staff didn’t celebrate but their team swarmed the goal scorer as he skated full length celebrating his goal.

Moments later it was confirmed: The Chicago Blackhawks were the 2010 Stanley Cup Champions.

With that goal the dream came to fruition for the Chicago Blackhawks, who had gone 49 years without a championship, and in that same moment the come-back kid Philadelphia Flyers were dealt a final, crushing blow in what had almost been a Cinderella-like playoffs.

When Scotty Hartnell scored to take the game to overtime with under five-minutes left, I high-fived my friends and cried out “Flyers in Seven,” maybe it was my premature excitement that cost the boys the cup but it meant that I had failed to get a series correct since the second round.
Jonathan Toews was deservedly awarded to the Conn Smyth trophy, an award that almost certainly would have gone to Chris Pronger if his team had pulled off another come from behind victory, and the famously serious captain finally cracked a smile.

Here are some final thoughts on the Stanley Cup Finals and the 2010 Playoffs:

•Love him or hate him, Chris Pronger made the 2010 playoff’s more fun than usual; Whether it was his antics in stealing the game puck after Chicago victory in game 2, or his quick quips to the media throughout, he gave the fans something that we haven’t seen since Jeremy Roenick was in the playoffs.
•With 28 Canadians playing in the Stanley Cup final last night and another 11 that were not dressed, it is safe to say that Canada is on top of the Hockey world. As I pointed out after round one, it just doesn’t seem that European players in the NHL have that desire or passion to go after the Cup like their North American counterparts.
•This year marks another season that the Stanley Cup has gone south of the border and it has now been too many years since a Canadian team has lifted hockey’s holy grail. The Montreal Canadiens almost ended the drought but only time will tell when the Stanley Cup will come home next. Leafs in 2011 anyone? You heard it here first!
•Get ready for some outrageous contract signings in this offseason. Players like Jaroslav Halak, Dustin Byfuglien and had outstanding playoff performances and will look to cash in on their new found stardom.
•This year’s Stanley Cup finals may have been short on goaltending excellence but made up for it with some of the best offensive battles in recent memory. Not being a goalie, I don’t mind seeing games finish with goals galore and this year’ finals should help grow the game down south, with some of the most exciting hockey in years.
•Last but not least, Jonathan Toews showed a lot of class last night as he passed the Cup straight to Marian Hossa after lifting the cup himself. Hossa was trying for his third straight year to win the Stanley Cup and it was a touching moment as all the gathered Blackhawk players chanted his name.

Playoff Awards

Breakout Player – Although the Canadiens didn’t hoist the cup, it was definitely a coming out party for Jaroslav Halak. He posted a neat 2.55 GAA and led all goalies with a .923 save percentage.

Biggest Disappointment – Although Ilya Kovulchuk was an utter failure for New Jersey and helped them flop, the biggest disappointment in the playoffs goes to Washington Capital’s forward Alex Ovechkin. The talismanic forward failed to drive his team forward and elimination in the first round is unacceptable.

Top Defencemen – Chris Pronger was a beast throughout the playoffs and often played more than half of most games in the 2010 playoffs. The Canadian battled not only the ice but with the media storm around his team, and once again he threw an underachieving team on his back and carried them deep into the playoffs.

Top Forward – Hard to argue against the numbers Jonathan Toews put up throughout the playoffs but I am going to and put it out there that Daniel Briere was the top forward in this year’s playoffs. The small forward had 12 goals and 18 assists to give him the playoff point lead at 30 points. We finally saw his talent come to the forefront and he was a catalyst for the Flyers. He also added a +9 plus/minus throughout the playoffs.

Top Goalie – Sure he let a terrible goal in to allow the Chicago Blackhawks to hoist the cup but Michael Leighton was by far the best goalie in the playoffs. Registering 3 shutouts in the last series allowed the Flyers to get as close as they did this year and the kid finished with a GAA 2.46 of and a .916 save percentage.

With the playoffs completed, I feel compelled to share my wonderful prediction record. After going 6/8 in the first round, I fell to bits and failed to keep up the pace. I finished with an 8/15 record, good enough for a 53% record but nothing to phone home about.

Now the playoffs are finished and the rest of the teams have joined Toronto on the Golf Course only one question remains: Taylor or Tyler

Henry Whitfield is an avid sports fan who covers everything and anything in the sports world, while focusing on hockey and football. Follow him on twitter @HenryWhitfield

Butler Tosses A Gem

Mike Butler was stellar on the mound for the Canadians
by Joel MacDougall

The Molson Pelham Canadians rode the arm of Mike Butler to a 5-1 victory over the Kentville Wildcats in Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League action Tuesday evening.

Butler threw 7 2/3 innings, striking out 11 and allowing only three hits to record his second victory on the year. It wasn’t until the top of the eighth that the Wildcats were able to find any chink in Butler’s armour.

Following a couple of Halifax errors, Kentville was able to put one run on the board and brought the Cleve’s Player of the Week, Curtis Hall to the plate with the bases loaded. Hall represented the tying run, but relief pitcher Barrett Bellefontaine, forced him to ground out to end the inning.

Halifax jumped out to an early lead, touching up Kentville starter Kevin Nichols for five runs over three innings. Kevin Daurie and Shayne Conrad combined to pitch six scoreless innings in relief for the Wildcats, giving them a chance to try and mount a comeback. But it proved to be too little-too late, as Butler was just too strong on the evening.

Kentville travels to Dartmouth to take on the Mooshead Dry on Thursday, while Halifax is off until next Tuesday when they host the Truro Bearcats.

Mooseheads Add to Herd

Mooseheads First Round pick, Luca Ciampini. "I’m a goal scorer. I go to the net hard and put the puck in the net and make some nice plays."

by Joel MacDougall

Saturday June 6, 2010 marked another step in the rebuilding of the Halifax Mooseheads. The Moose had a number of picks in the early rounds of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Draft, to try and reload their roster with young talent. It all began with the second overall pick in the draft; a chance to pick-up top-end talent for the future.

Halifax selected Luca Ciampini, a sniper with the AAA midget Chateauguay Patriotes with that pick to try and add some much needed offensive flare to the squad.

The pick of Ciampini set the tone for the Herd’s strategy in the rest of the draft. In total the Mooseheads added eight forwards, four defencemen, and a goaltender on Saturday. “I really like the guys we got and I think we really improved ourselves today,” said GM Cam Russell.

Following the second overall pick the Mooseheads had to wait until the first pick of the second round to select again. They were surprised to forward Andrew Ryan is til on the board. Ryan is a big, skilled centerman from Paradise, NL who won the Telus Cup while playing with the Notre Dame Hounds of the Saskatchewan AAA Midget Hockey League.

Halifax added some more Maritime offensive talent by selecting Darcy Ashley,a PEI native, who tallied 67 points in just 46 games in the Maritime Junior A League as a 16 yr old to finish 6th in league scoring with their second of three picks in the second round.

A number of local players were added in the later rounds. Forward Ryan Davis contributed offensively for the Dartmouth Subways, but the his physical edge and grit may prove to just as valuable in the future. In the tenth round, Halifax added defenceman Joshua Desmond, also from the Subways. Finally the Moose added Luke Warner of the Pictou County Weeks and Kyle Kavanaugh of the Cape Breton Tradesmen in the 12th round.

With eight of the 13 picks being forwards it is clear that Russell feels the Mooseheads’ young defensive core is solid, and added some more offensive talent will lead this team back toward the postseason.

Below is a full list of the Mooseheads’ picks from Saturday’s draft.

MOOSEHEAD DRAFT PICKS

1st Round — Luca Ciampini, forward
2nd Round — Andrew Ryan, forward
2nd Round — Darcy Ashley, forward
2nd Round — Simon Desmarais, defence
3rd Round — Francis Turbide, forward
6th Round — Anthony Terenzio, goal
7th Round — Ryan Davis, forward
8th Round — Alex Souligny, defence
10th Round — Joshua Desmond, defence
11th Round — Nicolas Dube, forward
12th Round — Luke Warner, forward
12th Round — Ryan Kavanaugh, defence
12th Round — Mike Vecchonie, forward


Joel MacDougall lives in Halifax and writes about all sports local and abroad. Follow Joel on twitter @jmdougall.

AUS #1 Storyline of 2009/10; Collapse and Rise of the Huskies

The Acquisition of Mike Danton provided an emotional spark to the Huskies.
Photo Credit: Richard Lafortune

(It took a lot longer to count them down than I thought it would, but here is the #1 storyline of the AUS season. )

Two months ago I interviewed Trevor Stienburg, the Head Coach of the Saint Mary’s Huskies national champion hockey team, and I asked him if the past calendar year had been the craziest of his career.

Considering that the Coach had spent the summer of 2008 in the hospital, he didn’t seem to think that the 2009/10 season was much of a big deal, but you have to imagine he’d be hard pressed to recall a season filled with so much disappointment, challenge, controversy, and success.

It began in March of 2009 when the AUS Champion Huskies suffered a historic collapse vs. the Western Mustangs to leave them one game short of the National Championship. Leading 2-1 in the second period, only a monumental collapse would spell the end of the Huskies season, as they only had to keep from losing by more than two goals to advance to the final.

Western would go on to score 6 unanswered goals, eliminating Stienburg’s Huskies and leaving fans shaking their heads in bewildered disbelief.

Fast forward to this past season, and Stienburg had almost his entire team back. Rancourt, Thornton, Hotham, Fergus. The Huskies were stocked and ready for another championship run.

However by January, Saint Mary’s was well on its way to one of the most disappointing seasons in AUS hockey history. The Huskies were playing uninspired hockey and mired in an extended swoon that saw them stuck in third place behind the juggernaut UNB Varsity Reds and the overachieving Acadia Axemen.

There was no joy in Huskies land. Stienburg was frustrated, players weren’t having fun, and several of the big guns on the team couldn’t understand why their production had dropped so dramatically.

That’s when the biggest press release of the AUS season came forth, announcing the intentions of Mike Danton to enroll at Saint Mary’s and lace up the skates for the Huskies

Enter the ex NHLer and former convict to a program that was desperate for a spark. It was a perfect fit for Danton, a chance to play the game he loved for a coach who was well versed in giving young men a second chance. Stienburg’s father was a parole officer in his hometown of Kingston, Ontario.

Danton turned out to be a perfect fit for the Huskies and the spark the team needed so badly. Danton took to the ice like a kid in a candy store. His wide eyed enthusiasm to be back on the ice spread like wildfire throughout the lineup and Saint Mary’s began to play with renewed vigor.

After eliminating the gritty Axemen in four games, the Huskies rolled over a St FX team that did Saint Mary’s a huge favour by eliminating the Varsity Reds.

Although in retrospect, the mighty Reds probably would have lost to the Huskies anyway.

Saint Mary’s had turned into a runaway train that dominated the competition all the way to the national final.

This time there would be no collapse. The Huskies defeated a determined Alberta team in double overtime to secure Trevor Steinburg his first national championship.

Sportsnet would interview a deliriously happy Steinburg who looked like he was going to hug the cameraman. Stienburg was so excited he could barely speak coherently, complete with the suit that he said his players tease him about constantly.

The Coach, who refers to his players as brothers and who defied a nation of critics by giving Mike Danton a second chance, had his University Cup.

Twelve months after the worst loss of his career, Stienburg had his greatest victory.

Bill McLean lives in Halifax and anchors Haligonia Sports. Follow him on twitter @haligoniasports. Listen to Bill McLean Sports Show every Tuesday at 10:30 am on ckdu.ca/88.1 FM. Email: bill@haligonia.ca

Home Sweet Home; Flyers Fight Back

Matt Carle has been a steady presence for the Flyers in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Article by Henry Whitfield.

The Philadelphia Flyers headed home after Game 2 knowing they were in danger of letting this series slip away.

Hockey Pundits were claiming the Flyers couldn’t handle the wonder kids Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, let alone find an answer to the unstoppable force of Dustin Byfuglien.

Two games later and the Flyers now sit two games apiece with the Chicago Blackhawks, and the kids from Chicago look like they have no answer for the hard-hitting, aggressive, in your face play of the Philadelphia Flyers.

As predicted, Chris Pronger has been the catalyst for this team’s success and has completely shut down the high-powered, speedy offence that the Chicago Blackhawks bring to the table.

•All we hear about is Chris Pronger; well it’s his defensive partner that should get some praise too. Matt Carle is the other half to the best shutdown player in the NHL today and most wouldn’t be able to name him as Pronger’s defensive partner. He has logged an average of 25:39 minutes/game and has 13 points with a plus/minus of +10.

•Speaking of Chris Pronger, I called him a monster after game one and two and he’s continued to dominate this series. Whether it’s in the media getting under the skin of the Chicago players of manhandling their small forwards, Pronger has been all over this Blackhawks team. After going posting a plus/minus of +4 in game four, he is now +7 in this series. Not bad for a guy that plays almost half of every game.

•After being quiet so far this series Flyers Captain Mike Richards finally woke up and played like the player he can be; Picked up the opening goal on a smart, heads-up play and looked dangerous all night. If the Flyers want to keep the momentum going in Chicago they need Richards to keep his form.

•From a captain leading by example to a captain that has gone missing. Jonathan Toews has started to vanish in this series and topped it off missing an open cage with just minutes remaining in the game. The top line produced just one assist and looked pretty useless out there.
So far both teams have cemented their place at home but this is essentially a best of three series with two of the games in Chicago. Can the Flyers break down the Madhouse on Madison or will Chicago hold strong and break the hearts of Flyers fans all over.

My prediction, albeit mocked by all when made, of the Flyers winning in seven games still looks good but I’m worried they may pull it off in six.

That is for now, check later for breakdown of the QMJHL draft day and the rest of my Stanley Cup analysis.

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Henry Whitfield is an avid sports fan who covers everything and anything in the sports world, while focusing on hockey and football. Follow him on twitter @HenryWhitfield.