Crosby & MacKinnon to Faceoff in World Cup

Wednesday marked the announcement of the first 16 roster players for each of the eight teams competing for the World Cup of Hockey in September on this year. As with any announcement of this nature there is bound to be debate as to who was included and who was omitted. What is not up for debate, is that the two Nova Scotians named deserved their spots. Oddly enough on different teams.

POLL: Who You Got – Crosby or MacKinnon?

Cole Harbour natives, Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby faceoff for the first time Monday as the Avalanche play the Penguins.

It’s Hockey Night in Cole Harbour!

While there’s isn’t any high profile game actually in the Nova Scotia community Monday night, two of it’s native sons and most prominent residents will face off against one another for the first time when Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche visit Sidney Crosby and his Pittsburgh Penguins. The game can be see live on TSN2 at 8:30 AT. Have your say below on who you’ll be cheering for.

Mooseheads Stars Await the Call

Today will be day for some of the Halifax Mooseheads. Hockey Canada will announce the roster for its World Junior selection camp. Unfortunately, the NHL lockout will undoubtedly squeeze out some great junior talent.

Nathan MacKinnon was a fairly safe bet to make the team this year after he generated consideration last year, despite not being invited. MacKinnon is still pretty certain to be invited to the selection camp, but with potential NHL-ready talent like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (EDM), Jonathan Huberdeau (FLA), Ryan Strome (NYI), Mark Scheifele (WIN), and more available, the forward corps is getting pretty filled already.

TSN had preliminary roster speculation that featured MacKinnon as the 13th forward, while TSN Insider Bob McKenzie says he could challenge for a top six spot by shifting to RW. However unlikely, with stiff competition there is the slight possibility that if there is no scoring line spot available, MacKinnon gets left out in place of more experienced role players for the third and fourth line.

This is more of reality for his Moosehead teammate Jonathan Drouin, who has been climbing up the draft rankings all season and with his stellar first half has made some start wondering how close he is to MacKinnon. Hockey Canada always gives the advantage to older players that have typically been drafted, but in any normal year Drouin would have at least have been in consideration for a spot. But sadly, it is unlikely he even gets a sniff this year. Maybe he’ll get an invite to camp, but even that might be a long shot as the team brass will only have limited time to assess what they have and will focus on more known commodities.

While it even rarer for underage goaltenders to get into the conversation for the annual Christmas tournament Zachary Fucale has also impressed enough that in a normal year he could have garnered some interest. That’s all it would ever be, is interest but still worth noting.

Good luck to Nate, and would certainly be great to see Drouin get a chance to showcase his skill at least. If by chance both are snubbed, I’d feel bad for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Last year, after not getting invited to the selection camp, Mathan MacKinnon posted 5 goals on the Quebec Rempart. Just sayin’!

Highly Touted’s Big Day Downtown

I know. I know. I know. I haven’t been here very often. So imagine my surprise when I realized it was time once again for the Halifax Downtown Business Commission’s Big Day Downtown event. I had such a great time last year. I got my Converse Chuck Taylor’s, a Nathan MacKinnon numbered T-shirt and went to a Mooseheads’ game last year.

So this year when I heard I was going to be getting $100 bucks to spend at any downtown businesses, I was stoked and had an idea of what I wanted to do. But hold it! This year they put a twist on the event. Each blogger was going to be paired with another blogger and you would have to show off your downtown to your partner.

I got partnered with Katie Tower who blogs about lifestyle and design at katietower.ca. We have of a bit of different twist on things, but that might have made for a great match.

Better duo: me and Katie or MacKinnon and Drouin? Probably too close to call.

I had immediately thought, “Sweet, I’m going to get me a Moosehead jersey!” But that would have blown my whole $100. Actually I still would have had to add another $30 for the jersey and $65 for name and number. I was originally going to get the jersey and do the name and number later, but after chatting with Katie, I realized that we each had a different experience to share.

I figured it would be great if I baptized Katie in the sports scene of Halifax. Cool thing is, I also got to add to what I started last year. I used my first purchase to get Katie the same MacKinnon shirt I got last, and I decided to compliment my shirt with a red Jonathan Drouin shirt.

Been Too Long: Summer Sports Round-Up

I have not been on the blog for a loooooong time. The biggest reason is the fact that there is a new Highly Touted prospect in my farm system. We have begun his development for multiple sports already. While he has shown promising skills in most of the majors sports (hockey, baseball, soccer, etc.), he has demonstrated a prodigious aptitude toward Jai Alai. Not bad for a month old.

While I am doing more work in the areas of player development, I need to get back to the blog. So here’s some of the things going on in the local sports scene: