The St. John’s Edge knew they were going to have a significant break in their National Basketball League schedule this month.
They just didn’t know it was going to be this long.
The Edge haven’t played since Jan 8, when they evened their record at 4-4 with a win over the KW Titans at Mile One Centre. They had been scheduled to resume what was to have been a six-game homestand this past Tuesday and Wednesday against the Sudbury Five, but those match-ups were postponed in the aftermath of the winter storm that hit eastern Newfoundland last weekend, leading to a week-plus state of emergency (SOE) in the provincial capital.
Because St. John’s International Airport was closed earlier this week, the Five couldn’t make it to Newfoundland.
With the state of emergency ending today, two games versus the Halifax Hurricanes at Mile One will go ahead, but that was only after another adjustment.
The first Edge-Hurricanes meeting was to have been Friday, but with the SOE extended through that day, that game has been moved to 7 p.m. Monday.
A Sunday afternoon matinee (2 p.m.) between the teams will go ahead as originally planned.
That means it will have been 18 days since St. John’s experienced any game action. And because the city was locked down as it worked to dig out from the storm, it’s been more than a week since the Edge practised.
They have gotten in some weight training in the last few days and there has been plenty of video review of the Hurricanes (2-8), who have already faced St. John’s this season, splitting a pair of games in Halifax.
After amending their travel plans to fox the rejigged schedule, the Hurricanes will arrive in St. John’s today.
St. John’s head coach Steve Marcus says the plan is for his side to get in a workout at Mile One this evening after the building, which has been shut down, reopens and the hardwood is laid down over the arena ice. It will also be an opportunity for work with Canadian forward Olu Ashaolu and American Ahmad Thomas, players added to the Edge roster since the team’s last game.
The Edge say tickets that have already been issued for Friday’s game are redeemable for either Sunday’s or Monday’s contest. For more information, you can reach out to the team by email at [email protected]
In addition, the team is offering $8 tickets for bowl seating for both games against the Hurricanes as long as fans bring a non-perishable food item to the Mile One Box office when making the ticket purchase.
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The league has announced that the Edge’s postponed games versus the Five have been moved to the middle of April at Mile One, tagged on to the end of the original regular-season schedule.
Given a transaction from the past week, there’s a good chance that when the Five eventually arrive in town, they’ll have a former Edge fan favourite in the lineup. This past week, Sudbury signed Canadian guard Jarryn Skeete, who played with St. John’s in its first two seasons in the league.
[email protected]