Fans continued to flock to Mile One Centre again in 2018, but unlike the previous half-dozen winters when the St. John’s IceCaps were the big draw, basketball became the big-ticket item in downtown St. John’s.
After 20 years of pro hockey (American Hockey League’s Maple Leafs and IceCaps), and three more of junior hockey (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s St. John’s Fog Devils), St. John’s and Newfoundland and Labrador sports fans rallied around and embraced professional basketball in the form of the St. John’s Edge.
The National Basketball League of Canada landed in St. John’s by accident, really. The team’s owner, New York health food magnate Irwin Simon, a Glace Bay, N.S. native, had actually been in the market for a hockey team.
Simon, with the help of sports promoter John Graham, who was quite familiar with the St. John’s market, had hoped to bring another AHL team to the city.
But with more and more NHL teams moving their farm clubs closer to home, the AHL was out of the question. So they explored the idea of bringing another QMJHL team to the city. Problem was, no junior teams were for sale, none were interested in relocating and the league had no plans to expand.
So, with the idea of getting their foot in the Mile One door, and bringing something to the building until a hockey team became available, the Edge were born.
And a funny thing happened along the way.
The fans loved the product. The Edge were a success on the court (25-15 record, third-best in the 10-team league) and at the turnstiles. Only the London Lightning, with an average of 4,051 fans, outdrew the Edge, who averaged 3,464 fans per night.
Of course, a big reason for the team’s popularity was local boy Carl English. English, from Patrick’s Cove, was well-known in the province, having playing NCAA Division I college basketball and professionally overseas, not to mention a lengthy tenure with Canada’s national team, but few, if anyone, had ever seen English play.
And he didn’t disappoint, finishing second in league scoring and winning league MVP honours.
The Edge swept their first round playoff series, before losing in six games to eventual league champion London in the Central Division final.
HOCKEY RETURNS TO MILE ONE
After a season without hockey, ice returned to Mile One in 2018 with the brand-new Newfoundland Growlers, an expansion ECHL team.
With the AHL likely gone for good, local businessman Dean MacDonald and Glenn Stanford, who was at the helm of the Maple Leafs and IceCaps during their 20 years in the city, bought into the ECHL, which touts itself as North America’s premier AA hockey league. It is best described as AA to the AAA AHL.
Further, an affiliation agreement was signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
St. John’s is another in an increasing number of AHL cities which have switched to the ECHL. With the Growlers in the fold, St. John's is the ninth former AHL city to join the league with Adirondack, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Indianapolis, Ind.; Portland, Maine; Manchester, N.H.; Norfolk, Va.; Salt Lake City, Utah and Worcester, Mass.
The Growlers made a splash with their first signing, Fermeuse native and former NHLer Ryane Clowe, who was brought in to coach the team. Clowe spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils.
Defenceman Adam Pardy of Bonavista, who appeared in 350 NHL games, was also brought on board, and Goulds native James Melindy, also a D-man, was named the team’s first captain. Zach O’Brien and Marcus Power of St. John’s are regulars with the team, and Rodi Short of the Goulds and Scott Trask of Bonavista have seen action with the squad. Grand Falls-Windsor goaltender A.J. Whiffen has dressed on a couple of occasions as the backup netminder.
GUSHUE REPEATS
What’s a year in review without mention of Brad Gushue’s curling team?
Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker were the story of 2017 with their Brier win on home ice, and they made noise again in 2018 when the four defended their Canadian men’s curling championship in Regina, Sask.
The team from St. John’s, wearing Team Canada’s colours, capped off a dominant week of curling in Saskatchewan with a 6-4 victory over Brendan Bottcher's young Alberta team.
The back-to-back Brier titles put Gushue in elite company. He joined Kevin Martin, Randy Ferbey, Pat Ryan, Don Duguid, Ron Northcott, Ernie Richardson, Matt Baldwin and Gordon Hudson as the only skips to win consecutive Briers since 1927.
Gushue went 12-1 in Regina in a Brier that saw the skip, Nichols and Gallant all earn first-team all-star honors. Walker was a second-team all-star.
So good was Gushue in the playoffs that he curled a perfect 100 per cent in the Page playoff 1-2 game against John Epping, and 96 per cent in the final.
The team came up a bit short in the world championship in Las Vegas, dropping a 7-3 decision to Niklas Edin of Sweden in the final. Edin was coming off a silver-medal performance at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
HERO’S WELCOME FOR OSMOND
Last March in Milan, Italy, Marystown native Kaetlyn Osmond became the first Canadian woman in 45 years to win the world figure skating championship, following Karen Magnussen’s performance in 1973.
The medal came shortly after Osmond claimed a bronze medal at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics (she also got a gold medal, as part of the Canadian team).
Osmond, who resides in Alberta, hasn’t lived in Newfoundland for 14 years, but nonetheless received a hero’s welcome when she made her first trip home in four years. Greeted by hundreds at St. John’s International Airport, Osmond was treated like a queen upon her return to Marystown, where she was feted to a parade and made guest of honour at an ice show with the Ice Crystals skating club and reception later in the day and that evening.
In honour of her accomplishment, the provincial government renamed the Burin Peninsula Highway from Red Harbour to Marystown Osmond Way.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO REGATTA
The Royal St. John’s Regatta celebrated its 200th anniversary last August, and the m5 women’s rowing team used the milestone moment to set a new course record.
The crew of stroke Katie Wadden, Alyssa Devereaux, Jane Brodie, Nancy Beaton, Amanda Ryan, Amanda Hancock, cox Dean Hammond and coach Bert Hickey won its third straight Regatta championship, setting a record along the way.
In the first women’s race of the day, the women’s Amateur Race, m5 crossed the finish line in 4:56.10, barely wiping OZ FM's standard of 4:56.70 off the books, a record that stood for 15 years.
M5 finished off its big day in the evening, placing first in the championship race in a time of 5:03.58.
The Outer Cove men’s also won their third straight crown, and came close to a course record with an 8:55.90 showing in the men’s Amateur Race. Stroke Brent Hickey, Brent Payne, James Cadigan, Dan Cadigan, Mark Perry, Colin Stapleton, cox Mark Hayward and coach Hickey posted the third-fastest time ever record on the “pond”.
They won the championship in a time of 9:06.34.
HEARTBREAK IN SASKATOON
There are two ways to look at the showings of two Holy Cross teams at the Canadian men’s and women’s soccer championships held over the Thanksgiving Day weekend in Saskatoon, Sask.
On one hand, a pair of national fourth-place finishes aren’t bad. On the other, the teams came oh so close to a medal.
Especially heartbreaking was the men’s bronze-medal game, in which Saskatchewan beat Holy Cross 2-1 on penalty kicks. Both teams scored on their five penalty kicks before Saskatchewan found the mark again on their sixth shot.
Then Saskatoon Revolution keeper Michael Bandula foiled Andrew Stanford on the sixth Holy Cross kick to seal the Saskatchewan victory.
The Holy Cross-Avalon Ford women, who won the all-Newfoundland championship for a third straight year in 2018, going unbeaten in the process, came up short in their attempt for a second straight Canadian bronze medal following a 6-1 loss to Quebec.
WE LOST A PAIR OF LOCAL ICONS
The city and province lost a pair of sporting icons last summer, and the two life-long friends died within two weeks of each other.
Duey Fitzgerald, who passed away Aug. 22 at age 84, and Dee Murphy, who was 82, were fixtures on the local sports scene.
Their deaths marked the end of an era.
A west-end St. John's fixture who bled the red and gold of the Holy Cross Crusaders, Fitzgerald was a member of seven Halls of Fame — the Softball Canada, Softball Newfoundland and Labrador, and St. John's Softball Halls of Fame, the St. John's Baseball and Newfoundland Baseball Halls of Fame, the Newfoundland Bowling Hall of Fame and the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame.
Murphy, a west-ender who attended St. Bon’s, was, incredibly, a member of 11 Halls of Fame, including the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame and Softball Canada Hall of Fame. At the time of his death, Murphy was the only living honorary life member of Softball Canada, a distinction that was bestowed to only seven individuals.
In addition to those two Halls of Fame, Murphy was a member of the provincial softball, soccer, hockey, bowling and track and field Halls of Fame, the St. John's softball and soccer Halls, the Royal St. John's Regatta Hall of Fame and the Bell Island Sports Hall. Murphy was also on the Media Wall of Fame in the Mile One Centre press box.
Both Fitzgerald and Murphy were former presidents of Softball Newfoundland and Labrador.
FROM VICTORIA TO NCAA
There must be something in the water in Victoria, B.C. Newfoundland hockey players Alex Newhook (St. John’s) and Zach Rose (Paradise) committed to NCAA schools in 2018, Newhook to Boston College and Rose to Bowling Green University.
Both will start their U.S. college careers next season.
Newhook is draft eligible in 2019, and is expected to be a first-round NHL draft pick. Don’t be surprised if he’s among the first 10 players selected.
Speaking of NCAA, swimmer Noah Cumby and hockey player Maggie Connors of St. John’s and hockey player Adam Dawe of Gander all started their NCAA athletic careers this year. Cumby is attending Texas Christian University, Connors is at Princeton and Dawe is going to school and playing hockey for the University of Maine Black Bears.
Connors was a member of Canada's national development team last season, and was part of the under-18 team that won bronze in the 2018 IIHF Women's World U18 Championship in Russia last January.
HITMEN CONTINUE TO MAKE HISTORY
It’s a domination of their opponents on the national level not seen by a Newfoundland team in the long history of amateur sport in this province. The Galway Hitmen won the Canadian senior men’s softball championship in 2018, giving teams based out of the St. John's Senior Men's Softball League six of the last seven Canadian senior men's crowns, the exception being 2017, when the Hitmen finished second.
The Hitmen were thoroughly dominant in St. Croix, N.S., going 9-0 in the championship, including 3-0 in the playoffs, while outscoring the opposition 68-2.
Ryan Boland’s fifth-inning grand slam home run brought the final against the Sooke Logger of B.C. to an end by triggering the seven-run mercy rule.
OF NOTE …
Two St. John’s sports facilities, Swilers Rugby Pitch and King George V Park, both received new surfaces in 2018. The Swilers got a new grass surface, while at King George, the soccer pitch had its Field Turf replaced. The work will be completed in 2019 … The city got some disappointing news in 2018. St. John’s was overlooked in favour of Halifax for the 2020 world women’s hockey championship, and Curling Canada informed the provincial curling association a bid for the 2019 Ford world men’s curling championship was rejected in favour of Lethbridge, Alta. … Speaking of curling, the new C.B.S. Arena played host to the Boost National, a Grand Slam of Curling event, which was a big hit at the turnstiles, especially when Team Gushue was curling. Gushue was knocked out in the quarter-finals … A pair of talented youngsters made noise at Eastbound International Speedway in Avondale last summer. Owen Groves, 15, won back-to-back MNR Performance Bandolero series titles, and Michael Neary, a Grade 12 student at prince of Wales Collegiate in St. John’s and a rookie driver in the Legends division, swept all 10 races this season …
Robin Short is The Telegram’s Sports Editor. He can be reached by email [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @TelyRobinShort