Batter up

What a great weekend for Mother’s Day. Everyone was able to get out and take their mothers to the greenhouse or whatever other tradition they may have. But even as nice as it was there’s still always a chance of frost until the middle of June, or about the end of Stanley Cup playoffs.

The playoffs sure seem a lot better this year to me. Maybe because most of the teams that were predicted to win the cup never made it past the first round and I don’t really have a favourite. I wouldn’t mind if the Sharks or Blues won it all.

Speaking of cups, this past weekend the Alberta Peewee Prospect Cup was held down in Lethbridge. If you remember a few weeks ago our very own Cash ‘Paycheque’ Capjack was selected to play for one of the north teams. If you remember, he fractured his leg in a tournament a few weeks ago and was sidelined with a cast and unable to play.

He attended the tournament anyway to cheer on his teammates, who just happened to win the gold medal over eight other Alberta teams. The team they defeated in the final was also from the north. That should tell you about the caliber of the leagues and players from the north half of Alberta. Someday a couple of these young guys will be playing in the NHL, just like Jay Bowmeister from the St. Louis Blues. He played minor hockey in Edmonton and a few of our local boys played spring hockey with him.

This past week our minor teams opened up the season. The Peewee boys traveled to Cold Lake on Thursday winning 18-6. Timmy ‘The Train’ Cardinal, ‘Bo Diddley’ Fontaine and ‘Kid Kade’ Fontaine sharing the pitching duties.

Trey Thomas with a double and a home run over the fence. Brayden ‘Pin Ball’ Pinette, Aiden Peterson, The Train,  Bo Diddley and Cole ‘Cyclone’ Pierce all hitting a single each and getting around the bases. Sam ‘Spiderman’ Rogal and Gavin ‘Giver’ Kadutski with two singles each . Josef ‘Red ‘ Theriault hitting a double. ‘Top Gunner’ Crawford with a triple and a single. ‘Kid Kade’ Fontaine with three singles. Jax Gaulton never hit the ball, but he went down swinging so it’s only a matter of time and he will connect.

The Mosquitoes team coached by Dennell Anderson took  a big 10-1 win over St. Paul here at home on Thursday night A single for ‘Goodyear Charlie’ Lesyk. Raif ‘Rug Rat’ Evans Anderson and Rylan Dustow with a triple each.  Two singles for Brendan ‘Buzz Saw’ Kadutski.

I never received a game sheet but the rumor on the street was our other Mosquitoes team coached by Jackie Penz played in Bonnyville and won the game.

A big happy 8th birthday going out today to a ball player with a great pedigree , William ‘Billy Bob’ Ballas.