Going Prospecting... and Letting the Dogs In

The Cats are back in action tonight at the Coliseum. They host the Sea Dogs in the make-up of a game that was originally scheduled on December 30th but was postponed due to inclement weather. This turn of events has given Moncton the opportunity to face a Saint John team that's recently been purged of much of it's proven talent. Since their last matchup against Moncton on New Year's Eve, the Dogs have dealt forwards Stephen McAulay, Ryan Tesink and Aiden Kelly. As well, Jonathan Huberdeau - who was in Ufa, Russia the last time these two teams met - has since been granted an extended stay in the hockey hotbed known as South Florida thanks to Dale Tallon, Kevin Dineen and the hockey comedy duo of Bettman and Fehr. What does all this mean? Cats might win in a shootout this time. Remember, the Dogs have basically turned the Wildcats into a vending machine for points these last three seasons... plus the ever dangerous Noah Zilbert still lurks in the shadows of the Saint John roster.

I will not have the pleasure of taking this game in however, as I am soon making my way down to Halifax for the CHL Top Prospects Game. As a fan of exhibition matches between top level teams that is more playoff atmosphere than All-Star Game, I must say I'm looking forward to this event, as are the thousands of people in Halifax who just this season realised junior hockey existed again after a mysterious 4-6 year disappearance.

Although it's mostly lost to history now, before the Top Prospects Game came to be in the late 1990's, virtually the only exclusive CHL showcase event outside the Memorial Cup was the CHL All-Star Game. The third edition of this game was held at the Coliseum on February 1, 1994. Instead of Team Cherry vs. Team Orr, the squads were split into the "OHL/WHL Selects" (which would ironically pass nicely for "Team Cherry" anyway) vs. the QMJHL/Atlanic Selects". The O/W won 9-7, North Bay Centennials winger Jeff Shevalier leading the way with two goals and a helper. Notables on the Ontario/Western roster included Jamie Storr, Norm Maracle, Brendan Witt, Ed Jovanovski, Darcy Tucker, Jeff Friesen, Mike Peca, Jason Allison, Jeff O'Neill and future Saint John Flame Marty Murray. The Quebec/Atlantic roster featured, among others, Manny Fernandez, Eric Fichaud, Daniel Goneau, Mathieu Dandenault and future Fredericton Canadiens Alexi Lojkin and Martin Gendron. It also marked the first appearance behind the bench at the Coliseum for Ted Nolan, who was co-coach of the Ontatio/West contingent along with Brent Pederson. On the Q/Atlantic bench were two names that would become very familiar to junior hockey fans - and hockey fans in general - around this region: Guy Chouinard and Michel Therrien.

The game was hugely successful, with 6,380 fans cramming into the Moncton Coliseum (which back then still had those spectacular 1973 sunset orange lower bowl seats) to get what was for many their first taste of junior hockey at it's highest level since the split between Jr.A and major junior had been created more than two decades earlier. Of course at that time, Moncton was still an AHL city. The Hawks were going through a solid if unspectacular regular season at that point and the rumblings were becoming louder and louder that the parent club Winnipeg Jets were about to pull the plug on their affiliation with the city. Of course, many people at the time simply assumed that another NHL club would slide in to fill the void, as had happened no less than four times already in the city's AHL history.

In the end, the eighth place overall Hawks played out of their minds in April and May, reaching the Calder Cup finals before bowing out to what seemed to be an inhuman Olaf Kolzig and his Portland Pirates in six games. Winnipeg relocated it's affiliation to Springfield, MA, and that other NHL club never came to the rescue (unless you count the St.Louis Blues writing a letter to a potential investor saying "Good luck but no way in hell we're going there see you in Worcester, suckers" to be a rescue mission).

For an entire season after the departure of the Hawks, the Coliseum was left without a major tenant. Finally, in 1995, a group of investors, in part remembering the success of the CHL All-Star game, established a franchise that never really existed. The following season, the Wildcats set up shop in the Coliseum and everything was just A-OK and we all lived happily ever after and I don't know what you mean by this "Alpines" thing because that was clearly a figment of your imagination unless you mean the AHL Alpines because they happened but they happened only a very little bit and who is this Roddie MacKenzie fellow you speak of? Is he one of the redwiggers?

Also, don't forget (because you know there are absolutely no reminders out there already) the NHL is back up and running with regular season games starting this Saturday. Of course, it wouldn't be the start of the season without Habs vs. Leafs. If the Leafs are able to dress a full roster (I vote they just stop holding practises because of a rash of injuries and really what's the point?) and the Habs are able to get Scott Gomez in that cargo crate to wherever he needs to go in time, it should be a heck of an opening night.