Goaltender stock continues to rise in NHL
Carter George is doing everything right in the eyes of NHL scouts. The young net-minder, with years of good decisions and hard work, has positioned himself in the best possible place to be for the upcoming NHL draft. His most recent opportunity to showcase his pro-ready skills is being named to compete in the 2024 IIHF World U18 Championships to be held in Finland later this month.
This newest feather in his cap adds to a Team Canada Gold at the Hlinka – Gretzky Cup and an OHL season that has often defied statistics. He plays with the Owen Sound Attack who are struggling to keep their heads above the 0.500 mark, although with Carter’s stellar numbers you would think he is playing for one of the league’s best teams. He has impressively been the top or in the mix of number of saves, shutouts, save percentages, etc.
The fun gets started tomorrow, April 25! Since 2002, Canada has won four gold medals at the IIHF U18 World Championship (2003, 2008, 2013, 2021), in addition to one silver (2005) and four bronze (2012, 2014, 2015, 2023). Having already played pre-tournament games, they will face off against Sweden. Canada will also face Czechia on April 26, Switzerland on April 28 and Kazakhstan on April 30 to close out preliminary-round action. The semifinals are set for May 4 before the tournament concludes with the medal games on May 5!
The 2024 draft will reportedly be held at Sphere in Las Vegas, with the first round June 28 and Rounds 2 to 7 on June 29. The NHL Draft Lottery to determine the first 16 picks in the draft has yet to be determined. Best of luck, Carter! We are pulling for you!
Island elementary badminton
Noojmowin Teg Health Centre, in partnership with the local school boards, hosted the 2024 Mnidoo Mnising Elementary School Badminton Championships today at the 4 Directions Complex in AOK. Forty-nine athletes competed in singles and doubles. Congratulations to the medal winners and participants!
Some of the medal winners included: Nova Debassige, Brinley Watson, Amber Brizuela, Dylan Bebonang, Rowyn Kasunich and Tessa Ense-Wabonosse. Full results to follow.
Earth Day grump
As I write, it is Earth Day and should likely have very little space in a sports’ column. As a fan of sports and especially activities in the outdoors, I have the chance to see the results of people acting badly in nature! Standing around, or on the water this spring trying to catch a fish, I am constantly reminded of how badly nature is treated by people who likely claim to ‘love’ it.
The examples are too numerous and delve into the ad nauseam. One example from this weekend encapsulates the disregard some people have. On the shore of one of our local tributaries, I got tangled up in somebody’s nasty birds nest of fishing line and gear. It was not the time to untangle the ball of line there and then, so I cut off my line and retied, throwing the ‘nest’ into my bag to bring home. There, I had nothing to clean but this mess in my tackle bag. When I dismantled my only prize of the day I figured I would be able to salvage some gear at the least. Examining further, this ball of sticks and line had no less than 5 different types of line, 16 sinkers and 5 hooks or jigs. What initially looked like one person’s greedy discard of a tangle turned out to be a collective result of several ignorant people over what looked to be years in the making, with one jig hook almost rusted to nothing. This is a small symptom of a major disease. What people do when they think nobody is watching is bad enough, but it is not even being hidden? The attitude that it is always someone else eventually comes back to us. We are everybody else and we need to help. Wherever we are, if we just do one little thing to make a place better than when we went there to enjoy it, it helps. Just do it!
