Cole Harbour team to kick of HNIC tonight

Tonight's matchup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Montreal Canadiens will feature some Nova Scotians besides Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.

The Cole Harbour Atom AAA Wings will be introducing the first Saturday night game. Coach Brad MacLeod says it's been a whirlwind couple of weeks.

"Yah it's probably one of the most exciting things a lot of them have been through," he says. "It all happened at once, first they found out they made the team."

And then they taped their national television debut a few weeks back, which features them introducing the HNIC pre-game show as well as tee-ing up the big game.

"They're completely over the moon about it," says MacLeod, adding that the parents and himself are equally excited.

The team, made up of nine and 10-year-olds will be getting together tonight at Gamebreakers to watch themselves and the match on a big screen.

MacLeod says it's extra special because the team will be introducing a hometown hero.

"Everyone is pretty close to Sidney Crosby, he still has a lot of roots in the Cole Harbour area," he says. "I would say there's lots of kids on the teams who still have connections with him."

Hockey Night in Canada gets underway at 7:30 p.m. on CBC.



Jennifer Casey was born and raised in Halifax. She loves all sports but tries to stick to writing about hockey for sanity purposes. You can follow her on twitter @jenncaseyhfx or find her on her blog National Passtime

Hockey Withdrawal Syndrome: Day 1

I'm getting the hand shakes, guys. What do you mean if I turn on my TV, there will be no hockey? I don't understand. I think it's still setting in. I'm tempted to grab that 1987 Canada Cup box set and throw it in the DVD player. But it's too early. There's too much time ahead. I'll crash and burn if I do that. I should probably wait until at least July... That's the month where it really gets bad.

At least the Halifax Mooseheads open their training camp in mid-August. That's when all of Halifax crams into Cole Harbour Place in shorts and t-shirts and watches some inter-squad games. Yes, we get that desperate. Inter-squad games. Blue verses Grey. Fights galore.

Speaking of Canada Cup (now World Cup), due to my calculations there should be one this year. The last was 2004. Every four years. Wait... What?! They're not having it this year? OK, the world is truly out to get me. At least there's some lingering hockey-related things in the near future:

NHL Awards: June 14 12

NHL Draft: June 20-21

Contract Doomsday: July 1

NHL season opens with games in Prague and Stockholm: OCTOBER 4 (my rough calculations put that 120 days, 2 hours, 35 minutes away)


And one quick update on the Hockey Night in Canada national disaster. Apparently the CBC is still in "negotiations" with the composer and her agent for a new contract. Remember a few years ago when the CBC wasn't going to re-sign Ron MacLean to the show and the nation rose up in a collective cry? It appears to be a similar situation.

Triple OT.

I missed just about all of the game due to my own soccer game tonight. So, the Pens decided to treat me to a full game anyway. Triple Overtime. Petr Sykora. Back to Pittsburgh for game six. Game just got over and it's 2 a.m. here in Halifax. Cole Harbour Place is probably going mad. But i'm too exhausted to do anything but load this pic up and sleep.