Coal Bowl Classic a dream come true for McDonald

                                          Gary McDonald speaks about his final Coal Bowl Classic experience.

By Jeremy Fraser

As a child, Gary McDonald always dreamed of playing in the Coal Bowl Classic for the Breton Education Centre Bears.

The excitement of playing in front of a jammed pack crowd at the BEC gym motivated him to continue playing basketball.

Today, the New Waterford native gets ready to play in his second straight Coal Bowl Classic when the Bears open the tournament against Polyvalente de L'Ancienne-Lorette of Quebec City, following opening ceremonies at 7 p.m. on Monday.

The graduating forward would like nothing more than to win a Coal Bowl title in his final season.

"Words can't describe how important winning a title this year would be. It would be the peak of my grad year, every kid dreams of winning a yellow banner in front of the whole town."

The Coal Bowl experience is something special, said McDonald.

"Coal Bowl is the best week of the year, with it being so much more then just basketball. Living in the school with all the teams is such a great experience, you meet so many new people."

McDonald started his career in Grade 4, playing common school basketball for Greenfield Elementary School. In high school, he played with the Bears junior 'B' team, while also being committed to hockey.

The six-foot-four centre has enjoyed every moment playing with the Bears.

"It's been an amazing journey playing with the team the last couple years. A lot of people think it's all about Coal Bowl, but we have been in five tournaments this year. It's a lot of fun."

Last year, the Bears failed to reach the tournament semifinals, posting two wins and two losses.

Although it was disappointing, McDonald gained a lot of experience, he said.

"It helped  a lot with the nerves. Going out and playing in front of that many people can be very nerve racking, but once you get used to it, you lock in and focus on basketball."

Last year's loss gives McDonald extra motivation heading into this year's tournament.

"It gives us tons of motivation, especially for our returning players. We feel we let people down last year. It would be heartbreaking if we didn't make the semifinals in back-to-back years."

Breton Education Centre will continue the round robin portion of the tournament with games against
Yorkton Regional High School at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Elwood Regional High School at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, and St. Francis Xavier Catholic High School at 5 p.m. on Thursday.

McDonald has high expectations for the team.

"We have had a pretty up and down season, but have been playing some good basketball the last two weeks, leading up to Coal Bowl. We play our best with our backs to the wall."

The team's success will come from hard work, said McDonald.

"We have a pretty young group of guys this year, two in Grade 9, two in Grade 10 and two first year Grade 11 players, so we have to out work teams, stay calm and take care of the ball."

McDonald has personal goals for his final Coal Bowl Classic.

"Like every year, my goal is to win the tournament, but anything less than semifinals this year would be absolutely heartbreaking."

McDonald expects the atmosphere in the gym for Monday's game to be outstanding.

"The opening ceremonies brings in a very big crowd and gets everyone into the basketball spirit, and lucky for us we play right after it, so everyone is excited."

Islanders Country getting fans closer to the team

The website Islanders Country may only be a few years old, but Nolan Reid says it’s already the place to go for Charlottetown Islanders news.

His passion for hockey and writing was behind his inspiration to make a site dedicated to the Island’s only major junior hockey team.

The site is already two and a half years old and already Reid is seeing the benefits, he said.

“It’s pretty successful – the Islanders fan community seems to be engaged with it and seem to appreciate the news I put out.”

John Marlen has been following the Islanders franchise for the past few years. He goes to Islanders Country updated news.

“The site provides fans with information that the official site just doesn’t have. It’s a blessing for Islanders fans and also fans on the QMJHL who want to follow our team.”

Reid started following the major junior team, formerly known as the P.E.I. Rocket, in 2006.

Watching the Rocket had a major impact on blogging, he said.

“I had a website dedicated to the Rocket a few years ago called “Let’s Go Rocket”, which also sort of inspired me to do it again for the Islanders. I know a lot about the team over years and want to share that with other diehards.”

Marlen enjoys reading Reid’s post-game stories, he said.

“They are well written, posted online quickly after the game, and have good interviews. Why wouldn’t anyone go to the site?”

Content is important for any blog, said Reid.

“It also is something I wanted to do as well, again going back to being unaffiliated with the team, I can break trades before they are made official by both the team and league, but verified by reliable sources via Twitter.”

Reid is also the Islanders reporter for the The Q News, a website dedicated to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The 23-year-old has had many memorable interviews, he said.

“It would probably be interviewing Daniel Sprong for the first time this season since coming back from the (Pittsburgh) Penguins.”

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Entry Draft will take place in Charlottetown in June. Reid and the Islanders Country staff will be in attendance.

“Islanders Country will be the No. 1 source for Islanders news during the 2016 QMJHL Draft.”

Reid encourages fans to visit his website, www.islanderscountry.ca.

Water - Holland College Project

Travis Roach has lived in Prince Edward Island all his life. Living outside of Charlottetown, he understands how important water is to many Island residents.

The 23-year-old has a well in his backyard, which he relies on for his drinking water.

It's something he doesn't take for granted, he said.

"Many Islanders have wells in their backyards and if something were to happen to these wells, things could become tricky for many residents."

It's not uncommon to see the Holland College student bringing large bottles of water from his well.

"Our family makes sure we have enough water in our house. It's very important to save water and not to over use it while showering or brushing your teeth."

In recent years, there have been discussions about the possibility of fracking on Prince Edward Island. Other provinces such as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have also spoke about fracking.

Andrew Lush is the manager of the Hunter-Clyde Water shed group. There are many risks to fracking, he said.

"There are thousands of cases where spills have got into the ground water, animals dying and people having sickness in the areas where there is fracking. It's not worth it."

In recent months, fracking has been the cause of earthquakes in Alberta and British Columbia. If fracking happened in the Atlantic Ocean or Northumberland Strait, it could still be a cause for concern for ground water, said Lush.

"Deep water aquifer is connected to across the whole of P.E.I. and in fact it's connected to Northern New Brunswick and Cape Breton as well, so we just don't know about what's going on down there."

Roach agrees that fracking is not something that should happen in P.E.I.

"There are too many risk factors concerning our ground water. For the little amount of jobs fracking would bring to P.E.I., it's just not worth the risk of having these get into our ground water."

As of 2012, there have been no leases for fracking on P.E.I., however that doesn't mean it couldn't happen, said Lush.

"A company could come and knock on the door, get a lease, convert that into a lease for testing and drilling and before you know it you have fracking."

Currently, there is not a ban on fracking on P.E.I.