The 2007 sports calendar

This is the time of year when we both look forward and look back. There’s no question 2007 was quite a local sports year.

Here’s a sampling of some of the major things that happened; hopefully, it’s a slice that will be as much fun to reminisce about for you as it was for me.

In January, a team of university hockey players from the Atlantic conference - including Brandon Benedict, Brandon Roach, John Ceci and coach Darren Burns of the Acadia Axemen - won gold at the World University Games in Italy.

In February, Dan McNally resigned as Acadia’s director of varsity athletics after six successful - but often controversial - years on the job. McNally’s replacement, hired in July, is former Axemen basketball great Brian Heaney.

In March, four Kings County athletes – Mason Foote, Marissa Walter, Taya McGillivary and Britany MacArthur – were among 29 Nova Scotians at a Team Canada training camp at Disney’s Wide World of Sport complex in Orlando, FL.

The Acadia men’s basketball team won its first conference title since 1998 in dramatic fashion, defeating Saint Mary’s (in overtime) at the AUBC playoffs in Halifax.

Also in March, “next year” finally arrived for the Horton D-1 boys’ basketball team, which won provincials with a 77-61 win over Sackville. It marked the first provincial title for head coach Tim Kendrick in 18 years of coaching at Horton.

The Valley United U-14 boys’ team won the NSSL indoor soccer championship with a 2-0 shutout of regular season champion Bedford. The U-16 boys and U-16 girls both lost in their provincial finals and settled for silver medals.

Last, but certainly not least in a busy month of March, NKEC won its second provincial D-2 hockey title in three years, edging Barrington 1-0 in the final on a goal by Reggie Rand and shutout goaltending from Ian Brown.

In April, NKEC won a pair of regional team championships and eight individual championships in badminton, then won two more team banners and five individual titles at provincials later in the month.

The NKEC intermediate boys’ table tennis team won the provincial title, and Wolfville captured the junior boys’. NKEC also placed second in intermediate girls’ and boys’ and senior boys’, winning five of the six regional divisions.

At the provincial school track and field competition, Mason Foote, Marissa Walter, Taya McGillivary, Emma Duinker and the Horton senior girls’ 4X400 relay team all won gold.

In all, Kings athletes won 22 medals at provincials: 11 of them gold.

In June, Gordie Howe, “Mr. Hockey,” was the headline guest at the 10th annual Acadia Hockey Celebrity Dinner, which drew the largest crowd in the history of the event.

In July, golfer Laura Harris won her second provincial ladies’ amateur championship, and followed it up with her fourth provincial junior girls’ title – the second time in four years she had won both championships in the same year.

Also in July, Acadia was sanctioned by Canadian Interuniversity Sport for the use of an ineligible player during the 2006/ 2007 season. Later in the summer, Atlantic University Sport imposed further sanctions, including a lengthy suspension for head coach Les Berry.

Thanks to a generous lead gift from former Axemen football coach John Huard, Acadia installed artificial field turf on Raymond Field, completed in September and a first for our area. A new floor surface was also installed in War Memorial Gymnasium.

After a slow start to the NSSBL season, the Kentville Wildcats advanced to the league final against Dartmouth, only to lose the series four games to one. Head coach Chris Salsman was voted the NSSBL Coach of the Year for a second time.

Horton joined NKEC and Avon View in provincial high school football. The Titans had an outstanding season (seven wins, three losses), capped off with the provincial Tier 2 championship in a 36-20 victory over the Prince Andrew Panthers.

It was also an outstanding season for Valley Minor Football, as the peewee and bantam Bulldogs both made it to the provincial final before settling for runner-up finishes.

And, just before the end of the year, the Acadia men’s basketball team was rewarded for a 5-1 AUBC record and 10-2 overall record with the number-two spot in the CIS rankings, serving notice they will likely be providing me with even more to talk about in 2008.