I’d like to thank Darren Stevenson for his ingenuity, his passion for local sports. I’d like to thank him for this special place on the World Wide Web, known as 519 Sports Online.

 

I’d like to thank him for the opportunity to write a couple of times a month about the local sports scene.

 

For more than 30 years I’ve covered everything from auto racing to university athletics for the Toronto Sun, Globe and Mail as well as CBC Sports. I may have lived and worked in Toronto, but I always kept a close eye on the sports scene in the Tri-City area.

 

It was special to cover athletes from back home like Lennox Lewis or Rob Ducey or Brian Bradley or Tanner Pearson or Mike Hoffman. It was special to catch up with coaches who moved on from the area like Jerry Harrigan did briefly or like Peter DeBoer or Brad Shaw or the late Ron Smith.

 

What can you expect from me in this space in opposite weeks of Brian Totzke? There will be some opinion, some frankness, some laughs. But mostly there will be storytelling about athletes who deserve the spotlight. After all, don’t we like to peak in on the human side and what makes these people tick. You may not always agree with me. But it’s just my view. There are plenty of takes to make the sporting world go round. We’re fortunate. There’s never any shortage of stories in this area. 

For the past few weeks, as the date of my first 519 Sports Online column approached, I had difficulty in zeroing in on a single topic for my lead-off piece. There’s just too much going on.

 

The local golf, baseball and lacrosse seasons have begun. There is plenty of playoff hockey going on and even the NBA postseason has caught my attention. Not because the Toronto Raptors are one win away from advancing to the Eastern Conference final, but because of how well former Grand River Collegiate student Jamal Murray has performed this spring. The point guard also has the Denver Nuggets a victory away from the West final.

 

There’s the Waterloo Siskins battle for their first Sutherland Cup championship in 25 years. The seventh and deciding game against the London Nationals is set for the Western Fair Grounds in London on Wednesday.

 

In Guelph, the Storm will host Game 4 of the OHL J. Ross Robertson Cup championship series against the Ottawa 67’s. The Storm fell behind 2-0 in the series. Guelph tallied from 3-0 and 3-1 deficits in the past two rounds, the Storm. has the 67’s right where they want them at 2-1. Also, don’t forget there are a couple of area players on the 67’s in Elora’s Mitchell Hoelscher and left-winger Austen Keating of Guelph.

 

The IIHF World championship begins in Slovakia on Friday. Brantford-area players, Brandon Montour and Adam Henrique, will play for Canada.

 

The AHL Calder Cup playoffs are in full swing. One more win for Waterloo’s Steven Lorentz and the Charlotte Checkers and they’re on to the third round. Former Kitchener Rangers forward Jeremy Bracco has his Toronto Marlies in the East final. Still chugging along in the AHL playoffs from the area include Jake Dotchin, Cambridge (San Diego Gulls) and Tye McGinn, Guelph (Chicago Wolves).

 

Of course, McGinn’s younger brother Brock and the Carolina Hurricanes will begin their East final against the Boston Bruins on Thursday. The Bruins ended the run for Shaw and the Columbus Blue Jackets earlier this week. But the Columbus assistant coach is in the running to become the head coach of the Ottawa Senators. It will be interesting to see if he gets an opportunity to coach in the NHL in the same city he won a Memorial Cup with the 67’s 35 years ago.

 

Guelph’s Logan Couture and the San Jose Sharks face a critical Game 7 at home against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday. DeBoer and his successor in Kitchener, Steve Spott, are on the Sharks coaching staff. Spott’s former captain with the Rangers, Gabriel Landeskog, plays on the Avalanche’s top line. Meanwhile, Spott’s successor in Kitchener, Mike Van Ryn, is an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues, who moved on to the West final on Tuesday. Clinton’s Ryan O’Reilly has been a key player in his first year in St. Louis.

Yes, there is quite the local sports scene these days. It will give us plenty to write about for 519 Sports Online.

 

Editors note: Tim's column will appear bi-weekly on Wednesday's on 519SportsOnline.ca We look forward to his contributions giving local athletes a deserving spotlight.