FATE BE A FRONTENAC (UPDATED)

Say what you want about the Kingston Frontenacs -- and many people have over the years, often in language that would make a cast member on Deadwood turn white.

At least the boys in black and gold, the Limestone City's Light Brigade -- at once courageous and tragic, read your friggin' Tennyson* -- tend to make the final weeks of the Ontario Hockey League regular season seem interesting. The Fronts, who are in a three-team race for fourth place in the conference and home ice for the first round, left a crucial point on the ice tonight in scoring star Cory Emmerton's first game back from a broken ankle, losing 3-2 to the Brampton Battalion in a shootout.

Brampton was the weakest team left on Kingston's schedule, yet the Fronts needed a too-many-men call midway through the third period to come back from a 2-0 deficit. (Peder Skinner scored twice in the final 10 minutes to salvage the point.) Then 10 of 11 Frontenacs missed in the shootout before Brampton's Jason Dale mercifully ended the proceedings. None of that is here or there.

It's all about keeping people interested. The Fronts could finish anywhere from fourth to sixth in the conference (they're tied with Sudbury, who has a game in hand, and are a point ahead of Oshawa, who has three in hand). Following Friday night's game vs. conference leader Barrie, Kingston plays all three of their potential playoff opponents over the final week. Sounds pretty exciting, eh? You want a hockey team who leaves nothing to chance? Move to London, pal, but be careful what you wish for.

The London Knights are in a race to finish first in the other conference, but their fans must be getting sick of 10-3 wins and Patrick Kane having four points by the middle of the second period. Sure, that shows killer instinct on the Knights' part, but it must be at the point where fans feign enthusiasm -- "Woo.... hoo, another goal, wow," -- when Kane and his linemates Sergei Kostitsyn and Sam Gagner complete another pretty as a prom date tic-tac-toe play. In contrast, the Frontenacs don't know the meaning of predictable.

Barrie's fans must be getting bored stiff by now with their first-place Colts. In Belleville, it's been the same old story all year: The Bulls go on winning 5-3 and 4-2 games. They're too consistent to let anyone make a run, but they've never been dangerous enough to catch Barrie. Thankfully, Bellevegasites tend to have a very low amusement quotient (so says the guy from RR1 Napanee).

The Knights have three 100-point scorers. Emmerton was on pace to do so before his injury, and Bobby Hughes had 93 points when he hurt his knee a few weeks ago. In other words, Kingston could have had two 100-point guys, but fate decided it would be more Frontenacs-like to give everyone more chances to score and keep the team fighting for position.

Seriously, this is why the Fronts are awesome.

NHL
Senators 5 Leafs 1: Ottawa made the Leafs pay for every error. That's about all there is to say.

OHL:
Petes 4 67's 3 (shootout): Should be a good rematch Friday night at the Civic Centre after Ottawa let a 3-0 first-period lead get away. The 67's magic number for clinching seventh place is 3.

(* Good friend and fellow Kingston expat Jay Pinkerton once referred to Tennyson's The Lotus Eaters as being "like bacon cheeseburgers for sophisticated people." Why don't they put endorsements like that on the back page of the Norton Anthology?)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.