AS I SEE IT COLUMN: Recapping 2 feel-good and 2 feel-bad hockey stories

Sport can inspire and it can enrage. It can cause healing and it can cause hurt. Here are two positive hockey stories and two that will (likely) infuriate you.

BIG-TIME CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NIVERVILLE NIGHTHAWKS

Kudos to all the players, coaches, managers, parents, billets, fans, sponsors and volunteers with the Nighthawks for winning the Turnbull Cup as the best team in the MJHL.

That the Nighthawks have won a league championship in only their fourth year in existence speaks volumes about their entire organization and everyone working in it.

With a balanced attack consisting of four lines that can do a lot of damage while they wear down the opposition, the Nighthawks convincingly defeated Virden in four games.

Winning the Turnbull Cup in a four-game sweep tells you just how dominant the Nighthawks are.

They now travel to Summerside, P.E.I. (May 7-17) for the 2026 Centennial Cup tournament, where our nation’s top junior A team will be crowned. Given their depth, their overall team skill and award-winning goaltending, they enter the tournament ranked #2 according to the CJHL. Go get ‘em boys!

BUFFALO SABRES MESSAGE OF GOODWILL TO CANADA

Even though no Canadian team was on the ice, the Sabres played the Canadian national anthem at a recent playoff game between the Buffalo and the Boston Bruins, with the crowd stepping up to fill in when the singer’s microphone died.

The Sabres play the Canadian national anthem before every home game, regardless of which teams are playing, honouring the many fans who make the trip over the border to watch the team play.

Buffalo’s rink is within a few minutes of the border, with an estimated 10,000 Canadians that travel to Buffalo for each Sabre game (nearly 50% of their season ticket holders are from Canada).

Whatever their motivation, it’s great to see the Sabres being such great neighbours.

NEW YORK RANGERS OWNER’S SHADY DEAL WITH TRUMP

James Dolan is the owner of the Rangers, the New York Knicks and Madison Square Gardens. He recently installed highly sophisticated facial recognition surveillance cameras at the entrance to Madison Square Gardens, so ushers can identify and then deny entry to people who have been critical of the Rangers.

Doesn’t sound vengeful or spiteful at all.

It has been reported that Dolan was approached by Donald Trump with a proposal that the president would help Dolan get a new arena if he renames Penn Station – the busiest train station in the U.S., which sits under Madison Square Gardens – to Trump Station.

One shady billionaire working with a hyper-needy, deeply-troubled billionaire. Tweedle-dumb and tweedle-dumber.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS’ EXTREMELY POOR JUDGEMENT

Saving the worst for last, the Islanders recently encouraged their fans – via an ad on their jumbotron – to donate money to someone convicted of manslaughter.

Yes, you read that correctly.

At a drug bust in New York, a man who had no weapon and no criminal record, tried fleeing the scene on a scooter. A police officer threw a cooler filled with ice at him, hitting the driver, who crashed into a tree and died. The officer was charged and convicted in court of manslaughter.

It defies comprehension on multiple levels, but somehow the Islanders thought it was appropriate to raise money, not for the dead victim’s family, but for the defense fund of the officer who caused the man’s death.

That the Islanders – or any team in sports for that matter – would publicly raise money for someone who caused the death of someone else, is a damning indictment of the moral bankruptcy that currently exists in the U.S.