Collingwood Boys With Convincing Win Over Pitt Meadows

Written by Scott Leigh, Handsworth ‘06

Collingwood v. Pitt Meadows

No better way to spend your lunch hour than watching your home team kick their season off with a Thursday thriller in your home gym. The seats are packed, standing room only, and it’s 12:45 on a Thursday in the British Properties. What an incredible scene for a spirit game to open up the 2022 No Regrets Boys Tournament for the home team, Collingwood Cavaliers, and the away team Pitt Meadows Marauders.

Turns out it's early season for everyone, including the audio and visual team as we have encountered some audio difficulties during the national anthem. No challenge that this school isn't prepared for, as the anthem singer took charge and brought the crowd along to sing the national anthem as a group - what a scene! Just when you think we are all ready for tip-off, the Cavaliers drummers slowly start building a beat from the back corner of the gym, then “Timmy Trumpet Jr.” jumps onto the scene for a solo performance for the ages. The crowd is amped and ready to rumble!

The energy is high from both teams in the first few possessions, as both teams came flying out of the gates looking to calm the nerves through easy buckets in transition. The Marauders are going to have to be aware of the presence of the high flying, blonde flowing locks of #23 Anderson Stewart on the Cavs.  The Cavs snuck out to an early 16-9 lead, but Pitt Meadows is fiesty and keeping themselves close by knocking down a few deep range balls. Collingwood have a significant height advantage, and that has caused difficulties all quarter long for the Marauders, resulting in an 18 point lead for the Cavs at the end of the first quarter.

#4 Daniel Kalinich is working hard for the Marauders trying to create scoring opportunities for his team. He’s looking like a mini version of Pitt’s infamous Doug Plumb, but needing a Gary Pelton like presence on the inside to make this game competitive. The Cavs are big, and they are athletic. If you could briefly pull your eyes away from Anderson’s perfectly crafted blonde hair as he dribbled down the court, you would have caught an explosive two-handed dunk in the lane that lit this gym on fire! Not to be out done, #5 James Holm for the Cavs also has reasonably long flowing hair, less blonde, but just proved with authority that he has the ability to throw it down in transition and ignite this crowd!

The score at halftime has the Cavs up 54-25 over the Marauders.

Halftime Facts: This game had more non-basketball related entertainment than most NBA games. We’re talking multilingual live national anthem, announcers, drumline, t-shirt giveaways, Timmy Trumpet Jr., crowd shooting competitions, halftime dance routines and in between quarter video entertainment on the big screen. 

The brief halftime break has not seemed to affect the pace of play, with both teams starting the second half with a full head of steam. Unfortunately for Pitt, the scoring trends continue to be the same but not as a result of any lack of effort. Pitt is working hard on both ends of the court, but the size and athleticism for the Cavs is proving to be too much. At the end of the third quarter, the Cavs are up 85-33.

Although this game is out of contention in the fourth quarter, it will be a great opportunity for both teams to get playing time for all the team members; this will be valuable as each team will continue on for 2 or 3 more games over the next couple of days. Early season PT is a great confidence builder for a team that is going to require depth from their bench throughout the season. Couldn’t imagine a more electric scene to start off this tournament - incredible work by the entire Collingwood school to set the bar at a whole new level for spirit games!

Final Score: Cavs 103 - Marauders 47.

The Cavs, under the leadership of coach Andy Wong, are looking like a strong candidate to make a deep push in the 2022 No Regrets Tourney. Although the Cavs secured a convincing win in their first game of the tournament, I think we can all agree that the best dressed coach is the bench boss for Pitt, who is rocking the pink bowtie and pulling off the look with class. 

A special shout-out to the late Coach Rich Goulet, who was instrumental in turning high school basketball into what it is in this province and country. You simply can not look at the Pitt Meadows Marauders and those green jerseys, without thinking about all of the incredible things Coach Goulet did for this program and this sport. 

No Regrets.