Testing His Patience
Rob Spon admits he’s getting antsy. The veteran coach of the Saint John Union will likely remain anxious until the Eastern Canadian Basketball League opens its first training camp in early March.
“Let’s get going,” Spon says. “We’re getting close, but it is still a couple of months away and I am eager to start. “I want to be at the gym with the players and play some games in our new league,” he adds.
The league will announce its first player signings on February 1.
Training camps for the Saint John Union, Moncton Motion, Bathurst Bears, Charlottetown Power, Summerside Slam, Truro Tide and Valley Vipers will begin in mid-March. Regular season play will begin about two weeks after that.
Spon, a long-time coach in the National Basketball League of Canada with Saint John, Cape Breton and Quebec, who also won a Premier Basketball League title with the Rochester RazorSharks in 2015, said the Port City has an enthusiastic fan base.
“Look around New Brunswick, Saint John and Moncton have great fans who support their teams and it looks like Bathurst is going to have a good franchise, too,” Spon says. “It’s going to a good league, but to tell the truth, I hate waiting for it to start.”
Spon will bring a high-energy style of play to TD Station.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I like to push the ball up the court and we will also be tough on defense – we’ll be going after it,” he says.
In 1984, Papa Johns Pizza started in the small town of Jeffersonville, Indiana, and its popularity has spread all the way to Atlantic Canada. Today, Papa Johns boasts over 3,600 restaurants and can be found in more than 35 international markets outside of the USA. In Atlantic Canada, we opened our first Papa Johns franchise in Moncton, operating under the name of PJ Atlantic Restaurants Ltd. in 2009.
This was the first of many Papa Johns restaurants to be opening over the next few years to serve the Maritime provinces. We now have a dozen restaurants in the following areas:
639 Mountain Rd., Moncton
555 Dieppe Blvd., Dieppe
20 Plaza Ave., Saint John
528 Smythe St., Fredericton
133 McAllister Dr. Saint John
19 Babineau Ave., Charlottetown
1909 Mountain Rd., Moncton
269 Main St., Fredericton
94 Hampton Rd., Rothesay
540 Pinewood Rd., Riverview
961 Bedford Highway, Bedford
644 Portland St., Dartmouth
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