Weekend Rivals

Eastern Canadian Basketball League President Tim Kendrick and Moncton Motion Todd McKillop have been working together in preparation for the league’s inaugural season. This weekend, however, the veteran coaches will be rivals. Kendrick is also head coach of the Holland College Hurricanes and McKillop has the same role with the Crandall University Chargers. Both teams will compete at the Atlantic Colleges Athletic Association’s championship tournament, which runs through the weekend in Fredericton.

“Todd is a great coach and his teams are always tough,” Kendrick says.  “As far as being rivals, that is only on the court during games,” he adds. “I feel we have a great relationship otherwise…I hope he thinks so too.”

McKillop notes that he and Kendrick have been coaching against each other for more than 20 years and he’s “always had great admiration and respect for him.

“The rivalry,” McKillop continues, “is an in-game thing only – we are both intense competitors and if we get to play each other this weekend, it will be another great game as we always have had over the years.”

Holland College enters the tournament as the second seed and the Hurricanes have qualified for a berth in Saturday night’s semifinal. The host St. Thomas Tommies are the top seed. The tournament winner will advance to the Canadian championships March 16-19 in Calgary.

Crandall enters the weekend as the ACAA’s top defensive team while Holland is just getting its full lineup back together after suffering several injuries.

The tournament has several other links to the new Eastern Canadian Basketball League. Charlottetown Power head coach Lonnie States is an assistant with Holland College. William Muirhead is the equipment manager for both teams. Also, Moncton Motion manager of business and basketball operations Dave Tingley is the broadcaster for the ACAA tournament. Kendrick said the ACAA and Atlantic University Sport will each have players turn professional in the ECBL.