Local sports fans have quite a weekend menu from hoops to pucks to the pool.
The "Game of the Week" in boys basketball is Arundel at Broadneck at 7:30 tonight. Sunday it's ice hockey at the U.S. Naval Academy with the 18th annual Crab Pot, and the third annual Parents for Swimming Anne Arundel County Championships will be at the Severna Park YMCA.
In basketball, county bragging rights are at stake as the No. 7 Bruins (14-1) play host to the No. 10 Wildcats (12-3) in an unofficial county championship game. It's a sellout and no tickets will be sold at the door.
The Bruins took the first meeting on Dec. 19 at Arundel, 68-44. Broadneck will go its way in Class 3A while Arundel is headed to the 4A postseason event and each is a potential state champion or at least final four team.
A Broadneck victory tonight and the Bruins are undeniably the county's best team all classes considered.
The Bruins lead the 3A-2A League and own victories over the top two 4A teams in Arundel and Annapolis (11-4). Broadneck's only loss came to top-ranked Lake Clifton of Baltimore in the Fuel Fund Classic in December.
"I hope it snows Friday," joked Arundel coach Gerald Moore. "It's for the county bragging rights and we will have to play our best to win there.
"It's never easy to play at Broadneck and I've always looked at Kaz as my measuring stick."
Broadneck coach Ken Kazmarek and his Bruins dominated the first game with Arundel. After trailing by 28-24 at the half, the Bruins outscored the Wildcats 19-9 in the third period and 44-16 in the second half.
"We gave up in that game, but it's not going to happen this time," said Arundel point guard Kevin Higgins. "We've never won there at Broadneck in my four years here and it would be great to do it once."
The game also offers two strong Player of the Year candidates in Broadneck's Jason Smith and Arundel's Bakari Ward. Smith scored 21 points and had seven assists in the first game while Ward led Arundel with only 13 points, well below his county-leading average of 22.5 points.
Moore thinks Ward is the best, and Kazmarek says Smith (19.2 average) is "the most unselfish player in the county, could score 30 points every night, but we don't leave him in there to pad his stats as some coaches do around the county."
"Jason stays focused and his presence and leadership is what sets him apart from everybody else and makes him the county's best player," Kazmarek continued.
As for a neutral opinion, Annapolis coach John Brady said, "If we take the vote now, Ward is the Player of the Year. Arundel is a state championship-caliber team and they will beat Broadneck at Broadneck."
On the ice
Navy's club hockey team, which last won the Crab Pot in 1991 by 5-3 over West Chester College (Pa.), open at 1 p.m. tomorrow against Lehigh, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology skates against Worcester (Mass.) Polytechnic Institute at 4 p.m.
Saturday's winners play for the championship at 4 p.m. Sunday with the consolation set for 1 p.m. Admission is free both days at Dahlgren Hall.
Navy (11-3-2), ranked No. 11 by the American Collegiate Hockey Association, tied No. 20 Lehigh (9-5-2) at 4 earlier this season. The Mids were knocked out in the first round last year with Eastern Michigan repeating as Crab Pot champ.
Eastern Michigan nipped Navy, 5-4, in the 1993 Crab Pot final, and the Mids dropped a 6-5 overtime decision to the University of Maryland in 1992.
"We've got a really young but very competitive team this year with 15 freshmen and sophomores," said the Mids' seventh-year head coach Jim Barry.
"Our game with Delaware over the weekend showed how they don't quit."
Navy trailed Delaware, 5-1, with about three minutes left in the second period in front of 1,200 fans at Dahlgren and came back to tie it at 6.
Seniors Brian Erickson and Mike Murnane have blended well with sophomores Charlie Case and Joe Carney to provide much of the Navy offensive punch. Junior Sam DeCastro and sophomore John Bruzza have shared the goalie duties.
In the pool
Also, Sunday at 1 p.m. (warm-ups at noon) high school-eligible boys and girls from all over the county will compete in the 11-event Anne Arundel County Swimming Championships at the Severna Park Y pool.
Teams will represent practically every county school district. It is a well-run, high-level recreation event conducted by Don Ramsbottom and a group of countywide volunteers.
Many of the volunteers also coach summer recreation teams.