Sackville 4    Capstone Colts 2

It was a hard fought game at the old CFB Shearwater Stadium, the new home for the Capstone Colts, formerly the Cole Harbour Colts on Friday night Oct 1st.  Veteran Tyler Puma gave the Colts a 1-0 lead with 3:37 having elapsed in the opening period in one of three Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Regular-Season opening games.

Luc Arsenault then tied the league opener for the Blazers with 6:41 gone in the middle frame to knot the game between the Blazers and Colts to leave a 1-1 draw after two periods.

With Donovan Cyr serving a cross-checking penalty for the Blazers, Brad Crossley put the Colts back in front 2-1 early in the third.  It did not stay that way for long as Mitch Comeau scored the tying goal for the Blazers with 8:06 gone in the final frame.  Deegan Noble rifled the game winner to put the Blazers ahead for the first time in the game with 9:57 to play.  Noble's goal and three assists paced the Blazers.  Noble also assisted on the Blazers Noah Healey's empty-net goal with six ticks showing on the clock to make the final 4-2 Sackville.  Adam Fisher stopped 31 of 33 shots in the Blazers net as they now prepare for their home opener Monday in Sackville at 7:30 as they face-off against the Brookfield Elks.

The Cumberland County Blues know both the good times and the bad times since they began play in the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League nearly 20 years ago.  At the beginning, they were a strong powerful club that took no hostages along the way and advancing to at least 1 Don John Memorial Cup Tournament.  However over the past 8-10 years, things have not gone as well for the Blues who will open their 2021-22 schedule at home Friday evening in Springhill against the Brookfield Elks.  The Blues will be under the very capable leadershp of former NHL Veteran Bill Riley who took the team over after it appered the Blues were ready to drop out of the League earlier this spring.

No question Riley will be looking to improve on the Blues 52-190-13 record over the past 8-10 years and he is confident this cn happen.

Riley says the Blues will create a winning environment and battle every night.  With Riley's winning past it's a new start for the organization.  This year's team starts from the net out with number 1 netminder Josh Doyle.  He's a proven starter who comes to battle every night.  Add a solid Defensive core with a good mix of grit, skill and determination from our forwards and the Blues are excited to get the season started!

The Blues will conclue a weekend home and home series with the Elks when they travel to Truro Saturday afternoon to play the Elks at the Colchester Legion Stadium.

The Brookfield Jr. Elks enter each and every season with a positive outlook despite not having a winning regular season record since 2012-2013 when they went 19-10-2.  Since that time, the Elks have finished last in their division with a combined record of 6-80-9 in their last three complete seasons of hockey stretching between 2017-2018 and 2019-2020.

The Elks have had a busy summer

The Liverpool Privateers have had a very successful hockey club since moving to the South Shore nearly a decade ago.  They have yet to have a losing season, have made it to one Nova Scotia Provincial Championship against Pictou in 2015-2016 before losing in six games.  They have had a regular season record of 162-77-16.  However, despite their effective play during the regular season, they have always hit a bump in the road come playoff time.  In recent years they have had two absolute classic Best-of-Seven playoff series openers against the East Hants Penguins with many games going to overtime and double overtime but they came up empty both times, losing to the Penguins.

The Privateers are on the road for their opening two games of the season to begin 21-22 as they travel to Membertou Saturday night for a game against the Jr. Miners and then conclude their weekend trip to Cape Breton by playing the Eskasoni Jr. Eagles Sunday afternoon.

The Privateers want to remain strong this year and next as it is in the spring 2023 when they will host the Don Johnson Memorial Cup symbolic of Atlantic Hockey Supremacy.

General Manager Jim Bottomely is excited saying the Privateers training camp was held   at the Halifax Forum under the direction of the new coaching  staff of Ben Duffy ,Thane Hughes and Cam Scott. He said, "This years attention was to re load on some top young prospects as we host the 2023 DOJO. In that regard Daniel Kline from Halifax who played for the McDonalds was very impressive at center and a late addition to camp was Aaron Lane from Bridgewater, who played defence last season for the Lumberjacks who  decided on starting his education at Dal , so due to the time commitment he will be another key addition.  A couple of returnees who stood out are Josh Nicholson at Defence , Matt Orman and Alec Howie up front and in nets Eric Bilodeau who recently returned from the Truro Bearcats training camp. 

The Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates had one of their best seasons ever in Nova Scotia Junior Hockey Play in 2018-2019 when they won 29 of 32 regular season games before losing to the Sackville Blazers in the provincial championship.  They rebounded in 19-20 to go 17-9-4 but then COVID Struck shutting the league playoffs down and paying misery with the season schedule in 20-21.

Now that 2021-22 is set to roll Friday Oct 1, the Strait Pirates will play ten games in the opening 6 weeks of the season, 6 at hime anbd 4 on the road.  Highlights include home and home series with the Pictou County Scotians, Eskasoni Jr. Eagles and the  Liverpool Privateers.  The Pirates will open at home against the Sackville Blazers Fri Oct 8.

• Nova Scotians want the province’s most vulnerable citizens to be protected from the pandemic.
• The fourth wave is hitting Nova Scotia hard, and while we still have some restrictions, border measures and a good vaccination rate, we need to do more. 
• We are mandating vaccination for those who spend the most time with vulnerable citizens, like people in long-term care, patients and children.
• This is not a decision we took lightly. But there are tens of thousands of people who have not received any dose of vaccine. The vaccine mandate will help keep our communities safe

As we open the 192 Game Regular Season Friday Night on four fronts with Brookfield in Springhill to play the Cumberland Blues, the East Hants Penguins in Windsor to play the Valley Maple Leafs, the Pictou County Scotians visiting Antigonish and the Sackville Blazers taking on the Capstone Colts in their new home at CFB Shearwater Stadium.  The League encourages everyone to play safe whilewishing every team the very best of success in their chase for the Don Johnson Memorial Cup with the Championship Tournament scheduled for New Brunswick in late April.  Incidentally, the Liverpool Privateers will host the Johnson Cup symbolic of Atlantic Junior Hockey Supremacy in Queens County in 2023.