PORT HOOD, N.S. — The Cape Breton West Islanders hope to be the host with the most when they welcome the province’s top under-15 ‘AA’ teams to Port Hood this weekend.

The Islanders are host team for the Nova Scotia championship at the Al MacInnis Sports Centre. It will mark the first provincial hockey championship tournament in Cape Breton in more than two years.

The tournament will also feature the Cape Breton County Islanders and Glace Bay Miners, Truro Bearcats, Halifax Hawks, TASA Ducks and Acadia Axemen.

Islanders head coach Jamieson Chisholm anticipates plenty of competition.

“There’s going to be some really good hockey played and there’s a lot of good first-year under-15 players in our league who are probably hoping to make the jump to the under-15 major league next year,” said Chisholm.

“It’s a good opportunity for those players to show what they have and for the second-year players, a lot of them are hopefuls to play for the under-16 ‘AAA’ teams next year, as well, so it’s good for all teams.”

Cape Breton West (13-1-2) enters the tournament after claiming the Cape Breton Cup last month by defeating Cape Breton County (9-4-3) 2-1 in overtime at the Cape Breton County Recreation Centre.

In the regular season, they tied for first place in the six-team league with the Glace Bay Miners (14-5-0), despite playing most of the season shorthanded.

“We had an injury right away to a defenceman who broke his thumb and then we had a forward break his femur, so we were down players early and then more injuries happen throughout the season,” said Jamieson.

“We relied on our other bantam team for players. We had a good back-and-forth with them and we were able to call up some of their players for games, which was good.”

Along with injuries, the COVID-19 bug also hit the team earlier this season. However, Jamieson said the team is now healthy and will ice a full lineup for the provincial tournament.

“I think our expectations are high,” he said. “We haven’t seen Truro, Halifax, TASA or Acadia this year, but I think the expectation for us right now is to make it to the semifinal and see where it goes from there.”

SCHEDULE:

Thursday

•  12 p.m. – Cape Breton West Vs. TASA
•  2 p.m. – Cape Breton County Vs. Truro
•  4 p.m. – Acadia Vs. Halifax
•  6 p.m. – Glace Bay vs. TASA

Friday

•  8 a.m. – Truro Vs. Acadia
•  10 a.m. – TASA Vs. Halifax
•  12 p.m. – Cape Breton County Vs. Glace Bay
•  2 p.m. – Cape Breton West vs. Acadia
•  4 p.m. – TASA Vs. Truro
•  6 p.m. – Cape Breton County Vs. Halifax
•  8 p.m. – Glace Bay Vs. Cape Breton West

Saturday

•  10 a.m. – Cape Breton West Vs. Cape Breton County
•  12 p.m. – Halifax Vs. Truro
•  4 p.m. – Glace Bay Vs. Acadia

Sunday

•  8:30 a.m. – Semifinal Game
•  10:30 a.m. – Semifinal Game
•  2 p.m. – Championship Game

The club will rely on several players to be successful this weekend, including captain Jayden Cameron, who played a number of games as a call up with the Cabot Highlanders of the Nova Scotia Under-16 ‘AAA’ Hockey League.

“Jayden brings a lot of experience to our team as well as grit, strength and compete,” said Chisholm. “We have an all-around team that knows how to compete and takes pride in our defensive zone and a lot of the offence kind of looks after itself.”

Another Islanders player who hasn’t seen a shortage of ice time this year is Angus Beaton. He also suited up for the Dalbrae Dragons of the Cape Breton West High School Hockey League and attended the School Sport Nova Scotia provincial championship last weekend in Berwick.

“There was a stretch there when he had nine playoff games in 11 days,” said Chisholm, noting Beaton scored eight goals in six playoff games for the Islanders.

“He’s a good 200-foot player, he can kill penalties and play on the power play.”

Cape Breton West will open the tournament at noon on Thursday when they face TASA. The club will also play Friday at 2 p.m. against Acadia and later in the day at 8 p.m. against Glace Bay, before finishing the round-robin on Saturday at 10 a.m. against Cape Breton County.

Meanwhile, Cape Breton County opens the event at 2 p.m. on Thursday against Truro. Glace Bay will battle TASA in their first game of the tournament later in the day at 6 p.m.

The semifinals are slated for 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. The winners of those games will play for the championship later in the day at 2 p.m.

SYDNEY, N.S. — When Cape Breton’s under-13 ‘AAA’ hockey teams began the season in the fall, the goal was to win a provincial championship for their association.

After a 28-game regular season, which saw cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic in December and January, that focus remains, and they will take the next step towards a title this weekend.

The Glace Bay Miners, Cape Breton County Islanders and Cape Breton West Islanders will kick off their Nova Scotia Under-13 ‘AAA’ Hockey League playoffs.

Each series will be a best-of-three with the winners advancing directly to the league’s provincial championship, scheduled for later this month in Liverpool.

GLACE BAY (4) VS. ANTIGONISH (11)

The Miners enter the playoffs as the highest Cape Breton seed after finishing the regular season in fourth place with a 15-5-5 record – impressive considering the team only had four veteran players on the roster.

Glace Bay head coach Robbie Sinclair said the players bought in to the program and learned what it took for the group to be successful.

“The kids need to come ready to compete and give their best effort for the team,” said Sinclair, who during his career played professional in the AHL and ECHL.

“Wins are hard to come by in this league so to be successful, especially in the playoffs, we will need all of the players ready to compete and do whatever they are asked for the betterment of the team.”

Although the league didn’t keep individual statistics, Sinclair said his club is led offensively by Jaxon MacNamara, Lucas Chauder, Kingston Laporte and Tucker Sinclair. On the back end, the club has Jax Ginnish, Burke Aucoin, and Deakin MacPhee, who have created offence from the blueline.

GLACE BAY, N.S. - For the second straight year, the Glace Bay Panthers are the School Sport Nova Scotia Highland Region Division 1 hockey champions.

The Panthers captured the Cape Breton High School Hockey League title with a 4-2 win over the Riverview Ravens in front of a jam-packed crowd at the Miners Forum in Glace Bay on Sunday.

Glace Bay wins the best-of-three series 2-1.

Landon Clark scored twice and added an assist, while Brady Doucette and Tyler Cormier also netted goals for the Panthers.

Noah MacKinnon and Grant Cameron responded with goals for the Ravens.

Glace Bay's Darian MacInnis made 18 saves. Riverview's Patrick Hinchey stopped 23 of 26 shots.

Riverview opened the scoring with Cameron finding the back of the net at 7:31 of the first period, but Glace Bay responded shortly after with Doucette tying the game at 3:13 of the period.

The Ravens took an early lead in the second period with a MacKinnon goal, sending the visitors into the dressing room with the one-goal lead.

In the third period, Cormier's point shot beat a screened Hinchey to tie the game 2-2, before Clark netted the eventual game-winner on a breakaway at the 5:34 mark of the final stanza. He
added an empty net goal late the in the frame.

Panthers head coach Dwayne Doucette said he thought the series could have gone either way, noting both teams in his opinion should be going to the provincial championship.

"We just played with a little more urgency in the third period and most likely just because we were losing for most of the game," said Doucette. "The guys wanted it bad enough in the end and they found another gear to get the win."

Glace Bay had the opportunity to sweep Riverview in Game 2 Saturday afternoon, but the Ravens forced a third-and-deciding game with a 4-1 win at the Cape Breton County Recreation Centre in Coxheath.

The Panthers took Game 1 of the series 5-4 in overtime on March 20.

Glace Bay will now play in the SSNS provincial championship next weekend in Windsor.

Come out and cheer on our U15 A Miners on Saturday @2:30 Glace Bay Miners forum in the Championship game for the North Conference!

GO MINERS GO!

On Sunday the Glace Bay Minor Hockey Association was proud to induct 3 former GBMH Alumni into the Glace Bay Minor Hockey Hall of Fame!! 

You can check the inductees profiles in the window boxes around the walking track at the Glace Bay Miners Forum!

Congratulations and Thank you to Fred, Naish and the Vince Ryan family for being a part of the ceremony that was held yesterday!!