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.