By Eric Bourque
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
The Mariners Centre will be the setting for provincial championship hockey over the March 26-28 weekend as Yarmouth plays host to the bantam A provincials.
The five-team tournament will feature the host Yarmouth Chris Scott Construction team, along with the Acadia Axemen, Dartmouth Whalers, Pictou County Crushers and Cape Breton Miners.
Tournament play is scheduled to kick off Friday, March 26, at 4 p.m. with a game between Yarmouth and Acadia.
The Mariners’ other games are Saturday at 8:30 a.m. against Pictou and 12:30 p.m. against Glace Bay and then Sunday morning at 10:30 against Dartmouth.
The title game is set for Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Mariners played about 50 games this season, winning around half of them.
“With the bantam As, there’s no league,” said Yarmouth team manager Ray Smith. “What you do is you basically get on the telephone and book your own games and you try to play other bantam A teams.”
The club, he says, consists of about a half-and-half split between first-year and second-year players.
The Mariners’ early-season results included winning a tournament in Barrington.
“We got off to a great start,” said Smith, “and after that we got plagued with injuries. We really haven’t played with a full team since sometime in December.”
Interviewed earlier this month, he said the team was close to back to full strength.
“We’re still missing two kids and we’re hoping to get at least one of those back for provincials,” he said.
The team has what it takes to put in a strong performance, he said.
“We’re going into the tournament with a chance to be very competitive,” he said.
The tournament will consist of 11 games – three on Friday, five on Saturday and three on Sunday, including the championship contest.
Tournament play is scheduled to kick off Friday, March 26, at 4 p.m. with a game between Yarmouth and Acadia. -
The Saturday portion of the schedule also includes a skills competition at 2:30 p.m., following Yarmouth’s 12:30 game with Glace Bay.
The tournament schedule:
Friday, March 26
4 p.m. Acadia 6 vs Yarmouth 1
6 p.m. Pictou 1 vs Dartmouth 3
8 p.m. Glace Bay 3 vs Acadia 2
Saturday, March 27
8:30 a.m. Yarmouth 0 vs Pictou 3
10:30 a.m. Acadia 1 vs Dartmouth 4
12:30 p.m. Yarmouth 2 vs Glace Bay 4
2:30 p.m. skills competition
4 p.m. Pictou 5 vs Acadia 8
6 p.m. Dartmouth 2 vs Glace Bay 4
Sunday, March 28
8:30 a.m. Glace Bay v 5 s Pictou 2
10:30 a.m. Dartmouth 2 vs Yarmouth 0
2 p.m. championship game: Dartmouth 2 - Glace Bay 1
