By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
An effort is underway to try and organize leagues at the A and B hockey rep levels in western Nova Scotia.
As things stand in this region of the province – from West Hants, through the Valley and down to Yarmouth, and then along the south shore and back up to Chester/Lunenburg – there are A and B rep teams in the various minor hockey associations that compete at the atom, peewee, bantam and midget levels.
But there is no league for these teams, so the weekly games they play during their seasons are exhibition games that don’t count for anything. The only scheduled games that matter are those played during provincial playdowns, where through a process of elimination teams try to advance to provincials.
Brian Wentzell would like to see this change. Wentzell is the western regional director for Hockey Nova Scotia. He has been organizing meetings and has pulled together a committee, with representation from eight minor hockey associations, to discuss the feasibility of establishing leagues for the next hockey season. So far some have embraced the concept, others aren’t so sure.
“Yarmouth, for instance, loves the idea because it will create traffic from regions to come to Yarmouth,” Wentzell says. “People like West Hants who border the Halifax region, they’re not really crazy about it.”
