Coal Bowl Classic will return

Ten teams to participate in boys basketball event

You can’t keep a good tournament down.

Jenn Sheppard, spokesperson for the Coal Bowl Classic, said while the tournament had to be cancelled due to labour issues, it’s back.

“It runs like a top, it’s forever spinning,” she said. “It would take a big deal to make it go away forever and we just wouldn’t hear of that in New Waterford.”

The 2018 Coal Bowl Classic board of directors has officially confirmed the popular weeklong tournament will return in February for its 36th year.

The 2017 high school boys basketball tournament was cancelled for the first time in its history when work-to-rule regulations were put in place by the Nova Scotia Teachers Union on Dec. 5, 2016 after contract negotiations with the province broke down.

Sheppard said everyone believed Coal Bowl would be back.

“They always had it in their mind it was coming back, I don’t think there ever was a question of if it would, it was just a matter of getting people back together.”

In a news release Wednesday, Coal Bowl co-chair Jacquelyn Poirier said the board has met and picked up right where they left off.

“We’re organized, excited and ready to get back to business,” she said. “(The) cancellation was unfortunate but the Coal Bowl is a well-oiled machine with a 35-year history so we’re looking very forward to having a successful and fun 36th year.”

The tournament is set for Feb. 5-10 and organizers will honour the registration of

teams which were confirmed for the 2017 tournament.

The invitational competition is held at Breton Education Centre in New Waterford. The school houses 10 teams from across Canada and draws hundreds of fans. The tournament also includes school-sponsored educational, social and cultural activities.

In 2016, the 35th annual Coal Bowl championship was won by the host Breton Bears. The Bears had only won once before in 2009.

According to the board of directors, the 2018 Coal Bowl teams will be confirmed and posted on the official Coal Bowl website in the near future. Division chairs will be Marion MacNeil and Dan Willie MacKinnon.

Every year a team from New Waterford is honoured for sports excellence and this time it will be the 1966-67 Mount Carmel boys soccer team.

Tickets for the tournament will be available after the Christmas holidays.