SEASON OPENS FRIDAY
Eskasoni Junior Eagles begin inaugural season in Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League this weekend
Junior Eagles have landed in Eskasoni.
The Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League will welcome its newest team into the league this weekend.
The Eskasoni Junior Eagles will begin its inaugural season when they play the Antigonish Farmers Mutual Jr. Bulldogs in Antigonish on Friday.
The Junior Eagles will host the Liverpool Privateers in the club’s historic home opener on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Dan K. Stevens Memorial Arena in Eskasoni.
“There’s quite a buzz in the community and there’s been lots of great feedback,” said Junior Eagles general manager and assistant coach Levi Denny Sr.
“I haven’t seen this community this excited — hockey-wise — since Team Ontario and Team Sweden played an exhibition game here a few years back during the Under-17 Hockey Challenge.”
The Junior Eagles were formed with money raised from a game similar to Chase the Ace known as Catch the Joker, which was started to help community groups and organizations in Eskasoni.
With the remaining money, event organizers decided to put forth a proposal for a junior ‘B’ hockey team in the community and that proposal was approved earlier this year by the league’s board of governors.
“People said that having a junior ‘B’ team in Eskasoni couldn’t be done, people said there’s a junior ‘B’ team 40 minutes away (in Membertou) and another team an hour away (in Port Hawkesbury),” said Denny.
“I knew it could be done, so the coaching staff and ownership started to recruit players and we haven’t stopped since.”
Earlier this month, the team held its first-ever tryouts at Centre 200 in Sydney. The club had more than 35 players participate in the camp.
“There was a lot of interest in the team and the tryouts really proved that,” said Denny. “We have a few players from the Eskasoni community and a few from Coxheath and the Northside.”
Although the final roster has not yet been announced, Denny believes the club will have a good mix of players and talent that will be able to be competitive in the league.
“We have some older guys who will be able to provide some experience, and we have some younger guys who are hungry and eager to play,” said Denny.
“We realize that we just can’t be an old team right off the bat, we have to be a younger team, we have to have a sustainable team and we have to be one where other players want to come and look forward to playing for us.”
As an expansion franchise, Denny understands there will be growing pains for the club.
“We’re going to try and alleviate some of the growing pains by being as competitive as possible — we’re going to have a wellbalanced team.” said Denny.
“If we do all the things we set out to do as a coaching staff, we’re going to be able to teach these players how to play the game right and make the game of hockey easier for them.”
The Junior Eagles played two exhibition games last weekend against the defending Don Johnson Memorial Cup champion, Kameron Jr. Miners. The club lost the opening game 7-4 to the Membertou-based team on Friday, before defeating the Miners 4-3 on Sunday in front of 400 fans in Eskasoni.
“The fan support was fantastic,” said Denny. “The rink was loud and there was a lot of excitement and I expect that will continue as the regular season approaches.”
Following Sunday’s homeopener, the team will return to the ice on Sept. 30 when they host the Sackville Blazers. Puck drop for that contest is 2 p.m. in Eskasoni.