Season comes to an end
Cape Breton teams react to disappointing ending to Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League season
SYDNEY — Standing behind the bench as his Kameron Jr. Miners competed in a tough battle with the Antigonish Bulldogs last Friday, everything but hockey was on Ryan Boutilier’s mind.
Typically, Boutilier, the head coach and owner of the Miners, would be concentrating on helping his team pick up the two points on the road, but instead the Glace Bay native was dreading his post-game speech.
Instead of matching lines, Boutilier attempted to give all his players a chance to play in the third period, even giving his overage players extra shifts, all while struggling to find words.
Prior to the final period, Boutilier was informed the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League would be cancelling its season after new COVID-19 restrictions were put in place earlier in the day for those in the Halifax Regional Municipality.
His players didn’t know they were playing their final game of the 2020-21 season.
“It was one of the most disappointing things I’ve been through in sports,” said Boutilier. “We had a quality group of young men and to see the four overagers and their emotion on the bench, it was difficult to watch.
“Overagers Michael Penny and Chad O’Neill looked at me a couple of times as I ran the forward side of the bench and I knew they knew something was up because they were on the ice every second shift.”
The Miners would win the game 6-3 and move one point behind the Bulldogs for first place in the league’s Sid Rowe Division, but it wouldn’t mean much.
NO WORDS
“There’s no real words to describe the feeling that I had when I had to tell the guys the season was over,” said Boutilier. “It was disappointing knowing hockey careers were coming to an end, it was just really heartbreaking for us as coaches.”
The Membertou-based Jr. Miners finished the season in second place in the division with a 9-3-1-1 record, while forwards O’Neill (11 goals and 22 points) and Nathaniel Fuller (11 goals, 21 points) were in the league’s top 10 in scoring.
“Chad gave his heart and soul every single game,” said Boutilier. “He was definitely our leader, and it was disappointing to see his time with the organization finish.”
Despite the disappointment, Boutilier said the Jr. Miners are still is good position for the 2021-22 season, however, he noted nobody will be able to replace the four overage players from this past season.
“We have some guys who will step up for us and we have some young talent that we’re adding, so I think next year will be positive,” said Boutilier. “We’re able to sign some high school players and we think they will be able to make the jump and play a big part next season.”
DECISION UNDERSTOOD
The Canadian Tire Strait Pirates and Eskasoni Eagles also found out the season was cancelled prior to the start of the third period at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre last Friday.
Pirates general manager Tim MacMillan, like Boutilier, was disappointed by the cancellation, but understands why the board of governors voted for the shutdown.
“We had just got into the groove of scheduling a lot of games in a very short space and I think everyone was looking forward to being back playing and practising,” said MacMillan.
“For the players, there was a lot of frustration and anger we had to deal with post-game and it hit the overagers the most.”
The Port Hawkesbury-based Pirates had recently returned to the ice after they decided not to restart their season with some of the other teams on Jan. 25 due to fan restrictions inside arenas.
“Some teams were financially able to do that (restart with no fans) but we weren’t there and were not able to do it,” said MacMillan. “We needed to have a minimum number of fans and once we were able to return to our preapproved plan from October, we justified it and returned.”
The Strait finished the regular season with a 5-5-1-0 record, tied with Eskasoni (4-8-3-0) for third in the Sid Rowe Division. The team’s leading scorer was Cameron Gillis with 11 goals and 20 points in 11 games.
MacMillan said the team has “a large number of people” eligible to return for the 2021-22 season.
“We have a real nice core and we hope to add a few new faces to it for next year,” he said. “We expect to be right in the hunt (for a championship) and that’s our goal.”
Vaccines are becoming available and although many are hoping for a return to normal by early fall, MacMillan isn’t optimistic the league will be able to have a full 32-game schedule next season.
“I’m optimistic there will be a season and one that we can actually finish,” said MacMillan. “It could be a modified version with a later start — something like this past season — but I say that without knowing, there’s an unknown, for sure.”
In a statement via social media Friday, the NSJHL said it feels very strongly for all of the league’s overage players impacted by the decision.
“It was decided that due to the uncertainty of the future decisions of the Nova Scotia government, we are cancelling our season,” said the statement. “It is with heavy hearts that we announce this.”
No start date for the 202122 season was available at press time.