The Liverpool Privateers have had a very successful hockey club since moving to the South Shore nearly a decade ago.  They have yet to have a losing season, have made it to one Nova Scotia Provincial Championship against Pictou in 2015-2016 before losing in six games.  They have had a regular season record of 162-77-16.  However, despite their effective play during the regular season, they have always hit a bump in the road come playoff time.  In recent years they have had two absolute classic Best-of-Seven playoff series openers against the East Hants Penguins with many games going to overtime and double overtime but they came up empty both times, losing to the Penguins.

The Privateers are on the road for their opening two games of the season to begin 21-22 as they travel to Membertou Saturday night for a game against the Jr. Miners and then conclude their weekend trip to Cape Breton by playing the Eskasoni Jr. Eagles Sunday afternoon.

The Privateers want to remain strong this year and next as it is in the spring 2023 when they will host the Don Johnson Memorial Cup symbolic of Atlantic Hockey Supremacy.

General Manager Jim Bottomely is excited saying the Privateers training camp was held   at the Halifax Forum under the direction of the new coaching  staff of Ben Duffy ,Thane Hughes and Cam Scott. He said, "This years attention was to re load on some top young prospects as we host the 2023 DOJO. In that regard Daniel Kline from Halifax who played for the McDonalds was very impressive at center and a late addition to camp was Aaron Lane from Bridgewater, who played defence last season for the Lumberjacks who  decided on starting his education at Dal , so due to the time commitment he will be another key addition.  A couple of returnees who stood out are Josh Nicholson at Defence , Matt Orman and Alec Howie up front and in nets Eric Bilodeau who recently returned from the Truro Bearcats training camp. 

The Port Hawkesbury Strait Pirates had one of their best seasons ever in Nova Scotia Junior Hockey Play in 2018-2019 when they won 29 of 32 regular season games before losing to the Sackville Blazers in the provincial championship.  They rebounded in 19-20 to go 17-9-4 but then COVID Struck shutting the league playoffs down and paying misery with the season schedule in 20-21.

Now that 2021-22 is set to roll Friday Oct 1, the Strait Pirates will play ten games in the opening 6 weeks of the season, 6 at hime anbd 4 on the road.  Highlights include home and home series with the Pictou County Scotians, Eskasoni Jr. Eagles and the  Liverpool Privateers.  The Pirates will open at home against the Sackville Blazers Fri Oct 8.

• Nova Scotians want the province’s most vulnerable citizens to be protected from the pandemic.
• The fourth wave is hitting Nova Scotia hard, and while we still have some restrictions, border measures and a good vaccination rate, we need to do more. 
• We are mandating vaccination for those who spend the most time with vulnerable citizens, like people in long-term care, patients and children.
• This is not a decision we took lightly. But there are tens of thousands of people who have not received any dose of vaccine. The vaccine mandate will help keep our communities safe

As we open the 192 Game Regular Season Friday Night on four fronts with Brookfield in Springhill to play the Cumberland Blues, the East Hants Penguins in Windsor to play the Valley Maple Leafs, the Pictou County Scotians visiting Antigonish and the Sackville Blazers taking on the Capstone Colts in their new home at CFB Shearwater Stadium.  The League encourages everyone to play safe whilewishing every team the very best of success in their chase for the Don Johnson Memorial Cup with the Championship Tournament scheduled for New Brunswick in late April.  Incidentally, the Liverpool Privateers will host the Johnson Cup symbolic of Atlantic Junior Hockey Supremacy in Queens County in 2023.

Nova Scotia has a population of 982,000 people.  At the present time 51,000 have not had a vaccine shot while 46,000 others are awaiting their second vaccine shot.  The Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League and Board of Governors as the League prepares for it's season opening night Friday, Oct 1 want to ensure the safety of our fans and will be strictly following the rules laid out by Premier Tim Houston and Nova Scotia Public Health Wednesday afternoon.  Some of rules to be followed are as follows:

• Masks, for example, will continue to be mandatory in public places. So in hockey, our mask policy will remain the same as it was in Phase 4: On the ice, masks are not required during practices, training sessions, and games. Off the ice, masks will be required. Please note that coaches and instructors who work with more than one group must wear a mask at all times while inside the facility (including while on the ice).
• Physical distancing and gathering limits for events hosted by a recognized business or organization will be lifted.
• Proof of full vaccination will be required for non-essential events and activities (including all Hockey Nova Scotia-sanctioned events and activities).

 

Twelve Teams will hit the ice once again as the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League hopes to play a complete 32-game regular season with a full-round of playoffs.  This has not happened since the Sackville Blazers won the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Championship in 2018-2019.  The 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons were both victims of Covid-19 as were sport leagues both amateur and professionally across the world.

The 2021-22 season is expected to kick off Friday, Sept 24 in Port Hawkesbury when the Strait Pirates and Cumberland County Blues collide.  The Blues will be under new management this season with former NHL Player and Cumberland County native Bill Riley taking control of the franchise.  The Blues will continue opening weekend with a game in Membertou Saturday night Sept 25 against the Membertou Jr. Miners and Sunday afternoon when the play the Eskasoni Jr. Eagles in Eskasoni.

Each team in the Fred Fox Division will play each other two home and two away, for example Sackville will play the Capstone Jr. Colts, Brookfield, the Valley Maple Leafs, the Brookfield Elks and the Liverpool Privateers four times each.  For the Sid Rowe Division, the Blazers will play the Membertou Jr. Miners, the Eskasoni Jr. Eagles, the Port Hawkesbury Canadian Tire Strait Pirates, the Pictou County Scotians, the Cumberland County Blues and the Antigonish Mutual Jr. Bulldogs one home and one away.  The schedule will work like this for all teams in the Fox and Rowe Divisions.

In total 192 Regular-Season games are scheduled over the course of 155 days not counting the 2 week Christmas Break with the final regular season game slated for March 5th between the East Hants Penguins and the Eskasoni Jr. Eagles.  The playoffs will then begin sometime between March 6-9 leading to a Nova Scotia Junior Champion and a berth in the Don Johnson Memorial Cup Championship symbolizing Junior Hockey Supremacy in Atlantic Canada.  This will be a 5 team tournament that will include the four provincial champions plus the host starting in late April in New Brunswick.

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