2023-04-19

Underdog Privateers hope they can apply lessons from playoffs in upcoming championship

LIVERPOOL – The annual Don Johnson Memorial Cup will take place in Liverpool April 25-30 with the top five Junior B teams from Atlantic Canada competing for the title.

The Liverpool Privateers who reached this season's NSJHL semifinals will host the CBN Junior Stars, champions from Newfoundland with a 35-7 record; the Kensington Vipers from Prince Edward Island (23-7); the defending champions, the Kent Koyotes from New Brunswick (31-3) and the Capstone Colts or the Antigonish Bulldogs, representing the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League (NSJHL).

After this weekend's play, Antigonish held a 3-2 series lead over the Colts. Game 6 will be played April 21 at the Shearwater Arena, followed by the deciding game, if necessary, April 22 in Antigonish.

The Liverpool Privateers finished in third place in the Fred Fox division this season with a record of 14 wins, 12 losses, three overtime losses and one shootout loss.

In the playoffs, they defeated the East Hants Penguins in seven games in the first round, before losing out to the Capstone Colts in another seven-game thriller in the league semifinals.

Bench boss Ryan Falkenham, said in an interview last week, that despite having an automatic spot in the championship tournament, he would have liked to have gone in as a league champion.

"Obviously, we wanted to still be playing hockey in the final," he said last week. "But I think we made some big strides in the playoffs in our game, and we will take what we can from those series and bring it to the Don Johnson Cup."

Falkenham said as the championship draws near they will continue to work on the same things they've been working on all year, adding that it was good to have some time between the playoffs and the championship, "to get some practice in, get all the guys together and really work on some of the things we need to, to be sharp in the tournament."

He said the tournament should provide some exciting hockey for the fans and players and having it on home ice is definitely a benefit for them.

"I think it's an advantage for us being at home, where we're familiar, we know what to expect, we know the rink and we know that the fans will be there to support us," he said, adding that it was great to see the number of fans that hit the road for the away games during the playoffs.

As for the team's chances...

"We want to push for the championship and we believe we have the team to do it and that's what we're aiming for," said Falkenham.