Yarmouth Mariners open play at Fred Page Cup today

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

The Yarmouth Mariners – MJAHL champions – will open the action at the eastern Canadian junior A hockey championship today when they play the Sherbrooke Cougars, of the Quebec Junior AAA Hockey League, at 4 p.m. in the opening game of the Fred Page Cup taking place in Pictou County.

The other teams competing in the tournament are the defending 2007 Fred Page Cup champions Pembroke Lumber Kings (Central Junior A Hockey League) and the host Pictou County Weeks Crushers, one of the teams the Mariners defeated in the playoffs to advance to the Fred Page Cup.

The winner from the week’s championship advances to the national championship being held in Cornwall, Ontario May 3-11.

Although this is the first year the Mariners have made it into the Fred Page Cup as champions of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League, it’s the second time the team has played in the event. Yarmouth hosted the Fred Page Cup in 2005, but fell short in the championship game to the Hawkesbury Hawks (CJHL).

While they’ve played Pictou many times before, another team the Mariners have had some exposure to this year are the Pembroke Lumber Kings, who were one of four teams to compete at the Mariners’ pre-season Lobster Pot Tournament. The Lumber Kings defeated the Mariners in the championship game of that tournament, marking the first time in the four years the tournament had been held that the Mariners did not win the championship.

According to Top 12 rankings of teams across Canada by the Canadian Junior A Hockey League, Pembroke is ranked tops in the country, with the Mariners ranked fourth.

Organizers of the Fred Page Cup are expecting to see a half million dollars pumped into the local economy from the event being held at the John Brother MacDonald Stadium. Many hotels in the region are booked, with many people from the Yarmouth area making the trek to cheer on their Mariners.

The Fred Page Cup is named after Frederick Page, who was a player, official, coach and president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey association. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993.

A schedule of this week’s games is as follows:

Wednesday, April 23:

4 p.m.: Sherbrooke Cougars vs. Yarmouth Mariners

8 p.m. Pembroke Lumber Kings vs. Pictou County Weeks Crushers

Thursday, April 24:

4 p.m. Pembroke vs. Yarmouth

8 p.m. Sherbrooke vs. Pictou

Friday, April 25

4 p.m. Pembroke vs. Sherbrooke

8 p.m. Yarmouth vs. Pictou

Saturday, April 26

7 p.m., second and third place teams face off with the winner advancing to Sunday’s championship game against the 1st-place team.

Sunday, April 27

2 p.m. Championship game