AMHERST – The Cumberland County Blues are playing two inter-division Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League games this weekend, one tonight against the Glace Bay Miners at the Richard Calder Arena, and the second on Sunday in Antigonish against the Bulldogs.
“Both these games are very important,” Blues coach, Vaughn Martin said. “Whenever you’re playing teams in your division, if you have some team below you, then you want to keep then there and, at the same time, if you have a team above you, then you want to bring them down a notch so you can get a little closer.”
Glace Bay has only four points so far this season.
“They’ve had a slow start to the season but the farther they are down the more hungry they’re going to be,” Martin said.
The Bulldogs are at the top of the Sid Rowe Division with 18 points to the Blues 12 points.
Martin said the team is confident going into the weekend.
“We have a full roster that we can tinker with and we can police ourselves a little better with a full roster,” Martin said. “We don’t have to wait for the referee to decide things. If there’s something not right, then there’s guy’s on the bench who can decide things.”
He also said the Blues may have given teams the wrong impression when playing with a short bench for much of the season.
“The other teams know we’re skilled and we have offense but a lot of them think our team is soft, so I want us to prove the doubters wrong because if we’re soft now, come the playoffs it isn’t going to cut it,” he said.
Neil Kelly will get the start in net tonight and Nathan Kelly will be between the pipes against the Bulldogs.
The puck drops for both games at 7:30 p.m.
dmathieson@amherstdaily.com
