‘We have a deep team’
By Mark Squibb | Vol. 13 No. 1 (January 8, 2020)
This past fall as he looked ahead to the season, Southern Shore Breaker’s president Ian Sullivan anticipated a successful run, and time has proved him right.
Southern Shore Breakers were the 2018-19 East Coast Senior Hockey League champions and went on to battle the Grand Falls Windsor — Cataracts for the coveted Herder Memorial Trophy last season. They hosted a banner raising in the Ken Williams Southern Shore Arena near the start of this season. From left to right are Daniel Cadigan, Jeremy Nicholas, and Mike Chafe.
The senior Breakers closed out 2019 at the top of the six-team East Coast Senior Hockey League (ECSHL), winning eight of their nine games and losing the other one in overtime.
“It’s been a good year so far. The boys are playing well. There’s a lot of good teams in this league too,” said Sullivan.
He praised the team for its depth— meaning that from the first line to the fourth, including the netminders, all players are playing well.
“We have a deep team. We’ve been playing great hockey. And the goaltending has been fantastic,” he said, noting that goalie Mark Yetman has two shutouts under his belt so far this season, and back up goal tender Mark Power also picked up two wins.
“I think we’re a deep team in all departments… it’s been a big team effort. Everybody’s done their job, from the bench staff to the goaltending to the defense to the forwards. Everybody’s done their job, and it’s worked out really well.”
Sullivan said the team has picked up a couple of extra bodies since the beginning of the season, including Andrew Brennan of the Goulds and James Cadigan of Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove.
He expects the pace will pick up after the holiday season, especially given a recent switch up in the league’s playoff policy.
“This year’s a little bit different, because there are no teams that are not going to make the playoffs,” said Sullivan.
“A lot of teams don’t make money if they don’t make the playoffs,” he explained.
Sullivan noted that before, with a five-team league, only one team would sit out the playoffs. With a six-team league, there would be two teams sitting out (and losing playoff revenue).
This time the first and second place teams will sit out a few weeks while the remaining teams battle it out to see who will go up against them.
“It gives every player a chance to play in the playoffs, and every team an opportunity to make a few dollars,” said Sullivan. “And you never know, you might have a Cinderella story, and that builds up the hype.”
The Breakers hit the ice again on Friday at 7:45 p.m., giving them some time to shake off any holiday turkey leg syndrome when they battle the CeeBee Stars.
