Blackhawks adjusting to new home
The Thorold Blackhawks are acclimatizing themselves to their new home away from home.
The Blackhawks began training camp at the Port Colborne Vale Health and Wellness Centre two weeks ago in preparation for the 2022/23 Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League season and so far, so good.
“It’s definitely different,” Blackhawks owner and coach Scott Barnes said. “It’s a different feel. In Thorold, we never really had ice too early so it’s nice to be in your home for the year so early in training camp and get things organized.”
Barnes decided to move the team to Port Colborne for this season due to the ongoing construction of a new ice plant at the Thorold Arena and the uncertainty of when the arena would be ready.
That has meant a lot of off-season work.
“It’s been a lot getting things from Thorold to here and getting it all organized but we’re pretty much here now,” Barnes said. “We have a change room, a coaches office. All of our things are up and running for game-day operations.
“I think we’re pretty much set for the year.”
Barnes said he has been pleasantly surprised with interest from the community.
“We have a real good turnout about people asking about volunteering and offering and we’re getting the billets situated and going,” he said. “Not everybody in town knows junior B is back but slowly word is getting out there that Thorold is going to be playing in Port Colborne this year.
“We’ve been welcomed nicely.”
The Blackhawks open the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League season Friday, Sept. 9 when they host the Caledonia Corvairs. Friday and Saturday will be their home game nights with four days of practice Monday through Thursday.
“We’re practising leading up to our games which is nice,” Barnes said.
The Blackhawks began with almost 50 players in camp and have whittled that number down to a more manageable roster.
“We started with two full teams. We had quite a lot of guys at camp but now down to pretty close to our team,” Barnes said. “We will have some guys in and out next week but we’re pretty much set. We know what we’re looking like for the most part.”
The Blackhawks are 1-4 in pre-season action, defeating Welland 2-1 while losing 5-3 to Pelham, 4-2 to St. Catharines, 4-1 to Fort Erie and 4-3 to the Jungadler Mannheim U20 Eagles.
“We’ve been all right. We’ve been in some close games. We’ve been trying things out and trying out some players here and there,” Barnes said. “It’s been pretty solid.”
Hawk talk: Anyone interested in volunteering for the Blackhawks are asked to contact assistant general manager Joshua Lemire at joshua.lemire67@gmail.com.
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