Ready to set sail
Nathan Kelly is one of several veterans returning for the Port Colborne Sailors this season. Photo: BILL POTRECZ.
The Port Colborne Sailors expect to hit the ground running when training camp opens Wednesday at the Vale Health and Wellness Centre.
Sailors head coach/general manager Scott Barnes wants to make sure there isn’t a repeat of last season when the club got off to a terrible start before recovering to finish the year with a .500 record (24-24-2).
“We’re getting right after it,” Barnes said. “Our biggest thing Wednesday and Thursday is to get our compete level up and make sure we’re battling right off the hop. Put a few systems in place.”
The Sailors practice for two days before taking on Brantford Friday at 5:15 p.m. in Pelham to kick off the Doug Burr Tournament. Port also plays Caledonia Saturday at 9:15 a.m. and Fort Erie at 6 p.m.
“Most of the guys playing will be guys on our team and we want to get playing the way we play right off the bat,” Barnes added.
The Sailors did most of their recruiting at their rookie camp and have much of their lineup already set.
“We don’t have a lot of extra guys coming,” Barnes said. “We’re pretty much down to our team. There are maybe some guys who can beat guys out of spots but for the most part we know what our team is going to look like.
“I don’t really expect too many guys but enough to have some battle for spots and some spots to be won.”
The Sailors feature a solid nucleus of players returning from last year’s squad including forwards Dylan Pergentile, Grayson Gare, Nathan Kelly, Aiden Cupelli, Liam Wicks, Ethan Bolibruck and Robert Polillo while Port Colborne native Sam Tonelli returns after a season with the Cobourg Cougars of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.
Jonathon Graves, Christian Williams and Carson Trevisani are back on defence while Tucker Adams is a holdover in goal.
“We have a lot of returning guys and took care of a lot of stuff during rookie camp so we’ve been blessed early on having guys fall into our lap or however you want to call it,” Barnes said. “This is a very rare year for us to be bringing back so many older players. We’ll probably have the eight max 20-year-olds.”
The Sailors played last season in Port after relocating from Thorold and this summer made the move permanent, along with a change in nickname from Blackhawks to Sailors.
“It’s been a little bit easier this summer but the whole changing everything over there have been a lot of things we have to be on top of to make sure they get done,” Barnes said.
Barnes is pleased with the reaction of the community in Port Colborne, but feels there are still inroads to be made.
“We’ve had really good feedback. Everyone that knows is pretty excited,” he said. “I still think there is work to be done in the community and making sure that people know we are here. I think this year will be pretty successful with us doing that. That’s our main focus, to make sure the city knows we have a good program here.”
Barnes indicated a season ticket blitz, complete with a jersey giveaway promotion, will be announced shortly.
The following is the schedule for the Doug Burr Tournament in Pelham.
| 0 | Fri, Aug 18 |
 |
– |
 |
– | Pelham Accipiter | 5:15 pm EDT | ||||||
| 0 | Fri, Aug 18 |
 |
– |
 |
– | Pelham Accipiter | 6:45 pm EDT | ||||||
| 0 | Fri, Aug 18 |
 |
– |
 |
– | Pelham Accipiter | 8:15 pm EDT | ||||||
| 0 | Sat, Aug 19 |
|
– |
|
– | Pelham Accipiter | 9:15 am EDT | ||||||
| 0 | Sat, Aug 19 |
|
– |
|
– | Pelham Accipiter | 10:45 am EDT | ||||||
| 0 | Sat, Aug 19 |
|
– |
|
– | Pelham Accipiter | 12:45 pm EDT | ||||||
| 0 | Sat, Aug 19 |
|
– |
|
– | Pelham Accipiter | 3:15 pm EDT | ||||||
| 0 | Sat, Aug 19 |
|
– |
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– | Pelham Accipiter | 4:45 pm EDT | ||||||
| 0 | Sat, Aug 19 |
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– |
|
– | Pelham Accipiter | 6:15 pm EDT | ||||||
| 0 | Sun, Aug 20 | 2nd Place Div 2 | – | 1st Place Div 1 | – | Pelham Accipiter | 10:15 am EDT | ||||||
| 0 | Sun, Aug 20 | 2nd Place Div 1 | – | 1st Place Div 2 | – | Pelham Accipiter | 11:45 am EDT | ||||||
| 0 | Sun, Aug 20 | Semi 2 Winner | – | Semi 1 Winner | – | Pelham Accipiter | 2:45 pm EDT |
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