Mariners Hockey News

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Billeting

The Mariners players require billets for the 2002 season. Billet families are compensated and many find having a player in their home very rewarding. If you would like to "adopt" a Mariner player in your home for the 2002 season please fill out the following form and we will contact you with more details.

The Yarmouth Motormart Mariners are now official and at least 500 people in the small seaside town are certainly happy. The MJAHL Board of Governors approved the transfer of the Dartmouth Blizzard to Yarmouth at a league meeting Saturday in Truro in a unanimous vote.

Head Coach and General Manager, Paul Currie said 500 people have already put down a deposit on season tickets in hopes the move would be approved and he expects the ticket office will be busy in the coming week.

The Mariners have also inked a 5 year sponsorship agreement with Motormart, the local GM dealership in town.

Following the vote, Currie said team officials are already in place with Mike James, formerly of Charlottetown, moving to Yarmouth as team governor and vice president of hockey operations. Laurie Barron who served as coach of the Windsor Junior B team for 10 years and as coach of the Valley AAA Midgets last year, has been named as assistant coach.

The team will have the same ownership group headed by Paul Currie, although they hope to add some local input in the near future. New team colours will be announced at a later date.

YARMOUTH 'JUMPIN', JUMPIN'" WITH ENTHUSIASM

Despite no stamp of approval from MJAHL, phones ringing off the hook at Mariner Center for season tickets

Yarmouth is like the hit song for Destiny's Child - they're 'jumpin', jumpin' with excitement on embracing a Blizzard next winter - a Blizzard that is harmful only on the ice.

Although the Maritime Junior A Hockey League Board of Governors have not yet given their official blessing to the idea, residents of southwestern Nova Scotia seem to be embracing the idea of having a Jr. A team in their community.

As soon as it became public that the Dartmouth DQ Blizzard franchise was looking at relocating to Yarmouth, becoming the Yarmouth Blizzard and playing out of the multimillion dollar Mariner Centre, the telephones at Mariners Centre began ringing off the hook as hundreds of hockey fans in the area inquired about season tickets, sponsorships and volunteering to help the team be successful.

"I would say the community is quite excited about getting a junior A team in here and they will support it as best they can, certainly in terms of buying tickets for the events and with businesses, maybe in terms of various sponsorships", Mariner Center general manager Bob Osadchy told the Halifax Herald recently.

The six month old Mariners Centre has seating for 1000 but officials are looking at expansion of both the seating and standing room area.

After a formal application from the team, headed by Gary Fox and Paul Currie, the league's Board of Governors will hold an official vote in Truro at the Fred Page Cup, the Eastern Canadian JR A Championships, being held April 23-28 with former Blizzard coach Shawn Evans leading the host Bearcats.