Friday night in Pownal the puck drops on a new season in the Minor Junior league. Six teams will compete this season with the addition of the Souris Boathaulers in the off-season. The first weekend of the 28-game schedule begins with all 6 teams in action (see "Schedule" tab).

The league provides an opportunity for players who’ve completed minor hockey to continue playing competitively while pursuing important commitments such as University and College. As a result, a relatively light 28-game schedule is used with almost all games played on the weekends. The league also encourages players to continue playing in the same community in which they played their minor hockey to ensure parity among teams.

Morell will once again ice a team for the 2008-09 season. After struggling last year to find players, the Flyers bowed out of the playoffs in the quarter-finals. The Flyers will look to climb back up the standings with Bonnie O’Hanley back to manage the team again and Ken MacDonald behind the bench.

The Flames organization hosted the Maritime-Hockey North Junior C Championships last season which had extremely positive feedback from the teams involved. The team was a provincial runner-up, losing to the Tignish Aces in five games. Don Jardine, Mike Butler and Robert MacKinnon manage the team, while former Minor Junior players Greg Gairns and Jared Stretch will be coaching. 

The Red Devils have been in the league since 2003 and have been getting stronger each season. Bill Butler, whose been involved with the team since it came into the league will manage and co-coach the 2008-09 squad with Erin Redmond.

The Falcons have a proven track record in this league with four Island Championships since 2002. In fact, last year was the first time since 2000 that the Falcons didn’t make the Island Final. Michelle Shepherd will manage the team with a coaching staff of Travis Jay, Shane Laybolt, and Brian MacLean.

This will be the inaugural season for the Boathaulers in Minor Junior. The Souris Hawks were the last Minor Junior team out of Souris. Their last season in the league was 2000. John MacPhee and Mike MacAulay got the ball rolling in the spring and their team will finally hit the ice for its first game on Sunday in Souris.

The Aces are coming back from an incredible season in which they did not lose a game in the regular season and took their third Island Championship in six years. They also put up a strong showing at the regional championships bowing out in the semi-finals to the eventual champion Shediac-Cap Pele Predateurs. Francis Morrissey is back to manage.