The Island Junior Hockey League opens tonight with the Defending Champions, Sherwood A & S Scrap Metal Metros hosting perennial rivals Kensington Moase Plumbing and Heating Vipers.  Game time is 8:00 at the Cody Banks Arena.  In preseason games, the Metros defeated the Vipers at home, 6–0 and in Kensington 6-3.  Since then, the Arsenault’s Fish Mart Western Red Wings have taken a one-year leave of absence and their players have been spread among the other teams in the league.  In the dispersal draft, the Vipers notable pick-ups were solid defenseman Ethan Beaulieu, as well as Nick Reeves and Fred Morency.  These players will surely help close the gap between the Vipers and the Metros.

The next game in the IJHL will be held on Saturday, October 29 at 8:00 in Montague as the new Kings County Rivermen are re-entering the league after the Eastern Maniacs took a leave last season.  The newly branded Rivermen will be hosting Sherwood at the Cavendish Farms Wellness Centre in Montague.2

The league will see interlocking games with the four teams in the New Brunswick Junior Hockey League, Southeast (Cap Pele), Richibucto, Kent, and Cocagne.  Teams will play a home and home series with the New Brunswick teams, as well as 8 games each within the IJHL teams for a total of 24 games.

A full schedule will be posted on the IJHL web page in the coming days.