2023-06-07
Chester Purenes Castaways have a new name and a new coach
BY KEVIN MCBAIN
CHESTER – The Chester Purenes Castaways are now the South Shore Schooners.
The rebrand of the hockey team began after owner/general manager/head coach Mike LaPierre stepped down in mid-May. Loretta Randall has taken over the general manager position with the team, while the ownership was transferred to a local owner who wishes to remain anonymous.
Along with a new name, comes a new coach. Chester Basin's Kerry Haley was recently named as the head coach.
In a recent interview, LaPierre, who started the club from scratch four years ago said that stepping away was a tough decision, but acknowledged that it was a good time to make the transition.
"It's just so much work. That was the main reason," he said. "It was kind of bittersweet. I started the team up from scratch, even making the team logo up. It's almost a relieve, but at the same time, I kind of hate giving it up."
LaPierre also noted that he lives in Falmouth which makes for an hour drive to get to Chester, making a home game feeling like an away game for him.
"I loved it in Chester, but the travel was tough. But I don't have any regrets for starting the team there at all. I am glad I did," he said. "There is a good foundation for the new people to work with there and that's why I didn't want the team to just fold. I wish them all the best."
LaPierre did mention that there was one thing that he would do different, if he started over, and that was to mark the team as a South Shore team instead of just being a Chester team, just to have a wider variety of sponsorship options available.
However, he did say the businesses that are in Chester showed good support, as did the municipality, adding the fan support was great at home and on the road.
"We would have liked to win a few more games over the years and that would have brought out more fans," he said.
This past season, the team did not win a game, losing all 24 regular season games they played and lost out in the first round of the playoffs to the East Hants Penguins.
"We went into this season thinking that we were going to be a contender, but that quickly went into a rebuild," said LaPierre. "We had some key guys that back out at the first of the year because of work and school and that set us back. We did have a good team, but it was just unfortunate we didn't win any games. The attitudes were great and we did have a great group."
In 2021-22, they finished second in the regular season with 13 wins and seven losses, before losing to the South West Storm in the league semifinals.
In 2020-2021, the team finished tied for first place in a COVID-19 shortened season with an 8-2-0-2 record. They made it to the league final for the second straight season, against the East Hants Penguins. The Castaways were leading that series three games to one, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, the playoffs had to be halted.
In their first season, 2019-2020, they finished with a record of 8-15-0-1 and lost out to the Eastern Shore Thunder in the finals, four games to none.
This coming season promises to be a competitive one in the Nova Scotia Regional Junior Hockey League, as two more teams enter the fold - the Bridgetown Admirals and the Newport Titans - to bring the roster up to eight teams.
