The Blues received bad news last week when they were informed by the City that the October 9th date to be back into Market St Arena was being delayed again.  

The City told the Blues, Real McCoys and the DMHA that the new date is now January 2nd, 2019 with a possible earlier date if the rink is completed, leaving all three organizations devastated. 

As if that news wasn’t bad enough for the Blues, things only got worse this week.  They were expecting to continue playing at Olympic Arena on Thursday nights until Market St Arena was completed as they did last year, then came the upsetting news.  The City informed the Blues that the ice they used for home games last year from the Figure Skating Club wasn’t going to be available this year. The figure skating club said they couldn’t give up that 2 hour block to help the Blues out this year.  So starting October 4th the Blues will have to play their home games at Chedoke Arena, with the games starting at 7:30pm.  This makes every game like a road game for the Junior hockey team who will continue to practice at Olympic Arena.

Blues President Steve Aglor said, “although very disappointed we will have to work through it and we will definitely be looking forward to getting back into Market St Arena when the time comes.”  Aglor also noted that Councillor Arlene VanderBeek has been working hard to get help for the Blues financially as this season is definitely going to be tougher on the local junior team than last year.

The Blues who now call themselves the Hamilton Huskies Jr Blues are playing 500 hockey with 2 wins and 2 losses after their first four games. Their final game at Olympic is this Thursday when they host the Hespeler Shamrocks at 8:30pm so come out and cheer them on.

Blues first four games scores: Niagara 7 Blues 6, Blues 5 Hespeler 4, Glanbrook 6 Blues 3 and Blues 3 Port Dover 2.

 

Kevin Brown spent much of his 12-year hockey career playing for a variety of well-known coaches.

Paul Maurice, Barry Melrose, Ron Low, Claude Julien and Walt Kyle were all among those who ran the junior, AHL and NHL teams Brown played wing for. What he learned from those different personalities and strategists will certainly be a factor in how he leads the Dundas Blues as the junior hockey club’s new bench boss.

“At the end of the day, it's all about the same concept. It's all about work ethic. It's all about execution,” Brown said.

Blues general manager and director of hockey operations, Mike Spadafora, and team president Steve Aglor officially introduced Brown, 44, as the team’s new head coach this week. Brown takes over as the club prepares for a tryout camp June 23 and 24, and solidifies a new partnership with the Hamilton Huskies, where Spadafora also serves as GM.

Dundas Blues Junior Hockey Club is wiping the slate clean and starting fresh in preparation for a return home to play the 2018-2019 season.

The entire coaching staff — including first year head coach Andrew Tait — were officially relieved of their duties within the past week, while new general manager Mike Spadafora also takes over as director of hockey operations. Longtime Blues volunteer Steve Aglor remains as team president and Dave Pelosini becomes director of business operations.

Spadafora, also general manager of the Hamilton Huskies minor hockey organization, said the decision to build an entire new coaching staff was not based on individual performance, but rather starting the new look organization with "a clean state".

"It's hard to come in to a team that has people already in place," Spadafora said. "We had conversations with our executive, with key players in a leadership role returning next year. Everybody's coming in with a clean slate."